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Making search better in Catalonia, Estonia, and everywhere else
3/25/2008 01:02:00 PM Posted by Paul Haahr and Steve Baker, Software Engineers, Search Quality

We recently began a series of posts on how we harness the power of data. Earlier we told you how data has been critical to the advancement of search; about using data to make our products safe and to prevent fraud; this post is the newest in the series. -Ed.

One of the most important uses of data at Google is building language models. By analyzing how people use language, we build models that enable us to interpret searches better, offer spelling corrections, understand when alternative forms of words are needed, offer language translation, and even suggest when searching in another language is appropriate.

One place we use these models is to find alternatives for words used in searches. For example, for both English and French users, "GM" often means the company "General Motors," but our language model understands that in French searches like seconde GM, it means "Guerre Mondiale" (World War), whereas in STI GM it means "Génie Mécanique" (Mechanical Engineering). Another meaning in English is "genetically modified," which our language model understands in GM corn. We've learned this based on the documents we've seen on the web and by observing that users will use both "genetically modified" and "GM" in the same set of searches.

We use similar techniques in all languages. For example, if a Catalan user searches for resultat elecció barris BCN (searching for the result of a neighborhood election in Barcelona), Google will also find pages that use the words "resultats" or "eleccions" or that talk about "Barcelona" instead of "BCN." And our language models also tell us that the Estonian user looking for Tartu juuksur, a barber in Tartu, might also be interested in a "juuksurisalong," or "barber shop."

In the past, language models were built from dictionaries by hand. But such systems are incomplete and don't reflect how people actually use language. Because our language models are based on users' interactions with Google, they are more precise and comprehensive -- for example, they incorporate names, idioms, colloquial usage, and newly coined words not often found in dictionaries.

When building our models, we use billions of web documents and as much historical search data as we can, in order to have the most comprehensive understanding of language possible. We analyze how our users searched and how they revised their searches. By looking across the aggregated searches of many users, we can infer the relationships of words to each other.

Queries are not made in isolation -- analyzing a single search in the context of the searches before and after it helps us understand a searcher's intent and make inferences. Also, by analyzing how users modify their searches, we've learned related words, variant grammatical forms, spelling corrections, and the concepts behind users' information needs. (We're able to make these connections between searches using cookie IDs -- small pieces of data stored in visitors' browsers that allow us to distinguish different users. To understand how cookies work, watch this video.)

To provide more relevant search results, Google is constantly developing new techniques for language modeling and building better models. One element in building better language models is using more data collected over longer periods of time. In languages with many documents and users, such as English, our language models allow us to improve results deep into the "long tail" of searches, learning about rare usages. However, for languages with fewer users and fewer documents on the web, building language models can be a challenge. For those languages we need to work with longer periods of data to build our models. For example, it takes more than a year of searches in Catalan to provide a comparable amount of data as a single day of searching in English; for Estonian, more than two and a half years worth of searching is needed to match a day of English. Having longer periods of data enables us to improve search for these less commonly used languages.

At Google, we want to ensure that we can help users everywhere find the things they're looking for; providing accurate, relevant results for searches in all languages worldwide is core to Google's mission. Building extensive models of historical usage in every language we can, especially when there are few users, is an essential piece of making search work for everyone, everywhere.

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Labels: policy and issues, security

A common sense approach to Internet safety
3/25/2008 08:55:00 AM Posted by Elliot Schrage, Vice President of Global Communications and Public Affairs

Over the years, we've built tools and offered resources to help kids and families stay safe online. Our SafeSearch feature, for example, helps filter explicit content from search results.

We've also been involved in a variety of local initiatives to educate families about how to stay safe while surfing the web. Here are a few highlights:

In the U.S., we've worked with Common Sense Media to promote awareness about online safety and have donated hardware and software to improve the ability of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to combat child exploitation.

Google UK has collaborated with child safety organizations such as Beatbullying and Childnet to raise awareness about cyberbullying and share prevention messages, and with law enforcement authorities, including the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, to fight online exploitation.

Google India initiated "Be NetSmart," an Internet safety campaign created in cooperation with local law enforcement authorities that aims to educate students, parents, and teachers across the country about the great value the Internet can bring to their lives, while also teaching best practices for safe surfing.

Google France launched child safety education initiatives including Tour de France des Collèges and Cherche Net that are designed to teach kids how to use the Internet responsibly.

And Google Germany worked with the national government, industry representatives, and a number of local organizations recently to launch a search engine for children.

As part of these ongoing efforts to provide online safety resources for parents and kids, we've created Tips for Online Safety, a site designed to help families find quick links to safety tools like SafeSearch, as well as new resources, like a video offering online safety pointers that we've developed in partnership with Common Sense Media. In the video, Anne Zehren, president of Common Sense, offers easy-to-implement tips, like how to set privacy and sharing controls on social networking sites and the importance of having reasonable rules for Internet use at home with appropriate levels of supervision.

Users can also download our new Online Family Safety Guide (PDF), which includes useful Internet Safety pointers for parents, or check out a quick tutorial on SafeSearch created by one of our partner organizations, GetNetWise.

We all have roles to play in keeping kids safe online. Parents need to be involved with their kids' online lives and teach them how to make smart decisions. And Internet companies like Google need to continue to empower parents and kids with tools and resources that help put them in control of their online experiences and make web surfing safer.

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Labels: policy and issues, security

OpenSocial continues to grow: Welcome, Yahoo!
3/25/2008 07:15:00 AM Posted by Dan Peterson, Product Manager

Last November, OpenSocial was created to help build infrastructure for the social web. OpenSocial provides a common mechanism for developers to easily hook into many different social networks and extend their functionality. Sites including MySpace and orkut have begun to provide OpenSocial applications to their users, and hi5 will be rolling out next week.

Today we're pleased that Yahoo! has announced its support for OpenSocial. We're looking forward to having Yahoo! users join the hundreds of millions of people who will soon enjoy OpenSocial applications. This addition means even more distribution for developers, encourages participation by even more websites, and, most importantly, results in more features for users all across the web.

In addition, Yahoo!, MySpace, and Google are joining with the broader community to create a non-profit foundation to foster the continued open development of OpenSocial. To that end, we've also launched OpenSocial.org, designed to become the main documentation hub and primary source of information about OpenSocial. To learn more, and to get involved, please review the foundation proposal.

With that, welcome, Yahoo! We look forward to growing the social web together.
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Labels: developers, open source

The end of the FCC 700 MHz auction
3/20/2008 03:25:00 PM Posted by Richard Whitt, Washington Telecom and Media Counsel, and Joseph Faber, Corporate Counsel

This afternoon the Federal Communications Commission announced the results of its 700 MHz spectrum auction. While the Commission's anti-collusion rules prevent us from saying much at this point, one thing is clear: although Google didn't pick up any spectrum licenses, the auction produced a major victory for American consumers.

We congratulate the winners and look forward to a more open wireless world. As a result of the auction, consumers whose devices use the C-block of spectrum soon will be able to use any wireless device they wish, and download to their devices any applications and content they wish. Consumers soon should begin enjoying new, Internet-like freedom to get the most out of their mobile phones and other wireless devices.

We'll have more to say about the auction in the near future. Stay tuned.
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Labels: policy and issues

New Google AJAX Language API - Tools for translation and language detection
3/20/2008 09:44:00 AM Posted by Brandon Badger, Product Manager

The main goal of our AJAX APIs team is to provide developers with the tools needed to create the next generation of great web applications. Our 20% goal is world peace. What better way to help further both objectives than to launch a Language API? Smile

The API helps developers automatically translate content in their applications. Users on these sites will have an easier time communicating across lingual boundaries.

The Language API provides both translation and language detection. Here's an example of the translation tool in action:

You can play around with the language detection capabilities via this example widget:

For more information on how to use the Language API in your code, please refer to the documentation here.
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Labels: developers, search

Gadget maker goes global
3/19/2008 02:43:00 PM Posted by Sheridan Kates, Associate Product Manager, iGoogle

Last year we introduced a feature on iGoogle so you can create a personalized gadget with just a few clicks — no programming skills necessary. We've loved hearing all the stories from people who are enjoying this feature, such as one couple who live thousands of miles apart and use the GoogleGram gadget to send daily love notes. We've also heard from a lot of people who use the Framed Photo gadget to share the latest family snaps with relatives in far-off countries.

Here's my photo gadget from my travels in Europe and the Middle East last year:

Well, today you can do this in all 42 languages for which we support iGoogle. We're looking forward to seeing even more stories like these roll in from across the globe.

We hope you enjoy building and sharing your own gadgets, wherever in the world you might be.
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An appreciation of Arthur C. Clarke
3/19/2008 12:18:00 PM Posted by Vint Cerf, Chief Internet Evangelist, and Bill Coughran, Senior VP, Engineering

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." (Clarke's Third Law)

How do you summarize a man like Arthur C. Clarke? The 90-year-old futurist and science fiction writer, who described himself as a "serial processor", died yesterday in Sri Lanka, his long-time home. Among the authors of the Golden Age of the genre in the 1950s, Clarke is a giant whose creative ideas have found purchase in the real world -- most notably the notion of a synchronous communication satellite, which he envisioned in 1945, but which did not become a reality for 20 more years.

Clarke's The Deep Range (1957) painted a world economy that harvested the bounty of the sea and incorporated humans adapted to that environment. In his earlier works, there is a strong scientific element that lends credibility to the worlds he envisioned. His more recent work has added more deeply philosophical themes. Clarke is probably best known for his book and co-authorship with Stanley Kubrick of the screenplay for the epochal 2001: A Space Odyssey and the sequels to that cultural milestone -- but his two most compelling contributions may be the ability to envision worlds and societies based on premises other than our own, and his dramatic and effective advocacy of science and technology.

He has not squandered celebrity, but used his iconic status to draw public attention to things of global importance. We owe him gratitude not only for his remarkable talent for cerebral entertainment, but also his exceptional ability to make us think. Especially noteworthy now is this 9-minute video, which he prepared on his 90th birthday last December -- as usual, rich with forward-thinking ideas.

Not a few Googlers are who they are today because his work has been a source of inspiration and aspiration. We take a tiny bit of pride in the fact that Google is a "sufficiently advanced technology" that will make it easy for millions of people to find him.

Perhaps the most fitting summary of his life, paraphrasing the famous Vulcan greeting, is that he lived long and prospered! May his views continue to inspire for eons.
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Opening Google Docs to users and developers via Gadgets and Visualization API
3/19/2008 09:19:00 AM Posted by Jonathan Rochelle & Nir Bar-Lev, Product Managers

Whenever we're asked "how do people use Google spreadsheets?", we always struggle with where to start. It's not that we can't think of examples, it's just that the examples are all so different, so unique. Sure, there are definitely favorite themes -- sports, finance and, yes, knitting -- but then the examples become so particular to the people and groups who are using them: The beer taster's results. The nursery school class schedule. The biker's riding log. The family reunion plan. The ski-trip sign-up form. Endless examples, all of which, to spreadsheet junkies like us, are interesting.

But while we've always wanted to give people more options to view and use their information in Google Docs, we knew that trying to build all of these one at a time would simply serve too few people, given all the different ways people use and share spreadsheets.

So today we're starting a new path to better enable developers to customize and build on top of Google Docs with two new tools we are releasing today: Gadgets-in-Docs and the Visualization API.

Instead of delivering just one or two new types of reports, or a new visual map mashup (can you ever get enough of those?), we decided to deliver a platform on which anyone, not just Google, could build the next best thing. We even invited a few developers to try this with us, and they join us in this launch by featuring just a few of their creations, like Panorama's pivot table, or Viewpath's Gantt Chart, or InfoSoft's Funnel Charts -- all great tools for the student and enterprise user alike. We also built a few early gadgets ourselves which you might find useful.

We borrowed the Gadgets-in-Docs concept from the iGoogle team, so it's only fitting that you can also publish your spreadsheet gadgets to iGoogle, where you can see your data-based-Gadget right next to all that other stuff that's important to you (even if it is just a picture of your dog).

To try it out, go into Google Docs and open up a spreadsheet. Click on the chart icon, and click 'Gadget...'. Pick your gadget, customize it to fit your data, and then publish it out to iGoogle or to any webpage.

If you're a developer and want to reach millions of people with your latest creation, check out the Google Visualization API, courtesy of our visualization team engineers. The Visualization API provides a platform that can be used to create, share and reuse visualizations written by the developer community. It provides a common way (an API) to access structured data sources, the first being Google spreadsheets.
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Labels: developers, gadgets

Add your business to Local Search in India
3/18/2008 06:41:00 PM Posted by Ravi Yadavilli, Geo Content Operations Manager, and Alok Goel, Product Manager

- Do you own a restaurant in Delhi and wish more people knew about your delicacies?
- Are you an insurance agent seeking new clientele?
- Would you like more tourists for your travel agency in Goa?
- Are you a custom apparel merchandiser in Bangalore seeking to expand your customer base?

Every day several lakhs of people search the Internet seeking firms like yours. It will help you to be listed in Google local search. It's really simple to add your business, and it's free. Call us at 1-800-419-4444 (in India only, for your Indian-based business), SMS "register" to 09900800000, or just add your listing.

Spending a few minutes on this can make all the difference to your business - why not do it now?
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Labels: search

Google for Non-Profits
3/18/2008 01:15:00 PM Posted by Chris Busselle, Investments Manager, Google.org

Many of you spend your days making this world a better place, and we want to do our part to help. Today, we're excited to launch Google For Non-Profits, a one-stop shop for tools to help advance your organization's mission in a smart, cost-efficient way.

This site features ideas and tutorials for how you can use Google tools to promote your work, raise money and operate more efficiently. And to get inspired, you'll also find examples of innovative ways other non-profits are using our products to further their causes. Here are some of the ideas covered:

When you're writing a grant application, don't get stuck emailing drafts back and forth. Try Google Docs to collaborate on documents with your colleagues.

Cut costs and save time with Google-hosted email at your own domain. Access your e-mail from any computer with an Internet connection.

Accept online donations without hassle and with no transaction fees until 2009 with Google Checkout.

Apply for free online advertising through our Google Grants program to raise awareness and drive traffic to your website.

Start a blog to keep your supporters informed and engaged.

We'd also love to hear your own stories about how Google tools have made a difference in your organization's work.