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Lesser-Known Google Projects

diygenius.com

74 pointsssaddi8 comments

> One of the reasons why Google has consistently released new innovative project is because of their 20% time policy, which gives many of their employees one day a week to experiment with new concepts and ideas.

Is this still true? I thought they got rid of the 20% time policy years ago.

Well, most of the projects are from years ago so maybe that's true.

Regardless of whether that statement is true or not, 20% time is alive and well, based on my own experience, that of everyone else I know who's also done it and (if to a lesser extent), all levels of management having asserted so repeatedly since rumours started. I've even found it to be encouraged by certain managers to alleviate the "itch" to work on something different without having to leave one's current team.

According to this Ars article, project sunroof was a 20% project: http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/08/here-there-be-photon... (see next-to-last paragraph)

It seems down from here. Google cache:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:WGhnu5f...

And Archive.org: http://web.archive.org/web/20150419093843/http://www.diygeni...

Very nice article. I wasn't aware of most of those projects. I am especially interested to see the results of "World Wonders Project", "Solve for X", "Ingress" and "Google Sky". I am sure Google is also secretly working on other projects that they don't want to communicate on yet (Same as Apple). Note: all those projects really remind me of Hailo's project XYZ in the Silicon Valley Series.

Just a small note. Ingress (Niantic Labs, actually) wasn't originally Google and had left[1] Google recently. ;)

[1] http://www.theverge.com/2015/8/12/9145693/niantic-labs-leave...

I discovered some lesser known Google projects via it Android play store by doing a search "Google". I found Google Sky and MyTracks.

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