Google Blog
googleblog.blogspot.com · Company blog · on HN since 2007
Google's official corporate blog, covering product launches, policy statements, and company announcements from executives and engineers.
What HN saysHN commenters cite it for specific posts, such as Google's leap second smearing and its China decision, and note its move toward blog.google.
1.2KHN people shared it
564linked it in comments
1.4Kstories submitted
47Kstory points
3 months agolast shared
2007people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1A new approach to China28 people · 1.2K points · first shared 2010 · 368 comments on HN
- 2How Google handle leap seconds22 people · 165 points · first shared 2011 · 28 comments on HN
- 3Microsoft’s Bing uses Google search results—and denies it21 people · 576 points · first shared 2011 · 196 comments on HN
- 4Larry Page addresses PRISM16 people · 715 points · first shared 2013 · 441 comments on HN
- 5Advanced sign-in security for your Google account15 people · 152 points · first shared 2011 · 31 comments on HN
- 6The meaning of open10 people · 46 points · first shared 2009 · 18 comments on HN
- 7Google Kills Wave9 people · 715 points · first shared 2010 · 237 comments on HN
- 8New Chrome extension: block sites from Google’s web search results9 people · 508 points · first shared 2011 · 214 comments on HN
- 9Google Labs Winding Down9 people · 283 points · first shared 2011 · 73 comments on HN
- 10Powering a Google search9 people · 22 points · first shared 2009 · 5 comments on HN
- 11Google Reader shutting down8 people · 2.0K points · first shared 2013 · 695 comments on HN
- 12It's official: Google buys Zenter8 people · 78 points · first shared 2007 · 47 comments on HN
- 13WiFi data collection: An update8 people · 61 points · first shared 2010 · 21 comments on HN
- 14Official Google Blog: A fresh take on the browser8 people · 50 points · first shared 2008 · 17 comments on HN
- 15The bright side of sitting in traffic: Crowdsourcing road congestion data8 people · 19 points · first shared 2009 · 10 comments on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
limeblack · 2017-08-30
Glad we are making it more secure. On a side note I love that we now have https://googleblog.blogspot.com/index.html http://blog.google and https://android-developers.googleblog.com/ and https://googleblog.blogspot.com/ (which redirects to blog.google without index.html because it appears to be the new site) which is slightly weird.
kaolinite · 2012-05-28
Probably best to keep the same colour scheme and make sure your name / logo is at the top but there's nothing wrong with changing things a bit.
The Google blog is a pretty good example: http://googleblog.blogspot.co.uk/ You can immediately tell that it's a Google creation, even if the Google logo wasn't there, and the moving circles at the top make it a bit more fun.
saurik · 2023-03-13
That's what makes it so amazing!!! It was a delicious self-parody. I remember reading it and thinking it made absolutely no sense as a metaphor: just imagine the poor archer being told "instead of having 15 arrows to take with you today, we've decided to give you three really heavy arrows"... that was the announcement that really made Google product management feel like a laughing stock to me, and is what I return to thinking about every time they kill another project.
https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/more-wood-behind-fewer-arrows.…
kube-system · 2022-11-30
These decisions always boil down to business, even if there's some philosophical disagreements as a part of the broader context. Google pushed back against the CCP, but ended up following the law to the minimum extent they had to. It wasn't until the Chinese military hacked Google and stole their IP that they threatened to leave the market. Regulators called their bluff as they started blocking Google services in China. When they pulled out, it was clear they weren't going to be able to operate a profitable business there.
> These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered--combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web--have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China.
https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china.html
dangero · 2022-11-18
Google does "leap smearing" which seems like the best human solution to this problem:
https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/time-technology-and-leaping-se…
standardizing leap smearing algos and constants could work
-Bottom layer is atomic clock seconds
-We define targeted relationship between current UTC and atomic counter that will occur on a given day and time X
-Time is interpolated to drift UTC into place by the given day and time X
-Standards body can adjust time on some regular basis by its relationship to the atomic clock and publish the algo to convert from atomic to UTC
magicalist · 2021-06-15
Looks like it. Some of the articles from that year point to https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/greater-choice-for-wireless-ac…
llimos · 2020-11-18
Anyone else remember when the https://googleblog.blogspot.com was one of the most exciting sites on the web? I used to check it religiously. Haven't looked at it for several years now.
webmaven · 2020-08-25
> It might have to do with there being real identities linked to them now from Google+, which many say was the main purpose of the project; not to mention the improved recommendation engine and upvotes, etc.
But the migration of YouTube channels and comments to G+ linked identities was reversed[0], wasn't it? Not to mention that G+ has since been shut down.
Shouldn't that make the abortive effort irrelevant for the quality of YouTube comments today?
[0] https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2015/07/everything-in-its-right-place.…
calibas · 2019-02-16
You can't create tools for censorship in China and support a free and open Internet. Those things are completely opposed to each other.
Pointing out the actions of other companies, the good things Google has done, or the fact that they censor content in most countries doesn't negate that fact. Those are just mediocre argumentative tactics to try and downplay a public relations disaster.
We're not even dealing with the same Google from 9 years ago. Here's some good reading for everyone about how Google went out of it's way to protect Chinese dissidents and refused to comply with the Chinese government. Now they're doing the opposite:
https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china.html
joshuamorton · 2017-11-01
>Refuse to follow the law and withdraw from the market completely?
That's exactly what Google did:
https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china.html
caminante · 2017-03-27
The driver was financial. Google cited (03/2013) a user decline [0]. You don't need a conspiracy or more reasons to shutter the service.
> "While the product has a loyal following, over the years usage has declined."
[0] https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-second-spring-of-cleaning.ht…
serge2k · 2016-10-19
Oh there is cool stuff. Even just being able to do to search.google and docs.google or <channel>.youtube is awesome.
I just don't see it as being anything other than a land grab for most of the TLDs google and other companies registered. If you have a trademark on something, or you have a good technical proposal (e.g. .ncd for namecoin backed domain) that you are willing to support then that's fine. .dad, .shop, .buy, etc...
It's just selling out.
I would love to hear technical reasons for their list, https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/expanding-internet-domain-spac…
Anyway, the project is still cool.
jeffmould · 2016-10-02
Sorry, it should have ready "yes, but it is only rewiring for you".
Google customizes its results based on the user and/or what it thinks that user wants to see based on their previous searches. This includes the user's previous searches, their location, the type of device, and other demographical information that Google may know about that user.
While the exact algorithm is a secret, you would most likely have to do millions of searches before it would greatly impact the results for other users.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Personalized_Search
[2] http://www.webpresencesolutions.net/7-reasons-google-search-results-va…
[3] https://www.quora.com/How-much-does-being-logged-into-Google-affect-my…
[4] https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/personalized-search-for-everyo…
Could probably keep going with links.
bduerst · 2016-06-27
Same here. It's seems to me they're trying to spread F.U.D., but I would love to read more if it's backed up.
On the flip side of the coin, some typically conservative media tried to use Google Trends to prove manipulation of instant search results to be pro-Hillary [1], with the same results of not really undestanding how instant search really works [2][3].
[1] http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2016/06/10/google-burying-anti-clinton-s…
[2] http://www.vox.com/2016/6/10/11903028/hillary-clinton-google-debunked
[3] https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/google-instant-behind-scenes.h…
danneu · 2016-06-22
The only reason you'd take someone's word for something is when you can't derive it yourself, like if the tech isn't there yet.
Google introduced nofollow in 2005 to either let people help fill a gaping hole in Google's tech at the time or for the smart marketing move of making people fixate on their magic attribute. Both under the guise that spammers would care.[1]
It's been twelve years.
The SEO advice industry and Matt Cutts' blog these days are probably like when I try to ponder why my cat scoots its waterdish around the room before it drinks: attempting to find backsplanations for the idiosyncrasies of a neural network that nobody quite understands.
[1]: https://googleblog.blogspot.mx/2005/01/preventing-comment-spam.html
gregsadetsky · 2016-02-25
This had been announced back in September 2015, albeit from a Google Docs for Education point of view:
https://googleblog.blogspot.co.nz/2015/09/google-docs-classroom-school…
Under the first video, see "With Voice typing, you can record ideas or even compose an entire essay without touching your keyboard."
---
It seems that what's new are the "Voice commands" to Select Text, Format, etc. etc. That's really great! Take a look at the commands here:
https://support.google.com/docs/answer/4492226
aaronwall · 2015-11-04
It is worth pointing out just how pissed off Google engineers were publicly when they felt Bing was copying their search results.
https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/microsofts-bing-uses-google-se…
http://searchengineland.com/google-bing-is-cheating-copying-our-search…
newjersey · 2015-10-02
Here is what I am referring to:
>> So in the coming months, a Google Account will be all you’ll need to share content, communicate with contacts, create a YouTube channel and more, all across Google. YouTube will be one of the first products to make this change, and you can learn more on their blog. As always, your underlying Google Account won’t be searchable or followable, unlike public Google+ profiles. And for people who already created Google+ profiles but don’t plan to use Google+ itself, we’ll offer better options for managing and removing those public profiles.
https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2015/07/everything-in-its-right-place.…
This was published on July 27, 2015
cbhl · 2014-10-21
It's worth noting that Chrome Remote Desktop uses VP8 (which is the video codec used in WebM):
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/next-step-in-chrome-os-journey.…
If you're having performance issues with it, you just have the video codec tuned wrong.
justin66 · 2014-01-30
It's a tangent but I'm a little disappointed by this latest executive-level assault on the language, from Larry Page:
> So until then, it’s business as usual. I’m phenomenally impressed with everything the Motorola team has achieved and confident that with Lenovo as a partner, Motorola will build more and more great products for people everywhere.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2014/01/lenovo-to-acquire-motorola-mobi…
"Partner." Yeah...
palebluedot · 2014-01-29
Google just confirmed it, and explained some of their reasoning: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2014/01/lenovo-to-acquire-motorola-mobi…
I'm inexplicably bummed about this. I was excited to see what Google would do long term with Motorola, and I thought the Moto X and Moto G was a great start. I thought eventually, a Google+Motorola powerhouse could provide a nice yin to Apple's yang.
jpswade · 2013-09-09
This is speculation at best. We see this kind of news every time Google changes their favicon.
http://googleblog.blogspot.co.uk/2009/01/googles-new-favicon.html
amanne · 2013-08-16
You're making a lot of unfounded assertions about Google's terms.
Anyway this is a good read from Google's official blog.
From http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/meaning-of-open.html
"At Google we believe that open systems win. They lead to more innovation, value, and freedom of choice for consumers, and a vibrant, profitable, and competitive ecosystem for businesses. Many companies will claim roughly the same thing since they know that declaring themselves to be open is both good for their brand and completely without risk. After all, in our industry there is no clear definition of what open really means. It is a Rashomon-like term: highly subjective and vitally important."
It's hard to read that and then say Google is not being hypocritical here.
mik3y · 2013-07-17
I was referring to the StreetView Skyhook-like program that did exist, and yes, it was shut down after it was discovered to be collecting more than just SSIDs:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/wifi-data-collection-update.htm…
In addition, given the concerns raised, we have
decided that it’s best to stop our Street View
cars collecting WiFi network data entirely.
I presume this is what the OP meant by "war driving (street view)", and not the on-device collection you refer to.
mtdewcmu · 2013-06-17
I'll be the first to give them credit when they follow through on something.
On another site, which was also on HN (http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/introducing-project-loon.html), they are more forthcoming about the scale of the challenge and the likelihood of success. I like the tone of that page much more than this one.
skwirl · 2013-06-13
Google has directly contradicted what you are saying about rubber stamping requests. See http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/what.html and http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/asking-us-government-to-allow-g…
For example: "Our legal team reviews each and every request, and frequently pushes back when requests are overly broad or don’t follow the correct process."
VikingCoder · 2013-05-22
A) Chrome doesn't follow you, that's crap. If you use Google Services, those services are integrated in well-known ways. But to extend that all the way to Chrome, that's just completely false.
B) http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/microsofts-bing-uses-google-sea…
cpio · 2013-04-10
I've got an IOException while trying to summarize http://matt-welsh.blogspot.com/2013/04/running-software-team-at-google…
And a different one for http://googleblog.blogspot.com
I guess you should put more effort in your html parser. Try Apache Tika, perhaps.
cbr · 2013-02-24
To prevent a search engine from poking
around links and executing actions
meant from human beings.
That's not how search engines interpret nofollow. You should use robots.txt instead.
EDIT: for details, see the original blog post, which says "those links won't get any credit" not "those links will be ignored": http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2005/01/preventing-comment-spam.html
cowsaysoink · 2013-01-30
I think its the blogspot theme with the gears in a box that your thinking of.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/
It isn't the same but Mega uses their animation in the same way.