Our second round of Google Research Awards for 2011

Posted by Maggie Johnson, Director of Education & University Relations

We’ve just finished the review process for the latest round of the Google Research Awards, which provide funding to full-time faculty working on research in areas of mutual interest with Google. We are delighted to be funding 119 awards across 21 different focus areas for a total of $6 million. The subject areas that received the highest level of support this time were systems and infrastructure, human-computer interaction, social and mobile. In addition, 24% of the funding was awarded to universities outside the U.S.

One way in which we measure the impact of the research award program is through surveys of Principal Investigators (PIs) and their Google sponsors (a Googler with whom grantees can discuss research directions, provide progress updates, engage in knowledge transfer, etc.). Here are some highlights from our most recent survey, covering projects funded over the last two years:

• 433 papers were published as a result of a Google research award
• 126 projects made data sets or software publicly available
• 63 research talks were given by sponsored PIs at Google offices

An important aspect of the program is that it often gives early career academics a head start on their research agenda. Many new PIs commented on how a Google research award allowed them to explore their initial ideas and build a foundation for obtaining more significant funding from other sources. This type of seed funding is especially hard to get in the current economic environment.

The goal of the research award program is to initiate and sustain strong collaborations with our academic colleagues. The collaborations take many forms, from working on a project together, to co-writing a paper, to coming to Google to give a research talk. Whatever the form, the most important aspect is building strong relationships that last. Case in point, many of our focused awards (multi-year, unrestricted grants that include access to Google’s tools, technology and expertise) started as Google research awards.

Congratulations to the well-deserving recipients of this round’s awards, and if you are interested in applying for the next round (deadline is April 15), please visit our website for more information.

Pedal to find your dream home with Google Maps

(Cross-posted on the Lat Long Blog.)

The features available in Google Maps are equally functional and fun. You can tour distant cities with Street View or map out a trip with multiple destinations using Custom Maps. Not only is Google Maps a great tool for everyday personal use, but it’s can also be used as a practical business tool. Such is the case for Matt Kolb, owner of Pedal to Properties.

Matt is an avid cyclist and a realtor based in Boulder, Colorado. In 2006, Matt decided to blend his hobby and career by founding his own real estate agency called Pedal to Properties. His company is built on the idea that by touring homes via bicycle, one can get a better sense of the local community and determine if a particular property is the right fit.

When Matt meets with clients, he locates various properties on Google Maps and creates a biking route of the houses they’ll visit that day, using Bicycling Directions as a guide. Home buyers are encouraged to interact with the map, using Street View to check out a property and its surrounding neighborhood, and using nearby search to take a look at local schools and businesses. Through this process Matt is able to narrow down viable homes for a specific buyer, making the experience enjoyable and time-efficient.

If you have interesting stories about how you use biking directions, Street View, or other Google Maps features to enhance your business, comment on our Google+ Page with #mygmapstory

Posted by Dave Kim, Product Marketing Manager

2011 Google China Faculty Summit in Hangzhou

Posted by Aimin Zhu, University Relationship Manager, Google China

We just wrapped up a highly successful 2011 Google China Faculty Summit in Hangzhou, China. On November 17 and 18, Googlers from China and the U.S. gathered with more than 80 faculty members representing more than 45 universities and institutes, including Tsinghua University, Peking University and The Chinese Academy of Sciences. The two-day event revolved around the theme of “Communication, Exploration and Expansion,” with day one covering research and day two focusing on academic development.

The summit provided a unique setting for both sides to share the results of their research and exchange ideas. Speakers included:

• Maggie Johnson, director of education and university relations at Google, presenting on innovation in Google research and global university relations programs,
• Dr. Boon-Lock Yeo, head of engineering and research for Google China, providing an overview of innovation in China engineering and corporate social responsibility efforts and accomplishments, and
• Prof. Edward Chang, director of research for Google China, delivering a keynote on mobile information management and retrieval.

The discussions on November 17 focused on two tracks, mobile computing and natural language processing, while discussions on November 18 focused on curriculum development with a special focus on Android app development. The attendees also spent time discussing joint research and development between universities and industry.

This summit is part of a continuing to effort to collaborate with Chinese universities in order to support education in China. Click here for a list of the variety of education programs we have launched there in recent years. We look forward to expanding partnership opportunities in the future.

More Google Cluster Data

Posted by John Wilkes, Principal Software Engineer

Google has a strong interest in promoting high quality systems research, and we believe that providing information about real-life workloads to the academic community can help.

In support of this we published a small (7-hour) sample of resource-usage information from a Google production cluster in 2010 (research blog on Google Cluster Data). Approximately a dozen researchers at UC Berkeley, CMU, Brown, NCSU, and elsewhere have made use of it.

Recently, we released a larger dataset. It covers a longer period of time (29 days) for a larger cell (about 11k machines) and includes significantly more information, including:

• the original resource requests, to permit scheduling experiments
• request constraints and machine attriibutes
• machine availability and failure events
• some of the reasons for task exits
• (obfuscated) job and job-submitter names, to help identify repeated or related jobs
• more types of usage information
• CPI (cycles per instruction) and memory traffic for some of the machines

Note that this trace primarily provides data about resource requests and usage. It contains no information about end users, their data, or access patterns to storage systems and other services.

More information can be found via this link, which will (after a short questionnaire) take you to a site that provides access instructions, a description of the data schema, and information about how the data was derived and its meaning.

We hope this data will facilitate a range of research in cluster management. Let us know if you find it useful, are willing to share tools that analyze it, or have suggestions for how to improve it.

Loading .net 4.0 assemblies in PowerShell 2.0

.Net assemblies can be load using the command "Add-Type - Path ./MyDotNetAssembly.dll". The last versions of Visual Studio build .net assemblies for .Net Framework version 4.0.
By default, PowerShell uses the .Net Framework version 2.0 run-time, and then you get the following error message in PowerShell:

Add-Type : Could not load file or assembly 'file:///C:\...\MyDotNetAssembly.dll' or one of its dependencies. This assembly is built by a runtime newer than the currently loaded runtime and cannot be loaded.
At line:1 char:13
+     Add-Type <<<<  -Path .\MyDotNetAssembly.dll
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Add-Type], BadImageFormatException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.BadImageFormatException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.AddTypeCommand


To resolve this problem you can change the config file of PowerShell to let it load the .Net Framework version 4.0 instead of version 2.0.  This can be done using the PowerShell.exe.config file.
Locate the program PowerShell.exe which is normally "C:\windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0", and create/update the file PowerShell.exe.config beside it, with this configuration:

<?xml version="1.0"?> 
<configuration> 
    <startup useLegacyV2RuntimeActivationPolicy="true"> 
        <supportedRuntime version="v4.0.30319"/> 
        <supportedRuntime version="v2.0.50727"/> 
    </startup> 
</configuration>


On 64-bit machines, the location of PowerShell is the same, but the 32-bit version of PowerShell is located under "C:\windows\SysWOW64\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0".  When you use the 32-bit version of PowerShell, you should create/change the config file there too.

The same trick can be applied to other software that hosts PowerShell, such as PowerShell_ISE.exe.

Google Apps highlights – 11/18/2011

Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog

This is part of a regular series of Google Apps updates that we post every couple of weeks. Look for the label “Google Apps highlights" and subscribe to the series. - Ed.

The last few weeks have brought a fresh new look in Gmail, more mobile access options and simpler meeting scheduling tools. Millions of organizations using Google Apps can now use Google+ on their business and university accounts, and we launched a couple Apps-related Google+ Pages ourselves.

Gmail’s new look
Back in July we previewed Gmail’s new look, and a couple weeks ago we started letting people switch to the new design with one click. The refreshed interface makes it easier to follow conversations and spot the sender with profile pictures for each message. The new look also supports dynamic screen densities, so Gmail displays properly whether you’re viewing on a large desktop monitor or a smaller mobile screen. We also added a selection of beautiful HD themes to the existing gallery. Finally, we made it easier to perform advanced email searches using a panel of powerful search options that reveals with a single click.



Gmail app for iOS devices
This month we introduced the Gmail app for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, complete with mobile alerts for new mail, a responsive touch screen interface and Gmail mainstays like fast search, conversation view and address auto-complete.

Suggested meeting times in Google Calendar
We’ve heard how frustrating it can be to spend 15 minutes finding a good time for people to convene for a 30 minute meeting, so we made it easier to find a good meeting time in Google Calendar. The suggested times feature automatically reviews the availability of meeting invitees, and proposes event times that work for the whole group.

Google+ for organizations using Google Apps
Businesses, schools and organizations with Google Apps can now use Google+. Employees and students can create profiles, +1 things they like on the web, share interesting content with their circles and have live multi-person video chats with classmates, colleagues and friends. Organizations can also create their Google+ Pages—an organization’s identity on Google+ for customers, students or fans. We’re using Google+ Pages ourselves, so take a look at the Gmail and Google Enterprise pages, and circle us if you’d like to stay in the loop.

24x7 telephone support and improved mobile device management
This week, we introduced a couple other new benefits for Google Apps customers. Organizations of all sizes around the world can now call our support hotline at any time for all core service issue. Also new this week, we improved our mobile device management capabilities with an interface for administrators to view and deny mobile devices connecting to Google Apps, granular mobile policy controls, and the ability to visualize mobile usage trends across the organization.

Who’s gone Google?
Organizations large and small continue to amass around Google Apps. We’re thrilled to welcome a whole host of new customers including the Trinity Mirror Group (Britain’s largest newspaper publisher), startups such as JobFlo and UserTesting, organizations including the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and colleges like the University of Michigan and UT Austin. Welcome to all!

Which database files are almost full?

The SQL Server query below can be used to get a list of all database files (data and transaction log), and their current size and the size that is currently in use.  The query uses the dynamic view (DMV) sys.databasefiles, which is present as from SQL Server version 2005.
The query is similar to DBCC SHOWFILESTATS, which also works on SQL Server version prior to 2005, but doesn't include the transaction log files.

-- Retrieve the occupation of all files of the current database

select file_name(file_id) FileName,

      fileproperty(file_name(file_id), 'SpaceUsed') UsedSize,

      size TotalSize,

      ceiling(fileproperty(file_name(file_id), 'SpaceUsed') * 100.0 / size) UsedPrc,

      physical_name FileNameOnDisk

from sys.database_files

--where type = 1 -- (for filtering TransactionLog)