Europe Blog
Our views on the Internet and society
Experience the London 2012 Games with Google
Thursday, July 26, 2012
The Olympic Games begin tomorrow in my home town, London, and more than half of the planet—some 4.8 billion people—will tune in to watch the London 2012 Games. To help you join in the excitement and glory of the Games, we’ve put together
google.co.uk/olympics
. Here’s a quick look at the updates, results and other content we’re bringing you from London 2012.
Discover and learn more
Want to know what your team’s next medal prospect is, or if you’ve missed Oscar Pistorius make history in the 400m? Here are a few ways we’re helping you get all the hottest news in a flash:
Search from your desktop, phone or tablet for [
london 2012
], a country team like [
Team GB
], or a sport like archery], and you’ll see up-to-the-minute detailed information such as the schedule, medal count, and Olympic records in your search results.
In the Hot Searches section of the site, we show you which topics, athletes or events are being searched for by fans around the world. The analysis is updated hourly, and you can click on any search to read associated news articles.
On Google Play, find a collection of useful apps, from results trackers
to games
, for download on your Android device.
Connect with your teams and favourite athletes
I’ll be cheering on both the stars and the underdogs, and closely following the updates from the Games:
Get the latest posts from
+The Olympics Games
and the competing teams on Google+. (I’ll be rooting for my home country, +Team GB
Show who you’re supporting by customising your cover photo on Google+ (or other social network)
Explore London like you’re there
Living in London, I’ve been lucky enough to see the transformation of the East End of the city over the past few years, but for those of you who live outside the city, you can still see the sights online..
Fly around the Olympic Park, explore the cycling and marathon courses or take a virtual tour of London landmarks in Google Earth
Compare aerial imagery of the London of 1948 (the last time London hosted the Games) to the London of today.
Watch the action as it happens—and see highlights from past Games
For the hundreds of millions of people unable to make it to London, YouTube is helping bring the games to you in a number of markets around the world.
For the first time, U.S. viewers can watch any event on
NBCOlympics.com
; 3,500 hours will be streamed in all. YouTube will power NBC’s online video experience on NBCOlympics.com. You can also access pre-game clips on the
NBC Olympics YouTube channel
.
If you’re in one of
64 markets across Africa and Asia
, including India, Indonesia, Kenya and Nigeria, the IOC will be streaming the Olympics live on YouTube
For those of you who can’t wait for the games to begin or want to relive great moments from some of the previous 29 Olympiads, explore an archive on
YouTube
—some of my favourites are
Derek Redmond’s inspirational finish of the 400m semi-final in Barcelona 1992
,
Cathy Freeman’s gold medal in the 400m at Sydney 2000
and
Afghanistan's first-ever Olympic medal at Beijing 2008
.
Find it all at
www.google.co.uk/olympics
.
Posted by Richard Keelty, Product Marketing Manager, Google U.K.
Explore Chrome's “Exquisite Forest” at London’s Tate Modern
Friday, July 20, 2012
Cross-posted from the
Official Google Blog
This week, in partnership with the
Tate Modern
in London, we released an online art experiment called
This Exquisite Forest
, which lets you collaborate with others to create animations and stories using a web-based drawing tool.
Seven renowned artists from Tate’s collection, including
Bill Woodrow
,
Dryden Goodwin
,
Julian Opie
,
Mark Titchner
,
Miroslaw Balka
,
Olafur Eliasson
and
Raqib Shaw
, have created short “seed” animations. From these seeds, anyone can add new animations that extend the story or branch it in a new direction. Or you can start a tree of your own with some friends. As more sequences are added, the animations grow into trees, creating a potentially infinite number of possible endings to each animation.
In addition to the website, an interactive installation will open on July 23 in the Level 3 gallery of Tate Modern. Trees seeded by Tate artists—and the contributions from the public—will be on display as large-scale projections. Gallery visitors may also contribute using digital drawing stations.
This Exquisite Forest
uses several of Google Chrome’s advanced
HTML5 and JavaScript features
to produce a unique content creation and exploration experience. For example, the Web Audio API makes it possible for contributors to generate music to accompany their submissions. The project also runs on
Google App Engine
and
Google Cloud Storage
.
Please try it out at
ExquisiteForest.com
and contribute your own animation to help the forest grow.
Posted by Aaron Koblin, Google Creative Lab, Data Arts Team
Web Lab brings Internet magic to London Science Museum
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Cross-posted from the
Official Google Blog
Inspiration comes in many forms and can influence you in unexpected ways. I can trace my own interest in programming to
Babbage’s Analytical Engine
, which fascinated me on my childhood visits to the
Science Museum
in London. This idea that science and technology can inspire people is one that we hold close to our hearts.
It’s also the thought behind a new exhibition we’re launching today online and at the Science Museum in London. We hope to inspire people around the world by showcasing the magic that the Internet makes possible.
Launching in beta,
Web Lab
is a set of five physical installations housed in the Science Museum in London. You can interact with them in person at the museum, or from anywhere in the world at
chromeweblab.com
.
By opening up the museum experience to the world online, Web Lab doesn’t play by the usual rules—a visitor’s location and museum opening hours no longer matter. Each of the five experiments—Universal Orchestra, Data Tracer, Sketchbots, Teleporter and Lab Tag Explorer—showcases a modern web technology found in Chrome to explore a particular theme in computer science.
For example, the Universal Orchestra experiment uses
WebSockets
to demonstrate real time collaboration as people from around the world make music together on custom-built robotic instruments housed in the Science Museum. Please join us online or at the Science Museum in London (entry is free), and let us know what you think. True to its name, the year-long exhibition is a working lab, and we’ll continue to tinker with it based on your feedback. Here’s to the next wave of Internet invention!
Posted by Jayme Goldstein, Product Marketing Manager, Chrome, on behalf of the Web Lab team
Follow the money to fight online piracy
Monday, July 2, 2012
Update: 4 July, 19:00 CET. Minor amendments in paragraphs 6 and 10 to more accurately reflect the report and other sources.
Until now, most debate about online piracy is driven by emotion, not hard data. In an attempt to fill this gap, we teamed up with the UK copyright collective
PRS for Music
and asked
BAE Systems Detica
to take a detailed look. Their
report
was published today.
Detica examined hundreds of websites cited by rightsholders as the main online pirates. For each, it analysed - amongst other things - the number of unique visitors, IP addresses, the main sources of funding, and preferred audio-visual formats. The results suggest that the most effective weapon to tackle piracy is to follow the money - to squeeze the pirates’ financing.
The report details intriguing trends. Sites selling unlicensed music tend to have low and declining volumes of users, suggesting that the ease of buying legal copyrighted music is having an impact on piracy. In contrast, sites streaming free live TV account for a third of all sites and are increasing in number the fastest.
How best to combat this danger? Instead of imposing blocks or filters that might damage fundamental freedoms, governments should construct coalitions with reputable advertising networks, payment processors and rightsholders. Together, these coalitions can crack down and squeeze the financing behind online infringement.
A close look at pirate financing shows why following the money could be so effective. Some 86% of advertising on the pirate sites surveyed by Detica comes from networks that have failed to sign up with the UK’s self-regulatory bodies or commit to strong codes of conduct. More than two thirds of the sites that rely on subscriptions or payments display well-known credit card logos. Online advertising networks, credit card and online payment facilities should be encouraged to sign up to self-regulatory codes of conduct that help cut off the pirates' oxygen supply - financing
The UK Government is moving in this direction. It encourages advertising networks, payment processors, rightsholders, and the police to collaborate and squeeze pirate financing. And the research shows that the UK no longer is an attractive home for pirates.
Here’s the real good news: the UK is becoming an attractive place for legitimate online content businesses. According to the
BPI
, digital music counted for 55.5% of record industry revenues in the first quarter of the year. Advertising-supported music services grew year on year by 23.6% to £86.5m.
Paid-for subscription services are booming. Their income almost doubled year-on-year to just under £9 million. Advertising-supported digital services such as
Spotify
and
We7
raked in revenues of £3.4m, an increase of 20% on Q1 2011.
The upshot? Even though revenue from compact discs fell, the music industry’s overall market value grew by 2.7% to £155.8m.
Now that’s one nice tune.
Posted by Theo Bertram, policy manager, UK
Luvvies & Boffins Night at the Museum
Friday, June 29, 2012
[<a href="http://storify.com/lynetter/luvvies-and-boffins-at-the-science-museum" target="_blank">View the story "Luvvies and Boffins at the Science Museum" on Storify</a>]
This week saw the second gathering of Google’s
Luvvies and Boffins
-- this time with added boffinry courtesy of
London’s Science Museum
.
The idea came from Eric Schmidt’s
MacTaggart lecture
, delivered in Edinburgh last summer, in which he said Britain needs to bring art and science back together if its creative industries are to have a successful future. Guests were handed lapel badges denoting “Luvvie”, “Boffin” or the Renaissance “Luvviboff”.
Besides great cocktails and conversation, the evening featured a stellar line-up of computing-themed activities. There were guided tours of the new
Turing Exhibition
, up-close demonstrations of the
Babbage Machine
in action, and hands-on
soldering workshops to make Lumiphones
.
As an added bonus, our evening coincided with
Science Museum Lates
, a monthly night at the museum for adults only. Geek activities abounded --
punk science comedy
, a
cockroach fancy dress tour
, even an impressively silent disco.
Overall, it was a wonderful evening, as the
Storify
below attests. Thanks to the Science Museum for being such great hosts, and to everyone who came along.
Posted by Peter Barron, Director of External Relations, Google EMEA
[<a href="http://storify.com/lynetter/luvvies-and-boffins-at-the-science-museum" target="_blank">View the story "Luvvies and Boffins at the Science Museum" on Storify</a>]
A tribute to Turing, the father of modern computing
Saturday, June 23, 2012
“The past is a foreign country—they do things differently there.” It’s a saying that rings especially true in the world of technology. But while innovating requires us to focus on the future, there are times when it’s important to look back. Today—the 100th anniversary of
Alan Turing
’s birth—is one such moment.
Statue of Alan Turing at Bletchley Park
Turing’s life was one of astounding highs and devastating lows. While his
wartime codebreaking
saved thousands of lives, his own life was
destroyed when he was convicted for homosexuality
. But the tragedy of his story should not overshadow his legacy. Turing’s insight
laid the foundations
of the computer age. It’s no exaggeration to say he’s a founding father of every computer and Internet company today.
Turing’s breakthrough came in 1936 with the publication of his seminal paper “
On Computable Numbers
” (PDF). This introduced two key concepts, “algorithms” and “computing machines”—commonplace terms today, but truly revolutionary in the 1930’s:
Algorithms
are, in simplest terms, step-by-step instructions for carrying out a mathematical calculation. This is where it all started for programming since, at its core, all software is a collection of algorithms.
A
computing machine
—today better known as a
Turing machine
—was the hypothetical device that Turing dreamed up to run his algorithms. In the 1930’s, a “computer” was what you called a person who did calculations—it was a profession, not an object. Turing’s paper provided the blueprint for building a machine that could do any computation that a person could, marking the first step towards the modern notion of a computer.
Considering the role computers now play in everyday life, it’s clear Turing’s inventions rank among the most important intellectual breakthroughs of the 20th century. In the evolution of computing, all paths trace back to Turing. That’s why Turing is a hero to so many Google engineers, and why we’re so proud to help commemorate and preserve his legacy.
In 2010, Google helped Bletchley Park raise funds to
purchase Turing’s papers
so they could be preserved for public display in their museum. More recently, we’ve been working closely with curators at London’s Science Museum to help put on a stunning new exhibition “
Codebreaker - Alan Turing’s Life and Legacy
.” This tells the story of Turing’s vast achievements in a profoundly moving and personal way, through an amazing collection of artifacts—including items loaned by GCHQ, the U.K. government intelligence agency, never before on public display. Topics addressed include Turing’s early years, his code-breaking at Bletchley Park, his designs for the Pilot Ace computer, his later
morphogenesis work
, as well as his sexuality and death. The exhibition opened on June 21 and is well worth a visit if you’re passing through London in the next year.
And finally, we couldn’t let such a momentous occasion pass without a doodle. We thought the most fitting way of paying tribute to Turing’s incredible life and work would be to simulate the theoretical “Turing machine” he proposed in a mathematical paper. Visit the homepage today— we invite you to try your hand at programming it. If you get it the first time, try again... it gets harder!
Turing was born into a world that was very different, culturally and technologically, from ours—but his contribution has never been more significant. I hope you’ll join me today in paying tribute to Alan Turing, the forefather of modern computing.
Posted by Andrew Eland, Engineering Director, Google U.K.
Commemorating Alan Turing at London’s Science Museum
Thursday, June 21, 2012
As Steven Pinker, the Harvard professor and popular science author,
recently wrote
:
“It would be an exaggeration to say that the British mathematician Alan Turing explained the nature of logical and mathematical reasoning, invented the digital computer, solved the mind-body problem, and saved Western civilization. But it would not be much of an exaggeration”.
For proof, look no further than the stunning new exhibition “
Codebreaker - Alan Turing’s Life and Legac
y” which opens to the public today at London’s Science Museum. This tells the story of Turing’s vast achievements in a profoundly moving way, through an amazing collection of artifacts -- including items never before on display.
Photos from last night’s gala opening
This exhibition is especially close to our hearts at Google, since not only is Turing a founding father of computing, in a way he is also the father of our collaboration with the Science Museum.
A few years ago one of Google’s senior engineers heard there was an idea to stage an exhibition about Turing. He got in touch and volunteered to help; and from that small seed, Google’s association with the Science Museum has now blossomed into a fully-fledged partnership.
In this, the centenary of Turing’s birth,
we’re proud to sponsor
such a fitting tribute to one of computing’s true heroes. The exhibition will be open until the end of June 2013, and entry is free, so do visit if you can.
Posted by Lynette Webb, Senior Manager, External Relations
Rebooting computer science education in the UK
Friday, May 25, 2012
Last August
, Eric Schmidt lamented the sorry state of computer science education in UK schools. Since then we’ve been in discussion with various educational groups about ways we might help.
Through our grant programmes like
CS4HS
and
RISE
, we’ve long supported educational schemes of merit in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. But we wanted to do more.
One key issue stood out in particular -- the lack of qualified people able to teach computing as a science. So this week,
speaking at London’s Science Museum
, Eric announced a partnership between Google and TeachFirst, which we hope will help - in at least a small way - address the teacher shortfall.
From
Eric at Science Museum
Teach First
is a UK charity which recruits exceptional graduates and puts them to work in the most challenging schools. Google has provided funds for them to train and support more than 100 first rate science teachers over the next three years, with the majority focused on computer science. Overall we anticipate this should help more than 20,000 pupils from the most disadvantaged UK communities.
It should take just a few months for the benefits to begin. After undergoing an intensive training course this summer, the first batch of Teach First recruits will be placed into schools where they can make a difference right away, whilst receiving on the job mentoring and training for a further 2 years.
And to ensure they aren’t held back by a lack of equipment, we’ll also provide each computer science recruit with a small bursary to purchase teaching aids, such as
Raspberry Pi
or
Arduino
starter kits.
Rebooting computer science education won’t be straightforward, and it will take a generation coming through schools before we see a real difference. But that’s even more reason to start today.
Posted by Peter Barron, Director, External Relations, EMEA
Big Tent comes home
Thursday, May 24, 2012
How should children stay safe online? When does cracking down on pornography morph into censorship? Has the social media revolution enhanced or diminished our society? How can we reconcile copyright with the split-second creations and sharing of the digital age? Our
Big Tent
returned to its birthplace to the UK this week to take on these tough issues.
For the debate on pornography and child safety, we invited one of our fiercest critics, the
Daily Mai
l. Columnist Amanda Platell outlined her newspaper’s campaign for government-mandated filters for adult content online while Andrew Heaney of TalkTalk, a UK based Internet Service Provider described his company’s
network-based filter
. On the other side of the debate,
Index on Censorship’s
new chief executive Kirsty Hughes and Google’s UK Public Policy director Sarah Hunter warned of the risks - both practical and in principle - of filtering.
From the serious subject of adult content, we took a quirky but informative break to watch Aleks Krotoski demonstrate her
Serendipity Engine
, an algorithmic contraption of bicycle parts and light bulbs.
Last year, our executive chairman Eric Schmidt
urged the UK
to reform its computer science education, helping spark a nationwide debate. At this year’s event, he addressed a range of issues from how the next five billion people to come online will shape the web to his concerns about privacy and criminality online. In response a question about the disruptive nature of technology, he answered,“If you thought when you got your job at 20 that it would never change you were misinformed. Retrain yourself to be curious.”
UK Universities and Science Minister
David Willetts
addressed concern that university debt is threatening aspiring entrepreneurs, speaking of the importance of promoting innovation clusters and how big data and text analysis can fuel growth.
For this year’s Big Tent we partnered with the
Music Managers Forum
, the world’s largest representative body of artist management. MMF’s Chairman, Brian Message, challenged to Geoff Taylor of the
BPI
to spend more time thinking about innovation than legislation. TV comedy writer
Graham Linehan
raised laughs when he said he thought films would get better if people were asked to pay when they leave the cinema.
We also heard from journalists who are integrating digital media and user content into news storytelling - from local news in Australia's Northern Territory, to hard hitting social media fuelled reporting on Arab protests, to understanding the London riots through the lens of data.
The day concluded with a debate between two authors whose new books examine the impact of the social web on society and individuals.
Andrew Keen
and
Nick Harkaway
debated the question of whether the social revolution has enhanced or diminished our society. While coming from different perspectives, Keen and Harkaway did agree that Internet users should take more active decisions in how they use services online to ensure they protect themselves and their data.
The Big Tent programme heads to Dublin, Cannes and Tel Aviv next and the content from the UK event will be available on our
YouTube channel
soon.
Posted by Jon Steinberg, External Relations
Fostering a new generation of coders
Friday, May 4, 2012
Last year, our executive chairman
Eric Schmidt urged the UK
to take advantage of its “great computer heritage” by increasing the number of students studying computer science. We’ve now teamed up with the
Guardian
newspaper to encourage a new generation of coders.
As part of our joint initiative, the Guardian hosted a
two-day hackathon
event for pupils from four UK schools. In each school, 20 pupils - all aged between 13 and 15 - were given the challenge of creating a website in just over 24 hours. Developers from Google and the Guardian were on hand to offer advice.
Photograph: Alys Tomlinson/The Guardian
Seven projects emerged from the hackathons. They ranged from an online community for sharing and editing photos to a collaborative calendar that allows users to upload and share blogs, links and photos. By the end of the event, most students had a working knowledge of programming languages including Java, Python and html.
Much more work is required, but there are encouraging signs. In January the Education Secretary Michael Gove took the bold step of
scrapping the existing ICT curriculum
, freeing schools in the UK to teach a richer mix of programming, computer science and advanced IT rather than simply how to use software.
Most of the students who participated in our hackathon had little experience in computer coding. The promising results suggest that everyone, with a little support, can learn to code and embrace the digital future.
Posted by Peter Barron, Director, External Relations, Europe, Middle East and Africa
Celebrating Exceptional Young Minds
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Its time to celebrate the ten winners of our ‘
Zeitgeist Young Minds
’ online competition.
All are aged between 18 and 24 and have done something exceptional through science, the arts, education and innovation. They will attend Google’s annual Zeitgeist event near London on May 21 and 22, alongside some of today's greatest minds and innovators. While in London, they will participate in masterclasses and have their voices heard.
A panel of prestigious judges chose the winners. It included UK Digital Champion
Martha Lane Fox
, social entrepreneur and hip-hop artist
Akala
, award winning inventor
Emily Cummins
, software developer and founder of metaLayer.com
Jonathan Gosier
, and Channel 4 news presenter and correspondent
Jon Snow
.
The winners are:
Ada Umeofia, 19 from Nigeria:
WeBuilt: Africa is a design-centered social enterprise that redesigns and constructs market stalls for poverty-stricken Africans by recycling found building materials in slums.
View the entr
Alex Leboucher, 21 from France:
The Schoolbag (NGO) connects young people to education and a sustainable future by enabling children to pursue an education by providing eco-friendly school supplies.
View the entry
Elliott Verreault, 23 from Sweden:
It'sOneHumanity: The Humanitarian Social Network is inspiring a new humanitarian culture by leveraging the stories of humanitarian workers with the help of social media.
View the entry
James Boon, 23 from the UK:
Socially responsible enterprise ElephantBranded.com, sends a school bag to a child in Asia and Africa for each product sold on the website.
View the entry
Joel Mwale, 19 from Kenya:
Skydrop Enterprise Inc has brought safe drinking water to a community of 5,000 and has become a profitable enterprise from selling bottled water across Kenya and Uganda.
View the entry
Jordan Ridge, 23 from South Africa:
Made by Mosaic is a job creation project fro women in South Africa addressing the challenges of economic development in the townships.
View the entry
Maaike Veenkamp, 23 from the UK:
Off The Bench is a project with a core aim to empower young people through positive activities.
View the entry
Sibusiso Tshabalala, 20 from South Africa:
Developed reading clubs and a library renovation programme in South Africa to encourage critical thinking and thoughtful debate within local high schools.
View the entry
Simeon Oriko, 23 from Kenya:
The Kuyu Project trains school children on how to use social media for social change and promotes digital literacy.
View the entry
Simon Straetker, 19 from Germany:
An independent filmmaker, promoting conservational and social projects around the world making videos that engage young people with their natural environments.
View the entry
Congratulations! We're looking forward to hosting these talents here in the UK.
Posted by Elizabeth Dupuy, Event Manager, External Relations
Visualise the world’s economic recovery - and win $2,000
Thursday, March 29, 2012
The summer before I left university, banks - overburdened with housing bubble debts - started collapsing. My fellow students and I had anticipated that finding a job would be challenging - but not that we would get to unemployment rates as high as 9.6% in both the
United States
and the
European Union
in 2010, the highest they’ve been in almost 30 years.
So we figured it would be pretty interesting to see which government policies are reversing the trend - which is why we’ve teamed up with the
Guardian Datastore
to launch a
competition
to create the best visualisation of public data sets.
Using information from
Eurostat
,
the World Economic Forum
,
World Bank
,
UN
,
IMF
and some of the world's major
economic
experts
, we want you to make an argument about how to generate sustainable growth in the 21st century.
Finding solutions to these problems is critical to the future of our society and economy. To debate the issues that surface in the visualisations, we’ll be co-hosting public conversations via Google+ Hangouts that are anchored in hard numbers. Stay tuned to this blog or the Guardian Datastore for details.
The competition is open to U.K. and U.S. citizens with a prize of $2,000 going to the most compelling, beautiful and informed visualisation. Entries are due by May 21 and results will be published on the Guardian Datastore’s new site,
Show and Tell
.
A new economic reality is setting in, and if we are going to master it, citizens and leaders alike need to invest in figuring out how to adapt. Check out the data from our list or bring your own as long as it’s freely available to the public - and submit your entry to datavisualisation@guardian.co.uk!
Posted by Dorothy Chou, Senior Policy Analyst at Google
Let’s fill London with startups...
Thursday, March 29, 2012
London has become one of the world's great digital capitals. The Internet accounts for eight percent of the U.K. economy and has become, in these days of tough public finances, a welcome engine of economic growth.
We believe there is even more potential for entrepreneurs to energize the Internet economy in the U.K., and to help spur growth, today we’re opening
Campus London
, a seven story facility in the east London neighborhood known as Tech City. Google began as a startup in a garage. We want to empower the next generation of entrepreneurs to be successful by building and supporting a vibrant startup community. Our goal with Campus is to catalyze the startup ecosystem and build Britain's single largest community of startups under one roof.
The U.K.’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt. Hon. George Osborne MP, launched Campus at this morning's official opening. The Chancellor toured the building, meeting some of the entrepreneurs currently making their home in Campus and learning more about their innovations, ranging from fashion trendsetting websites to personalized London leisure guides. He then flipped the switch on a commemorative graffiti plaque.
Campus is a collaboration between Google and partners Central Working, Tech Hub, Seedcamp and Springboard. It will provide startups with workspace in an energizing environment and will also host daily events for and with the community. We will run a regular speaker series, alongside lectures and programing, as well as provide mentorship and training from local Google teams.
Visitors will have access to a cafe and co-working space, complete with high speed wifi. We welcome members of the startup community: entrepreneurs, investors, developers, designers, lawyers, accountants, etc. and hope that this informal, highly concentrated space will lead to chance meetings and interactions that will generate the ideas and partnerships that will drive new, innovative businesses.
The buzz around Campus from within the startup community has meant that today, on day one, Campus is already at 90% capacity, with more than 100 people on site and an additional 4,500 who have signed up online to visit.
We are looking forward to getting to know the community. East London is emerging as a world-leading entrepreneurial hub, and we’re excited to be a part of it. Take a photo tour of Campus
here
, and if you’d like to learn more, visit us at
www.campuslondon.com
.
Let’s fill this town with startups!
Posted by Eze Vidra, Head of Campus London
Honoring Innovation for Free Expression
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Update, Thursday, March 29
: Kubatana's FreedomFone won the first Google-sponsored Innovation Award given out last evening at the Index on Censorship's annual Freedom of Expression awards.
FreedomFone's Upenyu Makoni-Muchemwana accepted the prize, describing how their product allows information to "be shared and received at anytime in any language wherever there is mobile coverage. Traditional roadblocks of licensing, regulation and literacy are bypassed, and freedom of expression is broadened."
Judges explained the reasons behind their choice in this video:
Index on Censorship
holds its annual awards this evening in London, celebrating the work of journalists, artists and activists who champion free expression, often at great personal risk.
This is the third year that Google is sponsoring the awards evening. We're delighted that this year's edition includes a new Google-sponsored innovation award which recognises the original use of new technology to foster debate, argument or dissent.
Nominees come from all across the globe. They include Zimbabwean NGO
Kubatana
, which has developed a Freedom Fone. It uses open-source software to help organisations share pre-recorded audio information in any language via mobile phones and landlines. Another nominee is ObscuraCam, a free smartphone application developed in the United States that uses facial recognition to blur individual faces automatically. This helps protect activists who fear reprisals but want to safely capture evidence of state brutality. A full list of the nominees is
here
.
The Awards ceremony takes place on Wednesday 28 March at 6.30pm at the
St Pancras Renaissance Hotel
in King’s Cross, London. We’ll begin with champagne and canapés, followed by the Awards ceremony at 8pm hosted by BBC presenter Jonathan Dimbleby with a keynote from the author of War Horse, Michael Morpurgo. We will be on hand to celebrate the winners.
Posted by William Echikson, Head of Free Expression, Europe, Middle East and Africa
Debating drugs on YouTube and Google+
Friday, March 16, 2012
Whether enabling voters to
interview their President
, or
connect underwater
to photograph the ocean floor,
Google+ Hangouts
are being used in amazing ways. Hangouts not only have the ability to connect people on opposite sides of the planet - they can also connect people on opposing sides of the social and political spectrum.
This week, we partnered with
Intelligence2
to launch
Versus
- our first in a new series of global policy debates using Google Hangouts and live streamed on YouTube. Our inaugural discussion asked whether
“It’s time to end the War on Drugs.”
Entrepreneur
+Richard Branson
, comedian
+Russell Brand
, Wikileaks founder
+Julian Assange
and the President of Columbia, participated. BBC newsreader and presenter
+Emily Maitlis
chaired.
Branson began by speaking on behalf of the motion “If my brother, or sister or children have a drug problem, I do not want them to go to prison. I want them to be helped.” Via Google+ Hangout, Brand agreed, saying that we need to “stop treating [addiction] as a crime as opposed to treating it as an illness.” He rejected the opposition argument that legalisation would increase drug consumption.
On the other side, former-New York Governor Eliot Spitzer wished former U.S. President Richard Nixon had never used the confusing term “war on drugs”. Spitzer called instead for a “nuanced” drug control policy, based on the range of tools already being used, that “evolves over time.” The former head of London’s police force, Lord Ian Blair, rubbished his opponents’ decriminalisation argument. “What they are proposing is probably an irreversible experiment, where the result could be complete catastrophe,” he said.
This Versus debate is just the first of many to be hosted on Google+ and streamed on YouTube in the coming months. We encourage all of you to visit the Versus Google+ page and have your say.
Posted by Anna Bateson, Director of Youtube Marketing, EMEA
Remembering Colossus, the world’s first programmable electronic computer
Thursday, March 8, 2012
It’s no secret we have a
special fondness for Bletchley Park
. The pioneering work carried out there didn’t just crack codes—it laid the foundations for the computer age.
Today, we’d like to pay homage to a lesser-known contributor—
Tommy Flowers
. Bletchley Park’s breakthroughs were the product of theoretical mathematical brilliance combined with dazzling feats of engineering—none more so than Flowers’ creation of
Colossus
, the world’s first programmable, electronic computer.
Photo of Dr. Thomas “Tommy” Flowers. Reproduced with kind permission of the Flowers family
By 1942 the hardest task facing Bletchley Park’s wartime codebreakers was deciphering messages encrypted by
Lorenz
, used by Germany for their most top-secret communications. Initially Lorenz messages were broken by hand, using ingenious but time-consuming techniques. To speed things up, it was decided to build a machine to automate parts of the decoding process. This part-mechanical, part-electronic device was called
Heath Robinson
, but although it helped, it was unreliable and still too slow.
Tommy Flowers was an expert in the use of
relays
and
thermionic valves
for switching, thanks to his research developing telephone systems. Initially, he was summoned to Bletchley Park to help improve Heath Robinson, but his concerns with its design were so great he came up with an entirely new solution—an electronic machine, later christened Colossus.
When Flowers proposed the idea for Colossus in February 1943, Bletchley Park management feared that, with around 1,600 thermionic valves, it would be unreliable. Drawing on his pre-war research, Flowers was eventually able to persuade them otherwise, with proof that valves were reliable provided the machine they were used in was never turned off. Despite this, however, Bletchley Park’s experts were still skeptical that a new machine could be ready quickly enough and declined to pursue it further.
Fortunately Flowers was undeterred, and convinced the
U.K.’s Post Office research centre
at Dollis Hill in London to approve the project instead. Working around the clock, and partially funding it out of his own pocket, Flowers and his team completed a prototype Colossus in just 10 months.
Photo of the rebuilt Colossus which you can visit at
The National Museum of Computing
in the U.K.
Reproduced with kind permission of The National Museum of Computing.
The first Colossus came into operation at Bletchley Park in January 1944. It exceeded all expectations and was able to derive many of the Lorenz settings for each message within a few hours, compared to weeks previously. This was followed in June 1944 by a 2,400-valve Mark 2 version which was even more powerful, and which provided vital information to aid the D-Day landings. By the end of the war there were 10 Colossus computers at Bletchley Park working 24/7.
Once war was over, all mention of Colossus was forbidden by the
Official Secrets Act
. Eight of the machines were dismantled, while the remaining two were sent to London where they purportedly were used for intelligence purposes until 1960. It wasn’t until the 1970’s that Colossus could begin to claim its rightful crown at the forefront of computing history.
Tommy Flowers passed away in 1998, but we were privileged recently to catch up with some on his team who helped build and maintain Colossus.
This week heralds the opening of a
new gallery
dedicated to Colossus at the U.K.’s
National Museum of Computing
, based at Bletchley Park. The rebuilt Colossus is on show, and over the coming weeks it will be joined by interactive exhibits and displays. Bletchley Park is less than an hour from Central London, and makes a fitting pilgrimage for anyone interested in computing.
Posted by Lynette Webb, Senior Manager, External Relations
(Cross-posted from the
Official Google Blog
)
Lights, camera, action
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Film-making among young people has never been more popular, and the great thing about the internet is that you no longer need to be a movie mogul to reach a global audience. These days the tools to shoot, edit and distribute your work are available to just about everyone.
YouTube has been working with two organisations in the UK who do great work to help develop the next generation of film industry talent. At the
First Light Awards
, held this week at the
British Film Institute
in London, we supported a brand new Digital Innovation Award. It gives film-makers aged 18-25 from all backgrounds the chance to win £1,000 towards their next film project. Winner Kristina Yee’s film entitled “Witch” is a beautiful and innovative piece of animation.
Ben Burdock, only 22, from London was a runner up with his film No Escape.
The other runner up was Horoscope Crazy, by 19-year old Luc Eisenbarth from Brighton and Hove.
We also sponsored the National Film and Television School’s Showcase at the BFI Southbank. It showcases students’ animation, documentary, fiction and entertainment work to the industry. Films from last year’s edition went on to win an
Oscar nomination
and a
BAFTA award
. Agents have already been swooping on this year’s talent.
Our partnership with the school includes a film clinic aimed at helping amateur film-makers tell their stories to a broader audience and a business module in which students can learn about new digital distribution strategies and ways to make money from their work online.
YouTube is all about helping the next generation of creative stars to innovate and thrive online. We now have more than 30,000 partners making money from their work and we look forward to seeing this week’s winners and exhibitors get their names up in lights.
Posted by Anna Bateson, Director of YouTube Marketing, Europe, Middle East and Africa
Searching for creative young minds
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Are you between 18 and 24 years old and have done something to make an impact in the world? Do you fancy the opportunity to come to the UK and meet some of the great minds of our time?
If so, apply by March 19 to Google's youth challenge,
Zeitgeist Young Minds
, by uploading a short video telling your story, what matters to you and how you’re making a positive impact on your world. We want to find the most exceptional and inspiring young people who are helping others through science, the arts, education, leadership or innovation.
Winners will meet the leaders attending
2012 Zeitgeist
. Previous Zeitgeist speakers have included Archbishop
Desmond Tutu
, The Black Eyed Peas’
will.I.am
, Burberry CEO
Angela Ahrendts
, and Google CEO
Larry Page
.
The inaugural ‘Young Minds’ competition rewarded a series of pathbreakers, ranging from a student who launched free hip-hop dance classes for high-risk youth to a South African AIDS activist to a student who founded an organization offering IT education. A full list of last year's winning projects are found
here
.
Events agency
Livity
is managing the contest and will pick the winners. Zeitgeist Young Minds is open to all young people ages 18-24 who are residents of South Africa, Algeria, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, Egypt, Spain, France, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Uganda, Holland, Poland, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Russia , Sweden, Tunisia, and Yemen.
Posted by Elizabeth Dupuy, Event Manager, External Relations
Supporting safety online
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Telefono Azzurro
, one of Italy’s main child protection NGOs, does amazing work on behalf of missing and sexually exploited children and their families. Last year, we donated a
Google Search Appliance
- essentially the Google ‘search engine in a box’ - to improve information retrieval on their internal network and make it easier to search on their public website.
Today, on
Safer Internet Day 2012
, we’re happy to announce that this collaboration is expanding. Telefono Azzuro will share its Search Appliance with all of the members of
Missing Children Europe
(MCE), the federation of national NGOs responsible for the
European 116.000 phone hotline
, who will use Google's search technology on their public websites. Eventually, the Search Appliance will also be linked to MCE’s interconnected
European database
of missing children (currently under construction), enabling
each member NGO
to better organise its own case files and conduct secure searches on its internal network.
This is just one example of how seriously we take the challenge of increasing safety on the web, but on Safer Internet Day, we’re also involved in a whole host of initiatives all over Europe, including:
Digital literacy education / workshops
Italy
: we’re running online safety workshops with Telefono Azzurro /
Sicuri in Rete
and with the Italian
Postal and Communications Police
(at more than 100 schools); and we’re distributing online safety information to parents together with the Italian
Association of Paediatricians
.
Portugal
: we’re launching the
Google Family Safety Center
at an event chaired by the President of National Commission for Support for Children.
Russia
: We’re partnering with
Net Literacy
to engage over 200 Russian journalism students in digital literacy campaigning in schools and communities
Events
UK
: we’re hosting online safety events with
CEOP
, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, and
Raceonline
; we’re also participating in workshops organised by the UK
Safer Internet Centre
.
Russia
: we’re working with the
Russia Safe Internet Centre
and
Russian Association of Electronic Communications
to run a series of international expert panels at the Safer Internet Forum.
Germany
: Wieland Holfelder, Google Engineering Director, is keynoting a session on the platform for safe internet use at the Safer Internet Event in Germany, organized by
Bitkom
and the Ministry of Consumer Protection (
BMELV
).
Research
UK
: we're launching, together with
YAW-CRC
, new research funded by Google into how parents can
keep their families safe online
, and
become more digitally literate themselves
.
Technology
France
: we’re supporting the work of
e-Enfance.org
on a new Google Chrome browser extension called
NetEcoute
, which will make it easy for youngsters to start an online discussion with a helpline counselor.
These initiatives are part of our global outreach on Safer Internet Day - but we hope that each of them will - in their own way - be a step forward for online safety education.
Posted by Laura Bononcini, Senior Policy Analyst, Google
Supporting a new Oxford free speech initiative
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
As the debate over free expression online grows ever louder, Oxford University has launched an innovative interactive forum in 13 languages called
freespeechdebate.com
. We’re proud to support the initiative with both funds and technology, including
Google Translate
.
Timothy Garton Ash
- a professor and journalist who has analyzed social movements from the rise of the Solidarity free trade union to the tumult of the Arab Spring - is leading the exciting project. At the event’s launch last week in Oxford, Garton Ash interviewed Wikipedia founder
Jimmy Wales
. Just the day before, Wikipedia had gone black in protest of two proposed U.S. laws threatening Internet freedom, helping force the U.S. Congress to pull back from a vote on the bills. “On a normal day 25 million people see Wikipedia; yesterday, 162 million saw it and I heard that we even crashed the House of Representatives phone system,” an ebullient Wales said. “Congress saw that there is a passionate community out there ready to defend the Internet.”
The reception afterward took place in
Oxford University’s Divinity School library
, an appropriate setting where poet John Milton‘s
censored writing were saved from being burned
almost half a millennium ago. “From yesterday's Wikipedia protest to the role of social media in the Arab Spring, every day brings a free speech controversy to the headlines, Garton Ash said. “Our project aims to contribute structure, depth and detail to this global debate, as well as openness to the views of netizens from different cultures and perspectives.”
Freespeechdebate.com brings together a team of more than 30 graduate students and researchers. It publishes interviews with prominent personalities and case studies from around the globe illustrating the complexity of free speech in the Internet age. At the inauguration, the web site already presented case studies and interviews with a diverse range of free speech defenders. Nobel Peace Prize 2003 winner
Shirin Ebadi
said that criticism of Islam should be permitted in Iran, while arguing that insults to the religion should be prohibited.
Arundhati Roy
, the award-winning Indian novelist, spoke about the limits to free speech in India, including government censorship through the media and "goon squads.”
The site's editorial content is translated into Arabic, Chinese, English, Farsi, French, German, Hindi, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish and Urdu. “Freespeechdebate.com will continue producing material for the coming six months, and everyone is encouraged to participate. Members of the public are invited to register online to join the debate. Details on how to participate are found
here
. The debate will be digitally archived by Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries and become an online educational resource.
Posted by William Echikson, Head of Free Expression, Europe, Middle East and Africa
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