In the spirit of giving, we wanted to take a moment to reflect upon some of the good deeds our Boston Googlers have done over this past year.

• Held a bone marrow registration drive with the Gift of Life 
• Hosted a charity drive to benefit Japan earthquake and tsunami relief efforts 
• Designated a week to GoogleServe where Boston Googlers joined 8,000 Googlers company-wide to do good in our local communities 
• Provided national grants to MIT’s OEOP MITES program, to the Boston Museum of Science and to Citizen Schools 
• Collected non-perishables, and donated time and money to the Greater Boston Food Bank 
• Worked with Bikes not Bombs to promote the use of bicycle technology as an alternative to war and environmental destruction 
• Worked with the Charles River Conservancy to help keep the Charles River clean 
• Fed our veterans at the New England Center for Homeless Veterans 
• Educated kids on the math behind the Rubik’s Cube at the Cambridge Science Festival 
• Sponsored the MIT KBPS, a music and engineering student organization that restores, documents and maintains the musical installation/sculpture at the Kendall T stop 
• Raised funds to help care for local Boston women and children at Rosie’s Place 
• Delivered meals to the critically ill and homebound through the annual Thanksgiving Pie in the Sky fundraising event 
• Donated time and talents to Citizen Schools 
• Launched Age Engage where Boston Googlers trained Boston seniors on Internet search and email. Watch the Age Engage Google Ireland video to learn more about this program 

While this represents only a small portion of the charitable efforts made by Googlers around the world, we wanted to acknowledge the kind hearts and minds of our Boston-based team! You can find out more about Google giving in 2011 on the Official Google Blog.

Posted by Sarah McManus, HR Business Partner

Looking for something fun and different to do this New Years Eve? Thinking about heading out of town, but not sure where to go or if you can afford it? Consider using Google’s Flight Search feature to help you plan your domestic trip in the U.S. with just a few clicks of the mouse.

Just enter your departure city, preferred dates and set your price limit. For example, let’s say you’d like to depart from Denver on December 30, returning January 1, and want to spend less than $350. Enter this information and the map will automatically update to show you where you can go. Solid blue dots represent the places you can visit for under $350 on the dates you’ve specified. Clear dots represent possible destinations available from Denver that exceed your $350 price.



Our team is working hard to make features like this that are fast and easy. For more tips on other ways you can search for flight information, check out the Exploring travel options video below or visit our Inside Search blog.

Posted by Noam Ben Haim, Senior Product Manager, Travel

Many of us will travel hundreds of miles to visit family and friends this holiday season, and it’s likely we’ll find ourselves in an airport or two. We might even find ourselves stuck on a layover wondering where our gate is or trying to find our favorite coffee spot. The good news is Google Maps 6.0 for Android has a new feature that can help. Google Maps recently added floor plans and the ability to see where you are on the map when you’re indoors, for several U.S. airports, making it easier to find a gate or grab that cup of coffee.

For more information, watch this video and visit the Lat Long blog.

Posted by Scott Ciabattari, Strategic Partner Development Manager

(Cross-posted on the Google Inside Search blog)

With the holiday season closely approaching, you might be looking to book flights to visit friends and family. With our Flight Search feature, you can plan your trip quickly and easily with just a few clicks of the mouse.

In response to interest from you, we’ve shot three short videos to share some of our favorite ways the Flight Search feature can enable you to explore travel options. For example, you may know you want to travel and have a set budget, but you’re not sure where to go. You can also easily see when to fly in order to get the best deal, and you can use a scatterplot to view the entire set of results to more easily compare all flight options at a glance.

Hope these tips help you spend less time worrying about booking your flight and more time preparing for the holidays.

Posted by Marcin Brodziak, Software Engineer, Flight Search