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Auto Captioning for Google's YouTube Is Now Available

By Carolyn on March 4, 2010 2:38 PM
Google's YouTube video caption feature was developed in 2008. In November of 2009 Google released auto-captioning for a small, select group of partners. Auto-captioning combines some of the speech-to-text algorithms found in Google's Voice Search to automatically generate video captions when requested by a viewer.

The video owner can also download the auto-generated captions, improve them, and upload the new version. Viewers can even choose an option to translate those captions into any one of 50 different languages -- all in just a couple of clicks.

Google is now opening up auto-captions to all YouTube users.

There will even be a "request processing" button for un-captioned videos that any video owner can click on if they want to speed up the availability of auto-captions. It will take some time to process all the available video, so here are some things to keep in mind:
  • While Google plans to broaden the feature to include more languages in the months to come, currently, auto-captioning is only for videos where English is spoken.
  • Just like any speech recognition application, auto-captions require a clearly spoken audio track. Videos with background noise or a muffled voice can't be auto-captioned. President Obama's speech on the recent Chilean Earthquake is a good example of the kind of audio that works for auto-captions.
  • Auto-captions aren't perfect and just like any other transcription, the owner of the video needs to check to make sure they're accurate. In other cases, the audio file may not be good enough to generate auto-captions. But please be patient -- our speech recognition technology gets better every day.
  • Auto-captions should be available to everyone who's interested in using them. We're also working to provide auto-captions for all past user uploads that fit the above mentioned requirements. If you're having trouble enabling them for your video, please visit Google's Help Center: this article is for uploaders and this article is for viewers.
For content owners, the power of auto-captioning (AND translation) is significant.

With just a few quick clicks your videos can be accessed by a whole new global audience. And captions can make is easier for users to discover content on YouTube.

Twenty hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute. Making some of these videos more accessible to people who have hearing disabilities or who speak different languages, not only represents a significant advancement in the democratization of information, it can also help foster greater collaboration and understanding.

Google Changes the Way We Search For Information

By Carolyn on January 10, 2010 3:31 AM
Google search capabilities have changed and increased significantly over the past year, and more computer users and mobile device users are using Google and other search engines more than ever.  It's just so ... easy!  Much easier than playing telephone tag to ask a knowledgeable friend or expert a question... and that's the search engine's secret sauce. Ease of use...availability...and always having an answer, even if it takes a bit of shoveling of fertilizer to find the right connection or information.

The searching action has become part of the "media" of today. And online search is growing much faster than other methods of information distribution.

Google Leads the Search Pack

It's always fascinating to glimpse the collective consciousness of Google users.

Beyond search queries rising for Michael Jackson, swine flu, Twitter and Lady Gaga, what else did Google searches reveal last year?

  • Proportion of Google users in the United States making more than one query per day:
    7 out of 10
  • Proportion of Google users in the United States making more than 10 queries per day:
    1 out of 7
  • Fraction of Google queries, duplicates excluded, never seen before: More than 1/3
  • Fraction of Google queries, duplicates included, never seen before: More than 1/5
  • Country with the greatest increase in Google web search traffic in 2009 vs. 2008: Indonesia*
  • Approximate percentage of Internet users in Indonesia: 11.1%*
  • Average amount of time it takes a user to finish entering a query: 9 seconds
  • Average amount of time it takes Google to answer a query: Less than 1/4 second
  • Number of search quality improvements made by Google in 2009: 540, ~1.5 each day
  • Proportion of Google result pages that show a map in search results: 1 in 13
  • Average increase in driving distance on weekends vs. weekdays on Google Maps: 11km
  • Median distance from a user's location to ice skating rinks found on Google Maps: 30km
  • Median distance from a user's location to ski resorts found on Google Maps: 300km


Unless otherwise noted, most of these statistics are based on Google's U.S. weekday traffic. 

Posted by the Google Search Team

The Green Marketing Manifesto with John Grant

By Carolyn on January 8, 2010 8:46 AM
Conversations with Green Gurus puts green marketing into a new perspective. Looking differently...creates new ideas for the new reality facing us.


Green marketing is a matter of prioritization for both companies and consumers. It's time to think of green marketing differently. It's not about whether people with "pay more" for green.

It's about a tipping point in our civilization. Green motivations include such strategies as...

  • Avoid risk
  • Save money
  • Improve health
  • Disclosure of key metrics
  • Survive!
Do something!  Try something better! 

"Green marketing is about solutions and making progress!" says Grant.

Demonstrate Your Decision-Ready Information

By Carolyn on January 5, 2010 5:51 AM
Where's the beef? Well...meeting value, that is.

Architect Scott Simpson described a concept KlingStubbins called a team structure and the industry now calls Integrated Project Delivery (IPD). The concept is key for a collaborative project approach, but its importance is more universal. The phrase that stuck with me was "decision-ready information".

Decision-ready information consists of the key facts required for a meaningful, final decision about a subject to be decided.
In an IPD project, major decision-makers are expected to attend every meeting, so that decisions made in the meeting have meaningful buy-in and closure. These meetings can be intense, not to mention very expensive.
 
It's the responsibility, therefore, of each team member to bring decision-ready information for the decisions on the agenda.
Wouldn't this information design approach make meetings more valuable...and engaging!

The green marketing opportunity here is to demonstrate the sustainability, incentives, and cost saving attributes of your green solution.  Manufacturers can arm their representatives with decision-ready information.

Think about what information -- what key metrics and performance demonstration --  about your product might drive project decisions, and make sure it's available in an easy format for your representatives to bring to the table.

Read more at BuildingProductMarketing.com

Green Existing Buildings - Hot Trend in 2009

By Carolyn on December 10, 2009 8:40 AM
Greening Existing Buildings

Greening existing buildings is the next big green building trend.

If we are ever to meet our carbon reduction goals, we have to dramatically improve the existing building stock. Jerry's new book, "Greening Existing Buildings" (McGraw-Hill, 2009) recaps how to work a project through the LEED for Existing Buildings Operations & Maintenance (LEED-EBOM) rating system.

LEED-EBOM has been the fastest growing LEED rating system this year.

"Greening Existing Buildings" has already been named one of top 10 architecture books of 2009 in a national newsletter. You can find out why thousands of buildings are now pursuing this LEED rating by ordering this book now or by downloading free chapters.

In Greening Existing Buildings, Jerry tackles the question of the day: how to upgrade the performance of the large stock of existing buildings, to meet the latest green building standards. This authoritative book analyzes all of the LEED for Existing Buildings Platinum projects, features more than 25 interviews with leading practitioners, more than 20 specific building upgrade case studies and numerous tables, charts and illustrations. It's truly a "how to" book for greening anyone's building. The book will be available in October 2009.

Jerry Yudelson is a professional engineer with an MBA. He has trained 3,500 people in the LEED green building rating system, and has chaired Greenbuild, the world's largest green building conference, for the past five years. The founder of a green building consulting firm, he is the author of three books on green building marketing and an advisor to manufacturers, venture capital firms, design firms and developers.

Look Inside This Book:

Chapter 3: Markets for Greening Existing Buildings (PDF 300KB)

Chapter 10: LEED Certification Challenges and Approaches (PDF 27MB)

Green Existing Buildings - Hot Trend in 2009

By Carolyn on December 10, 2009 8:40 AM
Greening Existing Buildings

Greening existing buildings is the next big green building trend.

If we are ever to meet our carbon reduction goals, we have to dramatically improve the existing building stock. Jerry's new book, "Greening Existing Buildings" (McGraw-Hill, 2009) recaps how to work a project through the LEED for Existing Buildings Operations & Maintenance (LEED-EBOM) rating system.

LEED-EBOM has been the fastest growing LEED rating system this year.

"Greening Existing Buildings" has already been named one of top 10 architecture books of 2009 in a national newsletter. You can find out why thousands of buildings are now pursuing this LEED rating by ordering this book now or by downloading free chapters.

In Greening Existing Buildings, Jerry tackles the question of the day: how to upgrade the performance of the large stock of existing buildings, to meet the latest green building standards. This authoritative book analyzes all of the LEED for Existing Buildings Platinum projects, features more than 25 interviews with leading practitioners, more than 20 specific building upgrade case studies and numerous tables, charts and illustrations. It's truly a "how to" book for greening anyone's building. The book will be available in October 2009.

Jerry Yudelson is a professional engineer with an MBA. He has trained 3,500 people in the LEED green building rating system, and has chaired Greenbuild, the world's largest green building conference, for the past five years. The founder of a green building consulting firm, he is the author of three books on green building marketing and an advisor to manufacturers, venture capital firms, design firms and developers.

Look Inside This Book:

Chapter 3: Markets for Greening Existing Buildings (PDF 300KB)

Chapter 10: LEED Certification Challenges and Approaches (PDF 27MB)

Selling Cities as the Ultimate Sustainability Model

By Carolyn on December 10, 2009 8:28 AM
green marketing of green metropolis How do you go up against environmental scientists?  You find a solution that delivers 3X the benefits -- and "Green Metropolis" tries to sell high density living such as New York City as the most sustainable solution of all...

New Yorkers' per capita greenhouse gas emissions are less than a third of the average American's.
Green Metropolis: Why Living Smaller, Living Closer, and Driving Less are the Keys to Sustainability

While the conventional wisdom condemns it as an environmental nightmare, Manhattan is by far the greenest place in America, argues this stimulating eco-urbanist manifesto.

According to Owen (Sheetrock and Shellac), staff writer at the New Yorker, New York City is a model of sustainability: its extreme density and compactness--and horrifically congested traffic--encourage a carfree lifestyle centered on walking and public transit; its massive apartment buildings use the heat escaping from one dwelling to warm the ones adjoining it; as a result, he notes, New Yorkers' per capita greenhouse gas emissions are less than a third of the average American's.

The author attacks the powerful anti-urban bias of American environmentalists like Michael Pollan and Amory Lovins, whose rurally situated, auto-dependent Rocky Mountain Institute he paints as an ecological disaster area. The environmental movement's disdain for cities and fetishization of open space, backyard compost heaps, locavorism and high-tech gadgetry like solar panels and triple-paned windows is, he warns, a formula for wasteful sprawl and green-washed consumerism. Owen's lucid, biting prose crackles with striking facts that yield paradigm-shifting insights. The result is a compelling analysis of the world's environmental predicament that upends orthodox opinion and points the way to practical solutions.

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. 

Top 110 Trends in Mobile App Marketing

By Carolyn on November 20, 2009 9:49 AM
Smartphones are taking over a lot of the content delivery market.  With embeds such as GPS, it is making the phone a portable computer that makes life and work more immediate.

Apps -- those bite size computer applications that are specialized, and so very global are great for companies and organizations to create or have created if you need immediate interactivity with your clients or prospects.  For instance, if you have a chain of locations... or can deliver information over the phone...those are perfect applications for "apps". 

CIO Zone has listed the Top 10 Trends for Mobile Apps and they are a window into our changing world ... and world of marketing.  Check them out:

Top 10 Trends for Mobile Apps
Money Transfer
Location-Based Services
Mobile Search
Mobile Browsing
Mobile Health Monitoring
Mobile Payment
Near Field Communication Services
Mobile Advertising
Mobile Instant Messaging
Mobile Music

Top 3 Challenges of Startup Green companies

By Carolyn on August 22, 2009 3:59 PM
Deborah Fleischer, founder and president of Green Impact, works with mid-sized companies to launch green initiatives . In a recent entrepreneur's coaching event, she observed three key challenges common to many of the companies she spoke with.


1. Lifecycle assessment (LCA): LCA is an approach that considers the cradle-to-grave lifecycle chain involved in producing, using and disposing of a product or service. It forces you to consider materials use, energy consumption and related greenhouse-gas emissions of your product, packaging and transportation decisions.

While larger corporations might have the resources to tackle LCA head on, across the board, the start-ups were struggling with easily accessing good data to help them estimate the key impacts associated with their entire value chain.

A few LCA resources for start-ups to consider include Sustainable Minds, Earthster and EIO-LCA.

2. Packaging: Many of these clean tech products require packaging and pushing for recycled content and avoiding plastic is a challenge for a CEO with twenty other competing priorities.

The Sustainable Packaging Coalition is a great resource on this issue.

3. End of life: Thinking about what happens to these new "clean" products at end of life is challenging. How do you create incentives to get consumers to recycle or return a product? One of the start-ups was considering a rebate program and another planning on using a mailer to make it easy to return the product at the end of its life.

Read more at Matter Networks

Deborah Fleischer, founder and president of Green Impact, works with mid-sized companies to launch green initiatives that encourage innovation and grow market share.



Eco-Speakers for Green Events

By Carolyn on August 13, 2009 1:41 PM
EcoSpeakers.com is the Speakers Bureau of EcoIQ. EcoIQ works to expand the audience for the valuable ideas and good work of speakers, authors, journalists, researchers, photographers, videographers, documentary producers, publishers, web site sponsors, and event planners who focus on the transition to a more sustainable future.

EcoIQ operates EcoSpeakers.com to promote speakers for conferences, meetings, training programs, and community, business, and university speaker series.

As you consider which speaker or speakers may best meet your needs, you may want to keep several things in mind.

First, EcoSpeakers has created a series of topic pages on which they have placed the speakers that are most clearly focused on particular topics.  

EcoSpeakers is  constantly developing new information on  speakers that can help you better match them with your needs. 

Finally, don't hesitate to ask for their ideas and recommendations concerning speakers that might meet your needs.

It's important to will to understand your audience and your objectives, and with detailed knowledge of speakers' strengths and backgrounds, the folks at EcoSpeakers.com will develop options and supporting information for your consideration.

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