Something to smile about: A 5,000-mile walk across Asia, guided by Google Maps

Inspiration comes in many shapes and forms. For U.S. Marine Sgt. Winston Fiore, it was a news article about the International Children’s Surgical Foundation (ICSF) and Dr. Geoff Williams, who provides free facial-reconstructive surgeries for children with cleft lips/palates in developing countries. Although cleft palates are quite correctable, if left untreated the deformity can cause serious health issues. Many children don’t have the surgery because the cost of each procedure ($250 USD) is out of reach for their families.

Inspired to do something to help, Winston set out on a 5,000-mile trek across Southeast Asia to raise money and awareness for the ICSF—a mission he dubbed Smile Trek. Armed with sturdy boots, a 20-pound vest carrying essentials and an Android phone with Google Maps, Winston set off on his mission in October 2011. In the last year, he has walked (yes, walked!) through Brunei, China, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Along the way he’s met countless individuals who have contributed to his cause, whether it was a place to stay, a hot meal or a monetary donation on his website.

Trekking along: Winston, standing in front of a durian fruit stand near Sematan, the westernmost town of Malaysian Borneo

Out on the road, Winston’s Android phone and Google Maps became “the hub” of his entire operation. He used Google Maps to find accurate and easy-to-use walking directions everywhere he went, whether it was through remote villages and farms, down tiny dirt roads, or across rice paddies and desolate sugar cane fields. “Walking directions in Google Maps were critical to my trek. The directions were accurate and efficient—it’s essential to take the shortest route when you’re walking 20-25 miles each day,” said Winston. “But the best part was being routed onto roads and trails through areas I otherwise never would have discovered with, say, driving directions, or even a physical map.”

View the complete map of Winston's journey on his site

In addition to using Google Maps, Winston relied on many other Google products during his trek. He used Google Latitude to keep his family, friends and supporters informed of his whereabouts, and MyTracks to record his speed, distance and the places he visited. He also used Google Translate to communicate with locals, and in one case found it essential: when bit by a stray dog outside of Bangkok, he typed "I got bit by a dog, can someone take me to a hospital?" into his app. A taxi driver took him to the hospital, where he got 11 shots!

Today, after walking 5,000 miles in 408 days, Sgt. Fiore completes his journey, with more than $65,000 raised for ICSF. The money will help to fund more than 200 life-saving surgeries for children in Southeast Asia and other parts of the world. If you’d like to contribute to the International Children’s Surgery Fund and Winston Fiore’s effort, we encourage you to visit smiletrek.org.

Posted by Jennifer J. Chen, Product Manager, Google Maps

Supporting people with disabilities through outreach and accessibility tools

Globally, there are approximately 285 million visually impaired people in the world—and each one of those people has networks of family and friends. Increasing the accessibility of products impacts not only the millions of people with disabilities, but also the lives of the people connected to them.

It’s because of the wide impact better accessibility tools can have that we partner with organizations like the Vision Serve Alliance, which brings together the CEOs of U.S. nonprofits that serve the blind and visually impaired to network and share best practices.

On Thursday, November 8 we welcomed 63 of these executives to Google’s San Francisco, Calif. office. There, we showed how we’re making Google’s products more accessible to blind and visually impaired users. We also shared insight into Google's culture—our commitment to openness, transparency and encouraging Googlers to bring their whole selves to work.

The attendees talked with representatives from the Google self-driving car team about the technology’s potential impact on mobility for the blind and visually impaired, as previously demoed by Steve Mahan from the Santa Clara Valley Blind Center. Other teams of Googlers also joined the event to demonstrate accessibility features in products like Chrome and Android. Chromevox is a screen reader that's built into Chrome OS and the Chrome browser. Android’s built-in accessibility features include text-to-speech, haptic feedback, gesture navigation, trackball and directional-pad navigation, all of which help visually impaired users navigate their mobile devices.



In line with our efforts to empower all people with disabilities, on December 3 we’re celebrating the International Day of Disability in Google offices in North America. We’ll have 7-minute flash talks about how Google’s work on accessibility empowers different communities, and a global product accessibility improvement day where Googlers test our products for accessibility bugs.

Posted by Seval Oz, New Business Development Senior Manager

Thanksgiving gone Google

Thanksgiving is about sharing, giving thanks and connecting with family and friends. Yet, all too often we get caught up in the holiday rat race—the mad dash to the airport, the supermarket, the mall—and forget to take time out to enjoy the holiday.

To kick off the holidays this year, we wanted to crank up the fun and tone down the stress. So we did a little planning for you and created a one-stop-Google-shop to get you through the week.

Cooking
With tools like recipe search and YouTube cooking videos that show you the right (and wrong) ways to carve a deep-fried turkey, Google can help you master your Thanksgiving meal with lots of laughs along the way. You can also join members of the Google+ cooking community for cooking lessons over live hangouts. Learn how to make new dishes like pumpkin brulee for the sweet tooths at the table or mix things up this year with a vegan-friendly feast.

Connecting
Though we can’t control the skies and guarantee a turbulence-free flight home, we can help minimize the time you spend waiting around, with real-time flight updates. Download the Google Search App to get flight updates on the go. And don’t forget to download TV shows, music and more from Google Play to stay entertained on board.

Of course, for those of you who couldn’t make it home this year, you can still get everyone together with Google+ Hangouts. Try scheduling a hangout to video chat with up to nine people you’d otherwise miss this holiday.

Sports
Whether you’re rooting for the Cowboys or the Jets, Texans or the Patriots, we can help you stay on top of all the scores and stats. If you’re on the run, ask for real time scores or game details using Voice Search on the Google Search App.

Shopping
This year Black Friday starts on Thursday, with Wal-Mart, Target and Toys R Us all kicking off sales on Thanksgiving night. To help you get a head start on the deal-seekers, try our new shortlists, a super-simple alternative to sharing lists of links or bookmarks, as well as 360-degree imagery for many of the season’s hottest toys on Google Shopping. For those of you brave enough to face the masses at the store, use indoor Google Maps to get in and get out of the mall fast.

By putting all your favorite Google features in one place, we hope we can help make things just a little bit easier this Thanksgiving—giving you more time to make memories with those who matter most and enjoy every last bite of that much deserved pumpkin pie. Visit our Thanksgiving hub to get started.

Posted by Carolyn Witte, Search Marketing Team

Penny Wise?

A new financial advisory firm just retained us to review and revise their agreements BEFORE a regulator finds a problem. While I didn't ask, it sounds like they used a non-attorney group to create their registration documents and agreements, and are now looking for some additional advice.

Using a filing service to prepare boilerplate forms and agreements fine. In fact, we often send our smaller new clients to a third party service for the initial preparation of Form ADV and the related materials. Those firms can put together basic documents in a much less expensive manner than we can.

But we need to review those documents before they are used. If boilerplate were sufficient, there would be no need for filing of anything - every firm and practice would be the same, and the regulators would not need to know about the particulars of your business - everyone's business would be the same.

But advisory practices are not boilerplate, and each individual entity needs to have its ADV, its operating agreement, it codes and procedures, and its agreements with clients and vendors individually drafted. 

Unfortunately, too many firms and professionals do not take that next step and retain our firm, or someone like us, to review their agreements, preferring to wait until there is a problem before spending the money and being proactive in their own practices.

We have been representing financial professionals and firms for decades. A few hours of our time, reviewing and revising agreements and procedures can save a firm hundreds of thousands of dollars. A review and negotiation of an employment agreement can do the same for individual advisors.

Why aren't financial professionals and firms more proactive, like our new client? It doesn't make sense. If you need a consultation with us, send me an email - I won't charge you to read your email and respond. astarita@beamlaw.com

Duplicação da BR-381 não é prioridade do Governo Federal, diz Anastasia

O governador Antonio Anastasia afirmou nesta quinta-feira, durante a conversa semanal "Palavra do Governador", que as obras de duplicação da BR 381 são "prioridade zero". Para ele, as melhorias na via são a importante obra federal do estado. Anastasia se reuniu este mês com o ministro dos Transportes, Paulo Sérgio Passos, para discutir o assunto e anunciar os editais de concorrência para a duplicação da primeira etapa da rodovia, que tem 300 quilômetros e liga Belo Horizonte a Governador Valadares. "Esta obra é uma reivindicação de décadas, uma estrada que lamentavelmente é muito perigosa e tem um número imenso de acidentes, com muitas mortes, uma estrada que vem assombrando Minas Gerais ao longo dos anos”, destacou. Ainda de acordo com o governador, são 100 km para a primeira etapa. E, no fim de novembro, serão publicados novos editais. Para ele, a importância do projeto está na segurança e na melhoria para o tráfego Leste de Minas Gerais. A execução das obras já está prevista para o primeiro trimestre de 2013. “Nós mineiros vamos agradecer muito no momento da sua conclusão”, acrescentou.

(Fonte: Estado de Minas)

Policial Militar é encontrado morto dentro de viatura

O policial militar Mateus Cordeiro, lotado no 26º Batalhão de Itabira, foi encontrado morto por volta das 12h30 de quarta-feira (14), dentro da viatura que dirigia pela localidade itabirana conhecida como Laboreaux. A suspeita é que ele tenha disparado a própria arma contra a cabeça. Segundo relatos dos colegas de farda, o soldado se despediu através do rádio da viatura que dirigia desejando bom trabalho a todos e dizendo que iria descansar. Horas depois o corpo do militar foi encontrado no banco da viatura que estava trancada parada próximo a estrada de acesso a cidade de Nova Era. A vítima tinha uma perfuração provocada por um tiro na testa. O comando da PM em Itabira informou que não havia nenhuma medida disciplinar ou administrativa contra o soldado que era considerado um militar de comportamento exemplar.

Prefeitos eleitos se reúnem na Amepi, Fernando Rolla é eleito o novo presidente da entidade

A Amepi(Associação dos Municípios do Médio Piracicaba) recebeu na manhã da última quarta-feira (14, os prefeitos eleitos dos municípios que integram a região do Médio Piracicaba Na oportunidade, o atual presidente da Casa, o prefeito de Dom Silvério, José Maria Repolês, parabenizou os novos chefes do Executivo e desejou aos eleitos “um mandato cheio de realizações”. O Secretário Executivo da entidade, Eduardo Quaresma durante apresentação em um telão falou da importância da Amepi na busca de projetos na ajuda aos municípios associados. Eduardo Quaresma explanou sobre o mapeamento de toda região do Médio Piracicaba que tem sido feito, inclusive, com fotografia aérea digital e a preparação da Associação para a Copa do Mundo de 2014. O prefeito eleito de João Monlevade, Teófilo Torres(PSDB), esteve presente ao encontro e afirmou que o município será novamente integrado aos associados da Amepi. “João Monlevade volta para a Amepi sem dúvidas”, enfatizou o novo chefe do Executivo. João Monlevade não integra mais a Amepi desde julho deste ano, quando o prefeito de Monlevade, Gustavo Prandini (PV) pediu a rescisão do convênio entre a Amepi e a Prefeitura, com a justificativa de contenção de despesas. Durante o encontro , o prefeito de São Domingos do Prata, Fernando Rolla, foi escolhido como presidente eleito da Associação dos Municípios da Microrregião do Médio Piracicaba (Amepi). Damon Sena, que vai assumir a Prefeitura de Itabira será o vice.