Smarter holiday shopping with Google Chrome Extensions (beta!)

Since we launched extensions for Google Chrome on the beta channel for Windows and Linux a few weeks ago, we've seen over 1,000 extensions submitted to the gallery. Several of them have already become browser staples for me. But since I've been spending most all of my free time online doing holiday shopping this December, I found myself relying on a few extensions to find the perfect gifts and great deals.

If you're doing some last-minute holiday shopping in the coming days, one extension to try out is InvisibleHand. This extension discreetly notifies you if a product you are looking at on a particular online store is available for less from another retailer.

Also, the Google Checkout team recently released Promotion Notifier, an extension that alerts you if the online store you're browsing is offering special deals for purchases made through Google Checkout. If so, a notification banner pops up with details such as the discount amount and the minimum purchase required.

Another extension you might find useful is the one created by Woot.com. With just one click to the extension's icon, you can find some really memorable items that are on sale on a particular day at Woot.com (like night vision goggles!).

If you're on the beta channel for Windows or Linux versions of Google Chrome, visit the gallery to browse many more extensions (including extensions from eBay and Kaboodle) that might make last-minute online shopping faster, easier, and maybe a little less stressful. Happy Holidays!

Posted by Christos Apartoglou, Product Marketing Manager

Template spotlight: Gift tags

Once you've bought all your gifts and wrapped them, the last step is to label them. The holiday gift tag (string of lights theme) and holiday gift tag (snowflake theme) templates are perfect for adding that final touch. Simply customize the labels and print them out.



If you're looking for more themes, Avery Dennison also has some great gift tag templates to choose from.

Posted by: Peter Harbison, Product Marketing Manager

It's been real, 2009

Posted by Jason Toff, Associate Product Marketing Manager

Ah 2009...turning five, finally shedding that beta label, and adding more than 40 new features. As we wind down after a busy year, here's a look back at a handful of our favorite additions to Gmail.  We hope you enjoy trying them out as much as we enjoyed building them.

• Tasks, onto your phone and out of Labs
• An improved mobile experience, including push Gmail and a complete redesign
• Four new themes to make Gmail sparkle
• Offline Gmail and its graduation from Labs
• Drag and drop labels
• More fast previews, including PowerPoint and TIFF
• Multi-select attachments for faster, smoother file sharing
• A way to eliminate duplicate contacts with a single button
• More storage for less moolah
• Lots of new labs experiments, including undo send, automatic message translation, and "Got the wrong bob?"

On behalf of the entire Gmail team, happy holidays! See you next year.

Indigenous Mapping: A new Google technology workshop for tribal peoples

Indigenous people worldwide face special challenges in planning, policy and advocacy work. Issues such as cultural preservation, sovereignty, land use management, and handling mineral rights are just a few that they have to tackle. Recognizing this, we're happy to announce that Google and the Indigenous Mapping Network are teaming up to put on a two day workshop on the Google campus to teach people from native communities how to use Google's mapping technologies.

The mission of IMN has been to empower native communities by connecting them with the tools they need to protect, preserve, and enhance their way of life within their aboriginal territories. And they endeavor to bridge the gap between traditional "mapping" practices and modern mapping technologies.

On February 25th and 26th, 2010, Google and IMN will host a workshop on the Google campus for members and staff of indigenous groups who want to learn about Google geospatial and mobile technologies. This hands-on workshop will approach Google technologies with the special concerns of indigenous communities in mind, and will focus on the technical aspects of using Google Earth, Google Maps, Sketchup, Android mobile phones and Open Data Kit, among other technologies. Special attention will be given to:

• privacy and security of data
• mobile data collection
• data conversion from proprietary to open formats
• case studies blending geospatial technologies and traditional knowledge (see our previous posts: Tribe Teams with Google to make stand in Amazon, Trading Bows and Arrows for Laptops)
• Google Earth as a new storytelling medium: how to create compelling narrative-driven visualizations

We are very excited to be hosting this event, and look forward to a long relationship with IMN. For more information and to register for this workshop, go to the IMN website.

Posted by Mano Marks, Geo Developer Advocate, and Rebecca Moore, Manager, Google Earth Outreach

Happy Holidays!

2009 has been a year filled with lots of product changes, many scholarship opportunities, programs and competitions geared specifically for students. We've had so much fun working on ways to improve our connection to and relationship with students like you. So thanks for subscribing to our blog, following us on Twitter, and becoming fans on Facebook. We can't wait for all that's in store for 2010, and in the meantime -- Happy Holidays.


Posted by Miriam Schneider, Education marketing team

Download Up in the Air torrent

Download Up in the Air torrent ( Coming soon)

Download Did You Hear About the Morgans? torrent

Download Did You Hear About the Morgans? torrent ( Coming soon)

Download Avatar torrent

Download Avatar torrent ( Coming soon)

Reflections on our Africa Adventures

[Cross-posted from the Official Google Africa Blog]

From late October to early November, the Google Earth Outreach team, along with Googlers from our Africa and Geo teams, participated in several events in East Africa.

During the AfricaGIS 2009 conference in Kampala, Uganda, plenary sessions by Google Earth Outreach Manager Rebecca Moore and Geo Evangelist Ed Parsons spoke to the importance of access and and development of geographic data in Africa, and encouraged people to attend some of our 14 workshops on various Google Geo tools. Our colleagues from Save the Elephants, Mapping Africa's Protected Areas (MAPA) and the UN Environment Programme presented on a panel and answered questions from the audience about their Google Earth Layers. What struck us about these workshops was the high level of interest and excitement from the huge number of attendees we had at every workshop, and their desire for greater access to geospatial information and adoption of cutting-edge technologies developed weeks earlier, like the Google Fusion Tables map visualization tools.


Google Earth Outreach launched our program to most countries in Africa, also releasing an Africa microsite specially for African users. The Google Earth & Maps for Non-profits grants program is now available in most African countries, and NGOs are encouraged to apply for software grants. If you're an African NGO, apply now!

Posted by Tanya Keen, Google Earth Outreach

Google Docs celebrates the holidays with templates and launches

The Google Docs team is celebrating the holidays in big ways this year. With nine launches in the last two weeks - and a gallery full of festive templates - there will be no shortage of cheer!

Holiday Templates:

There are a lot of great holiday templates available in the Google Docs template gallery. Templates include holiday shopping lists, holiday newsletters, party invitations, RSVP forms and much more. Whether you are planning a recipe swap, family potluck, ski trip, a charity trip or need a party RSVP form, the new holiday themes in forms can also make this season a little brighter. To try out the holiday themes, create a form and the click "Theme: theme name" to see all the themes that are available.

The Docs team has also launched several new features, just in time for the holidays:

• Real-time presence for presentations: now when editing a presentation with a co-editor, you can see which slides he or she is editing, and if you're on the same slide, you can see which element – text box, shape, image, video, etc -- is being edited.
• Sharing emails get a face-lift: More colorful emails and icons now indicate the type of document at-a-glance, better showcasing custom messages and making access even more simple.
• Sort by relevance: When searching your docs, results will now display the items most relevant to your search at the top of the list.
• Export all documents: We've also added an "Export all" option, which lets you export all your docs (up to 2GB at a time) with one click. This is the equivalent of almost 100,000 Google Docs.
• Change owner in a spreadsheet: A feature already available for documents and presentations, you can now change the owner of a spreadsheet. This is helpful if you are working in a group and the owner of the document leaves your group or no longer needs to work on that document.

We hope you enjoy these holiday treats when using Google Docs this holiday season. And stay tuned for more helpful updates in 2010.

Posted by Peter Harbison, Google Docs team