Google Europe Blog: United Kingdom

Global Impact Awards targets innovative UK entrepreneurs

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Cross-posted with the Official Google Blogcracking the human genomeadvancing medical research through computer gamesGlobal Impact Awards

Global Impact Challengeg.co/impactchallengePosted by Jacquelline Fuller, director of Google Giving, and Matt Brittin, VP, sales and operations, Northern and Central Europe

Launching a hunt for innovative UK social entrepreneurs

Monday, March 25, 2013

cracking the human genomeadvancing medical research through computer gamesGlobal Impact AwardsGlobal Impact Challengeg.co/impactchallenge

Posted by Jacquelline Fuller, director of Google Giving, and Matt Brittin, VP, sales and operations, Northern and Central Europe

Supporting freedom of expression in all forms

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Index on Censorship’sMiddle TempleJonathan Dimbleby

Posted by William Echikson, Head of Free Expression, Europe, Middle East and Africa

Sharing stories of Bletchley Park: home of the code-breakers

Thursday, March 14, 2013

preservepromoteBletchley Park TrustGoogle’s Cultural Institutedigital exhibitimages of the Bombe machinesEnigma codeColossusworld’s first programmable electronic computerthis message

our film about Colossusthe BombeJean Valentinewww.google.com/culturalinstitutePosted by Marzia Niccolai, Technical Program Manager, Google Cultural Institute

Expanding Street View in Europe

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Cross-posted with the Google Maps BlogBulgaria: from the mountains to the beachesSofia,PlovdivVarnVeliko TurnovoKoprvishtitsaVizualizare hartă mărităNessebar is one of the most attractive tourist destinations on the Bulgarian seasideBorovetsBanskoPamporovo,Architectural and Museum Reserve Tsarevets Black Sea coast lineVizualizare hartă mărităThe Architectural and Museum Reserve Tsarevets is a popular tourist site in BulgariaFrom Russia with loveSochiGolden Abode of Buddha ShakyamuniПросмотреть увеличенную картуThe Golden Abode of Buddha Shakyamuni is a popular Russian Buddhist destinationПросмотреть увеличенную картуSochi: Enjoy the sea and the mountains in one placeMind the GapAndroid iPhonePosted by Ulf Spitzer, Street View Program Manager

Gaming to fight cancer

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Update, June 20, 2013Cancer Research UKCell Slider,Posted by Theo Bertram, Policy Manager, UK

A diverse gathering in honour of a computing hero

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

centenary tributeTuring’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.

Posted by Eleanor Mulligan, Diversity and Inclusion Programs Manager

The sky is rising for Europe’s content industries

Friday, February 8, 2013

CCIA,Floor64previous versionpresent report

Sami SlimaniSlow Mo GuysPosted by Alex Kozak,, Public Policy and Government Relations Analyst

Featuring 6 Nations rugby on YouTube

Monday, February 4, 2013

RBS 6 NationsIreland hold off WalesEngland overcome the spirited ScotsItaly surprise the French ‘RBS6Nations’Watch Irish winger, Simon Zebo’s delicious flick against WalesPosted by Stephen Nuttall, Senior Director, Sports for YouTube Europe, Middle East and Africa

Free Raspberry Pi’s for aspiring young UK programmers

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

"The success of the BBC Micro in the 1980s shows what's possible. There's no reason why Raspberry Pi shouldn't have the same impact, with the right support."speaking in MayRaspberry Pi Foundationto allow 15,000 UK kids

Photo credit: Paul Beech (@guru)
CodeclubComputing At SchoolGenerating GeniusCoderdojoTeach FirstOCRPosted by Theo Bertram, Public Policy Manager, UK

Remembering Ferranti Atlas: the UK’s first supercomputer

Friday, December 7, 2012

Last year we celebrated the LEO computer, the world’s first computer to be used for business. Today we’d like to pay tribute to another pioneer in the commercialisation of computing: the UK engineering firm, Ferranti Ltd. Among their achievements was the creation of Atlas, the UK’s first supercomputer, which was switched on 50 years ago today.
This film was produced by Google for this week’s 50th anniversary commemoration of the Ferranti Atlas.
In the 1940’s, Ferranti branched out from manufacturing power transformers to developing fuses, valves and other electronics to support the war effort. They were thus well-placed to win the contract to manufacture a commercial version of Manchester University’s groundbreaking “Baby”—the world’s first stored programme computer. The result was the Ferranti Mark 1, which became the first computer to be sold commercially in February 1951.

Next, Ferranti recruited an inhouse team who designed what became Pegasus, with backing from government-owned NRDC. Launched in 1956, with an upgrade in 1959, the Pegasus series was the most commercially successful of Ferranti’s computers. Overall, 40 Pegasus computers were built, and by the late 1950’s Ferranti’s West Gorton facility was the largest production plant for computers in Europe. A restored 1959 model Pegasus still exists today in the London Science Museum.

In parallel, Ferranti retained a close relationship with Manchester University. In 1957 they launched an upgraded version of the Mark 1 called Mercury, which was more reliable and better at handling floating point arithmetic. In 1959, they began to collaborate on something entirely new: Atlas, a commercial version of the university’s Muse project, which aimed to build a computer capable of 1 million instructions per second, an almost 100-fold increase compared to Ferranti’s previous models.

Atlas represented a step change in UK computing design. Partly this related to hardware, as engineers shifted from using thermionic valves (aka vacuum tubes) to transistors, which were faster and used less power. Partly it related to software, as designers came up with new operating systems to squeeze out every last drop of performance. But also it related to ambition. By the late 1950’s and early 1960’s a new breed of high-performance computers were emerging from the US, heralding the start of the “supercomputing” era. Atlas was the UK’s attempt to catch up with these advances and, at least in technological terms, for a brief period it succeeded.

The first Atlas became operational 50 years ago today, on December 7th 1962, and was for a time the most powerful computer in the world. It was claimed that when the first Atlas arrived in 1962, it roughly doubled the UK’s scientific computing capability.

Earlier this week, Google was delighted to lend our support to an anniversary gathering of computer historians and those who worked on Atlas to reminisce and celebrate their achievements.

While sadly Atlas did not find commercial success, and was soon overtaken in speed by other machines, its influence lives on. Many of the software concepts Atlas pioneered are still in use today—not least virtual memory and multi-tasking, enabling the computer to work on multiple programs at once. The program controlling this, called Atlas supervisor, has been described as the “most significant breakthrough in the history of operating systems”, with virtual memory the most widely used computer design development of the past 50 years. Atlas was also the last hurrah for Ferranti’s computing business. In 1963 the division was sold off and merged into what became ICL, later bought by Fujitsu. The last Atlas was switched off in 1976 and with it came the end of an era for British computing.
Posted by Lynette Webb, Senior Manager, External Relations

Celebrating online entrepreneurs who 'shine online'

Friday, November 30, 2012

Chinese language schooltravel information companyGerman online tennis shopeuronews Business Awards competition 2012YouTubeSeptemberpig farmscooking schoolscentercourt.deOrientalmenteMyDestination.comPosted by Al Verney, Senior Communications Manager, Google Brussels

Rebuilding an illustrious ancestor to modern computing

Friday, November 16, 2012

computing ColossusGreat PyramidComputer Conservation Societyproject’s new websiteManchester BabyFrom the moment it became operationaluse subroutinesLEO, the world’s first business computerworld’s first computer science diploma courseremembered fondlyPosted by Lynette Webb, Senior Manager, External Relations

Google Play music arrives in Europe

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

music on Google PlayGoogle Play artist hubPosted by Paul Joyce, product manager for Google Play

Supporting innovative ways to protect kids online

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

CampusInteractivism: Think KidsNSPCCFutureGovCoadec9pm on Wednesday 14th November 2012December 6thSimpl Challenge pagePosted by Naomi Gummer, Senior Policy Analyst, Google UK

Forging a coalition to protect children

Thursday, October 18, 2012

YouTube for Schools YouTube Curriculum.
Net EcouteIn SafeFOSIPosted by Naomi Gummer, Policy Analyst

Debating the future of Europe’s Single Market

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

“Europe wake up! We will only return to growth and prosperity if we complete the Single Market.”debated tonight at 19:00 CETMichel BarnierjournalistsacademicseconomistsentrepreneursChristine OckrentSingle Market’s 20th anniversaryyoutube.com/versusdebates+Versus Google+ pagePosted by Al Verney, Senior Communications Manager, Google

Boosting online child safety in Europe

Friday, September 28, 2012

CEO CoalitionEuropean Commissioner Neelie KroeDigital Parenting magazineFamily Online Safety Institute’s AT&T’s “It Can Wait”Good to KnowYouTube child safety curriculumPaul SaffoPosted by Katharine Wang, Policy Analyst

Talking Moonshots at the London Design Festival

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

London Design FestivalDr. Astro Tellerself-driving carsProject Glass’s computer animated eyewearPosted by Stephen Rosenthal, UK Communications and Public Affairs Manager

For Sale: Alan Turing’s Monopoly

Saturday, September 8, 2012

—doodleblog postopening of a major exhibitionAlan Turing edition of Monopoly

Warrington CrescentSherborne SchoolHut 8Kings CollegeTuring isn’t (yet) on the £10 notehand-drawn Monopoly boardmathematical mentor Max—

“William had drawn the original board to play upon with his brother, basing the squares around important parts of Cambridge. He also added a few unique twists... including a line which went from Go to the Free Parking square, and a ‘turn around’ square which allowed you to change direction…

One afternoon the Newman household phone rang, with Turing on the other end, asking to speak with William. ‘Did he have a Monopoly board?’ Alan asked, and on hearing that he did, raced round. Turing’s mind was fascinated with codes, and there have long been suggestions he thought there were code-based tactics to playing Monopoly to ensure success. Alas, the hand drawn nature of William’s board (not to mention the unique diagonal straight and ‘turn around’ square) proved otherwise, and the great mathematician was beaten”Winning MovesBletchley Park—click here to pre-orderPosted by Lynette Webb, Senior Manager, External Relations

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