A ghooooulish Googleween

When it comes to holidays, Halloween is one of our favorites. You get candy corn, creepy crawlies, ghosts and goblins, blustery weather and the goopy joys of pumpkin carving all crammed into one glorious fall fun-fest. It's also the one holiday where you can dress up as whatever you want — your favorite celebrity, your favorite animal or even, like one Googler last year, your favorite gadget.

As usual, we're in the process of devising brilliant last-minute costumes, and we got curious about what others around the globe have been searching for in preparation for Halloween.

We used Insights for Search to track the fastest-rising searches related to [costume] in the U.S. in 2009. The query at the top of the charts is [lady gaga costume] — no surprise, as the star wears quite a few costumes on a regular basis herself:


And many people seem to be planning a tribute to the late pop star Michael Jackson — searches for [michael jackson costume] started spiking in June of this year and have increased steadily since then:


Since Halloween is most popular in the U.S., we focused on queries there — but we did investigate searches in Canada and the U.K. for good measure. In Canada, people are overwhelmingly searching for costumes for two — variations on [couples costumes] dominate the top 10. Both in Canada and across the pond, searchers are looking for costumes based on Lewis Carroll's classic story Alice in Wonderland, with [mad hatter costume] in the top 10 in the U.K. and [alice in wonderland] in Canada.

Since [vampire costume] was one of the top 10 searches this year, we figured we'd check in with the various vampire TV shows and movies to see which is, um, making a killing in the costume race. The query [twilight costume] has the most search volume, with [true blood costume] not far behind. (Pointy teeth and body glitter — done!)


Thinking of dressing up your little ones? Popular queries in the U.S. related to [kids costume] include [ladybug], [minnie mouse] and [tinkerbell].


We also did some digging to see if people were taking inspiration from the movie Where the Wild Things Are and wearing a [max costume] this year. Based on the fastest-rising related terms [footie pajamas], [footed pajamas] and [max costume pattern], it seems like at least a few folks are choosing to make [max wolf suit] costumes at home:


As a dog-friendly company, we share the country-wide impulse to dress up our dogs for the holiday. Related searches for [taco dog costume], [dog shark costume] and [banana costume] (so cute!) all rank high.


At Google, we've been gearing up for tomorrow's real deal with festivities on our Mountain View campus, complete with Halloween crafts for visiting kids and a haunted house. Googlers are also pulling out all the stops for the costume contest:



We hope you have a happy Googleween!

Posted by Jordan Newman and Emily Wood, Editors, Google Blog team

Three contest winners making their way to television

(Cross-posted from the Google TV Ads Blog)

Small businesses often think that television advertising is too expensive and cumbersome for them to use. They assume that they need a fancy, expensive commercial to use in their TV campaign. But Google TV Ads changes all of that — we make it easy and affordable for you to make a TV ad, plan a campaign and reach your customers through the power of television. We launched the TV for All contest two months ago to prove just that.

More than 200 companies submitted commercials for the opportunity to win $25,000 worth of free national advertising on cable channels such as CNBC, Hallmark and Bloomberg using Google TV Ads. Today, we're happy to announce the three winners of the TV for All contest based on votes from the YouTube community.

Amazing Gates, Owners.com and ZAGG.com received the largest number of votes among the 10 finalists. Each of these businesses will receive $25,000 in free national advertising through Google TV Ads advertising.


Check out the three winners and all entries at www.youtube.com/tvforallcontest. For more information on Google TV Ads and how it can help your small business succeed, visit our website at google.com/tvads.

Posted by Deeksha Hebbar, Associate Marketing Manager, Google TV Ads

That's Not My Name!

Received a floral top and skirt from Cameo Project...


...and, decided to wear the top to The Ting Tings concert today! Yay!!

Cameo Project floral top, Cotton Ink leggings, Mooks bag, various pins and brooches, Alexis - Wondershoe shoe

Oooooohhhh I looooooove The Ting Tings...super awesome duo!!

Or can I have this instead?

Toy Watch

Do machines dream of electric malware?

Posted by: Oliver Fisher, Anti-Malware Team

We've explored Google's anti-malware processes several times recently, as well as our efforts to work with webmasters to help protect their users. However, there's been some confusion about the objectivity of our scanning and flagging procedures.

Google uses fully automated systems to scan the Internet for potentially dangerous sites. These systems help detect sites infected with malware and then add a warning that appears in Google search results and in many web browsers. We flag sites in this way to help protect users who might visit them. The warning is a cautionary page, and we never prevent users from viewing the affected site if they choose. It's important to note that sites are often compromised without the webmaster's knowledge, so we provide affected webmasters with further information on the issues we've identified — including showing snippets of the malicious code we find. We also offer free resources in Google Webmaster Tools to help site owners clean their sites and request a re-scan.

Site owners sometimes say that we've made a mistake and that their site does not contain malware. For example, the recent appearance of a malware warning on people.com.cn sparked discussion about how Google flags websites. Our scanners — which are automated and indifferent to a site's subject matter — first found a malicious ad on the book.people.com.cn domain at approximately 3:47 a.m. PT on October 17, 2009. Over several days, the scanners detected thousands of URLs with suspicious content in other people.com.cn domains.

Malicious content can be very difficult to detect. A previous post on this blog offered tips for finding hidden malware and cleaning up websites. There are also good tips on Google's Webmaster Central Blog. If a webmaster has indeed removed the malicious content and filed a malware review request in Webmaster Tools, the warning label will be removed shortly. If it persists, however, it's very likely that dangerous content remains. Our scanners are highly accurate, and false positives are extremely rare.

When Google's automated systems detect dangerous content on a site, an email is sent to several administrative email addresses at the site, as well as to the corresponding Webmaster Tools account if one exists. We sent a notification to people.com.cn at 11:01 a.m. PT on October 17, just as any compromised site would receive. The email includes an explanation of how the site may have become compromised and unknowingly been distributing malware. It also describes the process of removing malware from the site and getting the Google warning removed from the site. A copy of the message sent to the addresses associated with infected sites is below:

We recently discovered that some of your pages can cause users to be infected with malicious software. We have begun showing a warning page to users who visit these pages by clicking a search result on Google.com.
...
We strongly encourage you to investigate this immediately to protect your visitors. Although some sites intentionally distribute malicious software, in many cases the webmaster is unaware because:
1) the site was compromised
2) the site doesn't monitor for malicious user-contributed content
3) the site displays content from an ad network that has a malicious advertiser

If your site was compromised, it's important to not only remove the malicious (and usually hidden) content from your pages, but to also identify and fix the vulnerability. We suggest contacting your hosting provider if you are unsure of how to proceed. StopBadware also has a resource page for securing compromised sites: http://www.stopbadware.org/home/security Once you've secured your site, you can request that the warning be removed by visiting http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=45432 and requesting a review. If your site is no longer harmful to users, we will remove the warning.

As the email says, the fastest way for a site to be removed from the malware list is for the webmaster to file a review request via Google Webmaster Tools. Google's automated scanners will periodically re-examine the site even if no such request is received, but the process will take longer. People.com.cn did not file a review request, but our scanners reviewed the site on October 23 and removed the malware warning after finding that the malicious ad was gone.

Malicious display ads are an increasingly common way for sites to unknowingly distribute malware. We recently wrote about the steps that Google takes to help protect our advertising networks. Also, other publishers have recently written about their experiences with deceptive display ads.

Daftar Review Korean Movie

• 2 Faces of My Girlfriend 
•  3-Iron
• 200 Pounds Beauty
•  ...ing
• A Man Who Was Superman
•  A Millionaire's First Love
•  A Moment to Remember
• A Tale of Two Sisters
• Attack of Pin Up boys
•  BA:BO 
• Baby and I 
• Big Bang
•  City of Fathers
• Crossing
• Daddy-Long-Legs
• Death Bell
•  Detectives in 40 Minutes
• Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Si Do
•  Fly, Daddy, Fly
•  Happiness 
• Happy Life
• Heart is... 
•  Heartbreak Library
•  Hello Schoolgirl 
• Humming 
• Il Mare
• Joomoonjin
• Last Present 
• Love Me Not 
• Maundy Thursday 
• More Than Blue
• My Crazy Love / My Love Ssagajy
• My Father 
• My Little Bride
• My Mighty Princess 
•  My Sassy Girl
•  My Son 
•  Our School English Teacher  
•  Reversal of Fortune
• Romantic Island 
• Sad Movie
• Seducing Mr. Perfect 
• Speedy Scandal 
• Spin Kick
• Sweet Lie 
• Temptation of Wolves
• The Art of Seduction
• The Beast and the Beauty 
•  The Case of Itaewon Homicide 
• The Classic 
• The Relation of Face, Mind and Love
  
• Wedding Dress

Daftar Review Korean Drama

• A Love to Kill 
• Alone in Love
• Bad Couple 
• Bad Love
• Cain and Abel
• Flowers For My Life
• Get Karl! Oh Soo Jung
• Hanoi Bride
• If in love...Like them
• Invincible Lee Pyung Kang
• Mr.Goodbye
• My Fair Lady 
• Oh! My Lady 
• Pasta
• Personal Taste
• Rude Women
• Sang Doo, Lets Go to School
• Shining Inheritance
• Sorry, I Love You
• Soul Mate
• Soul Special
• Spring Waltz 
• Star's Lover
• Thank You
• That Fool
• The Snow Queen
• Three Dads, One Mom 
• Tree of Heaven
• U-TURN 
• Will It Snow For Christmas
• Witch Yoo Hee
• You're Beautiful

Hanoi Bride (Drama - 2005)

 * Title: 하노이 신부/ Ha-no-i Sin-bu
    * Also known as: Bride from Hanoi
    * Format: Chuseok Special
    * Episodes: 2
    * Broadcast network: SBS
    * Broadcast date: 2005-Sep-19
    * Air time: Monday 10:25 AM & 11:25 AM
    * Viewership rating: 9%

Cast

    * Lee Dong Wook as Park Eun Woo (20)
    * Kim Ok Bin as Lý Thị Vũ
    * Lee Won Jong as Park Sok Woo (30)
    * Kang Boo Ja as Sok Woo & Eun Woo's mother (62)
    * Yoo Hye Jung as Song Il Lan (30)
    * Lee Kwang Ki 이광기 as Lee Hyun Soo (34)
    * Jo Hyang Ki as Yang Mi Ri
    * Lee Soon Jae as Il Lan's father

Production Credits

    * Director: Park Kyung Ryul
    * Writer: Park Eon Hee
    * Cinematography: Park Kyung Sik


Synopsis

Park Eun Woo adalah seorang dokter yang bekerja di suatu rumah sakit di Hanoi, Vietnam. Ia jatuh cinta pada gadis vietnam bernama Ly Thi Vu. Kakaknya Ly Thi Vu pernah mempunyai pengalaman buruk dengan pria korea. Ia pernah menikah dengan orang korea namun kemudian ditinggal begitu saja. Makanya ia tidak pernah menyetujui hubungan adiknya dengan Eun Woo.

Suatu hari Eun Woo mendapat kabar bahwa ayahnya sakit. Ia pun segera pulang ke korea. Sebelumnya ia telah menitip pesan pada kakaknya Ly Thi Vu agar Thi Vu menemuinya di bandara sebelum pesawatnya berangakat. Namun ternyata Thi Vu tidak datang. Eun Woo menganggap bahwa Thi Vu telah memutuskan untuk mengikuti kata kakaknya yaitu berpisah dengannya.

Beberapa tahun kemudian, Eun Woo bertemu lagi dengan Thi Vu di korea. Namun kali ini Thi Vu telah menjadi calon mempelai bagi Park Sok Woo, kakak Eun Woo. Ternyata Ly Thi Vu sengaja mau menikah dengan Sok Woo untuk membalas dendam pada Eun Woo yang dulu meninggalkannya tanpa pesan.

Di akhir cerita, terungkaplah semua kesalahpahaman yang terjadi bahwa sebenarnya pesan yang dititipkan Eun Woo pada Kakak Ly Thi Vu tidak pernah sampai pada Thi Vu.

Pendapatku mengenai film ini cukup bagus. Karena cuma 2 episode jadi sama sekali ga ngebosenin. Tapi mungkin juga karena cuma 2 episode ceritanya bener-bener to the point banget, ga ada basa basinya. Yah, anggap aja lagi nonton movie bukan serial.

Actingnya Lee Dong Wook n Kim Ok Bin di sini menurutku biasa aja. Mungkin karena mereka mainin karakter yang standard, maksudnya bukan karakter yang cukup menantang yang memerlukan usaha lebih dalam berakting. Tapi dari segi cerita bagus kok. Seperti yang aku bilang, ngga ngebosenin. Kim Ok Bin di sini juga imut banget. Pipinya masih tembem. Suka deh liatnya. Beda banget ma Kim ok bin yang sekarang yang kesannya seksi n kayanya sih udah oplas.

Untuk mini series yang satu ini aku kasih nilai 8.

 

 

Making search more musical

Every day we get millions of search queries about music. You want to know more about your favorite artists, find that new album or iconic song or figure out the name of that tune stuck in your head. In fact, according to Insights for Search, two of the top 10 queries in the U.S. are music-related. But often, if your answer is in a song, it can take a while to get there. We call this "time to result" — and we're always looking for ways to reduce it.

Today, we're rolling out a search feature that does just that by enabling you to search and more easily discover millions of songs, all via a simple Google web search. If you're searching for music, "time to result" is really "time to music." Now, when you enter a music-related query — like the name of a song, artist or album — your search results will include links to an audio preview of those songs provided by our music search partners MySpace (which just acquired iLike) or Lala. When you click the result you'll be able to listen to an audio preview of the song directly from one of those partners. For example, if I search for [21st century breakdown], the first results provide links to songs from Green Day's new album. MySpace and Lala also provide links to purchase the full song.


Many times, though, you don't know the name of the song or the artist who sings it. Maybe you remember only the chorus — or maybe you remember who sang it, but you forgot the exact name of the song. If you've ever heard a catchy song in a car or cafe, but just can't figure out the name of the song, you'll know what I'm talking about. This search feature also helps you find many of those songs by entering a search containing a line or two of lyrics. So if I search for [static silhouette somehow], I'll get results for Phoenix's song "Rome."


Finally, a search engine should also be able to help you discover music you'll like, even if you can't tell it what exactly you want to hear. We've partnered with Pandora, imeem and Rhapsody to include links to their sites where you can discover music related to your queries as well.

This feature doesn't just make search better. It also helps people discover new sources of licensed music online while helping artists to discover new generations of fans and reconnect with longtime listeners. Our users love music, and this tool introduces millions of music seekers in the U.S. to a new generation of licensed online music services, from MySpace and Lala to Pandora, imeem and Rhapsody.

Of course, this is just a first step toward making search more musical. There's a lot of music out there in the world, and in some instances, we may not return links to the song you're looking for. But by combining the strength of Google's search algorithms with our music search partners' efforts to increase the comprehensiveness of their music content, we're on track to answer more of your rhymes with the right rhythms.

We'll be rolling this feature out gradually to users across the U.S. over the next day. To learn more, check out this page or watch the video below. As we said back when we first announced universal search, the best answer is still the best answer, whether it's in the form of a video, an image, a magazine — or a song. And of course, the best way to know you've found the music you were looking for is to hear it. Well, let the music begin!



Posted by Murali Viswanathan, Product Manager and Ganesh Ramanarayanan, Software Engineer

Growing the next generation of computer scientists and business leaders

(Cross-posted on the Google Student Blog)

We had a busy summer here at Google interacting with students through a wide variety of scholarship, internship and networking opportunities across North America. Here's a look back at a few of our programs (you can bet we'll be hosting them again!) along with news on some upcoming initiatives.

Rising college sophomores participated in two Google programs: Google FUSE, in its inaugural year, and the Google Computer Science Summer Institute (CSSI).

For FUSE, we welcomed 50 rising college sophomores to our New York City office for a three-day retreat designed to connect students from groups that are under-represented in the field of computer science. The retreat focused on making connections between students and Googlers, encouraging students to create meaningful academic experiences and allowing them to learn more about possible career paths via hands-on activities, panel discussions and a bit of fun around the New York City area.

Another group of twenty rising sophomores spent two weeks at the Googleplex in Mountain View for the second annual Computer Science Summer Institute. This special program included an interactive and collaborative Computer Science curriculum, as well as a living-learning residential experience for student networking. Students worked in teams to create an interactive web application using Python in Google App Engine. When not in class, they heard technical talks from Google engineers, spoke with professionals from across the technology industry and academia about the many things they can do with a Computer Science degree. They also had some fun joining the Bay Area summer interns on a boat cruise and catching a baseball game after an exciting San Francisco scavenger hunt.

In addition, our engineering internship program hosted more than 450 college (undergraduate and graduate) interns in 15 locations across North America. These interns were an integral part of the engineering team and made significant contributions this summer working on exciting projects including Android, Chrome, Docs and machine translation.

We also had more than 100 students working across multiple functions, including sales and engineering in Mountain View, New York, Chicago, Ann Arbor, Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Boston as part of the Building Opportunities for Leadership and Development (BOLD) Program. BOLD is a 10-week internship program designed to provide exposure to the technology industry for students from groups that are historically underrepresented in technology. This summer experience includes a unique glimpse into a business or engineering career, professional development and leadership courses, as well as one-on-one mentorship designed to further support professional growth.

Of course, we realize that growing future leaders in engineering and business doesn't just start with college students. For this reason, we partner with the LEAD programs in both business and engineering to encourage outstanding high school students to pursue careers in these fields. This year, all four LEAD Summer Engineering Institute participants had the opportunity to tour a local Google office to attend technical talks and interact with Google engineers (okay, with some tasty food and video games thrown in as well).

As part of Google's ongoing commitment to recognizing student achievements and promoting leadership, we also offer a number of academic scholarships. We are currently accepting applications for the Google Lime Scholarship for Student with Disabilities in the U.S. and Canada, and the Anita Borg Scholarship in Canada, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and the United States. In case you're curious, we offer a host of scholarships for many other international regions.

If one or more of these opportunities sounds like something you'd like to participate in, you can find applications for full time opportunities and summer internship opportunities on our student job site. Visit our scholarship page for more information on our scholarship opportunities. And follow us on Twitter and Facebook for updates on application deadlines and new program announcements.

Making an early connection playing People Bingo at Google FUSE.

Taking a break from bowling during Google FUSE.

Posted by Kyle Ewing, Talent and Outreach Programs - University Programs and Recruiting

AM/PM

I REALLY WANT THIS BABY.

Juicy Couture

Announcing Google Maps Navigation for Android 2.0

(Cross-posted with the Google Mobile Blog)

Since 2005, millions of people have relied on Google Maps for mobile to get directions on the go. However, there's always been one problem: Once you're behind the wheel, a list of driving directions just isn't that easy to use. It doesn't tell you when your turn is coming up. And if you miss a turn? Forget it, you're on your own.

Today we're excited to announce the next step for Google Maps for mobile: Google Maps Navigation (Beta) for Android 2.0 devices.

This new feature comes with everything you'd expect to find in a GPS navigation system, like 3D views, turn-by-turn voice guidance and automatic rerouting. But unlike most navigation systems, Google Maps Navigation was built from the ground up to take advantage of your phone's Internet connection.

Here are seven features that are possible because Google Maps Navigation is connected to the Internet:

The most recent map and business data
When you use Google Maps Navigation, your phone automatically gets the most up-to-date maps and business listings from Google Maps — you never need to buy map upgrades or update your device. And this data is continuously improving, thanks to users who report maps issues and businesses who activate their listings with Google Local Business Center.

Search in plain English
Google Maps Navigation brings the speed, power and simplicity of Google search to your car. If you don't know the address you're looking for, don't worry. Simply enter the name of a business, a landmark or just about anything into the search box, and Google will find it for you. Then press "Navigate", and you're on your way.

Search by voice
Typing on a phone can be difficult, especially in the car, so with Google Maps Navigation, you can say your destination instead. Hold down the search button to activate voice search, then tell your phone what you want to do (like "Navigate to Pike Place in Seattle"), and navigation will start automatically.

Traffic view
Google Maps Navigation gets live traffic data over the Internet. A traffic indicator light in the corner of the screen glows green, yellow or red, depending on the current traffic conditions along your route. If there's a jam ahead of you, you'll know. To get more details, tap the light to zoom out to an aerial view showing traffic speeds and incidents ahead. And if the traffic doesn't look good, you can choose an alternate route.

Search along route
For those times when you're already on the road and need to find a business, Google Maps Navigation searches along your route to give you results that won't take you far from your path. You can search for a specific business by name or by type, or you can turn on popular layers, such as gas stations, restaurants or parking.

Satellite view
Google Maps Navigation uses the same satellite imagery as Google Maps on the desktop to help you get to your destination. Turn on the satellite layer for a high-resolution, 3D view of your upcoming route. Besides looking cool, satellite view can help you make sense of complicated maneuvers.

Street View
If you want to know what your next turn looks like, double-tap the map to zoom into Street View, which shows the turn as you'll see it, with your route overlaid. And since locating an address can sometimes be tricky, we'll show you a picture of your destination as you approach the end of your route, so you'll know exactly what to look for.

Since there's nothing quite like seeing the product in action, we made this video to demonstrate a real-life example:



The first phone to have Google Maps Navigation and Android 2.0 is the Droid from Verizon. Google Maps Navigation is initially available in the United States. And like other Google Maps features, Navigation is free.

Check out the Google Maps Navigation page to learn more and browse a gallery of product screenshots. Take Google Maps Navigation for a spin, and bring Internet-connected GPS navigation with you in your car.

Posted by Keith Ito, Software Engineer

Similar Images graduates from Google Labs

Today, we're happy to announce that Similar Images is graduating from Google Labs and becoming a permanent feature in Google Images. You can try it out by clicking on "Find similar images" below the most popular images in our search results. For example, if you search for jaguar, you can use the "Find similar images" link to find more pictures of the car or the animal. 

When we revamped Labs in April, we also launched Similar Images to highlight some of the innovative work our engineers have been working on. Google Labs gives us a way to get some of our new ideas in front of you early in the process, refine them based on your feedback and see what sticks. Your support has helped to make Similar Images the first major feature to graduate from Google Labs since its recent overhaul.

So, let's say you want to find images of Ancient Egypt. Google Images will provide you with a rich variety of results, including pyramids, maps, relics, drawings and other types of images. Instead of poring through hundreds of images, now you can simply click "Find similar images" to narrow down the results to the results to the type you want. (We're rolling this out gradually, so the links in the below examples may not work for you yet.)

You could narrow down your results to show you only the Great Sphinx of Giza:

Or illustrative maps of Ancient Egypt:


Or ancient Egyptian-style drawings:


While we'll continue to use Google Labs as a way to showcase and collect feedback for exciting new technologies, we also want to make it easier for you to provide direct feedback on all aspects of Google Images. That's why today we're also announcing the availability of Product Ideas for Google Images. With product ideas, you can post comments that will be seen directly by members of the Images team, as well as vote on ideas that others have submitted. We'll pay special attention to those ideas that are voted to the top of the list.

Posted by Erik Murphy-Chutorian and Chuck Rosenberg, Software Engineers

Introducing the Google Earth heroes project

Hundreds of millions of people use Google Earth every day to discover, explore and learn more about the world around them. We're especially proud that Google Earth has also been used as a tool to help people change the world. Today, to celebrate he individuals and organizations that have used Google Earth in their efforts to effect change, we announced the Google Earth heroes project.

In this first stage of the heroes project, we're highlighting the work of five groups — Project Kaisei, Save the Elephants, Borneo Orangutan Survival, Chief Almir and the Surui and Appalachian Voices — who have used Google Earth in a variety of ways to tell their stories. We'll be releasing videos showcasing other organizations' work in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

To learn more about these groups and view their videos, read our post on the Google Lat Long blog or visit http://earth.google.com/changetheworld.

Posted by Krating Poonpol, Product Marketing Manager, Google Earth and Tanya Keen, Program Manager, Google Earth Outreach

Sesame Street comes to Google: Improving our education system at the Breakthrough Learning forum

If you could reinvent the American education system, what would you do? It's a question we think about a lot here at Google. This week we're exploring possibilities with Breakthrough Learning in a Digital Age, a forum organized in cooperation with The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop and Common Sense Media, with the support of the MacArthur Foundation. This event will bring together 200 of the nation’s thought leaders in science and technology, informal and formal education, entertainment media, research, philanthropy and policy to design a strategy for scaling up effective models of teaching and learning for children, with an emphasis on technology. The forum will showcase new research, proven and promising education innovation models to challenge decision-makers to refresh and reboot American global leadership in education.

There's plenty of evidence that shows that the current educational system in the U.S. needs improvement. Twenty-five years ago, President Reagan's National Commission on Excellence in Education produced "A Nation at Risk," a report which first highlighted that our country's system wasn't meeting the national need for a competitive workforce in the day's global economy. Since then, our education system has gone through great upheaval, from the state-level standards reforms in the 1990s to 2002's No Child Left Behind, which is similarly based on the belief that setting high standards measurable goals will improve individual outcomes in education. Though the intention of these reforms was to close the global achievement gap, they left many teachers and students feeling restricted to teaching and learning "to the test." And we're still seeing disheartening results; the U.S. is currently ranked 25th of OECD countries in math scores and 24th in science scores according to the PISA 2006 Science Competencies for Tomorrow's World report. And according to McKinsey's Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America's Schools report, if the U.S. had in recent years closed the gap between its educational achievement levels and those of higher-performing nations, our GDP in 2008 could have been $1.3 trillion to $2.3 trillion higher. That's 9 to 16 percent of GDP!

Fortunately, there are people today who are working to change these statistics. One is tonight's keynote speaker, Geoff Canada, founder of the Harlem Children's Zone. The Harlem Children's Zone combines educational, social and medical services with the goal of reaching all of the children in Harlem. Another organization addressing the issue is the MacArthur Foundation, which has created the Digital Media and Learning Project to explore the effects of digital media on young people and its implications for the future of learning and education. And we can't forget Sesame Workshop, which this year celebrates 40 years of educating children with Muppets and media.

There's great hope for American education, as long as we can work toward innovative solutions that not only allow students distinct educational experiences tailored to their interests and abilities, but also drive toward a common goal of assessable success. Students today are technologists too, and embracing that familiarity and bringing it into the classroom will help teachers and students better engage and work together to teach and learn. Most importantly, we need to support our teachers, principals and administrators — the true agents of change who tirelessly and passionately work to connect with each and every student that passes through their classrooms. The Breakthrough Learning in a Digital Age forum is one step we're taking to address some of our most pressing national education system issues.

If you're interested in joining us at the forum, we'll be broadcasting live on the web both today and tomorrow. We welcome your questions and ideas to help us shape our discussions. Go to http://www.google.com/events/digitalage/ to participate and learn more.

Posted by Cristin Frodella, Product Marketing, Google Apps Education

Sometimes,

it’s hard to just pause and admit that life was never about pleasing others. It’s about doing what we want to do, as an individual, and make people happy because we ourselves are. We please others because we’d feel insecure without doing so.

Use Google Voice with your existing number

Up until now, if you wanted to use Google Voice, you needed to choose a new number (a "Google number"). Taking calls through your Google number allows us to offer features like call recording, call screening and getting text messages via email. But we know not everyone wants to switch to a new phone number, so it made sense for us to create a lighter version of Google Voice for people who are willing to trade some features for the ability to use their existing numbers.

We're excited to announce that you now have the choice to get Google Voice with your existing mobile number OR with a Google number.

If you sign up using your existing number, you'll still get many of Google Voice's features. Most notably, you'll get all the functionality of Google voicemail, as explained in this video:



If you already have a Google Voice account, you can add Google voicemail to any mobile phone you've linked to your account. If you're not yet using Google Voice, you can request an invite or ask a friend with a Google Voice account to send you an invitation. When you receive the invitation to sign up, you can choose to use Google Voice with your existing number — or to get a Google number for additional features.

Google Voice is about giving you more control over your communications. We hope this new option makes it easier for you to manage your messages and personalize your voicemail experience.

Posted by Craig Walker, Vincent Paquet & Pierre Lebeau, Product Managers

Energy Secretary Chu visits Googleplex

Secretary of Energy Dr. Steven Chu joined us at the Google campus today to talk about how the U.S. can build a prosperous economy powered by clean energy.

During a fireside chat with Googlers and our CEO Eric Schmidt, Secretary Chu talked about what it will take to create a clean energy revolution. When it comes to clean tech investments, he said, the Department of Energy is trying to "hit home runs, not base hits." He noted that there are many proposed solutions to climate change out there, and we need to pursue all of them. "The scale of what we need to do is enormous," said Secretary Chu, and "putting the world on a carbon diet" and dramatically bringing down the cost of clean energy and should be top priorities. If we succeed, it will "drive a new industrial revolution." 

You can watch the full video of his talk here:

Secretary Chu also heard from Googlers about some of our own clean energy projects including Google PowerMeter, which gives consumers access to their energy use information, developing renewable energy that is cheaper than coal (RE<C) and making our datacenters the most energy efficient in the world. "More companies need to get on board and make this part of their business plan," said the Secretary.

While in Mountain View, Secretary Chu announced $151 million in funding for 37 breakthrough energy projects in technologies like renewable power, energy efficiency and electric cars. The funding is being made available through the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), a newly-launched organization within the Department of Energy (DOE) created to support high-risk, high-reward research into innovative energy technologies. ARPA-E is modeled on the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the agency that funded research that eventually led to the creation of the Internet.

Update on 10/29: Updated to include the full video of Secretary Chu's talk.

Posted by Michael Terrell, Energy Policy Counsel

Bad Couple (Drama - 2007)

Title: 불량커플 / Bad Couple
Also known as: Defective Couple
Chinese title : 不良情侣
Genre: Romance, comedy
Episode : 16
Broadcast network: SBS
Broadcast period: 2007-June-02 to 2007-July-22
Air time: Saturdays & Sundays 21:40

Cast

Ryu Soo Young as Choi Jae Chun
Shin Eun Gyung as Kim Dang Ja
Yoo Gun
Byun Jung Soo as Na Sak Soon
Choi Jung Yoon as Han Young
Park Sang Min as Kim Yoon Seok
Chae Min Seo

Synopsis

Kim Dang Ja adalah seorang editor sukses dari sebuah majalah fashion. Dia termasuk wanita modern yang mementingkan pekerjaan si atas segalanya. Maka dari itu ia tidak ingin menikah karena menganggap bahwa menikah hanya akan menghambat karirnya. Namun terkadang ia juga merasa kesepian. Dang Ja terkadang iri dengan temannya yang mempunyai anak. Makannya ia ingin sekali punya anak tanpa harus menikah.

Untuk mewujudkan keinginannya itu, Dal Ja mencoba ke rumah sakit untuk mendapatkan donor sperma, namun pihak rumah sakit tidak mengijinkan karena donor sperma hanya untuk yang telah menikah. Untuk itu ia berencana untuk mendapatkan seorang pria dengan gen terbaik, untuk dapat hamil lalu meninggalkan pria tersebut dan membesarkan anaknya seorang diri.

Choi Jae Chun adalah target utama Dang Ja. Jae Chun adalah seorang profesor tumbuhan di sebuah Universitas ternama. Jae Chun adalah orang yang pintar, baik, tampan, dan banyak kelebihan lain yang membuat Dang Ja mengincarnya. Makannya berbagai cara Dang Ja lakukan untuk dapat mendapatkan Jae Chun sampai akhirnya ia berhasil melakukan misinya.

Namun ternyata Jae Chun adalah cowok yang bertanggung jawab dan kolot. Ia selalu berpikir "Since we spent one night together, we have to get married". Maka dari itu ia ingin menikahi Dang Ja. Namun tentu saja Dang Ja menolak dan berusaha menjauh dari Jae Chun dengan berbagai cara.

Film ini kocak banget pada awalnya. Pas adegan Dang Ja berusaha menarik perhatian Jae Chun. Berbagai cara dia lakukan tapi si Jae chun malah cuek aja. Kocak banget deh. Namun menjelang akhir mulai banyak adegan mengharukan. Yaitu ketika Dang Ja akhirnya hamil tapi ternyata juga ada tumor pada rahimnya dan harus di angkat. Dang Ja harus memilih keselamatan bayinya atau dirinya. Sedih banget deh. Tapi endingnya Happy ending kok, walau menurutku terlalu dipaksakan. Tapi tetap bagus kok nih film.

Untuk drama series yang satu ini, Mmmm....bolehlah aku kasih 85.

Contextual search within Wikipedia

We are excited to announce that we've built a Custom Search Wikipedia skin that makes it easier for you to complete your research on Wikipedia. Wikipedia allows users to register and personalize their Wikipedia environment via the configuration of options and the use of styles or skins. Just log in to Wikipedia, enable the Custom Search skin and you'll have quick access to relevant Google Custom Search results from Wikipedia. With the Custom Search skin, your search results are conveniently placed inline on the page. After you've reviewed the results, you can dismiss them and return to the current article of interest without having to switch to a different tab on your browser; you can access the relevant Wikipedia articles right within the Wikipedia interface.

The Custom Search skin also features contextual search — searching across different sets of pages as you navigate Wikipedia. For Wikipedia pages with a lot of information and links, contextual search lets you limit your search to only those Wikipedia pages that are linked from the current article, focusing the results on the topic of the article. So, in addition to getting all matching Wikipedia articles, you can quickly drill down to contextually relevant results using the Linked Wikipedia Pages tab.

For example, searching for [sequence] from a Wikipedia page on DNA provides a list of relevant results about DNA sequences and DNA sequence alignment, instead of the many pages about sequences (in mathematics, poetry, music, games, etc.) that aren't relevant. Similarly, searching within the DNA page for [bonds] gives you results in chemistry and biochemistry, instead of other information about financial instruments and social sciences. This will help you perform more directed research, often with shorter queries, and get to relevant Wikipedia articles faster.

As you can see from the screenshot below, the Linked Wikipedia Pages tab helps you get quickly to the article about DNA sequence from a search for [sequence] on the DNA page.


To configure the new skin, follow the instructions on the Custom Search skin page on Wikipedia. It works with both Wikipedia's default Monobook style or the new Beta Vector style. You will need to log in to Wikipedia to customize your Wikipedia search.

For more information about the technology behind this application release, read our post on the Google Custom Search blog.

Wikipedia encourages technical innovation and tools to help you get improved access to knowledge, so please post your opinions about this contextual search experience at Wikimedia or give us feedback directly.

Last Friday was the third anniversary of the launch of Custom Search — we would like to take a moment to thank the millions of you who have implemented Custom Search on your sites. To celebrate our birthday we're releasing two new features that we hope will help you better customize your search results: Custom Search Themes and Structured Custom Search. Check out this post on the Google Custom Search blog to learn more about our third anniversary.

Posted by Rajat Mukherjee, Group Product Manager, Search and Mathias Schindler, Wikimedia Foundation