Tuesday, February 12

Official Google Blog

Official Google Blog


Fireside Hangouts: Join President Obama on Google+ after the State of the Union

Posted: 11 Feb 2013 03:30 AM PST

When President Obama heads to a joint session of Congress tomorrow night, he'll be honoring the 200-year old tradition of delivering the State of the Union to Congress and the American people. Two days later, the President will turn to Google+ to continue a more recent tradition, by taking questions online after his speech. You can tune in to the Hangout this Thursday at 4:50 p.m. ET.



Much like the Fireside Hangouts held by Vice President Biden and Domestic Policy Director Cecilia Munoz over the past few weeks, the President's Fireside Hangout will include a group of people who regularly discuss important issues of the day online. During the conversation, the selected participants will ask the President their own questions—but we'd also like to hear from you before the Hangout. To let the President know what's on your mind, head to the White House YouTube channel and submit a video or text question. You can submit or vote on questions you'd like to hear him address until 11:59 p.m. ET on Wednesday, February 13.

Looking for inspiration for your question? Watch the President's State of the Union speech on YouTube tomorrow night at 9 p.m. ET, as well as the Republican response from Senator Marco Rubio directly afterwards.

Then tune in to Thursday's Fireside Hangout on the White House Google+ page or YouTube channel for a unique online discussion between the President and the American people on Google+.

Solve for X: Celebrating moonshot thinking—join us and declare your X!

Posted: 11 Feb 2013 03:29 AM PST

Last week we hosted our 2013 Solve for X event, where we gathered 50 experienced entrepreneurs, innovators and scientists from around the world, who are taking on moonshots—proposals that address a huge problem, suggest a radical solution that could work, and use some form of breakthrough technology to make it happen.

We heard 18 technology moonshot proposals, which you can watch on SolveforX.com. Make sure to catch Danielle Fong, whose creativity, courage and persistence shine through as she describes her potentially game changing idea for renewable energy storage. Take a look at Peter Diamandis and Eric Anderson describing their new asteroid mining company, Planetary Resources—exactly the kind of moonshot thinking that Solve for X was created to celebrate. Watch Flaminia Catteruccia suggest an ingenious shift in our approach to stopping the spread of Malaria, and check out Keith Black's proposal to diagnose Alzheimer's 20 years before any symptoms appear using a test that could be included in a routine eye exam.


Solve for X: Moonshot Thinking

Supporting innovators in process, as they take risks and dream big
One of the reasons we created Solve for X was to provide a collaborative forum to celebrate and help innovators who are in the process of attempting to bring radically innovative solutions to reality—attempting moonshots. Moonshots aim to make something 10x better, not just 10 percent. We need many more of us to take on and support moonshots if we are to solve the seemingly intractable problems we face in the world. To do that, we need to better celebrate the audacity of the attempt itself—at the start and in process. Today we celebrate our greatest and most famous innovators after their success—especially those who overcame extreme hurdles and intense skepticism on their path to taking moonshots that solved huge problems. We don't advocate for stopping this practice in any way—but we must also get better at supporting courageous innovators and their teams who take substantial risks to change the status quo as they begin and while they're acting—without the security of knowing if the moonshot will work. (For more, read Astro's piece on moonshot thinking today in Wired.)

SolveForX.com
Today we're launching some updated features on SolveForX.com, a forum to encourage and amplify moonshot thinking and collaboration. We invite innovators everywhere to use SolveForX.com to promote and support one another, and we encourage everyone to join in, bring your passion and ingenuity, and think big.

SolveforX.com: A forum to encourage and amplify moonshot thinking and collaboration
Our vision for Solve for X is that it becomes a forum where technology-based moonshot thinking is practiced, celebrated and amplified by all of us. We invite you to come collaborate with us at www.SolveforX.com.

Zagat: Who’s serving up the best service?

Posted: 10 Feb 2013 06:06 PM PST

At Zagat we're obsessed with helping the world find the very best places. We have 33 years of experience working in the field alongside passionate communities of local experts to uncover all the hidden gems in your city. So when you see the maroon Zagat brand—whether it's in restaurant window or on a Google Search results page—you know you're in good hands.

Quality of service is a big factor people consider when choosing a place to eat. With that in mind, and with one of the busiest dining nights of the year coming up on Valentine's Day, we want to help you find the restaurants that get good service right. That's why today we're releasing our list of America's "top service restaurants," based on ratings from passionate diners like you.

Here's the full list of top service restaurants in 25 cities throughout the U.S., from the "impeccable hospitality" of the French Room in Dallas, to San Francisco's Gary Danko where you'll be treated "like a millionaire":



We hope this helps you find a restaurant to your liking, and we invite to share your dining experiences—the good, the bad and all that's in between—by posting a review on Google+. In fact, why don't you give your favorite restaurant a Valentine's Day treat and give them props for their great service now? Happy dining.

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