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.
A new way of talking politics in Italy
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Traditionally, politics is conducted top down, with politicians speaking to the people. The Internet can help break this mould, allowing the people to question politicians. We have developed a series of tools on
Google+
and
YouTube
to help connect citizens with their leaders.
In Italy, we worked with
La Stampa
, one of Italy’s most prestigious daily newspapers, to enable citizens to question three senior Italian politicians in a
Google+ Hangout
. Under the headline
A New Relation Between Citizens and Politicians
, La Stampa elicited interview questions from Google+ users on how the web can be used to “rebuild the relationships between citizens and politicians and overcome the populism which is damaging our confidence in our members of parliament.”
Citizens submitted their questions via La Stampa’s Google+ page.
Maurizio Lupi
, Vice President of the Italian Parliament and member of the centre-right PDL Party;
Enrico Letta
, Vice-Secretary General of the centre-left Democratic Party; and
Roberto Rao
, Member of Parliament for the centrist UDC party, answered. Topics focused on the economic crisis and youth employment.
“Most MPs use the web only as a showcase,” acknowledged Mr. Rao. “Just a few of us understand the potential of the web to interact with citizens.”
Politicians using the web “is an important experiment,” said Mr. Letta. “If it succeeds it can be used much more as a way to engage citizens,”
We hope that this inaugural Hangout encourages other politicians to engage with voters online in the run up to the Italian elections in spring 2013. Stay tuned.
Posted by Diego Ciulli, Policy Analyst Google Italy
Spanish teenagers capture a Google Science Fair prize
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Some of the world’s brightest young scientists gathered at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View this week to present their projects to a panel of
renowned judges
at the Google Science Fair finals.
The
15 finalists
were chosen from thousands of projects from more than 100 countries. Their work covered a wide variety of topics: from cancer research to vertical farming, 3D electronics to dementia. It was a tough decision, but we’re proud to name three projects as winners of this year’s Google Science Fair, including one project from Spain:
13-14 age category:
Jonah Kohn
(USA)—“Good Vibrations: Improving the Music Experience for People with Hearing Loss Using Multi-Frequency Tactile Sound.” By creating a device that converts sound into tactile vibrations, Jonah’s project attempts to provide the hearing impaired with an improved experience listening to music.
15-16 age category:
Iván Hervías Rodríguez, Marcos Ochoa and Sergio Pascual
(Spain)—“La Vida Oculta del Agua (The Secret Life of Water).” Iván, Marcos and Sergio studied hidden microscopic life in fresh water, documenting the organisms that exist in a drop of water, and how those organisms influence our environment.
17-18 age category
AND
Grand Prize Winner:
Brittany Wenger
(USA)—“Global Neural Network Cloud Service for Breast Cancer.” Brittany’s project harnesses the power of the cloud to help doctors accurately diagnose breast cancer. Brittany built an application that compares individual test results to an extensive dataset stored in the cloud, allowing doctors to assess tumors using a minimally-invasive procedure.
Each of the winners will receive
prizes
from Google and our Science Fair partners: CERN, LEGO, National Geographic and
Scientific American
. This evening, we also recognized Sakhiwe Shongwe and Bonkhe Mahlalela, from Swaziland, the winners of the
Scientific American
Science in Action award
.
The judges were impressed with the quality of all the projects this year—and by the ingenuity, dedication and passion of the young scientists who created them. We applaud every contestant who submitted a project to the 2012 Google Science Fair and look forward to seeing the innovations, inventions and discoveries of young scientists in the years to come.
Posted by Cristin Frodella, Google in Education
Ramadan traditions with a digital twist
Saturday, July 21, 2012
More a billion Muslims around the world today begin to observe the holy month of
Today, more a billion Muslims around the world begin to observe the holy month of
Ramadan
, fasting from dawn to sunset. This year, we’re bringing some of the most venerable Ramadan traditions online.
We’re sharing the Islamic prayers live from Mecca on a dedicated
YouTube channel
. Millions of people from around the world will be able to experience and comment on the event by tuning in via video.
Ramadan is about more than just prayer; it is also a special moment to gather with friends and family. Muslims gather to watch special television shows produced for the holiday and shown only during Ramadan. Often the shows overlap in scheduling. This year, for the first time, YouTube is enabling people to watch their favorite shows anytime, anywhere. A new
YouTube Ramadan channel
lets viewers see more than 50 premium Ramadan shows the same day they air. In the clip below, famed Syrian actor
Jamal Suliman
appears in a drama:
Ramadan’s tastiest tradition is the food. After fasting through the day, families gather for evening break-the-fast meals called
Iftar
. Through Google+ Hangouts, we’re hosting 30 virtual get-togethers in the 30 days of Ramadan, in which celebrity chefs will share their favorite recipes and
doctors
will give tips on eating healthy.
The hangouts will engage people in subjects far beyond eating.
Actors
will talk about their favorite Ramadan shows. Poets will discuss literature inspired by the holiday. Religious
figures
will answer questions. Stay tuned to the
Google Arabia
page on Google+ for more details and and join in.
We hope you enjoy experiencing your favorite Ramadan traditions with a digital twist this year. Ramadan Kareem!
Posted by Maha Abouelenein, Head of Communications Middle East and North Africa
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
Face blurring: when footage requires anonymity
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
YouTube is proud to be a place where citizens and activists come to tell their stories -- stories that may otherwise go unnoticed. A
study
released this week by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism found that YouTube is a top destination for news and that “citizens play a substantial role in supplying and producing footage.”
But this level of exposure can mean risk to the citizens shooting the footage and the people who appear in their videos.
Today, we announced a new face blurring tool
that represents a first step toward providing visual anonymity within
our video enhancement tool
.
Of course, anonymity is never a guarantee, and people who capture sensitive video footage should consider taking other precautions to keep themselves and their subjects safe. Here are three suggestions:
Assess your risk. You and the people you film may face risk in every step of filming an advocacy video. You may face risks to your own safety and that of your subjects while filming sensitive footage, during the editing process after you have captured the film, and when you distribute your film online. After assessing the risks you and your subjects face you can make more informed decisions about when to film, whether to distribute your footage, and how widely you want to share it.
Consider other information which may give away identity. Video footage of your face is not the only way someone can detect your identity. Other factors that may be caught on video can also identify you or your subjects. Watch out for vocal identifiers, like the sound of your voice or saying someone’s name on camera. Other visual footage can give away identity like a license plate, a name tag, or even the background scenery. Make sure that the imagery in your videos does not give away information about your location or identity.
Understand local laws. Given the global scope of YouTube, we comply with different sets of laws in the various countries in which we're launched (to see where we're launched, go to the YouTube.com footer and click "Worldwide"). If the content in your video is illegal in one of these countries, we must comply with the local formal legal processes. For instance, that means that in Germany we don't stream videos that are sympathetic to Nazism. Know your local laws before you upload.
Over the past seven years, YouTube has evolved into a destination for citizen reporting. Along with efforts like the
Human Rights Channel
and
Citizentube
that curate these voices, we hope that the new technologies we’re rolling out will facilitate the sharing of even more stories on our platform.
Posted by Amanda Conway, YouTube Policy Associate
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