Stanford Experts on Climate Change and Carbon Trading
Google engEDU
1 hr 42 min - Jan 27, 2006

Google TechTalks
January 27, 2006

Thomas C. Heller and Stephen H. Schneider

Abstract
Please join two distinguished Stanford Professors, Dr. Stephen Schneider and Professor Thomas Heller, for a discussion on climate change and the emerging carbon trading markets. Dr. Schneider is one of the world’s leading scientific experts of climate change (his name is cited on all those climate change charts and graphs we’ve seen so far). Dr. Heller has extensive experience with policy and negotiations surrounding climate change and sustainable development. Professor Heller also recently served as Sergey’s host at the recent UN Climate Change Conference meeting in Montreal where Prof. Heller proved his indepth knowledge of thenuances of legislative works, such as the Kyoto Protocol, and the mechanisms that are currently being employed.

This tech talk will be different than our previous climate change talks. These men have helped steered the international course of policy, scientific verifications and the overall consensus on the existence of climate change. They both have plenty to say about what the failures and successes have been along the way, and what their predictions for the future of climate change policy will be. Email me if you have any questions. Read the rest of this entry »

Away with Applications: The Death of the Desktop
Google engEDU
1 hr 27 min - May 4, 2007

Google Tech Talks
May 4, 2007

ABSTRACT

The computer desktop metaphor is ubiquitous, but how much work do we get done there? None! Time is entirely wasted navigating or shuffling content to the application in which we can finally work. What lessons can we learn from designing interfaces without the desktop and without applications? Is it even possible? And how does this apply to the Web? Currently, Web applications are often more usable than their desktop-based counterparts because each one does one thing and does it well. Desktop applications used to be the same way, but over time — as applications grew to support the the users in the long tail — each became a complex portmanteau of all possible features. If we are not careful, our Web apps will suffer the same conglomerated fate. Mashups and services help to solve the problem on the development end by freeing functionality from any particular application. But, there is currently no way to offer that wealth of possible functionality to users in a scalable way. Would it be nice to embed a dynamic map into your Gmail message? Sure. A Flickr slideshow? Sure. But for Google to offer those in addition to the hundreds of other possible options, would clutter the interface beyond usability. What’s needed is a universal method of accessing functionality: a way of harnessing the power of services without the need for application developers to explicitly support them. I’ll be demonstrating such a method.

The talk demonstrates that a ZUI plus a universal method of accessing functionality spells the death of the application-centric computing model and the desktop-design paradigms. Read the rest of this entry »

Mobiles, The Digital Divide, And Google
Google EngEDU
1 hr 1 min - Jan 12, 2007

Google Tech Talks
January 17, 2007

ABSTRACT

If you’ve enjoyed Hal’s talks and emails on how economic theory can help make sense of various financial phenomenon around us from the US real estate bubble to zero-coupon bonds; come listen to Prof. Waverman from the London Business School talk about how mobile technology can impact economic growth in emerging markets. His work was recently profiled in The Economist. Prof. Waverman visits Google in Mountain View courtesy of efforts by Yonca Brunini and Dennis Woodside from our EMEA offices.

Professor Waverman’s research quantifiably demonstrates that communications networks form a key component of the infrastructure crucial to a nation’s economic growth, joining the ranks of roads and electricity. In Friday’s talk, we’ll see promising signs that the explosion of mobile telephony across the developing world is shrinking the digital divide and providing real opportunity for economic growth in the world’s poorest regions. Prepare to be impressed by research profiled in The Economist, wowed by ingenious and vital applications of mobile telephony, and challenged to make the world’s information accessible and useful to those whose lives it could benefit the most. Read the rest of this entry »

Some Python Integrated Development Environments
Google engEDU
1 hr 17 min - Jul 13, 2006

Google TechTalks
July 13, 2006

Bay Area Python Interest Group
http://baypiggies.net/

Topic: Emacs
Presenter: Marylin Davis

Marilyn Davis is the Python Instructor at UCSC-Extension. She is the lead developer at Maildance.com and Deliberate.com.

Topic: Vim
Presenter: Keith Dart

Keith Dart works in QA automation and is the primary developer of the PyNMS network application framework.

Topic: Xcode
Presenter: Mark Ivey

Mark Ivey is a senior engineer at R2 Technology. Although his job doesn’t involve a lot of Python, it is his preferred evenings and weekends language.

Topic: Wing IDE
Presenter: Mike Cheponis

Mike Cheponis is President of California Wireless, Inc., a Silicon Valley consulting firm that specializes in Wireless Communications Systems, designing RF, Analog, Digital, and software subsystems and products. He writes code in assembly languages, Lisp, and Python. Read the rest of this entry »

Inbox Zero
Google engEDU
59 min - Jul 25, 2007

Google Tech Talks
July 23, 2007

ABSTRACT

Merlin Mann, a well known productivity guru and creator of the popular 43 folders website will talk about Getting Things Done, the importance of getting your inbox to zero, and strategies for dealing with high volume email. Read the rest of this entry »