WebProNews

Tag: Google Research

  • Google Looking to Use Drones to Fight Wildfires

    Google Looking to Use Drones to Fight Wildfires

    Google is looking to use drones in an innovative way, with plans to fight wildfires with them.

    Drones are one of the fastest-growing industries, being used for deliveries, surveillance, real estate, recreation and more. Google may be on the verge of using them for one of the most unique, and arguably important, role yet.

    According to a Federal Register (PDF) notice Google is seeking permission from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to test drones for fire-fighting.

    Google Research Climate and Energy Group (Google Research) seeks relief to operate the HSE-UAV M8A Pro unmanned aircraft system, weighing over 55 pounds (lbs.) but no more than 98.8 lbs., for testing fire-fighting and monitoring operations with first person view technology located at a confined private property in Firebaugh, California.

    Should the FAA give Google permission to proceed, drones could become an important element in the growing fight against yearly wildfires. Drones could be especially helpful in monitoring vulnerable forests and serving as an early warning system for a fraction of the cost involved in using planes or helicopters.

  • Google Can Predict Movie Sales With 94% Accuracy

    Google this week released a new whitepaper that claims Google searches can predict box office totals with incredible accuracy.

    The paper, authored by Google analysts Reggie Panaligan and Andrea Chen, claims that Google data can predict box office results with 94% accuracy. The results are arrived at by observing Google searches for a movie’s trailer, then combining that with the movie’s “seasonality” and “franchise status.” A movie’s paid search ad click volume in the week prior to its release is also heavily indicative of box office performance.

    Seasonality refers to what time of the year a movie opens, with summer and holiday weekends, obviously, affecting box office totals quite a bit. Franchise status refers to how many movie theaters a movie will be shown in. The status is broken up into several tiers, from Tier C being a movie shown in less than 2,500 theaters, all the way up to “midnight blockbusters” such as The Dark Knight Rises and the Twilight movies.

    The paper shows that moviegoers are using Google more than ever to research their movie choices, with Google stating that movie category searches were up 56% from 2011 to 2012. This means that online marketing and trailer releases are becoming more important than ever to a movie’s success. It also means, however, that it is becoming harder than ever to hide a poor movie’s quality, with bad reviews only a Google search away.

    (via BGR)

  • YouTube Slam Launched To Pit Videos Against One Another

    Google’s YouTube team and its Google Research team have teamed up to launch YouTube Slam, which is basically a way for you to rate YouTube videos against one another.

    They’re calling it an experiment, and a way for YouTube users to discover the next “Charlie Bit My Finger”.

    “This is the place for discovering talented amateur singers, the most adorable clips and the craziest videos on YouTube,” it says on the YouTube Slam site. “Watch pairs of videos and vote for your favorite. Videos are scored based on your votes, and the best videos are featured on the slam leaderboard.”

    Each week, they put up a new crop of videos, and users can earn points for predicting crowd favorites.

    Users can also subscribe to the Slam channels, which include: Bizarre Slam, Cute Slam, Music Slam, Dance Slam and Comedy Slam.

    I can see where this could be addictive. It should be a good discovery tool for YouTube. It will be interesting to see if they integrate it into the YouTube experience itself.