Through this page he will with interact with other users of Google + on important topics and post updates.

Prime Minister Rutte said: “I use social media mainly to share what I’m doing as Prime Minister.

Rutte was already active on Twitter, but since today Prime Minister Mark Rutte also a profile on Google+, Facebook and Hyves.

Internet giant Google has launched Google+ in June 2011. One of the features is Google’s Circles+, which allows users to easily share messages with specific groups of people. This allows leaders of political parties, to create circles to communicate with various groups of regional party representatives and to inform the Dutch people.

We look forward to seeing how Prime Minister Rutte uses Google+ to give updates of what happens in the everyday life of the Prime Minister of the Netherlands.

Simplicity Index respondents praise the power of simplicity in technology, saving them time and money, making their lives more efficient and opening up access to a wider world. Half of the top 10 global brands are technology, telecommunications or Internet brands. Apple vaulted into the top 10 at #5, which, in part, can be attributed to the successful launch of the iPad and the expanding list of authorized iPhone service providers beyond AT&T in the U.S. Last year Apple was ranked #29 in the survey.

Health insurance and general insurance industries finished last in this year’s survey, at 24th and 25th place, respectively. The insurance industry’s complex processes and lack of clarity regarding coverage continue to frustrate consumers. Respondents voice displeasure with insurers’ failures to offer clearly written policy documents and answer questions promptly and unambiguously. As a result, customers identified insurance as the least simple industry in almost every region surveyed.

The study also reveals that people continue to not only demand simpler communications and interactions, but are also willing to pay for them. Depending on the category, global consumers are willing to pay an average premium of 4.9 percent to 6.3 percent for simpler communications and experiences. In the U.S., UK and Germany alone, brands that offer increased simplicity stand to capture close to $30 billion.

Siegel+Gale’s Global Brand Simplicity Index™ demonstrates the power of simplicity in forging meaningful relationships between brands and consumers. This correlation between simplicity and loyalty is demonstrated by noteworthy findings throughout each region surveyed. In China, for example, 91 percent of consumers are more likely to recommend a brand that offers a simpler and more straightforward experience.

Siegel+Gale used the survey results to develop its Global Brand Simplicity Index™, which generates a Simplicity Score™, a rating of each brand and its category on the elements of the simplicity methodology. Siegel+Gale defines simplicity as ease of understanding, transparency, caring, innovation and usefulness of communications as well as how complex and complicated typical interactions are in relation to industry peers.

Globally brands ranked from a high of 955 (leaders) to a low of 459 (laggards).

“Simplicity is a powerful tool that strengthens customer relationships and dramatically increases customer loyalty,” said Alan Siegel, founder and chairman of Siegel+Gale. “As our survey demonstrates, consumers in countries around the world are constantly seeking greater simplicity in their lives. Brands that recognize the value of offering experiences that are clear, direct and easily transmitted will forge lasting relationships with their customers in today’s increasingly cluttered and complex world.”

Perceptions of simplicity by occupational status vary tremendously among regions based on culture and social policies. In Germany, those who are unemployed rate their lives as significantly simpler than other occupational classes, primarily due to government programs that provide a wide range of benefits.

When it comes to relationships, respondents found family and friends easier to handle than situations they faced at work and in romance. Friendship is first in simplicity in the United States, India and the United Kingdom followed by family. In China, Germany and the Middle East, family is first, followed by friendship.

Read the full report here.

About the 2011 Global Brand Simplicity Index™
Siegel+Gale’s Global Brand Simplicity Index™ is an output of global brand ratings based on an online survey of more than 6,000 consumers in seven different countries. Each rating comprises the simplicity/complexity of a brand’s interactions and communications in relation to their industry peers. The index also incorporates an industry simplicity score for a particular brand’s industry/category(ies). The annual research study was first conducted in 2010.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged companies and governments to protect Internet freedom on Thursday. Speaking at a conference in the Netherlands on Internet freedom, Clinton said it was “an urgent task” to preserve civil liberties online and argued that corporations can protect their own reputations by thinking twice before doing business with repressive governments.

The kick off for the Freedom Online conference took place at the Fokker Terminal in The Hague. In his welcome speech, executive chairman for Google, Eric Schmidt, stated the purpose for the conference: “The world is a better place with freedom of speech.”

The kick off for the Freedom Online conference took place at the Fokker Terminal in The Hague. In his welcome speech, executive chairman for Google, Eric Schmidt, stated the purpose for the conference: “The world is a better place with freedom of speech.”

The conference was then officially opened by minister Rosenthal, who emphasised the struggle we are facing in this modern world: freedom of speech is as important online as it is offline. Rosenthal highlighted the importance for governments to ensure online freedom. According to minister Rosenthal, the purpose of the conference is to form a coalition of states which will warrant human rights online. He concluded by stating that the internet is “a public space par excellence; we should honour it and protect it.”

In her keynote speech, Sos Hillary Clinton called internet freedom one of the defining issues of our time: “It is our global responsibility to secure human rights in cyberspace.”

SoS Hillary Clinton also stated that the action we take today is important for the future of internet freedom, and that it is an ongoing effort. Hillary Clinton: “Of all journalist imprisoned globally at this time, more than half are online journalists. The threat is very real. An open internet is and will be in everyone’s interest, especially for the next generation of internet users. Let’s lay the groundwork for open internet tonight.”

The new road traffic information is in the traffic layer on Google Maps and Google Maps for mobile, and Google Maps Navigation.

The new countries with traffic information coverage are Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland.

The live traffic layer on Google Maps is updated every 5-10 minutes. It is also possible to view the predicted traffic conditions for any day and time, based on past traffic conditions.

Coverage includes all freeways and highways, as well as large roads in major cities according to Google .

This partnership will see Heineken and Google work together in more than 20 markets in 2011. As part of the agreement, each market will use YouTube to activate the global campaigns, including homepage takeovers, pre-rolls and joint research projects.  The two companies will also work on creating mobile campaigns in emerging economies, where mobile internet exceeds desktop use. In addition, Google will participate in Heineken’s internal education programme, with both companies bringing together their marketing professionals to exchange ideas and share knowledge.

Alexis Nasard, Chief Commercial Officer at Heineken said: “Through the partnership with Google, Heineken will be able to strengthen its leadership position in the digital space. The opportunity exists to build on our successes and continue to provide adult consumers with exciting and compelling content. The key part of our strategy is to keep breaking grounds in beer communication, ignite the digital conversation and connect with our consumer in innovative ways’’.

Henrique de Castro, Global President of Media and Platforms for Google said: “This global Heineken campaign spanning 20 countries is one of our biggest global display campaigns ever. It will provide Heineken with brand-building reach and the ability to carefully target their audience.  And with live insights and ongoing research measuring the impact upon consumers, they will have the flexibility to suggest optimisations on a very frequent basis’’.

Heineken’s new global brand campaign ‘Legends’ was the brand’s first worldwide campaign to be rolled out on YouTube, with the first installment ‘The Entrance’ achieving close to 4 million hits globally in the first three weeks of its release.

The eagerly-awaited second instalment in the creative brand campaign entitled ‘The Date’, premiered on the Heineken® YouTube channel at the end of May and has achieved over 4 million hits.

The music service called “Music Beta by Google” will be free at first while it is being tested.

Music Beta by Google, lets you upload your personal music collection to the cloud for streaming to your computer and Android devices. With the new service, your music and playlists are automatically kept in sync, so if you create a new playlist on your phone, it’s instantly available on your computer or tablet.

You can use a feature called Instant Mix to create a playlist of songs that go well together. You can even listen to music when you’re offline: we automatically store your most recently played music on your Android device and you can choose to make specific albums or playlists available when you’re not connected.

The new service from Google is launching in beta today to U.S. users and is available by invitation.

Dutch merchants can participate in this free service, by using a site called the Google Merchant Center to submit and track their product data feeds.

Google opened the Google Merchant Center for the Netherlands in February to give all merchants time to submit their products and be included in Google Shopping

Once Google Shopping has launched, products submitted through the Google Merchant Center may also appear in relevant ‘Shopping results’ on Google.es, Google.nl, and Google.it.

Google Shopping existed for some time in the United States and the United Kingdom under the name Google Product Search, and was later launched in France. Besides the Netherlands the service will launch also this year in Spain and Italy.

Google indexes the archive which is built up by the online stores and makes it easy for them to make their products accessible to customers around the world.

The data from open wi-fi networks was gathered while Google Street View cars roamed the Netherlands from 2008 – 2010 taking photographs.

Information about the location of those wi-fi networks was intended to be used to improve the location finding ability of Street View and other Google services.

The Dutch Personal Data Protection Board finds that Google should inform the Wi-Fi routers users to give them the chance to oppose the processing of this data and to destroy the information. If Google does not, then the CBP imposes a fine of up to 1 million Euros, announced the College on Tuesday.

The addresses (MAC addresses) of routers and their locations have been collected without the knowledge of users. These addresses are combined with their location data, according to CBP, because they can provide information about the owner of the wifi router. Google gathered information from secured and unsecured routers.

In a statement, Google’s, wrote: “We are profoundly sorry for having mistakenly collected payload data from unencrypted wi-fi networks.”

Google recently has been hit with a fine by France’s privacy watchdog CNIL over the personal data it mistakenly gathered when setting up Street View.

After the launch of “social search results”, people in the near future can recommend results to others instantly with a feature called “+1” that is similar in purpose to the Facebook “Like” button.

The +1 button is shorthand for “this is pretty cool” or “you should check this out.” Click +1 to publicly give something your stamp of approval. Your +1′s can help friends, contacts, and others on the web find the best stuff when they search.

When you +1 something, your name becomes associated with that link “in search, on ads, and across the web,” according to Google. It also shows up in a feed on your Google Profile, which is required to use the product.

Your +1’s are stored in a new tab on your Google profile. You can show your +1’s tab to the world, or keep it private and just use it to personally manage the ever-expanding record of things you love around the web.

The video below explains +1 in more detail