Thursday, 31 January 2008
Thursday, 17 January 2008
Reveals its plans for philanthropy; announces new grants and investments
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (January 17, 2008) – In its continuing effort to use the power of information and technology to help people better their lives, Google.org today rolled out five core initiatives that will be the focus of its philanthropic efforts over the next five to ten years. Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), will collaborate with experienced partners working in each of these fields, investing its resources and tapping the strengths of Google’s employees and global operations to advance its core initiatives.
Today’s announcement includes more than $25 million in new grants and investments to initial partners. The resources come from a commitment by Google’s founders to devote approximately 1 percent of the company’s equity plus 1 percent of annual profits to philanthropy, as well as employee time.
"In their first Letter from the Founders (2004), Larry Page and Sergey Brin said that we wanted to ‘make Google an institution that makes the world a better place.’ The work of Google.org will help us do that by applying Google’s strengths in organizing information and scaling technology to these complex issues," said Sheryl Sandberg, VP Global Online Sales & Operations, and Google.org Board member.
Added Dr. Larry Brilliant, executive director of Google.org, "These five initiatives are our attempt to address some of the hard problems we as a world need to face in the coming decade. We have chosen them both because we think solving them will make a better, fairer, safer world for our children and grandchildren – and the children and grandchildren of people all over the world – but also because we feel that these core initiatives fit well with Google’s core strengths, especially its innovative technologies and its talented engineers and other Googlers, who are really our most valuable assets."
Google.org joins a community of like minded groups working to make the planet and population healthier and more equitable. Google.org’s five initiatives and initial partners include:
Predict and Prevent
Google.org supports efforts to empower communities to predict and prevent events before they become local, regional, or global crises, by identifying "hot spots" and enabling a rapid response. Rapid ecological and social changes are increasing the risk of emerging threats, from infectious diseases to drought and other environmental disasters. Google.org is initially focused on Southeast Asia and tropical Africa. In Southeast Asia, a hot spot for SARS and potentially bird flu, Google.org is working with partners to strengthen early warning systems and build local capacities to prevent the next pandemic. Initial grants include:
$5 million to InSTEDD (Innovative Support to Emergencies, Diseases and Disasters) to improve early detection, preparedness, and response capabilities for global health threats and humanitarian crises. InSTEDD will work with the community of relief and response organizations, governments, academia and top scientists around the world to address gaps in information flow with software and other technology-based tools and services. Acting as an innovation laboratory, InSTEDD aims to support the humanitarian community in preparing for and responding to global public health emergencies, working together towards a safer world. For more information, see instedd.org/.
$2.5 million to the Global Health and Security Initiative (GHSI), established by the Nuclear Threat Initiative to prevent, detect, and respond to biological threats. Google.org’s support will help GHSI to strengthen national and sub-regional disease surveillance systems through workforce training and better laboratory capacity in the Mekong Basin area (Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Yunnan province, China). For more information, see www.ghsi.org/.
More than $600,000 to Clark University, with equal funding from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, for Clark Labs to develop a system to improve monitoring, analysis and prediction of the impacts of climate variability and change on ecosystems, food and health in Africa and the Amazon. This system is a prototype platform to deploy global environmental, health, and development data, information and analysis tools that the global community can freely access over the Internet. For more information, see www.clarklabs.org/.
Inform and Empower to Improve Public Services
Google.org works with partners to improve the flow of vital information to improve basic services for the poor in India and East Africa. In many countries in the developing world, essential public services are failing, especially for the poorest members of society. Google.org supports efforts to provide information to empower citizens and communities, providers, and policy makers to improve the delivery of essential public services such as education, health, water and sanitation. Initial grants include:
$2 million to Pratham, a non-governmental organization in India, to create an independent institute that will conduct the Nationwide Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) as well as large scale assessments in the education sector. Our goal is to expand these types of assessments to other sectors. For more information, see www.pratham.org/.
$765,000 to the Centre for Budget and Policy Studies, a Bangalore-based analysis group, to create a Budget Information Service for local governments to facilitate better district- and municipal-level level planning in India. For more information, see www.cbpsindia.org/.
$660,000 to the Center for Policy Research, an action oriented think tank based in India, to increase the debate and discourse on issues of urban local governance and urban service delivery. With the rapid expansion of cities in India, our goal is to provide policy makers the necessary information to make more informed decisions. For more information, see www.cprindia.org/.
Fuel the Growth of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises
Google.org supports efforts to lower transaction costs to invest in SMEs, create opportunities to access larger financial markets and make investments in this sector. SMEs are critical for inclusive economic growth and job creation in the developing world, but lack the capital and tools necessary to succeed. Many micro-enterprises and most large businesses have access to capital through microfinance institutions, banks and capital markets, but SMEs remain extraordinarily underserved, creating a "missing middle." Google.org wants to help increase the flow of capital to "the missing middle" by tackling some of the root causes that prevent these firms from becoming profitable investment opportunities. Technoserve is an initial partner:
$4.7 million grant to TechnoServe to provide general support to expand Technoserve’s efforts to support enterprises, spur job creation, and strengthen poverty alleviation programs globally, and to develop and implement a business plan competition to support entrepreneurs in Ghana and Tanzania. For more information see, www.technoserve.org/.
These three new efforts join two climate change related initiatives announced earlier this year:
Develop Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal (RE<C)
This cross-Google collaboration has set a goal of producing one gigawatt of renewable energy capacity that is cheaper than coal, within years not decades. The initiative, known as RE<C, was launched in November 2007 and will focus initially on advanced solar thermal power, wind power technologies, enhanced geothermal systems and other potential breakthrough technologies. For more information on Google’s commitment to a clean energy future, see www.google.com/renewable-energy. As part of the RE<C initiative, Google.org is supporting strategic investments, including:
$10 million to eSolar, a Pasadena, CA-based company specializing in solar thermal power which replaces the fuel in a traditional power plant with heat produced from solar energy. eSolar’s technology has great potential to produce utility-scale power cheaper than coal. Google announced its intention to work closely with eSolar in November, and has now closed the investment deal. For more information, please visit www.google.com/corporate/green/energy/esolar.pdf.
Accelerate the Commercialization of Plug-In Vehicles (RechargeIT)
RechargeIT is a Google.org initiative that aims to reduce CO2 emissions, cut oil use and stabilize the electrical grid by accelerating the adoption of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and vehicle-to-grid technology. Google.org launched a $10 million request for investment proposals this Fall, and will invest amounts ranging from $500,000 to $2 million in selected for-profit companies whose innovative approach, team and technologies will enable widespread commercialization of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, electric vehicles and/or vehicle-to-grid solutions.
Unlike conventional philanthropies, Google.org is a hybrid organization, giving it the flexibility either to make direct grants or invest in for-profit companies that might yield returns. Google.org can also lobby public officials in favor of policies supporting its goals.
Additional Google Giving
Beyond the grants and investments announced today under Google.org’s core initiatives, Google will continue its philanthropic work through programs to leverage Google products for non-profits, including: Google Grants™, which donates free ads to non-profits; Google Apps™, which provides free, web-based services to non-profits; and contributions from departments including Google Earth™, which offers mapping to monitor events such as the crisis in Darfur.
About Google.org
Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, uses the power of information and technology to help people improve their lives. We develop and invest in tools and partnerships that can help bring shared knowledge to bear on the world’s most pressing challenges in the areas of climate change, economic development and global health. For more information, visit www.google.org.
About Google Inc.
Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google’s targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, please visit www.google.com.
Conference Call Information
Google.org’s call begins today at 9:00 AM (PT) / 12:00 PM (ET). To participate, call 877-604-9673 in the United States or 719-325-4905 for calls from outside the United States, and use the confirmation code 4699562. A replay of the call will be available beginning at 3:00 PM (ET) today through midnight Thursday, January 24th, 2008 by calling 888-203-1112 in the United States or 719-457-0820 for calls from outside the United States. The required confirmation code for the replay is 4699562.
Media Contact:
Jacquelline Fuller
Google
press@google.com
+1.650.930.3555
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Google, Google.org, Google Apps, Google Earth and Google Grants are trademarks of Google Inc.
All other company and product names may be trademarks of the companies with which they are associated.
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including statements relating to our expected grants, investments and capital commitments, our ability to implement our core philanthropic initiatives, our ability to develop early warning systems to predict or prevent infectious diseases or environmental disasters, our ability to improve the flow of vital information to improve basic services for the poor, our ability to increase the flow of capital to the "missing middle", our ability to develop utility-scale renewable energy cheaper than coal, and our ability to accelerate the development of clean energy technologies. Actual results may differ materially from the results predicted. The potential risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ include, among others, risks related to our ability to hire the appropriate people and our ability to identify and pursue the technologies necessary to achieve these goals, as well as those risks and uncertainties included under the captions "Risk Factors" and "Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations," in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2007, which is on file with the SEC and is available on our investor relations website at investor.google.com and on the SEC website at www.sec.gov. All information provided in this release is as of January 17, 2008, and Google undertakes no duty to update this information.
Wednesday, 16 January 2008
Announcement
anuary 16, 2008
Today, Google announced the release of the iGoogle Themes API, which allows for user-generated iGoogle Themes. Now, anyone who can build a webpage can design an iGoogle Theme. Opening themes gives users more options for personalizing iGoogle pages, whether that be through creating new themes, or through choosing a user-created theme.
Developers are an important part of our innovation ecosystem and we’re always striving to release tools to help them innovate in new directions that will ultimately make the web richer for all users. With the iGoogle Themes API, developers can design and share a theme with the tens of millions of iGoogle users around the world, providing even more options for users to customize their iGoogle experience.
To jumpstart the development of iGoogle Themes, we’ve released custom themes from innovative designers Yves Behar, Mark Frauenfelder, Troy Lee and John Maeda. These themes are great examples of creative, high-quality themes and we hope will inspire theme designers.
Along with the release of the iGoogle Themes API we’ve also created a themes directory. Similar to the Google Gadgets directory, this directory allows users to find and select a theme for their iGoogle page.
To learn more about iGoogle Themes API, go to: code.google.com/apis/themes/
Announcement
January 16, 2008
Professors across the U.S. and the world have partnered with Google Inc. to introduce students to the world of online advertising and already 8,000 students are ready for the challenge.
The Google Online Marketing Challenge is a hands-on competition which will give undergraduate and post-graduate students direct experience with online advertising and marketing. Student groups will receive $200 to spend on Google AdWords™ advertising, working with a local business of their selection to devise effective online marketing campaigns. They will outline a strategy, run the campaign, assess their results, and provide the business with recommendations to further develop their online marketing.
Students will have three weeks to mastermind the strategy and will pit their marketing minds against thousands of students worldwide. During the three week period, the different student groups will have to submit two competition reports, one before they begin the Challenge and one after the campaign has ended. Entries will be judged by an international panel of professors and winners will be chosen based on the success of the campaigns and quality of the reports.
With 724 teams in the U.S. already registered for the competition, there are still two weeks left for additional universities to sign-up. The Challenge begins in February 2008 and is open to any higher education institution from anywhere in the world.
David Lawee, vice president of product marketing at Google said:
"As online marketing becomes a larger part of the overall marketing mix, we think it is important to help the world’s future business leaders understand the medium and the vast opportunity that exists online. By connecting university students with local businesses in their area we hope to give students great experience and help local businesses harness the power of the web to attract more customers."
"We set an initial target of 200 participating classes worldwide and are delighted that we have surpassed this target with 724 university teams in the US already signed up. Since there is no limit to how many teams can participate and there are still two weeks to register, we look forward to more universities signing up."
Ashish Goel, associate professor at Stanford University, said:
"In my opinion, the Google Online Challenge is an excellent and rare blend of business strategy and online marketing insight. This will lead to great discussions as students have to identify a business, devise an advertising strategy, and optimize their online campaign. This will encourage them to think both technically and in real-world terms. Both students and businesses benefit: the students get business experience, and the businesses get free online marketing. Having this practical hands-on experience is priceless in today’s business world."
The challenge works like this:
- Professors divide students into groups, who then receive free online advertising vouchers for Google AdWords worth $200.
- The groups or professors recruit a small to medium sized business, under 100 employees, who have a website but don’t currently use AdWords. Each group works with the business to set up an account and structure an online marketing campaign.
- During a 3 week competition window, the groups optimize and refine their campaigns. They will need to submit two competition reports – one before they begin and one after the campaign has ended. Entries are judged and winners chosen based on the success of their campaign and the quality of their reports.
- To accommodate students all over the globe, students can compete over any three consecutive weeks between the February 10th, 2008 and May 24th, 2008.
- Global and regional winners will be announced in July 2008.
- More details can be found at: www.google.com/onlinechallenge/index.html
Google and AdWords are trademarks of Google Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the entities with which they are associated.
Monday, 14 January 2008
Announcement
January 14, 2008
Today, the first day of Macworld, Google announced new improvements to the integrated Google experience on iPhone. The previous version, launched just over a month ago, brought together our suite of web applications – including Search, Gmail, Calendar, Reader, and more – into one easy-to-use interface. Since then, we’ve streamlined the interface even further, making the applications faster and improving their usability. Some of the improvements announced today include:
- Improved UI: The applications look and feel slicker, and they are easier to activate, navigate and use via a touch-screen.
- Customization of default tabs: Now Google users can have easy access to their favorite applications by customizing the applications that appear on the Google.com menu bar. Users simply choose their favorite Google applications to bring them to the front menu, ensuring that they’ll be close at hand whenever they’re needed. Switching between applications is effortless, as users only need to sign in once to access their Gmail, Calendar, Reader, Docs, and Picasa accounts.
- Speedier Gmail: New emails will automatically show up so there’s no need to manually refresh inboxes. And the new auto-complete feature for contacts makes composing emails faster than ever.
- Speedier Calendar: With our new month view, users can glance at an entire month of appointments.
- iGoogle: Now Google users can access their iGoogle gadgets on the iPhone. Everything they’ve customized on their iGoogle homepage including weather, stocks, and news feeds now appear on their iPhones. To go to iGoogle, simply click on the iGoogle link on the Home tab. You can customize your iGoogle page on your computer at www.igoogle.com.
These new features provide iPhone users with a desktop-like Google web application experience in terms of ease-of-use, speed, and feature richness but optimized for the iPhone. This experience is made possible by the iPhone’s general usability and the capabilities of its web browser, combined with Google’s innovative mobile web applications. We plan to expand this experience to international versions of the iPhone and to other platforms that offer similar usability and browser capabilities. One of our goals is to support platforms that are fulfilling the promise of the mobile web – like the iPhone – and to ultimately deliver unique and compelling mobile experiences that improve people’s daily lives.
To get the new Google experience on the iPhone, users simply navigate to www.google.com on the iPhone Safari browser. To see the full range of mobile products and services available from Google, visit mobile.google.com. If you’d like to learn more about today’s announcement, Google’s mobile initiatives or if you need screenshots, just let us know. And if you’re at Macworld please stop by our booth (number 1268 in the South hall) for a live demo! We’ll be there at 11:30 am on Tuesday and 10:30 am on the other days.
Friday, 11 January 2008
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – January 11, 2008 – Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) today announced that it will hold its quarterly conference call to discuss fourth quarter 2007 financial results on Thursday, January 31, 2008 at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time (4:30 p.m. Eastern Time).
The live webcast of Google’s earnings conference call can be accessed at investor.google.com/webcast. The webcast version of the conference call will be available through the same link following the conference call.
About Google Inc.
Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google’s targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.com.
Contacts:
Maria Shim
Investor Relations
650.253.7663
marias@google.com
Jon Murchinson
Corporate Communications
650.253.4437
jonm@google.com
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Google is a registered trademark of Google Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.
Thursday, 10 January 2008
Announcement
January 10, 2008
In an ongoing effort to provide effective advertising options, Google announced today the expansion of the Conversion Optimizer bid management feature. The Conversion Optimizer is a new feature that allows advertisers to meet their ROI objectives by automatically managing their cost-per-click (CPC) bids according to a maximum cost-per-acquisition (CPA) goal. The AdWords system makes adjustments with the aim of keeping the cost of each conversion below the specified maximum CPA bid, showing ads when conversions are most likely to occur. Advertisers can save time while achieving more conversions and a lower CPA. Since the Conversion Optimizer first became available as a beta feature in September 2007, many advertisers who have used it have been pleased with the ability to more effectively promote their products and services online.
"The Conversion Optimizer is a great new bidding option for Steve Madden, as it’s both time and cost-efficient in helping us manage our online advertising budget to meet specific ROI goals," said Frank Siano, internet marketing manager at Steve Madden. "Now that our bids are adjusted automatically, advertising with AdWords is even simpler than before. And because our ads only appear when they’re likely to convert into sales, we’ve seen very high results, such as increasing our daily conversions by 60 percent."
Starting today, advertisers whose campaigns have enabled AdWords Conversion Tracking and accrued at least 200 conversions in the past 30 days will be eligible to use the Conversion Optimizer. The Conversion Optimizer is ideal for advertisers and agencies who want to manage their advertising costs around clear, defined conversion goals.
By using this free feature, advertisers gain more precision and greater control over their advertising budgets. It allows them to simultaneously increase ROI, receive more conversions and save time by automating the bidding process. Ads using the Conversion Optimizer participate in the standard ad auction and are able to show on both Google’s search and content networks.
To learn more about the Conversion Optimizer, which is now available to qualified advertisers worldwide, visit www.google.com/adwords/conversionoptimizer.
Wednesday, 9 January 2008
Announcement
January 9, 2008
This morning at the American Astronomical Society in Austin, Texas, Google Engineering Director Andrew Moore announced a new version of Sky in Google Earth. Sky now includes several new features that provide scientists, students and amateur stargazers with new tools to explore the millions of stars and galaxies visible in Sky, get up to date on current sky events, learn basic concepts of astronomy, see historical sky maps and much more:
Earth & Sky Podcasts: podcasts about stars, galaxies, planets and events coming up in the sky from the NPR program Earth and Sky
Current Sky Events : provides timely updates on recent cosmological events from VOEventNet
Featured Observatories: images from NASA observatory satellites including x-ray images from NASA’s Chandra satellite; infrared images by the Spitzer Space Telescope and the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS); ultraviolet images by the GALEX Satellite; and a microwave map of the sky by the Wilkinson Microwave Anistropy Probe (WMAP)
Historical Sky Maps: a favorite in Google Earth, David Rumsey’s historical maps of the sky date back to 1792 and illustrate how conceptions of the sky have changed over time. Also available is a beautiful Constellations Art layer based on engravings by astronomer Johannes Hevelius from 1690 Grand tour of the sky: the best of Sky imagery in a tour that takes the user through 100 of our favorite spots in the Sky
Sky community: The best content published by the Sky community on the Sky discussion forums
To access Sky, users need only click "Switch to Sky" from the "view" drop-down menu in Google Earth, or click the Sky button on the Google Earth toolbar. The interface and navigation are similar to that of standard Google Earth steering, including dragging, zooming, search, "My Places," and layer selection.
Also introduced today, the Sky API will enable developers to develop their own sky mashups using the extensive sky imagery. Already several partners have implemented the API: Night View from the folks at www.heywhatsthat.com and a version for the iPhone from Alasdair Allan
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