Our latest search story: run on

This is part of our summer series of new Search Stories. Look for the label Search Stories and subscribe to the series. -Ed.

Recently, a group of Google product managers challenged one another to run 100 miles over 30 days in the interest of encouraging summer fitness. I grew up in Huntsville, AL, where I always loved exercising and experiencing the great outdoors, so I took to the challenge immediately. One hundred and thirty-three miles and a few pairs of new running shoes later, it was an incredible opportunity to push myself further than I’d ever imagined. But, I must admit—it wasn’t easy.

I’m delighted to help introduce our latest Search Story, Healthy Habits. This is a story of one woman’s journey to get back into shape. It shows the difficulties of sticking to a workout routine, and the empowerment that comes with reaching—and even exceeding your goals. It highlights the many tools and tricks that make Google a great workout companion, and I hope it inspires you to incorporate new healthy habits into your own lifestyle.



Enjoy this week’s video, and don’t forget to check out the other videos if you haven’t already. Search (and run) on!

Update Aug 20: Some of you may have had trouble watching this video due to "restricted" messages, especially if you're reading this post in a feed reader. We're working to resolve the issue now—in the meantime, you can still watch on the blog itself or directly on YouTube. -Ed.

Update Aug 20, 3:00 PM PST: The video should be viewable everywhere now. Thanks for your patience.

Posted by Avni Shah, Group Product Manager, Geo

What to search when you’re expecting

This is part of our summer series of new Search Stories. Look for the label Search Stories and subscribe to the series. -Ed.

Having been a new dad for six months now, I’ve quickly come to learn two valuable parenting lessons. First, being a father is truly a full-time job—and second, sleep is completely overrated. Whether buying the latest bottles, binkies, blankets and bibs, or just blogging about the whole magical journey, becoming a father has been the most invigorating and moving experience of my lifetime.

This week, I’m excited to help introduce our latest search story, New Baby. The video really captures the joys (and costs!) of becoming a new parent. I’d like to share my heart-felt compassion with new dads everywhere (and of course, my wife and the other mothers out there who are the true heroes.) We will all rest when they head off to college—in the meantime, enjoy!



Posted by Murali Viswanathan, Product Manager

He said, she said: a sibling search story

This is part of our summer series of new Search Stories. Look for the label Search Stories and subscribe to the series. -Ed.

My sister is my best friend in the world. But that wasn’t always the case. When we were young, my sister and I always had our sibling rivalries. Quarrels over who got more (or fewer) birthday presents, ongoing debates around whose week it was to walk the dog and your average diary lock-picking weren’t uncommon. But now that we've grown older, it's become clear that those moments have brought us closer together, and today my sister is my best friend.

Our search story this week really struck a chord with me, and I’m excited to help introduce our latest video, “Brother and Sister.” It’s a fun, playful snapshot of an evolving sibling friendship. I hope you enjoy this week’s video as much as I did.




Posted by Bernardo Hernandez, Head of Consumer Marketing

A Search Story for the dog days of summer

This is part of our summer series of new Search Stories. Look for the label Search Stories and subscribe to the series. -Ed.

When I first brought my dog Yoshka with me to work, I didn’t expect he would go on to become a part of our company history and help inspire our dog-friendly culture. At Google, any employee can bring their dog to work, and it’s rare that I reach my desk in the morning without seeing a pup or two on the way. All these dogs—my own and those I meet around campus—seem to possess that uncanny canine ability to bring a smile to my face. I hope this week’s Search Story, Dog, will do the same for you.



Visit www.youtube.com/searchstories to check out the whole collection, or to create your own story.

Yoshka

Posted by Urs Hoelzle, Senior Vice President, Operations & Google Fellow

Graduation: our latest Search Story

This is part of our summer series of new Search Stories. Look for the label Search Stories and subscribe to the series. -Ed.

My dad’s family grew up in Vietnam. Even as they faced an uncertain future, they attended school, believing strongly in the value of education. So when my aunts and uncles immigrated to the U.S., they went to great lengths to make sure their sons and daughters had the best opportunities. It wasn’t always easy—learning a new language and finding a new job was a struggle at first. But through their selfless efforts, my cousins and I were able to excel in our studies and pursue college degrees.

So for this reason, and on behalf of the Search Stories team, I’m delighted to introduce our latest video, Graduation. It’s both poignant and relevant to my family’s own experiences, and I think it speaks to devoted caregivers the world over.



Visit www.youtube.com/searchstories to check out the whole collection, or to create your own story.

Posted by Dana Nguyen, Product Marketing Manager, Google Apps Education

A Father’s Day dedication

This is part of our summer series of new Search Stories. Look for the label Search Stories and subscribe to the series. -Ed.

Our latest Search Story, Father and Daughter, is a tribute to all the wonderful relationships dads have with their daughters.

While working on the story we came across a comment posted to Paul Simon’s Father and Daughter video on YouTube. Maybe it’s because I’m a father of two little girls, but this almost made me cry. One day, I hope that my daughters will feel compelled to write something like this.

To Cullenlvr961: we don’t know if you’ll read this or see the video, but we just wanted to put it out there and let you know you really touched us and we’re dedicating this Search Story to you and your dad. We’ll be proud if our video evokes even a small piece of the emotion your note did.



Posted by Robert Wong, Google Creative Lab

Woody and Buzz star in a Google Search Story

Hopefully some of you have seen one or two of our Search Story videos. We’ve been blown away by the creativity and brilliance of everyone that shared their own search story using the Search Stories Video Creator. It’s been a pleasure to see how all kinds of people use search to tell tales—whether silly, inspiring, true or imagined.

It seemed like the next logical step was to ask the world’s best storytellers to get involved, so I called up my friend at Pixar. He liked the idea, the writers at Pixar were into it—and a few days later, we were brainstorming with the minds behind WALL-E, Finding Nemo and, of course, Toy Story. We’re huge fans of their work, so getting to explore what the Toy Story gang would discover using Google has been pretty special. Together, we ended up creating a short video that looks at Google through the eyes of Andy’s toys and how they deal with the fact that Andy’s about to leave for college.

A big thank you to the nice folks at Pixar for their spirit and their sense of collaboration. Check it out now online and in theaters nationwide kicking off Toy Story 3, opening June 18.

We hope you enjoy watching it as much as we did making it.



Update 5:55PM: Clarified that the YouTube video is currently only available in the U.S.

Update Jun 10: Thanks for your patience! The video is now available outside the U.S. and we've removed our previous note about availability.

Posted by Robert Wong, Creative Director, Creative Lab