Europe Blog
Our views on the Internet and society
German senior citizens show "the beautiful side of the Net"
Friday, November 2, 2012
Earlier this year, we launched a program in Germany to encourage senior citizens to go online. After spending quality time
talking individually with over 800 senior citizens
about how older people like to use the Internet, we ran a competition called
“We’ll show you! The beautiful sides of the Internet”
, together with our partners
Deutschland sicher im Netz
(Germany Safe Online) and
BAGSO
(the Federal Association of Senior Citizens’ Organisations).
This week, at an awards ceremony at Google’s Berlin office, more than 90 guests from government, civil society and industry celebrated the achievements of the winners. A jury chose
the best entrants in three categories
- Experience Report, Video and Website - and also gave a special award to three friends who meet online to share presentations and research via online video chat.
We also conducted a survey with our partners, which showed some positive developments - for example, that in the age range 51-85, more than 80% of men and women already use email to communicate with friends and family - and more than 75% use search engines to find information.
In many areas, however, the survey suggested that German senior citizens were not being well served online. Little information exists online on leisure offerings for older generations such as holidays, sport, and fashion. And
like senior citizens in the UK
, they wanted to see more attention paid to developing online services that enhance social inclusion and improve care for the elderly.
Older people - a long overlooked audience on the Net - are catching on to the possibilities of the online world. We’re committed to helping improve things for them.
Posted by Sabine Frank, Media Literacy Policy Counsel, Berlin
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
Supporting innovative ways to protect kids online
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Have you got a great product, project or prototype that helps children and parents get the most out of the internet, whilst staying safe? Want to demo it to an audience of parents, children, celebrities and journalists?
If so, take this opportunity to win a resident membership to Europe's most exciting tech startup hub, Google’s
Campus
in London by entering the
Interactivism: Think Kids
contest. Campus is designed to support the UK’s burgeoning web entrepreneurs, offering seven floors of flexible work spaces, free high speed internet and all the support you need to fuel your idea. In addition, residents get access to mentoring programmes, speaker series, networking events and more.
NSPCC
,
FutureGov
and
Coadec
, along with Google, are supporting this exciting opportunity. The deadline for submissions is
9pm on Wednesday 14th November 2012
. Winners will be selected to attend the Interactivism pitch day at Campus on
December 6th
.
Find out more and submit your idea on the
Simpl Challenge page
.
Posted by Naomi Gummer, Senior Policy Analyst, Google UK
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
Blogging in Solidarity's shadow
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Three decades ago in Gdansk, Poles rose up and created a marvel - an independent trade union Solidarity that, after a decade of non-violent struggle, threw off the shackles of communism. Today, the country is part of the European Union and has created a vibrant free market democracy - making it a potential leader in pushing Internet freedom. I travelled to Solidarity's birthplace, to give the keynote speech at the largest conference of Polish bloggers,
Blog Forum Gdansk
.
More than 200 young, energetic bloggers (and 120,000 online viewers) assembled in the conference room of the sparkling new
Gdansk Stadium
, constructed for the
Euro 2012 tournament
. In a keynote speech, we outlined the promise and perils of Internet freedom. For me, it was a moving moment - I remember covering the Solidarity revolution in the 1980s as a journalist and I compared how I took notes almost in secret and only could publish my stories after I left the country. Now Tweets and blogs were published direct from the conference room, in real time.
In many ways, Poland should be ripe for Internet freedom to flourish. More than any other Central European country under Soviet rule, Poland resisted and kept the spirit of free discourse alive with a vibrant
samizdat
press. Estonia recently captured first place in
Freedom House's rankings
and has become the poster-child for post-communist freedom fighters. Despite some initiatives supporting an open internet, Poland remains ranked at a distant 17th place.
Why? Our meetings with bloggers and NGOs in both Warsaw and Gdansk illustrated how the power of the Internet to revolutionise free expression is not yet full understood. Many complain about a worrying rise of hate speech. Many politicians are angry about comments posted on the free Internet, and libel and defamation suits proliferate. Some Polish court rulings seem to interpret liability laws in a restrictive way detrimental to Internet platforms, threatening to limit freedom of expression for users.
Our appearance at the Blog Forum Gdansk is just a first step in an effort to encourage change. Over the coming months, we will continue our activities to demonstrate how the Internet provides positive new possibilities for Poles to express themselves.
Posted by William Echikson, Head of Free Expression, Europe, Middle East and Africa
Watch the Hajj from the Grand Mosque of Mecca
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Cross-posted with the Official Google Blog
">
Tomorrow marks the start of the observance of Eid El Adha, celebrated by the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims. As part of this holiday, nearly 2.5 million Muslims will participate in the world’s largest pilgrimage to perform the ritual of
Hajj
. This year, millions more from around the world will be able to experience the ritual via the Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information's Y
ouTube channel’s live stream
from
Mecca, Saudi Arabia
.
The Hajj represents one of the five pillars of Islam; it requires all Muslims around the world who are able-bodied and can afford it to perform the pilgrimage once in their lifetime. The pilgrimage occurs from the 8th to 12th day of
Dhu al-Hijjah
, the 12th and last month of the
Islamic calendar
.
This live stream was made possible by our cooperation with the Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information, which also
broadcast Islamic prayers live
from the
Grand Mosque in Mecca
during this year’s Ramadan.
Watch on
www.youtube.com/makkahlive
.
Posted by Abdulrahman Tarabzouni, Head of Emerging Arabia, Google
Sharpening Hungary’s strong math talents
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
As a 15 year old, I entered a math contest run by the math journal
KöMaL
. One problem kept me working through the night, even prompting me to dream about it. Unfortunately, I dreamed up the wrong solution. But the challenge excited me so much that I kept on studying math. Now, I work on search quality for Google, optimizing the functions and algorithms that make our search results as fresh as possible.
My own experience makes me happy to announce that Google is supporting this year’s KöMaL contest. Over the next nine months, students will be tested to solve tough mathematical problems. Winners of the different age categories and difficulty levels will be crowned towards September 2013.
For more than a century, KöMaL has been exciting Hungary’s aspiring mathematicians. A high school teacher called
Dániel Arany
, founded the mathematical journal, aiming aimed to educate high school students by challenging them to solve a series of complex mathematical problems. Almost all most eminent Hungarian mathematicians and physicists were participants in the competition as youngsters, including Pál Erdős, Pál Turán, László Lovász, János Pintz, Imre Bárány, and Vilmos Totik.
I’m looking forward to seeing whose name might be up there next and will report back next year to announce the winner! In the meantime, why not have a go at October’s problem:
Prove that the sum of the squares of seven consecutive integers cannot be a perfect square.*
Find the solution to this and other month’s mathematical problems
here.
Posted by Gábor Fehér, Search Quality Engineer
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