Google+ is only a few months old, but the photography community is already thriving on it. Take a look at the profiles of Scott Jarvie, Thomas Hawk, Colby Brown or Claire Grigaut to see just a few of the inspiring photographers on Google+. More than 3.4 billion photos have been uploaded to the platform in the first 100 days.
We’re really excited about this, and think great art deserves great exposure. So we’re teaming up with Saatchi Gallery, London for the Google Photography Prize, a chance for students around the world to showcase their photos on Google+ and have their work exhibited at a major art institution.
The contest is open to students around the world (some exceptions apply, see google.com/photographyprize for more details). From far-away places to up-close faces, there are 10 different categories to spark your imagination. And there are some great prizes to be won: 10 finalists chosen by a jury of renowned photographers will show their work at Saatchi Gallery, London for two months in 2012 alongside Out of Focus, a major photography exhibition, and win a trip to London to attend the exhibition opening event with a friend. One winner will go on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to an amazing destination with a professional photography coach.
It’s easy to enter: After you pick a category, upload your photos to Google+ and share them with the world as a public post, then visit the submission form on google.com/photographyprize by January 31, 2012 to enter.
Saatchi Gallery, London will share updates on their Google+ page for the contest, so add it to your circles if you want to see the great work that’s being submitted.
We can’t wait to see your photos!
Update Nov 14: We've had a few questions and comments about who can enter. The contest is open to all students in higher education, including but not limited to those studying photography. Please have a look at the eligibility criteria on the contest website.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Think Insights with Google is out of beta and packing a data punch
Quick pop quiz:
If you only have a few minutes to spare, try playing with our new Real Time Insights Finder tool. With just a few clicks you can spot emerging trends and gain valuable consumer insights, all in real time. For example, the most popular video in common among males 25-34 in Italy and the U.S. is the Official Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 game trailer.
Although we’ve made a lot of enhancements to Think Insights based on initial user feedback, we’re always trying to iterate and improve. So please don’t be shy! Join the conversation by adding the Think with Google page on Google+ to one of your circles, or stay tuned for updates by subscribing to our newsletter.
Think Insights is forward-thinking and rooted in data. We hope you’ll use it as a one-stop shop for consumer trends, marketing insights and industry research.
*Answers to pop quiz (they can all be found on Think Insights in less than 60 seconds):
- Based on search history, consumer demand for pretzels peaks in what month of the year?
- How much (in $) does search add to the world’s GDP?
- In 2011, what percent of people dreamed and brainstormed about their next vacation?
- What percent of the daily queries on Google.com have never been seen before?
If you only have a few minutes to spare, try playing with our new Real Time Insights Finder tool. With just a few clicks you can spot emerging trends and gain valuable consumer insights, all in real time. For example, the most popular video in common among males 25-34 in Italy and the U.S. is the Official Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 game trailer.
Although we’ve made a lot of enhancements to Think Insights based on initial user feedback, we’re always trying to iterate and improve. So please don’t be shy! Join the conversation by adding the Think with Google page on Google+ to one of your circles, or stay tuned for updates by subscribing to our newsletter.
Think Insights is forward-thinking and rooted in data. We hope you’ll use it as a one-stop shop for consumer trends, marketing insights and industry research.
*Answers to pop quiz (they can all be found on Think Insights in less than 60 seconds):
- December, Real Time Insights Finder Tool
- $540 billion directly to global GDP, The Impact of Internet Technologies: Search Study, Jul 2011
- 50%, 5 Stages of Travel Interactive Infographic
- 16%, Search Fact & Stat
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Martha Stewart visits Google
Martha Stewart is a phenomenon. Each month, more than 37 million readers, users, viewers and listeners tune in to Martha in order to learn how to cook, entertain, garden, decorate, craft and organize to celebrate everything from holidays, to weddings to everyday living. Martha hosted me most graciously in her studio last December, so my team and I were delighted to welcome Martha to Google last Friday as part of our Authors@Google series.
Martha may be our most prolific Author@Google visitor yet. On November 1, Martha's Entertaining: A Year of Celebrations was published as her 75th(!) book. During her visit, Martha and I sat down to talk about her new book as well as how technology has affected her brand and business (she was an early adopter of Google+), the early days of her media empire, her advice for entrepreneurs and her most memorable Thanksgivings. We also chatted a bit about the upcoming holidays. Insightful, refreshing, candid and charming, it was a delight to speak with Martha and hear her story.
The full interview is below—complete with tips on how to fold fitted sheets!—and can also be found on our YouTube page.
(Cross-posted on the YouTube blog)
Martha may be our most prolific Author@Google visitor yet. On November 1, Martha's Entertaining: A Year of Celebrations was published as her 75th(!) book. During her visit, Martha and I sat down to talk about her new book as well as how technology has affected her brand and business (she was an early adopter of Google+), the early days of her media empire, her advice for entrepreneurs and her most memorable Thanksgivings. We also chatted a bit about the upcoming holidays. Insightful, refreshing, candid and charming, it was a delight to speak with Martha and hear her story.
The full interview is below—complete with tips on how to fold fitted sheets!—and can also be found on our YouTube page.
(Cross-posted on the YouTube blog)
Google+ Pages: connect with all the things you care about
In life we connect with all kinds of people, places and things. There’s friends and family, of course, but there’s also the sports teams we root for, the coffee shops we’re loyal to, and the TV shows we can’t stop watching (to name a few).
So far Google+ has focused on connecting people with other people. But we want to make sure you can build relationships with all the things you care about—from local businesses to global brands—so today we’re rolling out Google+ Pages worldwide.
People + pages, better together
Google+ has always been a place for real-life sharing, and Google+ Pages is no exception. After all: behind every page (or storefront, or four-door sedan) is a passionate group of individuals, and we think you should able to connect with them too.
For you and me, this means we can now hang out live with the local bike shop, or discuss our wardrobe with a favorite clothing line, or follow a band on tour. Google+ pages give life to everything we find in the real world. And by adding them to circles, we can create lasting bonds with the pages (and people) that matter most.
For businesses and brands, Google+ pages help you connect with the customers and fans who love you. Not only can they recommend you with a +1, or add you to a circle to listen long-term. They can actually spend time with your team, face-to-face-to-face. All you need to do is start sharing, and you'll soon find the super fans and loyal customers that want to say hello.
A number of pages are already available (see below), but any organization will soon be able to join the community at plus.google.com/pages/create.
* You can join Kermit and Ms. Piggy for a live Hangout on the Muppets’ Google+ page today at 4:30pm PT!
Direct Connect from Google search
People search on Google billions of times a day, and very often, they're looking for businesses and brands. Today's launch of Google+ Pages can help people transform their queries into meaningful connections, so we're rolling out two ways to add pages to circles from Google search. The first is by including Google+ pages in search results, and the second is a new feature called Direct Connect.
Maybe you're watching a movie trailer, or you just heard that your favorite band is coming to town. In both cases you want to connect with them right now, and Direct Connect makes it easy—even automatic. Just go to Google and search for [+], followed by the page you're interested in (like +Angry Birds). We'll take you to their Google+ page, and if you want, we’ll add them to your circles.
Direct Connect works for a limited number of pages today (like +Google, +Pepsi, and +Toyota), but many more are coming. In the meantime, organizations can learn more about Direct Connect in our Help Center.
With Google+, we strive to bring the nuance and richness of real-life sharing to software. Today’s initial launch of Google+ Pages brings us a little bit closer, but we’ve still got lots of improvements planned, and miles to go before we sleep. So stay tuned.
So far Google+ has focused on connecting people with other people. But we want to make sure you can build relationships with all the things you care about—from local businesses to global brands—so today we’re rolling out Google+ Pages worldwide.
People + pages, better together
Google+ has always been a place for real-life sharing, and Google+ Pages is no exception. After all: behind every page (or storefront, or four-door sedan) is a passionate group of individuals, and we think you should able to connect with them too.
For you and me, this means we can now hang out live with the local bike shop, or discuss our wardrobe with a favorite clothing line, or follow a band on tour. Google+ pages give life to everything we find in the real world. And by adding them to circles, we can create lasting bonds with the pages (and people) that matter most.
For businesses and brands, Google+ pages help you connect with the customers and fans who love you. Not only can they recommend you with a +1, or add you to a circle to listen long-term. They can actually spend time with your team, face-to-face-to-face. All you need to do is start sharing, and you'll soon find the super fans and loyal customers that want to say hello.
A number of pages are already available (see below), but any organization will soon be able to join the community at plus.google.com/pages/create.
Direct Connect from Google search
People search on Google billions of times a day, and very often, they're looking for businesses and brands. Today's launch of Google+ Pages can help people transform their queries into meaningful connections, so we're rolling out two ways to add pages to circles from Google search. The first is by including Google+ pages in search results, and the second is a new feature called Direct Connect.
Maybe you're watching a movie trailer, or you just heard that your favorite band is coming to town. In both cases you want to connect with them right now, and Direct Connect makes it easy—even automatic. Just go to Google and search for [+], followed by the page you're interested in (like +Angry Birds). We'll take you to their Google+ page, and if you want, we’ll add them to your circles.
Direct Connect works for a limited number of pages today (like +Google, +Pepsi, and +Toyota), but many more are coming. In the meantime, organizations can learn more about Direct Connect in our Help Center.
With Google+, we strive to bring the nuance and richness of real-life sharing to software. Today’s initial launch of Google+ Pages brings us a little bit closer, but we’ve still got lots of improvements planned, and miles to go before we sleep. So stay tuned.
Powering a new job search engine for military veterans
(Cross-posted on the Inside Search blog and the Public Policy blog)
Earlier today, President Obama spoke about the importance of helping returning military veterans find work. Thousands of businesses have committed to hiring military veterans and families and as part of this nationwide effort, starting today, job seekers can visit the National Resource Directory (NRD) to search more than 500,000 job openings from employers around the country.
We have been working with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to provide a customized job search engine for the NRD, using Google Custom Search technology. This custom search engine uses the power and scale of Google search to constantly crawl the web, looking for JobPosting markup from Schema.org on sites like simplyhired.com to identify veteran-committed job openings. An employer can easily add a job posting to NRD simply by adding that markup to their own web page. As pages are updated or removed from the web, they’re automatically updated and removed from the system, keeping the available job postings on NRD fresh and up to date.
If you’re an employer, you can find more information on how to participate on nationalresourcedirectory.gov. In addition, organizations such as local veterans' groups can help people find jobs by adding a veteran-committed jobs search box to their websites.
We’re happy to contribute to this important initiative and hope businesses use this opportunity to connect with veterans seeking employment.
Earlier today, President Obama spoke about the importance of helping returning military veterans find work. Thousands of businesses have committed to hiring military veterans and families and as part of this nationwide effort, starting today, job seekers can visit the National Resource Directory (NRD) to search more than 500,000 job openings from employers around the country.
We have been working with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to provide a customized job search engine for the NRD, using Google Custom Search technology. This custom search engine uses the power and scale of Google search to constantly crawl the web, looking for JobPosting markup from Schema.org on sites like simplyhired.com to identify veteran-committed job openings. An employer can easily add a job posting to NRD simply by adding that markup to their own web page. As pages are updated or removed from the web, they’re automatically updated and removed from the system, keeping the available job postings on NRD fresh and up to date.
If you’re an employer, you can find more information on how to participate on nationalresourcedirectory.gov. In addition, organizations such as local veterans' groups can help people find jobs by adding a veteran-committed jobs search box to their websites.
We’re happy to contribute to this important initiative and hope businesses use this opportunity to connect with veterans seeking employment.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Watch the Hajj in Saudi Arabia—the world’s largest pilgrimage—live on YouTube
Nearly 2.5 million Muslims will officially begin the annual Islamic ritual of the Hajj on November 5, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The Hajj represents one of the five pillars of Islam; it requires all Muslims around the world who are able-bodied and can afford it to perform the pilgrimage once in their lifetime.
The Hajj is an ancient ritual, but now, through the Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information's YouTube channel, millions of people from around the world will be able to experience and comment on the event by tuning in via video.
Earlier this year, we worked with the Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information to broadcast Islamic prayers live during Ramadan from the Holy Mosque in Mecca for the first time. In continued cooperation with the Ministry, we’re now able to live stream the Hajj on YouTube for the first time.
The stream will be live on Saturday, November 5 at http://www.youtube.com/hajjlive.
(Cross-posted on the YouTube blog)
The Hajj is an ancient ritual, but now, through the Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information's YouTube channel, millions of people from around the world will be able to experience and comment on the event by tuning in via video.
Earlier this year, we worked with the Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information to broadcast Islamic prayers live during Ramadan from the Holy Mosque in Mecca for the first time. In continued cooperation with the Ministry, we’re now able to live stream the Hajj on YouTube for the first time.
The stream will be live on Saturday, November 5 at http://www.youtube.com/hajjlive.
(Cross-posted on the YouTube blog)
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Shipping the Google in Google+
A few weeks ago Larry mentioned that we’d start shipping the Google part of Google+. The Android team then launched Ice Cream Sandwich, with a focus on improved sharing via Google+. And today we're rolling out two more Google+ features that integrate with two more Google products: YouTube and Chrome.
YouTube
It's no secret that YouTube is filled with tons of great content (from inspiring speeches to music videos to honey badgers). We wanted to bring YouTube directly into Google+—as well as make it easier to watch and share your favorites—so we're launching a YouTube "slider" in the stream. Here’s how it works:
Sharing YouTube videos with your circles also works (of course), but there's a nice little twist: the people you share with can open a related playlist directly from your post! Last but not least, we’re starting to include YouTube playlists in Google+ search results.
Chrome
We're also rolling out two new Google+ Chrome extensions:
We've got lots more planned for Google+, YouTube and Chrome (and all the other Google products you already use). But we hope you enjoy today's small taste of shipping the Google in Google+.
YouTube
It's no secret that YouTube is filled with tons of great content (from inspiring speeches to music videos to honey badgers). We wanted to bring YouTube directly into Google+—as well as make it easier to watch and share your favorites—so we're launching a YouTube "slider" in the stream. Here’s how it works:
- Mouse over the new YouTube icon at the top right of Google+
- It'll slide out and ask, "What would you like to play"?
- Enter whatever you're in the mood for (like a topic or a musical artist)
From left to right: YouTube slider (closed), slider (open), pop-up playlist, slider (while playing)
Sharing YouTube videos with your circles also works (of course), but there's a nice little twist: the people you share with can open a related playlist directly from your post! Last but not least, we’re starting to include YouTube playlists in Google+ search results.
YouTube video in the stream (left), YouTube playlist in Google+ search results (right)
Chrome
We're also rolling out two new Google+ Chrome extensions:
- +1 button: +1 any webpage and share it with your circles
- Notifications: check your Google+ notifications while you browse the web
Google+ Chrome extensions: +1 button (left), notifications (right)
We've got lots more planned for Google+, YouTube and Chrome (and all the other Google products you already use). But we hope you enjoy today's small taste of shipping the Google in Google+.
Giving you fresher, more recent search results
Search results, like warm cookies right out of the oven or cool refreshing fruit on a hot summer’s day, are best when they’re fresh. Even if you don’t specify it in your search, you probably want search results that are relevant and recent.
If I search for [olympics], I probably want information about next summer’s upcoming Olympics, not the 1900 Summer Olympics (the only time my favorite sport, cricket, was played). Google Search uses a freshness algorithm, designed to give you the most up-to-date results, so even when I just type [olympics] without specifying 2012, I still find what I’m looking for.
Given the incredibly fast pace at which information moves in today’s world, the most recent information can be from the last week, day or even minute, and depending on the search terms, the algorithm needs to be able to figure out if a result from a week ago about a TV show is recent, or if a result from a week ago about breaking news is too old.
We completed our Caffeine web indexing system last year, which allows us to crawl and index the web for fresh content quickly on an enormous scale. Building upon the momentum from Caffeine, today we’re making a significant improvement to our ranking algorithm that impacts roughly 35 percent of searches and better determines when to give you more up-to-date relevant results for these varying degrees of freshness.
Different searches have different freshness needs. This algorithmic improvement is designed to better understand how to differentiate between these kinds of searches and the level of freshness you need, and make sure you get the most up to the minute answers.
Update 11/7/11: To clarify, when we say this algorithm impacted 35% of searches, we mean at least one result on the page was affected, as opposed to when we've said noticeably impacted in the past, which means changes that are significant enough that an average user would notice. Using that same scale, this change noticeably impacts 6 - 10% of searches, depending on the language and domain you're searching on.
(Cross-posted on the Inside Search blog)
If I search for [olympics], I probably want information about next summer’s upcoming Olympics, not the 1900 Summer Olympics (the only time my favorite sport, cricket, was played). Google Search uses a freshness algorithm, designed to give you the most up-to-date results, so even when I just type [olympics] without specifying 2012, I still find what I’m looking for.
Given the incredibly fast pace at which information moves in today’s world, the most recent information can be from the last week, day or even minute, and depending on the search terms, the algorithm needs to be able to figure out if a result from a week ago about a TV show is recent, or if a result from a week ago about breaking news is too old.
We completed our Caffeine web indexing system last year, which allows us to crawl and index the web for fresh content quickly on an enormous scale. Building upon the momentum from Caffeine, today we’re making a significant improvement to our ranking algorithm that impacts roughly 35 percent of searches and better determines when to give you more up-to-date relevant results for these varying degrees of freshness.
- Recent events or hot topics. For recent events or hot topics that begin trending on the web, you want to find the latest information immediately. Now when you search for current events like [occupy oakland protest], or for the latest news about the [nba lockout], you’ll see more high-quality pages that might only be minutes old.
- Regularly recurring events. Some events take place on a regularly recurring basis, such as annual conferences like [ICALP] or an event like the [presidential election]. Without specifying with your keywords, it’s implied that you expect to see the most recent event, and not one from 50 years ago. There are also things that recur more frequently, so now when you’re searching for the latest [NFL scores], [dancing with the stars] results or [exxon earnings], you’ll see the latest information.
- Frequent updates. There are also searches for information that changes often, but isn’t really a hot topic or a recurring event. For example, if you’re researching the [best slr cameras], or you’re in the market for a new car and want [subaru impreza reviews], you probably want the most up to date information.
Different searches have different freshness needs. This algorithmic improvement is designed to better understand how to differentiate between these kinds of searches and the level of freshness you need, and make sure you get the most up to the minute answers.
Update 11/7/11: To clarify, when we say this algorithm impacted 35% of searches, we mean at least one result on the page was affected, as opposed to when we've said noticeably impacted in the past, which means changes that are significant enough that an average user would notice. Using that same scale, this change noticeably impacts 6 - 10% of searches, depending on the language and domain you're searching on.
(Cross-posted on the Inside Search blog)
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Making ideas real with SketchUp
For the past decade, legions of Google SketchUp users have been quietly shaping the world around us. Two million professionals and hobbyists use this 3D modeling tool every week to design everything under the sun, including houses, room layouts, movie sets, aquariums, bridges, robots and furniture. They even rebuild cities. Chances are, even if you haven’t tried SketchUp yourself, you’ve witnessed, touched or walked inside something created by a SketchUp user.
We think it’s time these behind-the-scenes heroes get a well-deserved round of applause, so we’re starting the Make Ideas Real project. Make Ideas Real is about showcasing the intrepid inventors, designers and dreamers using SketchUp to bring their ideas to life.
If you’re a proud SketchUp modeler, please share your story with us. We’ll curate the work we receive for an online showcase launching in early 2012. Let’s show people everywhere how SketchUp users are changing the shape of our physical world.
Learn more by visiting the SketchUp blog.
We think it’s time these behind-the-scenes heroes get a well-deserved round of applause, so we’re starting the Make Ideas Real project. Make Ideas Real is about showcasing the intrepid inventors, designers and dreamers using SketchUp to bring their ideas to life.
If you’re a proud SketchUp modeler, please share your story with us. We’ll curate the work we receive for an online showcase launching in early 2012. Let’s show people everywhere how SketchUp users are changing the shape of our physical world.
Learn more by visiting the SketchUp blog.
Discovering Talented Musicians with Acoustic Analysis
In an earlier post we talked about the technology behind Instant Mix for Music Beta by Google. Instant Mix uses machine hearing to characterize music attributes such as its timbre, mood and tempo. Today we would like to talk about acoustic and visual analysis -- this time on YouTube. A fundamental part of YouTube's mission is to allow anyone anywhere to showcase their talents -- occasionally leading to life-changing success -- but many talented performers are never discovered. Part of the problem is the sheer volume of videos: forty eight hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute (that’s eight years of content every day). We wondered if we could use acoustic analysis and machine learning to pore over these videos and automatically identify talented musicians.
First we analyzed audio and visual features of videos being uploaded. We wanted to find “singing at home” videos -- often correlated with features such as ambient indoor lighting, head-and-shoulders view of a person singing in front of a fixed camera, few instruments and often a single dominant voice. Here’s a sample set of videos we found.
Then we estimated the quality of singing in each video. Our approach is based on acoustic analysis similar to that used by Instant Mix, coupled with a small set of singing quality annotations from human raters. Given these data we used machine learning to build a ranker that predicts if an average listener would like a performance.
While machines are useful for weeding through thousands of not-so-great videos to find potential stars, we know they alone can't pick the next great star. So we turn to YouTube users to help us identify the real hidden gems by playing a voting game called YouTube Slam. We're putting an equal amount of effort into the game itself -- how do people vote? What makes it fun? How do we know when we have a true hit? We're looking forward to your feedback to help us refine this process: give it a try*. You can also check out singer and voter leaderboards. Toggle “All time” to “Last week” to find emerging talent in fresh videos or all-time favorites.
Our “Music Slam” has only been running for a few weeks and we have already found some very talented musicians. Many of the videos have less than 100 views when we find them.
And while we're excited about what we've done with music, there's as much undiscovered potential in almost any subject you can think of. Try our other slams: cute, bizarre, comedy, and dance*. Enjoy!
Related work by Google Researchers:
“Video2Text: Learning to Annotate Video Content”, Hrishikesh Aradhye, George Toderici, Jay Yagnik, ICDM Workshop on Internet Multimedia Mining, 2009.
* Music and dance slams are currently available only in the US.
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