Google Cloud Platform News

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  Here's how online shoppers are finding inspiration
  • sorangutan  

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  People shop across Google more than a billion times a day — and we have a pretty good sense of what they’re browsing for. For instance, our Search data shows that the early 2000’s are having a moment. We’re seeing increased search interest in “Y2k fashion” and products like bucket hats and ankle bracelets. Also popular? The iconic Clinique “Happy” perfume, Prada crochet bags and linen pants.

  While we know what’s trending, we also wanted to understand how people find inspiration when they’re shopping for lifestyle products. So we surveyed 2,000 U.S. shoppers of apparel, beauty and home decor for our first Inspired Shopping Report. Read on to find out what we learned.

  Shopping isn’t always a checklist

  According to our findings, most fashion, beauty and home shoppers spend up to two weeks researching products before they buy them. Many, though, are shopping online just for fun — 65% say they often or sometimes shop or browse online when they’re not looking for anything in particular. To help make online shopping even easier and more entertaining, we recently added more browsable search results for fashion and apparel shopping queries. So when you search for chunky loafers, a lime green dress or a raffia bag on Google, you’ll scroll through a visual feed with various colors and styles — alongside other helpful information like local shops, style guides and videos.

  

  Apparel queries on Search show a more visual display of products

  Inspiration can strike anywhere

  We know shopping inspiration can strike at any moment. In fact, 60% of shoppers say they often or sometimes get inspired or prompted to buy something even when they aren’t actively shopping. That can come from spotting great street style: 39% of shoppers say they often or sometimes look for a specific outfit online after they see someone wearing it. Or it can come from browsing online: 48% of shoppers have taken a screenshot of a piece of clothing, accessory or home decor item they liked (and 70% of them say they’ve searched for or bought it afterwards). Google Lens can help you shop for looks as soon as you spot them. Just snap a photo or screenshot and you’ll find exact or similar results to shop from.

  Sometimes words aren’t enough

  We know it can be hard to find what you’re looking for using words alone, even when you do have an image — like that multi-colored, metallic floral wallpaper you took a photo of that would go perfectly with your living room rug. Half of shoppers say they often or sometimes have failed to find a specific piece of clothing or furniture online after trying to describe it with just words. And 66% of shoppers wished they could find an item in a different color or print.

  To help you track down those super specific pieces, we’re introducing an entirely new way to search — using text and images at the same time. With multisearch on Lens, you can better uncover the products you’re looking for even when you don’t have all the words to describe them. For example, you might be on the lookout for a scarf in the same pattern as one of your handbags. Just snap a photo of the patterned handbag on Lens and add the query “scarf” to complete your look. Or take a photo of your favorite heels and add the query “flats” to find a more comfortable version.

  

  With multisearch on Lens, you can search with both images and text at the same time

  Trying before you buy matters

  It’s not always possible to make it to the store and try something on before you buy it — but it matters. Among online beauty shoppers, more than 60% have decided not to purchase a beauty or cosmetic item online because they didn’t know what color or shade to choose, and 41% have decided to return an item because it was the wrong shade. With AR Beauty experiences, you can virtually discover and “try on” thousands of products from brands like Maybelline New York, M.A.C. and Charlotte Tilbury — helping you make more informed decisions. And now, shoppers can try on cosmetics from a variety of brands carried at Ulta Beauty right in Google Search. Just search for a product, like the Morphe Matte Liquid Lipstick or Kylie Cosmetics High Gloss, and find the best shade for you.

  

  Google’s AR Beauty experience features products from Ulta Beauty

  No matter where you find your shopping inspiration, we hope these features and tools help you discover new products, compare different options and ultimately make the perfect purchase.

  
  
  https://blog.google/products/shopping/shopping-inspiration-insights/
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  Go beyond the search box: Introducing multisearch
  • sorangutan  

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  How many times have you tried to find the perfect piece of clothing, a tutorial to recreate nail art or even instructions on how to take care of a plant someone gifted you — but you didn’t have all the words to describe what you were looking for?

  At Google, we’re always dreaming up new ways to help you uncover the information you’re looking for — no matter how tricky it might be to express what you need. That’s why today, we’re introducing an entirely new way to search: using text and images at the same time. With multisearch in Lens, you can go beyond the search box and ask questions about what you see.

  Let’s take a look at how you can use multisearch to help with your visual needs, including style and home decor questions. To get started, simply open up the Google app on Android or iOS, tap the Lens camera icon and either search one of your screenshots or snap a photo of the world around you, like the stylish wallpaper pattern at your local coffee shop. Then, swipe up and tap the "+ Add to your search" button to add text.

  Multisearch allows people to search with both images and text at the same time.

  With multisearch, you can ask a question about an object in front of you or refine your search by color, brand or a visual attribute. Give it a go yourself by using Lens to:

  • Screenshot a stylish orange dress and add the query “green” to find it in another color
  • Snap a photo of your dining set and add the query “coffee table” to find a matching table
  • Take a picture of your rosemary plant and add the query “care instructions”

  All this is made possible by our latest advancements in artificial intelligence, which is making it easier to understand the world around you in more natural and intuitive ways. We’re also exploring ways in which this feature might be enhanced by MUM– our latest AI model in Search– to improve results for all the questions you could imagine asking.

  This is available as a beta feature in English in the U.S., with the best results for shopping searches. Try out multisearch today in the Google app, the best way to search with your camera, voice and now text and images at the same time.

  
  
  https://blog.google/products/search/multisearch/
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  News Showcase is launching in Slovakia
  • sorangutan  

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  Journalists have long been committed to providing reliable information to people when they need it, with the last few weeks proving this more than ever. With products like Search and News, Google is committed to helping people find reliable and relevant information.

  Today we're going further in our support for journalism in Slovakia by rolling out Google News Showcase, our product and licensing program for news publishers.

  Google has signed partnerships with six Slovak publications including national news outlets, a television broadcaster and a press agency, which provide essential news coverage to people all over the country. The titles included in the News Showcase launch in Slovakia are Nový čas, Denník N, SME, TA3, Topky and Webnoviny. We’ll continue to work with other news partners in the country to add additional resources in the future. News Showcase is part of our global investment in news and reinforces our commitment to journalism in Slovakia and around the world.

  

  An example of how News Showcase can look for some of our partners in Slovakia

  News Showcase panels can appear on Google products, currently on News and Discover, and direct readers to the full articles on publishers’ websites, helping them deepen their relationships with readers. Panels will also include extended access to paywalled content from select participating publishers to give readers even more from their favorite sources, with the intention of leading to more subscribers for the news organization. In addition to the revenue that comes directly from these more-engaged readers, participating publishers will receive monthly licensing payments from Google.

  “At SME, we realize that only high-quality and independent journalism will gain long-term support from subscribers,” says Peter Macinga, Chief Digital Officer of Petit Press, the publisher of SME and of other national and regional news titles in Slovakia. “We appreciate our partnership with Google on News Showcase, which will make our premium content available to an even larger audience.”

  “Dennik N only exists thanks to the support of our subscribers, and we are therefore always looking for ways to provide them with faster and more convenient access to information,” says Lukas Fila, CEO of N Press, the first Slovak national publisher that made a move to derive the majority of their revenue from subscriptions. “Google News Showcase is a new way for our interviews, investigative journalism and analyses to reach readers. With the free access to some of our normally paywalled content, brand new audiences will be able to try out access to our paid articles.”

  Since we launched News Showcase in October 2020, we’ve signed deals with more than 1,400 news publications around the world and have launched in 15 countries including India, Japan, Germany, Portugal, Brazil, Austria, the U.K., Australia, Czechia, Italy, Colombia, Argentina, Canada, Ireland and now Slovakia, bringing more in-depth, essential news coverage to Google News and Discover users.

  

  An example of how News Showcase panels will look with some of our partners in Slovakia

  “As one of the longest established media companies in Slovakia, we are glad to be among the first to participate in this Google project,” says Samuel Schlarmann, Digital Media director of news agency SITA, a national news outlet. “We are glad that we can develop our journalistic, analytical and digital skills in this direction. We see our partnership in Google News Showcase as an opportunity to bring our work closer to new readers, and we firmly believe that we will enrich the Google platform with quality content.”
  

  Google News Showcase is our latest effort to support publishers and the news industry in Slovakia. We supported 12 local Slovak newsrooms through the Google News Initiative’s Journalism Emergency Relief Fund to help them continue their vital work during the COVID-19 pandemic, and provided 1.5 million euros to support six Digital News Innovation Fund experimental news projects, from titles such as SME, Denník N, Postoj and Vot. Around the world, the Google News Initiative has supported more than 7,000 news partners in over 120 countries and territories. Since 2015, the Google News Lab has trained more than 300 Slovak journalists, newsroom staff and journalism students on a range of digital tools to help them research, verify and visualize their stories.

  Google also sends eight billion visits each month to European news websites from products like Search and News, which publishers can monetize with online advertising and subscriptions on their websites and apps. Our ad technologies enable news organizations to sell their ad space to millions of advertisers globally.

  We’re dedicated to continuing our contribution to and collaboration with the news ecosystem, supporting the open web and continuing to provide access to information in Slovakia and elsewhere.

  
  
  https://blog.google/around-the-globe/google-europe/news-showcase-launching-slovakia/
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  A new fellowship for experiments in journalism and AI
  • sorangutan  

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  Last year, 24 international newsrooms participated in the JournalismAI Collab Challenge, a Google News Initiative partnership with Polis, the journalism think-tank at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Their goal was to help journalists around the world build solutions, powered by artificial intelligence, to enhance their reporting capabilities.

  Together, they prototyped helpful tools such as AFP and The Guardian’s machine learning solution to accurately extract quotes from news articles, the Political Misogynistic Discourse Monitor, which detects hate speech against women in several languages, and a guide to using AI and satellite imagery for storytelling.

  To grow this collaboration, we are launching a newJournalism AI Fellowship Programme for 20 journalists and technologists in Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Americas to explore and experiment with new ideas.

  This program is aimed at professionals with some experience in AI and will run for six months, from June to December 2022. It is fully virtual and has been designed for Fellows to be able to dedicate six to eight hours a week to their project, whilst keeping up with their day-to-day responsibilities at work.

  Rather than individual Fellows, we’re inviting two people from the same organizations – one with an editorial role and one with a technical role – to apply for the program. Each pair will collaborate with another pair from a different publisher to form a team of four.

  Each team will be provided with mentoring and coaching opportunities and get access to JournalismAI’s global network of 4,000 experts, researchers and innovators. A budget of $6,000 per team will also help cover project-related expenses.

  At the end of the program, participants will present their work and lessons they learned at the third edition of the JournalismAI Festival, the yearly gathering of the JournalismAI community.

  Applications for the JournalismAI Fellowship Programme are reviewed on a rolling basis and close on Thursday April 28 at 11:59 PM GMT. To learn more about the process, please visit the program’s website and sign up for the JournalismAI newsletter.

  
  
  https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/google-news-initiative/journalism-ai-fellowship/
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  An Innovation Challenge for Europe
  • sorangutan  

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  Whether it's exploring new business models, boosting reader engagement or working with technology to transform newsrooms, news organizations across Europe continue to innovate. That’s why today we are announcing the first Google News Initiative Innovation Challenge for the region, designed to provide support for some of the small and medium-sized organizations which provide credible information when it’s needed most.

  This new program follows the GNI’s previous initiative for the region, the Digital News Innovation Fund. The DNI Fund supported 662 ambitious projects in digital journalism, ranging from giving investigative journalists tools to collaborate across borders, to creating open-source software that helps independent journalism business models thrive, to using virtual reality to help people develop more empathy toward others.

  10:25

  We’re looking for news innovators who want to challenge the status quo and take bold steps towards a more diverse and sustainable future. The European GNI Innovation Challenge is an opportunity for small and medium-sized news organizations to stimulate innovation in news.

  10:25

  How the Innovation Challenge works

  The Innovation Challenge is open to established publishers, online-only players, news startups, collaborative partnerships and freelancers based in Europe. Eligible applicants should have newsrooms with fewer than 50 full-time journalists. (Publishers employing more than 50 full-time journalists can still apply and will be considered subject to Google’s discretion.) Funding is available for projects up to a maximum of €150,000. For more information on eligible projects, criteria and funding, see our website.

  Apply now

  We’re on the lookout for great ideas. Do you want to launch a new news product? Have a never-tested-before approach to increase quality in journalism? Or do you want to find a new way to diversify your revenue? See the Innovation Challenge website for full details about the countries, criteria and funding as well as application forms.

  Applications, in English, must be made online via our website and are open until May 31, 2022 at 23:59 GMT. As part of the application process, applicants are required to produce an explanatory slide deck (please note, clicking the link opens a new page which offers a download to make your own copy of the template to work in). We will also be holding an online town hall on Wednesday, April 13 at 1pm GMT with a live presentation with the opportunity to ask questions. We’ll announce recipients later in the year.

  It’s time to experiment and try something novel. Please submit your applications now.

  
  
  https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/google-news-initiative/innovation-challenge-europe/
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  Take a step-by-step tour of your Chrome privacy settings
  • sorangutan  

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  Your browser plays a big role in your online experience — including protecting your privacy. And in Chrome, we don’t take this responsibility for granted. That's why we've made your privacy and security controls easier to understand, and today, we’re introducing our latest tool to help you continue to protect your privacy while you browse.

  Developed at the Google Safety Engineering Center (GSEC), Privacy Guide is a step-by-step guided tour of some existing privacy and security controls in Chrome — so you can make and manage the right selections for you in one spot.

  When you navigate through Privacy Guide, you’ll learn about the benefits, trade-offs and privacy implications of each setting so you can easily understand what happens when a particular one is on or off. To start, Privacy Guide will include controls for cookies, history sync, Safe Browsing, and Make Searches and Browsing Better. As we receive feedback from the community, we may add more settings to the guide over time.

  

  Soon, you’ll see a new card for Privacy Guide in the “Privacy and security” tab in your Chrome settings, which you can find by clicking the three dots on the top-right corner of your browser. And don’t worry if you don’t have time to take the whole tour at once. Your changes are saved along the way, so you can pick it back up whenever works best for you.

  Privacy Guide will start rolling out to all M100 Chrome desktop users in the coming weeks. We hope it helps you learn more about Chrome’s privacy settings and, most importantly, gives you the peace of mind to browse safely.

  
  
  https://blog.google/products/chrome/take-step-step-guide-your-chrome-privacy-settings/
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  100 versions of Chrome later: What we learned along the way
  • sorangutan  

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  When we introduced Google Chrome back in 2008, our goal was to build a browser that was fast, secure, and easy to use. For over a decade, we’ve worked with the larger ecosystem to drive innovation on the web forward and build a user and developer experience that helps people and developers get things done. We continue this work today.

  It’s humbling to know that billions of people around the world turn to Chrome, and we’re constantly challenging ourselves to make it faster, safer, more helpful and more accessible for everyone. Personally, I've been inspired by how we've driven HTTPS adoption, made payments and password management better and helped developers create incredible Chrome extensions. In short, it's amazing to see the thousands of tiny updates from the team that come together to make Chrome better and better.

  We recently rolled out the 100th major update for your Chrome browser — and to mark this milestone, I asked some members of the team to share a few of their favorite features and improvements.

  Building the fastest browser

  Max Christoff, Senior Engineering Director

  There’s no such thing as a browser that’s too fast. Speed has shaped our work since Chrome’s launch in 2008. After more than a decade, we’ve continued to find new performance wins by obsessively sweating the engineering details. In the past year and a half alone, we’ve made Chrome an additional 43% faster. But having the fastest browser on the planet doesn’t help if your device runs out of battery or memory, so we’ll continue working to make Chrome more efficient — on all platforms, from low-end phones to high-performance workstations.

  Prioritizing your privacy and security

  Sabine Borsay and Patrick Nepper, Senior Product Managers, Chrome Trust & Safety

  From the beginning, we designed Chrome with your safety and privacy in mind. Chrome comes with a powerful password manager to make signing in safe and seamless across your devices. It will also warn you if your passwords have been compromised and help you fix weak ones with a single tap. Along with providing strong default protections, we try to make privacy controls easy to find, understand and use. After a complete redesign of Chrome’s security and privacy settings two years ago, we have a new guided tour of key privacy controls, so you can make choices that work best for you.

  Building a simple, safe and beautiful Chrome

  Alex Ainslie, UX Director

  Looking back on the past decade, I’m proud of the human-centered work the Chrome team has done to build a browser that’s powerfully simple — that’s shown in features like tab groups and password autofill. Along the way we’ve published work on usable security, designed a tiny dino game and updated Chrome’s visual design. Chrome’s designers, researchers and writers focus on crafting a browser specifically for each device by taking into account operating system conventions, input methods and hardware capabilities. We want to get the #littlebigdetails right and welcome your bug reports and feedback about how we can make Chrome work better for you.

  Designing a more inclusive experience

  RK Popkin, Group Product Manager

  Looking back, I’m proudest of the work we’ve done to bring the web to more people. Chrome is now the most popular browser for screenreader users, and we use the latest AI advancements to describe pictures across the web for blind and low vision users. We’ve added Live Captions to video/audio content for users who are Deaf or hard of hearing, and our DevTools accessibility tree helps others build better for people with disabilities. Chrome also uses neural machine translation to translate the web in 108 languages — this past month, we translated over 25 billion webpages! We’ve also collaborated with Black and Latino artists to bring their visions to Chrome’s new tab page, giving people a new way to make Chrome reflect themselves. We’re excited to release more collaborations in the future.

  Supporting a free and open-source web browser project

  Paul Kinlan, Senior Staff Developer Advocate & Lead of Chrome Developer Relations

  As a web developer before joining Google, I was fascinated with Chrome because it was the first open source browser project (the project itself is called Chromium) and built on web standards, meaning anyone could contribute and improve it. Today, Chromium powers many of the most popular browsers, including Microsoft Edge and Amazon Silk, while also enabling the web to be built into Android apps, TVs and VR headsets. Thanks to our commitment to shorten the release cycle and ship a new version of Chrome more often, we’re now able to make improvements and fix issues quicker, and projects like Interop 2022 will help enable web developers to build experiences that work everywhere.

  Deploying Chrome at work or school

  Philippe Rivard, Senior Product Manager, Chrome browser enterprise

  People everywhere transitioned to remote work and school during the pandemic, and many of them relied on Chrome to help. What people might not know about is the work that IT teams around the world did to make this seamless and secure, thanks to tools like Chrome Browser Cloud Management. This allowed IT teams to manage Chrome across operating systems, directly from the cloud. I'm proud of the work my team has done to help organizations of all sizes make the most of the web. Now, many organizations are moving to hybrid working models for the foreseeable future, and Chrome will continue to support IT teams as they handle this added complexity.

  Helping you search and get things done online

  Yana Yushkina, Product Manager, Search in Chrome

  We’ve all left too many tabs open in fear of losing valuable info — that's why I’m most excited about Chrome Journeys. This helps you revisit time-intensive research by pulling your previously visited sites based on topic. Or to skip tabs altogether, Chrome Actions helps you jump right to opening a new Doc, translating a page or sharing a site.

  Keeping up with content you care about

  Janice Wong, Product Manager, Content Discovery

  At its core the web is all about content — both the people consuming it, and people creating it. Last year, we made it easier for you to follow and get updates from your favorite web publishers right from Chrome. You can also discover content from new websites that’s relevant and interesting to you in Chrome on Android and iOS. I'm excited to help even more people keep up with their interests and discover new ones from the new tab page.

  Thank you for trusting Chrome and for helping us continually improve it via your feedback — here’s to the next 100 milestones!

  
  
  https://blog.google/products/chrome/100-versions-chrome-later-what-we-learned-along-way/
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  Google Maps burrito trends to guac your world
  • sorangutan  

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  April 7 is National Burrito Day in the U.S. So get ready to roll over to your favorite burrito joint and treat yourself to the extra guac. Whether you like your burrito in a bowl or rolled, take a bite out of these Google Maps trends we’ve served up for you — from the most popular national and local burrito places to which state has the most burritos and much more.

  For the love of the burrito

  Nationally, we found that the most popular burrito chains in the U.S. are Chipotle, Qdoba and Moe’s. Lettuce take a look at which of these is the top-searched burrito chain in each state on Google Maps!

  • Chipotle is the most popular burrito chain, ranking first among the three most popular national chains in 30 states and Washington D.C.
  • Qdoba is the second most popular burrito chain, ranking first among the three most popular burrito chains in 13 states.
  • Moe’s is the third most popular burrito chain, ranking first among the three most popular burrito chains in 7 states.

  

  A burrito state of mind

  We guess it's true what they say, everything’s bigger in Texas – including the number of burrito restaurants per capita! For every 10,000 residents, Texas has 4.5 burrito restaurants (or restaurants that serve burritos.) Want to know the other states that are truly burrito-ful? New Mexico comes in as a close second place for most burrito restaurants per capita, and California in third.

  But having the most burrito restaurants doesn’t guarantee you the title of Google Maps’ most burrito-loving state. In fact, it's Coloradans that turn to Google Maps to search for burritos the most, with Oregon, New Mexico, Illinois and California rounding out the top five states.

  Each state has its own burrito flair. If you’ve been craving something a little more authentic, we’re serving up some of the top-rated Mexican and Burrito Restaurants that identify as Latino-owned on Google Maps:

  • Holy Mōlli Mexican Fusion - Greenville, SC
  • Mis Moles Restaurant - Chicago, IL
  • Habanero Burrito - Portland, ME
  • Britos Tacos El Sombrero - Ramsey, MN
  • El Pueblo Mexican Restaurant - Phoenix, AZ
  • Tacos Lotería - Chicago, IL
  • Daily Special Authentic Mexican Grill - Baltimore, MD
  • Super Burritos Mexican Grill - Everett, MA
  • Delicias Tamales & Authentic Mexican Food - La Junta, CO
  • Padrino’s Mexican Restaurant - St. Louis, MO

  And for those days you’re on the hunt for something more unique, like California’s fry-filled burritos in San

  Diego or a slathering of green chiles in New Mexico, we’re spilling the beans on the most popular local burrito spot in each state.

  Alabama: El Compa Taco Truck - Birmingham, AL

  Alaska: El Dorado Mexican Restaurant - Anchorage, AK

  Arizona: Cocina Madrigal Tacos + Tequila - Phoenix, AZ

  Arkansas: Los Ruvalcaba Mexican Restaurant - Texarkana, AR

  California: La Puerta - San Diego, CA

  Colorado: La Loma Bonita - Denver, CO

  Connecticut: Agave Grill - Hartford, CT

  Delaware: Atexquita Restaurant Mexican Grill & Bar - Newark, DE

  District of Columbia: El Sol Restaurante & Tequileria - Washington, DC

  Florida: Dulce Vida Mexican Restaurant - Miami, FL

  Georgia: No Mas! Cantina - Atlanta, GA

  Hawaii: Oahu Mexican Grill (OMG) - Honolulu, HI

  Idaho: Barrigas Mexican Restaurant - Boise, ID

  Illinois: La Cantina - Chicago, IL

  Indiana: Loco Mexican Restaurant and Cantina - Indianapolis, IN

  Iowa: Cancun Grill and Cantina - Urbandale, IA

  Kansas: El Fogon - Overland Park, KS

  Kentucky: Mi Casita on 4th - Louisville, KY

  Louisiana: Taqueria Guerrero Mexico Inc - New Orleans, LA

  Maine: Guerrero Maya - Portland, ME

  Maryland: Daily Special Authentic Mexican Grill - Baltimore, MD

  Massachusetts: Maria’s Taqueria - Boston, MA

  Michigan: Donkey Taqueria - Grand Rapids, MI

  Minnesota: Andale Taqueria - Richfield, MN

  Mississippi: Los Parrilleros - Forest, MS

  Missouri: Mas Tequila Cantina - St. Louis, MO

  Montana: Ramires Mexican Food - Bozeman, MT

  Nebraska: El Chaparro - Lincoln, NE

  Nevada: El Dorado Cantina - Las Vegas, NV

  New Hampshire: El Rincon Zacatecano Taqueria - Manchester, NH

  New Jersey: Taqueria Downtown - Jersey City, NJ

  New Mexico: Chico's Tortas y Piñas Lokas - Santa Rosa, NM

  New York: Vida Verde - New York, NY

  North Carolina: San Jose Tacos & Tequila - Raleigh, NC

  North Dakota: Vinyl Taco - Sioux Falls, ND

  Ohio: Maria’s Mexican Restaurant - Lancaster, OH

  Oklahoma: Elote Cafe & Catering - Tulsa, OK

  Oregon: Victorico’s Mexican Food - Hillsboro, OR

  Pennsylvania: El Rey - Philadelphia, PA

  Rhode Island: Caliente Mexican Grill - Kingston, RI

  South Carolina: Taqueria Rocio - Ridgleand, SC

  South Dakota: Que Pasa Cantina - Rapid City, SD

  Tennessee: El Soñador Mexican Restaurant - Gatlinburg, TN

  Texas: Granny’s Tacos - Austin, TX

  Utah: Red Iguana - Salt Lake City, UT

  Vermont: Gringo Jacks - Manchester Center, VT

  Virginia:Tacos Los Primos - Arlington, VA

  Washington: Fogón Cocina Mexicana - Seattle, WA

  West Virginia: Mi Degollado Mexican Restaurant - Charles Town, WV

  Wisconsin: Margarita’s of Green Bay - Green Bay, WI

  Wyoming: Corona Village - Laramie, WY

  However you choose to celebrate National Burrito Day, Google Maps makes it extra ch-easy to support local favorites and discover new places to explore. That’s a wrap! 🌯

  
  
  https://blog.google/products/maps/google-maps-national-burrito-day-trends/
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  Humans Behind Search: Doodle guest artist, Joe Impressions
  • sorangutan  

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  Joe Impressions is a graphic designer based in Nairobi, Kenya. In honor of what would have been the 71st birthday of the late professor Okoth Okombo of Nairobi University, Joe served as a local guest artist to create a Google Doodlereflecting Professor Okombo’s contribution and legacy that launched on November 8, 2021. Professor Okombo was one of the founders of the scientific study of sign language in Africa and a distinguished scholar in Nilotic language study. Here, we speak to Joe about using Search in his design process and how curiosity fuels how he works.

  Thanks for chatting with us, Joe. So, how does one go from doodling for fun to being a Google Doodle guest artist?

  Curiosity has driven my whole creative journey. I grew up doodling Bible stories for children back at home as a child. In high school, I began secretly doodling on the back pages of my school books. That's when I discovered my love for art, so I enjoyed using my free time to doodle for fun.

  Afterwards, I went to university and studied a non-art-related course. My mother bought me my first laptop which spurred my interest in creating digital art. This curiosity led me to discover computer software that enabled me to create my own art. Midway, I was tempted to switch courses and study art, but I chose not to. Instead, I decided to utilize my free time every day to practice and learn how to use software such as Adobe Illustrator through online tutorials.

  After graduation, I had greatly improved my skills, but then the COVID pandemic started. I went back home and since there wasn't much going on, I had a lot of free time. As remote working became a thing, I slowly started to get freelance jobs and clients from freelance platforms. This gave me valuable experience working with clients on actual real-life projects.

  Over time, my online portfolio on Behance (a social media platform for designers) grew, and eventually people noticed me and my work. I was honored when Google approached me to create a Doodle for Professor Okoth Okombo's 71st birthday. This still motivates me to keep moving forward and find new opportunities to expand my skills.

  You spoke about ‘curiosity being your guide’ in the creative process. What was your starting point with creating this Doodle?

  I start my creative process long before I begin the drawing bit. I am always curiously observing and absorbing the people, art, and world around me to ignite my creativity. As I walk, travel, or dream, I am always ready to be inspired.

  Once I have been inspired, I begin the research phase. I begin my research by brainstorming keywords derived from my imagination and feelings. I like to list down keywords and ideas that are easy to search for on Google, such as "lecturer" and "student." Next, I Google Searched the internet for relevant photographs, images, paintings and illustrations in order to get a realistic setting in perspective and composition. Additionally, looking at previous Doodles by other artists helped me form my general expectations. Having a rough idea of­ what I would like to search for before starting research helps me stay focused.

  Having done all this, I felt comfortable to start the sketching phase. I came up with three rough sketches to present to Google for feedback. We selected the best concept based on the feedback. The next step was to refine the sketch into accurate outlines. I usually make my outlines look organic and hand-drawn by varying the stroke width using custom brushes in Adobe Illustrator.

  The final stage is the coloring and rendering stage. The colors for this Doodle are inspired by the Kenyan Flag (black, red, green, and white). I save hundreds of nice images that I come across so that I can reference their colors later. I do this to enlarge the library of colors that I use in my work.

  

  Joe Impressions' Google Doodle honoring the late professor Okoth Okombo.

  How do you use Search in your day-to-day life in Kenya? For information, escapism or something else?

  Throughout my journey, Search has been like a giant key that I use to unlock doors of information. Every day, Search makes it effortless to access a vast amount of information for free. I started out illustrating by searching for art tutorials on my phone and laptop using school Wi-Fi. Many college and university students are dependent on search to complete assignments and do research.

  These days, I use Search more than ever. I search daily for everything, like resources, entertainment, and ways to connect with others and keep myself informed. With the current increasing internet penetration rate, the search continues to provide young Kenyan creatives with resources that could have been inaccessible before. Search is contributing to the rising access to online jobs as the source of work opportunities is shifting to digital platforms.

  Any advice for aspiring Doodle artists out there?

  The best way for aspiring Doodle artists to improve their craft is to stay inspired, be consistent, and do lots of practice. The creative process is often cloudy, filled with doubts and revisions. Keep hunting down those elusive ideas every day. You will eventually find them, and people will start to notice you and your work.

  Don’t let insufficient resources stop you from following your dreams. Use everything you have at your disposal to learn, and it will pay off in the long run.

  What does the Google Doodle mean to you?

  This Doodle gave me a massive chance to fuse my illustration skills, former university experiences, and the inspiration that I got from other Google Doodles. All my previous interactions with other Doodles left me with a piece of information that I did not know before. It was my moment to celebrate Professor Okoth Okombo by showing my vision of what I imagined Professor Okoth Okombo’s lectures would feel like.

  Moreover, my mom, now a lecturer, was once Professor Okoth Okombo's student at the University of Nairobi. That makes this Doodle very meaningful to me.

  
  
  https://blog.google/products/search/humans-behind-search-doodle-guest-artist-joe-impressions/
• 

  Make Google Maps your copilot with these new updates
  • sorangutan  

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  Say goodbye to road trip and vacation planning woes with new updates to Google Maps 👋 . Whether you’re driving around a new city or heading out on a weekend road trip, we’re launching new improvements including toll prices, a more detailed navigation map, and iOS updates to help you plan your drive, save money and explore a new place.

  To toll or not to toll? Pick the best route with new toll prices

  Long-distance drives, poor road conditions, and heavy traffic can dampen the mood of any road trip. In those moments, you might want to take a toll road. To help make the choice between toll roads and regular roads easier, we’re rolling out toll prices on Google Maps for the first time.

  Soon, you’ll see the estimated toll price to your destination before you start navigating thanks to trusted information from local tolling authorities. We look at factors like the cost of using a toll pass or other payment methods, what the day of the week it is, along with how much the toll is expected to cost at the specific time you’ll be crossing it.

  Not a fan of toll roads? No problem. When a toll-free route is available, we’ll still show you that route as an option. Like always, you can choose to avoid seeing routes with toll roads completely. Simply tap on the three dots at the top right corner of your directions in Google Maps to see your route options and select ‘Avoid tolls.’

  You’ll start seeing toll prices on Android and iOS this month for nearly 2000 toll roads in the U.S., India, Japan and Indonesia — with more countries coming soon.

  

  New toll prices in Google Maps will help you decide the best route for you.

  A more detailed map so you can navigate new roads with ease

  Driving on unfamiliar roads can be stressful — especially when you’re driving at night or with a car full of people. We’re adding rich new details to Google Maps’ navigation experience so you can explore with confidence. You’ll soon see traffic lights and stop signs along your route, along with enhanced details like building outlines and areas of interest. And, in select cities, you’ll see even more detailed information, like the shape and width of a road, including medians and islands–you can better understand where you are, and help decrease the odds of making last-minute lane changes or missing a turn.

  The new navigation map starts rolling out to select countries in the coming weeks on Android, iOS, Android Auto and CarPlay.

  

  Google Maps will soon show traffic lights and stop signs along your route, as well as other enhanced details

  Easier ways to explore on iOS

  When you’re out and about, efficiency matters — whether you want to be unattached to your iPhone, use Siri to look up directions while behind the wheel, or quickly search within Google Maps. We’re rolling out new iOS updates that make Google Maps easier to use on the go.

  • Access Google Maps from your home screen with new widgets: Our new pinned trip widget lets you access trips you’ve pinned in your Go Tab right from your iOS home screen — making it even easier to get directions. You can see your arrival time, the next departure for your transit trip, and even a suggested route if you’re driving. And because good things come in small packages, we’re also making the existing Google Maps search widget smaller so you can search for your favorite places or navigate to frequent destinations with one tiny tap. Make sure you have the latest version of the Google Maps app downloaded to see these widgets in the coming weeks.
  • Navigate from your Apple Watch: If you have an Apple Watch and constantly find yourself away from home — and away from your phone — you’ll soon be able to get directions on Google Maps directly from your Watch. Starting in a few weeks, you’ll no longer need to begin navigation from your iPhone. Simply tap on the Google Maps shortcut in your Apple Watch app, and the navigation will start automatically on your Apple Watch. You can also add the “Take me home” complication to your watch and tap it to start the navigation home on Google Maps.
  • Search and get directions with Siri and Spotlight: Google Maps is integrating directly into Spotlight, Siri, and the Shortcuts app on iOS. Once you’ve set up the shortcuts, just say “Hey Siri, get directions” or “Hey Siri, search in Google Maps” to access Google Maps’ helpful information instantly. You’ll start seeing this feature in the coming months, with enhanced Siri search functionality coming later this summer.

  • iPhone home screen featuring new pinned trip widget

    Access Google Maps from your home screen with new widgets

  • Black Apple Watch featuring new “Take me home” complication

    Navigate from your Apple Watch

  • iPhone Shortcuts page featuring colorful boxes and the new Siri and Spotlight integrations

    Search and get directions with Siri and Spotlight

  We’re always looking for more ways to bring new information to Maps to help you explore. For more on how to use Maps as your copilot for road trip travel, check out these tips.

  
  
  https://blog.google/products/maps/make-google-maps-your-copilot-these-new-updates/
• 

  Plan your next getaway with these 8 Google Maps tips
  • sorangutan  

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  The longer days in the U.S. have us chasing that windows-down-music-up-breeze-blowing kind of road trip feeling. Whether you’re planning a getaway to the coast to get a dose of Vitamin D or a weekend reunion to see friends and family, here are 8 Google Maps tips for your next road trip — which include some brand new features — so you can save money, coordinate with friends and family and plan your trip like a pro.

  Save $ on the go

  • Get the best gas deal near you: With gas prices skyrocketing, even the smallest difference per gallon helps! When you need to make a pit stop, use Google Maps to search for nearby gas stations and see their prices to get the best deal.
  • Increase your fuel efficiency: Google Maps can help you keep your tank full a little longer by recommending the most fuel-efficient route. To turn on fuel efficient routes, tap the three dots on the directions screen, then tap ‘Route options’ and turn ‘Prefer fuel-efficient routes’ on.
  • Avoid tolls: Avoid high-priced toll roads and highways when navigating to your destination. To steer clear of tolls completely, simply tap on the three dots at the top right corner of your directions in Google Maps to see your route options and select ‘Avoid tolls.’ And soon, we’ll start showing you the estimated toll price before you start navigating to help you compare and select the best route for you.

  Use your vacation time wisely

  • Figure out the best time to leave: Traffic to popular destinations, like the beach on a perfect summer day, can be unpredictable. To make sure you don’t get stuck in traffic for most of your drive, set the time you’d like to depart or arrive by to see how long it’ll take you to get to your destination.
  • Find helpful information and save precious time: Once you arrive at your vacation destination, use the Popular Times and Live Busyness information to see when restaurants are most crowded so you can know which places are likely to seat you immediately. You can also use the popular dishes feature to quickly find out what the must-try items and local favorites on the menu are.
  • Get directions quicker with new widgets: Our new pinned trip widget lets you access frequent trips that are pinned in your Go Tab directly from your iOS home screen — so you can see your estimated arrival time at the destination, next departures for transit trips, and a suggested route for driving trips. To add a widget, first make sure you have the latest Google Maps app. Then, touch and hold a widget or an empty area on your home screen until your apps jiggle, then tap ‘Add button’ in the upper-left corner. Once you find the Google Maps app, tap it, swipe to select a widget, then tap ‘Add widget.’

  Plan like a pro

  • Plan activities as a group: With group lists in Google Maps, planning with friends or family is simple and efficient, giving you the ability to create a vacation activity itinerary together by adding places to go and things to do as a group. Bonus tip: You can also share your real-time location with your group to make it easier to meet up or find one another if you get separated.
  • Access directions offline: No service? No problem. You can still find your way even if you have spotty reception or an expensive data plan. Download a map of an area in advance so you can still access directions and turn-by-turn navigation even if you can’t get online. To do this, tap on your profile picture in Maps, tap Offline maps, then Select your own map. From here, adjust the map to cover the area you'd like to download and that will be available for you to reference on your adventures.

  
  
  https://blog.google/products/maps/plan-your-next-getaway-google-maps-tips/
• 

  Putting Android Enterprise security to the test
  • sorangutan  

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  Today’s employees are just as likely to work from home as they are from the office. As a result, maintaining security on mobile devices has never been more challenging — and failing to do so has never been riskier.

  Businesses of all sizes rely on Android Enterprise as their front line of defense to help keep enterprise data secure and employee data private. Through a hardened operating system, strict hardware requirements, security services and comprehensive enterprise mobility management (EMM) policy controls, Android Enterprise provides businesses and organizations with the multi-layered security and tools they need to secure their workforce.

  Even still, we wanted to put Android Enterprise to the test. So Google engaged NCC Group, an IT security assessment firm, to evaluate how well Android Enterprise performed based on the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) own security configuration requirements.

  NCC Group tested a Google Pixel device with Android 12 against the DoD’s Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIG), which provides standardized guidance for information technology systems across the U.S. federal government. After thorough testing, NCC Group found no “CAT I” issues, which indicate the most serious security concerns — like the ability to gain complete and immediate control over a device. They identified two “CAT II” risks, which imply a relatively low threat to the device and have since been resolved. Finally, NCC Group found only three “CAT III” risks, which are purely informational and pose no immediate threat to the device.

  Read the full report.

  

  In short, Android Enterprise held up exceedingly well under testing. That’s good news for all Android Enterprise customers, especially since both public and private sector organizations use the DISA STIG as a baseline configuration when deploying Android smartphones and tablets.

  Visit the Android Enterprise security page to learn more about our security features, like built-in anti-malware through Google Play Protect and personal and work data separation through the Android work profile.

  
  
  https://blog.google/products/android-enterprise/android-enterprise-security-assessment/
• 

  What Breaking the Bias means to these Googlers in Africa
  • sorangutan  

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  Breaking the Bias was the theme for International Women’s Day 2022. It was a call to create a world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. A world that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive – where difference is valued and celebrated.

  In Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) this year we celebrated the theme of breaking the bias by highlighting the work of Africa’s women entrepreneurs through a campaign called #LookMeUp, highlighting Africa’s women entrepreneurs on the continent with programming designed to break the biases around their leadership in building Africa’s economy.

  Meanwhile, inside Google, we ran a #LookMeUp campaign for female Googlers to share their career stories and the biases we should look them up for breaking. Some powerful themes emerged:

  Understand your own biases

  Felicia Otolorin, Industry Manager in Nigeria points out that to her breaking the bias is “first being aware of what our own internal biases are, understanding how we can best navigate them to make the world around us and our approach to the world around us better”. It’s about creating the space to help yourself and others understand your own biases — how they shape us and how we defy them.

  Lead with authenticity

  Googlers talked about how owning your excellence and letting purpose drive you is what allows them to challenge stereotypes in meaningful ways. Dorothy Ooko, Head of Communications and Public Affairs in Africa, says, “to me breaking the bias means living my life with excellence so naysayers are proved wrong and giving others the space to do so”. Country Director of Kenya, Agnes Gathaiya, describes being driven by the purpose of ensuring more women have a seat at the table — every day, everywhere— to ensure the sustainability of female leadership.

  Have courage

  Zelda Tintinger, ​​Channel Territory Manager, in the Cloud team in South Africa speaks of having to break the bias that women should be seen and not heard to own her seat at the table, initially as the first female engineer at Microsoft and now one of the first in the Sub Saharan African Region at Google. It’s about owning your voice, in careers and work spaces where women are often underrepresented. For Pren-Tsilya Boa-Guehe, Government Affairs & Public Policy Manager, it’s about not letting your fears or your challenges get in the way of you trying to reach for your dreams. Finally Oluwatamilore Oni, Program Associate, Google.org states that to her breaking the bias is going beyond her comfort zone and to reach for the opportunities she’s interested in and things she would like to explore.

  Create space for others

  Lastly, create space for others. For Juliet Ehimuan, Country Director of Nigeria, breaking the bias means “Going beyond perceived limits, giving everyone the freedom to bring all of who they are to the table in service of their greater self”. Additionally, Head of Brand and Reputation for the region, Mojolaoluwa Aderemi-Makinde, describes the importance of being open to learning and listening deeply to understand other viewpoints, perspectives and lived experiences knowing that people see things from different sides of the prism as well as opening yourself to new opportunities and adventures to improve your knowledge.

  It is only when we have honest conversations that we can have corrective conversations. Nozipho Tshabalala
  CEO of the Conversation Strategist

  What can others do in their organizations or lives to break the bias?

  1. Don’t make assumptions about people, based on their gender, race, age, background or how they speak. You do not know someone’s story, the odds they’ve defied or the extent of their experience and excellence unless you make the room to get to know them.
  2. Encourage women to take up space. When you are in rooms with women and in rooms without them, ask yourself what voice is not being heard, and why? And then create the room to ask and more importantly to listen.
  3. For the women trailblazing and forging spaces in unknown territories, do not forget to lift as you rise. Ensuring sustainable female leadership and leadership pipeline is important, so that in generations to come women are not fighting the same fight and we are creating environments where we can all thrive.
  4. If you see something, say something. It is important that we hold ourselves accountable for creating the culture we want to have, calling out discriminatory and biasd behaviour when we see it as well as own when we ourselves make mistakes. This should be done in a manner that cultivates growth and encourages us all to be better and reminds us that we are the custodians of our organization’s culture.

  To find out more about the campaign head to #LookMeUp, and watch the full video below.

  10:25
  
  https://blog.google/around-the-globe/google-africa/what-breaking-bias-means-these-googlers-africa/
• 

  A program for European startups building with Cloud
  • sorangutan  

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  After years of working for a successful beverage company, I knew e-commerce was becoming ever more popular. I’d also witnessed the power of Google Assistant in day-to-day life, and wondered: Could an AI voice assistant help e-commerce retailers better connect customers with products? So I founded my company Yosh.AI to help retail companies connect shoppers with their ideal products through Cloud technology and artificial intelligence (AI) assisted voice search.

  However, with a background in corporate marketing rather than entrepreneurship, I had to learn everything from scratch: about AI, building a startup and growing the business. I found the knowledge, inspiration and mentorship I sought through the Google for Startups Accelerator, a three-month, equity-free program of intensive workshops and expert mentorship for growth-stage tech companies.

  Our main goal during Google for Startups Accelerator was technical mentorship and growth. We hoped to develop close working relationships with Google Cloud throughout Europe. Google for Startups mentors introduced us to the right person at Google Cloud Germany, which led to meeting key teams at Google UK, Google France and Google in the Middle East and North Africa to expand across the region. Accelerator mentorship also led to Yosh.AI becoming a Google Cloud partner, helping retailers grow their e-commerce offerings by showing them how to implement Google Cloud technology. In just one year, we have progressed so much thanks to the key connections and product support forged during the program.

  Now, I’m proud to help announce Google for Startups Accelerator: Cloud, designed to help startups building with Google Cloud learn technical, product and leadership best practices. Open for seed to Series A-stage startups based in Europe and Israel, Google for Startups Accelerator: Cloud offers 10 weeks of mentoring and technical support from Google engineers and external experts through a mix of 1-to-1 and 1-to-many learning sessions. Participants will also be paired with a dedicated Startup Success Manager for further personalized support.

  The program culminates in a virtual Demo Day, during which the group can showcase their work in front of Google teams, mentors, investors, partners and others from the European startup world. After the program wraps up, startups will continue to receive Google support via the Google for Startups Accelerator alumni program and network — a community I am still active in myself.

  A huge part of where I am today is because of Google for Startups support. As a female founder from a post-communist country, I had dreams but was not sure how to make them happen. Google for Startups connected me to other entrepreneurs and mentors who not only believed in me, but also helped me believe in myself. I encourage all interested founders to similarly set themselves up for success and apply to Google for Startups Accelerator: Cloud before the deadline on April 19.

  
  
  https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/entrepreneurs/program-european-startups-building-cloud/
• 

  The power of recycling: Turning searches into store visits
  • sorangutan  

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  Recycling plays a crucial role in preserving the future of our planet — something people using Google recognize. “Recycling” has become one of the most popular Search topics, and supporting eco-conscious brands is top of mind for the 82% of consumers who have deemed sustainability a top priority.

  Recycling made simpler

  Businesses across the world are stepping up when it comes to making recycling more accessible for their community, but until now people looking to recycle locally have faced difficulties when identifying which stores recycle what and where.

  To solve that problem, we’ve introduced the new recycling attribute that merchants can add to their Business Profiles — making it easier than ever for people to find nearby recycling points on Search and Maps.

  By adding the new recycling attribute to Business Profiles, local storefronts and shops can show the recycling services they offer in just a few clicks — whether it’s for plastic bottles, electronics or glass bottles. As a result, people looking for something like “battery recycling near me” can more easily pinpoint local businesses on Search with the in-store recycling they need. Adding this information to the Business Profile, ultimately, can help these businesses to stand out.

  

  Altering hems and habits: R:evolve Recycle

  One business that is already using the attribute is R:Evolve Recycle, a clothing swap shop in Glasgow, Scotland. Back in 2015, a group of volunteers from South Lanarkshire, Scotland were inspired to open their first charity shop after hearing the sobering statistic that an estimated 350,000 tonnes of used clothes go to landfills in the UK each year3 . Today, customers at R:Evolve Recycle can exchange their old clothes for previously donated items, making it easier for them to make more sustainable choices.

  The R:evolve Recycle team has since opened two more stores in and around Glasgow. “People are responding positively to what we're doing,” says Anne-Marie Clements, R:evolve’s volunteer development officer.

  Recently, Anne-Marie updated R:evolve Recycle’s Business Profile on Google with the new recycling attribute, highlighting their business to more people actively looking for local fashion recycling services. Since opening their doors, R:evolve Recycle has prevented over 41,000 kilograms of clothes from going into landfills and saved an estimated 869.8 tonnes of carbon dioxide. ‘’Shoppers are starting to realize that you can’t just consume and then dump it somewhere else. They find us online, come into the shop and say ‘Okay, I get what you’re trying to do’, and for us that’s fantastic,” says Anne-Marie. “It really feels like we’re turning a corner and getting the next generation to think differently about the environmental impact their shopping habits can have.”

  Want to help your business get discovered on Search and Maps? Learn more about Business Profile on Google, and follow these steps to add new attributes to your listing.

  
  
  https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/sustainability/power-recycling-turning-searches-store-visits/
• 

  Finding more focus this Ramadan
  • sorangutan  

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  Ramadan is one of the most special times of the year. For me, it has always been about extended family (a lot of them!) and food (my favorite being the dates that would be at the table for breaking iftar — I loved starting with something we'd normally have as dessert). I’ve always found that one of the most important things about Ramadan is that it’s a chance to focus on the things that matter, and this year Google is making it easier to find prayer times, greetings and even that multicooker that will help those who observe prepare iftar. Here’s a glimpse at what you can expect from us this year.

  1. Easier access to useful and reliable Ramadan information on Search

  Searches for Ramadan-related queries have grown by 25% over the past two years, and we’ve made it easier to find everything you’re looking for in one place. Simply search for “Ramadan” and you’ll find a dedicated section spanning prayer times[183ed9], news, greetings and more.

  If you’d like a “101” experience of moonsighting, look out for our interactive game on Google where you can search for the crescent to know if Ramadan has started or not. You may find a few other surprises along the way, too! (Can you spot the astronaut?)

  

  2. Find the Qibla & Iftar timings wherever you are

  A big part of Ramadan is managing your time, and that means checking prayer times and finding the Qibla (direction of prayer). You can easily find prayer times[183ed9]directly on Google, and you can use Qibla Finder to quickly locate the direction of prayer. It’s a web app that uses Augmented Reality (AR) to guide you right from your phone and it has helped millions of people around the world find the Qibla within seconds.

  

  3. Browse through the Ramadan Shopping Guide for inspiration

  We’ve found that shoppers start planning up to 8 weeks ahead of Ramadan, with a 50% increase in interest around cooking fryers and 160% increase in Ramadan decorations. Whatever you’re looking for, the Ramadan Shopping Guide will help you explore the top trending Ramadan products and browse product options.

  

  4. Embrace your inner artist with Ramadan-related artworks

  We’re also bringing our interactive digital Ramadan Coloring Book from Google Arts & Culture to more countries, including Indonesia, Turkey and India. It showcases a range of beautiful Islamic art, enabling anyone to add a personal touch to popular artwork or simply practice mindfulness through coloring. Select your favorite art from the platform and create your own interpretation of a masterpiece that you can easily share with friends and family.

  

  We hope this Ramadan brings you and your loved ones joy — and that this year’s features from Google help you find the information you need to make the most of this special time of the year.

  
  
  https://blog.google/around-the-globe/google-middle-east/finding-more-focus-ramadan/
• 

  We heart this: Behind in-meeting emoji in Meet
  • sorangutan  

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  Carolien Postma is used to testing and retesting (and retesting) new features. She’s a user experience (UX) researcher at Google, a role she describes as “making sure that whatever we build and create, that it actually creates value for our users and that it actually does what our users need it to do.”

  Over the past nine months, she’s been part of the team testing the upcoming emoji reactions for Google Meet. “This release was about giving people an easy way to express their feelings and feedback in a way that helped everyone in a call feel more connected,” Carolien says. “This was a fun one, too, because it’s something I can point to that makes my work tangible!”

  While the work was certainly fun, it was also important: Emoji help teams celebrate wins and offer support, and it’s important they represent everyone. Because of this, there were plenty of research hours behind the project. Here are a few of the things Carolien and her fellow UX researchers on the team investigated, and how this work turned up in the final designs.

  Emoji for all.

  Carolien and her team worked hard to ensure choosing the right emoji was seamless. “We wanted to include emoji that are universally understood, and mean the same or similar things across cultures,” Carolien says. Because other Google products use emoji and emoji reactions, they were able to take a look at this research to inform the new feature. You’ll see that the experience is configured in a way that lets people easily give a thumbs up, clap or heart.

  The whole idea behind emoji reactions is to foster a feeling of connection.

  It’s all in the timing.

  Another design choice made as a result of testing was the emoji reactions’ “rhythm.” When Meet participants click an emoji, it floats up across the screen — and when multiple people do this, they all do so with specific timing. It took a while to determine what that timing looked like and felt like. “The whole idea behind emoji reactions is to foster a feeling of connection,” Carolien says. “And we found that if the timing was off, the whole feeling of connectedness fell away.” This research helped the design team settle on a timing that felt human instead of mechanic.

  

  Nice place.

  “We wanted emoji reactions to be expressive and convey emotions, and at the same time, not feel like they’re taking over the call and distracting from the meeting,” Carolien explains. The team tested how people reacted not only to the emoji popping up in their meetings, but also to things like where the feature was placed inside Meet calls. “We wanted to make sure it was easy for people to find and allow them to get to it quickly — so no one misses the moment!” In one iteration, Carolien says, the emoji bar was too close to the end call button. “We obviously didn’t want someone to go send an emoji and hang up on their call, so we ended up moving it.”

  The pros of pros and cons.

  While Carolien has been a UX researcher for more than 15 years, even she can be surprised by what testing can reveal — case in point, what her team found out about including so-called “negative” emoji reactions. “Initially we only had ‘positive’ emoji — like a smiley or a thumbs-up,” she says. “But then we tested it more and we found that people sometimes need to use a ‘negative’ emoji — like a thumbs-down — to convey something.”

  For example, if someone in a call is describing a tough situation they’re going through, a thumbs-up or smiley emoji might be seen as sarcastic, while a face with open mouth emoji 😮 could be seen as sympathetic to someone’s struggles. Carolien and her team also found that positive emoji (like a thumbs up, or a heart) are used more frequently than negative emoji (a thumbs down), so they intentionally grouped the positive emoji in a way that makes them easy to get to, since people tend to use them more to show support or share kudos.

  

  Emoji reactions in Meet are just part of the latest Google Workplace updates — in the coming weeks, Meet will be available directly in Docs, Sheets and Slides to facilitate collaborative working sessions, and inline threading in Spaces will help keep conversations organized and contextual. Be sure to check out the Google Cloud blog for everything that’s new and coming soon.

  
  
  https://blog.google/products/workspace/we-heart-behind-meeting-emoji-meet/
• 

  Check the facts with these Google features
  • sorangutan  

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  These days, it can feel like information is coming at us from every direction. It’s probably happened to you before: You caught a few minutes of a news broadcast, came across a viral meme or photo on social media, got a push alert or a family member messaged you in a group chat — and you may not feel like you got the whole story.

  The widespread availability of information – from all different kinds of sources – is great for learning new facts and perspectives from around the world. But it can also make it difficult to sort out what information is credible and what isn’t.

  Earlier this week, Sundar announced Google is investing $10 million to help fight misinformation about the realities and facts of the war in Ukraine. This includes new partnerships with think tanks and civil society organizations to conduct region-specific research into misinformation and disinformation and cash grants to support fact-checking networks and nonprofits.

  International Fact-Checking Day on April 2 is a good reminder of the essential value of fact checking in this complicated information landscape. To do this efficiently, it’s helpful to have easy-to-use tools to check sources, get valuable context, and evaluate information. Here are four ways you can use Google to help:

  Tips for evaluating information, right on Search

  Sometimes when news is breaking or a new topic is trending, the information you're searching for isn't broadly available yet. In these moments, Search automatically shows a notice on your search results indicating that it can take time for a range of sources to publish information on a topic. These notices are currently available in more than 20 languages around the world.

  Starting today, on searches in English in the U.S., these notices will also include tips to help you evaluate information online – reminding you that you can check whether a source is trusted on a topic, or come back later when there’s more information available. You can also check out our new resource page with pointers to help you navigate the information you’re finding online, based on research from information literacy experts. Here, you can find helpful reminders for when you come across new information, like searching about the author of a piece of content to get a sense of their credibility, or checking the publication date to make sure it’s still relevant.

  

  An example of new information literacy tips on notices for rapidly evolving situations.

  A new label for highly cited sources

  Let’s say a local news organization breaks an investigative story looking into problems at your local school district. The story is so big that it gets picked up by numerous other media outlets. But what if you didn’t see that original story, which had unique context for local residents? We’re introducing a way to help you identify stories that have been frequently cited by other news organizations, giving you a simple way to find the most helpful or relevant information for a news story.

  This label will appear on Top Stories. You will be able to find it on anything from an investigative article, to an interview, an announcement, a press release or a local news story, as long as other publishers indicate its relevance by linking to it. We’re particularly interested in the potential to elevate original reporting, making it even easier for people to discover and engage with the publishers and journalists whose work brings unique value to a story.

  The highly cited label is launching soon on mobile in English for the U.S. and will roll out globally in the coming weeks.

  

  An example of how the “highly cited” feature could appear in Top Stories

  Fact checks from independent fact-checking organizations

  Fact check features on Google are another way to easily find information that has been verified by independent fact-checking organizations. When you search for a topic that may be disputed, you might see fact-check articles in your results. These results display snippets to help you get context about a claim that was made. Additionally, when you browse Google News on desktop, you can see recently fact-checked claims from independent publishers in your region, when related to the top stories of the day.

  Looking to fact check a specific topic or story you heard about? Google’s Fact Check Explorer lets you search different topics you have questions about. This tool collects more than 150,000 fact checks from reputable publishers from around the world.

  

  An example of a search you can do in Fact Check Explorer.

  Learn more about any page online

  We’ve all had this happen before: You’re looking online and come across a story from a website you haven’t heard of before. In these situations, it’s helpful to check the source – for example, if you’re looking for information about a popular new investment option, you want to make sure you follow advice from a source with expertise on finance. It’s easy to check the source right on Search, with About This Result.

  

  An example of how you can use About This Result to learn more about a source and topic.

  When you tap the three dots on any search result, click the “more about this page” link to:

  • Learn about the source to get a sense of how they describe themselves, in their own words
  • Learn what others on the web have said about a site, to get a second look
  • Learn additional context about the topic, like top news coverage, to see what a range of sources have to say.

  These features will be available soon for all English-language searches worldwide.

  Supporting fact checkers globally

  We are also supporting a number of new efforts to bolster fact checking globally through the Google News Initiative. We are partnering with the International Fact Checking Network (IFCN) at the nonprofit Poynter Institute to provide training and resources to fact-checkers and industry experts around the world. The IFCN will establish a program to foster collaboration on emerging topics, support fact-checkers against harassment and host a series of workshops on digital tools and techniques. Support will also be given to help participants from underrepresented communities attend the Global Fact 9 event being held in Oslo later this year.

  Additionally, we are partnering with a number of other fact-check organizations:

  • Chequeado and Maldita in the United States to help launch FactChequeado, an initiative to identify new ways to fight misinformation in Latino communities.
  • LatamChequea in Latin America to train 500 new fact-checkers in Argentina, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.
  • Comprova, in Brazil, the largest fact-checking coalition in the country that are focused on the presidential elections
  • Agence-France Presse to create “Objectif désinfox,” a coalition of more than 20 newsrooms engaged in collaborative fact-checking the April 2022 French Presidential campaign.
  • Australian Associated Press (AAP) to translate fact checks to 40 culturally and linguistically diverse publications.
  • #FactsFirstPH, a coalition of more than 100 different groups in the Philippines to debunk disinformation ahead of the country’s May election.

  We’re committed to helping people spot misinformation online and to supporting the fact-checking ecosystem for the long term and hope today’s announcements and tips help people feel more confident about navigating information online.

  For more tips and best practices, check out the resources put together by the International Fact-Checking Network at factcheckingday.com. And if you’re a journalist, check out the GNI Training Center.

  
  
  https://blog.google/products/news/fact-checking-misinformation-google-features/
• 

  Verifica los hechos con estas funciones de Google
  • sorangutan  

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  En estos días, se siente como si la información viniera hacia nosotros desde todas las direcciones. Es probable que te haya pasado antes: escuchaste brevemente una transmisión de noticias, te encontraste con un meme viral o una foto en las redes sociales, has recibido una alerta en el teléfono o un miembro de tu familia te ha enviado un mensaje en un chat grupal, y es posible que sientas que no tienes toda la información sobre la historia.

  La amplia disponibilidad de información, desde todo tipo de fuentes, es ideal para aprender nuevos hechos y perspectivas de todo el mundo. Pero también puede dificultar la tarea de determinar qué información es creíble y cuál no.

  A principios de esta semana, Sundar anunció que Google está invirtiendo 10 millones de dólares para ayudar a combatir la desinformación sobre las realidades y los hechos de la guerra en Ucrania. Esto incluye nuevas asociaciones con grupos de estudio y organizaciones de la sociedad civil para llevar a cabo investigaciones específicas de la región sobre desinformación y apoyos en efectivo para dar soporte a organizaciones sin fines de lucro y redes de verificación de hechos.

  El Día internacional de la verificación de hechos (2 de abril) es un buen recordatorio sobre el valor esencial de la verificación en este complicado panorama de información. Para hacer esto de manera eficiente, es útil tener herramientas fáciles de usar para verificar las fuentes, obtener un contexto valioso y evaluar la información. Estas son cuatro formas en las que puedes usar Google para ayudarte:

  Consejos para evaluar la información, directamente en la Búsqueda

  A veces, cuando las noticias son recientes o un nuevo tema es tendencia, la información que estás buscando aún no está ampliamente disponible. En estos momentos, la Búsqueda muestra automáticamente un aviso en los resultados de búsqueda que indica que puede tomar tiempo para que una serie de fuentes publiquen información sobre un tema. Estos avisos están disponibles actualmente en más de 20 idiomas alrededor del mundo.

  A partir de hoy, en las búsquedas en inglés en los Estados Unidos, estos avisos también incluirán consejos para ayudarte a evaluar la información en línea, recordándote que puedes verificar si una fuente es confiable o no sobre un tema o volver más tarde cuando haya más información disponible.

  También puedes consultar nuestra nueva página de recursos con indicadores para ayudarte a navegar por la información que encuentras en línea, con base en la investigación de expertos en alfabetización informativa. Aquí, puedes encontrar recordatorios útiles para cuando encuentres nueva información, como buscar sobre el autor de un contenido para tener una idea de su credibilidad, o verificar la fecha de publicación para asegurarte de que sigue siendo relevante.

  

  Un ejemplo de los nuevos consejos y notificaciones sobre alfabetización informativa para las historias que evolucionan rápidamente

  Una nueva etiqueta para las fuentes ampliamente citadas

  Una organización de noticias local revela una historia de investigación que indaga sobre los problemas en el distrito escolar local. La historia es tan grande que es citada por muchos otros medios de comunicación. Pero, ¿y si no viste esa historia original, que tenía un contexto único para los residentes locales? Estamos presentando una forma de ayudarte a identificar historias que han sido citadas con frecuencia por otras organizaciones de noticias, dándote una manera sencilla de encontrar la información más útil o relevante para una noticia.

  Esta etiqueta aparecerá para las historias principales. Podrás encontrarla en cualquier formato de contenido, desde un artículo de investigación, una entrevista, declaración, un comunicado de prensa o una noticia local, siempre y cuando otros editores indiquen su relevancia al enlazarla en su pieza de contenido. Estamos particularmente entusiasmados con destacar la información original, haciendo que sea aún más fácil para las personas descubrir e interactuar con los editores y los periodistas cuyo trabajo aporte un valor único a la historia.

  La etiqueta para el contenido ampliamente citado se lanzará pronto en dispositivos móviles en inglés para los Estados Unidos y estará disponible a nivel mundial en las próximas semanas.

  

  Un ejemplo de cómo pudiera aparecer la función de “ampliamente citado” en las historias principales.

  Verificación de datos por parte de organizaciones independientes de verificación de hechos

  Las funciones de verificación de hechos en Google son otra forma de encontrar fácilmente información que ha sido verificada por organizaciones independientes de verificación de hechos. Cuando buscas un tema que puede ser disputado, es posible que veas artículos de verificación de hechos en tus resultados. Estos resultados muestran fragmentos para ayudarte a obtener contexto acerca de una afirmación. Además, cuando navegas por Google Noticias en el escritorio, puedes ver las afirmaciones recientemente verificadas por los editores independientes en tu región, cuando se relacionan con las principales historias del día.

  ¿Busca verificar un tema o historia específica de la que escuchaste hablar? El Fact Check Explorer de Google te permite buscar diferentes temas sobre los que tienes preguntas. Esta herramienta recopila más de 150.000 verificaciones de hechos de editores de renombre alrededor del mundo.

  

  Un ejemplo de una búsqueda que puedes hacer en Fact Check Explorer

  Obtén más información sobre cualquier página en línea

  A todos nos ha pasado esto antes: estás buscando en línea y te encuentras con una historia de un sitio web del que no habías oído antes. En estas situaciones, es útil verificar la fuente; por ejemplo, si estás buscando información sobre una nueva opción de inversión popular, debes asegurarte de seguir los consejos de una fuente con experiencia en finanzas. Es fácil verificar la fuente directamente en la Búsqueda, con “Acerca de este resultado.”

  

  Un ejemplo de cómo puedes usar “Acerca de este resultado” para saber más sobre la fuente y el tema.

  Cuando toques los tres puntos de cualquier resultado de búsqueda, haz clic en el enlace "Más información sobre esta página" para:

  • Conocer más sobre la fuente para tener una idea de cómo se describen a sí mismos, en sus propias palabras
  • Aprender lo que otros en la web han dicho sobre un sitio, para obtener una segunda mirada
  • Conocer el contexto adicional sobre el tema, como la cobertura de noticias más importante, para ver lo que una variedad de fuentes tienen que decir.

  Estas funciones estarán disponibles muy pronto para todas las búsquedas en inglés en todo el mundo.

  Apoyando a los verificadores de hechos en el mundo

  También estamos apoyando una serie de nuevos esfuerzos para reforzar la verificación de hechos a nivel mundial a través de Google News Initiative. Nos estamos asociando con la Red Internacional de Verificación de Hechos (IFCN) en el Instituto Poynter sin fines de lucro para proporcionar capacitación y recursos a verificadores de hechos y expertos de la industria alrededor del mundo. El IFCN establecerá un programa para fomentar la colaboración en temas emergentes, apoyar a los verificadores de hechos contra el acoso y organizar una serie de talleres sobre herramientas y técnicas digitales. También se brindará apoyo para ayudar a los participantes de comunidades subrepresentadas a asistir al evento "Global Fact 9" que se celebrará en Oslo a finales de este año.

  Además, nos asociamos con una serie de otras organizaciones de verificación de hechos:

  • Chequeado y Maldita en los Estados Unidos para ayudar a lanzar FactChequeado, una iniciativa para identificar nuevas formas de combatir la desinformación en las comunidades latinas en este país.
  • LatamChequea en América Latina para capacitar a 500 nuevos verificadores de hechos en Argentina, Colombia, México y Perú.
  • Comprova, en Brasil, la mayor coalición de verificación de hechos en el país que se centra en las elecciones presidenciales
  • Agence-France Presse para crear “Objectif désinfox”, una coalición de más de 20 redacciones comprometidas con la verificación de hechos colaborativa de la campaña presidencial francesa de abril de 2022.
  • Australian Associated Press (AAP) traducirá verificaciones de hechos a 40 publicaciones cultural y lingüísticamente diversas.
  • #FactsFirstPH, una coalición de más de 100 grupos diferentes en Filipinas para desmentir la desinformación antes de las elecciones de mayo en el país.

  Estamos comprometidos a ayudar a las personas a detectar información errónea en línea y apoyar el ecosistema de verificación de hechos a largo plazo y esperamos que los anuncios y consejos de hoy permitan a las personas sentirse más seguras al explorar la información en línea.

  Para obtener más consejos y mejores prácticas, consulta los recursos reunidos por la Red Internacional de Verificación de Hechos en factcheckingday.com. Y si eres periodista, echa un vistazo al Centro de Formación de GNI.

  
  
  https://blog.google/products/news/verifiacion-de-hechos-desinformacion-herramientas-google/
• 

  Stay-at-home mom or fact-checker? She’s both!
  • sorangutan  

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  Back in 2017, Niken Satyawati’s day was filled with the business of running her household — caring for her three daughters, preparing meals, and the many other tasks any stay-at-home mom would know all too well. But in May of that year, Niken traveled from her hometown of Surakarta to Google’s office in Jakarta, where she attended a training session to learn the skills she needed to become a fact-checker.

  “I saw many hoaxes on the internet. It affects real life. Friendships are broken, fighting between families,” Satyawati said. “Someone must do something to reduce them.”

  So she decided to take matters into her own hands, joining a group of citizen fact-checkers who were gathering in online forums to fight misinformation. They called themselves Masyarakat Anti Fitnah Indonesia, the Indonesian Anti-Slander Society, or Mafindo for short.

  A co-founder of Mafindo — Septiaji Eko Nugroho — was recruiting volunteers to join this verification training in Jakarta. Niken joined a motley crew of programmers, journalists, drivers, doctors and housewives to learn about search operators, reverse image search, video metadata, geolocation and other tools used by professional fact-checkers.

  “I thought it was a great opportunity to learn about how to find the truth, thanks to tools I didn’t know existed, by hearing from people who used them all the time,” she said.

  Since then, Mafindo has grown — building a professional fact-checking team that, along with the citizen fact-checkers, has debunked more than 8,550 hoaxes. They’ve trained more than 1,200 volunteers like Niken, organized anti-hoax festivals and delivered media literacy programs around the country, reaching nearly 1,000,000 Indonesians. To reach housewives, they created a web series about an anti-hoax family.

  “I’m not a professional, full-time fact-checker, but I can do simple fact-checking and have gotten used to educating the general public at the family level,” Niken said.

  But her modesty belies her role in Mafindo. She is on Mafindo’s presidium, or leadership committee, and is a leading figure for the organization in Central Java. She coordinated a ‘train the trainers’ program for media literacy program Tular Nalar that has reached 1400 lecturers and 6000 teachers over the past two years, and manages a weekly radio broadcast on anti-hoax issues in Surakarta.

  To people interested in joining her and becoming a volunteer fact-checker themselves, her message is simple: “Every fact checker must have commitment. Commitment to integrity, and to making a better life for others by reducing the hoaxes around us. Expertise is certainly required, but can be learned. And don’t forget to share your expertise, so there will be many fact checkers in the world.”

  For Indonesians who want to learn more about fact-checking — and become volunteers — Mafindo will be offering many more opportunities as it celebrates its fifth anniversary. Late last year, Google.org supported Mafindo and the MAARIF Institute with an $800,000 grant, so the two organizations can reach another 26,000 lecturers, teachers and students.

  As we celebrate International Fact-Checking Day this Saturday, all of us can emulate Niken by learning more about how to identify misinformation online. We’ve compiled a list of five tips to help anyone read the news like a fact-checker — and we look forward to supporting many more people like Niken as they tackle misinformation and protect their communities.

  
  
  https://blog.google/around-the-globe/google-asia/mom-fact-checker/