Should you spring clean your solar panels?

Ever since we assembled a 1.6 MW solar panel installation at our headquarters in Mountain View in 2007, we’ve been wondering, “Does cleaning the solar panels make them more effective?” We thought it might, but we needed to be sure. So we analyzed the mountains of data that we collect about the energy that these panels produce — after rain, after cleaning and at different times of the year. We have two different sets of solar panels on our campus — completely flat ones installed on carports, and rooftop ones that are tilted. Since the carport solar panels have no tilt, rain doesn’t do a good job of rinsing off the dirt they collect. (Also, our carports are situated across from a sand field, which doesn’t help the situation.) We cleaned these panels for the first time after they had been in operation for 15 months, and their energy output doubled overnight. When we cleaned them again eight months later, their output instantly increased by 36 percent. In fact, we found that cleaning these panels is the #1 way to maximize the energy they produce. As a result, we’ve added the carport solar panels to our spring cleaning checklist. The rooftop solar panels are a different story. Our data indicates that rain does a sufficient job of cleaning the tilted solar panels. Some dirt does accumulate in the corners, but the resulting reduction in energy output is fairly small — and cleaning tilted panels does not significantly increase their energy production. So for now, we’ll let Mother Nature take care of cleaning our rooftop panels. Accumulated dirt in the corners of a rooftop solar panel We’ve also been crunching numbers on dollars-and-cents; the more energy our panels produce, the sooner we’ll be paid back by our solar investment. Our analysis now predicts that Google’s system will pay for itself in about six and a half years, which is even better than we initially expected. If you want to learn more about our solar study, check out these slides showing the effects that seasonality, tilt, dirt, particulate matter, rain and cleaning have on Google’s solar energy output. We hope you solar panel owners out there can tailor our analysis to the specifics of your own installation to produce some extra energy of your own! Posted by Winnie Lam, Senior Product Manager

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Should you spring clean your solar panels?

Search Options now on Google Images

A few months ago when we announced the Search Options panel, we promised that you would soon see similar functionality across our other search properties. Today we are rolling out Search Options for Google Images . This new feature offers quick access to existing tools, including search by color and image type . Color search will find images that are only in color or only in black and white, or even images that contain a specific color, such as red, pink, or green. Type search is a great way to narrow down your results if you are looking for a specific kind of image, such as a photo , clip art , line drawing or face . We’ve also revamped our size search. In addition to choosing from commonly searched-for sizes, now you can search for an exact image size or any image larger than a certain size. You can find images of practically any size, including 70 megapixels or more . The new layout makes it faster and easier to combine and toggle between options. It also makes it easier for us to add additional image search options in the future, so keep your eyes peeled. Just click “Show options…” in the blue bar on the search results page to try out any of these tools. Posted by Ken Dauber, Software Engineer, and Nate Smith, Associate Product Manager

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Search Options now on Google Images

Motorola promises cheaper Android phones are coming

One thing is common with high-end smartphones like those running Android on the market now — they are expensive. None of the devices are cheap with most selling for about $200. With the poor economy, some consumers who are interested in Android may be priced out of the market. Motorola says that will change and promises that cheaper Android devices are coming. Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha said that it would offer more smartphones running Android and that the devices will be spread across more price points. Jha maintains that Motorola will have a pair of Android phones on the market by the holiday season with two major carriers in America. The devices will also reportedly be offered with multiple carriers outside of the U.S. as well. Jha says that Motorola plans to take Android as low down the feature phone tier as it possible can. [via PC Mag ]

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Motorola promises cheaper Android phones are coming

Mentor Graphics enables Android on Freescale Power Architecture technology

Android has proven to be a very popular operating system for Google. The first mobile phone running Android, the T-Mobile G1, had its share of teething problems but by most accounts, Android has now hit its stride. Mentor Graphics has announced that it is extending the Android mobile applications platform to support Freescale QorlQ and PowerQUICC III processors. These processors are built on Freescale Power Architecture technology. The move was made possible by Mentor Graphics’ purchase of Embedded Alley Development System. Support for the new hardware opens Android up to numerous other industries and applications from networking and storage to printing and imaging and much more. The new development system will be available in August. [via Mentor ]

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Mentor Graphics enables Android on Freescale Power Architecture technology

iriver developing Android rival to iPod touch?

iriver are  reportedly considering  using Android as the basis for an iPod touch rival, the iriver K2, which would use a 3.5-inch touchscreen, WiFi, Bluetooth and integrated digital TV tuner.  The news comes from an Australian distributor, C.R. Kennedy, whose iriver product manager Danny Bejanoff has been discussing the Korean company’s upcoming product range. While the device has not been signed off by iriver, leaving open the possibility that it could be shelved before making it to retail, the expectation is that the K2 would include an accelerometer and a web-browser.  Although it would lack the iPod touch’s Apple App Store, it would presumably have access to the Android Market for third-party software. The talkative product manager also revealed that iriver is developing an ebook reader and internet tablet.  However there’s no word on whether either device runs Android, nor when they might launch. [ via Engadget]

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iriver developing Android rival to iPod touch?

Creative Zii EGG gets the hands-on treatment

Just the other day, Creative made a pretty big splash with the introduction of the Zii EGG portable media player, which personally, I was ready to run out and purchase. Now, courtesy of CNET Asia we have a few more details and a pretty good look at the device. To begin with, CNET Asia did get

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Creative Zii EGG gets the hands-on treatment

More questions raised regarding carrier of HTC Hero Android phone

The HTC Hero now has it’s own will she or won’t she level of fame. First suspected for T-Mobile, then suspected for Sprint, then tapped for AT&T, and skipping along the rumor circuit to wind back at Sprint again? That’s the word based on a post on the XDA Developer’s Forums. A site member

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More questions raised regarding carrier of HTC Hero Android phone

Recent Android update likely fixed serious security flaw

The Android firmware update sent out to T-Mobile phones recently seemed pretty boring since no one noticed any new features. It was quickly discovered to be a security patch and it seems the Android world may now know exactly what the update protected us from. Two security researchers discovered a flaw in Android and iPhone devices

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Recent Android update likely fixed serious security flaw

We’re Listening

Here at Google, user feedback helps us improve our products. While we love to hear praise on what’s working well, the honest direct feedback on what’s not working is just as valuable and motivating. We’d like to share a couple of stories about recent product changes that were shaped greatly based on the feedback you have provided in the Google Mobile Help Forum . Hopefully, you’ll continue to raise your voice and help us build better and more useful products. iGoogle for Android and iPhone In January, the high-end version of iGoogle for Android was discontinued because we felt it was too slow, and users were, instead, redirected to the standard Mobile iGoogle site. At the time, we thought you’d welcome the improvements to speed and stability. We humbly found out that we were wrong. One thread in the user forum received over 350 replies and almost 18,000 page views! Here’s what some folks had to say: “Its not just that the standard mobile verision of iGoogle is weak, its vastly inferior to the optimized version for iPhone…” – mccarrabba “The mobile version is not good enough. Why should I have to suffer because other mobile devices offer crappy browsers? This is a horribly short-sighted decision.” – tewha Well, we heard you loud and clear. Our team read each of the forum posts, and listened to why the standard version did not meet your needs. Last month, we brought back iGoogle for Android and iPhone and made it better than ever. The new version is faster and easier to use, and there’s support for tabs and more of your favorite gadgets. We also now support the in-line display of articles for feed-based gadgets, so you can read article summaries without leaving the page. We’re glad that so many of you voiced your ideas. iGoogle is back and better, and it seems like folks are pretty stoked: “Personally, I could have cried. And I mean that in a good way. OMG-about time!! I’m leaving on vacation and was for sure I was going to have to take my laptop. Tabs actually work! My gadgets work! Its back! Hip Hip Hooray!” – ktigger2 Google Maps for mobile Soon after we launched Google Maps for mobile 3.0 and Google Latitude on four platforms (Android, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and Symbian S60), we received some helpful feedback on where improvements could be made and problems fixed. Keeping in mind the input of many faithful Help Forum posters, we released two updated versions for Windows Mobile and Symbian S60 users in April ( version 3.0.1 ) and July ( version 3.2 ). These versions added new features, like Layers , and included some fixes and new ways to use Maps for mobile that were among the most requested by you. For example, the My Maps feature request received over 2,000 votes on our Mobile Product Ideas page. We also used specific Help Forum conversations to tweak behavior, such as the backlight timeout on Symbian phones, and to fix issues, like copy and paste for Windows Mobile phones. In June, we also updated Maps in Android Market to Maps 3.1, introducing popular feature requests like Transit directions and Google Search by voice. We’ve received lots of positive feedback about pushing out these features: “Not only is this an awesome update, but what an awesome way to distribute!” – matt In addition to the iGoogle and Maps for mobile updates, your feedback also led to the development of other exciting new features — for example, labels for Gmail and direct YouTube uploads on Android. Your ideas and requests help us to drive and prioritize new products and features, so please post your thoughts on the Help Forum . As you continue to show us what you care about, we’ll continue to listen as we work on our mobile products. Posted by Chris Nguyen & Gabe Garcia, Google Mobile Consumer Operations

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We’re Listening

Android Widget for GoogleAndBlog & ANA News

There is now an Android Widget for GoogleAndBlog thanks to Justin at nEx.Software . Justin is available for your Android projects as well those related to Microsoft .Net / Office & Adobe Flash / Flex by contacting him at nEx.Software . You can access the GAB widget itself via The Android Market and see it at AndroLib & Cyrket online . The Widget can be loaded on your Android phone homescreen which you will then be able to automatically see and get notified of the latest GAB news. Alex & Vincent commented that it worked well, while I should post more than once a month – actually I think its once a week, but I do need to be more active based on what the GAB readers want. On the flip side, ShootingBlue commented that the font is impossible to read – let me know if it really is – and I haven’t put anything factual on the site while Wessley was pretty succinct in declaring “ Poo “. The Android Network Widget is also available on The Android Market to get your GAB fix along with the other major Android News sites. The latest on the actual Android Network Awards is that the categories have been narrowed down and the internal network of Android sites have voted for the nominee apps in those categories. The finalist apps will be announced soon and the voting will be opened to the Android public to determine the winner of each Android Network Awards category. Android Widget for GoogleAndBlog & ANA News Post from: Google And Blog

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Android Widget for GoogleAndBlog & ANA News

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