Previewing Google App Engine: Run Your Apps on Google’s Infrastructure

Announcement
April 7, 2008

Today we’re announcing a preview release of Google App Engine, an application-hosting tool that developers can use to build scalable web apps on top of Google’s infrastructure. The goal is to make it easier for web developers to build and scale applications, instead of focusing on system administration and maintenance.

Leveraging Google App Engine, developers can:

• Write code once and deploy. Provisioning and configuring multiple machines for web serving and data storage can be expensive and time consuming. Google App Engine makes it easier to deploy web applications by dynamically providing computing resources as they are needed. Developers write the code, and Google App Engine takes care of the rest.
• Absorb spikes in traffic. When a web app surges in popularity, the sudden increase in traffic can be overwhelming for applications of all sizes, from startups to large companies that find themselves re-architecting their databases and entire systems several times a year. With automatic replication and load balancing, Google App Engine makes it easier to scale from one user to one million by taking advantage of Bigtable and other components of Google’s scalable infrastructure.
• Easily integrate with other Google services. It’s unnecessary and inefficient for developers to write components like authentication and e-mail from scratch for each new application. Developers using Google App Engine can make use of built-in components and Google’s broader library of APIs that provide plug-and-play functionality for simple but important features.

"Google has spent years developing infrastructure for scalable web applications," said Pete Koomen, a product manager at Google. "We’ve brought Gmail and Google search to hundreds of millions of people worldwide, and we’ve built out a powerful network of datacenters to support those applications. Today we’re taking the first step in making this infrastructure available to all developers."

The preview release of Google App Engine is limited to the first 10,000 developers that sign up, all of whom will be restricted to the free quota of 500MB of storage and enough CPU and network bandwidth to sustain around 5 million page views per month for a typical app. The preview phase is intended to gather feedback from developers. Eventually, developers will be able to purchase additional storage and bandwidth.

You can learn more about Google App Engine by visiting the product page, where you’ll also be able to watch video of tonight’s Campfire One. Engineers from Google will also be on hand at Google I/O in May to talk about building on Google App Engine.

Read more »

Google to Announce First Quarter 2008 Financial Results

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – April 7, 2008 – Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) today announced that it will hold its quarterly conference call to discuss first quarter 2008 financial results on Thursday, April 17, 2008 at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time (4:30 p.m. Eastern Time).

The live webcast of Google’s earnings conference call can be accessed at investor.google.com/webcast. The webcast version of the conference call will be available through the same link following the conference call.

About Google Inc.

Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google’s targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.com.

Contacts:

Maria Shim
Investor Relations
650.253.7663
marias@google.com

Jon Murchinson
Corporate Communications
650.253.4437
jonm@google.com

###

Google is a registered trademark of Google Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

Read more »

Links for the Day 04/06/2008

mogopop | Education Mogopop videos

tags: edu_newapp, hz08, hzmeta, video, mobile, connectingpeople, education, science

Educational Videos Available on MogoPop -- these are video tutorials for you ipod.

mogopop | How to use Mogopop

tags: hz08, hzmeta, connectingpeople, ubiquitousplatform, usercontent, video, education, edu_trends, edu_newapp, technology

This lets you create an account to make ipod tutorials. This is free and there are several educational videos already there including this mogo on how to use mogo from the 18th ITSC 07 (Innovative Technology Schools Conference).

Education is moving to ipods and cell phones -- it is the next major progression. Perhaps 1:1 ipod projects are next?

TimeAndSpace on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

tags: hz08, hzmeta, connectingpeople, usercontent, virtualcollab, education

I likethis graphic from Darren about the traditional classroom. I would tweak it a bit but wanted to preserve this, particularly for the students examining the impact of connecting people and usercontent on the classroom with the horizon project.

Talkback on School Library Journal  Annotated

tags: hz08, hzmeta, education, librarian, edu_news, humanmachine, arts_entertainment

Envisioning microsoft surface application in libraries -- I think that there are exciting opportunities here -- we'll have smart tables instead of computers -- every flat surface being its own computing device as computers merge with everything around us.

Read more »

Reflections of Change from the Birth of the Lightbulb

Fear has always accompanied change! We have to learn new ways to do things, it is part of life. It is part of being in this world.

As I reflect on this sign from the British museum, I see in it all of the elements of change:

• What is it?
• How does it work?
• Will it harm me or my way of life?
  

These elements of change have remained constant and we will do well to remember them as we introduce new technology.

Attribution:
David Flanders - Flickr - Accessed 4/5/2008 3:34 PM

Read more »

Links for the Day 04/05/2008

Project wiki / Education Pack

tags: twitter, hz08, hzmeta, connectingpeople, education, all_teachers, edu_trends

The educational "pack" of twitterers -- join this wiki and add yours -- this helps newcomers find twitterers grouped along a common topic. I'm exploring to find people in other areas to learn from!

Youth Twitter

tags: connectingpeople, hz08, hzmeta, mashup, education, Web2.0

Youth twitter site where students are usingtwitter to communicate with one another in short 140 character bursts. I always see fascinating things here.

YouTube - Mathmaticious

tags: math, hz08, hzmeta, education, usercontent, video, arts_entertainment

This mathematicious video took a long time to make. I love it! Math teachers will love this.

This is something for the horizon project student to review. This is Funny but it is an example of how videos can be made on any topic -- a math teacher could have students see how many of these terms they recognize.

Read more »

Links for the Day 04/01/2008

Education Week: Copyright Confusion Is Shortchanging Our Students  Annotated

tags: connectingpeople, education, govt_business, hz08, hzmeta, usercontent, video, virtualcollab

This is an excellent article in education week discussing the copyright issues and how it is causing problems in schools with digital storytelling and video making as part of their work. Some recent court decision strike fear in the heart of teachers.

Read more »

Google and Virgin announce Mars expedition and colony

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. and LONDON, England (April 1st, 2008) – Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Virgin Group today announced the launch of Virgle Inc., a jointly owned and operated venture dedicated to the establishment of a human settlement on Mars.

"Some people are calling Virgle an ‘interplanetary Noah’s Ark,’" said Virgin Group President and Founder Sir Richard Branson, who conceived the new venture. "I’m one of them. It’s a potentially remarkable business, but more than that, it’s a glorious adventure. For me, Virgle evokes the spirit of explorers such as Christopher Columbus and Marco Polo, who set sail looking for the New World. I do hope we’ll be a bit more efficient about actually finding it, though."

The Virgle 100 Year Plan’s milestones will include Virgle Pioneer selection (2008-2010), the first manned journey to Mars (2016), a Virgle Inc. initial public offering to capitalize on the first manned journey to Mars (2016), the founding of the first permanent Martian municipality, Virgle City (2050), and the achievement of a truly self-sustaining Martian civilization with a population exceeding 100,000 (2108).

“Virgle is the ultimate application of a principle we’ve always believed at Google: that you can do well by doing good,” said Google co-founder Larry Page, who plans to share leadership of the new Martian civilization with Branson and Google co-founder Sergey Brin.

"We feel that ensuring the survival of the human race by helping it colonize a new planet is both a moral good in and of itself and also the most likely method of ensuring the survival of our best – okay, fine, only – base of web search volume and advertising inventory,” Page added. “So, you know, it’s, like, win-win."

The original contingent of Virgle Pioneers will be selected by numerous criteria, including an online questionnaire, video submission, personal accomplishments, expertise in scientific, artistic, sociological and/or political fields of endeavor, and inadequate Google and Virgin personal performance reviews.

About Google Inc.

Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top Web property in all major global markets. Google’s targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall Web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.com.

About the Virgin Group

Virgin, a leading branded venture capital organisation, is one of the world’s most recognised and respected brands. Conceived in 1970 by Sir Richard Branson, the Virgin Group has gone on to grow very successful businesses in sectors ranging from mobile telephony to transportation, travel, financial services, leisure, music, holidays, publishing and retailing. Virgin has created more than 200 branded companies worldwide, employing approximately 50,000 people, in 29 countries. Revenues around the world in 2007 exceeded £11.5 billion (approx. US$23 billion). For more information, visit www.virgin.com.

Media Contacts:

Andrew Pederson
Google
650-450-9456
a.pederson@google.com

Virgin Group
Christine Choi
virgle@mail.virginusa.com

Read more »