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Go Go Gadgets in Asia

March 28, 2008 – 6:26 pm
Go Go Gadgets in Asia By Min Li Chan, Google Developer Programs - APACIt's cold and cloudy in Hong Kong and Taiwan this week, as our trusty weather gadgets indicate. At the Googleplex, where a quintessentially Californian winter is holding up, we had the distinct honor of hosting our Taiwan and Hong Kong gadget developer contest winners -- Hu Chih-Pao flew in from Taipei to tour our campus in December (see photos from his visit on his blog), while Alex Ng and Liu Chun-Yu visited us from Hong Kong two weeks ago.Of the 190 submissions for the gadget contest in Taiwan, Chih-Pao produced a whopping 43 entries, including a real-time Taiwan Train Timetable gadget and a gadget for the Taiwanese traditional worship of the Buddha of Mercy: Alex and Chun-Yu's innovative use of gadget technology caught our eye, with their real-time local Hong Kong TV program guide with keyword-activated YouTube ...

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Come on over, the Open Source Programs Office has its own blog

March 28, 2008 – 6:26 pm
Come on over, the Open Source Programs Office has its own blog By Chris DiBona, Open Source TeamWhen we first launched code.google.com (webarchive), it was largely a site for documenting our open source activities and had some details about Google's supported APIs and file formats. In the ensuing 3 years, code has grown to encompass protocol documentation, project hosting and even a mobile operating system. Similarly, the activities of the Open Source Team have grown from simple license compliance to the aforementioned hosting, releasing massive amounts of code and introducing student programs like the Summer of Code and its high school cousin, the Highly Open Participation Contest. Since we've grown so much, we felt it was well past time to spin off a blog that specifically covers the open source activities of the company. So that's just what we've done. Come check it out, and if you like, subscribe! [Source: http://code.google.com]

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Google Technology User Groups

March 28, 2008 – 6:26 pm
Google Technology User Groups By Christian Schalk, Google Developer ProgramsWe recently started the Google Technology User Groups program to help people get together and discuss Google developer products at a technical level. One of the first groups formed is the Silicon Valley Google Technology User Group by Java user group veterans Mike "Van" Riper and Kevin Nilson. The first SV-GTUG meetup took place on Google's main campus in January to discuss the Google Web Toolkit with Googler Bob Vawter. The SV-GTUG will be hosting its next meeting on February 6th, where Dick Wall from Google will be presenting on Android.Silicon Valley is not the only home to new user groups: The Pune GTUG in India, started by Rohit Ghatol, seeks to bring together some of India's vast developer audience to think creatively about using developer APIs to explore what is possible beyond typical Google products.We'll post again ...

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URLs are People, Too

March 28, 2008 – 6:26 pm
URLs are People, Too By Brad Fitzpatrick, Software EngineerSo you've just built a totally sweet new social app and you can't wait for people to start using it, but there's a problem: when people join they don't have any friends on your site. They're lonely, and the experience isn't good because they can't use the app with people they know. You could ask them to search for and add all their friends, but you know that every other app is asking them to do the same thing and they're getting sick of it. Or they tried address book import, but that didn't totally work, because they don't even have all their friends' email addresses (especially if they only know them from another social networking site!). What's a developer to do?One option is the new Social Graph API, which makes information about the public connections between people on the Web ...

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Interview with Steve Yegge on Rhino on Rails and more

March 28, 2008 – 6:25 pm
Interview with Steve Yegge on Rhino on Rails and more By Dion Almaer, Google Developer ProgramsLast year, Steve Yegge posted about Rhino on Rails, his port of Ruby on Rails to the JavaScript language on the Rhino runtime. It garnered a slew of interest, and I have been wanting to talk to him in more detail about the project.Fortunately, I happened to be at the Google Kirkland office and Steve graciously had time to spend talking about the framework. Steve is an entertaining chap, and manages to keep you interested with long blog entries, and did the same as I chatted with him.In the conversation we cover the germination of the project, why Steve went ahead with the port, the side effects of JavaScript on the server, how Rhino will be implementing JavaScript 2 / ECMAScript 4 (with Google committing engineers to the project), the intent to open source RnR, and ...

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Compiere: Building a GWT interface for opensource ERP

March 28, 2008 – 6:25 pm
Compiere: Building a GWT interface for opensource ERP By Dion Almaer, Google Developer ProgramsThe Compiere team is trying to make ERP easier. I had a chance to catch up with Gary Wu, Di Zhao and Chris Sprague of the Compiere engineering team. We talked about their recently shipped open source ERP solution that now includes a GWT-based rich internet interface.Using GWT was natural for the developers and allowed them to create a highly productive web experience for Compiere users in just a few months of effort. Listen to the Compiere developers discuss their experiences with GWT and see a demo of the new Compiere Web user interface. [Source: http://code.google.com]

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Meet the Team: Prem Ramaswami

March 28, 2008 – 6:23 pm
Meet the Team: Prem Ramaswami Posted by Alyssa England, Google Checkout teamFrom time to time we'll introduce you to a member of the Checkout team. Meet one now.Alyssa: How long have you been at Google, and what role do you play on Checkout?Prem: I've been a Google Checkout product manager for over a year. I work closely with our merchant engineering team in the greatest city on Earth (New York, for those of you who don't live here :)). Before Google, I worked for MIT Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington, Massachusetts, as an engineer on an airborne 3D laser radar wide-area mapping program. And before that, I was finishing up an undergraduate degree in electrical and computer engineering and biomedical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. Though I'm not mapping things with lasers anymore, I am still excited about the work I do to enhance the overall ecommerce experience for merchants and buyers.Alyssa: ...

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Product Search and Checkout - A Perfect Match

March 28, 2008 – 6:22 pm
Product Search and Checkout - A Perfect Match Posted by Alyssa England, Product Marketing ManagerDid you know about the ways Google Product Search and Google Checkout can work together to increase traffic and sales to your site? For those not familiar with the service, Product Search allows merchants to upload their products for free, making their products more discoverable for Google users. Using Product Search and Google Checkout together can be even more effective to connect you with potential buyers. If you're a Google Checkout merchant, the Checkout badge will appear next to your listings in the Product Search results. Users even have the option of searching for only Checkout-enabled items.We've heard great success stories from merchants who have leveraged Google Product Search and Google Checkout to grow their business. Shawn Butler, head of development at Bestprices.com, recently said that, "The combination allows buyers and sellers to find each other through ...

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Additional users: The more, the merrier

March 28, 2008 – 6:22 pm
Additional users: The more, the merrier Posted by David Wurtz, Product ManagerWe've been hearing from our merchants that they'd like to be able to add more users to existing accounts, and to set the account privileges for those new users. Today we're taking the first steps toward enabling that kind of functionality, by making it possible for account administrators to add multiple users to their Google Checkout accounts while still maintaining sole control of important account and payment-related information.Additional users will be able to view order-related information in your account, perform order searches, and view your order inbox. However, these users will not be able to take any actions on the orders, view payments, or modify account settings.To invite new users, simply log in to Google Checkout and click "Settings" on the top navigation. Then, on the ...

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eTail 2008: Come see us

March 28, 2008 – 6:22 pm
eTail 2008: Come see us Posted by Alyssa England, Product Marketing ManagerThis week (February 11-14) the Google Checkout and Google Product Search teams are headed to Palm Desert, California, for the eTail 2008 conference. If you're planning to attend, please stop by and visit us at booth #64. We'll be on hand to explain how Google Checkout and Google Product Search can help you manage listings, drive leads, increase conversions, and reduce costs.See you there! [Source: http://googlecheckout.blogspot.com]

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