From the cave to the web

Posted by Julian Sonego, Consumer Marketing Manager

In early times, cavemen used to etch out rock carvings to either tell stories or simply because they thought their pictures looked cool and they had a bare wall to fill.

More contemporary media are a little different - film, canvas, paper, fabric - but the intention is (usually) the same, which begs the question, what about the web? Well, wonder no more.

Today, Google is very proud to announce the launch of a global collaboration with almost 70 artists who have created unique, dynamic iGoogle themes for our users. Some of the world's best known painters, musicians, actors, designers, photographers and more participated in this initiative, including Australian names such as Anne Geddes, Akira Isogawa, John Butler, Missy Higgins, Reg Mombassa, Michael Leunig, Rolf Harris, Ken Done and even The Wiggles.

You'll be able to find their art along with global "up and comers" such as Jackie Chan, the Beastie Boys, Dolce and Gabbana, Jeff Koons, Coldplay Oscar de la Renta and Philippe Starck.

As you may know, iGoogle has always provided you with great tools to access and arrange the content you want on your homepage. Just like a person's book or music collection is an extension of their personality, a user's iGoogle page is also a reflection of their loves and interests, both in terms of content, and now, visually. Please, spend some time and stroll through our gallery of world class art, all from the comfort of your seat and help us celebrate the web as the newest form of artistic medium.

A comment from a reader..

Anyone who actually follows all of that advice, is a complete and total sheep. Not just a poser, but a conformist follower. It's so sad how some people say that being 'emo' is being unique and individual, when you are just reading a few 'how-tos' on the subject.

If you truly are being who you really are, and truly are being an individual, then nobody can give you a 'how-to'. Develop your own personal style and be yourself, not just one of the mindless followers of thousands of teenagers who all look and dress exactly alike.

On that subject, it actualy truly saddens me when I read a few of these comments saying 'heavier set guy, not fat, just bulky, i know this is a bad thing' or 'little puggy (not fat) how to I trem it down to small again? (with out turning it into muscle?)'

The foolish people who write these articles are just contributing to the body image crisis that is sweeping this world, making these peoples self esteem PLUMMET. The people who leave these comments are probably at an incredibly healthy and attractive weight, but people writing these how to be emo articles are telling them LIES about who they 'should' be.

If you are truly overweight like 300kg then I'd say lose some weight but it's not a bad thing to have a few curves!!

WHY are you telling them what to do and how to live their life, how much to weigh, how to look etc., and WHY are you listening to these people telling you to do these things? You are perfect the way you are- your true self is who you were meant to be and not what some 'how-to' tells you to do on the internet.

Don't put on the mask of labelling yourself, become truly unique and appreciative of who you really are on the inside. Nobody can tell you how to dress or how to look, only YOU can tell yourself that.

It really is sad, that people think they need to conform to some emo standard of style to give themselves any worth.

You need not be anyone other than yourself. Don't let people tell you how to live your life, only YOU can tell yourself that. I eagerly await the day that people finally start to wake up to who they really are inside.

New Waterfront Listing on Deep Water of Alligator Bayou

Please check out this lovely home located just south of Dog River Bridge in Mobile County. It needs the new owner's finishing touches to make it a perfect place for rest and relaxation.

Alabama home sales jump 11 percent in March

The trend that we saw in Mobile and Baldwin County also applies to statewide that the number of sales increased in March. The number of sales though lags behind the numbers from last year. Here is the story for the Birmingham Business News
http://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/stories/2008/04/21/daily15.html

Map your way to your next trip

Posted by Russell Isaacson, Expedia.com.au Marketing

[Editor's note: we are always keen to encourage and feature great Mapplets, a technology developed in our Sydney Engineering centre. Today, we are pleased to have a guest post from Expedia, talking about their innovative new travel Mapplet.]

Attention travelers: we’re pleased to announce the launch of a new Mapplet that will help you plan your next trip. Developed by Expedia.com.au, the Hotels & Attractions mapplet lets you search for hotels and fun things to do in destinations all over the world according to your dates of travel and preferred hotel star rating.

Featuring an easy to use interface, the Mapplet displays results from Expedia’s vast, global inventory of hotels and attractions. Hotels appear as red pins and attractions appear as blue pins, making them easy to distinguish.

Once you find a hotel or attraction that interests you, clicking on the pin provides more details. For hotels, these details include price, picture, description as well as objective traveler reviews from TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel community.

Clicking on an attraction pin provides a picture as well as a written description.



Just knowing location, price and the hotel description is not enough. Tapping into over 10 million hotel reviews by independent travelers like yourself will make all the difference in your quest to find the best place to stay.

And by displaying attractions along with hotels, the Expedia Mapplet makes it that much easier to plan and book every aspect of your trip. It’s one thing to find the right place to stay, but it’s another thing to know what you’ll do when you get there. With the Expedia Mapplet, figuring out both is easy!

Want to add the Mapplet to your Maps? Just go to maps.google.com.au, click My Maps and select the Expedia Hotels and Attractions link under the Featured Content section. Enjoy your trip!

Google Developer Day and moving the web forward as a platform

Posted by Adam Schuck, Software Engineer

The Zen Master sayeth: many minds are better than few.

It sounds simple, but this is one of the basic ideas behind Google's efforts to create a more open and collaborative web. It's why we created the Google Web Toolkit, why we made Google Gears an open-source application, and why we recently were happy to announce our new iGoogle sandbox to help developers to build richer gadgets for iGoogle. The theory: the easier it is for developers to work together to build on top of APIs and to experiment with open and scalable apps, the more vibrant the web becomes, and the more everyone benefits.

It isn't for any one company or developer alone to decide where the web can go, but it's a gradual evolution that everyone should be able to play a part in. It is with this in mind that we're happy to announce our second Developer Day event, happening June 18th, at Wharf 8 in Sydney. It's a chance for the Australian web developer community to come together to discuss where the web is headed, and how Google can help developers to build apps, and connect with millions of users across the globe.

For more details on our Developer Day event, and to register, please visit our website.

The Zen Master concludeth: we hope to see you there.

:: About HotBarrieListings.com ::

HotBarrieListings.com was initially set up for my buyer clients to offer a convenient and up to the minute method of obtaining personalized listing updates by email.

In the first six months of providing this online service the demand for local listing information proved far greater than anticipated. Enquiries poured in from far beyond the borders I work within. In 2008, in the first year of operation, I set up just over 2000 customized automatic searches for subscribers to the HotBarrieListings.com service. One or two in fifty proves to be a serious buyer. I need you to help me improve this statistic.

Are you a serious buyer? If so then step out from behind your computer and lets put together a strategy that is going to serve your needs best.

The simplicity and anonymity the system provides is understandably convenient. The only question I ask you to consider when I call is which presents a higher financial outcome potential for you the buyer;

a) dealing directly with the Realtor who represents the owner of a property you are interested in?

b) having a buyer agent represent your needs who’s clear goal is finding you homes to compare then negotiating the best terms, conditions and price on your purchase?

The answer to this question is worth thousands.

Have a look through the rest of my blog. Here you will find some valuable information about the Barrie area and about buying your next home.

New Listing in Old Town Daphne

Please check out our new listing in Daphne. The home is located withing walking distance of restaurants and Mobile Bay.

It definitely does compute

Posted by Damana Madden, Geek Diva

[Last night, Google was happy to play host to Sydney's second "Geek Girls Dinner". It was a tremendous night for all the women (and men) involved, and we are very pleased to have Damana Madden, head of the Sydney Geek Girls community, as a guest today on our blog. To find out more about Damana and the Geek Girls, visit the Geek Girls homepage.]

If you listen to the ABS, in late 2006, only 16% of our IT industry was female, and now women are leaving at twice the rate of men. A fraction of those women who stay in IT are computer scientists or software engineers. We are all geek girls.

Over a decade has passed since I started studying computer science and math. Working as a female IT professional in contracts, start-ups and currently as a consultant software developer, has provided me with a range of experiences. I'm happy now to share these perspective with girls who have yet to claim their geekdom, those who are already involved in IT, and those who are looking to come back. The best part: there are many women like me, who also feel this way, and who have much to share with their fellow female geeks. That's why we gather officially every month to have a glass of bubbly, to listen to technical talks, and to connect with one another.

The greater Geek Girls community aims to support and enable women who want to be a part of the progressive and exciting world of IT - a world that is constantly changing, and where interesting and important challenges are emerging every day. There are many opportunities and resources available to women, but many either feel discouraged, or don't know where to turn. Bringing women in tech together, providing a forum to connect, to share, and often just to hang out, geek to geek, we empower one another, and become a mutual source of strength in the face of the everyday ups and downs that women in technology face.

I'm passionate about keeping women in IT, encouraging women to study computing, and helping those who have left to return when they want to. As Conway's Law says: "Any piece of software reflects the organisational structure that produced it". In other words: diversity is good for technology. Different people with different angles bring a new way of looking at the world and of solving problems. If companies want to produce technologies to be used by everyone, they can only benefit from a team whose diversity reflects their audience. I'm glad that Google and ThoughtWorks have committed to taking part in this important conversation, and - if you're a geek girl like me - look forward to talking with you as we continue to host dinners around Australia.

Foreclosures are Down in Alabama

According to news story in today's Birmingham News, foreclosure filings across Alabama fell nearly 20 percent in March from a year earlier, bucking the national trend and suggesting more borrowers are paying their mortgages on time.

There were 649 Alabama homes in some stage of foreclosure in March, according to a study by California-based mortgage researcher RealtyTrac. That is 19.4 percent fewer than a year earlier, and 8 percent fewer than in February.

The improvement moved Alabama near the top of the list for fewest foreclosures. Only seven other states had fewer. Nationally, the trend was poor. There were 234,685 properties in foreclosure during March, a 5 percent increase from the previous month and a 57 percent increase from March 2007.

"Nationally, the foreclosure situation for this year has been a huge concern," said Ty Dodge, president of RealtySouth, Birmingham's largest home-seller. "But here in Alabama, the numbers have been nowhere near the early predictions."

Alabama's March rate works out to one foreclosure proceeding for every 3,251 homes. The national rate is 1 foreclosure proceeding for every 538 homes.

Foreclosures happen when people fail to pay their mortgages and lenders move to take over the property. Failed payments soared last year, after the great mortgage boom that started in 2001. That boom extended mortgages to millions of people with poor credit and little cash who didn't qualify under earlier and stricter standards.

"The March numbers show that overall foreclosure activity so far this year continues to run nearly 60 percent above the levels we saw last year," said James Saccacio, chief executive of RealtyTrac. "On a year-over-year basis, default notices were up nearly 57 percent and bank repossessions were up nearly 129 percent."

Things were worst in California. Foreclosure filings were reported on 64,711 California properties in March, the most of any state for the 15th consecutive month. California foreclosure activity increased nearly 21 percent from February and almost 106 percent from March 2007.

Trends in the Southeast weren't good, Alabama excepted. Florida posted the second highest national total, with foreclosure filings reported on 30,254 properties in March. The state's foreclosure activity rose almost 112 percent from March 2007.

Georgia's total of 11,047 was the country's fourth highest, and one in every 351 Georgia households received a foreclosure filing during the month. The state had the country's fourth-highest March foreclosures.

Expanding Commercial Development along I-10 and Highway 181 in Malbis

The Southwest corner of the I 10 and Highway 181 interchange has been a bustle of activity over the last 2 years. There is a new Lowes, Sam's Warehouse, and Toyota dealership open for business. Soon an Honda dealership will be open. There are a number of restaurants being built namely a Burger King and an unnamed Mexican restaurant. Recently a tract of land just to the west of the this property went under contract. There are plans to build a Hotel and restaurant on this property. Here is the Loopnet listing of this new commercial development.

Alabama has the best state economy - The best part of the state, in terms of the future, is Mobile.

At least that is the quote from Bob Allsbrook an economist with Regions banks in Birmingham. The quote was from a story in the local paper on Saturday. Here is a link to the story about how the Mobile and Baldwin County economies grew in 2007 and have continued their growth for the first 3 months of this year.

Beverly Hills gets Waldorf Astoria, Luxury Condos and Bump in Traffic

For those Beverly Hills residents who viewed the community as an austere bastion of refined taste and low-rise buildings, be prepared to take a deep breath and watch the construction cranes arrive. The Beverly Hills City Council has given the go-ahead to two major projects near the corner of Santa Monica and Wilshire Boulevards in the 90210.

At the former Robinsons-May site, fabled firms Richard Meier Architects and London's Candy & Candy have the greenlight to build 235 ultra-luxury condos and a small amount of retail and restaurant space. A short distance away, at the Beverly Hilton site, the city has approved the addition of condos and the West Coast's first Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. (See a map of ongoing development here.)

These projects have been in the pipeline for years -- now they have the authority to proceed. As the developments get underway, expect road rage from Bentley- and Maserati-driving BH'ers -- and ordinary commuters who use the Santa Monica and Wilshire axes to traverse from East to West and back.

www.adnergroup.com

Great Family Home in West Mobile Has New Price

Keep Our Tanker

The Mobile County Commission has an excellant website that offers the latest news on the EADS/Northrop Grumman KC-45 Refueling Airplane contract. The website has a place for you to register your support.

Visit by clicking here

Now showing in Google Earth: Award-winning Australian Architecture

Posted by Bruce Polderman, Product Manager

Whether you're a practicing architect, or just a design enthusiast, you'll want to check out the new KML layer developed by the Royal Australia Institute of Architects for Google Earth. The layer has been officially announced to a crowd of the country's finest architects and designers at their annual conference currently being held in Sydney.

Similar to the America's Favorite Architecture layer introduced to Google Earth in May of 2007, the RAIA layer contains fantastic photos and detailed project information for approximately 600 State and National award winning design projects in and around Australia.


Especially exciting are the 60 3D models of the National award winners over the last five years. The photo-textured models really bring the design to life and allow you to see how the building is incorporated into the surrounding environment.

The KML bubbles for the National award winners have preset "lookat" angles. Double-clicking on the placemark will fly you down to a great view of the building site. To view the 3D buildings you have to turn the "3D Buildings" layer on in Google Earth's layer panel first.


The RAIA KML can be downloaded from the RAIA web site. The entire collection of 3D models for the National award winners can also be viewed in the "RAIA" collection in the Google 3D Warehouse.

Mobile and Baldwin County March 2008 Real Estate Statistics

The monthly reat estate statistics are now available on our Active Rain blog. The summary MLS statistics are also available on our web page.

March showed an increase in activity though the numbers are still down compared to last year.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Fed Proposes to Bail Out Over-Leveraged Homeowners

First Bear Stearns got a cash infusion from the Federal government -- now over-leveraged homeowners may be the next beneficiaries. The House and the Senate are considering proposals for intervening on a massive scale to ward off foreclosures to sub-prime borrowers. In order for borrowers to benefit from this proposed program, lenders must reduce the principal of a loan to 85% of the home's current market value. The FHA would take a fee of 5% of the home's value. Homeowners would get the remaining 10% as equity in the property, providing them some stake in the home so that they are incentivized to pay off the mortgage.

Debate will inevitably rage about whether some homeowners will take advantage of this program who do not need the government support. Some may argue that homeowners who took out these sub-prime loans should never have been given loans or that their lack of fiscal discipline has gotten them into this quandary in the first place. Regardless, the Federal government realizes that this aid package -- at the expense of the American taxpayers -- is preferable to massive foreclosures, plunging real estate prices and displacement of a large swath of the American populace.

www.adnergroup.com

David Cook

David Roland Cook. Don’t be surprised if that name sounds familiar or rings a bell. David Cook is one of the 10 semi-finalists in American Idol’s seventh season. A native of Blue Springs, Missouri, the 25 year-old Cook started his foray into the world of music, singing and playing the guitar and bass guitar, when he was in second grade. His love for music continued throughout high school and in junior year, Cook and his friends pooled their talent and resources together to form a band called “Red Eye.” Red Eye became a permanent fixture in school functions and assemblies and was eventually renamed “Axium” a year later. The band became a staple in the nightclub scene and was even named as one of the country’s Top 15 Independent Bands. Axium disbanded in 2006 and Cook relocated to Tulsa, Oklahoma. He eventually moved on to join another band, named the Midwest Kings.

It was in Omaha, Nebraska where David Cook auditioned for the seventh season of American Idol, singing Bon Jovi’s “Livin on a Prayer.” Even in the audition, it was already apparent that Cook has been greatly influenced by the emo genre and lifestyle, which traces its roots back in the 80s. When Cook sang Lionel Richie’s popular hit song “Hello,” American Idol Judge Randy Jackson affirmed this observation by commenting that Cook took a pop hit and successfully transformed it into an emo one. From his fashion sense, to his hairstyle, to his musical performances and renditions in American Idol, this guy is as emo as anyone can be.

Week after week, David Cook continues to astonish the judges and the viewers alike with his surprising renditions and amazing vocal prowess. With his powerful voice and one-of-a-kind performances, who knows? He might just be your next American Idol!

David Cook : Hello
Uploaded by patinette

The latest development for developers

Posted by Peter McKenzie, Software Engineer

Today, we've taken our first step in making it easier for developers to build and scale their apps, with our preview release of Google App Engine.

With Google App Engine, you can write web applications that are based on the same building blocks that Google uses, like GFS and Bigtable. Google App Engine packages up those building blocks, providing access to scalable infrastructure that we hope will make it easier for developers to scale their applications automatically as they grow.

We're just in the early stages, and we're giving you early access because we really want your feedback. This preview of Google App Engine is available for the first 10,000 developers who sign up, and we plan to increase that number in near future.

If you'd like to try it out, sign up for access to the preview release and then download the SDK to get started. The best place to give us feedback and keep apprised of new developments is in the discussion group, and our new Google App Engine Blog.

Brightly-hued Highlights

The emotional punk movement, more popularly known as “emo,” espouses a person’s uniqueness, individuality, and freedom of expression. A person who can genuinely be described as emo does not only appreciate emo music, but also lives out the emo way of life through his daily actions and through his sense of fashion.

The girl on the picture seems to take on an emo sense of style and fashion, as is apparent from the way she dresses up to the way she fixes and styles her hair. Some of the usual features and characteristics commonly associated with emo hairstyles are seen present here: the long, straight side-swept bangs, combed over to one side of the face, partially covering one eye; multi-colored, brightly-hued highlights and lowlights all over the head.

West Hollywood Income Property Round-Up: 1st Quarter 2008

808 Westmount Avenue

West Hollywood (Area 10) -- In the 1st Quarter of 2008, 10 multi-unit properties sold in West Hollywood. Unit mix was (2) x 16-unit, (2) x 10-unit, (1) x 9-unit, (1) X 8-unit, (1) X 3-unit and (3) x 2-unit. The top 2 sales were 16-unit properties 909 Croft ($5.2 million for 17,232 sq ft) and 808 Westmount ($4.195 million for 13,368 sq ft). Sales net to $301/sq ft and $313/sq ft, respectively. The 2 smallest sales were 8850 Cynthia and 8854 Cynthia. These Traditional 2-unit, 1,248 sq ft properties each have 2 x 1 br and 1 ba and sold for $719,000 and $672,000, respectively.

Income properties in West Hollywood cannot be compared on an "apples to apples" basis since: 1) some buildings are subject to West Hollywood Rent Control, others are not; 2) Rent-controlled unit mix may vary for those buildings subject to rent control; 3) West Hollywood neighborhoods vary widely in terms of quality (in general, the further west, the more desirable the neighborhood); 4) Some properties are valued on redevelopment potential, not on income; and, 5) for smaller properties, actual square footage may differ from Assessor's square footage.

The number of income property transactions and the high price of some of these transactions illustrate that investors are still seeing opportunity in this city. Rental demand remains consistent; in spite of the current economic gloom, local landlords still rely only on FOR RENT signs posted in front of their buildings to attract tenants.

www.adnergroup.com

Silver Lake / Echo Park Market Round-Up: March 2008

Silver Lake/Echo Park (Area 21): 16 houses closed in Silver Lake/Echo Park in March 2008. Properties in all categories went into escrow, including 4 selling for over $1 million and 3 selling for under $500,000. The highest priced sale was $1.24 million for a 4 br, 5 ba "metaphysician's retreat" at 863 Lucile Avenue (that's a lot of metaphysics for that price). The lowest priced sale was a $235,000 for a 2 br, 1 ba bank-0wned shanty at 222 Bixel Street, south of the 101 Freeway -- proving that there are still bargains to be had in Los Angeles!!!

The average days on market (DOM) for theses sales was 71. DOM varied quite significantly. 4 houses sold in 30 days or fewer (minimum, 9 days). 4 houses sold in 120 days or more (maximum, 172 days). The average $/sq foot for all sales in March was $532/sq ft.

www.adnergroup.com

Emo Band: Paramore

Paramore is a Grammy-nominated American emo band formed in 2004, having been influenced by such bands as Jimmy Eat World, Sunny Day Real Estate, New Found Glory, and Death Cab for Cutie. Hayley Williams (lead vocals/keyboard), Josh Farro (lead guitar, backing vocals), Jeremy Davis (bass guitar), and Zac Farro (drums) are the four current members who make up this band from Franklin, Tennessee. This fast-rising band released their debut album entitled “All We Know Is Falling” in 2005 featuring their first single “Pressure,” as well as other songs such as “Emergency” and “All We Know.” Their second and latest album to date entitled “Riot!” was released in 2007, featuring the singles “Misery Business,” “Hallelujah,” and “Crushcrushcrush,” among others. This album turned gold in the same year, after having sold more than half a million copies in record shops.

As briefly mentioned above, Paramore’s music has been greatly influenced by various emo and rock bands. This rapidly-emerging band has been nurtured and supported by the record label Fueled by Ramen, which also nurtured other well-known emo bands like Fall Out Boy and Panic at the Disco. Although some people may think of them as a pop-rock band, most of their fans really consider them as an emo band. As Hayley Williams once said in an interview, Paramore’s music is emo without being whiney or bratty. They downplay the emotional aspect of their music and instead they focus on the energy and dynamism of it. If their sound is not enough to convince people that they are indeed an emo band, have a look at their hair styles and their fashion sense. All of them sport straight hair with fringes combed over to one side of the face and tight-fitting shirts and skinny jeans. This is more than enough proof that Paramore is a band espousing emo, not just through their music, but through their lifestyle as well.

Steepest Street in Los Angeles???

View this vertiginous ride down Baxter Street in Echo Park, perhaps the steepest street in Los Angeles.

West Hollywood Market Round-Up March 2008

Four homes sold in the West Hollywood area in March 2008, well below the number of home sales in March in previous years: 7 (2007), 14 (2006), 18 (2005) and 18 (2004). The average days on market was a scant 13. The highest price sale was 8916 Ashcroft -- 1,012 sq ft house, 4,000 sq ft lot -- clean and presentable -- selling for $1,125,000 -- over $1,000/sq ft.

24 condos sold in March 2008 in West Hollywood -- down from an average of 55 condo sales in the 4 previous years. The average days on market for a condo in West Hollywood was 71. Four sales were over $1 million. The highest sale was 9024 Cynthia -- $1,350,000 -- 1,864 sq ft, redone -- in a prime WeHo location.

The rout in the stock market and tight lending standards clearly made their impact on this high-cost market.

www.adnergroup.com

Boldness, Uniqueness and Individuality

It is very hard to encapsulate and restrict the definition of emo hairstyle. Truth be told, it can be many different things to many different people. For example, this particular type of hairstyle can definitely be classified as emo mainly because of the way the bangs have been styled and parted and also because of the way it has been dyed or colored. As you can see, the bangs are straightened and combed over to the right side of the girl’s face, just above her eyes. This is a very common hairstyle theme, especially for girls espousing the emo lifestyle. The bottom part of the hairstyle seems to be made up of long black-colored extensions that provide contrast to the top part of the hair, which is colored medium blond. Creating a distinction between parts of one’s hair aims to represent boldness, uniqueness and individuality, qualities often associated and represented by the emo way of life.

New Price for Fairhope home

The future is now

Posted by Alan Noble, Head of Engineering, Google Australia & New Zealand

The secret is out. Today, in an exclusive launch only for Australians, we're happy to announce gDay search technology, Google's newest innovation, developed right here in our Sydney R&D centre. Using a system called MATE (Machine Automated Temporal Extrapolation), gDay combines Google's index of historic, cached web content, and a mashup of numerous factors, including recurrence plots and fuzzy measure analysis, to create a sophisticated model of what the internet will look like 24 hours from now.

By clicking "one day in advance" on our homepage, you can search the internet exactly 24 hours in advance.

You heard that right. That's tomorrow's footy scores, tomorrow's celebrity goss, tomorrow's weather, even tomorrow's Google announcements - all right at your fingertips. Not to toot our own horn, but this is going to be a very, *very* big feature for Google Australia going forward.

Believe me, I checked.