Google "20-percent time" going to help Japan

Advertisement
By Agence France-Presse | Updated: 15 June 2012 15:39 IST
Highlights
  • Legions of Google workers are devoting a fifth of their work time or more to building technology to help to deal with the disaster in Japan.
Legions of Google workers are devoting a fifth of their work time or more to building technology to help to deal with the disaster in Japan.
Google has long allowed employees to spend 20 percent of their time on engineering projects that interest them but which don't fall into their usual area of focus.

The havoc and death wrought on Japan by a powerful earthquake and ensuing tsunami has prompted many "Googlers" to devote their "20-percent time" to crafting Digital Age tools for handling the crisis.

"A lot of 20-percent time is being spent on Japan," Google spokesman Jamie Yood told AFP on Thursday.

"There is definitely a group of people in our Tokyo office spending a lot more than 20 percent of their time on this, and that is supported by Google," he said.

Google has established a multi-lingual Crisis Response Page with links to resources such as emergency hotlines, relief organizations, maps, and a service for finding loved ones.

"Like the rest of the world, we've been transfixed by the images and news coming out of the northeastern part of Japan over the past six days," Google product manager Nobu Makida said in a blog post on Thursday.

"Googlers in Japan and elsewhere around the world have been working around the clock to try and help improve the flow of information."
The Japanese military Thursday used trucks and helicopters to dump tons of water onto the quake-hit Fukushima nuclear plant in efforts to douse fuel rods and prevent a disastrous radiation release.

The operation aims to keep the fuel rods inside reactors and containment pools submerged under water, to stop them from degrading when they are exposed to air and emitting dangerous radioactive material.

Get your daily dose of tech news, reviews, and insights, in under 80 characters on Gadgets 360 Turbo. Connect with fellow tech lovers on our Forum. Follow us on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News for instant updates. Catch all the action on our YouTube channel.

Advertisement

Related Stories

Popular Mobile Brands
  1. Poco M8s 5G Debuts Globally With 7,000mAh Battery: See Price, Features
  2. OnePlus Ace 6 Ultra's Key Specifications Surface via Geekbench Listing
  3. Xiaomi TV S Mini LED 75 (2026) Review
  4. Vivo X300 FE Roundup: Expected Price in India, Specifications
  5. Oppo Find X9 Ultra With 200-Megapixel Periscope Camera Launched Globally
  6. Motorola Edge 70 Fusion Review
  7. Redmi Buds 8 Launched With Up to 50dB ANC, Up to 44 Hours Total Battery Life
  8. Motorola Edge 70 Pro+ Leaked Renders Hint at Design, Five Colour Options
  9. Apple's iOS 27 Update Might Drop Support for These iPhone Models
  1. NASA Shuts Down Voyager 1 Instrument to Extend Mission Life in Deep Space
  2. Oppo Enco Clip 2 With Open-Ear Design, Up to 40 Hours Total Battery Life Launched Alongside Oppo Watch X3 Mini
  3. Vivo Y6t Launched With 6,500mAh Battery, Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 SoC: Price, Specifications
  4. OCBC Partners Lion Global Investors and DigiFT to Launch Tokenised Gold Fund With GOLDX Token
  5. Oppo Pad 5 Pro Launched With 13,380mAh Battery, Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 SoC Alongside Oppo Pad Mini: Price, Features
  6. Redmi K90 Max Launched With Dimensity 9500 SoC, 8,550mAh Battery and Active Cooling Fan: Price, Specifications
  7. Oppo Find X9 Ultra Launched With Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 SoC, 200-Megapixel Periscope Camera: Price, Specifications
  8. Oppo Find X9s Pro Launched With 200-Megapixel Cameras, 7,025mAh Battery: Price, Specifications
  9. OnePlus Ace 6 Ultra Geekbench Listing Reveals MediaTek Dimensity 9500 Chip, 16GB RAM
  10. Motorola Edge 70 Pro+ Leaked Renders Hint at Design, Five Colour Options
Download Our Apps
Available in Hindi
© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2026. All rights reserved.