Thursday, September 30, 2010

Google Friends Newsletter - September 2010

Greetings to our Google Friends. We hope you enjoy this month's update
on our products and services.

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POWER TIP

Gmail Priority Inbox

Priority Inbox helps you get through your email faster by putting
important messages at the top of your inbox. Gmail uses a variety of
signals to automatically identify what's important, including which
messages you open and which you reply to. Incoming messages get
separated into three customizable sections: "Important and unread,"
"Starred," and "Everything else." To try it out, click the Settings
link in the upper right-hand corner of your Gmail account and visit
the Priority Inbox tab.
http://www.gmail.com/priorityinbox

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NEW PRODUCTS & UPDATES

Google Instant

Google Instant is a new search enhancement that shows results as you
type. Now, you get to the right content much faster—you don't have to
finish typing your full search term or even press "Search." Use the
results from what you've already typed as feedback to help you
formulate a better search term, and adapt your search on the fly until
the results match exactly what you want.
http://www.google.com/instant

U.S. midterm ratings comparison map

Many people are interested in how the balance of power between
Democrats and Republicans will shake out after the U.S. elections on
November 2. We've worked with some of the top names in politics—Cook,
Rothenberg, CQ-Roll Call and RealClearPolitics—to make it easier to
track the daily changes in the political landscape on an interactive
Google map.
http://maps.google.com/elections2010

Google Health updates

We've redesigned Google Health to make it easier for you to act on and
understand your personal health information. A new easier-to-use
dashboard brings together even more of your health and wellness
information, and a new wellness features lets you set personal health
and wellness goals for yourself and track your progress online. You
can set customized trackers, like how much exercise you get a week or
how much coffee you drink a day, and keep a journal on your progress.
And if you select a wellness goal, condition, medication or topic
you're tracking, you'll get relevant and customized news and
information from Google search results and other trusted content.
https://health.google.com

New website for Google Earth

Our new website for Google Earth is one place to find everything
you're looking for. The new site is loaded with lots of content
including images, videos, tours, maps and tutorials on how to get
started. Take a look and see all the ways you can explore the world
around you.
http://earth.google.com

Seven continents of Street View

We've added Street View imagery of Antarctica, Brazil and Ireland, so
you can now explore all seven continents with Street View. See the
famous beaches of Brazil, the rolling landscapes of Ireland, the icy
terrain of Antarctica and other spots around the world from a street-
level perspective. You may even spot some penguins!
http://maps.google.com/sevencontinents

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MISCELLANY (PR)

Arcade Fire

"The Wilderness Downtown" is a musical experience made specifically
for the browser, created by writer/director Chris Milk with the band
Arcade Fire and Google. It's personalized to you, so it takes you down
memory lane through the streets you grew up in, set to Arcade Fire's
song "We Used to Wait." It was built with Google Chrome in mind and
features the latest web technologies including HTML5, Google Maps, an
integrated drawing tool and multiple browser windows that move around
the screen.
http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com

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The Google Blog offers frequent updates and insights about our technology and products, and the company at large.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com

--------------------------------------------------
Share Google Friends with a friend through Google Groups (includes subscribe/unsubscribe information).
http://groups.google.com/group/google-friends

--------------------------------------------------
Google Friends archive:
http://groups.google.com/group/google-friends/topics

Google Friends archive prior to May 2005:
http://www.google.com/googlefriends/archive.html

To unsubscribe from the Google Friends Newsletter, send an empty message to:
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Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Google Friends Newsletter - August 2010

Greetings to our Google Friends. We hope you enjoy this month's update
on our products and services.

------------
POWER TIP

Phone calls from Gmail

Now you can call any phone right from within Gmail. Dialing a phone
number works just like a normal phone—just click "Call phone" at the
top of your chat list, and dial a number or enter a contact's name. At
the moment, this feature is only for Gmail users in the U.S. Calls to
the U.S. and Canada will be free for at least the rest of 2010, and
calls to other countries will be billed at our very low rates.
http://www.gmail.com/call

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NEW PRODUCTS & UPDATES

New design for Google Translate

Google Translate has a fresh look that makes it easier than ever to
translate text, web pages and documents. The new design also
highlights many of Google Translate's coolest features, including the
ability to search across languages, translate incoming email in Gmail
or take Google Translate with you on your phone.
http://translate.google.com

Homepage for Realtime Search

Google Realtime Search now has its own homepage, where you'll find
tools to help you refine and understand your results. We've added
geographic refinements to find updates and news in a region you
specify, and a conversations view that makes it easy to follow a
discussion on the real-time web. We also added "Updates" content to
Google Alerts, making it easier to stay informed about the topics you
choose.
http://www.google.com/realtime

Voice Actions for Android

These are a series of spoken commands that let you control your
Android phone using your voice. You can send texts, listen to music,
browse the web, send email and more—just by speaking into your phone.
To use Voice Actions, tap the microphone button on the Google search
box on your home screen, or press down for a few seconds on the
physical search button on your phone to activate the "Speak Now"
screen. Voice Actions are currently available for English speakers in
the U.S., and require Froyo (Android 2.2).
http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2010/08/just-speak-it-introducing-voice-actions.html

Responding to the floods in Pakistan

Our Crisis Response team has been working to help relief efforts in
Pakistan by making critical information more accessible. We launched a
page in Urdu and English for finding information, resources and
donation opportunities to help flood victims. Person Finder is
available in English and Urdu, as is a tool called Resource Finder to
help with disseminating information around medical facilities.
http://www.google.com/crisisresponse/pakistan_floods.html

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MISCELLANY

Earlier this month we shared a handful of stories from people who have
used Google in interesting ways that helped them solve a problem large
or small. Their stories range from the mundane—finding the
manufacturer of a frying pan, or the composer of a song—to the
sublime: finding a long-lost love, welcoming a brand-new family member
into the world. Enjoy these stories, and if you have a Google story of
your own, share it with us by clicking on the second link below.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/search/label/yourgooglestories
https://services.google.com/fb/forms/sharesuccess/

--
The Google Blog offers frequent updates and insights about our technology and products, and the company at large.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com

--------------------------------------------------
Share Google Friends with a friend through Google Groups (includes subscribe/unsubscribe information).
http://groups.google.com/group/google-friends

--------------------------------------------------
Google Friends archive:
http://groups.google.com/group/google-friends/topics

Google Friends archive prior to May 2005:
http://www.google.com/googlefriends/archive.html

To unsubscribe from the Google Friends Newsletter, send an empty message to:
google-friends-unsubscribe@googlegroups.com

Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043