Announcing App Engine Research Awards

One of the most rewarding things about working on App Engine is watching our customers use the platform in new and unexpected ways. We're lucky to have a front row seat to the growth and success of so many innovative new projects, and in that spirit, we are pleased to announce the Google App Engine Research Awards.

This new awards program will support 15 projects by providing App Engine credits in the amount of $60,000 to each project for one year, additional Google services such as Google Cloud Storage will be coming soon as part of the program.

We are committed to supporting scientific and academic research and welcome university faculty from all fields to participate.  Award projects may focus on activities such as social or economic experiments, developing academic aids, analysis of gene sequence data, or using App Engine MapReduce in ways we hadn’t even considered!  If your research has the potential to advance discovery, generates heavy data loads or is in need of an easy-to-use, easy-to-scale platform, we encourage you to submit your proposal.

You can find details on how to apply on our Google Research website. Applications will be accepted until 11:59 p.m. PST, May 11, 2012.



- Posted by the App Engine Team

Crossing the 50 billion km mark & giving Google Maps for Android a fresh look

(Cross-posted on the Official Google Blog)



Every day, millions of people turn to Google Maps for Android for free, voice-guided GPS navigation to guide them to their destination. So far, Navigation on Google Maps for Android has provided 50 billion kilometers of turn-by-turn directions, the equivalent of 130,000 trips to the moon, 334 trips to the sun, 10 trips to Neptune or 0.005 light years! When getting to your destination matters most, Google Maps for Android will get you there:

A new look for Navigation on Android 4.0+ phones

In today’s release of Google Maps 6.5 for Android we’ve redesigned the Navigation home screen in Android 4.0+ to make it easier to enter a new destination or select from recent and favorite locations by swiping left or right.

Left: New Navigation home screen Right: Navigation in Google Maps for Android



Crisper, faster maps for high pixel density devices

If your device has a high pixel density screen, such as those on Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy S II, Droid Razr and others, you’ll now get higher resolution map tiles that take better advantage of the pixels-per-inch on your screen. The result is a crisper, less cluttered map that is easier to read:

Left: Previous style Right:New style in Google Maps 6.5 for Android



Compare our new map on the right to the previous map on the left. The road network is easier to see, less obstructed by labels, and has more color contrast. At more zoomed-in levels, you’ll notice a more controlled amount of maps labels to avoid cluttering the map and blocking out street names. The new style also helps maps react faster to panning, zooming, and twisting.



You'll start seeing the new style as you navigate around new areas on the map; however, you can see these changes immediately by clearing your cache from the Maps settings.



Pick your preferred public transit mode and route option

Google Maps 6.5 for Android now lets you choose to prioritize a particular transit mode (such as the bus or subway) and route option (like taking the recommended route, one with fewer transfers or one with less walking). Whether you just need to get somewhere as fast as possible, or you want to avoid the risk of a missed connection or you prefer not to tire your legs, you can get the transit directions that best suit you. Transit directions and schedules are available for 475 cities around the world.

To start using Google Maps 6.5 for Android, download the update from Google Play. Learn more about how to use other great features of Google Maps for Android on the redesigned Google Maps YouTube channel that has 12 new videos available today.



Posted by Harlan Hile, Software Engineer

Crossing the 50 billion km mark & giving Google Maps for Android a fresh look

(Cross-posted on the Official Google Blog)



Every day, millions of people turn to Google Maps for Android for free, voice-guided GPS navigation to guide them to their destination. So far, Navigation on Google Maps for Android has provided 50 billion kilometers of turn-by-turn directions, the equivalent of 130,000 trips to the moon, 334 trips to the sun, 10 trips to Neptune or 0.005 light years! When getting to your destination matters most, Google Maps for Android will get you there:

A new look for Navigation on Android 4.0+ phones

In today’s release of Google Maps 6.5 for Android we’ve redesigned the Navigation home screen in Android 4.0+ to make it easier to enter a new destination or select from recent and favorite locations by swiping left or right.

Left: New Navigation home screen Right: Navigation in Google Maps for Android



Crisper, faster maps for high pixel density devices

If your device has a high pixel density screen, such as those on Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy S II, Droid Razr and others, you’ll now get higher resolution map tiles that take better advantage of the pixels-per-inch on your screen. The result is a crisper, less cluttered map that is easier to read:

Left: Previous style Right:New style in Google Maps 6.5 for Android



Compare our new map on the right to the previous map on the left. The road network is easier to see, less obstructed by labels, and has more color contrast. At more zoomed-in levels, you’ll notice a more controlled amount of maps labels to avoid cluttering the map and blocking out street names. The new style also helps maps react faster to panning, zooming, and twisting.



You'll start seeing the new style as you navigate around new areas on the map; however, you can see these changes immediately by clearing your cache from the Maps settings.



Pick your preferred public transit mode and route option

Google Maps 6.5 for Android now lets you choose to prioritize a particular transit mode (such as the bus or subway) and route option (like taking the recommended route, one with fewer transfers or one with less walking). Whether you just need to get somewhere as fast as possible, or you want to avoid the risk of a missed connection or you prefer not to tire your legs, you can get the transit directions that best suit you. Transit directions and schedules are available for 475 cities around the world.

To start using Google Maps 6.5 for Android, download the update from Google Play. Learn more about how to use other great features of Google Maps for Android on the redesigned Google Maps YouTube channel that has 12 new videos available today.



Posted by Harlan Hile, Software Engineer

Go Version 1 now on App Engine

Today, with the release of Go 1, a stable version of the Go language, libraries and tools, we're releasing a new Google App Engine SDK for the Go runtime.


Go is a statically typed, compiled language with a dynamic and lightweight feel. With Go you get the efficiency benefits of being close to the machine–your programs compile to native code–with the productivity and quick turnaround of a scripting language. Go apps are easy to write, start fast, and run fast. There has never been a better way to build scalable high-performance cloud applications.

The Go runtime provides clean, idiomatic Go APIs for the popular App Engine services (Blobstore, Datastore, Memcache, and so on) and a straightforward development process. As with the Python and Java SDKs, Go apps can be tested locally with the development server and, most convenient, the development server automatically compiles your Go code, so to test a change all you need to do is to refresh your browser.

The Go 1 SDK also brings improvements and bug fixes. It uses the new Go 1 time API throughout the SDK, provides a MultiError type for error handling in batch operations, and  supports Datastore Cursors and the XMPP and Log services. See the release notes for the details.

Although the Go App Engine runtime is still in experimental status for now, the language stability offered by Go 1 is a major milestone. To learn more about Go 1, see the announcement post at the Go blog and the wealth of documentation at golang.org.




- Posted by the Go and App Engine Teams

App Engine 1.6.4 Released

App Engine’s march of progress continues with another release that’s full of new features, system improvements, and bug fixes. As we spring forward into pre-Google I/O season, we’re keeping our focus on product polish and this release is a shining example.

System Wide Changes

• Logs - Now that the new settings for log storage have been available for one month, logs over the limit you specify will be deleted.

• Datastore Index Stats - The Datastore Statistics page in the Admin Console now displays the storage used by your Datastore Indexes in addition to your Datastore Entities.


• Blobstore Migration - The Datastore Migration tool now includes an experimental option which allows you to migrate your Blobstore objects during the migration process from M/S to HRD. We strongly encourage all applications to migrate to HRD.


• Datastore Backup to Google Cloud Storage - In 1.6.3, we launched backup and restore to Blobstore, and in this release we’ve added the ability to backup your data to Google Cloud Storage.


• Memcache viewer - We’ve introduced the ability to view Memcache statistics and examine memcache entries by key.


• Serve objects from Google Cloud Storage - You can now serve blobs directly from Google Cloud Storage as well as Blobstore.

Runtime Changes

• Threads - Both Java and Python now offer background threads when running on backends as an experimental feature. Additionally, we’ve added the ability to use threads for frontend requests in Java to match Python 2.7.

Datastore Framework Changes

• NDB for Python - The NDB API has graduated from experimental and is now a fully supported feature. This next-generation datastore API improves data modeling and querying and has been built from the ground up to support an asynchronous computing model.


• JPA 2 and JDO 3 for Java - We have made significant improvements to App Engine’s DataNucleus plugin. This experimental release of version 2.0 of the plugin adds support for JPA 2, JDO 3, and contains over 40 bug fixes. Check out the full release notes here.

And that’s not all, you can read about all the new features and bug fixes in our release notes (Python, Java). Send all your feedback to our Google Group, and if you have coding questions, find help from us and other talented developers on Stack Overflow.







- Posted by the App Engine Team

First-Party audience segments in the upgraded DFP service

Buying and selling ads based on audience has transformed the display industry in recent years. Buyers use new technologies to run highly relevant campaigns to users across ad networks and exchanges. This benefits publishers greatly, because it allows them to deliver more useful ads to their users ultimately helping increase RPMs on their indirectly sold inventory.



Publishers are increasingly taking control of their audience data as one of the key assets of their digital businesses. But publishers tell us they still want better tools to improve the integration, transparency, and control over their own audience data for both direct and indirect ad sales.



Today we’re announcing the first in a series of features in the upgraded DFP service that help publishers manage and control audience data through one platform, integrated directly with their primary ad serving technology.



This first release is focused on first-party segments - as a publisher, you will have the ability to define your own user audience based on criteria that you define (e.g., sports enthusiasts, travel readers). First party audience segmentation was available in the existing DFP service, and is now integrated seamlessly with the upgraded DFP service.



First-party segmentation involves no implementation or integration effort by you. Simply define the criteria you want for your audience segments, in DFP and DoubleClick technology does the work of populating them directly from the ad tag. Once you’ve defined your audience you can use it to increase the direct sales value of undersold inventory, and gain insights on how different audience segments are engaging with content across your site. We have designed it to be seamless, easy to use and to put you in control of your data.



First party segmentation is a great tool for our publishers, but it’s just the first step in the work of building out DFP’s audience capabilities. In the coming months you’ll see more information from us as we release a series of new features that are directly integrated with the upgraded DFP service.



Posted by Sean Harvey, Product Manager

Here is your chance to become a Bollywood Star!

T-Series launches a star hunt for the lead pair in Aashiqui 2 (sequel to the 90s super hit Aashiqui) on YouTube



It does not get bigger than this. If you’ve always dreamed of becoming a Bollywood star, here is your chance. Starting today - Vishesh Films and T-Series bring to you ‘Aashiqui 2 Star Hunt’ on YouTube. For the first time ever, the lead pair for a mainstream Bollywood film will be selected on YouTube. All you need to do is log on to: www.youtube.com/aashiqui2 and upload a 2 minute video from a list of scenes and songs on the Aashiqui 2 channel. Your audition videos will be screened by a Creative Jury, Producer/Director of the film and will subsequently go for Public Voting on the Aashiqui 2 channel.



When Vishesh Films & T-Series released Aashiqui, 22 years ago – it became one of the most successful musical blockbusters in Indian cinema. It gave movie goers and music lovers, music that people still love to listen to. Carrying forward the spirit of Aashiqui from Director Mahesh Bhatt & Producer Gulshan Kumar are Director Mohit Suri and Bhushan Kumar from T-Series.







You can also stay updated with all the news on Aashiqui 2 on the Official Google Plus Page of T-Series.

You can also join the Hangout on Google plus with Director Mahesh Bhatt on this page on Monday, 26th March, at 11:30 am.



This is a fantastic opportunity for aspiring and deserving artists to audition on YouTube and get a chance to be the Next Big Thing in Bollywood! Auditions Open Now!



Posted by Nikhil Rungta, Country Head Marketing Google India, recently watched Aashiqui Enact Scene 1