Google Tech Talks
February 23, 2007

ABSTRACT

Every year several catastrophic natural hazards strike somewhere on Earth. These may cause thousands of lives, cause damages of billions of dollars, destroy natural landmarks, cause tsunamis, floods, or landslides. Most of these events are caused by nature but their potential catastrophic consequences are tied to overcrowding and the emergence of megacities; the proliferation of nuclear power plants and nuclear waste storage facilities; and the existence of high dams, and other facilities whose destruction pose an unacceptable risk of global reach. Thus the study of natural hazards and of the processes that govern their occurrences has become a…

Google Tech Talks
March 5, 2007

ABSTRACT

Google has one of the largest aerial/satellite image collections in the world, but there’s more to find in all that data than just a picture of your house. The same data that goes into Google Earth can tell you more about your environment than a Star Trek tricorder, if you know where to look.

Come learn about “Remote Sensing”: how to make quantitative use of satellite and aerial data, whether it’s visible imagery or something more exotic. Compute cloud cover over Cleveland. Determine deforestation in Denali. Prove that your neighbor’s pissing in your pool. Whether you’re across the street or across the solar system, if you can’t touch it, it’s all about…

Google Tech Talks
March 7, 2007

ABSTRACT

Until a recent upswing, developing and transition economies outside East and South Asia did not have sustained per capita income growth after the 1970s, nor any observable structural economic change. The Asian economies to a greater or lesser extent pursued developmentalist economic polices; the others undertook market liberalization as suggested by the World Bank and IMF. How all countries may be able to improve their growth performance through sensible policy choices is the pressing issue at hand. If they don’t, extreme poverty worldwide will not be reduced. Credits: Speaker:Lance Taylor

Google Tech Talks
March 9, 2007

ABSTRACT

This talk describes recent work of the UCLA Center for Image and Vision Science for learning to detect and recognize objects in natural images. This includes a real-time system for detecting text in unconstrained environments. Other examples include unsupervised learning of probabilistic grammars for detecting, recognizing, and segmenting objects. Credits: Speaker:Alan Yuille

Google Tech Talks
January 25, 2007

ABSTRACT

Identity management is increasingly recognized as a cornerstone of electronic communication and transaction systems. Applications such as electronic commerce, social networking, electronic health record management, government online, and enterprise identity and access management all critically rely on the ability to manage, provision, and authenticate the “identities” of people, devices, processes, and other entities. Three approaches to identity management can be distinguished: silo identity management, federated identity management, and user-centric identity management. Each of these has unique characteristics with regards to security, privacy,…

Google Tech Talks
January 8, 2007

Abstract

The legal threat is a powerful weapon — even when it’s wrong. Cease-and-desists have even become part of the search optimizers’ toolbox. ChillingEffects.org tracks the proliferation of cease-and-desist letters that threaten online activity and helps the public understand the legal claims and their effects.

For the past several years, Google has been sending the demands it receives to Chilling Effects. Rather than disappearing sites from its search results without notice, Google forwards the removal demands to Chilling Effects and links to those notices in its search results. Last year alone, Google got and forwarded more than a thousand…

Google Tech Talks
February 13, 2007

ABSTRACT

A large percentage of time behind the computer screen is spent on editing text. Investing a little time in learning more efficient ways to use a text editor pays itself back fairly quickly. This presentation will give an overview of the large number of ways of using Vim in a smart way to edit programs, structured text and documentation. Examples will be used to make clear how learning a limited number of habits will avoid wasting time and lower the number of mistakes.
Bram Moolenaar is mostly known for being the benevolent dictator of the text editor Vim. His roots are in electrical engineering and for a long time he worked on inventing image…

Google Tech Talks
March 28, 2007

ABSTRACT

The program aims to bring over 175kW of residential solar power to 50+ homes in the Mountain View, Los Altos, Menlo Park & Woodside communities. SolarCity is offering a substantial discount for homeowners and businesses who purchase solar through this program, giving it the possibilty of being one of the largest residential solar co-op purchases to date. The purpose of the talk is to inform googlers about the benefits and economics of solar, the technologies that SolarCity is using, and to learn about the co-op program itself. Similar public meetings have already been held for local residents, and have attracted a fair bit of local media attention,…

Google Tech Talks
April 5, 2007

ABSTRACT

For the past 50 years, people have begun to recognize that advanced technology and material abundance do not provide meaning in their lives. This talk discusses how spiritual practice provides the balance needed to live a life of understanding and harmony.
Before retiring from the corporate, high-tech world in 1990, Les Kaye worked at IBM for over 30 years, as an engineer, salesman, manager, and software developer. In the mid-sixties, while working and raising a family, he started to practice Zen Buddhism. He was ordained as a Zen monk in 1970 and was recognized as a Zen teacher in 1986. Today he is the abbot of the Kannon Do Zen Center in Mountain View….