News About Google - SVDaily.com

New technology also allows users to find similar images. Here's what's new in this refreshed design of Google Images:
* Dense tiled layout designed to make it easy to look at lots of images at once. We want to get the app out of the way so you can find what you're really looking for.
* Instant scrolling between pages, without letting you get lost in the images. You can now get up to 1,000 images, all in one scrolling page. You will see small, unobtrusive page numbers so you don't lose track of where you are.
* Larger thumbnail previews on the results page, designed for modern browsers and high-res screens.
* A hover pane that appears when you mouse over a given thumbnail image, giving you a larger preview, more info about the image and other image-specific features such as "Similar images."
* Once you click on an image, you re taken to a new landing page that displays a large image in context, with the website it is hosted on visible right behind it. Click anywhere outside the image, and you're right in the original page where you can learn more about the source and context.
* Optimized keyboard navigation for faster scrolling through many pages, taking advantage of standard web keyboard shortcuts such as Page Up / Page Down.

"Google had a strong second quarter," said Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google. "Solid growth in our core business and very strong growth in our emerging businesses drove 24% revenue growth year over year. We saw strength in every major product area, as more and more traditional brand advertisers embraced search advertising and as large advertisers increasingly ran integrated campaigns across search, display, and mobile. We feel confident about our future, and plan to continue to invest aggressively in our core areas of strategic focus."

Q2 Financial Highlights

Revenues -- Google reported revenues of $6.82 billion in the second quarter of 2010, representing a 24% increase over second quarter 2009 revenues of $5.52 billion.

Google Sites Revenues - Google-owned sites generated revenues of $4.50 billion, or 66% of total revenues, in the second quarter of 2010. This represents a 23% increase over second quarter 2009 revenues of $3.65 billion.

Google Network Revenues - Google's partner sites generated revenues, through AdSense programs, of $2.06 billion, or 30% of total revenues, in the second quarter of 2010. This represents a 23% increase from second quarter 2009 network revenues of $1.68 billion.

International Revenues - Revenues from outside of the United States totaled $3.53 billion, representing 52% of total revenues in the second quarter of 2010, compared to 53% in the first quarter of 2010 and 53% in the second quarter of 2009. Excluding gains related to our foreign exchange risk management program, had foreign exchange rates remained constant from the first quarter of 2010 through the second quarter of 2010, our revenues in the second quarter of 2010 would have been $176 million higher. Excluding gains related to our foreign exchange risk management program, had foreign exchange rates remained constant from the second quarter of 2009 through the second quarter of 2010, our revenues in the second quarter of 2010 would have been $24 million lower.

Paid Clicks -- Aggregate paid clicks, which include clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of our AdSense partners, increased approximately 15% over the second quarter of 2009 and decreased approximately 3% over the first quarter of 2010.

Cost-Per-Click -- Average cost-per-click, which includes clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of our AdSense partners, increased approximately 4% over the second quarter of 2009 and increased approximately 2% over the first quarter of 2010.

TAC - Traffic Acquisition Costs, the portion of revenues shared with Google's partners, increased to $1.73 billion in the second quarter of 2010, compared to TAC of $1.45 billion in the second quarter of 2009. TAC as a percentage of advertising revenues was 26% in the second quarter of 2010, compared to 27% in the second quarter of 2009.

The company also reported an increase in hiring. On a worldwide basis, Google employed 21,805 full-time employees as of June 30, 2010, up from 20,621 full-time employees at the end of March.

"ITA's very talented team has created an impressive product to organize flight information," said Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO of Google. "Their technology opens exciting possibilities for us to create new ways for users to more easily find flight information online, and we're looking forward to welcoming them to Google."

The deal will allow Google to add travel listings to its search results. It faces government approval over the acquisition.

"It is a privilege to work with a most skilled and dedicated team to build innovative technologies that people use every day," said Jeremy Wertheimer, CEO & President, ITA Software, Inc. "We are all looking forward to continuing and expanding our efforts as part of Google."

With Caffeine, Google analyzes the web in small portions and updates search index on a continuous basis, globally. As it finds new pages, or new information on existing pages, Google can add these straight to the index. That means you can find fresher information than ever before -- no matter when or where it was published.

Caffeine lets Google index web pages on an enormous scale. In fact, every second Caffeine processes hundreds of thousands of pages in parallel. If this were a pile of paper it would grow three miles taller every second. Caffeine takes up nearly 100 million gigabytes of storage in one database and adds new information at a rate of hundreds of thousands of gigabytes per day. You would need 625,000 of the largest iPods to store that much information; if these were stacked end-to-end they would go for more than 40 miles.

Now if you go to Google.com on your iPhone or Android-powered device and search for an app, you'll see special links and content at the top of the search results. You can tap these links to go directly to the app's Android Market or iPhone App Store page. You can also get a quick look at some of the app's basic details including the price, rating, and publisher. These results will appear when your search pertains to a mobile application and relevant, well-rated apps are found.

Mobile app search results are only available in the U.S. with more countries and devices planned for the future says Google.

In the state of California, Google generated $14.1 billion of economic activity for 263,000 California businesses, website publishers and non-profits in 2009.

Google employs over 9,000 workers at its offices in Mountain View, San Francisco, Irvine and Santa Monica. YouTube, also owned by Google, has headquarters in San Bruno.

There were 1,010 non-profits in California that received $27 million in donations from Google Grants.

Google says this percentage has not changed since Adsense was first introduced in 2003. Adsense has become the most popular advertising network on the Internet with tens of thousands of participating sites worldwide.

The Adsense for search payout is 51% of revenue according to Google and this has remained the same since 2005.

Mohan says this info is being released for transparency and likely due to Apple's new iAd platform that will debut this year . Apple is promising a 60% revenue share for publishers who use the service in applications built for the iPhone and iPad.

Google's Adsense is available in versions for mobile applications, feeds and games.

Google doodler Ryan Germick and senior designer Marcin Wichary adapted the game to work on Google's homepage according to a blog post. They made sure to include PAC-MAN's original game logic, graphics and sounds, bring back ghosts' individual personalities, and even recreate original bugs from the game. If you throw in another coin, Ms. PAC-MAN joins the party and you can play together with someone else (PAC-MAN is controlled with arrow keys or by clicking on the maze, Ms. PAC-MAN using the WASD keys).

Google acquired YouTube in October 2006 in an all-stock deal worth over $1.65 billion. Now the site is the undisputed leader in online videos with over two billion streams per day. The site says users spend an average of 15 minutes a day on YouTube watching videos which pales in comparison to the average five hours per day a person spends watching TV.

Content on YouTube is available in 24 countries. Mobile versions let users watch videos on cellphones, Blackberries and iPhones.

NPD's wireless market research reveals that based on unit sales to consumers last quarter the Android operating system moved into second position at 28 percent behind RIM's OS (36 percent) and ahead of Apple's OS (21 percent).

"As in the past, carrier distribution and promotion have played a crucial role in determining smartphone market share," said Ross Rubin, executive director of industry analysis for NPD. "In order to compete with the iPhone, Verizon Wireless has expanded its buy-one-get-one offer beyond RIM devices to now include all of their smartphones."

Strong sales of the Droid, Droid Eris, and Blackberry Curve via these promotions helped keep Verizon Wireless's smartphone sales on par with AT&T in Q1. According to NPD's Mobile Phone Track, smartphone sales at AT&T comprised nearly a third of the entire smartphone market (32 percent), followed by Verizon Wireless (30 percent), T-Mobile (17 percent) and Sprint (15 percent).

"Recent previews of BlackBerry 6, the recently announced acquisition of Palm by HP, and the pending release of Windows Phone 7 demonstrates the industry's willingness to make investments to address consumer demand for smartphones and other mobile devices," Rubin said. "Carriers continue to offer attractive pricing for devices, but will need to present other data-plan options to attract more customers in the future."

The continued popularity of messaging phones and smartphones resulted in slightly higher prices for all mobile phones, despite an overall drop in the number of mobile phones purchased in the first quarter. The average selling price for all mobile phones in Q1 reached $88, which is a 5 percent increase from Q1 2009. Smartphone unit prices, by comparison, averaged $151 in Q1 2010, which is a 3 percent decrease over the previous year.

Google also unveiled a slight redesign of its logo which it says is lighter, brighter and simpler. The old logo is on the top and new one on the bottom.

* Service areas: If you travel to serve customers - a photographer, plumber, or piano tuner, for example - you can now show which geographic areas you serve. And if you run a business without a storefront or office location, you can now make your address private. This helps the millions of home-based and service businesses be found by customers in their service areas.
* A new, simple way to advertise: For just $25 per month, businesses in select cities can make their listings stand out on Google.com and Google Maps with Tags. As of today, we re rolling out Tags to three new cities -- Austin, Atlanta and Washington, D.C. -- in addition to ongoing availability in Houston and San Jose, CA. In the coming weeks the company will also be introducing Tags in Chicago, San Diego, Seattle, Boulder, and San Francisco.
* Business photo shoots: In addition to uploading your own photos, businesses in select cities can now request a free photo shoot of the interior of their business which will be used to supplement existing photos of businesses on Place Pages.
* Customized QR codes: From the dashboard page of Google Places, businesses in the U.S. can download a QR (barcode) code that's unique to their business. QR codes can be placed on business cards or other marketing materials, and customers can scan them with certain smartphones to be taken directly to the mobile version of the Place Page for that business.

Google says one out of five searches on the site are related to a user's location, and very often people are looking for local businesses.

"Google performed very well in the first quarter, with 23% year over year revenue growth driven by strength across all major verticals and geographies," said Patrick Pichette, CFO of Google. "Going forward, we remain committed to heavy investment in innovation -- both to spur future growth in our core and emerging businesses as well as to help build the future of the open web."

GAAP net income in the first quarter of 2010 was $1.96 billion, compared to $1.42 billion in the first quarter of 2009.

Google-owned sites generated revenues of $4.44 billion, or 66% of total revenues, in the first quarter of 2010. This represents a 20% increase over first quarter 2009 revenues of $3.69 billion.

Google's partner sites generated revenues, through AdSense programs, of $2.04 billion, or 30% of total revenues, in the first quarter of 2010. This represents a 24% increase from first quarter 2009 network revenues of $1.64 billion. Revenues from outside of the United States totaled $3.58 billion, representing 53% of total revenues in the first quarter of 2010, compared to 53% in the fourth quarter of 2009 and 52% in the first quarter of 2009.

Aggregate paid clicks, which include clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of AdSense partners, increased approximately 15% over the first quarter of 2009 and increased approximately 5% over the fourth quarter of 2009. Cost-Per-Click

Average cost-per-click, which includes clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of AdSense partners, increased approximately 7% over the first quarter of 2009 and decreased approximately 4% over the fourth quarter of 2009.

Traffic Acquisition Costs, the portion of revenues shared with Google's partners, increased to $1.71 billion in the first quarter of 2010, compared to TAC of $1.44 billion in the first quarter of 2009. TAC as a percentage of advertising revenues was 26% in the first quarter of 2010, compared to 27% in the first quarter of 2009.

Google said it employed 20,621 full-time employees as of March 31, 2010, up from 19,835 full-time employees as of December 31, 2009.

Users visiting Google.cn are now being redirected to Google.com.hk, where the site offers uncensored search in simplified Chinese, specifically designed for users in mainland China and delivered via Google servers in Hong Kong. Users in Hong Kong will continue to receive their existing uncensored, traditional Chinese service, also from Google.com.hk.

The problems started on January 12 when Google was hit by hackers originating in China. Also, several dozen Gmail accounts of human rights activists were accessed by third-party individuals also believed to be from China.

This new map feature includes: step-by-step bicycling directions; bike trails outlined directly on the map; and a new "Bicycling " layer that indicates bike trails, bike lanes, and bike-friendly roads.

The new bicycling layer for Google Maps, accessible via the "More ..." drop down menu at the top of the map, will display an overlay of the various bike-friendly roads and trails around town. The layer is color-coded to show three different types of paths:

Thousands of miles of trails in the US have also been added directly onto the map. This helps cyclists better plan their routes, and can also expose the availability and convenience of bike trails to a new audience.

Google has partnered with the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, a nonprofit that creates networks of trails from former rail lines, to provide information on bike trails in more than 150 cities.

YouTube announced the introduction of captions on its company blog last week which will be available for English initially:

Making video easily accessible is something we're working hard to address at YouTube. One of the first steps we took was the development of a caption feature in 2008. In November of last year we released auto-captioning for a small, select group of partners. Auto-captioning combines some of the speech-to-text algorithms found in Google's Voice Search to automatically generate video captions when requested by a viewer. The video owner can also download the auto-generated captions, improve them, and upload the new version. Viewers can even choose an option to translate those captions into any one of 50 different languages -- all in just a couple of clicks.

Today, we are opening up auto-captions to all YouTube users. There will even be a "request processing" button for un-captioned videos that any video owner can click on if they want to speed up the availability of auto-captions. It will take some time to process all the available video, so here are some things to keep in mind:

The company is accepting requests from interested communities and the deadline is March 26. The first test communities will be announced by Google later this year.

Google currently offers a free wi-fi network in its hometown of Mountain View, CA.

Google said it focused on building an easy-to-use sharing experience that integrates photos, videos and links, and makes it easy to share publicly or privately (so you don't have to use different tools to share with different audiences). Plus, Buzz integrates with your existing Gmail inbox, so you're sure to see the stuff that matters most as it happens in real time.

Buzz will be rolled out this week to Gmail users. Google said it also plans to make Buzz available to businesses and schools using Google Apps, with added features for sharing within organizations. Buzz is not a closed system and allows users to connect to Twitter and Flickr.

"Google had a strong fourth quarter, with 17% year over year revenue growth," said Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google. "Given that the global economy is still in the early days of recovery, this was an extraordinary end to the year. Our performance in 2009 underscored the strength of our management team, the resilience of our business model and the pace of innovation within our product and engineering teams, which continued unabated throughout the downturn. As we enter 2010, we remain hugely optimistic about the internet and are continuing to invest heavily in technological innovation for the benefit not only of our users and customers, but also the wider web."

GAAP net income in the fourth quarter of 2009 was $1.97 billion, compared to $382 million in the fourth quarter of 2008. Non-GAAP net income in the fourth quarter of 2009 was $2.19 billion, compared to $1.62 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Revenues Google reported revenues of $6.67 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009, representing a 17% increase over fourth quarter 2008 revenues of $5.70 billion. Google reports its revenues, consistent with GAAP, on a gross basis without deducting TAC.

Google Sites Revenues - Google-owned sites generated revenues of $4.42 billion, or 66% of total revenues, in the fourth quarter of 2009. This represents a 16% increase over fourth quarter 2008 revenues of $3.81 billion.

Google Network Revenues - Google's partner sites generated revenues, through AdSense programs, of $2.04 billion, or 31% of total revenues, in the fourth quarter of 2009. This represents a 21% increase from fourth quarter 2008 network revenues of $1.69 billion.

International Revenues - Revenues from outside of the United States totaled $3.52 billion, representing 53% of total revenues in the fourth quarter of 2009, compared to 53% in the third quarter of 2009 and 50% in the fourth quarter of 2008. Excluding gains related to our foreign exchange risk management program, had foreign exchange rates remained constant from the third quarter of 2009 through the fourth quarter of 2009, our revenues in the fourth quarter of 2009 would have been $112 million lower. Excluding gains related to our foreign exchange risk management program, had foreign exchange rates remained constant from the fourth quarter of 2008 through the fourth quarter of 2009, our revenues in the fourth quarter of 2009 would have been $196 million lower.

Paid Clicks Aggregate paid clicks, which include clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of our AdSense partners, increased approximately 13% over the fourth quarter of 2008 and increased approximately 9% over the third quarter of 2009.

Cost-Per-Click Average cost-per-click, which includes clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of our AdSense partners, increased approximately 5% over the fourth quarter of 2008 and increased approximately 2% over the third quarter of 2009.

On a worldwide basis, Google employed 19,835 full-time employees as of December 31, 2009, up from 19,665 full-time employees as of September 30, 2009.

Google accounted for 72.25 percent of all U.S. searches conducted in the four weeks ending Jan. 2, 2010 according to online measurement firm Experian Hitwise. Yahoo Search, Bing and Ask.com received 14.83 percent, 8.92 percent and 2.54 percent, respectively. The remaining 66 search engines in the Hitwise Search Engine Analysis Tool accounted for 1.48 percent of U.S. searches.

Search engines continue to be the primary way Internet users navigate to key industry categories.Comparing December 2009 with December 2008, Automotive, Business and Finance, Entertainment, News and Media, Social Networking and Sports categories showed double-digit increases in their share of traffic coming directly from search engines.

Google was sending the most visits to the four categories below among the top three search engines. Google’s percentage of upstream traffic grew for the Automotive, Shopping and Travel categories. Bing saw double-digit growth among all four categories and Yahoo! Search saw double-digit growth in the Shopping category, as seen in the table below.

Google is taking on the iPhone with the launch of the Nexus One smartphone, designed via a partnership with HTC of Taiwan.

Through its own web store at www.google.com/phone, consumers can buy the Nexus One without service for $529 (meaning any GSM network SIM card can be inserted into the device), or purchase the phone for $179 with service from T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless later this year. As new phones come to market through this channel, consumers will benefit from the ability to match a phone of their choice with the service plan that best meets their needs. Operator prices and plan details will be featured on the site.

"The Nexus One belongs in the emerging class of devices which we call ‘superphones,’ with the 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset making it as powerful as your laptop computer of three to four years ago. It's our way to raise the bar on what's possible when it comes to creating the best mobile experience for consumers," said Andy Rubin, VP of Engineering. "We look forward to working with handset manufacturers and operators to bring more phones to market through this channel worldwide."

* Display: 3.7" AMOLED 480x800 WVGA display
* Thinness: 11.5mm; Weight: 130g
* Processor/Speed: Qualcomm Snapdragon™ 3G QSD8250 chipset, delivering speeds up to 1GHz
* Camera: 5 megapixel auto focus with flash and geo tagging
* Onboard memory: 512MB Flash, 512MB RAM
* Expandable memory: 4GB removable SD Card (expandable to 32GB)
* Noise Suppression: Dynamic noise suppression from Audience, Inc.
* Ports: 3.5mm stereo headphone jack with four contacts for inline voice and remote control
* Battery: Removable 1400 mAh
* Personalized laser engraving: Up to 50 characters on the back of the phone
* Trackball: Tri-color notification LED, alerts when new emails, chats, text messages arrive

"The Nexus One represents the unique combination of design and innovation two companies like Google and HTC can have when they collaborate," said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC Corporation. "The Nexus One continues HTC’s strategy of offering people a portfolio of phones that meet their diverse needs."

The Nexus One runs on Android 2.1, a version of the platform's Eclair software, which offers advanced applications and features including:

* Google Maps Navigation: offering turn-by-turn driving directions with voice output.
* Email: multiple Gmail accounts; universal inbox and Exchange support.
* Phone book: aggregate contacts from multiple sources, including Facebook®.
* Quick Contacts: easily switch between communication and social applications.
* Android Market: access to more than 18,000 applications.

Google employees have big reasons to be happy this year. Stock options for the company were repriced back in March and have soared since then.

According to Associated Press, Google options had been priced at $521 per share but the market decline saw the price drop to about $308 in March which was what options were repriced at. About 85% of employees had options that were underwater or below their strike price.

Since then, Google shares have doubled in value with a closing price of $622.87 at the end of trading Monday.

Employees who have options are enjoying a huge windfall with a total increased value of more than $2.3 billion.

These new search features bring results to life with a dynamic stream of real-time content from across the web. Now, immediately after conducting a search, you can see live updates from people on popular sites like Twitter and FriendFeed, as well as headlines from news and blog posts published just seconds before.

Try searching for your favorite TV show, sporting event or the latest development on a recent government bill. Whether it's an eyewitness tweet, a breaking news story or a fresh blog post, you can find it on Google right after it's published on the web. Live results appear in the middle of the page and can be turned off if the user wishes.

The company says the results are based on new technology that lets it search over one billion documents and hundreds of milions of real-time changes each day. The real-time listings are made possible through a partnership with Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, FriendFeed, Jaiku and Identi.ca.

The latest results are also designed for mobile searches including iPhone and Android users.

YouTube -- a division of Google -- is offering a new feature called Citizens Direct, a tool that allows media organizations to request, review and rebroadcast YouTube clips directly from YouTube users.

Built from its own APIs, this open source application lets media organizations enable customized versions of YouTube's upload platform on their own websites. Users can upload videos directly into this application, which also enables the hosting organization to easily review video submissions and select the best ones to broadcast on-air and on their websites. These videos also appear live on YouTube, so users can reach their own audience while also getting broader exposure and editorial validation for the videos they create.

So far, ABC News, the Huffington Post, NPR, Politico, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Washington Post, and WHDH-TV/WLVI-TV in Boston are using YouTube Direct.

YouTube also announced that its HD mode will add support for viewing videos in 720p or 1080p, depending on the resolution of the original source, up from the current maximum output of 720p.

Google announced that it will acquire AdMob, a mobile display ad technology provider, for $750 million in stock. This acquisition will enhance Google's existing expertise and technology in mobile advertising, while also giving advertisers and publishers more choice in this growing new area. AdMob has headquarters in San Mateo.

"Mobile advertising has enormous potential as a marketing medium and while this industry is still in the early stages of development, AdMob has already made exceptional progress in a very short time," said Susan Wojcicki, Vice President of Product Management at Google. "AdMob is the quintessential Silicon Valley startup – generating impressive year on year revenue growth – and we're excited to welcome this talented team to Google."

"I think people underestimate how important ads have been to funding the development of innovative content on the Internet. Our goal all along at AdMob has been to make it possible for developers and publishers to bring their products and ideas to mobile with the same business model," said Omar Hamoui, Founder and CEO of AdMob. "We're proud of the progress we've made towards accomplishing this goal, and joining Google will only accelerate this process, ultimately leading to very real benefits for end users around the world. As publishers and developers generate more revenue from their mobile products, they will invest more, and their mobile offerings will become richer, more creative and more robust."

The deal will help Google in its efforts to develop more effective tools for creating, serving and analyzing emerging mobile ads formats. As this ecosystem continues to grow, the company expects these new marketing media to offer significant benefits:

* Advertisers will be better able to engage mobile users with AdMob's ad formats
* Publishers and developers will be able to monetize their content more effectively, which has benefits for the wider mobile ecosystem
* Users will see more relevant ads and ultimately get access to more ad-supported content and applications – improving their mobile experience

Google is rolling out a search feature that lets users find music faster. Music ranks among the top search queries and Google wants to make it easier for users to find millions of songs, all via a simple Google web search.

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.

Google has also partnered with Pandora, imeem and Rhapsody to include links to their sites where you can discover music related to your queries as well.

Google has introduced a free navigation app for mobile phones using its Android 2.0 software that also includes voice directions.

Google Maps Navigation (Beta) for Android 2.0 devices is a new feature that 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.

It will be available in the new Droid smartphone that will be sold by Motorola starting on November 6.

Here are seven features that are possible with Google Maps Navigation 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.

Google reported revenues of $5.94 billion for the quarter ended September 30, 2009, an increase of 7% compared to the third quarter of 2008.

"Google had a strong quarter--we saw 7% year-over-year revenue growth despite the tough economic conditions," said Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google. "While there is a lot of uncertainty about the pace of economic recovery, we believe the worst of the recession is behind us and now feel confident about investing heavily in our future."

Google-owned sites generated revenues of $3.96 billion, or 67% of total revenues, in the third quarter of 2009. This represents an 8% increase over third quarter 2008 revenues of $3.67 billion.

Google's partner sites generated revenues, through AdSense programs, of $1.80 billion, or 30% of total revenues, in the third quarter of 2009. This represents a 7% increase from third quarter 2008 network revenues of $1.68 billion.

Revenues from outside of the United States totaled $3.14 billion, representing 53% of total revenues in the third quarter of 2009, compared to 53% in the second quarter of 2009 and 51% in the third quarter of 2008.

Aggregate paid clicks, which include clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of our AdSense partners, increased approximately 14% over the third quarter of 2008 and increased approximately 4% over the second quarter of 2009.

Average cost-per-click for the search giant, which includes clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of AdSense partners, decreased approximately 6% over the third quarter of 2008 and increased approximately 5% over the second quarter of 2009.

Cash at Google continues to pile up with $22 billion available. Google said it employed 19,665 full-time employees as of September 30, 2009 around the world, down from 19,786 full-time employees as of June 30, 2009.

Google has introduced the new DoubleClick Ad Exchange, a real-time marketplace for display advertising space.

By establishing an open marketplace where prices are set in a real-time auction, the Ad Exchange enables display ad space to be allocated much more efficiently and easily across the web.

"Better technology can help make display advertising work better for all involved," said Neal Mohan, Vice President of Product Management at Google. "We're focused on growing the display advertising pie for everyone. The DoubleClick Ad Exchange is a major part of that goal."

The new DoubleClick Ad Exchange has been rebuilt using Google's technology and infrastructure. It contains a wide variety of key features that will help improve returns for advertisers and enable publishers to get the most value out of their online content.

On the "sell side", participation in the new Ad Exchange is designed for major online publishers. It already includes a wide variety of large premium publishers including newspapers, large portals, entertainment and branded sites. In addition, ad space on Google's third party AdSense publisher sites, representing over 76% of U.S. online audiences and 73% of global online audiences1, is being made available through the new Ad Exchange. This will increase the volume of quality display advertisers available to Google's AdSense publishers.

On the "buy side", the new Ad Exchange is designed for ad networks and agency networks - companies that connect web sites with advertisers. It already includes over 40 ad networks across North America and Europe, including most of the 25 largest ad networks in the US2, with more now to be added. Additionally, AdWords advertisers will be able to run ads on sites in the Ad Exchange, using their existing AdWords interface.

Features of the new Ad Exchange include a completely new interface; a "real-time bidding" feature to allow ad networks to use their own technology to bid on an impression-by-impression basis; a "dynamic allocation" system, which automatically generates online publishers the highest return for every impression by allocating ads to the highest-paying sales channel, based on real time data; more granular publisher and advertiser controls; payments and clearing managed by Google; and a new API to allow ad networks to extend the functionality of the Ad Exchange.

Google has agreed to provide On Demand Books, LLC (ODB), the maker of the Espresso Book Machine (EBM), with immediate access to over two million public-domain titles in the Google digital files. This unprecedented number of reading options is in addition to the current 1.6 million titles already available directly to consumers via the Espresso Book Machine.

The Espresso Book Machine is a small, patented high-speed automated book-making machine. In a few minutes it can print, bind and trim a single-copy library-quality paperback book complete with a full-color paperback cover.

“ODB, in effect an ATM for books, will radically decentralize direct-to-consumer distribution,” says Jason Epstein, Chairman and co-founder of ODB. “With the Google inventory the EBM will make it possible for readers everywhere to have access to millions of digital titles in multiple languages, including rare and out of print public domain titles.”

Espresso Book Machines already are up and running in bookstores, libraries and trade and campus bookstores such as the University of Michigan Shapiro Library Building in Ann Arbor, MI, the Blackwell Bookshop in London, UK, the Bibliotheca Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt, the Northshire Bookstore in Manchester Center, VT, the University of Alberta Bookstore in Edmonton, Canada and Angus & Robertson Bookstore in Melbourne, Australia. The Harvard Book Store in Cambridge, MA and the University of Melbourne Library in Melbourne, Australia soon will carry their own EBM.

Time Warner Inc. and YouTube, a division of Google, have announced an online video distribution agreement that will give consumers access to an extensive variety of high-quality, short-form content owned by Time Warner, including clips from movies, television shows and news programming. The agreement will allow Time Warner's Warner Bros. Entertainment and Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. to program videos on YouTube using a Time Warner embeddable player.

YouTube will host the content made available from a wide range of Time Warner-owned television shows and movies. Consumers will have easier access to existing and future clips, ranging from CNN news coverage to Cartoon Network and Adult Swim animated shows to TNT's hit dramas to Warner Bros. Television productions like "Gossip Girl" and "The Ellen DeGeneres Show." Another Time Warner property, HBO, has been programming a branded channel on YouTube since early last year with promotional content from shows including "True Blood," "Hung" and "Entourage."

In addition, this deal gives Time Warner the ability to create separate channels for its participating brands as well as to control and sell the ad time on YouTube. Warner Bros. Entertainment and Turner Broadcasting will work with YouTube to offer their advertising and agency partners packages of targeted advertising, supplemental marketing and branded channels.

Time Warner Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bewkes said: "Our agreement with YouTube helps us expand the amount of our promotional content, animation and news that we already make available online. Working with YouTube, we expect to improve our ability to monetize this short-form content through new and creative advertising initiatives."

On2 Technologies and Google Inc. jointly announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Google will acquire On2, a leading developer of video compression technology. Under the terms of the agreement, each outstanding share of On2 common stock will be converted into $0.60 worth of Google class A common stock in a stock-for-stock transaction. The transaction is valued at approximately $106.5 million.

Some On2 shareholders are not happy about the purchase price and thought the company could have gotten more. On2 trades on the American Stock Exchange.

On2 creates advanced video compression technologies that power the video in today's leading desktop and mobile applications and devices. On2 customers include Adobe, Skype, Nokia, Infineon, Sun Microsystems, Mediatek, Sony, Brightcove, and Move Networks. On2 Technologies is headquartered in Clifton Park, NY.

"Today video is an essential part of the web experience, and we believe high-quality video compression technology should be a part of the web platform," said Sundar Pichai, Vice President, Product Management, Google. "We are committed to innovation in video quality on the web, and we believe that On2's team and technology will help us further that goal."

"We're thrilled that On2 is joining one of the world's most innovative companies," said Matt Frost, interim CEO of On2. "After intensive review of On2 products, Google confirmed our long-held beliefs as to the quality of our video technologies. This transaction is a testament to the hard work of every On2 employee and the strongest possible endorsement of our products and people. On2 will continue to improve, support and sell our products throughout the transition. We believe that Google shares our ambitions and know that our products and expertise, combined with Google's globally recognized brand, ingenuity and resources, will create an incredible team."

Forty years ago today, on July 20, 1969, the world watched as the crew of Apollo 11 took the first human steps on the surface of the Moon. In celebration of this historic occasion, Google is launching Moon in Google Earth, an interactive 3D atlas of the Moon, viewable with Google Earth 5.0. Moon in Google Earth was announced today at the Newseum, in Washington, DC, where Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, Google Senior VP of Engineering Alan Eustace, NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver, A Man on the Moon author Andrew Chaikin, and space tourist Anousheh Ansari delivered remarks.

“Forty years ago, two human beings walked on the Moon. Starting today, with Moon in Google Earth, it’s now possible for anyone to follow in their footsteps,” said Moon in Google Earth Product Manager, Michael Weiss-Malik. “We’re giving hundreds of millions of people around the world unprecedented access to an interactive 3D presentation of the Apollo missions.”

The most recent tool to have been developed as a result of the Space Act Agreement between Google and NASA, Moon in Google Earth enables information about the Moon to be accessible to anyone in a unique three-dimensional context.

In addition to satellite imagery and terrain, the following layers can be explored with Moon in Google Earth:

* Featured Satellite Imagery – Explore overlaid satellite imagery and detailed descriptions of selected areas on the Moon from Arizona State University’s “Lunar Image of the Week”

* Spacecraft Imagery – View selected imagery captured by the Apollo Metric Camera, Clementine, and the Lunar Orbiter.

* Apollo Missions – Travel back to the Apollo era and discover the landing sites of Apollo missions 11-17. Explore “Street View”-style panoramic images, watch previously unreleased footage from Spacecraft films , and read about the places astronauts saw on their trips to the Moon.

* Guided Tours – Take a narrated tour of the Moon from Apollo astronauts Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11) and Jack Schmitt (Apollo 17).

* Historic Maps – Discover Apollo-era geologic and topographic maps of the Moon that were used in mission control for trips to the Moon.

* Human Artifacts – Learn about the various types of exploratory equipment that humans have left on the Moon and where those objects can be found today. Artifacts from the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the EU, Japan, and India are included, some of them as 3D models.

Google is entering the operating system business with the introduction of the Chrome OS. In an announcement on its corporate blog, Google is initially designing Chrome OS for netbooks, which are low cost laptops aimed for users who just want to go online.

The Chrome OS comes out nine months after the company introduced its own Chrome browser. Over 30 million people are using Chrome regularly to surf the Web according to the company.

Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system. Later this year, Google says it will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010.

"Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We're designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web. And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don't have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.

Google Chrome OS will run on both x86 as well as ARM chips and we are working with multiple OEMs to bring a number of netbooks to market next year. The software architecture is simple — Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel. For application developers, the web is the platform. All web-based applications will automatically work and new applications can be written using your favorite web technologies. And of course, these apps will run not only on Google Chrome OS, but on any standards-based browser on Windows, Mac and Linux thereby giving developers the largest user base of any platform.

Google Chrome OS is a new project, separate from Android. Android was designed from the beginning to work across a variety of devices from phones to set-top boxes to netbooks. Google Chrome OS is being created for people who spend most of their time on the web, and is being designed to power computers ranging from small netbooks to full-size desktop systems. While there are areas where Google Chrome OS and Android overlap, we believe choice will drive innovation for the benefit of everyone, including Google."

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