Toluu

Official Google Enterprise Blog

Enterprise information, search and apps.

Putting the "App" in "H-App-y New Year"Yesterday

Here at Google, we like to have some fun, at least some of the time (we hope it's the same for your business, too). A few days back, we sparked a bit of interoffice fun by virtually "bouncing" Google Apps from person to person as a New Year's greeting.

I guess it was kind of like tossing a balloon from cubicle to cubicle, if you will – except in this case, the cubicles were cities, continents, and timezones away from each other. But the "toss" worked, just the same, and we had enough fun with it that we wanted to share it with you here. Enjoy, and Happy 2009 from all at Google Enterprise.

Google Earth: now you CAN take it with youJanuary 5

When Lionel Barrymore ("Grandpa Martin Vanderhof") told Jimmy Stewart ("Tony Kirby") "You Can't Take it With You," he clearly wasn't talking about Google Earth Enterprise.

Starting immediately, you can take Google Earth Enterprise with you, thanks to a new portable version – an extension to the technology behind programs like Virtual Alabama, below, and the US Forest Service's Automated Flight Following.

Google Apps on Campus: Getting Things Done in '08December 22 2008

2008 was an action-packed year for Google Apps for Education. We grew by 300% since last year, released two new products: Google Sites and Google Video, heard directly from thousands of students on our cross-country road trip across the U.S., celebrated our two-year anniversary, and fostered new relationships with schools across the globe who have decided to make the move to Google Apps.

We think this is an early sign of change to come. In fact, according to a recent study, 71% of universities are currently considering a hosted solution for student email, and 56% of those schools are choosing Google Apps for Education for their students.* We spend a lot of time talking with educators and students, and it's clear that they're as enthusiastic as we are about all the new possibilities and potential that these services provide in and out of the classroom.

Adding

Cross-Language Enterprise Search launches on Google Enterprise LabsDecember 18 2008

We are excited that our 10th Enterprise Labs experiment in just over a year is also the 5th experiment (see others like our Google Apps Integration) that lets Google Search Appliance users reach securely into the cloud, tapping into the vast resources of the internet and Google's latest and greatest technologies.  Many of our enterprise search customers have dozens of offices all over the world with tens of millions documents indexed in a host of different languages.  Before today, when users searched for a topic, the search only returned documents that were in the same language as the query.  Cross-Language Enterprise Search instantly translates your Google Search Appliance query from one language to one or more other languages using Google's best-in-class translation engine.

Wondering if your Paris office has some documents in French that might be relevant to your search?  Frustrated that your first language isn't English, yet 90% of your corporate documents are in English?  Now users can search in their native language, but find every document within the enterprise on

Classroom collaborationDecember 15 2008

It's amazing to think that just a little over ten years ago, the Internet was a technological toddler with only the most basic of networks, a limited number of users and an offering of information that today we would call mediocre. Following its expansion into popular use in the 1990s, the Internet has had a dramatic and positive impact on culture and commerce worldwide. Education, in particular, has benefited as people have discovered the strengths and uses of the Internet as it continues to grow and develop. A vast array of information now available to anyone with a connected computer and can be searched, added to, and developed collaboratively.

Laurie Wales, a Google Certified Teacher from the Catholic Schools Office in Newcastle Australia is well versed in the value that online tools can deliver in the classroom. In a presentation at the recent Victorian Information Technology Teachers Association Conference, Laurie discussed how "adopting a collaborative approach alongside an inquiry learning process allows educators to re-balance their roles as both leader/director and facilitator."

Laurie's well-received workshop, titled "Connect - Construct - Collaborate," included an overview of a wide range of Google applications available for educators. In her workshop, Laurie demonstrated how Google Sites can be used to create an e-portfolio allowing students to record, archive, and share their work with peers, parents, class, school, and the world – and showcased how developing projects using Google applications has the potential to bring teachers and students together by making them part of a "global community."

Google Docs, a set of free online collaborative tools for creating and sharing documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, is also very popular in classrooms around the globe. Fendalton School in Christchurch, New Zealand uses Google Docs extensively to help staff collaborate on team meeting agendas, track meeting minutes, and manage their budgets. Fendalton School uses Google Docs in the classroom to help children as young as seven get organized and receive immediate peer feedback on class presentations through online forms.

Blogs are also used extensively across the school, allowing students to discuss key events and helping parents break through the typical "What did you do at school today?" silence. Fendalton School's new web site, FOS Live, is driven through Google docs and pulls in RSS feeds from class blogs to share learning as it happens in classrooms.

This has the potential to reduce traditional barriers between home and the school. In the video below, Fendalton School's Rob Clarke describes some of the uses of Google tools by Fendalton teachers and students.