Why I Oughta...

At this year's annual Google I/O Conference, the team at +Google   announced a bunch of things, but the first one that I *experienced* first-hand was the "extra Awesome Somethings"  in Google+ photos. Using some programatic intelligence, the team at Google has started to 'drop' little surprises into your photo collection on Google+ when you take bunches of photos at once. As an example, Google+ 'gifted' me these two neat things.  First, an animated GIF (JIF?!?!)  of the Babe and then this composite of the Bird. Pretty neat stuff.  Thanks  +Google+  !

I started wearing my FitBit on April 27th, 2012.  Since then, FitBit tells me that I've traveled 1350 miles - or as they say "more than length of the Tigris River"! The fine folks at FitBit sent out this 2012 summary note yesterday and they included a few little data points that are interesting.  Some of them I understand like Tuesday is my most active day.  That makes sense because for all of 2012, I've been going to Cardio-Tennis on Tuesday mornings. The month of May was my most-active month and that kind of makes sense in that I had just started to track my activity, so I'm guessing I was motivated to get in those extra stair climbs or a few more steps each day.    Looking back at my calendar I can't quite figure out if there were any other dynamics at play that caused me to move a little bit more in the month.  Nothing jumps out. Also, the June 7th date - as my most active - puzzles me.  That was a few days before the Bird was born so maybe I was r

Pretty neat to see how home buyers are using the web.

We hosted more than 800 businesses who walked away with a free website over the past 48 hours.   Mayor Rahm Emanuel even stopped by for a quick visit.

Nice story in Auto News featuring a Texas-based auto dealer who's betting big on the web and specifically with Google AdWords.

Last week, I put up a post that pointed to a neat little tool called "Follow Your World" from Google that allows you to put in any location of interest (say...your home address) and then have Google send you a quick note when they update the imagery of your house on Google Maps.  My old boss, Rick Klau is still one of the true believers and reads this blog in his feed reader (Thanks, Rick!).  He used the baked-in Google+ sharing tools in Google Reader (at least...that is my assumption) to share my post with his audience on Google+.   Rick has more than 40K folks who follow him, so his content is seen by a big - and in some cases - an influential audience in the tech, startup and politics world(s). Google+ has this neat feature called "Ripples" that shows you what happens in a graphical manner in terms of the sharing of content.  That image above shows the path that my post took once Rick shared it.  One of his readers (Matt Cutts) has an *even bigger* audience

Today is "Take Your Child to Work Day" at Google and elsewhere around the country.  This was the first year that the Babe was old enough to come along and participate.  Google had - as one would expect - a pretty great day set up that included art projects, bloxes construction playtime, computer science lessons, cooking demos, a special lunch, and a bubble guy. After an hour or so of shyness, the Babe (who wore her self-made crown) made herself at home and got comfortable.  She built herself a little home out of Bloxes - which she deemed to be fit for a princess  - Cinderella's Castle.

Last night, I received an email from the "Follow Your World" application of Google Maps that alerted me that there was new imagery for a "point of interest" of mine.  Sure enough, I had entered our home address in the tool back when it launched in October of last year and forgot all about it.  The new satellite images are pretty recent - as there's a new house being constructed on our block and the image has the roof shingles installed and the driveway in; which are both pretty recent events (within the last month or so). The Follow Your World tool is a neat little app that gives you a heads up when Google updates their imagery of your house.  We're still not on StreetView (our block) so I'm hoping that one day soon, a note like the one above will arrive that will include the details of how our house is now included in the StreetView collection. If you haven't signed up for a Follow Your World update, you should do so here .

Today, we had the honor of hosting Illinois Congressman Mike Quigley - 5th District - at Google Chicago.  His district starts at the Lakefront and includes as diverse an area as Old Town and Downtown Elmhurst.  Starting this fall, he'll be *our* Congressman out here in Elmhurst.  I look forward to watching him as he serves the entire 5th District.

Those of you who are still getting the dead-tree-version of the Chicago Tribune were greeted with this grizzly sight this morning:  my mug on the cover of the Arts & Entertainment section. We hosted our US Launch event at the Art Institute of Chicago for the second round of the Google Art Project.   The Tribune did a nice job covering the details of the project.   There are plenty of things that Google is involved with that are "cool", but this in particular is a neat project because it breaks down so many barriers and allows *anyone* in the world to enjoy and participate in arts and culture.

Anyone ever use these solar chargers from Solio in a pinch when they're stuck somewhere with a dead mobile?  Do they work?

Yesterday, Politico ran a sharp piece on how the Santorum presidential campaign is running ads with Google that feature a endorsement from Rush Limbaugh and lead to a custom landing page that plays a Limbaugh clip that promotes Santorum.  Politico pointed out the importance/relevance  of the Limbaugh connection: It's a smart ad regardless of what state it's in, since Limbaugh tends to be popular with the types of GOP primary voters Santorum is hoping to pick up. But a Google  search analysis   shows that on average, Michigan residents search for Limbaugh in much higher numbers than internet users of the overall United States, meaning the ad is even more effective in that state than it may be elsewhere. Here's a screenshot of the ad.  It was running for users up in Michigan against a series (as far as I can tell) of generic GOP-related queries like [Michigan GOP Primary].   Campaigns have been using search for years, but the possibilities of targeting/messaging i

Even at Tebow's peak, he never caused quite the stir that the Knick's Jeremy Lin has in the past week.  According to Google's Insights for Search Tool, Linsanity is (still) surging. (If you are reading this in your email, you'll need to click here to see the chart below)

Spotted this SSID in Downtown Elmhurst last week.  Pree-tay cute.

If you opened up that copy of the Chicago Tribune that landed on your driveway this morning you likely saw the big ad from the good folks at Google touting the new program called:   Good to Know .  Here's how it looks in print: You'll be seeing similar ads in the paper AND around town for the next few weeks that include tips that are consistent with Google's commitment to keep users safe online.   Keep an eye out for the ads at your bus stop and other outdoor places. Think of it as an education program for everyone on why things happen on the internet and what to watch out for in terms of bad guys. I'm proud of Google for going rolling this out.  Good for users.  Good for Google. *disclaimer:  You guys know that I work at Google, right?  I didn't work on this campaign, though.

This morning, I received a nice surprise:  this thing that I've been carrying around in my pocket for 3 weeks is finally more than just a wifi paperweight.  LTE time!

The look of the blog has changed - once again.  For those reading on email, you can click through on the headline above to see it.  Right here below is what it looked like yesterday, which was a design that lasted 8ish months.  Below that is what the blog looked like for the entire year of 2010.   You'll notice on the new template that there's a ticker.  Yes...a ticker!  I can't tell if the site is loading incredibly slow and if it is, if the ticker is the reason.  I'll leave it up there for a few more days while I work out some of the other kinks.  If you see something that isn't quite right, drop a comment on this post.   JakeParrillo.com (February 2011- December 2011) JakeParrillo.com (January 2010 - February 2011)

Not the best attempt, but a good first round.  More here .

My sixth sports-related OGB Post went up about 20 minutes before the first pitch of the 2011 World Series and includes a bunch of baseball search-related trends.  The most interesting?  The rally squirrel. I couldn't be less interested in the series with the Rangers and the Cards.  At least I can root for the Cards because so many Cubs fans will be bummed out if they win. ------------------------------------------------------- Here are the live links to all twelve of my posts on the Official Google Blog: At the Republican National Convention: Politics in the Cloud and on the Ground  (9/9/08)  Searching for the Next Olympic Host City  (10/1/09)   Searching for the 2010 Stanley Cup  (6/2/10)   Celebrating 10 Years in Chicago ( 12/16/10)   Auto Industry off to a Fast Start in Motown  (1/14/11) It's Googler v. Googler this weekend as the Packer and Steelers face off  (2/3/11) Searching for a Cinderella Story  (3/31/11) If the Green Jacket Fits  (4/7/11) The Taxman

Love data?  Love politics?  Then we have a fun contest for you.  Help us spot trends in our tools around the 2012 race(s) and we'll highlight them.  You could even win something from the Google Politics and Elections team. You can read more here on the new Google Politics & Elections blog . Or....drop in a trend in this form below: <p><p>Loading...</p></p>