Europe Blog
Our views on the Internet and society
Bringing online a venerable Roman Catholic archive
Friday, April 5, 2013
Jesuits have published
La Civiltà Cattolica
without interruptions since 1850, making it among the oldest and most prestigious of Catholic periodicals. The title’s name translates as "The Catholic Civilization" and it offers a dialogue between faith and culture.
Today, at a press conference held at the Vatican, Civiltà Cattolica’s editor in chief
Antonio Spadaro
announced that a large portion of the publication’s voluminous archives were being made available online, thanks to
Google’s book project
. The older, public domain issues long have been available to users of Google Book Search. But now, La Civiltà Cattolica has authorized us to make the complete set of issues, up through 2007 available in full view, worldwide, for free.
Civilta Cattolica held a press conference today at the Vatican
The issues have been scanned from libraries around the world, ranging from the University of Michigan to Oxford to the Bibliotheque Municipale de Lyon. Examples are this
issue
from 1976 and this
one
from 2007.
The online archives illustrate La Civiltà Cattolica’s and church history. Easy access will allow researchers and readers to probe the publication’s much debated positions and influence on issues ranging from anti-semitism to the Second Vatican Council reforms.
This is only La Civiltà Cattolica’s latest initiative to engage its readers through the Internet. It is reaching out through all forms of social media, from Facebook to YouTube to Twitter. During today's press conference, Spadaro explained that sharing of the publication's digital content represents an important step forward in reaching global audiences of all ages.
We’re delighted to help offer access to such an important digital resource.
Posted by Giorgia Abeltino, Public Policy & Gov't Relations Counsel, Italy
Urban art, zoomorphic whistles and Hungarian poetry
Thursday, March 21, 2013
There are few places (if any) in the world where you could find urban art, zoomorphic whistles* and Hungarian poetry in a single place—except, of course, on the Internet.
Today 30 new partners are joining the
Google Art Project
, contributing nearly 2,000 diverse works including contemporary art from
Latin America
, ancient art from
China
, rare
Japanese
paintings and Palaeolithic flint heads from
Spain
.
One highlight of the new collection is a
project
to capture the growing trend of urban art and graffiti in Brazil. More than 100 works from walls, doors and galleries in São Paulo have been photographed and will be included in the Art Project. The pieces were chosen by a group of journalists, artists and graffiti experts and include artists such as
Speto
,
Kobra
and
Space Invader
, as well as images of São Paulo’s most famous building-size murals. You can see the contrast in styles in the
Compare
tool and image below.
Photography features strongly in the works our partners are bringing online this time around. The
Fundacion MAPFRE
in Spain showcases one of the largest collections with more than 300 photos from a number of renowned photographers. For example, you can explore Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide’s black and white
images
of indigenous Mexican culture inspired by themes of ritual, death and feminism.
The Art Project is also becoming a home to rare and precious items which move beyond paintings.
Petőfi Literary Museum
in Hungary has contributed the Nemzeti Dal or “
National Song
,” a Hungarian poem which is said to have been the inspiration for the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. The original document has rarely been seen in public to prevent humidity and light fading the script further. Online now for the first time, it can be explored by anyone in the world.
With 40,000+ artworks to explore from more than 200 museums in more than 40 countries, we look forward to seeing these new works feature in hundreds of thousands of user galleries you have created to date. Keep an eye on our
Google+ page
for more details about the new collections.
*ceramic whistles in the shape of animals!
Posted by Shahina Rahman, Google Art Project
Sharing stories of Bletchley Park: home of the code-breakers
Thursday, March 14, 2013
For decades, the World War II codebreaking centre at Bletchley Park was one of the U.K.’s most closely guarded secrets. Today, it’s a poignant place to visit and reflect on the achievements of those who worked there. Their outstanding feats of intellect, coupled with breakthrough engineering and dogged determination, were crucial to the Allied victory—and in parallel, helped kickstart the computing age.
We’ve long been keen to help
preserve
and
promote
the importance of Bletchley Park. Today we’re announcing two new initiatives that we hope will bring its story to a wider online audience.
First, we’re welcoming the
Bletchley Park Trust
as the latest partner to join
Google’s Cultural Institute
. Their
digital exhibit
features material from Bletchley’s archives, providing a vivid snapshot of the work that went on cracking secret messages and the role this played in shortening the war. Included are
images of the Bombe machines
that helped crack the
Enigma code
; and of
Colossus
, the
world’s first programmable electronic computer
, used to crack the German High Command code—including
this message
showing the Germans had been successfully duped about the location for the D-Day invasion.
Second, as a followup to
our film about Colossus
, we’re pleased to share a personal story of
the Bombe
, as told by one of its original operators,
Jean Valentine
. Women like Jean made up the majority of Bletchley Park’s personnel—ranging from cryptographers, to machine operators, to clerks. In her role operating the Bombe, Jean directly helped to decipher messages encoded by Enigma. In this film Jean gives us a firsthand account of life at Bletchley Park during the war, and demonstrates how the Bombe worked using a replica machine now on show at the museum.
We hope you enjoy learning more about Bletchley Park and its fundamental wartime role and legacy. For more glimpses of history, explore the Cultural Institute’s other exhibitions on
www.google.com/culturalinstitute
.
Posted by Marzia Niccolai, Technical Program Manager, Google Cultural Institute
Introducing Art Talks on Google +
Monday, March 4, 2013
Cross-posted with the
Official Google Blog
An excellent guide often best brings an art gallery or museum’s collections to life. Starting this week, we’re hoping to bring this experience online with “Art Talks,” a series of Hangouts on Air on our Google Art Project
Google+ page
. Each month, curators, museum directors, historians and educators from some of the world’s most renowned cultural institutions will reveal the hidden stories behind particular works, examine the curation process and provide insights into particular masterpieces or artists.
The first guided visit will be held this Wednesday, March 6 at 8pm ET from
The Museum of Modern Art
. Deborah Howes, Director of Digital Learning, along with a panel of artists and students, will discuss how to teach art online. To post a question, visit the
event page
. If this talk falls too late for you to tune in live, you can watch afterward on our Google Art Project
YouTube channel
.
The next talk is from London. On March 20, Caroline Campbell and Arnika Schmidt from the
National Gallery
will discuss depictions of the female nude. Details are available on the Art Project’s
event page
. In April we’ll host a panel examining one of the Google Art Project’s popular gigapixel works,
Bruegel’s “Tower of Babel,”
featuring Peter Parshall, curator at the
National Gallery of Art
in Washington.
Additional talks are planned by curators from high-profile institutions such as
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
, the
Museum of Contemporary Art
in Los Angeles, the
Museo Nacional de Arte
in Mexico and the
Museum of Islamic Art
in Qatar.
Google Art Project aims to make art more accessible to all. We hope that Art Talks is the next step in bringing art to your armchair, wherever you are in the world, with just a click of a button. Stay tuned to the
Art Project
and
Cultural Institute
Google+ pages for more information on dates and times of these online lectures.
Posted by Lucy Schwartz, Google Cultural Institute
Exploring the web at Winterakademie 2013
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
During the winter holidays, 100 kids and teens from Berlin gathered for the 8th
Winterakademie
at
Theater an der Parkaue
, one of the biggest children’s theatres in Germany.
The goal of this annual event is to provide an opportunity for young people to immerse themselves in a topic and express it through the medium of art and theatre. In previous years, attendees have explored themes such as identity, future and money. This year’s choice was “if we were the web”—a topic Google was delighted to support.
Working with drama teachers and other experts to get their creativity flowing, those attending explored many different facets of the web. For example:
A group of 8 to 11 year olds focused on the concept of an Internet of things. They constructed a model home from cardboard and fluorescent tape. On shelves, closets, tables, the dishwasher and fridge they attached
RFID tags
connected to self-recorded audio samples—presenting their visions for smart living.
A team of 16 to 20 year olds put the web to work raising money for the World Food Programme. Starting with a giveaway ballpoint pen, they set out to swap it for increasingly valuable objects until they got a mansion. While that goal proved overly ambitious, during the course of the event they did succeed in exchanging objects to the value of 1,600 Euros -- bringing on board two politicians and getting
their story in a local newspaper
.
I was delighted to take part, joining attendees over lunch to speak about web-based collaboration and Google’s perspectives on the future of communication. In the lively discussion that followed, I enjoyed hearing their thoughts, concerns and philosophies on this and many other Internet-related topics.
Overall, the event was great fun as well as a great learning opportunity for all those who took part. It’s clear the future of the web is bright in their creative hands.
Posted by Sabine Frank, Policy Counsel, Berlin
Preserving and sharing rich Slovak folklore
Monday, February 11, 2013
The dancers wore colorful linen dresses, a design dating back to the times of the Austro Hungarian Empire. They hopped and skipped to violin-infused beats drawn from the Tatra Mountains. Slovakia boasts a rich history, folklore and traditions and we are delighted to bring it online in a year-long program titled
Google to a Slovak Note
.
At the project’s recent launch event in Bratislava, the Google Slovak team dressed up in traditional costumes and danced to traditional tunes.
Our project aims to support Slovak tourism and encourage the country’s young generation to remember their roots and heritage. The initiative has been welcomed by Slovakia’s Ministry of Culture, as adding to the important work already undertaken by our partners, the Slovak Folk Art Ensembles Lúčnica, the Slovak Cultural Center and SĽUK.
Google products are being mobilized in the effort to bring Slovak culture online. Our
Street View
brings online both Slovakia’s man-made and physical beauty. Google maps now include panoramic images of beautiful Slovak towns, as well as soaring peaks of the Tatra and Pieniny National Park and the National Park Slovak Karst. Spa lovers can go on a virtual walk visiting many of Slovak’s famous spas, including Piešťany spa, Bardejovské spa, Rajecké and Trenčianske Teplice. Additional sights of historic interest will be added over the coming year.
The Google homepage doodle is dedicating space to the cause. On launch day, the Google doodle featured
Juraj Janosik
– Slovakia’s version of Robin Hood. Previously there have also been doodles celebrating leading Slovak writers, such as
Ľudovít Štúr
,
Martin Kukučín
and
Anton Bernolák
.
Google is also helping to digitise classic Slovak literary works, such as the first Slovak grammar book, “Grammatica Slavica”, which helped transform a spoken dialect into a literary language. Written by Anton Bernolák in 1790, this is just one of 50,000 original Slavic works from the period of the Austro-Hungarian Empire housed in the Austrian National Library in Vienna.
For more information on specific projects, consult the website
naslovenskunotu.sk
program.
Posted by Janka Zichova, Communications Manager, Czech Republic and Slovakia
The sky is rising for Europe’s content industries
Friday, February 8, 2013
The Internet is sometimes accused of damaging the traditional entertainment industry. But a new study shows that the opposite is true: the Internet is driving creativity and revenue opportunities in a way never before seen. The report, sponsored by
CCIA,
a trade association that counts Google as a member, and produced by market research firm
Floor64
. It concludes that both production and revenues are increasing in six key European markets for the book, video game, film, and music industries.
A
previous version
published in 2012 concluded that rising consumer spending likely boosted the entertainment industry in the United States by 50 percent in the decade since 2000.
The
present report
looks at France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain, and the United Kingdom. It shows how the Internet offers creators and artists opportunities to thrive. Technology and online platforms are helping creators make more money every year, both online and offline. The eBook market, for example, saw double-digit growth in all jurisdictions studied between 2010 to 2011.
The Internet brings big benefits to content makers. It lowers their cost of production and distribution, while opening up a new online market. In Germany, for example,
Sami Slimani
started a lifestyle and fashion channel on YouTube and now has hundreds of thousands of subscribers and over 70 millions views. In the UK, The
Slow Mo Guys
began experimenting with high-speed cameras in 2004 and now have well over a million subscribers to their YouTube channel.
Online platforms are expanding fast. On YouTube, video uploads have been increasing exponentially. By the end of 2012, more than 72 hours of video was being uploaded to YouTube every minute, a 30% jump from the beginning of the year. YouTube is also paying out more money to our partners. Thousands of channels are now earning over six-figures a year. The music industry alone is currently making hundreds of millions of dollars annually from having their content on YouTube.
We are in a time of transition from one model of production and distribution of media and culture. While certainly that transition won’t be easy for everyone, the future remains bright for European artists, creators, and the industries that support them.
Posted by Alex Kozak,, Public Policy and Government Relations Analyst
Promoting Arab Culture Online
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
The
Qatar Foundation
recently welcomed more than 400 guests to its shining new auditorium in Doha to celebrate their joint love of all things Arabic. They came to hear about the growing number of locally produced Arabic videos on YouTube - particularly the film Super.Full by Lebanese film-maker and
YouTube “Your Film Festival”
finalist Naim Itani
The Doha event was just one highlight of
Google’s Arabic Web Days
, promoting Arabic content online. Today, just three percent of content on the web is in Arabic, even though more than five percent of the world’s web users speak it as their mother tongue. Arabic Web Days showed a deep hunger for more local content. More than half million users showed interest for the campaign, viewing the Arabic Web Days
website
and YouTube
channel
.
Arabic Web Day events took place in countries across the Middle East, involving a wide range of companies and organisations. In Abu Dhabi, we
partnered
with TED and announced a global initiative to enable volunteers to add Arabic subtitles to TED videos. In Jordan, more than 400 developers received training on with Google Translate and a Wikipedia training session encouraged 510 attendees to create articles in Arabic. In Dubai, we ran a training session on online Arabic language tools for journalists at the Dubai Press Club.
Politicians joined in too. In Egypt, the Ministry of Education announced an initiative to create online portals for Arabic educational content. Tunisia's Prime Minister participated in an
online discussion
with bloggers to talk about Arabic content online. The
Telecommunications Regulation Authority
in the United Arab Emirates celebrated an official
“Arabic Web Day”
with workshops on how to help grow the Arabic web.
For a full look, search for
“Arabic Web Days”
on Google+ (in Arabic, of course!).
Posted by Maha Abouelenein, Head of Communications, Middle East and North Africa
Celebrating five decades of Franco-German friendship
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
France and Germany today celebrate 50 years since the signing of the Elysee Treaty in Paris by French President Charles de Gaulle and German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer. The treaty marked a dramatic move away from hostility towards an era of unprecedented cooperation. The two nations soon came together as founding members of the European Union and to forge a partnership that would usher in an era of peace and prosperity in Europe.
We have worked with the
German-Franco Institute
,
German-Franco University
and
The Office for French-German Youth
to put together a
series of online exhibitions
which tell the stories behind this Franco-German friendship.
Videos
,
photos
,
documents
and expert commentary tell the human impact of the accord and chart the exchanges, academic cooperation and friendships launched by the treaty.
From
cultural institute
A particular highlight is a digital copy of the original
Elysee Treaty
supplied by the
German Foreign Office
. Visitors may zoom in to read the details of the agreement. Videos from the
Memory of the Nation
project explain what the postwar political relationship has meant to ordinary citizens. Testimony from people present in the crowd during De Gaulle’s
speech
to the German Youth calling Germany a ‘great nation’ and
photos
from the 300,000 exchanges between French and German youths help to capture the spirit of the new partnership. Around 170 multimedia items chart the history of how the Treaty led to the formation of the European Union and the evolution of the French-German relationship to the
present day
.
As well as being available online, our exhibitions and other information about the Franco-German partnership are being displayed in the German Foreign Office in Berlin and were unveiled by Deputy Minister of the German Foreign Office, Georg Michael Link, and the French Minister for European Affairs, Bernard Cazeneuve. The displays are open to the public until mid-March, additional information can be found
here
.
The five decades of Franco-German partnership represent the latest chapter in the work of the Google Cultural Institute, which aims to promote and preserve culture online. You can explore all its exhibitions on
www.google.com/culturalinstitute
and follow us on our
Google+ page
.
Posted by Philipp Bieberstein, Google Cultural Institute
Discover Israel on Google Maps
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Last April
we released panoramic imagery of sites and streets in Jerusalem, Haifa and Tel Aviv-Jaffa via the
Street View
feature of Google Maps. Since then, people from all over the world have explored historical and cultural sites such as the
Western Wall
in Jerusalem’s Old City, the
Baha’i Gardens
in Haifa and the
beaches
of Tel Aviv-Jaffa.
Today, as part of our ongoing effort to make Google Maps even more comprehensive and accurate, we’re publishing street-level imagery of hundreds more cities, towns, villages, heritage sites and tourist attractions across Israel.
You can now virtually tour the picturesque city of
Safed
in the North, the coral reef in
Eilat
in the South, visit the lowest point on earth at the
Dead Sea
, and wander around the narrow passageways of the old city of
Acre
.
Visit
Tiberias
, one of Judaism’s four holy cities; the
Sea of Galilee
where, according to the Gospels, Jesus walked on water; and stop off at
Capernaum
, the ancient fishing village believed to be the home of St. Peter, or the ancient battle site of
Tel Meggido
, better known as Armageddon.
View Larger Map
Capernaum, on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee
The ancient Nabataean cities of
Mamshit
and
Shivta
, both of them UNESCO world heritage sites, can also now be seen directly in Google Maps. Tour around the
Bet She’an National Park
, one of the world’s largest archaeological sites; the Crusader fortress overlooking the excavations at
Tzippori
; or the sandstone and copper-rich nature reserve at
Timna
. Enjoy the colorful Druze market town of Daliyat El Carmel, the Bedouin town of Rahat, or take a ride down the ‘Burma Road’, a makeshift bypass road to Jerusalem built in 1948.
View Larger Map
The 'Mushroom' red sandstone rock formation at Timna
Sports fans can even go inside
Ramat Gan Stadium
or
Bloomfield
. And museum lovers can take in Haifa’s
National Museum of Science, Technology & Space
, the Holocaust Museum at
Kibbutz Yad Mordechai
, the Ghetto Fighters Museum at
Kibbutz Lochamei Ha’getaot
, the
Museum of Bedouin Culture
in the Negev desert, or take a tour around the
Egged Bus Museum
.
We’ve added imagery from cities, towns and villages including Ashdod, Ashkelon, Be’er Sheva, Bnei Brak, Eilat, Isfyia, Kfar Qasem, Kiryat Gat, Nazareth, Netanya, Ofakim, Petah Tikva, Rishon LeTsiyon, Sderot, Tira, and many, many more. And stay tuned - we hope to expand coverage to still more of the region’s sites, streets, cities and towns in the future.
Posted by Ulf Spitzer, Street View Program Manager
Explore Spain's Jewish heritage online
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
More than a year ago, I spoke at a literary festival in
Segovia
, a charming, historic city located north of Madrid and was surprised to see many signs pointing to a "Jewish neighborhood," complete with a cemetery, former shops and restored synagogue-turned-museum. This was strong evidence of how, under democracy, Spain is doing much to rediscover its long neglected Jewish past.
Today, in a ceremony at Madrid's sparkling new
Centro Sefarad-Israel
, we are partnering with
Red de Juderías de España
,the Network of Jewish neighborhoods, a non-profit association founded in 1995, to bring online the Jewish heritage of 24 Spanish cities, from Avila to Tudela. The project, stemming from the inspiration in Segovia, is called
Caminos de Sefarad
- Spain's Jewish Streets. By clicking to the group’s
website
, users from all over the world may visit and tour the cities discover Spain’s Jewish past.
Red de Juderías has implemented
Google Maps
technology so that people can explore the main landmarks online. Clicking on a landmark reveals historical information about each site - and enables a 360º view of the different locations, thanks to Google’s
Street View technology
. An intuitive search panel presents Jewish heritage sites by category, type, geographic zone and date. In total, 523 sites, 910 dates, and 1,667 pictures are displayed.
Interactive map showing the Santa Maria La Blanca Synagogue
Chronology of the Jewish history in Spain
This project represents only one of our latest efforts to bring the Jewish culture online. A little over a year ago, we helped put online
five manuscripts
of the Dead Sea Scrolls. This week, the Leon Levy
Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library
, an online collection of more than 5,000 scroll fragments, were uploaded in high definition. The texts include the
Ten Commandments
and part of the
Book of Genesis
, which describes the creation of the world.
We hope this new project will inspire you to learn more about Spain’s Jewish history, and perhaps to visit these cities in person.
Posted by William Echikson, Google External Relations, Europe, Middle East and Africa
Genesis and the 10 Commandments scrolls now online
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
A little over a year ago, we
helped put online
five manuscripts of the Dead Sea Scrolls - ancient documents that include the oldest known biblical manuscripts in existence. Written more than 2,000 years ago on pieces of parchment and papyrus, they were preserved by the hot, dry desert climate and the darkness of the caves in which they were hidden. The Scrolls are possibly the most important archaeological discovery of the 20th century.
Today, we’re helping put more of these ancient treasures online. The Israel Antiquities Authority is launching the
Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library
, an online collection of some 5,000 images of scroll fragments in a quality never seen before. The texts include one of the earliest known copies of the Book of Deuteronomy, which includes
the Ten Commandments
; part of Chapter 1 of the
Book of Genesis
, which describes the creation of the world; and hundreds more 2,000-year-old texts, shedding light on the time when Jesus lived and preached, and on the history of Judaism.
The Ten Commandments. Photo credit Shai Halevi, courtesy of Israel Antiquities Authority
Millions of users and scholars can discover and decipher details invisible to the naked eye, at 1215 dpi resolution. The site displays infrared and color images that are equal in quality to the Scrolls themselves. There’s a database containing information for about 900 of the manuscripts, as well as interactive content pages. We’re thrilled to have been able to help this project through hosting on Google Storage and App Engine, and use of Maps, YouTube and Google image technology.
Genesis Chapter 1. Photo credit Shai Halevi, courtesy of Israel Antiquities Authority
This partnership with the Israel Antiquities Authority is part of our ongoing work to bring important cultural and historical materials online, to make them accessible and help preserve them for future generations. Other examples include the
Yad Vashem Holocaust photo collection
,
Google Art Project
,
World Wonders
and the
Google Cultural Institute
.
We hope you enjoy visiting the Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library, or any of these other projects, and interacting with history.
Posted by Eyal Miller, New Business Development, and Yossi Matias, Head of Israel Research and Development Center
Join the Arabic Web Days movement
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Cross-posted with the
Official Google Blog
Arabic content on the web represents just 3 percent of the total digital content online—yet Arabic speakers make up more than 5 percent of the global population. To help build a vibrant Arabic web, we’ve created Arabic Web Days, an initiative in the Middle East and North Africa focused on boosting the amount of Arabic content online. (
Note
: the video below is in Arabic only.)
For the next 30 days, we’re holding a series of online and offline events along with our partners Vinelab, Wamda, Yamli and Taghreedat, as well as Twitter, Wikipedia, TED, Soundcloud, and regional organizations Al Arabiya, TwoFour54 and Qatar Foundation’s Qatari Computing Research Institute. Here’s how you can get involved:
Participate in a series of
Hangouts on Google+
to get tips and tricks from industry experts on contributing Arabic content to the web—through online journalism, YouTube videos, Wikipedia editing, translation of English content, SEO and more
Join the
YouTube Tweet Up
in Doha, Qatar on December 15 to learn how to create viral Arabic videos and make money through YouTube
Participate in the region's
first Arabic infographics competition
with Tajseed
Volunteer to be part of a
TED initiative to create quality Arabic digital content
via Arabic subtitling during a kick-off event with TED, twofour54 and Taghreedat in Abu Dhabi on December 4
Sign up for
developer training at g|days
in Jordan on December 5-6 and Egypt on December 9-10 to learn about Arabic localization, webmaster tools, SEO and YouTube for Business
Learn about the Egyptian Ministry of Education’s
educational channels on YouTube
which include different curricula from first to twelfth grade, as well as e-Lessons via video and Google+ Hangouts.
Celebrate 12/12/12 as
National Arabic Web Day
Connect
with us: add the Arabic Web Days
badge
to your site, upload a video to
youtube.com/arabicwebdays
, visit our website:
www.arabicwebdays.com
and follow us on
Google+
and
Twitter
(in Arabic)
To get more details and to sign up for any of the above events, visit Arabic Web Days on
Google+
or see the
Arabia Blog
. Until then, let’s go Arabic!
Posted by Maha Abouelenein, Head of Communications, Middle East and North Africa
Google Play music arrives in Europe
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Music lovers rejoice! There’s now an even easier way to manage and listen to your music. Today
music on Google Play
is live in the UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy.
Google Play lets you store 20,000 songs from your existing music collection in a personal library in the cloud, so you can access it from all your devices. In addition, our new matching feature streamlines the process of uploading your music, so it will be added to your library even more quickly. Both of these we offer free of charge.
You can also buy new music from your favourite artists and build out your collection. We’ll automatically sync your entire music library—both purchases and uploads— so you can listen across all your devices. No need to worry about cables, file transfers or running out of storage space. Even listen when you’re offline - simply “pin” the playlists and albums you want and they’ll be available on your Android device. And for any song you’ve purchased on Google Play, you can share a free full listen with your friends on Google+.
We’ve partnered with all the major record labels and thousands of indie labels to sell their music in Google Play. And if you’re a talented, unsigned or independent musician looking for your big break, check out the
Google Play artist hub
, a great way to sell your music directly to fans.
Check out Google Play today. It will be music to your ears.
Posted by Paul Joyce, product manager for Google Play
Marking the fall of the Iron Curtain
Thursday, November 8, 2012
There are certain events in history that are momentous enough to make you remember where you were at the time. This Friday is the 23rd anniversary of one of those moments—the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989.
To mark this turning point in history, we’re releasing a collection of online exhibitions under the theme of
The Fall of the Iron Curtain
. Partners, including The DDR Museum in Berlin, Polish History Museum, Romanian broadcaster TVR and Getty Images, have created 13 exhibitions containing
documents
,
videos
and
photos
telling the stories behind how events unfolded.
Independent historians have also contributed their expertise. For example, Niall Ferguson, professor of history at Harvard University, provides video commentary on events as part of his exhibition
The Fall of the Wall: Revelation, not Revolution
.
Some of the other exhibitions include:
Solidarity & the fall of The Iron Curtain
- the creation and evolution of the Solidarity trade union leading to Lech Walesa's election as President of Poland in 1990
Visions of Division
- Professor Patrick Major, a specialist in Cold War history, gives an account of life in a divided Germany and the everyday human cost of the Wall
Years of change
- diary of a fictitious author documenting events in Berlin such as the staged elections, the first protests and David Hasselhoff's concert at the wall
The Berlin Job
- a personal account of life in East Berlin made by independent curator Peter Millar, one of the only non-German correspondents in East Berlin in the 1980s
Romanian Revolution
- a series of four exhibitions containing more than 50 videos documenting the live TV transmission of the overthrow of Romanian dictator Ceausescu
The Fall of the Iron Curtain
is the latest chapter in the work of the Google Cultural Institute, following the launch last month of
42 online historical exhibitions
telling the stories behind major events of the last century. You can explore all the exhibitions on
www.google.com/culturalinstitute
and follow us on
our Google+ page
.
If you’re a partner interested in working with the Google Cultural Institute to turn your archives into online exhibitions, we’d love to hear from you—please fill out this
form
.
Posted by Mark Yoshitake, Google Cultural Institute
Celebrating Spain's inventor of the world’s first computer game
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
What does a cable car in Niagara Falls have to do with the world’s first machine to play chess? Surprisingly, both were inventions of
Spanish civil engineer Leonardo Torres-Quevedo
. Next week, as part of
our ongoing effort
to celebrate Europe’s computing heritage, we’re commemorating Torres-Quevedo’s legacy and his remarkable machine—
"El Ajedrecista"
(in English, "The Chess Player")—in partnership with the
Telecommunication Engineering department of the Technical University of Madrid.
Photo thanks to Wikimedia Commons
Torres-Quevedo’s inventions span many fields. He was the second in the world to
demonstrate wireless remote control
, beaten to the post only by
Nikola
Tesla
. His
designs for airships
were used by both the French and British during WWI. He was a global leader in cable car design, creating the “
Spanish aero car
” over the Niagara Whirlpool which,
nearly a century on
, remains a tourist attraction. However, his most remarkable achievements were in the field of automation, developing machines that are antecedents to what we now call computers and robots.
Torres-Quevedo’s ambitions were bold. As Scientific American
proclaimed in 1915
: “He would substitute machinery for the human mind.” In the 1890’s Torres-Quevedo built a
series of mechanical devices
that solved algebraic equations. In 1920 he wowed a Paris audience with an electromechanical
arithmometer
with typewriter attachment. You simply typed a formula—say, “24x48”—and the machine would calculate and automatically type the answer “=1152” in reply.
But “El Ajedrecista,” an algorithmically powered machine that could play an end-game of chess against a human opponent completely automatically, is his most notable creation. Although it’s a far cry from
Deep Blue
, El Ajedrecista can lay claim to being the world’s first (analog) computer game.
.
Photos thanks to
Museo Torres Quevedo
The machine didn’t just calculate its moves—it had mechanical arms that physically moved its pieces, in the form of electrical jacks, across a grid. In later models the arm mechanism was replaced by magnets, and play took place on a more ordinary-looking chess board. You couldn’t cheat the machine as it could spot illegal moves; and you couldn’t win, as the game always started at a point (machine’s King and Rook versus human’s King) from which the
machine could never lose
.
In honor of El Ajedrecista’s 100th birthday, we’re working with the
Telecommunication Engineering department of the Technical University of Madrid
to stage a conference commemorating Torres-Quevedo’s legacy.
The conference
, taking place on November 7, will feature lectures and panel discussions, as well as an exhibition of Torres-Quevedo’s devices—including El Ajedrecista itself. Attendance is free—if you want to join us,
request an invitation
.
Posted by Lynette Webb, Senior Manager, External Relations
More Art Project online for you to explore
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Back in April we
announced
a major expansion of the Google Art Project. Since then 15 million people have explored the paintings, sculptures, street art and photographs contributed by our partners. From today the number of treasures you can view is increasing by more than 10% as 29
new art organisations
from 14 countries bring their collections online.
A wide range of global institutions, large and small, well-known and less traditional, are represented. Explore contemporary works at the
Istanbul Modern Art Museum
, admire works from the
Art Gallery of South Australia
(who have contributed almost 600 objects) and access the treasures of the famous
Museum of Palazzo Vecchio
in Italy and
Princeton University
. This round has also seen contributions from more unusual sources including a collection from the
National Ballet of Canada
,
pre-Columbian art from Peru
, and
decorative arts from China
.
Now that the total number of objects online is more than 35,000, we've turned our attention towards thinking of different ways for you to experience the collections.
The first is a great educational tool for art students, enthusiasts or those who are simply curious. A “Compare” button has been added to the toolbar on the left of each painting. This allows you to examine two pieces of artwork side-by-side to look at how an artist’s style evolved over time, connect trends across cultures or delve deeply into two parts of the same work. Here's an
example
: place an early sketch of
Winslow Homer's
'The Life Line'
from the
Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum
next to
the completed painting
from the
Philadelphia Museum of Art
. Comparing them in this way allows you to see how the artist's vision altered (or not) over the life of the work.
Beyond following us and discussing great art on our
Google+ page
, we have also created a
Hangout
app within the Art Project so that you can share your favorite collections and perhaps give your friends a personal guided tour. If there is a budding museum guide or an art critic within any of you it can finally be unleashed! Watch this video to see how it works.
Around 180 partners have contributed their works to the Art Project so far, more than 300,000 of you have created your own online galleries and we've had more than 15 million visitors since our last launch in April. The cultural community has invested great time and effort to bring these masterpieces online.
Watch this space
for more to come.
Posted by Piotr Adamczyk, Google Art Project
A worthy winner for the inaugural Tony Sale award
Thursday, October 11, 2012
For most people, computing seems such a modern pastime that little thought is given to its history. Thankfully, there are exceptions. Today was a chance to pay tribute to some dedicated preservers of computing heritage, via the
Tony Sale Award for Computing Conservation
.
This award, sponsored by Google, is managed by the
Computer Conservation Society
and named in memory of
Tony Sale
, leader of the project to reconstruct
Colossus
. Tony’s son Nigel now manages a technical team at Google, so fittingly was our representative on the judging panel.
As Nigel describes:
“The bigger the challenge, the more motivated Dad would be to prove he could do it. When he started a new project it would be his entire focus. I often remember him sitting in his study, surrounded by piles of papers, wires and circuit boards, with his soldering iron smoking away as he pondered the latest problem. I can see many things that my Dad would admire in all the entries. All faced challenges and overcame obstacles; many have taken years to complete. What underlines them all is a dedication to succeed, of which I know my Dad would approve”.
There were four finalists, each deserving of commendation:
The project
to restore a functioning 1959 DEC PDP-1, led by Dag Spicer of the Computer History Museum in California
Time-Line
, a collection of equipment that has been assembled with great dedication over two decades by Michael Armstrong in Wigton, UK
The reconstruction
and simulation of Konrad Zuse’s Z3 by
Raúl
Rojas in Berlin
As well as the ultimate winner:
“Love letters”
-- an art installation featuring romantic messages generated by a replica of a Ferranti Mark 1 by Dr David Link in Cologne.
Congratulations to David for his stunning work. As Chairman of the Judges, Rachel Burnett said:
“The winning entry is both a brilliant technical construction and a work of art. Its fusion of art, engineering and history celebrates one of the first artistic applications of the computer in a visually attractive way. The wide cultural appeal, originality and touch of genius of this entry set it apart and has given us an inspiring first winner of the Tony Sale Award”
There’s an old saying, never forget where you came from. Thanks to all who commit their time and energy to ensuring this doesn’t happen to computing.
Posted by Lynette Webb, Senior Manager, External Relations
Bringing history to life
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Today you can discover 42
new online historical exhibitions
telling the stories behind major events of the last century, including Apartheid, D-Day and the Holocaust. The stories have been put together by 17 partners including museums and cultural foundations who have drawn on their archives of letters, manuscripts, first-hand video testimonials and much more. Much of the material is very moving—and some is on the Internet for the first time.
Each exhibition features a narrative which links the archive material together to unlock the different perspectives, nuances and tales behind these events. Among others you’ll see:
Tragic love at Auschwitz
- the story of Edek & Mala, a couple in love who try to escape Auschwitz
Jan Karski, Humanity’s hero
- first-hand video testimony from the man who attempted to inform the world about the existence of the Holocaust
Faith in the Human Spirit is not Lost
- tracing the history of Yad Vashem’s efforts to honor courageous individuals who attempted to rescue Jews during the Holocaust
Steve Biko
- a 15-year-old’s political awakening in the midst of the Apartheid movement featuring nine documents never released in the public domain before
D-Day
- details of the famous landings including colour photographs, personal letters and the D-Day order itself from Admiral Ramsay
The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II
- an account of the 1953 Coronation including colour photographs
Years of the Dolce Vita
- a look at the era of the “good life” in Italy including the fashion, food, cars and culture
As with the other archives that we’ve helped bring onto the Internet, including the
Dead Sea Scrolls
, you can zoom in to see photos in great detail and search through millions of items for a specific country, person, event or date. Watch our
video
for some guidance about how to find your way around the exhibitions.
The historical collections are the latest chapter in the work of the Google Cultural Institute, following the
Art Project
,
World Wonders
and the
Nelson Mandela archives
. We’re working closely with museums, foundations and other archives around the world to make more cultural and historical material accessible online and by doing so preserve it for future generations.
You can explore the many exhibitions at
www.google.com/culturalinstitute
. You can also follow us on our
Google+ page
. What you see today is just the start, so if you’re a partner interested in contributing your own exhibitions, please fill out this
form
.
Posted by Mark Yoshitake, Product Manager, Google Cultural Institute
Snakes, crocodiles - and the Internet in Africa
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Where can you watch intelligent discussion about the Internet mixed with performance poetry and the best in book writing alongside snakes and crocodiles? This year’s
Nairobi Hay-Storymoja
festival, of which Google was one of the main sponsors, took place in the
National Museum of Kenya
.
Many of Africa’s most thought-provoking writers and an array of international guests participated. One panel brought together
Ory Okolloh
, Google’s head of policy for Africa, with Christian Turner and the British Ambassador to Kenya.
Their wide-ranging discussion about the online world encompassed everything from the economic benefits, to the challenges of cultural and religious sensitivity, to whether the Internet lessens or enhances inequalities. Asked by a local school pupil what her message was for anyone seeking to fulfil their ambitions, Okolloh declared: “at some point you just have to go out and do it.”
African writers, both local and from the diaspora, were at the forefront, performing live, giving workshops to young people and taking part in Google + hang outs. Lemn Sissay and Patience Williams, both Africans brought up by adoptive parents in the UK, spoke movingly about the challenges of “difference”. One of the most passionate defences of free speech and activism came from Kenyan poet
Sitawa Namwalie
. Her spectacular show,
“Cut off My Tongue”
, which has been performed in several countries, managed the tough feat of injecting humour into the treatment of difficult issues, such as ethnic violence and corruption.
Arguably the star of the show was
Jung Chang,
author of
Wild Swans
, the extraordinary story of Mao’s brutality told through the lives of three generations of her family. She was giving the first Wangari Maathai Memorial Lecture, in honour of the Kenyan environmental activist and Nobel Laureate who died a year ago.
Storymoja-Hay is a joint venture between a Kenyan publishing house and British literature festival. It has grown into one of the most prominent artistic events in the region. Google funds and participates in six Hay festivals around the world, including Beirut, Spain and Kenya. Google is proud to support this exciting international expansion.
Posted by John Kampfner, External Advisor on Freedom of Expression and Culture Team
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