Google banned non-play store apps updates

Mess with Google, and Google will confusion with you. Google caught Facebook updating its Android app lacking using the Google Play store update mechanism. Google closed the ambiguity in its terms and conditions, and currently no Android app will be upgradeable lacking access to the Google Play store.

The Google Play store conditions and conditions read, “An app downloaded from Google Play may not regulate, replace or update its own APK binary code using any method other than Google Play's update system.”

Facebook says that it was only future out the update to users that allowed non-Play store downloads to their phones. This worked beneath the old terms and conditions but now Facebook and any other app will only be clever to send updates during the Google Play store.

It is good that Google is contraction the lid on their app update strategy. This will help keep malicious satisfied out of users’ devices particularly those that do not download apps from the Play store. Are you speculate what will happen to all those Android devices obtainable in the market that don’t allow access to the Play store?

Google Updates the Spam Detection for Reviews, Warns to SEOs

Google announced that it has made some development to its spam detection algorithms that amplified the number of evaluation that appear on some Google+ Local pages.

“Online reviews have been in the news a lot lately, and we at Google are dedicated to helping people to get ratings, reviews, and suggestion that are relevant, helpful, and dependable,” Dasha says. “To defend both business owners and clients from spam reviews, we have systems in place that might remove individual reviews.”

Google advises business owners to be suspicious of SEO and standing management services that assure to generate reviews, and Google says it will obtain down fake “glowing testimonies”. The company also notes that it does not take down unenthusiastic reviews for just being unhelpful for anyone, and instead advises business owners to react themselves. Google also articulate not to trust anyone who says they recognize how to remove reviews from Google.

Interestingly, a exact guideline Google lists for business proprietor is to not set up a computer or tablet in their place of business customers can leave reviews on site. The company also repeats business proprietors that it doesn’t allow them to give customers free gifts or reduces in exchange for reviews. It’s kind of like the entire paid links thing.

Google tells SEOs particularly, “If a business accepts paper comment cards it might be enticing to gather them and “digitize” them by posting the reviews on Google+ Local. We ask that all reviews come from personally experience and do not allow posting reviews on behalf of others.”

Google Update : Currents With Search Technology

Search engine giant Google has declared that it has overhaul its Currents, which allows users to determine, share and read news opening, blogs and online magazines. Google Currents, a social magazine app for tablets computers was released in December 2011 and currently accessible for Android and iOS strategy.

The updated Currents create it easier for users to scan through their favourite group and specific version with the swipe of a finger, said Google. "We're overhauling Currents to make it even easier to inspect during all your favorite categories and specific version with just the swipe of a finger, "said Mussie Shore, Group Product Manager at Google.

Shore additional added, "We're using some of the knowledge after Search to bring contravention stories on those personality scandals, stock market updates, the next technology frontier and more." Google maintain that it has restructured its Current app to facilitate its users to scan news, blog posts according to group. "We're now grouping version into categories to help you keep track of your accessible contribution and discover new ones," added Shore.

The restore Currents allow users to check editions associated to their interests throughout categories like News, Entertainment, Technology, Sports, Lifestyle and more. All of your satisfied will be grouped in these categories, nearby from a sidebar, and you can categorize your editions in every category with favorites on top, said Shore.

With the recent update, Google claims, it has also facilitated easy browsing familiarity for its users. "We've also made it easy to quickly browse during top articles from all your preferred editions in a category-just take horizontally."

The Huge Wave of Google App Update Hit iOS, Android

Google just brings iPhone and Android phone consumer a holiday gift. Google Maps has revisit to the iPhone, this time in the form of its own divide app, while Google obtainable the company's Flipboard-style online periodical app for Android received a considerable update as well.

Besides the two huge updates, about a half-dozen other apps for Android and Google TV conventional bug fixes and innovative features, according to Android Police blogger Ryan Whitwam. Here's a seem at what to anticipate, and where the irregular edges still lay.

It was strictly never there to begin with; the iPhone merely had a "Maps" app integrated, which used Google Maps' data. But a few months ago, Apple toggled from using Google's map data to its own, which reasons no end of problems as Apple's data was inaccurate much more often. These problems were sometimes entertaining, but in at least one case they were hazardous, as numerous motorists had to be salvage after becoming abandoned inside an Australian national park.

Google Maps has moreover conventional a thumbs-down from the Victoria police in Australia, but is regarded as more dependable overall. It's a entirely new app this time, and while it has at least one "Android-ism" according to tech specialist John Gruber (an Ice Cream Sandwich-style menu button), it's description to work well and doesn't confirm ads like the YouTube app does.

The update to digital publication app Google present brings its features more in line with Google Reader, the tech giant's online newsreader app which can monitor roughly any website for updates. Like Google Reader, present can now "star" stories to put them in a divide list, can show which narratives you've previously read, and has a widget to put on your Android home screen.

Google Sync gets the Updates at End of Year

Google Sync is one of a cluster of products that Google Inc. is modifying or concluding in the next few months. Midsize commerce that uses the products has a heads up to the changes so that they can arrange other solutions to keep operations running effortlessly. 

As per Google's Official Blog post, the business is shutting down some yield and services to keep up with the 2012 declaration to create "beautiful, useful products that advance millions of people's lives each day." This post from Venkat Panchapakesan, vice president of engineering, explains the choices are "difficult." 

Another of the concluding products is the concern Tracker Data API. Issue Tracker lets programmers insert and see issues on Project Hosting on Google Code, the open-source host. The document closes legitimately on June 14, 2013. The app Punched and two assembly features in Calendar also secure in the New Year.

While the Google App for Business is not altering, some midsize businesses may at present instead use bring-your-own-device (BYOD) strategy under Google Sync for mobile strategy rather than the Business app description. These businesses now know they need to make changes to events for new employees previous to the cutoff date at end of January. The commerce may want to move over to the Google App for commerce instead. 

Midsize businesses that choose to maintain with BYOD strategy have a comparatively new set of tools to learn once Sync closes. They can move to Google's CarDAV, IMAP, and CalDAV to coordinate emails, calendars, and associates. Both iOS and Android widget support the tools. The midsize venture need to organize employees for the changes before end of January, given that many infrastructure are by email and people frequently post business meetings to calendars.

Google Released Snapseed for Android, Updates iOS Version

Just a couple of months ago, Google obtain photo-editing app Snapseed. The company is now liberate an Android version of the app, as well as updates the iOS version. The best part, still, is that they’ve dropped the price of both versions to no cost at all, carry superior photo-editing tools to iOS and Android users for free. 

The app features basic restriction tools like tune, straighten, and crop and it also comes with dissimilar original filters like black & white and period that you can apply independently to photos or in combination. There’s also a characteristic called Control Point, which allows you to selectively correct your photo by lighten just a face or darken just the sky. 

The app now also comes with Google+ combination, allowing you to easily split your Snapseed creations flawlessly with your friends on Google’s social network. You can also tag other Google+ members and share to precise Circles. It’s yet one more method that will confidently persuade users to take advantage of the company’s social association site. 

The inventor of the app have shout that Snapseed isn’t a contestant to Instagram, and they’re nowhere close to inadequate to copy the popular photo-sharing app. Google has made it clear that it’s not a head-to-head combat with Instagram, since Google’s approach is to go after the users who want more customization when restriction photos, instead of just relate retro filters.

Google Updates Translate, Authenticator, Voice and 5 Other Applications

In adding to Google Search, the Google Translate, Authenticator, and Voice apps - along with five others - have been efficient today as well, though these revisions aren't quite as exhilarating as new Google Now cards.

First, the Translate app conventional a bump to 2.5.3, adding text gratitude via the camera translates purpose for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Handwriting appreciation has been additional for a number of new languages, as well, counting: Afrikaans, Croatian, Czech, Icelandic, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Slovak, Slovenian, Ukrainian, and Welsh.

Google Voice is now at 0.4.2.75 (which just made me appreciate, Google still believe this a pre-1.0 app after over 2 years, yikes), and adds a much desirable fix for a bug that caused duplicate notice to appear until cleared on each apparatus with the Google Voice app installed (Update: as far as I can tell, the inbox syncing issue across devices remnants unfixed - bummer). I am very happy about this one, myself. It also fixes delayed SMS notice, if you be having that issue.

Google Authenticator has been updated to 2.35, and comprises bug fixes in the description setup area, as well as UI development. Hit up the Play Store relations for each of these to grip the updates now, if you're not decision them on your apparatus.

Google Launches Gmail 2.0 for iOS with New Design for Android Users

Gmail 2.0 has been instigated on the iPhone and iPad, and it brings a slide of new functions to Apple iOS strategy. The update also comprises a completely remained intend for Gmail, contribution much more white space and an easy-to-read exhibit arrangement. 

The new Gmail for iOS includes numerous features that were integrated in preceding updates made to the Android version of the app. New features comprise profile pictures in messages, frequent new animatronics (swivels, transitions and infinite scrolling in the message lists) and much more. Gmail product manager Matthew Izatt explains all the new features in a present blog post. 

The enhanced layout of Gmail on iOS is instantly perceptible when booting the new update. It looks conspicuously comparable to Sparrow's Gmail app, which isn't much of a disclosure allowing for Google obtain Sparrow earlier this year. Gmail version 2.0 appears to be honestly inspired by Sparrow's indoctrination and design efforts. 

In addition to the new layout, Gmail for iOS will now contain numerous features that make cross-platform statement easier between Google services. For instance, the new Gmail app allows users to respond to Google+ messages and execute other Google+ functions within the new Gmail app. 

Gmail for iOS also permit users to RSVP to Google Calendar request straight from within a message. Perhaps most prominently, Gmail 2.0 includes sustain for multiple accounts. For anybody that manages commerce and individual accounts on Gmail, this characteristic is likely a lifesaver.

Gmail Update Convey drive Integration and 10GB File Sharing

Gmail users will shortly be capable to add links to files stored on Google Drive, allowing easy allocation of files up to 10GB by email. The new update, which is rolling out to all Gmail users, convey much tighter addition between Google's accepted webmail podium and its rapidly improving cloud storage solution. 

When composing a new email, Gmail client will have the alternative of inserting a file from Drive, beside the established 'attach files' button which uploads a nearby accumulate a picture, document, video or what-have-you. 

Because Drive files have previously been uploaded to the cloud, and don't need to be straight attached to the email, much superior files can be inserting, with the beneficiary just following a link. In a post on the authorized Gmail blog, Product Manager Phil Sharp explained: "Have you ever tried to connect a file to a message only to find out it's too large to send? 

"Now with Drive, you can add files up to 10GB - 400 times superior than what you can drive as a customary attachment." Drive addition means receiver will always have access to the newest, most up-to-date adaptation of the file, while Gmail will also check whether all beneficiaries have been granted admission to the document. 

Sharp added: "Like a smart supporter, Gmail will also double-check that your beneficiary all has access to any files you're sending. Anyone wishing to test the latest functionality, needs to choose in for the 'new create experience' within Gmail. You'll see an request on your inbox page to the right of the 'More' button.

The New Google's Penguin 3 Update for SEO

Google’s Penguin 3 update has trapped quite a few web-masters by revelation. However, as true as always, Google is challenge to play fair and eliminate Black Hat SEO strategy. In the process, many websites have seen a major down-gradation and loss of natural traffic and consultants are busy advising web-masters on how to recuperate from the penguin update.

This was a sharp difference to the Google Panda update where the focus was on improvement web-sites with good layouts, and in this update, the focus is on preventive spamdexing. The newest update has affected 0.3% of English search queries obviously, in difference to the Penguin Updates in general, which affects around 3.1% of English explore queries.

Research designate that search engine visibility affects both traffic and adaptation of traffic to sales absolutely [1,2] and thus research in sequence Systems has gradually more focused on dissimilar issues of the suggestion of the web on business [3,4].

While the noble purpose was to hunt down web-masters using black-hat SEO method, such as keyword wadding, cloaking, contributing in link schemes, premeditated creation of duplicate satisfied, among others; the change has actually even advantage many of the small time bloggers even more who focus on a position.

The very focus on the significance of the quality and significance of backlinks has increased even more than ever. So normal linking and credentials from and to niche content supplier win a lot of “Brownie Points”.

Google Chrome Browser now With Battery Saving Features

Google Tuesday released a Chrome browser update with a video decipher improvement that the company maintain will help users save battery life. The feature, obtainable for Chrome on Windows, cuts power expenditure by executing video decoding on graphics dispensation units instead of on computers' CPUs, Google said in a blog post. This is because devoted graphics chips require much less power than computers' CPUs, resultant in a 25 percent add to in battery life in Google tests. 

"Now Chrome users on Windows will occurrence longer battery life so they don't get cut off while surveillance their favorite YouTube video on replicate," wrote Ami Fischman, a Google software engineer.

This Chrome update version 23 also gives users an alternative to send a "do-not-track" demand to websites and online services; even though Google Update warned that this feature's efficiency depends on how the sites and services meadow these requests. 

Chrome 23 also merge in an icon next to the URL a website's authorization settings for things like geolocation gratitude, pop up messages and camera-microphone admission. "Now, simply click on the page/lock icon next to a website's attend to in the omnibox to see a list of permissions and pinch them as you wish," Fischman wrote. 

Security fasten include one that is not in the Chrome browser per se, but quite in the way Apple iOS protect against wild writes in concession graphics drivers. Google paid $1,000 to the person who reported this bug, rated High, the second-highest rating behind grave.

Google Updated Pedometer Card Apps

Google’s clever search app, Google Now, for Android smart phones and tablets now comprise an intelligent pedometer app that tracks your space and knows how far you’ve walked. The efficient card should automatically start appearing on Android devices running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean or afterward and joins cards for weather, nearby restaurant suggestions, and other connected search cards. 

According to Google, the space walked is intended using periodic place information that’s being sent to and stored via Google. The card comprise information for users who travel by walking, bicycling or via other modes of transport. 

Google Now’s latest adding may help Smartphone users stay more vigorous and matches the features of Nike+ addition on Apple’s iPhone, which tracks action based on the accelerometer. 

Google Now is intended to be a hyper-personal look for tool for Smartphone proprietor that provide clever reference through a variety of cards based on location, search history, and past Internet usage performance.

It’s meant to be a Siri participant and a helper that learns your behaviors and adapts to you. Google Now is an addition of Google voice search and is a feature that debuted on Android 4.1. Since Jelly Bean, Google has sustained to provide episodic updates to Google Now to enhance and supplement its features set.

Google's Online Application and Updates

Google has been working on its Google Drive suite of demand to make them easier to find, easier to right to use and easier to use. While Apple has been presentation its latest products, Google has also been hard at work on civilizing the convenience and user-friendliness of its Google drive suits of credentials. 

 Its three most accepted request word dispensation, spreadsheets and graphical appearance were renamed ‘docs', ‘sheets' and ‘slides' on Tuesday and are now obtainable as apps in the Chrome Web Store. 

Once installed, they will routinely appear as shortcuts each time a user launches the Chrome browser or opens a new browsing tab. For Chrome book users, these apps will also emerge automatically in their apps list once the next Chrome OS promote is released in mid-November. 

Google Drive is one of several concentrated efforts from Google to move people away from their corporeal desktops and physical software with physical permit conformity and into the fundamental world of the cloud.

Google Drive previously contains over 30 types of document or request, including Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator, which can be used online, even if the software is not installed on the computer. It is comfortable with any type of computer or mobile mechanism that has an internet relationship and the first 5GB of storage is free.

The Google Update: Exact Match Domains are not Enough

With the huge number of Panda and Penguin updates you’d think it was time to comprise skunks, zebras, border collies, dairy cows and cute small bunnies. Instead Google presently updates time and time once more. Panda itself has contained twenty updates. 

On September 28th, Google pronounced that another algorithm update for Panda. Panda’s focus objective low quality satisfied while Penguin focuses on web spam. The compilation of the two moreover enlarges or reduces website rankings. 

SEO Chat said, “It’s significant to note that not all EMDs experience from this update certainly, some really went up in the rankings.” Barry Schwartz said, “This is a reasonably major Panda update that impacts 2.4% of English investigate queries and is still rolling out.” 

What is an Exact Match Domain? Schwartz said, “Exact equal domains mean domains that match exactly for the look for query. For example, if I sold blue widgets and owned the domain name which would be a precise match domain.” 

 Exact match domains (EMD) are normally required out in the hopes that, regardless of their satisfied, they will be given a higher ranking. Google saw that as a difficulty and so developed this algorithm to drop the rankings of those who had that attitude. 

This algorithm will not hurt sites that have an EMD yet have excellence satisfied. In fact having EMD and excellence satisfied should budge you up in rankings.

Google Defends Larry Page's Privacy Policy

Even though European regulators want it changed, Google’s existing solitude policy is essential for the company to be able to generate new products that recognize more about Google users, Larry Page, the company’s chief executive, said Tuesday. “Almost everything that we want to do, I think, is rather at odds with locking downward all of your in sequence for uses you haven’t consider yet,” Mr. Page said. “That’s incredible I worry about.” 

Mr. Page spoke at Google’s annual Zeitgeist sales discussion in Paradise Valley, Ariz., the same day that European solitude regulators sent him a letter requesting that Google make important changes to its isolation policy or risk fines or other penalties. He said he was “sad” that regulators have tried to limit convinced types of online data compilation, when nobody knows how the Internet will purpose in a decade. 

The policy under deliberation, which was announced in January and took consequence in March, says that for people logged in to a Google account, Google can use information communal on one overhaul in other Google services. For example, Google might show people an ad on YouTube based on what they have investigate for in the search engine, or accurate the spelling of a friend’s name in a Google search based on information gleaned from Gmail. 

 Mr. Page said that current Google products would not be probable without the strategy. His example was a new creation for Android called Google Now, which can do things like alert you that you need to leave to keep away from being late for a assembly based on information from your calendar, your phone’s current position and traffic conditions.

Google has been Launched free SMS service in India through Gmail

Google has extensive its free SMS chat service to Indian users. The Gmail SMS quality is now available to Indian users all along with 51 other countries in Asia, Africa and North America. Google had made this characteristic obtainable to its users in some African countries in 2011. Using the without charge Gmail SMS service users can send text messages to mobile phones via Gmail talk. Responses to the SMSs will emerge as replies in Gmail Chat and conversations will be stored in users' Chat the past, like regular chats. This feature was activate for Indian users on October 10 and is accessible for standard Gmail users as well as those on Google Apps.

In India the free Gmail SMS service is offered on eight main mobile service operators: Aircel, Idea, Loop Mobile, MTS, Reliance, Tata DoCoMo, Tata indicom and Vodafone (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal & Andaman and Nicobar, Assam, North East). This attribute is not yet accessible on the Google Talk app, also referred to as GTalk, install on computers. 

Users are originally given a credit of fifty messages and for every message sent the credit decrease by one and for each message expected in answer to a text message sent via Gmail Chat, the user's credit increases by five, up to a greatest of 50. When the SMS credit goes down to zero, one credit is added after 24 hours. Google has built in the credit limit to avoid abuse of its free SMS service for marketing/spamming. Users can too 'buy' SMS credit, when they've scuttle out of them, my sending a text message to their own phone and then by replying to that communication. 

People who do not wish to get SMSs sent from Gmail Chat can chunk future messages from the sender by replying to the message with the word 'BLOCK' and afterward if they wish to persist getting messages they can reply to the message with 'UNBLOCK'. 

If Gmail Chat SMS recipient in India do not wish to get any messages on SMS from any Gmail user, they can discontinue the service from sending them messages by texting 'STOP' to +918082801060. To reactivate the examiner they can SMS 'START' to the same number. 

To send an SMS from Gmail, on the Gmail Chat border type the phone number you want to send an SMS to and click Send SMS and then add the recipient name and country, then click Save. Then write in the significance in the converse window and press Enter.

A tribute to Turing, the father of modern computing

“The past is a foreign country—they do things differently there.” It’s a saying that rings particularly true in the world of technology. But while innovating requires us to focus on the future, there are times when it’s significant to look back. Today—the 100th anniversary of Alan Turing’s birth—is one such moment.

Turing’s life was one of astounding highs and overwhelming lows. While his wartime code breaking saved thousands of lives, his own life was shattered when he was convicted for homosexuality. But the disaster of his story should not overshadow his legacy. Turing’s insight laid the foundations of the computer age. It’s no overstatement to say he’s a founding father of every computer and Internet company today.

Turing’s breakthrough came in 1936 with the publication of his seminal paper “On Computable Numbers” (PDF). This introduced two key concepts, “algorithms” and “computing machines”—commonplace terms today, but truly innovative in the 1930’s:

* Algorithms are, in simplest terms, step-by-step instructions for carrying out a mathematical calculation. This is where it all started for programming since, at its core, all software is a gathering of algorithms.

* A computing machine—today better known as a Turing machine—was the hypothetical device that Turing dreamed up to run his algorithms. In the 1930’s, a “computer” was what you called a person who did calculations—it was a profession, not an object. Turing’s paper provided the blueprint for building a machine that could do any calculation that a person could, marking the first step towards the modern notion of a computer.

Considering the role computers now play in everyday life, it’s clear Turing’s inventions rank among the most significant intellectual breakthroughs of the 20th century. In the development of computing, all paths trace back to Turing. That’s why Turing is a hero to so many Google engineers, and why we’re so proud to help commemorate and preserve his legacy.

In 2010, Google helped Bletchley Park raise funds to purchase Turing’s papers so they could be preserved for public display in their museum. More recently, we’ve been functioning closely with curators at London’s Science Museum to help put on a stunning new exhibition “Code breaker - Alan Turing’s Life and Legacy.” This tells the story of Turing’s vast achievements in a intensely moving and personal way, through an amazing collection of artifacts—including items loaned by GCHQ, the U.K. government intelligence agency, never before on public display. Topics addressed include Turing’s early years, his code-breaking at Bletchley Park, and his designs for the Pilot Ace computer, his later morphogenesis work, as well as his sexuality and death. The exhibition opened on June 21 and is well worth a visit if you’re passing through London in the next year.

And finally, we couldn’t let such an important occasion pass without a doodle. We thought the most fitting way of paying tribute to Turing’s unbelievable life and work would be to simulate the theoretical “Turing machine” he proposed in a mathematical paper. Visit the homepage today— we invite you to try your hand at programming it. If you get it the first time, try again... it gets harder!

Turing was born into a world that was very dissimilar, culturally and technologically, from ours—but his contribution has never been more significant. I hope you’ll join me today in paying compliment to Alan Turing, the forefather of modern computing.

Going worldwide in search of great art

South African rock designs. Brazilian street graffiti. Australian aboriginal art. Today we’re announcing a major development of the Google Art Project. From now on, with a few simple clicks of a finger, art lovers around the world will be able to find out not just paintings, but also sculpture, street art and photographs from 151 museums in 40 countries.

Since we introduced the Art Project last year, curators, artists and viewers from all over the globe have accessible exciting ideas about how to enhance the experience of collecting, sharing and discovering art. Institutions worldwide asked to join the project, urging us to augment the diversity of artworks displayed. We listened.

The original Art Project counted 17 museums in nine countries and 1,000 images, almost all paintings from Western masters. Today, the Art Project includes more than 30,000 high-resolution artworks, with Street View images for 46 museums, with more on the way. In other words, the Art Project is no longer just about the Indian student deficient to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It is now also about the American student wanting to visit the National Gallery of Modern Art in Delhi.

The expanded Art Project embraces all sizes of institutions, specializing in art or in other types of civilization. For example, you can take a look at the White House in Washington, D.C., discover the collection of the Museum of Islamic Art in Qatar, and continue the journey to the Santiniketan Triptych in the halls of the National Gallery of Modern Art, Delhi. In the United States alone, some 29 partners in 16 cities are participating, ranging from exceptional regional museums like the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, South Carolina to top notch university galleries such as the SCAD museum of art in Savannah, Georgia.

Here are a few other new things in the prolonged Art Project that you might enjoy:

* Using completely new tools, called Explore and Discover, you can find artworks by period, artist or type of artwork, displaying works from different museums around the world.

* Google+ and Hangouts are included on the site, enabling you to create even more engaging personal galleries.

* Street View images are now displayed in finer quality. A specifically designed Street View “trolley” took 360-degree images of the interior of selected galleries which were then stitched together, enabling smooth navigation of more than 385 rooms within the museums. You can also discover the gallery interiors directly from within Street View in Google Maps.

* We now have 46 artworks obtainable with our “gigapixel” photo capturing technology, photographed in extraordinary detail using super high resolution so you can study details of the brushwork and patina that would be not possible to see with the naked eye.

* An enhanced My Gallery feature lets you select any of the 30,000 artworks—along with your favorite details—to build your own personalized gallery. You can add comments to each painting and share the whole compilation with friends and family. (It’s an ideal tool for students.)

The Art Project is part of our hard work to bringing culture online and making it accessible the widest possible audience. Under the auspices of the Google Cultural Institute, we’re presenting high-resolution images of the Dead Sea Scrolls, digitizing the archives of famous figures such as Nelson Mandela, and creating 3D models of 18th century French cities.

For more in sequence and future developments, follow the Art Project on Google+. Together with the fantastic input from our partners from around the world, we’re pleased to have created a convenient, fun way to interrelate with art—a platform that we hope appeals to students, aspiring artists and connoisseurs alike.

Explore Mandela's archives online

Last year we announced a $1.25 million grant to the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory to help conserve and digitize thousands of archival documents, photographs and videos about Nelson Mandela. Based in Johannesburg, South Africa, the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory (NMCM) is committed to documenting the life and times of one of the world's greatest statesmen and dispersion his story to promote social justice throughout the world.

Today, the Mandela archive has become a actuality. Along with historians, educationalists, researchers, activists and many others around the world, you can access a wealth of information and knowledge about the life and inheritance of this extraordinary African leader. The new online multimedia archive includes Mandela’s correspondence with family, comrades and friends, diaries written during his 27 years of imprisonment, and notes he made while leading the discussions that ended apartheid in South Africa. The archive will also include the earliest-known photo of Mr. Mandela and never-before seen drafts of Mr. Mandela's manuscripts for the follow-up to his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom.

We’ve worked closely with the NMCM to create an interactive online experience which we hope will motivate you as much as us. You can search and browse the archives to discover different parts of Mandela’s life and work in depth: Early Life, Prison Years, Presidential Years, and Retirement, Books for Mandela, Young People and My Moments with a Legend.

For example, you might be concerned in Nelson Mandela’s personal memories of the time he was incarcerated and click into the Prison Years exhibit. You can immediately see a curate set of materials threaded together into a broader narrative. These take in handwritten notes on his desk calendars, which show, for example, that he met President F.W. De Klerk for the first time on December 13, 1989 for two and a half hours in prison; the Warrants of Committal issued by the Supreme Court which sent him to prison; the earliest known photo of Nelson Mandela’s prison cell on Robben Island circa 1971; and a personal letter written from prison in 1963 to his daughters, Zeni and Zindzi, after their mother was arrested, absolute with transcript.

From there, you might want to see all the letters held by the records, and click “See more” in the letters category, where you can find out all personal letters or use the time filter to explore his diaries and calendars written between 1988 and 1998, where you can see that in the last page of the last diary, he met with President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of Uganda to swap over ideas about the situation in northern Uganda. If you were a researcher, you can search through various fragments of Madiba’s memory that narrate to Ahmed Kathrada, his long-time comrade, politician and anti-apartheid activist, where you can find photos, videos, manuscripts and letters that relate to him.

Finally, by clicking into the exhibit, My Moments with a Legend, you can go beyond Madiba’s personal materials to get a diverse viewpoint through photos, videos and stories, via the memories of people like Archbishop Desmond Tutu, F.W. De Klerk and Nomfundo Walaza, a community worker.

The Nelson Mandela Digital Archive project is a proposal by the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory and the Google Cultural Institute, which helps to protect and promote our diverse cultural and historical heritage. Some of our other initiatives include the Art Project, digitizing the Dead Sea Scrolls and bringing the Yad Vashem Holocaust materials online.

You can start exploring the Nelson Mandela archive right now at archive.nelsonmandela.org. We hope you’ll be enthused by this influential leader—the face of South Africa’s transition to democracy.

Ideas worthy of space travel: The YouTube Space Lab worldwide winners

Can you teach old spider new tricks? Could better understanding alien superbugs cure diseases on Earth? These are the questions that will be asked by the two winning experiments of YouTube Space Lab, the science competition that challenged students from 14 to 18 years old to design a science experiment that might be performed in space. Your votes and our expert judges chose the winners from thousands of entries from approximately the world. Experiments submitted by Dorothy and Sara, from Troy, Mich., U.S. (winners in the 14-16-year-old age group) and Amr from Alexandria, Egypt (winner in the 17-18-year-old age group) will be performed aboard the International Space Station and live streamed to the world on YouTube.

Meet Amr from Alexandria, Egypt

Global Winner, 17-18-year-old age group:

Watch his entry: “Can you teach an old spider new tricks?”

Meet Dorothy and Sara from Troy, Mich., U.S.

Global Winners, 14-16-year-old age group:

Sunita Williams—the NASA astronaut who’ll fly to the International Space Station later this year and perform the winning experiments live on YouTube—announced the global winners at a special ceremony in Washington, D.C., where the six local winning teams were gathered. While in Washington, all the teams also took a ZERO-G weightless flight and a private tour of the the Udvar-Hazy Air & Space Museum.

In addition to having their experiments performed in space, Amr, Dorothy and Sara get to choose connecting one of two awesome space adventures: a trip to Japan to watch their experiment blast off in a rocket bound for the ISS or, once they’re 18 years old, a week-long astronaut course in Star City, Russia, the training middle for Russian cosmonauts.

Subscribe to the YouTube Space Lab channel for all the best space playlists and to check out video of the winners on their ZERO-G flight. Stay tuned for the live stream from space, which will take position later this year.