Google Cloud Platform News

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  Google licenses content from news publishers under the EU copyright Directive
  • sorangutan  

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  For many years, Google has helped people find information by linking to news and other websites, and supported publishers and journalists through products, advertising technology and funding. Over the past year, we have also launched a licensing programme called Google News Showcase, working with more than 750 publications across Europe.

  Alongside these efforts, we have been negotiating with news publishers to license content under the European Copyright Directive, which EU countries are in the process of implementing into national law. So far, we have agreements that cover more than 300 national, local and specialist news publications in Germany, Hungary, France, Austria, the Netherlands and Ireland, with many more discussions ongoing.

  We are now announcing the launch of a new tool to make offers to thousands more news publishers, starting in Germany and Hungary, and rolling out to other EU countries over the coming months.

  How does it work?

  The Directive allows search engines like Google to freely link to, and use “very short extracts” of press publishers' content. The law also creates new rights for publishers when longer previews of their content are used online - but without defining what exactly a short extract or a longer preview is.

  Despite this uncertainty, we announced last year that we will pay news publishers for content which goes beyond links and short extracts, as we are already doing in countries such as Germany.

  Through this new tool, which will be available via the Search Console, publishers will be offered an Extended News Preview (ENP) agreement with Google for this content. This will include information about what the offer is for, how to sign up and how to provide feedback.

  All offers are based on consistent criteria which respect the law and existing copyright guidance, including how often a news website is displayed and how much ad revenue is generated on pages that also display previews of news content.

  As always, publishers continue to have full control over whether or not their content appears in Google Search and how that content can be previewed. Publishers can change their preferences and enroll in the ENP program at any time.

  Alongside our negotiations, we will continue to invest in products and programs to provide even more support for journalism in Europe and around the world. We recently announced the Innovation Challenge for Europe and the Google News Initiative Subscriptions Academy which provides publishers with an intense 8-month program focused on digital growth. We look forward to working with publishers and journalists on all these efforts in the coming months, building on our long track record of support for journalism.

  
  
  https://blog.google/around-the-globe/google-europe/google-licenses-content-from-news-publishers-under-the-eu-copyright-directive/
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  Get set, go for the 31st Southeast Asia Games
  • sorangutan  

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  It’s been a difficult couple of years for Southeast Asia, but the region is starting to get back on its feet and look towards an exciting future. And what better way to bring the region’s 650 million people together than through the uplifting power of sport?

  Tomorrow, the 31st Southeast Asia (SEA) Games opens in Hanoi, Vietnam, having been rescheduled from last year. From aquatics to wushu, with 40 sports there’s something for everyone — even people who only tune in to sports every once in a while.

  One of the things that makes the 31st SEA Games unique is the inclusion of Esports — a reflection of this youthful region’s diverse gamer and developer talent. Esports at the Games will consist of eight games and ten events. It’s only the second time Esports has been medal event in a multi-sport competition sanctioned by the IOC.

  While travel within Southeast Asia is picking up, and a few lucky people will be able to catch the action in person, most people outside of Vietnam will be cheering on their team from a distance. We want to help by providing digital tools to make sure everyone can enjoy the Games. Here are five ways we’ll be doing that over the next two weeks.

  1. Stay up to speed and an AR surprise with Google Search

  When you search for the SEA Games on Google, you’ll be able to find the latest information on your favorite events, sports and players, and even see where your country ranks in the medal tally. And if you’re searching on your phone, look out for a sighting of the rare Saola — at least a 3D AR version of one anyway.

  For fans of sporting trends, check out our dedicated SEA Games Trends page to see fun Search stats on your favorite moments. Pages are available for six countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam), and there will also be a deeper focus on seven sports: badminton, basketball, chess, football, taekwondo, swimming and esports.

  2. Watch all the action live on YouTube

  Get all the excitement of the games by catching live events, clips and highlights from official SEA Games broadcasters on their YouTube channels. YouTube can make it even easier for you to cheer on your favorite teams from home with a YouTube SEA Games Playlist that includes live feeds from local broadcasters, including VTV, Mediacorp, Astro, TV5.

  3. Ask Google Assistant for updates

  Stay up to speed on Games news with help from Google Assistant. Just ask questions you’re curious about (“Hey Google, how many medals does Malaysia have in the SEA Games?”), and whether you’re using your phone, speaker, TV or other enabled device, Google Assistant will have all the important details

  4. Explore Vietnam virtually with Google Arts & Culture

  Even if you can’t experience the Games in real life, youcan take a virtual tour of the host country with 37 new exhibits in Google Arts and Culture’s Wonders of Vietnam feature. From astonishing craft works to the world’s largest cave and cities packed with history and culture — you can see it all without leaving your chair

  5. Take the hassle out of travel

  If you are lucky enough to be traveling to Vietnam for the Games, you can make the most of your trip by keeping an eye on prices (just set up a “track prices” function on Google Flights) and find flights with a lower environmental impact using the Emissions filter.

  Once you’re on the ground, let Google Lens be your guide. Just hold your phone up to a sign or other printed text, and Google Lens will auto-detect what language the words are written in and then translate them. You can also avoid crowds using Google Maps’ features showing how busy an area or business is, and find out businesses’ opening hours, offerings and other details through Business Profiles on Search and Maps.

  Good luck to all the athletes taking part, and let the games begin!

  
  
  https://blog.google/around-the-globe/google-asia/sea-games/
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  Raising awareness of the dangers of fentanyl
  • sorangutan  

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  Editor’s note:

  Illegally made fentanyl — a dangerous synthetic opioid — is driving the recent increase in all U.S. overdose deaths, with young people being the most vulnerable.Overdose deaths among teenagers linked to synthetic opioids like fentanyl have tripled in recent years, as illegal fake pills containing the deadly drug are sold on the street and online. Sadly, many young people who lose their lives to overdose are unaware of the dangers of fake prescription pills that contain fentanyl.

  Google continues to promote addiction awareness and highlight recovery support services for those affected. For example, for the past four years Google has worked with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to promote their twice-yearly National Prescription Drug Takeback Day; this includes mapping their collection site locations onthe Recover Together website, a site that also shows a Google Maps locator tool with pharmacies where you can get naloxone, a medication designed to rapidly reverse opioid overdose. Google shows the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) hotline to people looking for help addressing substance use and surfaces thePartnership to End Addiction helpline to connect caregivers of those struggling with substance use with support resources.

  In observance of National Fentanyl Awareness Day on May 10, 2022, we asked two Google Health experts — Dr. Megan Jones Bell, Clinical Director of Consumer and Mental Health at Google, and Dr. Garth Graham, Director and Global Head of YouTube Health — to share their thoughts on addressing the deadly epidemic of fentanyl overdoses.

  ---

  Throughout our careers, we’ve seen the impact that opioids and related substances can have on individuals, families and communities. Over the last two years, these public health issues have been eclipsed by the COVID-19 crisis. As we find ourselves in a new stage of the pandemic, we are facing an equally terrifying national health crisis: fentanyl use.

  What is fentanyl and why is it so dangerous?

  Fentanyl is a potent, lab-made opioid and a cheap and addictive filler that gets added to illegal, counterfeit versions of well-known prescription opioid and anti-anxiety drugs (as explained by the DEA’s One Pill Can Kill website), as well as other illegal drugs like heroin and cocaine. The DEA warns that fentanyl substantially increases the chances of a fatal interaction when added to any of these drugs. The rise of fentanyl in the U.S. has contributed to a recent 33% increase in accidental deaths in people 50 and younger.

  The DEA reports that one in four counterfeit pills made with fentanyl contains a lethal dose. Among the scariest aspects of fentanyl are how easy it is to acquire and that a single pill is often all it takes to end a life. And it can happen to anyone. Two Google parents who lost their sons this way shared their tragic experiences in a blog post last year about the dangers of accidental fentanyl overdose.

  Teens are particularly vulnerable to misleading and false information about the substances that they acquire. Many young people whose lives are lost to fentanyl overdose are not regular drug users. Having honest conversations can save lives: If you’re a parent, guardian or other adult responsible for a young person, please talk to them about the dangers of fentanyl and counterfeit pills. These resources can help to guide your conversations about fentanyl.

  Understanding the impact of fentanyl

  In the U.S. in 2019, overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids like fentanyl were nearly 12 times higher than six years prior. During the COVID-19 pandemic, this disturbing trend became markedly worse. Between January 2020 and January 2021, overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids (primarily fentanyl) rose over 50 percent, and these drugs are likely the main driver of the increase in total drug overdose deaths. In fact, 207 people die every single day from an opioid-related overdose with fentanyl being a factor in more than half of overdose deaths.

  Despite these staggering statistics, awareness of fentanyl-laced, counterfeit pills and other substances is remarkably low. As clinicians and parents, we must ensure that everyone – especially teens, young adults and their parents and guardians – understand the risks and prevalence of fentanyl and how to prevent, recognize and reverse overdoses.

  Resources for fentanyl education and awareness

  For National Fentanyl Awareness Day, Google and YouTube are working together to share resources on Google’s Recover Together site to take a first step toward improving fentanyl education and awareness. We are committed to raising awareness of substance use disorders and the dangers associated with fentanyl and other opioids.

  In addition to highlighting resources on fentanyl education, we are also increasing awareness of a new crisis affecting many U.S. communities: fentanyl mass-overdose events. The DEA defines these horrifying overdose clusters as “three or more overdoses occurring close in time and at the same location.”

  Fentanyl has permanently altered the course of so many people’s lives, leaving devastated families and communities in its wake. Please join us in taking action to end our nation’s opioid epidemic and to protect our families, friends and communities from the scourge of fentanyl.

  Here’s what you can do:

  • Educate your loved ones and spread awareness throughout your community on the dangers and prevalence of fentanyl. The National Fentanyl Awareness Day site has important facts and figures in shareable graphics.
  • Carry and learn how to administer naloxone, as recommended by the US Surgeon General. Many recovery community organizations provide local training, or you can take online courses through organizations like the Red Cross.
  • Learn to recognize the signs of overdose and be prepared to call for help.
  • Verify your online pharmacy before purchasing prescription drugs.
  • Use rapid test strips to determine if drugs are mixed or cut with fentanyl. With the CDC’s help, many states and communities have programs to make these test strips available. You should use these programs to always test any drugs before use.

  Together, we can promote greater awareness of the dangers of fentanyl and help turn the tide on a deadly epidemic that has ended far too many lives far too soon.

  ---

  Megan Jones Bell, PsyD. Clinical Director of Consumer and Mental Health at Google, is a clinical psychologist and digital health leader working to make healthcare more effective, affordable and accessible globally. She has done extensive research on prevention and treatment of mental health disorders and works to ensure that Google users have access to accurate and useful information about substance use disorders and the opioid epidemic.

  Garth Graham, MD, MPH, FACC. Director and Global Head of YouTube Health is a cardiologist, academic and health professional who has served as U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health in two administrations. He works to bring authoritative health information to YouTube users around the globe when they search for information and resources on health conditions, including how to cope with substance addiction conditions. Dr. Graham also sits on the advisory board forNational Fentanyl Awareness Day.

  ---

  
  
  https://blog.google/technology/health/raising-awareness-of-the-dangers-of-fentanyl/
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  Setting the Record Straight on Match Group’s Cynical Campaign Against Google Play
  • sorangutan  

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  Google Play has been the launchpad for millions of developer businesses to connect with consumers around the world. That’s because we’ve earned the trust of billions of users as a safe place to find great apps and games. Google Play’s billing is an important part of our business model, and it allows us to provide consumers with critical safety protections from things like payment fraud and subscription abuse. But Match Group would have you believe that all Google Play provides is payment processing. This simply isn’t true, and Match Group knows it.

  Match Group knows Google Play provides tools and a global distribution platform that helps developers grow their business. And Match Group knows this because they have used these tools and our platform to build a very successful global business. They want access to Google Play’s global distribution platform and users, they want to unfairly leverage Google’s substantial investments in the platform, and they want it all for free.

  Many other developers recognize the value of Google Play and are partnering with us to grow the ecosystem in a responsible way, but Match Group is attempting to freeload off our investments rather than being a responsible partner. Now, after years of reaping the benefits of Google Play, Match Group is doing all it can to avoid paying for the enormous benefits it receives–including misusing the courts, lobbying policymakers, and even suggesting to investors that alternative billing systems would exempt them from paying for the valuable services they receive from Google Play.

  And because Match Group doesn’t believe it should have to pay anything for the substantial services we provide, it’s willing to compromise user safety as part of a global campaign to smear our business and how we operate. We think the facts speak for themselves:

  • Our fees cover the full range of services that Google Play provides, not just payment processing. Just as it costs money to build an app, it costs money to build a platform. Android and Google Play have expanded consumers’ access to affordable devices and services, provided cutting edge technologies to empower developers to build new features and experiences, put a global consumer base within reach for businesses around the world, and kept consumers safe on their devices at a scale that’s unparalleled. Because of the investments we’ve made, Google Play has built a dedicated consumer base of more than 2.5 billion 30-day active users in 190 countries around the world. It’s no small feat to earn that kind of loyalty, and the trust we’ve built has created economic opportunity for millions of developers that have built great businesses with us. Our service fee helps sustain this thriving app and game ecosystem.
  • Our fees are the lowest among major app stores. Google Play is the first major platform to move away from one-size-fits-all pricing to meet developers’ different needs. Today, just around 3% of developers are subject to a service fee and 99% of those developers qualify for a service fee of 15% or less. Match Group’s apps, for example, are eligible to pay just 15% on Google Play for digital subscriptions, which is the lowest rate among major app platforms. Developers have praised our approach. Match Group claims that they’d suffer if they complied with our policies, but they already comply with the policies of other app stores that charge much more than Google Play.
  • Regulators are investigating Match Group’s safety problems. Match Group wants to continue imposing its own billing system, a billing system that has repeatedly faced regulatory scrutiny for things like subscription fraud. Google Play’s billing system is focused on protecting users from these same types of abusive practices by providing transparency and easy-to-use features to manage purchases and subscriptions. Match Group may not like these protections, but consumers do.
  • Match Group has had ample time to make changes. Match Group has known about Google Play’s billing requirement for years, and certainly since September 2020 when we began to bring previously non-compliant apps onto Google Play’s billing system. For the few developers like Match Group that weren’t offering Google Play’s billing to their users, we provided an additional 18 months to give the entire developer community ample time to make any necessary changes.
  • Match Group isn’t interested in true user choice billing. While Match Group claims to support user choice, it has yet to offer its users that option in South Korea, where user choice billing is now available on Google Play. Likewise, they inaccurately allege that users “sometimes” pick Match Group’s billing 3 to 1 over Google Play. But many of their apps only offer Match Group’s billing. In the cases where Google Play is theoretically a user choice, it isn’t presented as a fair choice and is hidden in small text at the very bottom of the app.
  • We’re the only major app store piloting true user choice billing. We recently announced a pilot to invite developers to help us test and iterate on user choice billing in other markets outside South Korea. We started with Spotify as our first partner as they have made substantial investments in the platform and have deep product integrations across all of Android’s form factors. We are actively looking to add more partners in the coming months and developers can express interest.
  • Android is the only mobile platform that offers Match Group alternative distribution choices. More than half of Android devices come preinstalled with 2 or more app stores. Android is a uniquely open operating system and provides Match Group with multiple ways of distributing their apps to users outside of Google Play, including through other Android app stores, or directly to users via their website. And Match Group can of course distribute through Google Play as consumption-only apps.

  As a platform, we’re always looking to work in good faith with partners to grow and evolve the ecosystem, but we’ll stand firm against false attacks on our business, especially when it puts users at risk and endangers our ability to continue investing in and serving our developer community.

  No other mobile platform is as open as Android, and no other platform has shown more willingness to champion user choice, invest in change or collaborate with developers. Google remains focused on helping developers succeed and we look forward to continuing to work with our partners to grow and improve Google Play.

  
  
  https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/public-policy/setting-the-record-straight-on-match-groups-cynical-campaign-against-google-play/
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  Supporting small businesses in a hybrid world
  • sorangutan  

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  As we all moved online during the pandemic, businesses learnt how to adapt quickly to stay connected to customers and employees.

  We grew accustomed to using QR codes in place of queueing, online workouts instead of visiting the gym and video calls replacing real-life conversations. It’s estimated that in 2020, the use of technology leapt forward five years in about five months.

  Now, as we make the switch to hybrid working and welcome the return of face-to-face experiences, businesses — including Google — are having to adapt again. New research we commissioned shows 60% of the UK’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) owners believe they are operating in a post-pandemic “new normal,” with customer and employee expectations dramatically altered.

  And while there has been much focus on post-pandemic return-to-office for big businesses, 60% of SME leaders say they need more support to help adapt to the permanent changes brought about over the past two years.

  Over a third (35%) of SMEs say they have changed their business radically, and 63% say that digital skills and tools are now more important than they were pre-pandemic, as they look to grow in a hybrid and more digitally mature world.

  In spite of that, a majority of SME leaders find that it’s harder now to recruit staff with the right digital skills. They are eager for the next phase of digital skills that will support them: almost three quarters (72%) of businesses say they would be interested in government or third party funded digital skills training, and in incentives for providing training (68%). But many of them don’t know where to get help.

  That’s why today, with Chancellor Rishi Sunak, we’re launching the next phase of our in-person digital skills training, along with new support via Google Career Certificates to help small businesses adapt to this post-pandemic ‘new normal.’

  Delivering in-person digital skills training nationwide

  Starting today in Ipswich, Suffolk, our in-person Google Digital Garage team will be visiting towns and cities nationwide, making stops in places like Leeds, Lincolnshire, Salisbury and Glasgow, to teach small businesses and individuals digital skills that can help them maximize their potential. As well as classes on topics like 'How to write a CV', 'Digital Marketing Strategy' or 'Coding,' we’re offering one-to-one mentoring with digital experts.

  Small businesses are at the heart of our economy – creating jobs and prosperity across the UK. It’s been fantastic to meet so many SMEs in Suffolk today and to see Google’s digital workshop in action which is giving them the tools to grow. Rishi Sunak
  Chancellor of the Exchequer

  High-impact tech skills with Google Career Certificates

  We’re also working alongside the Federation of Small Businesses to offer up to 500 Google Career Certificate Scholarships to SMEs, worth up to £87,000 per business, to help them grow and develop high-impact tech skills. The programmes, which are available on Coursera, offer flexible online training in high-demand areas such as project management, IT support, data analytics, UX design and digital marketing. We're proud these certificates are giving learners the opportunity to gain entry-level digital skills in competitive fields and helping businesses across the UK to fill their skills gaps.

  

  Entrepreneur Levi Roots on stage with two small business founders at today’s Google Digital Garage skills training event

  When work moved from offices and studios to online, no one knew how we’d adapt to such sudden change. But adapt we did. Small businesses leaders looked for creative ways to bring their offline services online and many saw how powerful that could be. Like Zoe Chapman, founder of Kiddiwhizz, who used digital tools like online advertising and social media to supercharge growth, build brand awareness and increase profitability.

  Going digital helped me to grow my new business at an incredible rate, despite launching mid-pandemic. Opportunities that may have otherwise taken years to materialise are already in the works. Zoe Chapman
  Founder of Kiddiwhizz

  Zoe added that, "Having access to a Google Digital Garage mentor was like having a hand to hold whilst learning."

  The UK’s growing digital economy has created opportunities for record numbers of British small businesses to thrive. We’re committed to helping more businesses, and their employees, make the most of that opportunity to maximize their growth.

  
  
  https://blog.google/around-the-globe/google-europe/supporting-small-businesses/
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  Connecting more Americans to in-demand digital skills
  • sorangutan  

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  America’s employers are starting to look at the world differently as they look for talent to fill their growing needs. Many businesses are moving beyond narrowly defined degree requirements. They’re seeking employees who may have acquired skills through alternative routes, which may include career experiences and targeted training programs.

  Since only 36% of American adults have four-year college degrees, requiring that piece of paper automatically screens out 70% of rural workers, almost 70% of African-American workers and 80% of Latino workers.

  When employers hire for relevant skills, rather than screening for degrees, we get access to a talent pool that is qualified, ready to work, and significantly more diverse. But for employers to hire people with the requisite skills, people must have successful avenues to acquire those skills.
  
  Today in the U.S., the reported number of unemployed people is 5.9 million. That number grows dramatically when we include people who are underemployed, are earning low wages or have stopped looking for work. At the same time, there are more than 11 million unfilled jobs, many open because employers say that they can’t find the people with the requisite skills.

  By all indications, this is a skills gap problem that’s only going to get worse. By some estimates, 80% of “middle-skill” U.S. jobs now require digital skills. And the World Economic Forum estimates that up to 50% of workers will need to add new skills to keep up with the requirements of in-demand careers.

  Fortunately, innovative initiatives are equipping people to gain relevant expertise. Since 2017, Google and Goodwill have partnered to bring digital skills to local communities and help people get good jobs that don’t require a degree.

  Which brings us to some news we're sharing today: Google.org is announcing a $14 million reinvestment in the Goodwill Digital Career Accelerator. This includes grants and in-kind support to help Goodwill continue to provide digital training pathways and support job placement for people seeking jobs.

  Google’s expanded support includes $7 million in Google.org grants and $7 million in donated Search ads, which will help Goodwill reach more than 200,000 people across the U.S. and Canada with digital skills and career training so they gain economic mobility. The funds support infrastructure development and expansion like tracking systems for hiring and training that will improve the reach and effectiveness of Goodwill’s services at the local level. Finally, through the Google.org Fellowship, ten Google employees are working full-time pro bono to help Goodwill better reach job seekers online so they can connect with local Goodwill career coaches and work toward brighter futures.

  With support from Google.org, Goodwill has helped more than a million people gain digital awareness and new digital skills, and placed more than 300,000 overlooked job seekers in digital economy jobs.

  There have been some valuable lessons learned along the way:

  1. Meet learners where they are. Many people don’t know that Goodwill places more people in jobs than any other non-government, nonprofit in America. Over the years, Goodwill teams have found access is one of the biggest barriers for people who want to gain digital skills. Goodwill makes training readily available and convenient at Goodwill locations within communities across the U.S. and Canada. More than 70% of the U.S. population lives within a 20-mile radius of a Goodwill mission services location.
     
  2. Remove barriers to learning with enhanced support. There are dozens of reasons why people might drop out of a learning program or not sign up in the first place. Living stipends, connectivity support, transportation credits, career navigators and other resources make it possible for people to participate in and complete training so that they can earn career certificates.
     
  3. Commit to creating pathways to upward mobility. Digital skilling must lead to real jobs with opportunities for growth. Close employer relationships are essential to connect graduates with hands-on internships, apprenticeships, and other learn-and-earn options. An example is Kara Isreal Gooch, a Google Career Certificate graduate who landed a job at Accenture with help from Goodwill and our consortium of employers who have agreed to consider Google Career Certificate graduates for jobs.

  Through collaborations like the one between Goodwill and Google, we’re learning what works and what doesn’t. By aligning the right resources, we can build the systems and capacity needed to close the digital skills gap and connect Americans with the skills and support they need to compete in the 21st century economy. In every community, we need talent equipped and participating in our rapidly changing labor market.

  Interested in learning more about ongoing initiatives to promote workforce development and connect job seekers with careers and resources? Join Goodwill’s Steve Preston, Google’s Kent Walker and experts from across the labor field today at the Rising Together Action Summit. The live-streamed event kicks off with a fireside chat at 10am EST/ 7am PST.

  
  
  https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/google-org/goodwill-digital-skills/
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  How I balance life as a Googler and a military spouse
  • sorangutan  

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  I grew up next to Travis Air Force Base in Northern California, where my dad served for 35 years, primarily in the Air Force Reserve. While we didn’t have to move or deal with long deployments, the majority of my classmates did. All I saw was the strain that military life put on families — and if I had any say in it, I didn’t want that life.

  After my first date with my now-husband, I remember thinking, “Air Force pilot… that’s not ideal.” And it wasn’t! Four years of a long distance relationship, two deployments and my husband’s impending next assignment weighed heavily on our daily life. I was proud of my work at Google in Austin, Texas, and when we got married I was determined to find a way that I could prioritize both my marriage and my career.

  The entire year before we received our move orders, I was filled with an insecurity many military partners are familiar with: the expectation that a civilian employer wouldn’t want to invest in the partner’s career if they were likely to move in a short time. Thankfully in my case, this expectation was unfounded at Google.

  Only one Air Force base on our list was remotely close to a Google office, and that was in Tokyo. While the odds of receiving our top choice were slim, I started looking on our internal job boards and networking with Googlers who had any ties to the Tokyo office well before we actually received our assignment to Yokota Air Base.

  We were fortunate to have a six-month notice and my managers were very supportive. They initiated conversations and introduced me to managers in the Asia Pacific region. I had quite a few late-night video calls with leads, recruiters and mobility specialists, and complex processes to navigate, but on February 14, 2020, my husband and I landed in Japan.

  

  This move would have been significantly harder if it weren’t for the support system I had at Google, specifically the Googler Veterans Network (VetNet) and the Googler Military Partner Group. These groups created a community of people who understood both of the worlds I lived in. I loved having the opportunity to continue bridging the gap between the military and civilian life through volunteering at our annual resume review workshops for veterans, partners, and transitioning service members, organizing veteran small business career fairs, and even hosting my husband’s squadron at Google Austin for a culture and leadership lab.

  When I needed help navigating my move to Japan, I received support from other internal military partners. Because of my lived experiences, Google People Operations asked me to help create benefits and resources to support our military spouses and partners. This included resources for military partners and their managers, and paid leave for military partners during a Permanent Change of Station (PCS) or to prepare for a partner’s military deployment.

  These last two years have been such an unexpected adventure. I earned a promotion, had a baby, switched roles and explored Japan. I’m proud of the advancement of my career, and more importantly to me, my growth as a wife and mother. We find out this summer where we’re off to next. While these moves will always bring some form of stress that accompanies the unknowing, I’m at peace and look forward to using the military partner benefits I helped develop, wherever in the world we land next.

  To learn more about careers at Google, check out our site for the military community.

  
  
  https://blog.google/inside-google/life-at-google/military-spouse-appreciation-day/
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  One step closer to a passwordless future
  • sorangutan  

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  Today passwords are essential to online safety, but threats like phishing, scams, and poor password hygiene continue to pose a risk to users. Google has long recognized these issues, which is why we have created defenses like 2-Step Verification and Google Password Manager.

  However, to really address password problems, we need to move beyond passwords altogether, which is why we’ve been setting the stage for a passwordless future for over a decade.

  Today, in honor of World Password Day, we’re announcing a major milestone in this journey: We plan to implement passwordless support for FIDO Sign-in standards in Android & Chrome. Apple and Microsoft have also announced that they will offer support for their platforms. This will simplify sign-ins across devices, websites, and applications no matter the platform — without the need for a single password. These capabilities will be available over the course of the coming year.

  How will a passwordless future work?

  When you sign into a website or app on your phone, you will simply unlock your phone — your account won’t need a password anymore.

  Instead, your phone will store a FIDO credential called a passkey which is used to unlock your online account. The passkey makes signing in far more secure, as it’s based on public key cryptography and is only shown to your online account when you unlock your phone.

  To sign into a website on your computer, you’ll just need your phone nearby and you’ll simply be prompted to unlock it for access. Once you’ve done this, you won’t need your phone again and you can sign in by just unlocking your computer. Even if you lose your phone, your passkeys will securely sync to your new phone from cloud backup, allowing you to pick up right where your old device left off.

  

  Paving the way to passwordless

  The passkey will bring us much closer to the passwordless future we’ve been mapping out for over a decade.

  

  We’re excited for what the passkey future holds. That said, we understand it will still take time for this technology to be available on everyone’s devices and for website and app developers to take advantage of them. Passwords will continue to be part of our lives as we make this transition, so we’ll remain dedicated to making conventional sign-ins safer and easier through our existing products like Google Password Manager.

  
  
  https://blog.google/technology/safety-security/one-step-closer-to-a-passwordless-future/
• 

  Security myth busting and spring cleaning
  • sorangutan  

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  People are constantly being told to strengthen their security habits, but with so much advice — some of it conflicting — it’s hard to understand where to start or what to believe. Perhaps that’s why people go the easy route. Based on a new study we commissioned with Ipsos, nearly 20% of Americans still use common passwords like Password, abc123 and 123456.

  So, we’re introducing a twist on spring cleaning this year: a digital cleaning to throw out old security advice and replace it with better practices. In honor of World Password Day today, we encourage everyone to start by leveraging the security protections built directly into our products that make every day Safer with Google.

  Out with the old (cybersecurity myths)

  As cybersecurity evolves, many of our old fears about it are no longer relevant or even true, especially with ongoing tech innovations. Here are a some of those myths we’re debunking today:

  “It’s up to me to spot suspicious links on my own”: Phishing schemes can lead to serious cyber attacks, but by leveraging tech that is secure by default, you’re automatically protected from many of them. If you’re using Chrome or Gmail, we’ll proactively flag known deceptive sites, emails and links before you even click them, and Google Password Manager won’t autofill your credentials if it detects a fraudulent website. With the right security protections, which are set as default in Google products, less of the burden is on you.

  “Avoid public Wi-Fi at all costs” The tech industry continues to make improvements to reduce security risks with public Wi-Fi, which has historically been the model for bad security practices. Websites using HTTPS provide secure connections using data encryption. Chrome offers HTTPS-First mode to prioritize those sites and makes it easy to identify protected pages with a lock icon in your web address bar. Use that as a signal for which websites to visit.

  “Bluetooth is dangerous”: Bluetooth technology has come a long way since its inception. It’s far more advanced and harder to break into, especially in comparison with other technologies. However some people might still question whether Bluetooth, familiar as a pairing technology, is a secure method to help you sign in. After all, you’re used to seeing nearby devices like your phone or headphones show up on your laptop. But using current Bluetooth standards is very secure, and doesn’t actually involve pairing. It’s used to ensure your phone is near the device you’re signing in to, confirming it’s really you trying to access your account.

  “Password managers are risky”: It might seem risky to entrust all your credentials in a single provider, but password managers are designed for security —and if you use ours, built directly into Chrome and Android, then you know it’s secure by default. Our research shows that 65% of people still reuse their credentials for various accounts, password managers solve that problem by creating new passwords for you and ensuring their strength. They’re also increasingly more secure, in fact, we recently launched a new on-device encryption for Google Password Manager, allowing you to keep your passwords more private and protected with your Google Account credentials before they’re sent to us for storage.

  “Cybercriminals won’t waste their time targeting me”: You might not be a high-profile figure, but that doesn’t mean you’re not on cybercriminals’ radars. In fact, the everyday person is the perfect target for social engineering, which is when an attacker manipulates you into sharing personal information used for a cyber attack. Social engineers do this for a living and it’s a low cost, low effort way to reach their goals, especially in comparison to physically breaking technology or trying to target someone in the public eye. Protect yourself by being aware of social engineering and taking advantage of products that are secure by default like Gmail, Chrome, etc.

  In with the new (digital spring cleaning)

  Similar to how you clean out your garage each spring, we encourage you to spruce up your security. Get started with these tips and take a quick Security Checkup, which will guide you through protections that can instantly secure your Google Account.

  • Use 2-Step Verification (2SV): 2SV requires a second form of verification to access your account beyond your password — which could be a code sent to your phone, security key, etc. So, if someone tries to access your account, they will have a much harder time because they’ll need your password and second form of verification. Apply 2SV to secure your Google Account today, which will also cover all the services you use Sign in with Google for, with a simple tap on your device.

  • Use a Password Manager: Now that you know the truth about password managers, use one in addition to 2SV. Google Password Manager, built into Chrome and Android, will store your passwords, auto populate them for sites, create strong passwords, ensure they’re not entered into malicious sites, and alert you when they’re compromised.

  • Setup Account Recovery: Things happen, we lose our phones, forget our passwords, etc., so it’s critical to have recovery in place to gain access to your account in the event you’re locked out. This is especially true since other accounts utilize your email as a recovery method, so by keeping your Google Account recoverable, you do so for your other accounts as well. We’re also working to eliminate more inactive accounts for the safety of our users, so if your account becomes inactive and we take action, recovery and 2SV enablement will ensure you don’t lose data. Add a recovery email and phone number to your accounts today and sign up for Inactive Account Manager in addition to 2SV.

  • Install Updates: Finally, apply all those updates you’ve been putting off across your devices. Software updates often address critical security vulnerabilities, and with cyber threats on the rise, they’re more important than ever. Remember, there’s no IT team dedicated to maintaining your security like there may be at work, so it’s up to you to protect yourself at home. Take time to survey your mobile device, router, computer, etc., for updates.

  We know security news will continue to flood your feeds today, but keep these tips in mind and freshen up your security this spring. For more security tips, and to learn about all the ways we make every day Safer with Google, visit ourSafety Center.

  
  
  https://blog.google/technology/safety-security/security-myth-busting-and-spring-cleaning/
• 

  Mosquitos get the swat with new forecasting technology
  • sorangutan  

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  Mosquitoes aren’t just the peskiest creatures on Earth; they infect more than 700 million people a year with dangerous diseases like Zika, Malaria, Dengue Fever, and Yellow Fever. Prevention is the best protection, and stopping mosquito bites before they happen is a critical step.

  SC Johnson — a leading developer and manufacturer of pest control products, consumer packaged goods, and other professional products — has an outsized impact in reducing the transmission of mosquito-borne diseases. That’s why Google Cloud was honored to team up with one of the company’s leading pest control brands, OFF!®, to develop a new publicly available, predictive model of when and where mosquito populations are emerging nationwide. 

  As the planet warms and weather changes, OFF! noticed month-to-month and year-to-year fluctuations in consumer habits at a regional level, due to changes in mosquito populations. Because of these rapid changes, it’s difficult for people to know when to protect themselves. The OFF!Cast Mosquito Forecast™, built on Google Cloud and available today, will predict mosquito outbreaks across the United States, helping communities protect themselves from both the nuisance of mosquitoes and the dangers of mosquito-borne diseases — with the goal of expanding to other markets, like Brazil and Mexico, in the near future. 

  

  Source: Sadie J. Ryan, Colin J. Carlson, Erin A. Mordecai, and Leah R. Johnson

  With the OFF!Cast Mosquito Forecast™, anyone can get their local mosquito prediction as easily as a daily weather update. Powered by Google Cloud’s geospatial and data analytics technologies, OFF!Cast Mosquito Forecast is the world’s first public technology platform that predicts and shares mosquito abundance information. By applying data that is informed by the science of mosquito biology, OFF!Cast accurately predicts mosquito behavior and mosquito populations in specific geographical locations.

  Starting today, anyone can easily explore OFF!Cast on a desktop or mobile device and get their local seven-day mosquito forecast for any zip code in the continental United States. People can also sign up to receive a weekly forecast. To make this forecasting tool as helpful as possible, OFF! modeled its user interface after popular weather apps, a familiar frame of reference for consumers.

  

  SC Johnon’s OFF!Cast platform gives free, accurate and local seven-day mosquito forecasts for zip codes across the continental United States.

  The technology behind the OFF!Cast Mosquito Forecast

  To create this first-of-its-kind forecast, OFF! stood up a secure and production-scale Google Cloud Platform environment and tapped into Google Earth Engine, our cloud-based geospatial analysis platform that combines satellite imagery and geospatial data with powerful computing to help people and organizations understand how the planet is changing. 

  The OFF!Cast Mosquito Forecast is the result of multiple data sources coming together to provide consumers with an accurate view of mosquito activity. First, Google Earth Engine extracts billions of individual weather data points. Then, a scientific algorithm co-developed by the SC Johnson Center for Insect Science and Family Health and Climate Engine experts translates that weather data into relevant mosquito information. Finally, the collected information is put into the model and distilled into a color-coded, seven-day forecast of mosquito populations. The model is applied to the lifecycle of a mosquito, starting from when it lays eggs to when it could bite a human.

  It takes an ecosystem to battle mosquitos

  Over the past decade, academics, scientists and NGOs have used Google Earth Engine and its earth observation data to make meaningful progress on climate research, natural resource protection, carbon emissions reduction and other sustainability goals. It has made it possible for organizations to monitor global forest loss in near real-time and has helped more than 160 countries map and protect freshwater ecosystems. Google Earth Engine is now available in preview with Google Cloud for commercial use.

  Our partner, Climate Engine, was a key player in helping make the OFF!Cast Mosquito Forecast a reality. Climate Engine is a scientist-led company that works with Google Cloud and our customers to accelerate and scale the use of Google Earth Engine, in addition to those of Google Cloud Storage and BigQuery, among other tools. With Climate Engine, OFF! integrated insect data from VectorBase, an organization that collects and counts mosquitoes and is funded by the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

  The model powering the OFF!Cast Mosquito Forecast combines three inputs — knowledge of a mosquito’s lifecycle, detailed climate data inputs, and mosquito population counts from more than 5,000 locations provided by VectorBase. The model’s accuracy was validated against precise mosquito population data collected over six years from more than 33 million mosquitoes across 141 different species at more than 5,000 unique trapping locations.

  A better understanding of entomology, especially things like degree days and how they affect mosquito populations, and helping communities take action is critically important to improving public health.

  A version of this blogpost appeared on the Google Cloud blog.

  
  
  https://blog.google/products/google-cloud/mosquitos-get-the-swat-with-new-forecasting-technology/
• 

  Buckle up: McLaren has a new Android and Chrome F1 race car
  • sorangutan  

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  At this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix, I’ll be cheering on two of my favorite Formula 1 drivers — Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo — as they race around the track in McLaren Formula 1 cars fashioned with Android-inspired engine covers and slick, Chrome-inspired wheel covers.

  Earlier this year, Google became an Official Partner of the McLaren Formula 1 Team, a sport that is data-driven at heart and a natural fit for our products. We specifically teamed up with McLaren because of our shared values, especially around sustainability and inclusion. In 2011, McLaren was the first F1 team to be certified carbon neutral, and they’re currently in the process of adopting renewable energy across all their operations. They also recently announced their first woman driver for the Extreme E electric racing series as a first of many efforts to improve representation.

  Through our partnership, we're pairing the engineering excellence of McLaren’s race cars with Google technology to help maximize race-day performance. McLaren’s crew is already using Android connected devices and equipment, including phones, tablets and earbuds, to help improve pit stops, and their pit team will use Fitbit devices to monitor their overall health and wellbeing, including heart rate and breathing rate. The team will also exclusively use the Chrome browser. Meanwhile, the Extreme E McLaren Team will bring Pixel 6s and Pixel Buds to their off-road racing operations for the first time this season.

  

  This collaboration has the potential to solve big and complex engineering challenges — from improving the team’s telemetry and design capabilities through AI, to speeding up decision making and safeguarding team communications using Android 5G. We've got an exciting road ahead with McLaren Racing, and our feet are placed firmly on the gas.

  
  
  https://blog.google/products/chrome/buckle-up-mclaren-has-a-new-android-and-chrome-f1-race-car/
• 

  Google acquires Raxium
  • sorangutan  

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  Today we’re announcing that Google has acquired Raxium, an innovator in single panel MicroLED display technologies. The team at Raxium has spent five years creating miniaturized, cost-effective and energy efficient high-resolution displays that have laid the foundation for future display technologies. Raxium’s technical expertise in this area will play a key role as we continue to invest in our hardware efforts.

  Raxium is based in Fremont, California and will join Google’s Devices & Services team. We’re thrilled to have the team at Raxium on board to help further our goal of building helpful devices and services to improve people’s daily lives.

  
  
  https://blog.google/inside-google/company-announcements/google-acquires-raxium/
• 

  Watch With Me on Google TV: Andra Day’s watchlist
  • sorangutan  

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  Movies and TV can make us laugh, cry and even shape who we are. Our watchlists can be surprisingly revealing. We’re teaming up with entertainers, artists and cultural icons on a newWatch With Meseries on Google TV to share their top picks and give you a behind-the-scenes look at the TV and movies that inspired them.

  Singer, songwriter and actress Andra Day sheds light on untold stories through both movies and music. “I think music, movies and TV are entertainment, but they can also heal society and individuals, and allow yourself to be in other worlds,” she says.

  Though she more recently made the jump into acting, Andra always has been inspired by how movies can mobilize people and help everyone feel represented. “Watching challenging movies, particularly when it's not a perspective that is your own, helps you to grow in love and in empathy, you know?” she says. “I think challenging movies just make us better people and make us a better society.”

  

  We caught up with Andra to find out what she’s learned from her favorite picks — and to find out a little more about her, too.

  What does your watchlist say about you?

  Andra Day: What I hope my watchlist says about me is that I love all different kinds of people. I love being able to immerse myself in other places, periods and lives.

  Do you like to watch movies alone or with other people?

  Andra Day:I like watching movies with other people. But I’m also someone who likes to rewind if I missed something. And other people don’t always love that…

  What’s the most episodes you watched in one sitting?

  Andra Day: It depends on the show and also if I can’t fall asleep. But I have watched 10 episodes in one sitting before!

  What’s the first movie you ever watched?

  Andra Day:Oooh, my first memorable movie I ever watched was “E.T.” I love everything about it, from baby Drew Barrymore to aliens.

  What’s your favorite genre?

  Andra Day:If I had to pick one, I want to say a documentary to make myself look good, but it's probably an action movie.

  What is your go-to movie snack?

  Andra Day:To be honest, it’s hot Cheetos, but I’m trying to make it hummus and celery!

  Check out Andra’s watchlist and see the iconic movies that inspired her jump from music to acting on Google TV, rolling out over the next few days. Share your favorites as well using #WatchWithMe!

  
  
  https://blog.google/products/google-tv/watchwithme-andraday/
• 

  Critical information for those impacted by the war in Ukraine
  • sorangutan  

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  Pictured above: David Miliband, CEO and President of the International Rescue Committee visited the Google office in Berlin today, where he met with United for Ukraine’s founders and Google executives.

  The Russian invasion of Ukraine is a tragedy with a huge human cost. It’s heartbreaking to see all that the people of Ukraine are going through, and it weighs heavily across Europe, particularly for those with family, friends and colleagues in the region.

  We’re committed to doing all we can to help. From the beginning of the war, our teams have been working around the clock to support the humanitarian effort, provide trustworthy information and promote cybersecurity.

  United for Ukraine — providing critical information for refugees

  The United Nations High Commission for Refugees has estimated that more than 5 million refugees have already fled Ukraine into neighboring countries, with a further 13 million living in Ukrainian territory and in need of vital aid.

  For those leaving Ukraine and settling for now in a new country, finding authoritative information and trusted services can be challenging and time-consuming. To help make it easier, Google.org is providing a $1.5 million grant to the International Rescue Committee (IRC), along with a team of Google.org Fellows, to expand access to critical information for those impacted by the war in Ukraine.

  The money and expertise will help the IRC support unitedforukraine.org, an informative website and civil society effort that helps displaced people to find housing, legal aid and psychological support. The platform was launched by United for Ukraine, a non profit organization founded in February 2022 by two Ukrainian friends — Olga Hamama, CEO of venture development platform Planet FC, and Nina Levchuk, who happens to work for Google.

  

  Unitedforukraine.org supports Ukrainian refugees through a network of over 400 legal experts and psychological support professionals from more than 30 countries. It will be part of the IRC’s Signpost Project, a global humanitarian technology program that helps refugees find resources to meet their urgent needs. Google has supported the IRC in its important work since 2015, providing $8 million in grant funding and more than 10,000 hours of pro bono support.

  Over the course of six months, a Fellowship team of 13 Google employees will work full time and pro-bono with the IRC to help expand unitedforukraine.org and Signpost globally. The goal is to create a trusted place for displaced people to easily find both urgent support and long-term solutions, though of course we hope they will be able to return to a safe and secure Ukraine very soon.

  Supporting frontline humanitarian work

  This grant is the latest in our work to support humanitarian aid and refugee support groups in Ukraine and the surrounding countries.

  Through Google.org and Googlers, we have already committed over $35 million in funding and in-kind support to aid relief efforts for those affected by the war in Ukraine. Many Googlers in the region are themselves hosting Ukrainian refugees in their homes, helping in local reception centers or at the border.

  Tomorrow (5 May 2022), at the Donors Conference in Warsaw, I will announce a further commitment of $10 million in humanitarian support, which includes cash grants and in-kind donations, from Google.org and Google to help people in Ukraine. This will bring our total commitment from Google.org and Googlers to over $45 million in funding and in-kind support.

  Helping through our products and tools

  In times of war, accurate and timely information can save lives. We have been working to make our tools as helpful as possible to people affected by the war in Ukraine.

  In Ukraine, we have worked closely with the government to send rapid air raid alerts to Android mobile phones in endangered areas, and feature information on shelter and aid points in Search and Maps.

  We’re also working to protect those in the region against cyber attacks — increasing online protections for everyone, while Project Shield, our free protection against DDoS attacks, is already defending over 200 Ukrainian news, government and humanitarian organization websites. On top of this, Google's Threat Analysis Group (TAG) has been closely monitoring cybersecurity activity in Eastern Europe, providing regular updates and sharing information to help others detect and respond to activity.

  Globally, Google is elevating trusted news sources in response to searches about the war — and shutting down harmful content and misinformation. Since the war started, YouTube has removed more than 8,000 channels and 60,000 videos for misinformation, hate speech or graphic violence related to the war in Ukraine.

  Throughout, we’ve worked to ensure that our efforts provide meaningful support to the people and businesses affected by the war – and we intend to keep focused on that goal, whatever the future may hold.

  
  
  https://blog.google/around-the-globe/google-europe/critical-information-for-those-impacted-by-the-war-in-ukraine/
• 

  Our 2021 Ads Safety Report
  • sorangutan  

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  User safety is at the top of our list when we make decisions about ads and monetized content on our platforms. In fact, thousands of Googlers work around the clock to prevent malicious use of our advertising services and help make them safer for people, businesses and publishers. We do this important work because an ad-supported internet means everyone can access essential information.

  And as the digital world evolves, our policy development and enforcement strategies evolve with it — helping to prevent abuse while allowing businesses to reach new customers and grow. We’ve continued to invest in our policies, teams of experts and enforcement technology to stay ahead of potential threats. In 2021, we introduced a multi-strike system for repeat policy violations. We added or updated over 30 policies for advertisers and publishers including a policy prohibiting claims that promote climate change denial and a certification for U.S.-based health insurance providers to only allow ads from government exchanges, first-party providers and licensed third-party brokers.

  In 2021, we removed over 3.4 billion ads, restricted over 5.7 billion ads and suspended over 5.6 million advertiser accounts. We also blocked or restricted ads from serving on 1.7 billion publisher pages, and took broader site-level enforcement action on approximately 63,000 publisher sites.

  

  Check out the entire 2021 Ads Safety Report for enforcement data, and read on for a few of the highlights.

  Responding to the war in Ukraine

  Though the report only covers 2021, we also wanted to share an update on our response to the war in Ukraine — given it’s top of mind for so many around the world, including our enforcement teams. We acted quickly to institute a sensitive event, prohibiting ads from profiting from or exploiting the situation. This is in addition to our longstanding policies prohibiting content that incites violence or denies the occurrence of tragic events to run as ads or monetize using our services.

  We’ve also taken several other steps to pause the majority of our commercial activities in Russia across our products — including pausing ads from showing in Russia and ads from Russian-based advertisers, and pausing monetization of Russian state-funded media across our platforms.

  So far, we’ve blocked over eight million ads related to the war in Ukraine under our sensitive event policy and separately removed ads from more than 60 state-funded media sites across our platforms.

  Suspending triple the number of advertiser accounts

  As we shared in our 2020 report, we’ve seen an increase in fraudulent activity during the pandemic. In 2021, we continued to see bad actors operate with more sophistication and at a greater scale, using a variety of tactics to evade our detection. This included creating thousands of accounts simultaneously and using techniques like cloaking and text manipulation to show our reviewers and systems different ad content than they’d show a user — making that content more difficult to detect and enforce against.

  We’re continuing to take a multi-pronged approach to combat this behavior, like verifying advertisers’ identities and identifying coordinated activity between accounts using signals in our network. We are actively verifying advertisers in over 180 countries. And if an advertiser fails to complete our verification program when prompted, the account is automatically suspended.

  This combination of efforts has allowed us to match the scale of our adversaries and more efficiently remove multiple accounts associated with a single bad actor at once. As a result, between 2020 and 2021, we tripled the number of account-level suspensions for advertisers.

  Preventing unreliable claims from monetizing and serving in ads

  In 2021, we doubled down on our enforcement of unreliable content. We blocked ads from running on more than 500,000 pages that violated our policies against harmful health claims related to COVID-19 and demonstrably false claims that could undermine trust and participation in elections. Late last year, we also launched a new Unreliable Claims policy on climate change, which prohibits content that contradicts well-established scientific consensus around its existence and causes.

  We’ve stayed focused on preventing abuse in ads related to COVID-19, which was especially important in 2021 for claims related to vaccines, testing and price-gouging for critical supplies like masks. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we’ve blocked over 106 million ads related to COVID-19. And we supported local NGOs and governments with $250 million in Ad Grants to help connect people to accurate vaccine information.

  Introducing new brand safety tools and resources for advertisers and publishers

  Maintaining advertiser brand safety remains a top priority. Last year, we added a new feature to our advertiser controls that allows brands to upload dynamic exclusion lists that can be automatically updated and maintained by trusted third parties. This helps advertisers get access to the resources and expertise of trusted organizations to better protect their brands and strengthen their campaigns.

  We know that advertisers care about all the content on a page where their ads may run, including user-generated content (UGC) like comment sections. That’s why we hold publishers responsible for moderating these features. We’ve released several resources in the past year to help them do that — including an infographic and blog post, troubleshooters to solve UGC issues and a video tutorial.
  

  In addition to these resources, we made targeted improvements to the publisher approval process that helped us better detect and block bad actors before they could even create accounts. As a result, we reduced the number of sites that needed site-level action compared to previous years.

  Looking ahead to 2022

  A trustworthy advertising experience is critical to getting helpful and useful information to people around the world. And this year, we’ll continue to address areas of abuse across our platforms and network to protect users and help credible advertisers and publishers. Providing more transparency and control over the ads people see is a big part of that goal. Our new “About this ad” feature is rolling out globally to help people understand why an ad was shown and which advertiser ran it. They can also report an ad if they believe it violates one of our policies or block an ad they aren’t interested in.

  We believe this combination of work will help to create a safer experience for users everywhere. You can find ongoing updates to our policies and controls in our Help Center.

  
  
  https://blog.google/products/ads-commerce/ads-safety-report-2021/
• 

  Humans Behind Search: Meet Matt
  • sorangutan  

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  Matt Cooke, who heads up the Google News Lab, talks about how his team’s keeping it real in news and search.

  First, can you tell us about the Google News Initiative and the work that your team does?

  The Google News Initiative is the part of Google that works with journalists and entrepreneurs to drive innovation in news — from surfacing factual information to helping local publishers to digitize their content.

  As part of that, the News Lab offers partnerships and training in 70 countries around the world to bring Google technology to journalists and news publishers. We want to help strengthen digital skills to help journalists verify sources, fact check and explore different forms of storytelling for audiences searching for accurate information.

  Tell us about your background and what led to working at Google.

  I worked for a number of years at BBC in various roles, including reporting from the East London multimedia newsroom in the build-up to the 2012 Olympic Games. We gave members of the audience access to small cameras, which got me thinking about the potential of digital storytelling. So when the opportunity came along at Google, I seized it! I’m coming up to my 10th anniversary here.

  What tips can you give readers searching for credible news and information?

  News comes to us in so many different ways and formats these days so it can sometimes be hard to tell what's authoritative and accurate. But there are tools available to help, and there are five things I would recommend when it comes to checking authenticity:

  1. If you’ve stumbled across something surprising, check the source. The About This Result feature provides details about a website before you visit it, including its description, when it was first indexed and whether your connection to the site is secure.
  2. If an image looks suspicious you can go toGoogle Images and do a reverse image search by clicking on the camera icon and dragging in your picture. An example of an obvious fake, that many will have seen and that recurs, is the shark swimming up a flooded street.
  3. Again if a story is surprising, look at other news sources to see if they’re covering it too. If they’re not, that could give you some pause for thought. Stories on Google news have the option for ‘full coverage,’ which means you can see how others are reporting the same story.
  4. We have something called theFact Check Explorer which allows you to type in a search term and then it shows you counterclaims and debunks of that theory by fact checking organisations.
  5. Google Maps, Google Earth and Street View can all help you verify whether an image that you are seeing is from the reported location. This can be done by checking for shadows of, for example, mountains or nearby buildings on Street View, and by matching them up with Google Earth.

  There are some amazing and painstaking examples of work from BBC Africa Eye with video verification. It shows that by combining digital tools with great journalism, you can get to the heart of what’s really going on.

  How are you tackling deep fakes?

  Technology evolves fast, but our engineering teams and trust and safety teams are working hard to make sure that our technology stays ahead of emerging threats, and we’re working closely with industry partners too to understand how they’re engaging with verification and misinformation. It’s an industry-wide effort.

  Progress is being made, for example YouTube has something calledContent ID which allows organisations to detect their IP copyright and content.

  How does Google make sure that organisations don’t game the algorithm?

  We update the search algorithm thousands of times a year and work hard to make sure that the information people find is the most accurate, authoritative and relevant to what they’re looking for. We have policies in place to prevent spam and any deceptive practices — there’s more information here about how Search works. And I’d also add that we place a lot of importance on people finding good quality local news from reliable sources as well.

  How do you make sure that search literacy isn’t confined to the few and privileged?

  Over the last few years we’ve spent a lot of time with media literacy experts to provide newsroom style lessons for primary and secondary school students across the UK, a good example is Be Internet Legends which has reached over 70% of primary schools in England.

  And there’s more that can be done outside the classroom. Last year, we contributed €25 million to the European Media and Information Fund, which supports funding for publishers, academics and researchers to research and implement media literacy.

  What excites you about Search?

  One of the things that my team works with is a tool calledGoogle Trends, which shows you anonymised, indexed data on what people are searching for across a given location or a given time.

  We collaborate with broadcasters, journalists, academics and non-profits to see what emerging patterns and trends in search reveal. What’s really interesting is how changing questions reveal changing attitudes across time. It’s useful for journalists, or indeed anybody who’s interested, to see what preoccupations people have around major news events.

  For example, if you're looking for the latest design trends, we can see that Search interest for 'japandi interior design' has increased by 973% in the last 12 months. Similarly, if you're wondering what people in the UK are reading, we can share that between 2017 and 2021, Search interest for books on neurodiversity has increased by 1280%.

  What’s your most loved search feature that everybody should know about?

  Some of the more Advanced Search features can really save time. So if you’re searching for information about an institution or a public figure, often you’ll have to wade through lots of information. If you want to delve deeper you can start to remove repetitive information, simply by putting a minus symbol in front of a word. For example, I travel a lot for work so if you’re looking for information about UK airports but you don’t want to focus on Heathrow you can type in ‘UK airports -Heathrow.’ It is simple, but saves lots of time!

  On Google Street View, my favourite desktop tool is the little clock at the top of the screen. This allows you to go back in time so you can see how things have changed. For example, when Britain was getting ready to host the 2012 Olympic Games, you can see all the flags and banners up in central London. And where cities change fast, for example East London, you can see how new developments have taken the place of old buildings. Take a look!

  
  
  https://blog.google/products/search/humans-behind-search-meet-matt/
• 

  Mothers.day: Highlighting inequality in maternal health
  • sorangutan  

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  The path to parenthood looks different for everyone, but one element of becoming a parent is universal: the need for quality healthcare and community support. Sadly, this basic need is out of reach for far too many people. Every day, more than 800 people around the world die from pregnancy- and childbirth-related causes that could have been prevented, according to the World Health Organization.

  Google Registry launched the .day top-level domain earlier this year, and today we’re introducing mothers.day — a resource dedicated to highlighting inequities in maternal health and helping families at different stages of parenthood. The website also lists ways you and your loved ones can help bridge these gaps by volunteering or donating to organizations making an impact in this space.

  This year, I've asked my family to make giving to others the focus of our Mother’s Day celebration. To help pass on the value of generosity, the mothers.day website points to several nonprofits for Mother’s Day giving, including:

  • Postpartum Support International is the world’s leading nonprofit organization dedicated to helping women suffering from perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, including postpartum depression.
  • Black Mamas Matter Alliance is a Black women-led group that advocates, drives research, builds power, and shifts culture for Black maternal health, rights and justice.
  • Fistula Foundation provides life-transforming surgery to women injured in childbirth who are left incontinent and often shunned.
  • The Cradle is a nonprofit, licensed child welfare agency providing adoption services, counseling and education and a nursery for birth parents and adoptive families.
  • Hello Neighbor's Smart Start program provides refugee and immigrant mothers with socio-emotional, logistical, and material need support throughout pregnancy and postpartum.

  These are just a few organizations committed to making the journey to parenthood equitable for everyone. In addition to giving, mothers.day includes information on how you can make an impact on maternal healthcare by participating in research studies:

  • Powermom is a mobile research platform with the goal of addressing health disparities and partnering with all participants during pregnancy and the postpartum period.
  • PM³ study is a study for Black women, by Black women and helps new moms in the state of Georgia stay healthy after pregnancy.
  • Maternal Near Miss aims to gather insights from women of color who've had near-death experiences during pregnancy and/or childbirth in order to inform maternal health policies and clinical practices.

  There are so many ways to support birthing people and their families around the world. For more ways to get involved, visit mothers.day.

  Read Article

  Today is the .day

  .day, the latest top-level domain extension from Google Registry, helps you bring attention to any important day

  Read Article

  
  
  https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/nonprofits/mothersdotday/
• 

  Update on cyber activity in Eastern Europe
  • sorangutan  

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  Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) has been closely monitoring the cybersecurity activity in Eastern Europe with regard to the war in Ukraine. Since our last update, TAG has observed a continuously growing number of threat actors using the war as a lure in phishing and malware campaigns. Similar to other reports, we have also observed threat actors increasingly target critical infrastructure entities including oil and gas, telecommunications and manufacturing.

  Government-backed actors from China, Iran, North Korea and Russia, as well as various unattributed groups, have used various Ukraine war-related themes in an effort to get targets to open malicious emails or click malicious links. Financially motivated and criminal actors are also using current events as a means for targeting users.

  As always, we continue to publish details surrounding the actions we take against coordinated influence operations in our quarterly TAG bulletin. We promptly identify and remove any such content but have not observed any significant shifts from the normal levels of activity that occur in the region.

  Here is a deeper look at the campaign activity TAG has observed and the actions the team has taken to protect our users over the past few weeks:

  APT28 or Fancy Bear, a threat actor attributed to Russia GRU, was observed targeting users in Ukraine with a new variant of malware. The malware, distributed via email attachments inside of password protected zip files (ua_report.zip), is a .Net executable that when executed steals cookies and saved passwords from Chrome, Edge and Firefox browsers. The data is then exfiltrated via email to a compromised email account.

  Malware samples:

  • 710faabf217a5cd3431670558603a45edb1e01970f2a8710514c2cc3dd8c2424
  • 39d242660c6d5dbe97d5725bbfed0f583344d18840ccd902fffdd71af12e20ec

  TAG would like to thank the Yahoo! Paranoids Advanced Cyber Threats Team for their collaboration in this investigation.

  Turla, a group TAG attributes to Russia FSB, continues to run campaigns against the Baltics, targeting defense and cybersecurity organizations in the region. Similar to recently observed activity, these campaigns were sent via email and contained a unique link per target that led to a DOCX file hosted on attacker controlled infrastructure. When opened, the DOCX file would attempt to download a unique PNG file from the same attacker controlled domain.

  Recently observed Turla domains:

  • wkoinfo.webredirect[.]org
  • jadlactnato.webredirect[.]org
    

  COLDRIVER, a Russian-based threat actor sometimes referred to as Callisto, continues to use Gmail accounts to send credential phishing emails to a variety of Google and non-Google accounts. The targets include government and defense officials, politicians, NGOs and think tanks, and journalists. The group's tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) for these campaigns have shifted slightly from including phishing links directly in the email, to also linking to PDFs and/or DOCs hosted on Google Drive and Microsoft One Drive. Within these files is a link to an attacker controlled phishing domain.

  These phishing domains have been blocked through Google Safe Browsing – a service that identifies unsafe websites across the web and notifies users and website owners of potential harm.

  

  An example of this technique

  Recently observed COLDRIVER credential phishing domains:

  • cache-dns[.]com
  • docs-shared[.]com
  • documents-forwarding[.]com
  • documents-preview[.]com
  • protection-link[.]online
  • webresources[.]live

  Ghostwriter, a Belarusian threat actor, has remained active during the course of the war and recently resumed targeting of Gmail accounts via credential phishing. This campaign, targeting high risk individuals in Ukraine, contained links leading to compromised websites where the first stage phishing page was hosted. If the user clicked continue, they would be redirected to an attacker controlled site that collected the users credentials. There were no accounts compromised from this campaign and Google will alert all targeted users of these attempts through our monthly government-backed attacker warnings.
  

  Both pages from this campaign are shown below.

  

  In mid-April, TAG detected a Ghostwriter credential phishing campaign targeting Facebook users. The targets, primarily located in Lithuania, were sent links to attacker controlled domains from a domain spoofing the Facebook security team.

  

  Recently observed Ghostwriter credential phishing domains and emails:

  • noreply.accountsverify[.]top
  • microsoftonline.email-verify[.]top
  • lt-microsoftgroup.serure-email[.]online
  • facebook.com-validation[.]top
  • lt-meta.com-verification[.]top
  • lt-facebook.com-verification[.]top
  • secure@facebookgroup[.]lt

  Curious Gorge, a group TAG attributes to China's PLA SSF, has remained active against government, military, logistics and manufacturing organizations in Ukraine, Russia and Central Asia. In Russia, long running campaigns against multiple government organizations have continued, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Over the past week, TAG identified additional compromises impacting multiple Russian defense contractors and manufacturers and a Russian logistics company.

  Protecting Our Users

  Upon discovery, all identified websites and domains were added to Safe Browsing to protect users from further exploitation. We also send all targeted Gmail and Workspace users government-backed attacker alerts notifying them of the activity. We encourage any potential targets to enable Google Account Level Enhanced Safe Browsing and ensure that all devices are updated.

  The team continues to work around the clock, focusing on the safety and security of our users and the platforms that help them access and share important information. We’ll continue to take action, identify bad actors and share relevant information with others across industry and governments, with the goal of bringing awareness to these issues, protecting users and preventing future attacks. While we are actively monitoring activity related to Ukraine and Russia, we continue to be just as vigilant in relation to other threat actors globally, to ensure that they do not take advantage of everyone’s focus on this region.

  
  
  https://blog.google/threat-analysis-group/update-on-cyber-activity-in-eastern-europe/
• 

  Helping more businesses and people get skills to succeed
  • sorangutan  

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  Editor’s note: Today marks the start of National Small Business Week, a time to celebrate the millions of small businesses across the U.S. that power and connect our communities. This morning, Lisa Gevelber, Founder of Grow with Google, was joined by the Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator, Isabella Casillas Guzman, at an event to announce new resources for businesses to help fuel growth and employee skill development. More details below.

  Small businesses drive the U.S. economy and employ more than 46% of workers. We can attribute much of the nation’s economic rebound over the past two years to the hard work of American businesses — and to the digital tools that helped them adapt. At Google, we see how technology is fueling American business growth in the 2.4 billion connections we make every month between American businesses and their customers.

  Three out of four U.S. small-and-medium sized businesses reported that adopting digital tools during the pandemic created new opportunities for their business. And digitally advanced businesses report 20 times better customer acquisition rates. Yet almost half (49%) of small businesses still lack the information and skills needed to use digital tools. Filling these skill gaps can help fuel growth for American businesses while creating new opportunities for workers. That’s why we’re expanding our Google Career Certificates program to further meet the needs of businesses and job seekers.

  Google Career Certificate scholarships for U.S. businesses

  To make it easier for businesses to help their employees get the skills they need, beginning today, U.S. businesses can get up to 500 scholarships each to Google Career Certificates to train their employees.[71cee3]These scholarships are worth up to $100,000 in workforce training per American company. Businesses can apply at grow.google/certificatesforbusiness.

  It’s no secret that businesses of all sizes are struggling to acquire and retain talent. Those who create growth opportunities for their employees have a much better shot at retaining them. Businesses can use Google Career Certificates to train their employees for jobs in data analytics, digital marketing & e-commerce, IT support, project management or user experience (UX) design. No experience is required, and employees can earn an industry recognized credential in three to six months of part-time study. For every scholarship we give, a business will be gaining capabilities and, at the same time, an employee will be growing new skills.

  Giving businesses more capabilities in e-commerce and digital marketing

  The pandemic accelerated the need for digital tools — and we know digitally advanced businesses have been more financially resilient, and have hired at twice the rate compared to less digitally advanced peers.

  To ensure businesses of all sizes can use digital marketing and e-commerce to unlock growth opportunities — and that they have access to talent with the know-how — Google is launching a new Digital Marketing & E-commerce Certificate.

  This new certificate is rigorous, and endorsed by the 4A’s (American Association of Advertising Agencies) and the AAF (American Advertising Federation). Here’s what you should know:

  • This certificate teaches digital marketing and e-commerce skills, including how to find customers, building an online store, measurement and analytics and increasing customer loyalty.
  • Like all our certificates, all course instructors are Google employees who are subject-matter experts.
  • Learners will get hands-on experience with popular digital marketing and e-commerce tools and platforms such as Canva, Constant Contact, Hootsuite, HubSpot, MailChimp, Shopify and Twitter, as well as Google Ads and Google Analytics.

  This certificate is the latest addition to the Google Career Certificates program, which provides flexible online training for skills in high-growth fields. Combined, these certificates provide job seekers with access to more than 1.5 million in-demand jobs in the U.S. Graduates of the program gain access to jobs through our employer consortium, which includes more than 150 companies — such as Crate & Barrel, Infosys, Shopify, Verizon, Walmart, Wayfair and Google — that are eager to hire entry-level talent in these fields.

  We’re looking forward to seeing what opportunities businesses, employees and job seekers continue to unlock with the expansion of the program. Learn more and enroll at grow.google/digitalmarketing.

  
  
  https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/grow-with-google/career-certificates-scholarships-digital-marketing-ecommerce/
• 

  3 things to ask as you prepare for summer travel 2022
  • sorangutan  

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  Summer 2022 is nearly here, and vacationing is on many minds. But it’s not as easy as deciding you're ready to hit the road — or sky. We took a look at some Google Search and Flight trends and came up with a few questions you can ask yourself as you start planning to go…somewhere, anywhere besides your home. And to help you answer those questions, we’ve got plenty of travel-related Google trends that can guide you through settling on your next journey.

  Read Article

  Plan your summer travel, with help from Google

  New travel tools from Google make it easy to plan your next vacation.

  Read Article

  Who should go on the trip with you?

  So far in 2022, search interest in “girls trip destinations” is up 300% and “good bachelor party ideas” is up 200%, so group trips are certainly on our minds. Expecting parents would be wise to take one last couples trip — in fact, in the U.S., search interest in “best babymoon destinations usa” increased 170% in the first four months of 2022. And there’s nothing wrong with going solo; look no further than the 600% spike in “singles cruises” from January through April 2022.

  What’s the goal of your getaway?

  Once you’ve settled on who you want to travel with, the real fun can start and you can decide what kind of trip this will be. Well…is this a trip, or a vacation? Do you want to rest up, or rev up? Are you treating yourself or trying new adventures? Or maybe a little of all the above!

  According to Google Trends, lots of people are looking to experience the outdoors: The top-searched summer attractions in the U.S. include Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, as well as Lake Tahoe and the Grand Canyon.

  Glamping is also a popular option for those who want to get outside without totally roughing it (that’s glamorous camping, for the uninitiated). From January 2019 to April 2022, search interest in “glamping near me” spiked more than 500%. Florida, Texas, California, Georgia and Tennessee are the most-searched destinations for glamping.

  Where should you go?

  Whatever kind of traveler you are (or plan to become this summer!), landing on the right destination is key. And if you’re excited about an international adventure, you’re in great company! Search interest in “passport appointments” increased 300% over the first four months of 2022, and Google Flights trends show that five of the top 20 destinations people in the U.S. are searching for are in Europe — London, Paris, Rome, Athens and Lisbon. Here’s a look at the complete list of the 20 top-searched summer destinations on Google Flights:

  1) Orlando

  2) Cancun

  3) Las Vegas

  4) London

  5) New York

  6) Los Angeles

  7) Paris

  8) Seattle

  9) Honolulu

  10) Denver

  11) Rome

  12) Miami

  13) San Juan

  14) Fort Lauderdale

  15) Chicago

  16) Boston

  17) Athens

  18) San Francisco

  19) Lisbon

  20) Portland

  Looking to stay stateside? Domestic travel trends show people looking for flights to Orlando, Las Vegas, New York, L.A. and Seattle, among other great U.S. cities. So if you want to hit the trendy spots, you know where to go…and if you want to avoid the trendy spots, you know where not to go.

  Traveling isn’t stress-free, and for anyone who’s already feeling overwhelmed by the options, there’s nothing wrong with indulging in a staycation. In fact, looking at January through April 2022, “luxury hotels near me” has over two times the search interest it had during the same period in 2019. No passport required.

  
  
  https://blog.google/products/travel/3-things-to-ask-as-you-prepare-for-summer-travel-2022/