Until a few minutes ago, I never knew that sending a regular old URL to a youtube video in gmail chat would produce anything other than a clickable (is that a word?) link. It shows you a preview in the window and when clicked, actually plays the video right above your chat node.

Well played Google, well played.

Fellow Juicers,

I had an interesting Google experience the other day, and you guys are the only ones who will care.

The other day at work I was trying to find a reasonable approach for calculating the forces generated in a “bump” as a wheel of a vehicle rolls over it.  It was a cute little problem, and I delight in researching little things during the day.  I had been having success with Google Books lately, looking up what filler alloy to use when welding 6061-T6 aluminum with the intent of post-weld artificial aging.  More on that later.  Anyway I decided to look up verhicle dynamics for trains, because the first thing I thought of about my bump problem was a train wheel driving over the discontinuity between different rails.  The frustrating thing about Google Books is that you’ll find what you’re looking for, and you’ll be reading along, and then the page that has what you really want is intentionally left out.  Bullshit!  Luckily that just makes the game of finding the information more fun.  I should note here that one’s definition of the word “game” changes drastically at work.

A solution to my bump problem came in the form of a letter to the editor by a what appears to be a particularly thorough, and mildly douche-y, professor at MIT in a 1912 issue of “Railway Age Gazette.” My resulting awe and excitement- about the internet and information and the kind of cool things that Google is scanning into searchable text- was mostly lost on my colleagues.  I have thusly been compelled to blog.

This is absolutely fascinating.  To think that every day more and more printed information is being transcribed to searchable text and made universally availablet has the capacity to double the effectiveness of the internet.  I love it.  How cool is it to get to skim through a journal about railroad engineering from the industrial revolution?  Badass!  I have also been teased by enough books about welding aluminum lately that I would buy them in digital form if I could!  I want a digital engineering library!

The first few pages of my issue of Railway Age Gazette kind of show the machinery that the book is being fed into.  Also cool.  I picture a machine that looks something like a combination between a big copy machine and a wood chipper, with an intern on a stepladder dumping books in a funnel at the top.  Its yellow, and google-looking.  Its probably something more like this:

I am glad that Mr. MIT from 1912 with a waxed mustache was able to help me out, or at least point me in the right direction.  I am also glad that I know to use 4643 Filler Allow for welding 6061-T6 if I’m planning on artificially aging it after (if you want to know why, I can tell you that too).  I am even more glad that I have access to such an interesting array of knowledge on Google Books.  Thank you intern on the stepladder!  I am reading!

From here:

Not too long ago, one of the Gmail engineers broke out her vinyl cutter and made some Gmail m-velope stickers. Pretty soon, they were pasted to our desks, stuck on our laptops, and adorning the walls around the office. Then other people started asking us about them — first it was just other Googlers. But when a guy I was sitting next to on an airplane asked where he could get a Gmail sticker, we realized other people might like them too.

So we designed some more, and printed up a whole bunch.

There’s the standard Gmail m-velope — dressed up in glitter. One of three bookplate style stickers you can stick on anything from the inside of a favorite book to your laptop or your skateboard. (Trading with friends is encouraged — we realize the unicorn isn’t for everyone.) And there’s a sheet of keyboard shortcut stickers intended as a tool to help people learn Gmail’s shortcuts. The adhesive is a bit more removable than standard stickiness, so you can take them off once you’ve trained your fingers.

So how do you get your stickers? We may be all about speedy electronic communication, but this time we’re going old school with snail mail. Just send a self-addressed stamped envelope (along with a note if you’re so inclined) to:

Send me some Gmail stickers already
P.O. Box 391420
Mountain View, CA 94039-1420

Make sure to include enough postage to return a sticker pack via U.S. mail. It’s less than one ounce, so a standard $0.42 stamp will do if you’re in the United States; enclose an international reply coupon (IRC) if you’re outside of the U.S. And be sure to send your envelope in soon — one per person please.

*Our lawyers asked us to make sure it was clear that your contact information won’t be maintained in any way and these stickers are “void where prohibited and only while supplies last.”

For quite some time Google has or has been rumored to be dabbling in the energy business. People have whispered in corners, wondering whether Google would pop out with some as-yet-unknown magic solution to all our energy problems. The truth, it seems, may not be so grand, but I think it may still seem pretty far-fetched to most.

As Times Online is reporting (http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article4753389.ece), along with quite a few other stories touching on the subject, Google is at least investigating the option of installing data centers off shore. That means there would be a floating platform bobbing on the waves serving you search results and cached web pages.

Is it the freedom from any one country’s laws and regulations? The fact that it might be possible to make the system entirely self-sustainable by using the motion of the waves to generate electricity? For whatever their reasons, Google faces very unique challenges and is demonstrating a lot of creativity in their solutions.