Europe Blog
Our views on the Internet and society
Scaling the heights of the Eiffel Tower
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Since its construction in 1889, more than 250 million people have visited Paris’ iconic
Eiffel Tower
. The highest monument in the world for more than 40 years (today that title is held by
Burj Khalifa
in Dubai), the Eiffel Tower remains the most visited monument globally. But not everyone has been or can hope to go—until now. If you’ve ever wondered what the view is like from above the City of Light or wanted to learn more about the Tower’s history, now’s your chance to find out.
The
Google Cultural Institute
and the Eiffel Tower Operating Company have teamed up to create three immersive online exhibitions which blend fascinating historical material with a sprinkling of technological magic. In order to capture the imagery, the Street View team followed in the footsteps of 7 million annual visitors and ascended multiple floors of the Tower. Using the Street View
Trolley
(designed especially for monuments and museums) they filmed 360-degree views of the monument’s architecture and its views over Paris.
These
modern-day Street View panoramas
sit alongside nearly
50 archival images, plans, engravings and photos
telling the story of the Eiffel Tower’s development and social impact in the 19th century. Some of the archive material is quite rare and precious such as a
recording of Gustave Eiffel’s voice by Thomas Edison
.
The first exhibition presents
the birth of the Eiffel Tower
from the initial idea until its realization. You can then follow
the construction
of the monument step-by-step through photos and sketches. Details on
the inauguration and the first visitors
lie in the third exhibition, with photos of
people admiring the Paris vista
on the opening day leading into today’s Street View imagery from the top floor. Did you know that during the Tower’s inauguration for the Universal Exhibition of 1889, the elevators were not yet in service but 12,000 people per day rushed to climb the 1710 steps leading to the top?
As a product manager and designer, it’s been awe-inspiring to get to see the spectacular vision and the detailed architectural capabilities exemplified by the plans more than 100 years ago. It required tremendous knowledge of special planning and physics to ensure that 18,000 separately made pieces would come together as one. So if you’ve never visited the Eiffel Tower before, want to get insider knowledge or simply want to re-discover it in a new way, visit our
site
and immerse yourself in one of the most well-known attractions on the planet.
Posted by Mark Yoshitake, Head of Product & User Experience, Google Cultural Institute
You're changing the world. We want to help.
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
A couple of weeks ago, we celebrated the winners of the
Google Global Impact Challenge
in the UK, awarding prizes to nonprofits for some amazing, innovative uses of technology to help their causes. Today we are thrilled to go one step further and launch the
Google for Nonprofits
programme in the UK, starting in England and Wales.
Google for Nonprofits is a one-stop-shop that offers access to our suite of free and discounted products and tools. If you work for a nonprofit, you can
apply to join the program
today. Once your organisation is approved, you get free
Google Apps
to cut IT costs and operate more efficiently; up to $10,000 a month in advertising on
Google Adwords
to reach more donors; and premium features for
YouTube
and our
mapping technologies
to raise awareness of your cause. We’ve also developed other online resources such as
educational videos
,
case studies
and better ways to
connect
with other nonprofits.
Over the years, Google has donated over $1 billon worth of products to nonprofits, and several UK organisations are already using our tools.
BeatBullying
- a charity that fights online bullying - uses Google Apps to enable more sharing and collaboration amongst colleagues. The
Royal National Lifeboat Institution
uses Google AdWords and YouTube to raise awareness and recruit more supporters; and
WaterAid
uses Google mapping technologies to show where their work is making a difference.
We’re inspired and humbled by the amazing ways nonprofits are making the world a better place, and look forward to supporting the work of more UK nonprofits.
Posted by Xiaonan Zhao, Product Manager, Google for Nonprofits
A few easy tools the whole family will love
Thursday, July 11, 2013
This summer we’re
posting regularly
with privacy and security tips. Knowing how to stay safe and secure online is important, which is why we created our Good to Know site with advice and tips for safe and savvy Internet use.
-Ed.
Summer is here, and with kids out of school it is a great time for families to explore the web together—from learning what makes fireflies glow to playing online games together. But while there is a lot of entertaining, educational content online, there are also materials I’d rather not see when I’m surfing the web with my family. Google has built a number of tools that parents can use to help keep content they would rather not see from popping up on the family computer. It takes less than five minutes to turn them on, so follow the steps below to help make your search results more family-friendly this summer.
1. Turn on SafeSearch in Google Search
Turning on
SafeSearch
is an easy way to help you hide images, search results and videos intended just for adults. It’s especially helpful if you’re concerned about the content that might pop up on your family computer, and it’s easy to turn on. Just visit the Google
Search Settings page
, go to the "SafeSearch filters" section, and check the box to filter mature content from Google Search result pages. These preferences will apply for any searches done using that browser on your computer. If you have multiple browsers on your family computer, you might want to turn SafeSearch on for each one.
You can turn SafeSearch on or off from the
Search Settings page
2. Save and lock your preferences
Once you’ve set your preferences, make sure to click the Save button at the bottom of the page. And if you're signed in to your Google Account, you can also lock the SafeSearch filter so others can’t change your preferences—just click “Lock SafeSearch.” Now the setting is protected with your Google Account password. While no filter is 100 percent perfect, with SafeSearch on you can feel more confident browsing the web with your family.
3. Turn on YouTube Safety Mode
YouTube Safety Mode
helps you and your family avoid videos that might be OK with our
Community Guidelines
, but you might not want popping up on your family computer. Turning on Safety Mode in YouTube takes just one step. Scroll down to the bottom of any YouTube page and click on the button that says “Safety” at the bottom of the page—now you can choose your preferences for Safety Mode.
Click the button that says “Safety” at the bottom of any YouTube page, and then choose your preferences
4. Lock your Safety Mode preferences
Just like with Safe Search, you can also log in with your Google Account and
lock YouTube Safety Mode
on each one of your computer’s browsers. It will filter videos with mature content, so they won’t show up in video search results, related videos, playlists, shows or films. YouTube Safety Mode will also help hide objectionable comments.
5. Turn on SafeSearch on mobile
SafeSearch is available on your phone or other mobile device, as well as the web. You can turn on SafeSearch for Google on your mobile device by opening your phone’s browser and visiting
google.com/preferences
. Scroll to the SafeSearch Filters section to select what level of filtering you would like to enable. Be sure to tap “Save Preferences” after you’ve made your selection.
To enable SafeSearch on YouTube’s mobile app, first open your settings, then press “Search.” From there, select “SafeSearch Filtering” and select moderate or strict filtering.
Helping your family have a positive and safe experience with Google is important to you, and it’s important to us, too. That’s why we’ve partnered with parents and experts on free and easy to use tools and resources to help your family stay safe and secure when browsing online. If you’re interested in even more of our tools and tips, please see our
Good to Know
site, and stay tuned for more security tips throughout the summer.
Posted by Matthias Heiler, Staff Software Engineer
Hanging out with a Nobel Prize economics laureate
Thursday, July 11, 2013
We believe the Internet represents the motor of the 21st century economy, and its always nice to hear a Nobel Prize winner explain how best to encourage net innovation. Czech
CERGE-EI
think tank recently organized a Google Hangout with Nobel Laureate for economics
Eric Maskin
.
The Prague setting was appropriate. The Czech Republic’s economy remains dependent on traditional manufacturing, particularly the auto industry, which accounts for nearly a quarter of Czech output. Czech policymakers regularly acknowledge the need to move toward a more high-tech, services-based, knowledge economy. How?
Professor Maskin suggested that the Czech Republic and the rest of Europe needed to be careful about imposing a heavy patent burden on the tech sector. Software, semiconductor, and computer industries have been innovative despite historically weak patent protection, he argues. “In software you don’t have single big breakthroughs, but rather a succession of many small improvements,” he explained. “If I patent a small discovery and you want to build on it, you won’t be able to do that easily - I’m going to block you with my patents.”
The Nobel Prize winner discussed these ideas, along with many others, with Czech commentators
David Marek
(Chief Economist, Patria Finance) and
Jakub Steiner
(Associate Professor, CERGE-EI). During his discussion, Professor Maskin is not an anti-patent zealot. He compared the software to the pharmaceutical industry, where he said patents could be effective. “In the case of drugs, where you have a single big breakthrough and have to spend hundreds of millions, patents have been useful for drug companies and society,” he said.
The Czech Republic, along with the rest of Europe, needs to embrace Internet innovation and Professor Maskin offers some important insights in how to construct the best possible innovation environment. We hope to hold new Hangouts from Prague to foster a healthy debate on Internet regulation.
Posted by Denis Gibadulin, Public Policy & Gov't Relations Analyst, Czech Republic
Supporting Israeli and Palestinian technology students
Monday, July 8, 2013
In his recent Jerusalem speech, President Obama referenced one of our 2013
RISE
award recipients,
MEET - Middle East Education through Technology
as an example of how innovation is reshaping the Middle East.
Today, on MEET’s 10th anniversary, hundreds of Palestinians and Israelis will come together in Jerusalem to celebrate MEET's impact, showcasing technology and business projects built by students who’ve participated in their program. The event will be livestreamed on YouTube between 4-6pm GMT/6-8pm IDT, to enable MEET’s community all over the world to join the occasion. Watch
here.
Working in partnership with
Massachusets Institute of Technology
, MEET's mission is to educate and empower the next generation of Israelis and Palestinians to bring about positive change in the region. Their groundbreaking program teaches computer science, entrepreneurship and leadership to 160 high school students (age 15-17) over three years. The program comprises three consecutive summers at the Hebrew University with volunteer instructors from MIT, and weekly program sessions in the two intervening years at the MEET hubs in Jerusalem and Nazareth, taught by MEET alumni.
Google’s work with support for MEET goes beyond the RISE award. Googlers from Tel Aviv, Mountain View and London serve as project mentors; and the Venture Lab incubator for social and business initiatives led by MEET alumni is a partner of
Google’s Campus Tel Aviv Launchpad
program.
MEET has accomplished much in its first decade, and we know they have great plans for the future.
Alison Daniel-Cutler, Pre-University Education Outreach, Europe, Middle East and Africa
A new way to experience the 100th Tour de France
Monday, July 8, 2013
This year, the Tour de France is celebrating its 100th edition with a special route, from Corsica to Les Champs-Elysées, giving people around the world the chance to admire beautiful sights as well as amazing athletic feats.
Our Doodle celebrating the 100th edition of the Tour de France
The Tour de France uses a variety of Google products that can help you experience the race like never before, including a
YouTube
channel, a
Google+ page
and an
Android app
where you can keep up with this 100th edition. We’ve also used Google Maps and Street View to create a new interactive experience that lets you feel what it’s like to pedal alongside the greats. Put on your helmet and cycle
here
.
So what are you waiting for?
Line up and get started
!
Posted by Raphaël Goumain, Consumer Marketing Director, France
Hanging out with innovators
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Over the past decade, Slovakia has reformed its taxation, healthcare, pension, and social welfare systems, attracting large inflows of foreign investment into the automobile and electronic sectors, and becoming Central Europe’s first country to adopt the euro in January, 2009. But Europe’s economic woes have slowed growth. The Slovak government believes it must forge ahead finding new and innovative sources of growth - particularly on the Internet.
For this reason, the Ministry of the Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic recently worked with Slovak Alliance for Internet Economy to stream its first ever live
Google Hangout
with Israeli venture entrepreneur
Jon Medved
. Medved has invested in over 100 Israeli startup companies, helping 12 of them to get to valuations in excess of $100 million. His presentation, entitled “Israel - the Power to Astonish,” explained to the online audience that venture capital for web startups was flowing into israel despite the global economic crisis. What is Israel’s “special sauce?,” he asked rhetorically. “A willingness to accept risk and failure,” he answered.
Slovakia’s major economic daily
Hospodarske noviny
streamed the hangout live on its website and four national startup hubs participated. We are planning to continue these hangouts from Finland and elsewhere, creating a series of
“Innovators Connect”
policy discussions about innovation and Internet Economy. Tune in and see if Slovakia can become the next hot e-country.
Posted by Ondrej Socuvka, Public Policy Manager, Bratislava
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