Google Cloud Platform News

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  50 years of film with NFTS and Google Arts & Culture
  • sorangutan  

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  What do Wallace and Gromit, Blade Runner and We Need to Talk About Kevin all have in common? Answer: they were each made possible by alumni from the prestigious National Film and Television School based in Beaconsfield, UK. 

  
  

  The National Film and Television School (NFTS) is an internationally respected institution for education and creativity, launching the careers of many directors, producers, cinematographers, animators and more. Many of whom have gone on to become household names, and earn multipleBAFTAs and Oscars, makingNFTS the most awarded film school globally. To celebrate their 50th anniversary, for the first time in the school’s history, online audiences will be able to explore a new digital archive of over 200 graduate films from alumni of the school. 

  
  

  Alongside the films, audiences can explore a series of stories, curated playlists and articles. As well as newer films are creations from names such as: Nick Park (Wallace and Gromit), Lynne Ramsay (We Need to Talk About Kevin), and Fantastic Beasts director David Yates. 

  

  Introducing the Digital Archive
  
  In collaboration with Google Arts & Culture, NFTS have curated an online Digital Archive that allows users to watch unseen films, hear from experts from the industry and enjoy carefully curated film playlists from the NFTS students.
  

  
  

  The NFTS Digital Archive, launching in September, is a curated collection of over 200 graduate films taken from the NFTS vaults, with behind the scenes stills, trailers, original screenplays and recent interviews with NFTS filmmakers including Beeban Kidron (Oranges are not the only Fruit), Adrian Rhodes (Tomorrow Never Dies) and Anthony Chen (Ilo Ilo) plus many more. 

  There is so much to learn from looking behind the scenes, hearing the filmmakers voice and analyzing each film scene by scene. Dr John Wardle
  Director NFTS

  The NFTS at 50
  
  The NFTS Digital Archive is launching as part of the NFTS’ 50th Anniversary celebrations. To help mark the occasion, the release of NFTS at 50 is the result of over two years of work to digitize hundreds of tapes from the archive, bring together alumni for interviews, and bring it all together for audiences around the world to explore on Google Arts & Culture. 

  
  

  The NFTS at 50 season, taking place at the British Film Institute in London throughout September, is a rare chance for audiences to see work from early on  in the careers of some of the most distinctive and successful voices from the NFTS including Roger Deakins (Blade Runner) and Clio Barnard (The Selfish Giant).

  
  

  How to enjoy it online
  
  You can access the entire archive now at:g.co/NFTS and discover stories and over 200 films celebrating the NFTS and their incredible half century. 

  
  

  If you prefer a more guided experience you can explore films by theme, such as Films of Friendship that includes the animated Sleeping with Fishes or from Love Island to Love Gym the fitness dating show. If you are short on time, why not check out 4 shorts all under 10 minutes: Damned, The Alan Dimension, After and A Love Story?

  
  

  So sit back and enjoy your very own Film Festival and explore more on the Google Arts & Culture app for iOS and Android.

  10:25

  Group B starring Richard Madden

  10:25

  Poles Apart starring Helenah Bonham Carter

  10:25

  Anna Spud starring Jim Broadbent

  
  
  https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/arts-culture/50-years-film-nfts-and-google-arts-culture/
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  This Googler’s team is making shopping more inclusive
  • sorangutan  

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  There’s a lot to love about online shopping: It’s fast, it’s easy and there are a ton of options to choose from. But there’s one obvious challenge — you can’t try anything on. This is something Google product manager Debbie Biswas noticed, as a tech industry veteran and startup founder herself. “Historically, the fashion industry only celebrates people of a certain size and skin color,” she says. “This was something I wanted to change.”

  Debbie grew up in India and moved to the U.S. after she graduated college. “I started a company in the women's apparel space, where I learned to solve user pain points around shopping for clothes, sizing and styling.” While working on her startup, Debbie realized how hard shopping was for women, including herself — the models in the images didn’t show her how something would look on her. 

  “When I got an opportunity to work at Google Shopping, I realized I could solve so many of these problems at scale using the best AI/ML tech in the industry,” she says. “As a woman of color, and someone who doesn't conform to the ‘traditional beautiful size,’ I feel very motivated to solve apparel shopping problems for people like me.”

  A look at Style AI in action.

  This was what Debbie and her team wanted to accomplish with Style AI. Style AI is a Shopping feature that helps people see how a product looks on various types of body styles and offers styling advice. Style AI works by using a machine learning algorithm to look at a specific product and visually understand it. “So if someone searches ‘gingham long sleeve shirt,’ Style AI will look at images of long-sleeved gingham shirts, apply our vision recognition technology and understand things like the pattern and the sleeve length and show users fashions that might interest them.” In order to make sure Style AI was inclusive of all different types of shapes, sizes and skin tones Debbie consulted with Google’s Product Fairness, or ProFair, team. ProFair helps teams at Google apply the AI Principles by investigating fairness issues. Together, they find ways to build inclusive services, strengthen equity in data labels and promote fairness and combat bias in AI. 
  

  ProFair held sessions where everyone involved in the project could look for “fairness issues,” which helped Debbie’s team adjust how they designed Style AI. And there was much to consider. “First, we need to be careful of what data we train a model on. If you tell a machine that a certain size and skin color is what it needs to look for, it will,” Debbie explains. “So as responsible product owners, we need to make sure we train it the right way. Even after this, a machine can make many mistakes unknowingly — for example, not realizing that a certain style can be very offensive in one culture and be totally cool in another.” 

  For instance, before launching in countries like India and Brazil, ProFair held local focus groups in collaboration with Google’s Product Inclusion team. Debbie says this helped her team find diverse images and clothing for these specific demographics. Debbie’s — and the entire team’s — ultimate goal is that shoppers will feel like they’re seeing themselves when they look for clothing. “Looking at stock product images does not help you decide on your purchase,” she says. “We just always think about what people told us while we were building Style AI: ‘I want to see the product on someone like me!’”
  

  
  
  https://blog.google/technology/ai/this-googlers-team-is-making-shopping-more-inclusive/
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  South African Googlers get moving for good
  • sorangutan  

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  Throughout the pandemic, many of us have spent too much time on the sofa — but Artwell Nwaila changed that for himself and some of his colleagues. Artwell is the Head of Creative and co-lead on Google’s Disability Alliance in South Africa. This week The Keyword spoke to Artwell about getting Googlers moving for a great cause  — the Nappy Run — over the next few months. For those looking to inspire their own organizations with creative, competitive ways to fundraise, do try this at home.

  First, what’s the Nappy Run?

  The National Council for People with Disabilities (NCPD) based in South Africa hosts a few major initiatives in the country to promote and protect equalization of opportunities and realization of human rights for people with disabilities. One of the main annual events they host is the Nappy Run, an initiative to raise money and ongoing awareness for children with disabilities who are in need of essential nappies — known elsewhere in the world as diapers. When the world was open, people would gather in November to run, walk, wheel or stroll to raise funds. This year will look different — with a virtual event — but we’re hoping to give them a big head start with Googlers running through September and October to raise money for stacks of good quality nappies.

  How did you get involved?

  I sit on Google’s Disability Alliance in South Africa with my co-lead Stephan Schoeman, and came across the Nappy Run last year. There are many ways to give back at Google but this was an area where I really wanted to have an impact. We chose to work with NCPD to get their guidance in the area and make sure we were respectful to what people actually need and where we can meaningfully help. The Nappy Run resonated with me — not least because I have kids and can’t imagine them in a situation where they didn’t have access to nappies. This is the initiative we are working hardest to get attention for. We pitched them the idea of our group holding an internal event, using their name and getting together enough money so that by the time they start the Nappy Run, they have a good baseline to fire things up.
  

  How are you raising the money?

  From September 1 to the end of October we’re asking Googlers to rack up kilometers traveled, with a suggested donation of $16 or 250 rand per 10 kilometers. That’s the cost of a good pack of nappies in South Africa so it’s a nice way to understand how much they have contributed. We’re using the Strava app, so people will join the group, wrack up their kilometers and see how everyone else is doing. One of our Googlers is an ultramarathon runner so there’s no way we are pushing the competition element too hard. For those who can’t do something active, they can just donate directly and Google is going to match the donations dollar for dollar.
  
  What’s next for the Disability Alliance in Sub-Saharan Africa?
  

  After our first sign language class last year, we’re now working on a series of sign language classes for Googlers to make our region more inclusive. We’re partnering with an organization in the U.S. to find region-specific teachers, since  sign language  differs in Kenya versus South Africa for example. And Google is paying for employees’ classes for employees. It’s a six class course to get an entry level amount, with the option to proceed to advanced levels afterwards, which I’m hoping some will do!

  • Three children in wheelchairs with accompanying adults and a stack of nappies besides them

    The Nappy Run in 2019

  • A crowd of people next to packs of nappies and in front of a promotional wall with Nappy Run branding

    The Nappy Run in 2019

  • Young boy with arms outstretched looking happy with piles of nappies in the background

    The Nappy Run in 2019

  
  

  
  
  https://blog.google/around-the-globe/google-africa/south-african-googlers-get-moving-good/
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  Faster video campaigns with Campaign Manager 360
  • sorangutan  

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  With online video growing, it’s imperative for brands to deliver relevant video campaigns at scale. In fact, eMarketer predicts that U.S. programmatic Connected TV ad spend will reach $8.67B in 2022.
  

  We recently shared how you can reach streaming audiences on Connected TV using Display & Video 360. Today, we're launching new features in Campaign Manager 360 to help you take further advantage of this massive shift to video.
  

  We’re making it easier for you to set up and measure video campaigns across your entire media plan by automating workflows and offering video-centric trafficking capabilities. We’re also introducing new video measurement capabilities, so you can get the insights you need to make smarter decisions and optimize performance.
  

  Work faster with the new publisher eligibility tool and publisher spec library
  

  One of the most frustrating and time-consuming issues for ad operations teams is receiving a creative asset that doesn’t meet the minimum required specs or creative standards for a particular publisher. For example, the file size might be too low quality to generate necessary transcodes, requiring an entirely new creative. These challenges lead to inefficient workflows and delays in campaign launches.
  

  To automate this process, we’re launching the publisher eligibility tool and publisher spec library in Campaign Manager 360.
  

  The publisher eligibility tool validates the uploaded creative to ensure its attributes meet the minimum requirements for specific publishers. Now you can identify issues before they happen and see exactly what needs to be changed.
  

  The new publisher spec library reduces the manual work needed to convert file formats to align to specific publisher specs. Instead, Campaign Manager 360 will automatically set video transcodes for each placement on your media buy and convert your video files to match each publisher’s creative specifications.
  

  Advertisers and agencies like PMG have been streamlining their QA and video trafficking process with these tools.
  

  The new publisher spec library and publisher eligibility tool in Campaign Manager 360 automated the video trafficking process, allowing us to work faster and focus on driving insights and performance for our clients. Addison Wheeler
  Associate Ad Operations Director, PMG

  New placement level video duration settings ensure that the length of a video meets the publisher’s duration requirements. In addition, video default ads now support multiple video creatives with different lengths and orientations, making it possible to use default video ads across any video campaign. If the existing video assigned to a placement or publisher can’t run, instead of missing the opportunity, you’ll automatically deliver a default video ad in its place.
  

  Measure video inventory with engaged views and engaged view conversions
  

  Impressions and view-through conversions are key metrics for video campaign performance, but without insights into watch time and viewability, it can be difficult to know exactly how your video ads are driving conversions.
  

  Engaged views and engaged view conversions allow you to define what constitutes a high-quality video impression and measure its impact on both third-party inventory sources and on YouTube.
  

  This helps you determine which video impressions and inventory sources are the most valuable, understand how users engage with your video ads across your media plan, and get deeper insights to drive your business objectives and campaign goals. Please reach out to your account team if you’re interested in these new metrics.
  

  Get consistent measurement with custom viewability metrics for YouTube inventory
  

  Finally, you’ve been asking for a way to get an apples-to-apples comparison of campaign performance for YouTube and other video sources. We’re adding the ability to set custom viewability metrics on YouTube inventory in Campaign Manager 360 so you can consistently measure viewability across different inventory.
  

  With a simplified video campaign setup and more comprehensive video measurement, Campaign Manager 360 helps you to better reach your audience with relevant video ads at scale.
  

  
  
  https://blog.google/products/marketingplatform/360/faster-video-campaigns-campaign-manager-360/
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  Google in Asia Pacific: 10 proud moments from 20 years
  • sorangutan  

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  Twenty years ago this month, Google opened the doors of its first overseas office — in Tokyo, with just a single employee. The office was rudimentary by today’s standards (the music system was a portable cassette deck). But our founders knew the Asia Pacific region would be central to Google’s mission of making information universally accessible. More importantly, Google also had an enormous amount to learn from the region.

  Over the past 20 years, Google’s commitment to Asia Pacific has steadily deepened, and we’re proud to have helped support the region’s extraordinary growth. Today, 2.5 billion people are online here, almost all of them on mobile. We’re honored they use Google’s tools to improve their lives: finding jobs, learning new skills, building businesses, and pushing the boundaries of technology. It’s clear there remains huge, untapped potential for the future if we can continue to lay the foundations with the right investments and initiatives.  

  To mark the occasion, we wanted to reflect on some of the moments and themes that have defined Google’s 20 years in Asia.

  
  

  1. Silicon Valley to Shibuya

  That first nondescript office in Tokyo’s Shibuya neighborhood was a long way — in both scale and decor — from the current Google office down the street. But these humble digs served as our first Asia Pacific headquarters. The Googlers there did pioneering work — including steps to take emoji culture global (🎉). And the office laid the groundwork for today’s Google Japan team, helping the host nation continue its long tradition of forward-thinking in technology. Fast forward to today and we have offices full of Googlers throughout the region, with Singapore as our current Asia Pacific headquarters.

  Google’s co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, at our first overseas office in Shibuya, Tokyo. 
  

  2. G'Day, Google Maps

  In 2004, two Aussies and two Danes came together in Sydney to develop a new kind of mapping technology for the internet.  In February 2005, Google Maps was born — and it’s had quite a run since. As Maps got more sophisticated, Googlers in Asia Pacific went above and beyond to expand its reach, including Street View filming expeditions from Mongolia’s Lake Khövsgöl to Cambodia’s Angkor Wat and Australia’s Uluru. 

  

  Filming for Street View at Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park in Central Australia in accordance with Tjukurpa law

  3. Map Maker and Asia’s influence on Google products

  In 2008, two Indian engineers realized that there wasn’t enough commercial mapping data of India for a full national map in Google Maps, so they built a tool called Google MapMaker, where communities could make their own additions to the map. It went on to be useful for everywhere around the world, especially in times of disaster like typhoons in the Philippines. We learned a big lesson here: when we build for the newest users in Asia, we build better for the world. 

  
  We’ve seen this now with Google Pay, created in India as Tez, and motorbike navigation mode, launched in India, which have both been expanded globally. YouTube and Maps offline modes were originally built to help people in Asia conserve data, but now help anyone driving through areas with spotty connections. An engineering center in Singapore — working with teams across the region — helps advance our efforts to make the internet more inclusive for the Next Billion Users set to come online for the first time.

  Google Pay has helped merchants across India accept digital payments.

  4. Building blocks for Asia’s digital economy

  In 2011, we opened our first data centers in Asia. The facilities in Singapore and Taiwan helped provide faster, more reliable access to our tools and services. Since then, we’ve kept increasing our investment in the physical infrastructure that supports the digital economy, adding more data centers and helping build subsea cables like Echo and Apricot. A study found that between 2010 and 2019, Google infrastructure investments like these contributed $430 billion in aggregate GDP and helped create 1.1 million jobs throughout the region. They’re crucial to Google Cloud’s growing presence in the region, helping companies like Japan’s Fast Retailing and Indonesia’s Tokopedia. 
  

  

  The scene at Google’s data center in Singapore when it opened in 2013

  5. Gangnam Style: the rise of YouTube in Asia

  In the summer of 2014, Psy’s 2012 video “Gangnam Style” surpassed two billion views on YouTube.  That incredible success was a seminal moment in a bigger story: how Korean ‘K-Pop’ artists were some of the first to use YouTube to reach new audiences around the world. As of today, nine of the top 10 24-hour debuts on YouTube are by Korean artists. And beyond Korea, creators across Asia are using YouTube to share their voice, help others learn, and make a living.

  

  Psy's Gangnam Style broke records on YouTube. 

  6. “Flappy Bird” and Asia’s new mobile entrepreneurs

  Flappy Bird” was another big online moment in 2014. Created by Vietnamese developer Dong Nguyen, the game became a huge hit around the world. It summed up the new possibilities for entrepreneurs building and marketing their mobile apps through Google Play. Today, Asia Pacific is the number one region for mobile subscriptions, the app market and the source of half of all global online gaming revenue.  

  

  Sundar Pichai meets “Flappy Bird” creator Dong Nguyen in Hanoi in 2015.

  7. New approaches to digital skills

  One particular challenge we’ve faced is how to bring digital knowledge and skills to people with limited access to the internet or restrictions on data. In parts of India, that initially meant using a rickshaw equipped with internet-enabled devices, information on using the web and an operator to explain how. Over time, we recognized that to really make a difference, we needed training programs to be embedded in communities — leading to the Internet Saathi initiative where female trainers share their knowledge with other women in their village. Between 2015 and 2020, we provided skills training to 50 million people across Asia Pacific through Grow with Google. And we continue to tailor our skills and education programs to local needs, whether it’s our Bangkit initiative in Indonesia (working with local tech firms to nurture talented developers) or our Skills Ignition partnership in Singapore(offering training and work placements for thousands of people). 
  

  

  The Internet Saathi initiative helps women in rural India use the internet.

  8. AlphaGo demonstrates the promise of AI

  DeepMind’s go-playing AI AlphaGo made the cover of Nature in January 2016 for being the first AI to ever beat a master at the 3,000-year-old game. In 2017. AlphaGo beat the former world-champion Lee Sedol 4-1 in Seoul. From there, DeepMind traveled to Wuzhen, China, where AlphaGo Master beat world champion Ke Jie 3-0 at the Future of Go Summit — an extraordinary event involving the world’s best players. AlphaGo has since retired, but the role of AI in society is only increasing. Today, we’re working with partners throughout Asia Pacific on ways AI can help with challenges like flood prediction and disease diagnosis.  

  

  Grandmaster Ke Jie locked in competition with AlphaGo in 2017

  9. Investments in the digital future

  In September 2017, we brought HTC’s engineering talent into Google — cementing a decade-long partnership with the Taiwanese company, and marking a big step forward in Google’s plans to build devices combining the best of Google software and hardware. Today, our Pixel phones and Nest devices are popular across the region. And we’ve continued to invest in Asian companies bringing the best of technology to hundreds of millions of people, from Indonesia’s Gojek to India’s Reliance Jio. Together with Jio, we’re working on an affordable smartphone that will enable more Indians to get online.

  

  Welcoming new HTC colleagues to Google’s engineering workforce in Taiwan in 2018.

  10. Giving voice to polyglot Asia

  As of 2020, Google Translate supports more than 30 languages across Asia Pacific. Extending the reach of Google Translate — and improving it with AI — is vital in a region of such vast linguistic diversity. But there are other steps that can make the internet more accessible and helpful: for example, building technology that’s intuitive for people who find it more natural to speak to their device. The rise of ‘voice users’ will be a big theme for Google and the entire tech industry in the decade ahead, and we’ve developed a playbook to guide technology-makers’ efforts.
  

  

   A growing number of internet users in Asia prefer to speak to their phone, rather than type. 
  

  
  
  https://blog.google/around-the-globe/google-asia/apac-20-years/
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  TAG Bulletin: Q3 2021
  • sorangutan  

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  This bulletin includes coordinated influence operation campaigns terminated on our platforms in Q3 2021. It was last updated on August 31, 2021.

  
  

  July 

  • We terminated 7 YouTube channels as part of our investigation into coordinated influence operations linked to Ukraine. This campaign uploaded content in Ukrainian and Russian that was supportive of Russia’s government and critical of the Ukrainian military. We received leads from FireEye that supported us in this investigation.

  • We blocked 10 domains from eligibility to appear on Google News surfaces and Discover as part of our investigation into coordinated influence operations linked to Russia. This campaign uploaded content in Russian that was critical of Ukraine’s government and supportive of Russia.

  • We terminated 2 YouTube channels as part of our investigation into coordinated influence operations linked to Iraq. This campaign uploaded content in Arabic that was supportive of Iran-backed militias and critical of the U.S. and its allies. Our findings are similar to findings reported by Facebook.

  • We terminated 7 YouTube channels as part of our investigation into coordinated influence operations linked to Jordan. This campaign uploaded content in Arabic that was supportive of the Jordanian government and critical of its opposition. Our findings are similar to findings reported by Facebook.

  • We terminated 15 YouTube channels as part of our investigation into coordinated influence operations linked to Algeria. This campaign uploaded content in Arabic that was supportive of the Algerian government and its military. Our findings are similar to findings reported by Facebook. We received leads from Graphika that supported us in this investigation.

  • We terminated 6 YouTube channels as part of our investigation into coordinated influence operations linked to Mexico. This campaign uploaded content in Spanish that was critical of certain local politicians in Campeche, Mexico. Our findings are similar to findings reported by Facebook.

  • We terminated 4 YouTube channels as part of our investigation into coordinated influence operations linked to Mexico. This campaign uploaded content in Spanish that was supportive of a member of the National Action Party). Our findings are similar to findings reported by Facebook.

  • We terminated 16 YouTube channels and 1 ads account as part of our investigation into coordinated influence operations linked to Sudan. This campaign uploaded content in Arabic that was supportive of the Muslim Brotherhood and critical of the current Sudanese government. Our findings are similar to findings reported by Facebook.

  • We terminated 850 YouTube channels as part of our ongoing investigation into coordinated influence operations linked to China. These channels mostly uploaded spammy content in Chinese about music, entertainment, and lifestyle. A very small subset uploaded content in Chinese and English about China’s COVID-19 vaccine efforts and social issues in the U.S. These findings are consistent with our previous reports.

  
  
  https://blog.google/threat-analysis-group/tag-bulletin-q3-2021/
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  A new place for Black women in tech to tell their stories
  • sorangutan  

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  During the summer of 2020, people all over the world demanded an end to police brutality against Black people and for action to be taken in the way Black people are seen and treated. This was accompanied by an awakening in the tech industry as well: A recognition that the tech community should play a major role in addressing racial bias and equity.  

  This is part of why Google’s Women Techmakers decided to launch our Black Women In Tech storytelling campaign. 

  Black women are underrepresented in the tech industry, and their contributions are not widely acknowledged and celebrated. The Black Women In Tech campaign will highlight the stories, experiences, and expertise of Black women in the American tech industry through things like community stories shared by Black women within and outside of Google.

  We built this campaign by teaming up with Black illustrator Rachelle Baker, and Black stock photography company TONL. We also wanted to start a conversation about what “being in tech” means – and debunk the narrative that it only means you’re a developer if you live in Silicon Valley. On the Black Women In Tech website, you’ll find stories about program manager Yolanda Washington, a Bronx native, and Women Techmaker Madona Wambua based in Alabama. 

  We also wanted to make sure that Black women interested in learning new skills could find the resources they needed. So we added a comprehensive list of the training resources Google provides for developers and founders.

  Ultimately, we hope the campaign is an inspiration to the next generation of Black women considering a career in tech, and that Black women in the industry see themselves in these stories.

  We know what equity should look like, but it takes the effort of everyone every day and at every step to achieve sustainable equity in the workplace.

  To read the stories, discover the resources, and keep up with the campaign, visit the Black Women In Tech website.

  
  
  https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/diversity/new-place-black-women-tech-tell-their-stories/
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  Extending our voluntary return to office
  • sorangutan  

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  Our CEO, Sundar Pichai, sent the following email to Google employees earlier this morning. The email has been edited to remove internal links.

  Hi Googlers,

  The COVID-19 pandemic has been a humbling challenge for all of us and I continue to be impressed by the way our teams are navigating through it. In spite of these challenges, I’m happy to say that a large number of offices globally are already open for business, and we are welcoming back tens of thousands of Googlers on a voluntary basis. Given that conditions around the world are still highly variable, I wanted to share how we’re planning to approach the next few months:
  
  

  • First, as offices continue to reopen, we hope to see more teams coming together where possible, whether it be for regular team meetings, brainstorming sessions around a whiteboard, or outdoor socials. For some locations, conditions are starting to improve, yet in many parts of the world the pandemic continues to create uncertainty. Acknowledging that, we’ll extend our global voluntary return-to-office policy through January 10, 2022 to give more Googlers flexibility and choice as they ramp back. 

  • Beyond January 10, we will enable countries and locations to make determinations on when to end voluntary work-from-home based on local conditions, which vary greatly across our offices. To make sure everyone has ample time to plan, you’ll have a 30-day heads-up before you’re expected back in the office.

  • Finally, encouraging Googlers to rest and recharge during this time remains a big priority so we will plan two more global reset days next quarter: Oct 22 and Dec 17. 

  The road ahead may be a little longer and bumpier than we hoped, yet I remain optimistic that we will get through it together. It’s heartening to see Googlers starting to come back to more offices globally. The ability to reconnect in person has been re-energizing for many of us, and will make us even more effective in the weeks and months ahead. Thanks for all the great work thus far; look forward to a busy Q4 as we continue to find new ways to be helpful to people everywhere. 

  -Sundar

  Related Article

  Vaccines and our return-to-office plans

  An update on Google’s return to office plans, including vaccine requirements and extending voluntary work from home.

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  A hybrid approach to work

  The future of work at Google: more flexibility for your work week, more choice around where you work, and more flexibility for your life.

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  Our commitment to COVID-19 vaccine equity

  As vaccines become more available, we’re committed to supporting organizations around the world that are working toward vaccine equity.

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  How we’re helping get vaccines to more people

  We’re providing $150M+ to promote vaccine education and equitable distribution, making it easier to find info about the vaccine and more.

  Read Article

  
  
  https://blog.google/inside-google/company-announcements/extending-our-voluntary-return-office/
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  Testing new ways to explore and share through Chrome
  • sorangutan  

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  When we work on new features for Chrome, we rely on feedback from the millions of people who use it every day. Hearing from people helps us build better features for them. And test builds, like Beta channel of Chrome, are some of the best ways for us to get input on new features, so we can fine-tune them before they are released. 

  
  

  Flags and experiments in Chrome Beta let you choose which in-development features you want to test out before they hit the main stage. With our latest Chrome Beta release, you can try out some upcoming features that can help you more easily explore, keep track of, and share the things you find on the web.

  
  

  Get things done faster with cards on the New Tab Page

  Looking for that taxes spreadsheet you opened yesterday, but don’t want to spend time searching through your history? We’re starting to roll out cards on the New Tab Page that help you pick up where you left off based on your browsing history if you are signed into Chrome. The cards make it easy to revisit past activities or tasks, like planning a meal, shopping for a gift or working on a document in Google Drive. Try the feature by enabling the #ntp-modules flag on your computer. Here are a few ways they’ll show up:

  • Recipes (#ntp-recipe-tasks-module): Find recently-visited and related recipes when you open a new tab, so you can rediscover that delicious-looking marinara recipe, and others like it.
  • Shopping Cart (#ntp-chrome-cart-module): Don’t lose that deal — pick up on your shopping right where you left off. When you step away or browse on other sites, you can jump back into your open carts just by opening a new tab.
  • Docs (#ntp-drive-module): Cards on the New Tab Page can help you find your way back to recent documents you’ve opened in Google Drive. They can also help you find relevant docs recently edited by collaborators, so it’s easy to cross things off your to-do list. 

  

  Keep searching without needing to hit the back button

  When you’re looking something up in Google Search, sometimes it takes navigating to more than one page to find exactly what you are looking for. To make it easier to navigate from one search result to the next in Chrome, we’re experimenting with adding a row beneath the address bar on Chrome for Android that shows the rest of the search results so you can get to the next result without having to go back. You can try this yourself in Chrome Beta by enabling the #continuous-search flag on Android.

  

  Highlight and share quotes from the web

  Want to share an interesting tidbit from an article you’re reading? It’s easy to do so with quote cards in Chrome. We’re starting to roll out a new experiment on Android that allows you to create a stylized image from interesting text you find on websites. You can copy these images for yourself or share them with others. Give it a go by enabling the #webnotes-stylize flag on your Android phone or tablet. Once enabled, when you visit a website, just long press a piece of text to highlight it, tap Share, and select a template by tapping “Create card” from the menu.

  

  Testing these features and getting a better understanding of how you use them will help us optimize these tools for everyone. So if you’re someone who likes to kick the tires and try out new features, just download Chrome Beta, type chrome://flags into your address bar (or click on the Experiments beaker icon), and enable flags to start testing today. And please share your feedback — you can find more details on how to do that on our Support page.

  
  

  
  
  https://blog.google/products/chrome/testing-new-ways-explore-and-share-through-chrome/
• 

  How retailers can stand out this holiday season
  • sorangutan  

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  The holiday season is just around the corner and consumers are already ramping up their shopping. For example, U.S. searches for “holiday gift ideas” in August have already surpassed 2020 levels. As of June, 58% of U.S. holiday shoppers said they will shop online more this season than in previous years and 59% said they will shop earlier to avoid an item being out of stock.¹

  Consumers are leaning into the blended online and in-store shopping experience, with digital-first behaviors like curbside pickup and buy-online-pick-up-in-store likely to continue as we head into the holidays. As of mid-August, 70% of U.S. shoppers are buying the majority of the items they need in stores, compared to 61% in June.² For more holiday insights to help you prepare for your busiest season, tune in later today for Think Retail on Air at 10 a.m. PDT. 

  Get ready to meet customers wherever they like to shop! Here’s a checklist to help you maximize success during the most important shopping season of the year.
  

  1. Highlight your differentiated fulfillment options

  Quick shipping and easy returns are top-of-mind for shoppers this year; 78% of U.S. holiday shoppers say they will shop at stores that offer free shipping.³ Today, we are announcing new shipping and return annotations in Google Search and Shopping results – across free and paid listings. Shoppers can now see when their orders will arrive, with shipping annotations like "Free delivery by Fri, Dec 24,” “Get it by Dec 24” and “Free X-day” for products that ship for free in five business days or less. 

  To give shoppers more confidence in their purchases, you can now indicate extended holiday return windows with return annotations like "Free 90 day returns" or "Free returns until Jan 31.”

  

  Highlight your holiday shipping and return options to shoppers

  2. Showcase your products in more places across Google

  Every day, hundreds of millions of people come to Google to shop and explore products. Showcase your products in free listings across Google to help them find what they’re looking for. If you useShopify, WooCommerceor GoDaddy, you can now get started right from their platform. Seamlessly sync your products to show up on Google for free and boost your products to reach even more shoppers with Smart Shopping campaigns to utilize machine learning, or Shopping campaigns to maximize control. 

  You can also turn your YouTube video into a virtual storefront to showcase your most popular items. Connect a product feed to either your Video action campaigns to drive customers to your site, or to your App campaigns to take them to your app. In the coming weeks, most advertisers will be able to link a product feed to Discovery ads to show more relevant products in moments where customers are exploring their interests in Google’s feeds. 

  

  Showcase your products in free listings on the Shopping tab, or promote your products using Video action campaigns, Discovery ads and App campaigns

  3. Connect with shoppers in the physical world

  Shoppers don’t just turn to Google for things they want to buy on the web; they also use Google to find what they need nearby. For example, searches for "open now near me" have grown globally by more than 200% year over year.⁴ In the U.S., searches for “local gift shops near me” have increased 440% in just the past month as people switch between online and offline shopping — more than ever before. If your physical stores are open for in-store shopping, it's crucial to make sure your customers can easily find you online.

  Start by building your digital storefront, so shoppers can find information about your nearby stores and the products you have available in them. Keep your Business Profile up to date to ensure customers see accurate business hours, in-store services and safety measures. Help customers feel more confident in their in-store shopping trips by listing your local products for free on Google, or promoting those available for in-store pickup or curbside pickup using local inventory ads. 

  If you have store-specific goals, like in-store promotions or location reopenings, you can promote your stores to local shoppers using Local campaigns. Easily connect with holiday shoppers searching for businesses like yours on Google Maps, Search, YouTube and the Google Display Network and help them find what they need at your local store.

  Many of your customers alternate between shopping online and in-store depending on their comfort level and community guidelines. Google offers a variety of ways to measure the impact that your online ads have on your physical store, including store visits and store sales measurement. You can then act on this data by adding it to your Smart Bidding to grow total sales, whether they happen online or offline.

  

  Show products available in-store in your Business Profile for free (left) or those available for curbside pickup via local inventory ads (right)

  4. Prepare for the rush using automated formats, planning tools & reports

  It's more challenging this year to plan your holiday marketing campaigns, so we’ve introduced more tools and reports to help you focus on profitability. Starting with seeing the most popular brands and products, check out the best sellers report to help you decide which new brands and products to stock for the holidays. If you’re running sales or promotions to move inventory especially in the lead up to Black Friday or Cyber Monday, then you’ll soon be able to see real-time with deals reporting in Merchant Center.

  As you set up your ad campaigns for success, tools like the Insights page and Performance Planner can help you identify trends and plan budgets so you’re not missing out on shopper demand. And if your business has an app, you can verify you’re sending shoppers to the right places in your app using two new tools: the deep link validator and impact calculator. 

  Grab your virtual front row seat at Think Retail on Air

  For more holiday shopping insights, join us for Think Retail on Air today at 10 a.m. PDT. After the live keynote, we’ll have hands-on sessions where we’ll dive deeper into specific product solutions and best practices. If we’ll miss you at 10 a.m. PDT today, you can catch it on demand anytime after the live show. 

  We hope these solutions can help you prepare for a successful holiday season!

  ---

  ^{1. Google commissioned Ipsos COVID-19 tracker, US n-506 Online consumers 18+ that plan to shop for the holidays, June 17-20, 2021
  2.  Ipsos COVID-19 Tracker, US ~n=1000 online consumers 18+ per market. Aug 12-15, 2021
  3. Google commissioned Ipsos COVID-19 tracker, US n=515  online consumers 18+ who will shop for the holiday season. June 17-20, 2021
  4. Google Data, Global English, Jun 1, 2021 - Jul 30, 2021 vs Jun 1, 2020 - Jul 30, 2020}

  
  
  https://blog.google/products/ads-commerce/2021-retail-holiday-checklist/
• 

  YouTube’s approach to copyright
  • sorangutan  

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  EU member states are in the process of implementing the European Copyright Directive into national law. These changes include the incorporation of Article 15, which introduced a new copyright for press publishers, and Article 17, which introduced new rules for certain content-sharing services like YouTube. Here’s a little more on what YouTube in particular is doing. 

  Developing our compliance plans

  YouTube supports updating copyright rules for the digital age and has been working closely with policymakers across Europe on Article 17’s implementation and on a means of compliance that best meets the needs of our partners’ growing businesses, while also continuing to contribute to the economy. For example, YouTube’s creative ecosystem contributed approximately €775 million to Germany’s GDP in 2019, supporting the equivalent of 25,000 full time equivalent jobs, according to Oxford Economics. As we develop our compliance plans, it’s important to us that the fundamental rights of rightsholders, including media companies, creators, artists and users, are protected. At the same time, supporting the creative industries such as the YouTube creators who are building next generation media companies that impact the economy's overall success, is a priority to us.

  Implementing Content ID for better creative control
  

  YouTube has long believed that effective rightsholder management is key to a healthy business and flourishing creativity. This is why we created a set of copyright management tools, for example, investing over 100 million U.S. dollars to develop our Content ID technology which allows rightsholders to manage their content across the platform in a highly nuanced and sophisticated way. YouTube has worked with rightsholders such as record companies, labels, music collecting societies and film and television creators and producers for many years. In fact, Content ID enables rightsholders to control and manage their content on YouTube, while also gaining a new source of income. More than 95% of the time when rightsholders claim content through Content ID, they choose to allow the content to remain on the platform and earn money generated by ads and subscriptions, rather than block the content. This has resulted in an entirely new revenue stream.  Over the last three years alone, YouTube paid $30B to media companies, creators and artists, and in the last twelve months, YouTube paid over $4B dollars to the music industry, 30% of which came from user-generated content monetized through Content ID.

  Copyright Match Tool

  We are also expanding access to more copyright tools for more creators. For example, we recently expanded our Copyright Match Tool so that any rightsholder who successfully submits a copyright removal — whether they host their content on our platform or not — can have access to our matching technology and are able to manage their copyrighted material in a powerful, efficient and user-friendly way. We also allow rightsholders who submit copyright takedown notices to request that YouTube prevent copies of the same content from being uploaded in the future. Additionally, we will be hosting a webform in our help center to enable interested parties to reach out to us for licensing discussions. 

  
  

  We continue to find new ways to help creators and rightsholders manage their rights on YouTube while growing the amounts we pay to the creative industries and will continue to work with policymakers, rights owners, partners and creators across the region to ensure an effective implementation of the new copyright laws. 

  
  
  https://blog.google/around-the-globe/google-europe/youtubes-approach-to-copyright/
• 

  Watch our new privacy video series for publishers
  • sorangutan  

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  Every day, our global teams field questions from publishers seeking to learn more about privacy topics like the end of support for third-party cookies and the Privacy Sandbox.

  
  

  To help partners stay current on these topics and more, we’ve created a new publisher privacy video series that addresses questions we hear most often. Each episode will be brief – five minutes or less – and will be released every few months to keep partners informed about new developments. 

  
  

  The first episode of the series is designed to provide a base level of understanding around ads privacy before we dive into deeper or more timely topics.

  
  

  Questions answered in episode 1:

  1. Why is privacy such a major focus right now?

  2. What is the Privacy Sandbox and how does it work? 

  3. When will third-party cookies go away?

  4. What does all of this mean for publisher revenue?

  5. What will I need to do to use the Privacy Sandbox?

  Stay tuned for the second Publisher Privacy Q&A episode coming in October. In episode 2 we’ll take a much closer look at how the Privacy Sandbox protects user privacy and what publishers and advertisers will be able to do with it.

  
  

  
  
  https://blog.google/products/admanager/5-minutes-or-less-publisher-privacy-episode-1/
• 

  Preventing overdose: Google parents share their stories
  • sorangutan  

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  Note - this blog post includes stories of loss, and may be upsetting for some readers.

  Google is committed to improving the lives of as many people as possible. This includes promoting awareness to prevent drug-related overdoses and deaths, and highlighting recovery support services for people in or seeking recovery from addiction. For parents like us who’ve lost children to drugs, this mission to help and heal families is deeply personal. 

  We’ve chosen to share our stories today, which is International Overdose Awareness Day, a global event to bring attention to the issue of drug overdoses and to reduce the stigma associated with both drug-related deaths and non-fatal overdoses. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported overdose deaths in the U.S. accelerated during the COVID-19 crisis, as people struggling with depression, anxiety and substance use disorders experienced increased isolation, fear, desperation and hopelessness.

  More than 93,000 people died of a drug overdose in the U.S. in 2020 ー the highest number of overdose deaths ever recorded in a 12-month period. As Google employees and fathers who recently lost our own sons to overdoses, these numbers are more than just statistics to us. They are our children’s lives cut short, their futures stolen. We’re sharing our stories here in hopes of helping others gain the knowledge and find the resources to prevent future overdose deaths.
  

  Jan’s story: Remembering Linus
  

  

  Linus on the beach in Santa Cruz, holding his little brother, Lucas.

  Our beloved son Linus passed away on July 22, 2020, when he was only 17-years-old. He was the victim of fentanyl poisoning, along with tens of thousands of other victims in 2020. He had purchased a pill that he thought was Percocet, but it contained a lethal dose of fentanyl. When we discovered Linus, it was too late to revive him. A first-born son, big brother to two younger siblings, a grandchild, a cousin, a wide-hearted, accepting friend, brave and humorous human being, was now gone forever.

  Like so many others in the time of COVID-19, Linus struggled with substance abuse issues. Nevertheless, he was a high-functioning teen and a great athlete. He was a charismatic and positive human being with a wide network of friends. His life was tragically taken away when he took that fake pill.  

  Sadly, what happened to Linus isn’t an isolated case: Around 60% of fatal overdoses in 2020 were caused by fentanyl ー a synthetic opioid that is 100 times stronger than morphine. Fentanyl is mixed into street drugs because it’s cheap and highly addictive. Brennan’s son Aidan also fell victim to this deadly drug. 

  Brennan’s story: Grateful for Aidan

  

  Aidan in Zion on a family trip.

  Tragically, on November 25, 2020, our son Aidan Leaf Mullin passed away from fentanyl poisoning. He had just turned 18, was getting ready to start college in the spring semester and was spending time in Idaho before school began. He was mailed pills he thought were Percocet, but were instead “fentapills” ー counterfeit pills containing fentanyl. He purchased the pills via a social media interaction. Aidan was passionate about the outdoors and playing guitar; he was funny and caring toward his friends and family. Our family is grief-stricken and learning to live with this unexpected loss.

  We talked to Aidan about the risks of drugs and were hyper-vigilant at home. The truth is that a loving family, a good education and knowledge about these risks is too often no match against peer pressure and anonymous, friction-free accessibility to dangerous drugs.

  Like so many families, neither of ours was fully aware of the prevalence of counterfeit pills. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) warns of an increase in accidental poisoning and overdose deaths related to counterfeit pills containing fentanyl. Just one pill can kill your child, even if they are not using drugs regularly. 

  Talking to your kids about the dangers of fake pills 

  Both Jan’s family and mine have been through a period of deep grief, and we now realize how little the general public knows about the deadly dangers of fake pills. Ask your children what they know about this issue. So often kids are simply unaware that these pills are not prescribed by a physician, but manufactured in an illegal lab – most often with fentanyl as their main ingredient. 

  As a parent or caregiver, it’s worth paying attention to what your child is doing and who they’re communicating with on the internet. Emphasize to your kids that people who buy drugs on the street or online are being duped. Drug dealers only care about profits, not lives.

  Resources

  Parents and caretakers are faced with the challenge of protecting their loved ones from the risks associated with opioids. Here are some resources to help:

  • Naloxone (Narcan) can reverse opioid overdoses and save lives. You can use Google Maps’ locator tool on g.co/recovertogether to find Naloxone at pharmacy locations in your community, or you can search by state at Next Naloxone. The American Medical Association (AMA) offers a guide on how to administer Naloxone. 

  • The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) operates a free, confidential, national hotline for people looking for help addressing substance use at: 1-800-662-HELP (4357) and a list of licensed treatment providers at findtreatment.gov.

  • The Partnership to End Addiction is a long-standing nonprofit helping parents and caregivers find support addressing their children's substance use. They offer a text-based hotline (text CONNECT to 55753), and a free online support community for parents and caregivers. 

  • Google’s Recover Together provides resources for Americans in or seeking recovery from addiction. Search for recovery resources for individuals and families in your community, learn what to expect in the recovery process and hear stories from the voices of those who’ve recovered – and rediscovered hope and purpose in their lives.  

  • If you have opioids or other potentially harmful medicines to dispose of, Google has incorporated drug disposal locations into Google Maps and Search; queries like “medication disposal near me” will display disposal locations.

  
  
  https://blog.google/inside-google/googlers/preventing-overdose-google-parents-share-their-stories/
• 

  A blueprint for clean energy in Europe
  • sorangutan  

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  Imagine a world where you could decarbonize your business just by asking your energy provider to do so. That’s exactly what we’re setting out to do at Google: to show it can be done, but more importantly, to make it easier for others to do the same.

  Today’s agreement with ENGIE, a large European utility, is helping us do just this. As part of our broader announcement that, between now (2021) and 2030, Google will be investing approximately 1 billion euros in digital infrastructure and clean energy in Germany, Google has signed a first-of-its-kind agreement in Europe to purchase the clean energy that will help ensure that our operations in Germany will operate at nearly 80% carbon-free energy on an hourly basis beginning in 2022. In line with our 2030 commitment to operate on carbon-free energy 24/7 at all our campuses and data centers worldwide, we will continue to work to increase this percentage to 100%.

  Beyond our own goals, this agreement establishes a roadmap for other companies to follow as we work together to decarbonize electricity use and support Europe’s green recovery. 

  
  

  A new way to buy and sell clean energy

  Sourcing carbon-free energy every hour of the day is an incredibly difficult task and will require innovative technological and contractual solutions. In 2010, Google became an early pioneer of purchasing carbon-free energy through individual Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), complex arrangements that not all energy customers are able to use. Companies can also purchase clean energy via unbundled Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs), which historically have a limited impact on driving clean energy deployment, though we are working to change that. To completely decarbonize our operations -- and to make it easier for other organizations to do the same -- we are working with our partners to rethink how we buy carbon-free electricity.
  

  Under the terms of the agreement we are announcing today, ENGIE will assemble and develop a carbon-free energy portfolio on Google’s behalf that has the ability to flex and grow as our needs change in the region. 

  Jointly with ENGIE, Google will purchase electricity from 23 renewable energy projects in five German states. Some will be newly-built from scratch. Others (such as existing onshore wind projects that will no longer receive national subsidy support) will see their life extended, so they continue to produce clean electricity instead of being dismantled. By working with our energy suppliers to transform the way clean energy is delivered to customers, Google is supporting Germany's decarbonization goals.

  
  

  A greener cloud for Germany and beyond

  Together with today’s announcements of a new cloud region in Berlin-Brandenburg and the expansion of our existing cloud region in Frankfurt, we are pleased to continue delivering one of the cleanest clouds in the industry to our customers. More and more companies are incorporating environmental, social and governance targetsinto their technology strategies. We’re committed to help  IT organizations, and our users, take action today to lower the carbon emissions of their cloud applications. Because of this agreement, European customers will have another low-carbon option where they can run their cloud workloads.  

  
  We are excited to add more projects like this in the coming years and continue to work on solutions to reach Google’s ambition to operate on carbon-free energy every hour of every day by 2030, all while supporting Europe’s green transition. Already today, two thirds (67%) of our energy needs are met with locally sourced clean energy on an hourly basis. We will continue to report on our progress, and to share tools and best practices with the wider industry to advance decarbonization on a global scale.
  

  Related Article

  New progress toward our 24/7 carbon-free energy goal

  We aim to operate entirely on 24/7 carbon-free energy by 2030. Here's what we're doing to make that happen.

  Read Article

  
  
  https://blog.google/around-the-globe/google-europe/blueprint-clean-energy-europe/
• 

  Celebrating five years of Google for Startups in Brazil
  • sorangutan  

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  An inspiring song here in Brazil goes: “Um passo à frente e você não está mais no mesmo lugar”— a step forward, and you’re not in the same place anymore. While singer Chico Science passed away before the tech boom, his words predicted the rapid transformation of the Brazilian startup world over the past half-decade. 

  When we opened Google for Startups Campus Sao Paulo in 2016, Brazil was in a deep recession. Only slightly more than half of the population had access to the Internet, let alone used it daily. International funds were skeptical of the growth of our mere 5,000 startups, none of which were “unicorns” (companies valued at over $1 billion). 

  Just five years later, there are now 141.6 million internet users in Brazil, now the world’sfifth-largest online population. The 250+ startups in our network have created more than 15,000 jobs and raised more than BRL 35 billion (USD $7 billion). Google for Startups Brazil has trained more than 30,000 entrepreneurs at more than 1,500 in-person and virtual events. The local startup ecosystem is growing so rapidly that in the three months since we finalized our five-year impact report the number of Brazilian unicorn startups has grown from 15 to 17, including six companies that graduated from Google for Startups programs. 

  The story of Google in Brazil is deeply connected to this tech transformation. Our presence in the country kickstarted with theacquisition of local search engine startup Akwan. Ever since, Google for Startups’ mission has been very intentional: to help founders solve Brazil’s biggest challenges. Startups like fintech giant Nubank, which became the biggest digital bank in the worldby offering underbanked Brazilians fee-free credit cards; health-tech gamechangers like Vittude, which is making mental health care accessible to all; resources likeContabilizei that empower Brazilians to tackle bureaucracy; and digital platforms like Trakto that have reignited regional economies by helping local entrepreneurs learn digital skills. 

  • Four startup employees stand alongside a Google "Super G" indoors at a Campus São Paulo event.

    Trakto cofounders Paulo Tenório and Jorge Henrique with Trakto developer Renato Teixeira 

  • A woman sits at the desk smiling at the camera.

    Vittude CEO Tatiana Pimenta

  • Two men and a woman stand facing the camera, smiling.

    Nubank cofounders David Vélez, Edward Wible, and Cristina Junqueira

    
    

  • A man sits in a startup office with hands folded facing the camera.

    Contabilizei CEO Vitor Torres

  • Black and white photo of a large group of people in a startup office, smiling and facing the camera.

    Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page with the team of Brazilian startup Akwan (including founder Berthier Ribeiro-Neto) in 2005. 

  And who becomes a founder is changing, too. 88% of the startups in our network have women in leadership positions, 53% have a leader who identifies as LGBTQIA+, and 58% counted at least one Black leader.  While these are steps in the right direction, we still have a long way to go to level the playing field for aspiring entrepreneurs of all backgrounds. Over 56% of Brazilians self-identify as Black, but one-third of Black entrepreneurs in Brazil report being denied funding. So last year we launched the Google for Startups Black Founders Fund—the first of its kind in Brazil—to not only boost racial diversity in the startup ecosystem but also create economic opportunity for all Brazilians by supporting high-growth, Black-led companies. 

  The past year also brought unprecedented devastation — and digital transformation — across our country. There have been more than 20 million cases of COVID-19 and over 570,000 deaths in Brazil, and unemployment hit an all-time high in March. Startups from the Campus Sao Paulo community fueled economic recovery by creating 2,000 jobs in 2020, a 33% increase over 2019. “The Google brand helped us forge relationships of trust,” said Lincoln Ando, CEO of idwall, a security tech startup that graduated from Google for Startups Residency and Accelerator programs and raised $38M during the pandemic. “We still have a lot to achieve in Brazil, but we see a big opportunity to take our mission even further.”
  

  Each step forward presents new challenges, but reinventing the day-to-day is what startups do best. While I am incredibly proud of what Google for Startups has accomplished over the past five years, the real privilege is helping founders start, build, and grow the companies that will take Brazil—and the world—into the future.

  
  
  https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/entrepreneurs/celebrating-five-years-google-startups-brazil/
• 

  Celebrating five years of Google for Startups in Brazil
  • sorangutan  

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  An inspiring song here in Brazil goes: “Um passo à frente e você não está mais no mesmo lugar”— a step forward, and you’re not in the same place anymore. While singer Chico Science passed away before the tech boom, his words predicted the rapid transformation of the Brazilian startup world over the past half-decade. 

  When we opened Google for Startups Campus Sao Paulo in 2016, Brazil was in a deep recession. Only slightly more than half of the population had access to the Internet, let alone used it daily. International funds were skeptical of the growth of our mere 5,000 startups, none of which were “unicorns” (companies valued at over $1 billion). 

  Just five years later, there are now 141.6 million internet users in Brazil, now the world’sfifth-largest online population. The 250+ startups in our network have created more than 15,000 jobs and raised more than BRL 35 billion (USD $7 billion). Google for Startups Brazil has trained more than 30,000 entrepreneurs at more than 1,500 in-person and virtual events. The local startup ecosystem is growing so rapidly that in the three months since we finalized our five-year impact report the number of Brazilian unicorn startups has grown from 15 to 17, including six companies that graduated from Google for Startups programs. 

  The story of Google in Brazil is deeply connected to this tech transformation. Our presence in the country kickstarted with theacquisition of local search engine startup Akwan. Ever since, Google for Startups’ mission has been very intentional: to help founders solve Brazil’s biggest challenges. Startups like fintech giant Nubank, which became the biggest digital bank in the worldby offering underbanked Brazilians fee-free credit cards; health-tech gamechangers like Vittude, which is making mental health care accessible to all; resources likeContabilizei that empower Brazilians to tackle bureaucracy; and digital platforms like Trakto that have reignited regional economies by helping local entrepreneurs learn digital skills. 

  • Four startup employees stand alongside a Google "Super G" indoors at a Campus São Paulo event.

    Trakto cofounders Paulo Tenório and Jorge Henrique with Trakto developer Renato Teixeira 

  • A woman sits at the desk smiling at the camera.

    Vittude CEO Tatiana Pimenta

  • Two men and a woman stand facing the camera, smiling.

    Nubank cofounders David Vélez, Edward Wible, and Cristina Junqueira

    
    

  • A man sits in a startup office with hands folded facing the camera.

    Contabilizei CEO Vitor Torres

  • Black and white photo of a large group of people in a startup office, smiling and facing the camera.

    Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page with the team of Brazilian startup Akwan (including founder Berthier Ribeiro-Neto) in 2005. 

  And who becomes a founder is changing, too. 88% of the startups in our network have women in leadership positions, 53% have a leader who identifies as LGBTQIA+, and 58% counted at least one Black leader.  While these are steps in the right direction, we still have a long way to go to level the playing field for aspiring entrepreneurs of all backgrounds. Over 56% of Brazilians self-identify as Black, but one-third of Black entrepreneurs in Brazil report being denied funding. So last year we launched the Google for Startups Black Founders Fund—the first of its kind in Brazil—to not only boost racial diversity in the startup ecosystem but also create economic opportunity for all Brazilians by supporting high-growth, Black-led companies. 

  The past year also brought unprecedented devastation — and digital transformation — across our country. There have been more than 20 million cases of COVID-19 and over 570,000 deaths in Brazil, and unemployment hit an all-time high in March. Startups from the Campus Sao Paulo community fueled economic recovery by creating 2,000 jobs in 2020, a 33% increase over 2019. “The Google brand helped us forge relationships of trust,” said Lincoln Ando, CEO of idwall, a security tech startup that graduated from Google for Startups Residency and Accelerator programs and raised $38M during the pandemic. “We still have a lot to achieve in Brazil, but we see a big opportunity to take our mission even further.”
  

  Each step forward presents new challenges, but reinventing the day-to-day is what startups do best. While I am incredibly proud of what Google for Startups has accomplished over the past five years, the real privilege is helping founders start, build, and grow the companies that will take Brazil—and the world—into the future.

  
  
  https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/entrepreneurs/five-years-google-startups-brazil/
• 

  Supporting the future of computer science with the 2021 Google PhD Fellowships
  • sorangutan  

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  Since 2009, Google has been supporting top graduate students who want to make an impact on the future of technology. The Google PhD Fellowship program recognises candidates doing important and innovative research in computer science and related fields. In Australia and New Zealand, the program focuses on early-stage candidates. Winners receive fellowships which include a monetary award of $15,000 AUD to cover stipend and other research related activities, as well as a Google Mentor who works on topics related to their field of study and provides guidance. In 2021, we’re pleased to announce four new PhD students in Australia who have been awarded fellowships for their outstanding efforts. 

  
  

  Sampson Wong, Google PhD Fellowship in Algorithms, Optimisations and Markets, The University of Sydney

  "Transport networks require regular monitoring and maintenance to sustain a high level of operability. As networks grow and as technologies improve, there is a rising demand for data-driven analysis of transport network data. This has resulted in governments and companies developing domain-specific tools to provide its citizens and users with the best recommendations. The speed and quality of these tools depend greatly on their fundamental building blocks. The goal of my thesis is to develop efficient algorithms for fundamental problems involving geometric movement data on transport networks. We use clustering and other algorithmic methods to detect commuting patterns in geometric movement data, and to select beneficial upgrades for a transport network."

  
  

  Theekshana Dissanayake, Google PhD Fellowship in Machine Learning, QUT

  "Deep learning has shown great success in solving biosignal-based medical diagnostic problems. However, present solutions cannot generalise across multiple datasets captured from different experimental settings. Furthermore, the black-box nature of current solutions hinders the trust associated with the predictions made from a clinical perspective. This PhD research focuses on the generalisability and interpretability of deep learning models designed for biosignal-based medical diagnostics and considers both single and multi-channel biosignals (such as heart signals and brain signals using EEG and ECG)."

  
  

  Xinlong Wang, Google PhD Fellowship in Machine Perception, Speech Technology and Computer Vision, The University of Adelaide

  Xinlong's research interests lie in computer vision and machine learning, specifically  in enabling machines to see and understand the environment. Xinlong’s research focuses on object-level recognition, including 2D/3D/video object detection and instance segmentation.

  
  

  Yun Li, Google PhD Fellowship in Machine Learning, University of New South Wales 

  "Deep learning has been demonstrating the potential to significantly revolutionise the practice of medicine and the delivery of healthcare. However, low volume, high sparsity, and poor quality of healthcare data and their diverse contexts may limit the efficacy of deep learning methods. In my research, we aim to develop a suite of robust and versatile few-shot machine learning methods to effectively discover personalised, transferable insightful knowledge with very limited data. Specifically, we have identified and proposed the solutions to 1) data-efficient methods for genomics sequencing; 2) medical image argumentation, 3) hierarchical multi-view data analysis; and 4) tinnitus diagnosis. We will continue to improve the explainability, transparency, and personalisation for better clinical translation. Our studies will have a broader impact on a wide range of practical scenarios such as genome study, medical diagnosis, drug discovery, and disease treatment."

  
  

  In supporting these Australian Fellows we recognise their significant academic achievements and hope that they will go on to be leaders in their respective fields. We look forward to building even stronger links between industry and academia to help support important research in Australia. You can find out more about the Google PhD Fellowship program here 

  
  
  
  
  https://blog.google/around-the-globe/google-asia/australia/supporting-future-computer-science-2021-google-phd-fellowships/
• 

  A new model for inclusive computer science education
  • sorangutan  

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  The lack of diversity in the computing education pipeline has been a remarkably persistent problem. Something that’s stalled progress in addressing disparities is that there’s largely been a focus on individuals, such as teachers and students, rather than on how equity plays out across multiple levels of the computer science (CS) education ecosystem. This is why our work at the University of Texas since 2014 focuses on understanding the root causes of inequities in the CS education pipeline and how every level of the system influences equity.

  
  

  With the support of a CS-ER (computer science education research) grant from Google, my colleague Jayce Warner and I developed a framework for thinking about equity across the CS education ecosystem. We began this work after digging into data in Texas in 2014 and finding that only about a quarter of Texas high schools offered any kind of CS course and fewer than 3% of Texas students were taking a CS course each year.  The students enrolled in CS courses were also not reflective of the student population in our diverse state. We launched what became the WeTeach_CS professional development program, with the ultimate objective of seeing equitable enrollment in CS courses in Texas. To achieve this goal, we first had to improve access to CS courses and increase the number of CS-certified teachers in the state. 

  
  

  At the time, we thought equity had to wait until we had solved the capacity, access and participation challenges. But as we began thinking more deeply about this model and asking our colleagues in the Expanding Computing Education Pathways (ECEP) Alliance for feedback, we realized several things:

  
  

  True Equity is about more than just diversity in the classroom, and just because something is available to everyone doesn’t mean that everyone can or will benefit. Also, education is very complex and the things we can easily measure (such as AP class participation) may not be the best indicators of change or success.

  
  

  We developed a new framework that reflects how things connect at different levels of CS education.  Most importantly, this model helps us better understand how equity plays out at each level. We’ve called it the CAPE framework and it consists of four interdependent components: capacity for CS education, access to CS education, participation in CS education and experience of CS education. 

  
  

  Each level affects the next. For example, if we want students to have equitable experiences in CS, we first need to make sure they’re participating equitably. Equitable participation relies on equitable access and equitable access relies on equitable capacity. 

  
  

  
  

  
  

  

  The CAPE Framework helps the entire CS education community think about the systems they work in and the types of questions they should ask to ensure equity and inclusion in computing. One example is Jackie Corricelli, a PreK-12 CS Curriculum Specialist in West Hartford Public Schools (CT), who’s used the CAPE framework to evaluate her district’s K-12 CS program. In another example, Bryan Cox, Computer Science Specialist at the Georgia Department of Education, is building a public dashboard to track access and participation in K-12 CS education in Georgia. In Texas, we’ve used CAPE to frame our state and regional CSEd Profiles and recently released a new interactive visualization to explore capacity, access and participation across the state’s 1,200 school districts and more than 2,000 high schools. 

  
  

  Google supported these efforts with a CS-ER grant awarded to UT Austin, which was instrumental in the development and evolution of the CAPE framework. In 2021, Google awarded seven new CS-ER grants. This year’s grant awardees are: Amy J. Ko, University of Washington; Derek Aguiar, University of Connecticut; Jean Ryoo, University of California, Los Angeles; Jennifer Parham-Mocello, Oregon State University; Joshua Childs and Tia Madkins, The University of Texas at Austin; Melanie Williamson and Audrey Brock, Bluegrass Community & Technical College; and Mounia Ziat, Bentley University.

  
  For more information about each of the recipient’s projects, or to submit an application to be considered for future cohorts, you can visit Google Research’s Outreach page.
  
  https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/diversity/new-model-inclusive-cs-education/
• 

  Watch With Me on Google TV: Hasan Minhaj’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 new ongoing Watch With Me series on Google TV to share their top picks and give you a behind-the-scenes look at the TV and movies that inspired them.

  
  

  Writer, comedian, producer and TV host Hasan Minhaj is best known for his sharp, earnest political commentary. When he isn’t on screen tackling any number of current issues, he’s happy to sit back and rewatch one of his favorite films. 

  
  

  “Movies and TV shows are an opportunity to watch something with loved ones,” Hasan says. “Whether they make you laugh or feel something deep. Or they can be a source of respite, or help you realize how big the world is.”

  
  

  We sat down with Hasan to learn more about his own Google TV watchlist and discover any hidden gems he has on repeat. “To me, rewatchability is everything. So my watchlist is everything that I can watch over and over, whether it's with my wife, dad or kids. That's what's on my watchlist: Comfort food in the form of movies.”

  

  Do you prefer watching movies alone or with others?

  Hasan Minhaj: I love watching movies with people, but now that I’m a dad with two kids, I’ll watch movies any way I can when I get the chance. 

  
  

  Who is the first person you call to talk about a new movie or show?

  Hasan Minhaj: My best friend, Prashanth. We can get really argumentative and petty and just go head-to-head about why we love or hate something. But we’re still friends when it’s all said and done. 

  
  

  What’s your must-have movie snack?

  Hasan Minhaj: I like to have the best of both worlds. I go one salty, one sweet, which to me is why the Peanut M&Ms are probably one of the greatest movie snacks ever.

  
  

  Do you read reviews before seeing a movie or show? 

  Hasan Minhaj: No, I listen to my friends. If a friend texts me, "Hey, you have to check out ‘Ted Lasso,’" I'll check it out. 

  
  

  How would you describe your watchlist?

  Hasan Minhaj: I’d say it’s a guaranteed good time. I think if someone were to look at my watchlist, they would be like, "Hey, he loves movies that are really funny. He's definitely a dad. And he definitely has a soft spot for 80s, 90s and early 2000s nostalgia."

  
  To check out Hasan’s watchlist and learn more about how Chris Rock inspired his start in comedy, catch his full interview and watchlist on Google TV's For You tab, coming in the next few days. Be sure to join in on the fun and share your favorites using #WatchWithMe.
  
  https://blog.google/products/google-tv/watchwithme-hasanminhaj/
• 

  From startup founder to product manager in Nairobi
  • sorangutan  

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  Welcome to the latest edition of “My Path to Google,” where we talk to Googlers, interns and alumni about how they got to Google, what their roles are like and even some tips on how to prepare for interviews.

  This week we spoke with Andrew Kamau, a Noogler — new Googler — who recently joined as a Product Manager in Nairobi. Learn how Andrew’s career took him from startups in Kenya to creating products at Google.

  What do you do at Google?

  I’m a product manager working on the Privacy team for Chrome Browser. Product management typically involves wearing multiple hats, but I can summarize it as supporting my team in ensuring that we are delivering product features that help our users stay and feel safe while using Chrome to access the web.

  I work closely with a team of engineers, designers, product managers and other cross-functional roles to anticipate our users’ needs such as easy-to-use privacy controls and protection from online threats. We then design product strategy that meets those needs. This usually involves weaving together inputs from our users and colleagues across different teams and then making product decisions that align with the company’s mission.

  How would you describe your path to Google?

  I’ve had a somewhat unusual path compared to most folks in my position. My career background is largely in tech startups. I live in Nairobi, which has a thriving community of creative talent from which I’ve benefited from and to which I’ve contributed. My time as an entrepreneur working on financial technology exposed me to opportunities that helped diversify my experiences and build up the empathy and skill set that is extremely invaluable as a product manager.
  

  Coming from a startup background, I was — on one hand — nervous about moving to a global corporation. I worried that I might not fit into the culture, having not worked at any organization with more than 40 people in the entirety of my career before this. On the other hand, the interesting thing about working at Google is that I’m still able to channel my scrappy, entrepreneurial approach to experimenting and building products. The difference is that I now have access to world-class technology and talent to support me every step of the way and the impact of my work has increased exponentially.

  What’s the one thing that surprised you about the interview process?

  Considering that I went through the entire process in the midst of the pandemic and working from home, I was pleased to find that everyone involved was gracious enough to accommodate my preferences, so I didn’t have to worry about awkward situations like my son barging in on our video calls.

  I did have some preconceived notions about what the recruiting process would look like. One that took me by surprise was how helpful and supportive my recruiter was. She helped make the process less jarring and more rewarding; even going so far as to set up calls with product managers and engineers who work at roles similar to the one I was interviewing for. They voluntarily provided guidance and advice, which helped me be better prepared for the technical interviews.

  

  Andrew and his son

  What gets you most excited in your role?

  Chrome is used on over three billion devices across the world to access the web. Building and maintaining safe and reliable product experiences for our users at this scale is a huge responsibility and source of motivation for me. I enjoy working on technical solutions to advance our mission and deliver value to our users. I’m particularly fortunate to work with incredibly smart engineers and designers on our teams.

  In my role, every day is different. Some days are spent largely on meetings, chat and email with my colleagues brainstorming and planning, while others are heads-down working on synthesizing feedback from users and developing product requirements. 

  I regularly carve out time on my weekly calendar for virtual coffees and lunches where I get to meet folks in the company based in Munich, London, Dublin, and other locations globally. Due to the diversity of backgrounds and experiences in the company, there’s always something fun and interesting to learn from others.

  Any tips for aspiring Googlers in Africa?

  First and foremost, focus on being great at your craft while maintaining a low ego. I strongly believe that confidence, ambition and humility can co-exist.

  Having mostly worked in the African tech industry, I’m constantly blown away by the talent and creativity that I encounter. I’d encourage anyone who aspires to make the jump not to doubt themselves and apply. You don’t need to know anybody (I didn’t!) or pull any strings.

  It’s also important to take time to find a role and team that is an ideal match. For example, I had to delay my process for a few months until I found the role and team that best matched my interests. Eventually, I ended up interviewing for a different role from the one I was invited to apply for — and it worked out great.

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  Google's Open Buildings uses AI to provide a digital footprint of buildings.

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  https://blog.google/inside-google/life-at-google/my-path-google/startup-founder-product-manager-nairobi/