An update on Google Health and Google PowerMeter

In the coming months, we’re going to retire two products that didn’t catch on the way we would have hoped, but did serve as influential models: Google Health (retiring January 1, 2012; data available for download through January 1, 2013) and Google PowerMeter (retiring September 16, 2011). Both were based on the idea that with more and better information, people can make smarter choices, whether in regard to managing personal health and wellness, or saving money and conserving energy at home. While they didn't scale as we had hoped, we believe they did highlight the importance of access to information in areas where it’s traditionally been difficult.

We’re making this announcement well in advance to give you plenty of time to download the information you might have stored in either product or to transfer it to another service, and we’re making it easy for you to do it in a variety of formats. More on how that works below.

More broadly, we remain committed as always to helping people around the world access and use information pertinent to them. We’ll continue to pursue this goal and to encourage government and industry to do the same.

Google Health
When we launched Google Health, our goal was to create a service that would give people access to their personal health and wellness information. We wanted to translate our successful consumer-centered approach from other domains to healthcare and have a real impact on the day-to-day health experiences of millions of our users.

Now, with a few years of experience, we’ve observed that Google Health is not having the broad impact that we hoped it would. There has been adoption among certain groups of users like tech-savvy patients and their caregivers, and more recently fitness and wellness enthusiasts. But we haven’t found a way to translate that limited usage into widespread adoption in the daily health routines of millions of people. That’s why we’ve made the difficult decision to discontinue the Google Health service. We’ll continue to operate the Google Health site as usual through January 1, 2012, and we’ll provide an ongoing way for people to download their health data for an additional year beyond that, through January 1, 2013. Any data that remains in Google Health after that point will be permanently deleted.

If you’re a Google Health user, we’ve made it easy for you to retrieve your data from Google Health any time before January 1, 2013. Just go to the site to download your information in any of several formats: you can print and save it, or transfer it to other services that support industry-standard data formats. Available formats include:

• Printable PDF including all the records in your Google Health profile
• Industry-standard Continuity of Care Record (CCR) XML that can be imported into other personal health tools such as Microsoft® HealthVault™
• Comma-separated value (CSV) files that can be imported into spreadsheets and database programs for ongoing tracking and graphing
• HTML and XML versions of the original “data notices” sent to your Google Health profile by linked data providers
• A unified ZIP archive that includes all files you’ve uploaded to your profile, plus all of the formats above

Over the coming weeks we’ll also be adding the ability to directly transfer your health data to other services that support the Direct Project protocol, an emerging open standard for efficient health data exchange. And while we’ll discontinue the Google Health service at the beginning of 2012, we’ll keep these download options available for one more year, through the start of 2013. This approach to download and transfer capability is part of Google’s strong commitment to data liberation principles: providing free and easy ways for users to maintain control of their data and move it out of Google’s services at any time.

In the end, while we weren’t able to create the impact we wanted with Google Health, we hope it has raised the visibility of the role of the empowered consumer in their own care. We continue to be strong believers in the role information plays in healthcare and in improving the way people manage their health, and we’re always working to improve our search quality for the millions of users who come to Google every day to get answers to their health and wellness queries.

Google PowerMeter
We first launched Google PowerMeter as a Google.org project to raise awareness about the importance of giving people access to data surrounding their energy usage. Studies show that having simple access to such information helps consumers reduce their energy use by up to 15%; of course, even broader access to this information could help reduce energy use worldwide.

Since our launch, there’s been more attention given to this notion of people easily accessing their energy data. The installation of smart meters and other home energy devices is picking up steam, and states like California and Texas are moving forward to finalize policies and programs in this area. Earlier this month, the White House announced a goal of giving all consumers access to their energy usage in computer-friendly formats as part of a national plan for modernizing the electricity grid.

We’re pleased that PowerMeter has helped demonstrate the importance of this access and created something of a model. However, our efforts have not scaled as quickly as we would like, so we are retiring the service. PowerMeter users will have access to the tool until September 16, 2011. We have made it easy for you to download your data: simply log in to your account and go to "Account Settings” to export to a CSV (Comma Separated Values) file. We will be contacting users directly with more information on this process.

Momentum is building toward making energy information more readily accessible, and it’s exciting to see others drive innovation and pursue opportunities in this important new market. We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished with PowerMeter and look forward to what will develop next in this space.

By helping people make more informed decisions through greater access to more information, we believe Google Health and PowerMeter have been trailblazers in their respective categories. Ultimately though, we want to satisfy the most pressing needs for the greatest number of people. In the case of these two products, our inability to scale has led us to focus our priorities elsewhere.

As always, we welcome your feedback; please share your thoughts and opinions with us at health-feedback@google.com or powermeter-feedback@google.com. We won’t be able to respond to every email, but we promise we’ll listen.

Update 7/15/11: We've now added the ability to directly transfer your health data out of Google Health via the Direct Project protocol.

Posted by Aaron Brown, Senior Product Manager, Google Health and Bill Weihl, Green Energy Czar

Using search patterns to track dengue fever

(Cross-posted on the Google.org Blog)

What does baseball have in common with gazebos? We’re not sure, except that people search on Google for both terms in similar patterns. Last week we introduced Google Correlate, an experimental tool enabling researchers to model real-world behavior using search trends. We’ve heard from many researchers who want to mine this data for new discoveries about economics and public health—much like we designed Google Flu Trends to give an early warning about flu outbreaks. We hope they’re able to make useful discoveries with Google Correlate.

While building Google Correlate, we used it to create an early warning system for another important disease. Google Dengue Trends in Bolivia, Brazil, India, Indonesia and Singapore provides an additional surveillance tool for a disease that affects about 100 million people each year. Dengue is a virus spread through mosquito bites that creates symptoms including high fever, severe headache and pain, rash and mild bleeding. There is no vaccine or treatment, so public health efforts are largely focused on helping people take steps to prevent being infected with the disease.

Singapore has an impressively timely surveillance system for dengue, but in many countries it can take weeks or months for dengue case data to be collected, analyzed and made available. During the dengue outbreak at last year’s Commonwealth Games, we discussed the need for timely dengue information. With help from Professor John Brownstein and Emily Chan from HealthMap, a program at Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School, we were able to create our system. Using the dengue case count data provided by Ministries of Health and the World Health Organization, we’re able to build a model that offers near real-time estimates of dengue activity based on the popularity of certain search terms. Google Dengue Trends is automatically updated every day, thereby providing an early indicator of dengue activity.

The methodology for this system is the same as that for Google Flu Trends and is outlined in a newly published article in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

We hope the early warning provided by Google Dengue Trends helps health officials and the public prepare for potential dengue outbreaks. For those who live in places where dengue is present, remember to follow the advice of health officials to prevent infection by wearing mosquito repellent and emptying any containers that lure mosquito larvae by gathering standing water.

Posted by Vikram Sahai, Software Engineer

Therapy For Troubled Girls

The teenage age is time of changes. Though each girl is individual, there are certain manners of behaviour which meet at all normal girls. Such manners are: gloom and/or roughness, complaints concerning intervention of parents in private life, sexual experience, experiments with drugs/alcohol, individuality searches, expression of smaller attachment to parents and/or big brothers & sisters.

Troubled Teens It's Not Big Problems!

Unfortunately, some girls is more troubled, than contemporaries. Such girls are more subject to risk of serious problems, such as: abusing drugs or alcohol with the subsequent accustoming, a chaotic food, failures at school, problems with the law, pregnancy, at worst and suicide attempts.
Real test for parents are attempts to prevent degradation to help the girl to return to a healthy way of life. The best places of a disposition — troubled girls schools with a special psychological therapy.

For parents it's necessary: to carry out the preliminary analysis of similar establishments and programs, and also to find time for direct visiting of establishments, to get acquainted with the personnel and to be convinced, that all it's ideal for your girl.
Here some of alternatives: boarding schools, corrective camp for girls, teen pregnancy schools, social-psychological schools and even health centres with correctional facilities. Each school or establishment practises own philosophy in relation to treatment for achievement of results.

The most effective corrective programs and establishments offer some key components which urged to help troubled girls to cope with their problems. Also, similar ADHD schools can include harmonical and emotional treatment of teenagers.

Talk Rules: Troubled Girl

Tendencies of insurance programs

Life insurance, according to statistical data, becomes a considerable part of our life. The increasing number of people understand, that it is effective and reliable protection of a family against unexpectedness and problems with which our fleeting life abounds.

Pledge of stable well-being

Unfortunately, not all people accurately understand, that such life insurance. Because prefer to get an life insurance policies only when it is necessary, for example: for foreign travel or in case of credit registration.



How the insurance policy is connected with plans for the future? The insured citizen will be assured that in case of illness, death and other sad circumstance — relatives will not drag pity existence.



What can be better than feeling of security? The insurance company during the stipulated moment always will render the considerable financial help and necessary health services.

For example, life insurance in California provides care of a family and children which will receive the stipulated sum of money if there will be any trouble.

At present times, is a lot of variant insurance programs, life insurance policies and insurance technology trends. However the most popular kinds are life insurance from accident. Lifelong life insurance is characterized by that the total sum of insurance payments is increased and collects eventually. Within this sum, the insurance company will carry out payment to authorized representatives in case with insured something happens the bad.

Signing of the insurance legislation

Presidential online conference on YouTube

The US president Barack Obama has spent online conference on YouTube in which course the American leader on the air has answered questions of Internet users. Conference of the president on the popular video hosting, become by the first similar action of the head of the state, has lasted about a half an hour.

About national safety

Internet users have shown the big interest to an innovation of the White House — to the American president has arrived more than 11,000 questions, and at a choice of best of them has been submitted in total 630,000 voices. As a result the questions, met with the greatest approval from voting and the past preliminary censorship, have been directed the president who has answered them on the air on YouTube.

Economy and business

Most of all users were excited with the state internal policy, in particular expected reform of system of public health services, change in tax laws, national safety, a situation in economy and business and others. Did not remain without attention and foreign policy of the USA: users were interested in plans of Washington in the field of struggle against the international terrorism, and also were perplexed, why closing of prison of Guantanamo on Cuba demands so a lot of time and efforts.

In end of the online conference president Barack Obama admitted, that has received great pleasure from dialogue through YouTube and has expressed hope, that similar actions will regularly renew.

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Penis Extender — the device for penis lengthening

The device consists of the plastic ring connected to two mobile metal cores which the plastic support with the special adaptation for fastening of a head of a penis is built in. The patient himself, without assistance, can establish or remove penis extender. Thanks to the small size and convenience of the device, penis extender it is possible to carry at walking, sitting etc.

Inventor Penis Extender

The founder of not surgical method of lengthening and penis thickening is Danish plastic surgeon Jorn Ege Siana, M.D., which in 1994 has made the first prototype of the device for these purposes. Under the first letters of his name the first developed ex-tender also was called.

Penis stretcher represents the device for lengthening of a penis by means of stretching effort. Action is based on ability of reaction of fabrics at influence on them of long stretching effort which causes increase in number of cages in these fabrics.

Best penis extender by means of the ex-tender and operation on penis lengthening carry out basically to the patients which size of a penis keeps within the standard, or very often exceeds the standard sizes. In this case the aspiration of many men to take priority at the expense of the sizes of a penis is supplemented.

In America the given operations began to make all more widely and more widely approximately from the middle of 90th years. In the beginning it became basically in Los Angeles, but very quickly the technology has extended on all large cities and now good experts in penis lengthening can be found almost in each large city of the USA.

X4 Extender Penis Enlargement 101

The opposition bribes users Facebook virtual currency

Value of game currencies realises the increasing number of people. As it was found out, recently this understanding was born and at representatives of the industry of medical insurance of the USA: the various organisations and associations of this branch conduct campaign against one of bills of the present US president, actually buying support at fans of social games, informs The Business Insider.

Get Health Reform Right in Facebook

The scheme looks so: specially generated group of opponents of the bill of reform in sphere of medical insurance Get Health Reform Right by means of the advertising shown to participants of certain social games from Facebook, offers them a certain sum of virtual game currency in exchange for filling of the simple form. After sending of the form on behalf of the user it is automatically sent e-mail to the congressman in which text the protest against the given bill is made.

The Business Insider refers to the head of game company OMGPOP Dan Porter who the first has paid attention to the given circumstance (and even has made a screenshot of the aforementioned form). As he said, any time "advertising" Get Health Reform Right it was shown in company Zynga games, including hits like Mafia Wars and FarmVille, but then Zynga this advertising has covered.

To advertising in social networks — NO!

I will remind, that, reacting on advertising, fans of social games often get not so much, how many lose, becoming victims of a dishonest policy of advertisers and the game companies. It is not excluded, however, that to this practice the end will soon come.

Related Posts: Facebook

• Facebook became the leader in media Internet adv of the USA
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• Social marketing in our life
• Analysts have estimated Facebook
• Facebook became the most popular web site in the USA

Extenders for penis enlargement

Now there is a big set various extenders for "Man's hearts". To you, likely, not so seldom there were such names as Andropenis, Х-4 Extender, Penimaster, Max-Xtender, FastSize, Phallosan, PenisPLUS, Jes Extender, Power Jelq +, ProExtender. Therefore, frequently there is a question on what extender to choose.

Let's understand at first basically works of these devices.

So, extenders for a penis are applied for:

* Long-term penis enlargement.
* Alignments of curvatures.
* Increases in volume of a penis.

The principle of work of such extenders is extremely simple. One of manufacturers of the similar device here is how writes: «Modern medical extenders for a penis, at use in a current of several hours per day, throughout several months, have stretching influence on a penis. The organism reacts to this long outside influence by formation of new cages in the given area. As the cage has three-dimensional structure, penis growth is carried out both at length, and width».

At use penis extender it is possible to achieve increase at some centimetres! At correct use of the device the reached result remains for ever!

So, the essence is clear: as a result of long-term stretching influence on a penis there is a formation of new cages in a body of a penis and there is a penis growth at length, a thickness and alignment of curvatures.

It is necessary to find out only, than they differ also what extender better. On this question of the unequivocal answer is not present. Efficiency of devices approximately identical, a difference consists, basically, in comfort of use, reliability of the design and, of course, the price.

In my opinion, the basic distinction such penis extender consists in a way of fastening. Either by means of a corbel or by means of a loop.

Similar external influence on bodies practises modern medicine often enough. Possibility to change the sizes and the body form, by means of influence of forces of squeezing and a stretching, throughout centuries is used in cultures of the various people.

Correct use penis extender