This is an important blog post. Go read it from the source.
Update: David Drummond from Google appears on CNBC to discuss the situation more.
Also, Google just made it so that Gmail defaults to https. This means that even if you use a public wifi hotspot, you’ll have an encrypted tunnel for the communication between your browser and Google. This makes your email much more secure against sniffing or snooping.
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Quick summary: I’m giving up Twitter for 30 days. I normally tweet about the webmaster videos that we make. Please follow googlewmc on Twitter if you want to find out about new webmaster videos.
For the last few months I’ve been doing 30 day challenges:
- In May 2009, I walked 10,000 steps a day.
- For June 2009, I didn’t watch television for 30 days.
- For July 2009, I biked to work.
- In August 2009, I tried to read 15 books in 30 days. I only made it to twelve that month, but I knocked out three more later.
- For October 2009, I stopped using Microsoft software (both Windows and Office). That went so well that I’ve switched to Linux as my primary operating system.
- For November 2009, I needed something easy to do. I unsubscribed to Robert Scoble on both Twitter and FriendFeed. Robert is a fantastic guide to what’s new (and I like him personally)–if you’re just starting out there, he’s like training wheels to show you cool things. But back then he was going on about Twitter’s lists feature. It’s a fine feature, but I find talking about it as dry as dust, so I went Scoble-free.
- In December 2009, I went off caffeine.
So the question is: what to do for January 2010? Well, I’ve already been off Twitter for a week. I think I’m going to stay off Twitter/Facebook/FriendFeed for the rest of January.
Do you have suggestions for other 30 day challenges I should try? If so, leave me a suggestion.
P.S. We have some new webmaster videos almost ready. Normally I tweet about those instead of blogging them. So if you want to hear when those videos are released, follow googlewmc on Twitter.
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This is just a quick blog post to share some info about Google’s real-time search based on the earthquake that shook the Bay Area this morning. I didn’t feel the earthquake myself, but the real-time folks looked at how we did. Here’s what they found:
Overall, realtime search triggered in under two minutes from the earthquake happening and within a minute of the first tweets appearing. The rough timeline (in Pacific time) is
~10:10 – An earthquake happened. (The USGS says the earthquake happened at 10:09:35 a.m.)
10:11 – The USGS government web site started to track the earthquake, with a “?” magnitude.
10:12 – Google’s realtime onebox triggers.
10:13 – USGS web site marked the magnitude as 4.1.
10:20 – USGS site updates their feed.
~10:25 – Google’s earthquake onebox gets updated earthquake info.
All in all, not too shabby, but still a perfect opportunity to identify ways to do better. For example, Stephen Shankland said it took about six minutes for him to see realtime results trigger, adding “which struck me as fairly impressive for such a mammoth operation as Google search.” We looked into it, and it looks like a data center timeout meant that a few people didn’t see the realtime results for a few extra minutes. Nothing to be ashamed of, but something we’ll look at improving in the future. Most searchers did see the realtime results trigger within a minute or two on Google.
Greg Sterling showed a screenshot (taken by Danny Sullivan) over on Search Engine Land that showed an earthquake onebox with stale info. It looks like that happened because the feed we were using from the USGS took ~10 minutes to update. Going forward, I’m sure we’ll check whether we could do anything differently on this, but if a feed has older info for a few minutes, there’s little we can do about that.
Overall though, I think Google acquitted itself quite well on this earthquake. Realtime search triggered quickly and accurately for the vast majority of people. And Google’s realtime search was able to pull in not only tweets, but relevant blogs and news articles. The search quality team will keep working to make sure that the triggering speed/thresholds, relevance, freshness and comprehensiveness of real-time search matches the high expectations that people already bring to Google’s web search results.
One last thing: I love that many Google employees’ first instinct when they feel an earthquake is to start searching on Google to see how well our real-time search works. 
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Ten years ago this month I paused working on my Ph.D., eloped to a courthouse to marry my lovely wife, and went for a hastily organized honeymoon cruise in the Caribbean. Then we packed up everything we owned and drove from North Carolina to California to join a small start-up called Google. That means this month marks my ten-year anniversary with Google, too.
Evan a husband with a thick skull like me learns a few things over the years. So here’s a little piece of advice for the software-engineer-husbands out there: take a few days off for your ten-year anniversary.
If you’re expecting an email reply from me, please be patient. I’m spending some quality time with my wife.
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Added:
- The official web page for the Nexus One is http://google.com/phone
- There’s a YouTube channel for the Nexus One.
- And here’s the official blog post about the Nexus One.
I’m sitting in the Googleplex waiting to live-blog the Google Android event today. I’m on a seven day Twitter diet, but Chris DiBona is live-tweeting the event. Added: Ryan Block also live-blogged the event. Danny Sullivan is also live-blogging the event.
I noticed that T-Mobile just announced that they have upgraded their 3G network to HSPA, which has a peak speed of 7.2Mbps. Added: and Rhapsody just joined the Android family.
Mario Queiroz (VP, Product Management) is up to put things in perspective and look back at the history, e.g. the introduction of the G1. The Open Handset Alliance just added 13 members (e.g., China Telecom, Freescale). From 1 device on 1 carrier in 1 country to 20 devices on 59 carriers in 49 countries and 19 languages. Four major software releases in 2009 (e.g. Cupcake, Donut, Éclair). To help prevent fragmentation, Google introduced a compatibility test suite. I believe Mario said that Android users search (surf?) up to 30x more than conventional phone users.
Mario says that it’s time for the next step in Android evolution. Mario is taking a moment to send shout-outs to some great devices like the Droid and the Hero. One of the questions they asked was “What if we work even more closely to bring devices to market that showcase the great software technology in Android?” So today they’re announcing the Nexus One, “where web meets phone.” Intended to be a “superphone,” an exemplar of what is possible with a phone. The Nexus One was designed in close partnership with HTC. Mario is introducing Peter Chou, the CEO of HTC.
MG Siegler is also live-blogging the Nexus One event.
Peter Chou asserts that the phone is very thin, fits well in your hand, and has a gorgeous screen, plus a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU. “It pushes the limits of what’s possible on a mobile phone today.”
Mario is back on to introduce Erick Tseng, Senior Product Manager to do a deeper dive. 3.7″ OLED screen, 800×480 screen, 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU. Trackball has a multi-colored LED (bluetooth = blue, other information could have other colors). The N1 also has Light and proximity sensors. It’s 11.5 mm thin, (“thinner than a #2 pencil”), and it weighs 130g. 5 megapixel camera and flash. Records video in Mpeg4. Syncs pictures to Picasa, and can upload video to YouTube. 3.5mm headphone jack. Stereo A2DP support. It can have an inline remote. Two microphones to do noise cancellation.
The Nexus One can have custom engraving in the metal bezel/band on the back on the phone.
“With the hardware, we think we have half the story.” Now Erick is moving to talk about software, the other half. Nexus One runs on Android 2.1, which includes Maps navigation, Facebook integration, and Quick Contacts (ability to switch between contacts and have a seamless view, regardless of where the contact is coming from).
New features in Android 2.1:
- Better customization. Five home screens. A new widget has weather and news. The widget knows where you are and auto-tells you the weather. Clicking through shows you the temperature over the course of the day. Live wallpaper. Shows a home screen that looks like a pond. Touching the screen makes water ripple.
- Media and 3D. New 3D framework in Android. Live wallpaper is one, but the app launcher also turns 3D. Apps scroll away off the top in 3D like the text in the beginning of Star Wars. A new gallery app from working with Cooliris. Tipping the phone makes the photo gallery tip. You can also view your photos clustered based on time, date, and location. Photos can be sync’ed to Picasaweb.
- Voice. [I can attest to this: the voice recognition is pretty amazing, and will only improve over time.] Demo with “Navigate to Ikea”. Android 2.1 adds voice recognition to every text field in the device. Erick just demoed sending an email by saying “Check out this new voice keyboard! I just hope this demo works.” and it worked perfectly, drawing the first applause of the day from the room full of I’ve-seen-it-all journalists.
- Bonus! Erick is demoing a version of Google Earth with 3D by flying around some mountains in the north bay. Then he uses voice to fly to “Mt. Fuji” in Google Earth.
Erick hands the stage back to Mario. Mario is talking about how to get the phone, and emphasizing that Google wants simplicity. You can buy the Nexus One with or without a plan. Today, you can purchase a phone with service from T-Mobile USA from http://www.google.com/phone/ . They expect to add more operators, devices and countries on that url.
A bonus announcement. Verizon Wireless in the U.S. and Vodaphone in Europe have also signed on to this program. On http://www.google.com/phone/ you can get a 3D tour or click on individual icons to see what the apps look like.
Price is $529 unlocked or $179 with T-Mobile USA service. This “coming spring,” the Nexus One will come to Verizon. You will need a Google Checkout account to buy the phone. On the site, you can enter two lines of laser engraving and you see a live preview of what the engraving will look like.
Mario emphasizing that the buying process is designed to be easy, simple and fast. I think Mario said that you can ship to the UK, Singapore, and Hong Kong immediately, and more countries will follow. The Nexus One is the first phone you can buy from google.com/phone, but more devices (HTC and Motorola were specifically mentioned), operators, and countries will come into the ordering process. They’re providing demo phones later today so that people can do in-depth reviews.
They’re showing a video now, which was pretty spiff.
Now they’re doing Q&A. Sanjay Jha is stuck in traffic, but will join when he can make it.
Q: Robert Scoble Why only 512MB for app storage?
A: We provide a way to protect against piracy. But in the future, we’ll provide a way to put apps on the
Q: You can order today–does it ship today?
A: Yes, it ships today.
Q: It only works on T-Mobile?
A: No, it can take any GSM SIM. On AT&T, you can slip in your AT&T SIM card from your iPhone and use it today. You’ll get EDGE speed instead of 3G, but it will work fine. [That's how I've been running my phone.]
Q: Is this phone an iPhone Killer?
A: The message isn’t to iPhone/Apple folks, but to consumers. The goal is to produce a great phone that people will like.
Q: Which inventory does the phone come out of?
A: Google is the merchant of record. Google is working with HTC to manage the logistics of shipping.
Q: Marketing and App Market for the Nexus One (noted that Apple does a lot of TV advertising)?
A: Initial marketing is primarily online. Will also continue to iterate to improve the Android market.
Q: Why was it necessary for Google to design the phone instead of HTC?
A: It’s HTC’s work building a really great phone.
Q: Will other software features of Nexus One make it to (say) the Droid.
A: Within a couple of days, we expect to open-source Android 2.1.
Q: What will convince people to buy this phone vs. other smartphones?
A: This is hour one of operation. The phone is solid and provides a very good experience. We intend to keep innovating, plus to add more operator plans, more devices, more countries. Andy noted that the original question was “I can buy an iPhone for $99, so why would I buy this?” but mentioned that there’s a larger world outside the U.S., where ~50% of the time people buy a phone unbundled from a service plan and without a subsidy.
Q: Google isn’t known for retailing–color on how to make a dent in a tough business?
A: This is about providing an easy, complete solution. Working with handset partners to get a great phone out to consumers quickly and more choice. “It’s another channel; it’s not intended to replace existing channels.”
Q: What’s the revenue model–per phone, money on ads?
A: When we think about new ways for people to access the internet, mobile is huge. This phone is a lot like a laptop as of 4-5 years ago. This can be just the next front of ads. The objective is less to make a ton of money per phone unit and more to provide the best possible Google experience we can.
Q: Support for tethering to a PC? Wifi?
A: Wifi is supported. It’s just a technical issue to add support to tethering. Sounds like they intend to add tethering?
Q: Missed this–something like what if there’s too much success and operators can’t handle the data.
A: Work closely with partners.
Q: Is the physical keyboard dead?
A: HTC believes that different people have different preferences, and the strategy is to serve whatever people want. This phone concentrates on the form factor. Mario notes that google.com/phone is a channel that will add more phones over time, so if people want a keyboard, different devices can show up in the web store (perhaps the Droid, for example).
Q: Does this mean that Google will be selling more products online?
A: Other mobile phones may join google.com/phone .
Q: Beyond mobile phones?
A: Jokes about small cars, lava lamps.
Q: Other phones being sold?
A: They want the best possible mobile experience. The bar is raising on devices; not every device will show up there. They don’t want to flood; they want the experience to be simple, clean, and nice.
Q: Other countries?
A: They will add other countries (e.g. co.uk) soon.
Q: Why is multitouch not supported in the U.S.?
A: HTC Droid Eris does support multitouch. We’ll consider it.
Q: Mike Arrington When will Google Voice launch?
A: [He then went straight into the next question, so this got skipped.]
Q: Is there something awesomer coming next month? Or should be wait?
A: “You’re going to be waiting a long time if you’re waiting for the next one.” But also mentions that manufacturers are always rolling out new ones.
If you are an existing T-Mobile customer, it asks if you want to e.g. switch your plan, port a number, etc. You can see your next month’s bill so there’s no surprises.
Q: Danny Sullivan: What’s revolutionary about this? Why launch a phone that doesn’t support everything? The pricing seems boring and conventional. “I want the revolution from Google–where is it?”
A: Andy says that globally the plans are quite good. “Before you can revolutionize the world … you have to have a mechanism by which you’re selling the product.” Andy says this is the first baby step along that path.
Q: Will anyone be able to touch the phone at a retailer partner?
A: Right now it’s online only. We’ll iterate over time. Whatever makes sense for consumers, we’ll offer them options. But no other comment at this time.
Q: Difference between superphone and smartphone?
A: Openness coupled with easy app market, solid ecosystem, GHz processor, gigabyte storage. As powerful as your laptop was four years ago.
Q: Will subsequent phones support “world mode”? (GSM + CDMA, UMTS?)
A: Yeah, we’re very focused on that.
Q: Developers, app store?
A: Carrier billing was just added, will continue to improve.
Q: Projections about sales?
A: [Doubt they'll do this.] They didn’t comment.
CEO of Motorola just said that Nexus One is a good phone. Droid will get software update.
Sanjay Jha is happy that google.com/phone will provide a new channel to get to consumers. “I don’t see it as threat.” It might result in an expansion of the marketplace. Peter Chou thinks it’s good for the industry, and a new model. Sanjay thinks this is an expansion of the ecosystem and a good thing as well.
And with that, my laptop is dead, so I’ll stop. Here’s the official blog post.
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