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. In the last couple of weeks, we added a set of new features to help you handle various file types more efficiently in Google Docs and Gmail, and new capabilities to help large complex organizations manage Google Apps. We also have some exciting news about new customers in the education sector. Google Voice available for more users Last week we were happy to open up Google Voice for everyone in the U.S. Now millions more people can get a phone number that rings all their phones, voicemail that works like email, free calls and text messages to the U.S. and Canada, low-priced international calls and more. Google Voice isn’t ready for businesses and schools quite yet, but we’re exploring additional functionality for organizations. View more file types right in your browser Gmail already lets you view .pdf, .ppt and .tiff attachments in your browser without downloading these files to your computer, and last week we added support for viewing .doc and .docx files . Just click the “View” link next to the attachment in Gmail to see the file. On Monday we also added the ability to view .pdf, .ppt, .doc and .docx files that you have in Google Docs on mobile devices . From your iPhone, iPad or Android device, you can quickly flip from page to page and pan/zoom within a page. Optical character recognition (OCR) in Google Docs You were already able to upload and share images and PDF files with Google Docs, and last week we launched a feature that converts images of text into editable text . JPEG, GIF, PNG and PDF files can be uploaded as editable Google documents with this feature. Supported languages include English, French, Italian, German and Spanish, with more languages and character sets on their way. Support for Google Apps customers with multiple domains Until last Wednesday, Google Apps customers with users at more than one domain (like bob@domain1.com and sue@domain2.com) had to manage Google Apps separately for each domain. Last week we added the ability for customers to administer two or more domains together . This feature also makes it much easier for employees to share information through Google Docs, Calendar and Sites with their counterparts in different divisions. For example, Brady Corporation is using this feature to streamline the use and administration of Google Apps across 88 domains! Google Apps Innovation in the first half of 2010 Businesses using Google Apps not only save money , but also their employees get access to new features and functionality at a much faster pace than with conventional business technologies. We’ve launched over 50 improvements to Google Apps in the last six months, and last week we hosted a webcast to recap noteworthy recent updates for businesses, including more powerful search in Gmail, next-generation editors in Google Docs, Google Wave, the Apps Marketplace and more. If you missed the webcast, you can watch it on YouTube . Who’s gone Google? We’re thrilled about the news from Colorado and Iowa , both of which have opened the doors to Google Apps for teachers and students at schools state-wide, right on the heels of Oregon’s decision to use Google Apps at their schools, too. We also wanted to shine the spotlight on a couple other new customers: Brown University and Imagination , an 800-employee marketing and communications agency based in the U.K. You can watch their stories here: I hope you’re making the most of these new features, whether you’re using Google Apps with friends, family, coworkers or classmates. For more details and updates from the Apps team, head on over to the Google Apps Blog . Posted by Jeremy Milo, Google Apps Marketing Manager

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Google Apps highlights – 7/2/2010

Late last week, we made a change that caused some visits and campaign data to be processed incorrectly. All data was properly collected, but your reports may currently be missing some visits and campaigns information for the dates June 24th through June 29th. We are reprocessing this data and expect to have all report data corrected by early in the week of July 12th. The impact of the incorrect processing will vary by site. Sites that receive a large number of new visitors and new campaigns have been most affected. Again, we are reprocessing, and all reports will soon be corrected. We will update the blog once reprocessing has completed and data in all accounts is correct. We sincerely apologize for this inconvenience and are taking steps to ensure this doesn’t happen again. Posted by Trevor Claiborne, Google Analytics Team

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Campaign Data Issue Being Corrected

by Mike Fleming First, we took a look at types of ads that you can test and then we look at how to analyze the results of your tests and set up new ones. But, one more thing we must know is when to consider a test complete and ready to be analyzed. If you consider a test complete before you have statistically significant results that prove with great confidence that what you observe is actually true, you may find yourself making conclusions that simply are not. Therefore, you need to know when you have enough data for this to be the case. You’ve got two options - 1. Use the chi-square or analysis of variance methods in Excel. You will have to do some studying to figure this one out, but it’s well worth the time. 2. Follow some basic rules for how much data you need before you can draw conclusions. You’ll have to dive into #1 on your own. Let’s discuss #2 a little bit. Here are two major guidelines to follow when deciding when to end a test - Capture data over the entire span of your buying funnel - What good does it do to get data for the first half of a buying cycle? You don’t want to capture just your “one night stand” users; those that buy on the first click to your site. You want to make sure you collect data long enough to capture a good sample from every phase of the buying funnel from awareness to purchase. Run the test for like 3 sales cycles to get a good sampling. Have enough traffic that one click or conversion will not significantly change your results - 500 clicks and 10-20 conversions are good benchmarks here. If your account doesn’t get lots of clicks, you can spread out your ads across ad groups and analyze ad performance across multiple ad groups and keywords. You might write 4 different ads and run them on all of the ad groups in a particular campaign while just changing the headline to contain your ad group’s theme keyword in it. Doing this allows you to still compare different ad messages against each other to find out what’s important to your target audience. The situation you don’t want to run into here is where the next click or conversion changes the entire scope of your test. For example, if you had 300 impressions and got 10 clicks for a 3% CTR and someone clicked on the next impression that would take you up to 3.7%. That’s too big of a jump. Similarly, if you had 2 conversions in those 10 clicks for a 20% conversion rate and that next click didn’t convert, that takes you down to 18%. Also too big of a jump. So, this is actually a great test to decide if you have enough data. Calculate how getting a click on your next impression and a conversion on your next click affects your numbers. If there isn’t a significant change, your test is over. To summarize, if you let your ads run through all of the possible conditions that they could (weekdays, weekends, all hours of the day, all stages of the buying funnel, etc.) and you have enough data, then you are ready to analyze it . Be sure and visit our small business news site.

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Use Ad Testing to Help Reach Your PPC Marketing Goals - Part 3

Computer science is a tough field to teach, especially at the high school level. Not only do you need to persuade teenagers that coding isn’t too geeky to attempt, but since CS is a growing field, it’s hard for teachers to keep up with all the latest techniques and computing tools. To help teachers face these challenges, we’re funding a program called Computer Science for High School ( CS4HS ). CS4HS is a workshop for high school and middle school computer science teachers that introduces new and exciting concepts in computing and how to teach them. The ultimate goals are to “train the trainer,” develop a thriving community of high school CS teachers, and spread the word about the awe and beauty of computing. This summer, we’re funding 20 workshops at colleges across the U.S. and will sponsor another 14 in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. If each workshop in the U.S. has an average of 20 teachers in attendance, and each of them teaches 90 students in a year*, that means that the workshops have the potential to make a difference for 36,000 students—an important start. We had the chance to attend a CS4HS workshop in our own backyard this week. UC Berkeley’s CS4HS highlighted hands-on skills that teachers can take directly back to the classroom. Twenty local math and CS teachers had a chance to share tips and best practices around teaching CS, and created a solid foundation for a community. One of the most popular sessions over the two days was a demo of Scratch , a popular programming language geared towards K-12 students that makes it easy to create interactive stories, animations, games, music and art. Attendees also had the opportunity to form the Golden Gate chapter of the Computer Science Teacher Association (CSTA). Although the summer workshops are just getting started, they’re already making a difference for teachers. Emmanuel Onyeador, who teaches AP CS at Oakland Technical High School, told us: “CS4HS is the missing link—as computer science teachers, you find yourself isolated in your classroom. When I sit here I find that we’re all talking about the same issues and the same type of students. What I bring back to my classroom will make a big difference.” You can view a list of all 20 U.S. CS4HS workshops and find more information about the program at www.cs4hs.com . UC Berkeley CS4HS participant s *according to the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education Posted by Mary Radomile, Education Program Manager

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CS4HS: helping high school teachers reach their potential