Google Cloud Platform News

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  Stay entertained and informed from home
  • sorangutan  

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  While spending more time at home, you might find yourself re-watching your favorite classics, doing game nights with the family and catching up on the TV shows you've been missing. From staying informed on the latest news to tuning in to weekly podcasts or finding what to watch, here are a few ideas to keep your whole family entertained while at home:
  
  

  A faster way to news and entertainment

  Many of us are turning to our TVs to stay up to date and entertained while we stay in. To access fresh news and fun entertainment quickly, you’ll now find three new rows from YouTube right on your Android TV home screen:
  
  

  • COVID-19 Newsgives you the latest from authoritative publishers and local health authorities to help you stay informed.
    
  • Stay Home #WithMe features videos that invite you to cook, listen to live music and work out, so you can stay connected, even if you’re home alone.
  • Free movies from YouTube highlights movies you can watch for free with ads, so that you can find something new.

  

  Stay informed and entertained with three new rows from YouTube on the Android TV home screen.

  Create your own Watchlist in Search

  When you’re deciding on a TV show or movie to watch, there are a lot of options out there. And figuring out what content is available across all your subscriptions can be time consuming and overwhelming. You can already find TV and movie recommendations in Search and today we’re adding a new Watchlist tab on mobile, so that you can keep track of what to watch next.

  Browse through personalized recommendations by searching “what to watch.” Then, simply tap “Watchlist” in the preview window for any show or movie to add it to your list. You can navigate between your recommendations and the “Watchlist” tab so you won’t lose track of what’s already been saved. You can also add content to your Watchlist whenever you search for a show or movie. To quickly access your full watchlist, search for “my watchlist” or tap on Collections in the Google app.

  

  Keep track of what to watch next with the new Watchlist in Search.
  

  Entertainment deals you won’t want to miss

  Google Play also has a collection of special deals including offers on apps for movies, TV and comics and fun ways to learn something new. If you’re looking to game with friends, you can #PlayApartTogether and explore these multiplayer games. For a throwback option, we’ve compiled a few retro arcade games to bring back childhood memories. In the U.S., we’ve also extended the free trial for Google Play Pass to 30 days to give you and your family more time to enjoy games and apps without ads or in-app purchases.

  Browse games to #PlayApartTogether with family and friends.

  If you’re looking for apps on your big screen, Google Play is adding more collections to Android TV. Your favorite streaming apps are now organized in one row under “Stream the shows and movies you love.” You can also pick up a new hobby or skill with TV apps under “Learn new things.” If gaming on the TV is more your style, you can now find games to “Play with your remote” and “Play with your gamepad.”

  

  Find games and apps in Google Play’s collections on Android TV.

  We’re offering gamers in 14 countries free access to Stadia Pro for two months, which includes instant access to nine games, including GRID, Destiny 2: The Collection and Thumper. If you’re already a paid Stadia Pro subscriber, you won’t be charged for the next two months.

  Get a little help using just your voice

  And whether you want to catch up on your favorite podcast or you want to spend some quality time with family or roommates, Google Assistant and Nest have got you covered. 

  • Game night:If you’re looking for trivia or quiz games to play, just say, “Hey Google, let’s play a game.” Or if you already know what you want to play, say, “Hey Google, play Are You Feeling Lucky.”

  • Kick back with a podcast:Search interest in “podcasts” hit an all-time high, worldwide. Ask Google Assistant for a particular podcast by saying, “Hey Google, play [podcast name]” or it will pick one for you if you say “Hey Google, find me a podcast about cooking.” If you have a Nest Mini, Nest Hub or Nest Hub Max, the Ambient IQ feature will adjust the volume for you.
    

  • View your home movies easily:Watch videos and slideshows you’ve made in Google Photos using Chromecast. From the Google Photos app you can send videos and pictures to your TV by tapping the cast icon. With a Google Nest speaker you can simply ask, “Hey Google, show my 2018 summer vacation video on my TV.”

  

  Ask Google Assistant to cast your family photos and videos to your TV.

  These updates and features are already available or coming this week. Check them out to keep the whole family entertained at home.

  
  
  https://www.blog.google/products/android-tv/stay-entertained-at-home/
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  Our data centers now work harder when the sun shines and wind blows
  • sorangutan  

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  Addressing the challenge of climate change demands a transformation in how the world produces and uses energy. Google has been carbon neutral since 2007, and 2019 marks the third year in a row that we’ve matched our energy usage with 100 percent renewable energy purchases. Now, we’re working toward 24x7 carbon-free energy everywhere we have data centers, which deliver our products to billions of people around the world. To achieve 24x7 carbon-free energy, our data centers need to work more closely with carbon-free energy sources like solar and wind. 

  New carbon-intelligent computing platform

  Our latest advancement in sustainability, developed by a small team of engineers, is a new carbon-intelligent computing platform. We designed and deployed this first-of-its kind system for our hyperscale (meaning very large) data centers to shift the timing of many compute tasks to when low-carbon power sources, like wind and solar, are most plentiful. This is done without additional computer hardware and without impacting the performance of Google services like Search, Maps and YouTube that people rely on around the clock. Shifting the timing of non-urgent compute tasks—like creating new filter features on Google Photos, YouTube video processing, or adding new words to Google Translate—helps reduce the electrical grid’s carbon footprint, getting us closer to 24x7 carbon-free energy.

  Visualization of how we shift compute tasks to different times of day to align with the availability of lower-carbon energy. In this illustration, wind energy in the evening and solar energy during the day.

  Each day, at every Google data center, our carbon-intelligent platform compares two types of forecasts for the following day. One of the forecasts, provided by our partner Tomorrow, predicts how the average hourly carbon intensity of the local electrical grid will change over the course of a day. A complementary Google internal forecast predicts the hourly power resources that a data center needs to carry out its compute tasks during the same period. Then, we use the two forecasts to optimize hour-by-hour guidelines to align compute tasks with times of low-carbon electricity supply. Early results demonstrate carbon-aware load shifting works. Results from our pilot suggest that by shifting compute jobs we can increase the amount of lower-carbon energy we consume. 

  

  Data from our pilot illustrates how the new system shifts compute from our baseline (dashed line) to better align with less carbon-intensive times of the day—such as early morning and late evening (solid line)—when wind energy is most plentiful. Gray shading represents times of day when more carbon-intensive energy is present on the grid.

  What’s next

  The first version of this carbon-intelligent computing platform focuses on shifting tasks to different times of the day, within the same data center. But, it’s also possible to move flexible compute tasks between different data centers, so that more work is completed when and where doing so is more environmentally friendly. Our plan for the future is to shift load in both time and location to maximize the reduction in grid-level CO2 emissions. Our methodology, including performance results of our global rollout, will be shared in upcoming research publications. We hope that our findings inspire other organizations to deploy their own versions of a carbon-intelligent platform, and together, we can continue to encourage the growth of carbon-free electricity worldwide. Learn more about Google’s progress toward a carbon-free future on our Sustainability site.

  
  
  https://www.blog.google/inside-google/infrastructure/data-centers-work-harder-sun-shines-wind-blows/
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  Sustainable living tips for life at home
  • sorangutan  

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  At Google, sustainability starts at home. We strive to build sustainability into everything we do. Today, we shared that we matched 100% of our energy use with renewable energy purchases for the third year in a row. On Earth Day and every day, we are committed to helping everyone build a more sustainable world, and part of that means making it easier for everyone to make environmentally friendly choices. According to Google Trends, over the past 90 days search interest in “How to live a sustainable lifestyle” has increased by more than 4,550%. To celebrate Earth Day while many of us are finding our new normal while sheltering in place, I wanted to share some of my favorite simple sustainability tips.

  Save the planet, save some money

  If I told you that putting your groceries away in the right place, freezing your leftovers, using the dishwasher (instead of washing dishes by hand) and turning down your water heater just a few degrees could help protect the environment, you might think that sounds too simple. But our greatest impact on the planet comes from just three things: food, water and energy usage. If we each make a few small changes, we can all make a big difference (and save money while we’re at it). Our Your Plan, Your Planet tool has more simple tips you can use in your home.
  

  

  Advice from Nest and Assistant

  
  

  Nest Thermostat owners have saved over 50 billion kilowatt hours of energy since we first introduced the device, which comes to $3 billion in energy bill savings. In honor of Earth Day, the Google Assistant can help you save even more. Just say “Hey Google, give me an Earth Day tip” for simple ways you can save energy, like changing the temperature on your Nest Thermostat by just a few degrees until the leaf symbol pops up, so you know you’re saving energy.

  
  

  

  Get the buzz on bees from today’s Doodle

  See what all the buzz is about in today’s interactive Earth Day Doodle, made in collaboration with The Honeybee Conservancy. Guide your bee to pollinate flowers while learning fun facts about bees and how they help the planet. Even while social distancing, there are several things you can do to help, like supporting your local beekeeper, planting a pollinator garden or creating a bee bath.

  
  

  

  A little “how to” help 

  Recently, we’ve seen a spike in “how to” sustainability queries related to food, recycling and composting. If you’re in the U.S. or Canada, you can ask your Google Assistant how to recycle specific items and you’ll get local city and town specific answers. You can also check out our curated YouTube Earth Day playlist where you can learn how to compost, fix old clothing or turn those leftovers into a new meal. 

  “How to freeze” has been a particular popular question. Here are a few of the answers I found particularly helpful:

  1. How to freeze milk? Place the milk in your freezer in its original plastic container or glass freezer-safe container. Make sure to leave room to allow the milk to expand, so remove some milk if needed. When you're ready to use the frozen milk, allow it to thaw in the fridge.

  2. How to freeze eggs? To freeze whole eggs, you simply mix the eggs together and pour the mixture into either an ice cube tray, or a freezer-safe container or bag. If you will need to use individual eggs, it would make more sense to make sure each ice cube tray holds only one egg so that you can easily separate them.

  3. How to freeze broccoli? Broccoli—florets and stems—must be blanched for effective freezing. If you freeze it raw, you'll wind up with bitter, drab green, shriveled stems. Blanching or steaming preserves the bright green color and tasty flavor. You can either blanch in boiling water for three minutes or steam for five minutes.

  Enjoying planet Earth from wherever you are 

  With travel plans paused, national parks temporarily closed and a collective effort to stay socially distant, the world feels a bit out of reach right now. While there’s no substitute for the real thing, virtual vacations are a great way to experience our planet from wherever you are sheltering in place using Google Earth. 

  If you’re seeking natural beauty, explore the most enchanting forests, striking waterfalls, or unusual lakes around the globe. For those interested in the other creatures that share our planet, learn about the kākāpō, sea turtles or humpback whales. For anyone interested in a more scientific journey, learn about the ecosystems of the world, understand the impact of keystone species on their habitats, or learn how to be a scientist in your backyard—all you need is your smartphone.

  • Kingly Vale_Mobile_Horiz.jpg
  • Lake Natron_Mobile_Horiz.jpg
  • Iguazu Falls_Mobile_Vert.jpg
  • Manicouagan Reservoir_Mobile_Vert.jpg
  • Otters_Mobile_Vert.jpg

  I hope these tips are an easy way to get started. At Google, we know that individual actions collectively can make a big difference, and we’re happy to support everyone on their journey to a more sustainable life.

  
  
  https://www.blog.google/outreach-initiatives/sustainability/sustainable-living-tips-life-home/
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  Malou Aamund turns career advice into a popular novel
  • sorangutan  

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  Malou Aamund is the Country Director for Google Denmark—a role that’s typically associated with sales strategy, not fiction writing. But she recently became the author of a new bestselling novel. 

  Called Maria, it’s about two women who share the name. One of them chooses her family over everything else, only to find that she’s sacrificed and given away so much of herself that there’s nothing left of her own personality. The other Maria puts her career before everything and, in her determination to become a successful business leader, also loses herself.

  “It’s about self help and personal development—this is fiction as a format for helping build your career,” Malou says. Typical career advice books—and there are plenty already—can be dry and detached. “I wanted to drive an experiment to see if you can get different emotions in people by putting this type of advice into fiction,” she says.

  We (virtually) sat down with her to learn how her literary pursuits complement her day job—and vice versa.

  How do you explain your job at a dinner party?

  I’m responsible for all of Google’s business in Denmark, all the amazing things we’re doing with Grow with Google, and helping build small businesses. And I’m also responsible for how disruptive we are in many industries.

  Your career has taken some strange detours—what are some of those?

  The red thread has been that I’ve spent more than 20 years in tech at Microsoft, IBM and now Google. But along the way I also spent four years as a Member of Parliament in Denmark, representing the then-leading liberal party.

  The idea of a political career started after I’d been on an international assignment in the U.S. for a few years. I got back to Denmark and thought, compared to the U.S., there was a standstill in our innovation agenda. As a business leader I could make recommendations, but what I really wanted was to take leadership and ownership. After I helped craft some policy reforms for the party, they asked if I’d be interested in running for office. And from there it was a wild and rewarding experience.

  

  What made you decide to write Maria?

  It started 10 years ago. I was 15 years into my career, and was constantly seeing the same patterns when I was mentoring younger women. They felt there was a big personal cost for them to pursue their career dreams. It was disproportionate compared to how men felt at the same point in their own careers. I saw these amazingly talented women struggle with lower self confidence than men. I could see that in terms of how often women asked for a raise—they lacked the confidence to go in and demand what they deserved.

  So I had the idea of creating a story where you had these two opposite personalities—one person who’s thinking so much about other people’s needs that she forgets herself, and the other who’s self-centered and opportunistic. They follow the same life pattern, but react very differently at life-changing moments. I wanted to empower women to have an emotional response to the story and think about how they would actually react.

  Is it based on real people?

  Not really, but based on a lot of observations throughout my career, along with data and research that I’ve read. We now have so many insights into the fact that women have lower self esteem and how that unfolds in their career. It’s the same research that we focus on in the #IamRemarkable initiative, a Google program to build self confidence in women. It’s becoming an amazing movement, a life-changing moment for women to go through.

  What’s been the response to the book? 

  I’ve been touring universities and leading career and book discussions. The most positive thing is that I’m seeing so many younger women embrace it, and really resonate with the characters’ problems and emotions.

  There have also been a lot of parents who read the book first, and then give it to their adult children. As parents we all want to impart some values, and help our kids not make the same mistakes that we have. Here, parents can actually give moral advice in a fictional format.

  Will Maria be translated into any other languages?

  The publisher had planned to bring it to the London Book Fair, which is now cancelled due to COVID-19. But they are actively working on bringing it to other countries and languages.

  Who has been a strong female influence in your life?

  One of the highest ranking female executives in IBM was my mentor when I was pregnant with my second daughter. She asked me to join her team when I was six months pregnant, and showed a very courageous and progressive view on female talent, and took a personal bet on me. She is still a great support and a good friend. 

  What advice do you have for women starting out in their careers? 

  Choose the right partner. I have many girlfriends whose careers are not as highly prioritized as their partners’. Then, when they decide to pursue their career aspirations, it all of a sudden becomes a choice between their job and their marriage. Fortunately, there are many supportive spouses, but you need to discuss your dreams and aspirations up front to set the right expectations.

  
  
  https://www.blog.google/inside-google/googlers/malou-aamund-turns-career-advice-popular-novel/
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  Dalgona coffee whips up global interest
  • sorangutan  

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  For a lot of people, working from home means perfecting their own coffee-making skills rather than popping out to a cafe—and we’re seeing people whip up one style in particular. 

  Dalgona is a delicious, sweet, creamy type of coffee that captured attention after Korean YouTube channel KBS Entertain uploaded a video in January. It took off from there, with fans around the world trying to make the perfect version and urging their friends and family to join in.  

  A coffee breakout trend

  It’s fair to say people were up for the “dalgona challenge”—but first, they needed to figure out how to make it. Search interest in dalgona has never been higher. It started heating up the week of March 15, when searches spiked 1,800 percent around the world. Since then, it’s increased to 3,000 times the usual number of weekly searches.
  

  

  Brewing up in Southeast Asia (and everywhere) 

  
  Exactly how popular does that make dalgona? It’s become the most searched type of coffee worldwide in the past 30 days—overcoming legends like the latte, cappuccino, mocha, and the previously undefeated champion, the humble espresso.

  People everywhere have tried their hand at dalgona, but they seem a bit more determined to master the art in Southeast Asia: four of the five countries where dalgona coffee was the most searched were in the region.

  

  Spilling the beans on YouTube

  
  

  A finished dalgona might look like a work of art, but there’s some serious science behind the process. People are turning to YouTube, where it all began, for videos showing how to make the best version. Between March 15 and April 6, average views of videos with “dalgona” in their title on YouTube increased by more than 5,000 percent globally. 

  
  And it’s not just caffeine-lovers getting involved: people are experimenting with caffeine-free versions using matcha and Milo (chocolate, basically), both of which feature among the most-viewed videos.

  It’s been heartwarming to see dalgona coffee bring people together around the world, whether it’s to admire friends’ and strangers’ beautiful creations, or attempt the perfect dalgona themselves. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to perfecting my whisk.

  
  
  https://www.blog.google/around-the-globe/google-asia/dalgona-coffee-whips-global-interest/
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  4 new Google Duo features to help you stay connected
  • sorangutan  

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  For the past few weeks, even though I haven’t seen many of my loved ones in person, we’re still keeping in touch. Daily catch-ups with mom, weekend happy hours with friends, a birthday party with people who live all over the country. And it's all happening on Google Duo, our video calling product. That's the case for many people these days–in fact, every week, over 10 million new people are signing up for Duo, and in many countries, call minutes have increased by more than ten-fold. Here are a few new features to help you feel close to friends and family even when you’re apart.

  Make secure, reliable calls

  
  Private, high quality video calling is critical when you can’t be together in person. Duo is end to end encrypted, and we’re constantly making optimizations to ensure your video calling experience is clear and uninterrupted. Duo already uses AI to reduce audio interruptions, and in the coming week, we’re rolling out a new video codec technology to improve video call quality and reliability, even on very low bandwidth connections.

  Side by side comparison of an incoming video call at 30kbps with our new AV1 (AOMedia Video 1) video codec technology on the left.

  Capture special and everyday moments

  
  The way we get together has changed, but we’re still making memories, whether it’s watching someone blow out their birthday candles on a video call, or video chatting with friends while cooking dinner. When you’re on a video call with another person, starting today you can quickly take a photo together to capture the moment on smartphones, tablets and Chromebooks, and share it automatically with everyone on the call. You'll be able to do this on group calls and on more devices soon.

  Bring more people together on your video calls

  
  

  Group calling is on the rise—in the past four weeks, we’re seeing eight times the number of group calls on Duo. On Android and iOS, we recently increased our group size to 12 participants (instead of 8), and in the coming weeks we plan to increase participants even further.

  

  Let someone know you’re thinking of them

  
  Duo makes it easy to send personalized video and voice messages when you can’t call. Over the past year, we’ve added even more ways to share a quick moment, from photos to simple notes with text or doodles. In the past few weeks, Duo users are sending 180 percent more messages, with an 800 percent increase in regions particularly impacted by social distancing. You can say “I miss you” or “I’m thinking of you” using one of our latest AR effects. And soon, you’ll have the option to automatically save your messages in Duo instead of having them expire after 24 hours, so it’s easier to preserve your meaningful messages.

  With Google Duo, you can make high quality calls to anyone in your contact list in just a few taps across Android, iOS, tablets, web browsers on Windows, Mac, or Chrome OS, or even smart speakers and smart displays like the Nest Hub Max. We hope these features help you feel closer to your friends and family even if you can’t be physically together.

  
  
  https://www.blog.google/products/duo/4-new-google-duo-features-help-you-stay-connected/
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  Explore new sites, relive old hikes for National Park Week
  • sorangutan  

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  Every year, I try to visit a new National Park, or at least start planning my trip to one. That’s a little more difficult right now, but given that it’s National Park Week, I decided to try and keep with my tradition by using Google tools to satisfy my wanderlust.

  
  

  Explore new places and parks

  This year, I’m exploring g.co/nationalparks, a Google Arts and Culture project developed in collaboration with National Park Service that takes you on guided tours narrated by park rangers from the Kenai Fjords, Hawai'i Volcanoes, Carlsbad Caverns, Bryce Canyon and Dry Tortugas. I can also visit historical sites that I’ve never been to before, like Eleanor Roosevelt’s woodsy home in Hyde Park, New York or Thomas Edison’s camping sites (which, to me, look a little more like glamping). There are more than 100 Street View historical tours to choose from, and collections that let you discover Native American craftwork orfossils from archeological digs. 

  Afterward, I’ll take an in-depth tour of some of the National Parks of the United States and wander through a few of the most-loved ones recommended by our community of Local Guides in two popular Google Earth Voyager stories. I plan on rounding out the week with a new YouTube series from the Google Earth team that travels to National Parks across the country, literally “zooming” you into places like Elephant Hill in Canyonlands National Park and Kanarraville Falls in Zion National Park. There’s even a new Global National Parks quiz to test your geo-knowledge.

  

  All of these things help an outdoor enthusiast who’s stuck inside (for the time being) to find unknown landscapes or get inspiration for their next trip. Perhaps for the most well-traveled out there, they’re a way to remember a favorite adventure. 
  
  

  Or revisit old favorites

  Before I venture into the unknown, I decided to take a trip down memory lane (or rather, memory trail), and re-experience some of my favorite hikes in National Parks with the help of Google Street View, and anyone can join me—starting with Bright Angel Trail in the Grand Canyon. Saving the uphill journey for the second half of a hike is something my legs will never forget, but it remains one of my favorite National Parks memories. And thanks to Street View, I can recreate the journey … with fewer water breaks, probably.

  I can also make my way up Garfield Peak in Crater Lake National Park (which I hiked during a camping trip where I first met my husband) and make as many nostalgic pit stops along the way as I want.

  And last summer, my family and I all vacationed in Acadia National Park. Now that we can’t physically see one another, I’m even more grateful we went. One of my favorite memories was hiking along the park’s easternmost edge, the Great Head Trail, with my husband and meeting my family on Sand Beach, a journey I’m happily retaking via Street View … and maybe on our weekly family video call, we’ll all “hike” it together.

  
  
  https://www.blog.google/outreach-initiatives/arts-culture/explore-new-sites-relive-old-hikes-national-park-week/
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  Growing Colorado’s local news in a time of crisis
  • sorangutan  

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  Editor’s Note: Today’s post comes from Mandy Jenkins, General manager of the Compass Experiment which is partnering with theGNI’s Local Experiments Project. 

  As millions of Americans navigate the new reality brought on by COVID-19, they’re relying on local news for information on coronavirus cases, how to seek help for financial hardships and how to offer support to others in their communities. In cities with limited sources of local news, those searches may be coming up short. 

  With this in mind, next month The Compass Experiment will launch its second newsroom called The Longmont Leader, a new source for vital local news and information for the people of Longmont, Colorado. 

  The Compass Experiment is a local news lab founded in partnership between McClatchy and Google, and part of the Google News Initiative’s Local Experiments Project. The project’s goal is to launch and operate three digital-only news operations in small to mid-sized U.S. communities. These are aimed at locales with limited sources of local, independent journalism with the desire to make each financially self-sustaining. The Compass Experiment’s first site, Mahoning Matters, debuted in Youngstown, Ohio in October of last year. Now we’re focusing on Longmont. 

  Located 33 miles north of Denverr, Longmont has a unique blend of the new and traditional, city and country, longtime Coloradoans and new imports. It is home to a thriving tech industry, nationally-known breweries, outdoor sports, and a breathtaking view of the Rocky Mountains. The city itself is named after Long’s Peak, which we incorporated into the logo of The Longmont Leader. 

  
  

  

  Over the last decade, the population of Longmont has grown by roughly 12 percent, but the availability of local news has not kept pace. In conversations we’ve had over the last few months, people in the community and local business leaders have expressed a great deal of support for a new, Longmont-focused local news site. 

  We have no illusions that there are challenges ahead and that social distancing means we can’t get out into the community and properly introduce ourselves. But the mission is too important to wait until the pandemic has passed. 

  Fortunately, we’re following in the footsteps of the Longmont Observer, an all-volunteer community news site which has been publishing news by and for the people of Longmont since 2017. But the team also runs the city’s public access TV and is stretched by the demands of doing both. That’s why they’re transferring the Longmont Observer site to Compass and The Longmont Leader to focus on their TV work. 

  The Longmont Leader is currently hiring business and editorial staff in the area. We’re working to get to market as fast as we can, so please follow our progress as we prepare The Leader for launch. 

  
  
  https://www.blog.google/outreach-initiatives/google-news-initiative/growing-colorados-local-news-in-a-time-of-crisis/
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  It’s now free to sell on Google
  • sorangutan  

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  The retail sector has faced many threats over the years, which have only intensified during the coronavirus pandemic. With physical stores shuttered, digital commerce has become a lifeline for retailers. And as consumers increasingly shop online, they're searching not just for essentials but also things like toys, apparel, and home goods. While this presents an opportunity for struggling businesses to reconnect with consumers, many cannot afford to do so at scale.

  In light of these challenges, we’re advancing our plans to make it free for merchants to sell on Google. Beginning next week, search results on the Google Shopping tab will consist primarily of free product listings, helping merchants better connect with consumers, regardless of whether they advertise on Google. With hundreds of millions of shopping searches on Google each day, we know that many retailers have the items people need in stock and ready to ship, but are less discoverable online.

  For retailers, this change means free exposure to millions of people who come to Google every day for their shopping needs. For shoppers, it means more products from more stores, discoverable through the Google Shopping tab. For advertisers, this means paid campaigns can now be augmented with free listings. If you’re an existing user of Merchant Center and Shopping Ads, you don't have to do anything to take advantage of the free listings, and for new users of Merchant Center, we'll continue working to streamline the onboarding process over the coming weeks and months.

  

  These changes will take effect in the U.S. before the end of April, and we aim to expand this globally before the end of the year. Our help center has more details on how to participate in free product listings and Shopping ads.

  We’re also kicking off a new partnership with PayPal to allow merchants to link their accounts. This will speed up our onboarding process and ensure we’re surfacing the highest quality results for our users. And we’re continuing to work closely with many of our existing partners that help merchants manage their products and inventory, including Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce, to make digital commerce more accessible for businesses of all sizes.  

  Solutions during this crisis will not be fast or easy, but we hope to provide a measure of relief for businesses and lay the groundwork for a healthier retail ecosystem in the future.

  
  
  https://www.blog.google/products/shopping/its-now-free-to-sell-on-google/
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  A new Optimize feature to keep your website updated through COVID-19
  • sorangutan  

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  As communities around the world respond to COVID-19, we know this time presents unique challenges to your business. We’d like to share a few ways Google Optimize can help you keep your website updated with the latest information.

  Last week we introduceda new way for you to quickly post an informational banner at the top of your website. This means you can easily let your customers know if your business hours or services have changed – or even just reinforce that you are still open to serve them – and where they can find more information.

  And of course you can still use Optimize to help you update any page of your site, so we’ve included some tips and best practices below to get you started.

  Quickly add a message on your website

  Once you log into your Optimize account you can add a message to the top of your site by clicking “Add a banner.” You can use our templated banner or customize it by editing the color, size, and text. We recommend you use a color that stands out from the other content on the page. You can also select on which pages of your site the banner should be shown, for example only the homepage or on every page of your site.

  
  

  

  Use our template to quickly post a banner at the top of your website with an important message.

  You can also tailor your message by location. Let’s say you’re a clothing retailer based in San Francisco and are offering expedited shipping to customers located within the city. Optimize can help you display a customized banner that highlights faster shipping just to users located in San Francisco.

  Temporarily update your site

  You may have updated store hours or services available at this time. Use Optimize to create a personalization to temporarily display a different version of your site to people when they visit. You can end the personalization whenever you like and your site will go back to displaying its original version.

  This is helpful if you want to let your customers know about new ways they can purchase from your business. For example, if you’re a restaurant that is now accepting to-go orders over the phone, you can add your phone number to your home page or make it more visible on your site. Or, if you’re a clothing retailer that is now only accepting online orders, you can update your FAQs page to include your new shipping and return policy.

  Consider website best practices

  We’ve also put together some additional recommendations to consider while updating your website during this time:
  

  • Reduce distraction on your site. Avoid automatic product carousels or animation on your site. If you have information about how customers can order from you on the same page, the carousel or animation could draw attention away from that message.

  • Adjust your FAQs page. Your frequently asked questions might be different than what they were last year. Make sure this page highlights what is currently top of mind for your customers. If you need to reduce your customer support load, place your contact information below all other sections to allow users to read your FAQs first.

  • Change your message for mobile devices. Adding longer messages to your customers may display fine on desktop but they probably will be too long on mobile devices. Limit your messages on your mobile site to less than 50 characters. And allow users to close the message if they wish.

  Normally Optimize users would only be able to run 10 personalizations on their site at the same time. We have temporarily removed this restriction for the next 90 days so that you can make as many updates to your site as you need until July 31, 2020. If you don’t already have an Optimize account, you can create one for free here.

  
  
  https://www.blog.google/products/marketingplatform/analytics/new-optimize-feature-to-keep-your-website-updated-through-covid-19/
• 

  Why Ana Corrales loves ending meetings early
  • sorangutan  

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  Many people remember a time in their young lives when they loved or at least knew about scrunchies. The colorful hair accessories were a staple both on wrists and around ponytails. While Ana Corrales loved them, too, she took things a step further. “When I was 15, I ran a little business selling scrunchies,” she says. “I think that was the first time where I was like, oh wow, I really love this stuff!” Creating products and organizing her business felt like “freedom” to Ana. “I knew I was really happy when I was in that environment.” 

  Ana continues to find that same happiness today at Google, where she is Chief Operating Officer for consumer hardware, managing the detailed-oriented process of developing and delivering products like Pixel 4 phones and Nest Minis as efficiently as possible.  More recently, she is also supporting many of Google’s  community efforts in response to COVID-19.

  At Google, Ana is in charge of not only managing numerous large-scale projects simultaneously, but also organizing her time as well as her team, who work in different offices around the world and have transitioned to working from home. Her team manages thousands of people all over the globe, and oversees an entire portfolio of products at once. All of this means she has to master her inbox, which can fill up with hundreds of new emails overnight. Since business never sleeps, here’s how she keeps her day-to-day life organized regardless of whether she’s in the Google office or at home. 

  Expect the unexpected. 

  Ana starts each day with a carefully curated calendar of meetings to attend with her team. But she knows it will end up a lot different than it looks. “In my typical day, I am 100 percent sure things will never happen the way they are scheduled,” Ana says. “I am not exaggerating, I don’t think there’s been a day in three years when it went as planned!” Because her schedule frequently gets interrupted, she’s learned to go with the flow and adapt to whatever last-minute issue comes up. 

  But when there’s something important that can’t be moved—-say, her child’s birthday party at school—-that’s when she doesn’t budge. “You have to be really disciplined, because otherwise your calendar ends up running you rather than you running it,” she says. This can be especially true when working from home where the separation between work and life can easily blur. “It’s important to really prioritize and create windows you can dedicate to each area, you need to honor your boundaries.” 

  Be strict about meeting times. 

  If you’re in a meeting with Ana, and it starts at noon, expect it to start precisely at noon—-not 12:05, or 12:06, or whenever the last person sits down. And if you get things done efficiently in that meeting, expect the team to get out early, rather than fill up the remaining time with other topics. That’s because a few minutes of free time can be crucial during the workday. “Everyone gets to walk slower to their next meeting, or breathe, or get a coffee. Or, if you're working from home, get in a quick workout or take the dog out.” Ana says. She also loves a quick 15-minute, one-on-one walk to chat (more recently done via phone due to COVID-19), which can accomplish more than you may think. 

  Get ruthless with your inbox. 

  When Ana wakes up each morning, she’s greeted with hundreds of new emails in her inbox. And those keep coming throughout the day and into the night given the global nature of the team. Since she’s in meetings all day, there’s no way she can read every incoming message, let alone respond to it. So she’s not afraid to hit delete. “I try to extinguish email as much as possible,” she says. 

  When a big product launch is coming up and she’s busier than usual, she has to prioritize, and won’t check emails that are related to different topics. “If it’s launch mode and I know it’s not related to launch, it’s out of my zone,” she says. There are some exceptions, including work related to her role as executive sponsor of HOLA, Google’s employee resource group for the Latino community and allies, as well as her work as a board member of Women@Google,  a global network committed to empowering all women at Google. 

  Even during quieter times of the year, she still makes tackling inbox clutter a priority. She will  rely on other members of her team to respond to an email, especially if it’s a topic more related to their expertise, and she’ll urge colleagues to not copy her on emails unless it’s necessary. And when she comes back from vacation, she deletes any email that's not urgent (in Ana's case, with help from an administrative assistant).

  Take time away from your phone. 

  When Ana’s work day is over (whether she’s at the office, or more recently, in her home office), she jumps into a packed evening at home with her family. But she makes sure to take some time away from her busy schedule, whether it’s taking a walk with her husband or going swimming. “When I swim for 30 minutes, it’s great, because you can’t have your phone anywhere near you when you’re swimming,” she says. “I think that quietness really helps me.” 

  The Takeaway:

  • Start your meetings and video calls on time, always. But don’t be afraid to end your meetings early. 

  • Getting too much irrelevant email? Just ask to be taken off the list. 

  • Work still on your mind when you get home? Put your phone down and go for a swim—or a walk. 

  
  
  https://www.blog.google/inside-google/googlers/why-ana-corrales-loves-ending-meetings-early/
• 

  Check in on emotional well-being during distance learning
  • sorangutan  

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  Without the consistent routine of the school day, reliable Wi-Fi or even a quiet place to work, students may be struggling to adjust to learning outside the classroom. While nothing can replace teachers’ in-person interactions with their students, the same digital tools used for teaching can be used to check in on a student’s well-being. Educators have shared creative ideas to check in on students through video calls, phone calls, or drive-by visits, which inspired these four ways to use technology to emotionally support your students.

  Create emotional check-in opportunities

  Even though distance learning tools allow teachers to see and talk to students, they can miss out on observing body language and behavior that indicate when a student needs help. Use Google Forms to reach out to students with an emotional-health questionnaire. Keep the question list short with a few high-level questions: How do you feel today? Why do you feel this way? What is your goal for today?

  Provide a space for students to write longer responses. The responses, which are collected in a Google Sheet, can guide teachers in identifying which students need more support. The forms are also a good tool for allowing students to become self-aware about the emotions they’re feeling.

  Organization is key to emotional well-being for students 

  Teachers are always helping students to keep classwork organized, follow schedules, and complete tasks. These self-management skills are even more critical to students’ emotional well-being now that they’re studying from home. Encourage students to create to-do lists in Google Docs, checklists in Google Keep or to schedule deadlines and meetings in Google Calendar. Teachers can use Google Classroom to send wellness reminders to students—everything from a quick message like “Take a quick movement break!” to sharing a mindfulness activity from YouTube.

  Inspire students to express themselves

  Teachers can often get a sense of a student’s emotional well-being from a quick conversation after the bell rings or checking in at the end of a challenging week. With distance learning, it’s just as important to create a comfortable and safe space for students to express emotions. Using Blogger, teachers can ask students to create a “reflection journal,” and write about their distance learning experiences. They can also invite students to record vlogs—or video blog posts-- and insert into a shared deck in Google Slides. This way students can not only share their thoughts, but also see one another, hear each other’s voices, and comment on messages. It’s important to note that YouTube and Blogger are both not core services of G Suite for Education, and are additional services that can be enabled by your administrator. 

  Additional tools on Chromebooks

  There are many apps that work well on Chromebooksand are integrated with Google for Education tools that were specifically developed to support social emotional learning. With ClassDojo, students can share their daily learning on a digital portfolio, teachers can give students feedback aligned with school or classroom values, and families are brought into the classroom experience through teacher posted photos and videos. Classcraft blends students’ physical and virtual learning and reframes their progress in school as a game they play together throughout the year. And Wisdom - Kingdom of Anger empowers pre-K to 2nd grade students to practice social emotional learning through weekly lessons and hands-on activities. Students learn to identify, label, and communicate emotions to develop effective coping tools to healthily manage emotions.

  More ideas for social emotional learning

  If you’re looking for more ideas for improving student SEL, visit the website forCASEL (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning), which offers resources such as webinars. You can watch our webinar on SEL, and visitTeach from Home, Google’s new hub of information and tools to help teachers during COVID-19.

  
  
  https://www.blog.google/outreach-initiatives/education/social-emotional-learning-covid19/
• 

  Family and history inspired this Googler’s photo series
  • sorangutan  

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  Editor’s Note: Welcome to Passion Projects, a series where we highlight Googler’s unexpected, fascinating and often inspiring interests outside of the office. In our latest installment, we’re focusing on a recent project Sarah Torney, a Googler from the Chrome Enterprise product marketing team, put together during her time sheltering at home in San Francisco. Over to Sarah...

  I’m a fifth-generation San Franciscan and fourteenth-generation American. Recently, to fill my time as I shelter in place, I’ve been sifting through old family photos. I discovered a series of photos my great-grandfather took in the days after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. My great-grandfather, Edward “Ned” Johnston Torney Sr., hit the streets with his camera to document the devastation caused by fires following the “The Great Quake” on April 18, 1906. He was able to continue shooting for days after, documenting the path of destruction caused by the fires.

  After sharing my great-grandfather’s photos with close friends during a virtual happy hour, an idea hit me: I decided to recreate a “then and now’’ photo series, heading out to the same locations and street corners my great-grandfather had photographed (all while following social distancing guidelines, of course). Not only has San Francisco's shelter in place emptied the streets of many cars and people, similar to the impact of the fires, but the timing is also significant. It’s been 114 years to the month since the 1906 earthquake. 
  

  

  Present-day photo of Market at 6th facing west; a cable car on the streets of San Francisco in 1906.

  

  Geary at Powell facing east towards the Palace Hotel on Market, in 1906 and 2020.

  

  Hibernia Bank, Jones at McAllister, facing north, in 1906 and 2020.

  Some things have clearly changed: New, modern buildings have replaced many of the ones that stood in the early twentieth century. Our methods are different, too; to document the crisis of 1906, my great-grandfather used the trendiest equipment available at the time, a Kodak “Premo” camera. I recreated his photos with my camera of choice, Pixel 3a. It’s interesting to see the aftermath of the 1906 earthquake juxtaposed against the ghost town that is downtown San Francisco amid the COVID-19 crisis today.

  • lengfelds pharm 3.jpg

    Union Square facing east towards Stockton in the days following the 1906 earthquake.

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    Union Square today. 

  • 4. Madision&Burke 4.jpg

    Sutter and Kearney facing south towards Market Street in 1907. 

  • 4. IMG_20200405_151110.jpg

    A present-day image of the corner of Sutter and Kearney facing south. 

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    My great-grandfather's photo of Kearney and California facing south towards Market Street. 

    
    

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    My own photograph of Kearney and California.

    
    

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    Market at Embarcadero (formerly East Street) facing north towards the base of Sacramento St. 

    
    

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    Market at Embarcadero today during the Shelter-in-Place mandate.

    
    

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    Market at Embarcadero facing west in 1906. 

    
    

  • 8. IMG_20200411_135900_2.jpg

    The same image of Market at Embarcadero today. 

    
    

  
  Working on this project has been a fascinating history lesson on San Francisco—and better yet, it’s surfaced family photos and stories that I will be able to remember and share for generations. 

  Special thanks and gratitude to Warren Finke, Richard Torney and Eric Torney for photo preservation and publishing permission.

  

  Sarah Torney and her great-grandfather, Edward “Ned” Johnston Torney Sr.

  
  
  https://www.blog.google/inside-google/googlers/family-photo-series-san-francisco/
• 

  Two weeks of Doodles to thank essential workers
  • sorangutan  

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  Essential workers keeping our world safe and running during this global pandemic deserve a standing ovation. To show our appreciation, we created a two week Google Doodle series to honor and recognize all who have stepped up in unprecedented ways— including putting their own lives at risk—to provide services that keep our society moving forward.

  Google Doodles usually take months (sometimes years!) of planning and development. This one came together in a matter of days. Though in the past we’ve moved quickly to create a Doodle in response to a major world—or even outer world—event, this is our first real-time Doodle series focusing on one theme. 

  In this series of animated GIF Doodles, the big "G" represents communities around the world sending our love to the other letters, which represent the essential workers. Fun fact: we purposely used the first and last letters of our logo to ensure characters in every Doodle were practicing social distancing.

  • Thank you Public Health Workers

    Public health workers and researchers in the scientific community are working around the clock.

  • Thank you Doctors

    Doctors, nurses and medical workers stay at work, so everyone else can stay at home.

    
    

  • Thank you Emergency Services Workers

    Emergency service workers have dedicated their days to keep people safe.

  • Thank you Custodial Workers

    Custodial and sanitation workers’ efforts are crucial for those on the frontline, and those staying at home.

  • Thank you Farmers

    Farm workers and farmers are working tirelessly to make sure food isn’t lacking.

  • Thank you Grocery Workers

    Grocery workers haven’t stopped helping people get the supplies they need.

  • Thank you Public Transportation Workers

    Public transportation workers make sure cities and towns keep running.
    

  • Thank you Packaging Workers

    With every delivery, packaging, shipping and delivery workers put smiles on the faces of families.

  • Thank you Food Service Workers

    Food service workers encourage people to keep going with a good meal.

    
    

  • Thank you Teachers

    Teachers and childcare workers keep finding new ways to look after kids in every corner of the world.

  Beyond the efforts of essential workers, “help” has become more than a concept, a desire or an unusual action. Help has become part of our day-to-day lives. We notice it in small actions—like going to the supermarket for your elderly neighbor, or donating homemade face masks to healthcare workers—and in what people are searching for around the world. One thing has become clear: people want to help.

  

  As with all of our Doodles, we hope the series allows for helpers everywhere to feel seen, heard, and valued and for everyone to remember there will be a light at the end of what could feel like a long tunnel. Because where there’s help, there’s hope.

  
  
  https://www.blog.google/inside-google/doodles/two-weeks-doodles-thank-essential-workers/
• 

  Tips for learning at home with Google Earth
  • sorangutan  

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  I'm an aunt to eight nieces and nephews, who over the past few weeks transitioned to distance learning. I also have a sister who works in Special Education and now spends half of her time meeting directly with parents, creating strategies to modify coursework and ensuring that families have the tech to support academic progress.

  It hasn't been an easy adjustment, but my family is one of the many using different tools to connect with their classrooms and stay busy.
  

  With millions of students out of school due to COVID-19, educators are rising to the challenge of teaching remotely at an unprecedented scale and parents are putting in extra time to support their kids with productive learning sessions. Adults, too, are looking to learn new things and explore the world around them from home.
  

  While there are many resources for distance learning for both kids and adults—such as Google’s new information hub Teach from Home and the Learn@Home YouTube channel—sometimes all you need is a quick activity that doesn’t require much prep. And one place you’re sure to find that is Google Earth.
  

  Here are four easy ways anyone can use Google Earth as a learning tool or even simply to experience new places and adventures while staying safe at home.

  Take a spin around the globe with the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button

  Google Earth’s “I’m Feeling Lucky” feature recreates the feeling of spinning a globe and dropping your finger down somewhere unexpected. With a click of the “dice” button, you can learn about the world and travel to unexpected destinations.
  

  

  Uncover hidden gems the world over with “I'm Feeling lucky,” a feature that takes you somewhere unexpected with the click of a button.

  Measure the world 

  If you’ve ever wondered how far your home is from Machu Picchu or what the nautical miles between Easter Island and Hawaii are, you’re in luck. With Google Earth’s measure tool, you can easily discover the distance between locations, along paths and the area of places. Challenge yourself by changing the unit of measurement, perhaps to a smoot, and figure out how long it would take for you to walk, boogie, swim, paddle or fly to a place you love.

  Use lines and shapes to check distances and estimate sizes of different features on Earth

  Explore Google Earth Voyager games and imagery

  How well do you know the world’s national parks? What about the sound a penguin makes? With a few clicks, you can test your knowledge  on national parks, animal sounds or space exploration. You can even travel the world with Carmen Sandiego.

  Join Carmen Sandiego in a globe-trotting game and learn about new places, cultures and customs

  Students can also try a round of Earth Bingo or discover the ABCs using satellite imagery. Also, think about using Street View to put a digital spin on the game “I spy with my little eye” and look for objects in the online version of students’ streets and neighborhoods, or take the classic game for an artistic spin inside of a museum.

  
  

  Visit Google’s education partner websites

  Many of the authors of our Voyager stories have free online resources and activities that use Google Earth. Students can hone their geo-literacy skills and gain inspiration with National Geographic. A click of the “Share to Google Classroom” button will bring PBS Learning Media’s collection of World Explorers videos and lesson plans to an entire classroom.

  Media4Math has developed a collection of resources that give mathematical principles real world context, such as the geometry of castles and circular structures.

  

  Learn how triangles are incorporated into famous buildings

  Once you’ve learned about shapes, move onto sound, with the Global Oneness Project curriculum that explores the linguistic diversity and vitality of indigenous languages from speakers around the world. The curriculum is a companion to the Google Earth audio collection, Celebrating Indigenous Languages.

  

  You can find more Google Earth resources and classroom activities on the Google Earth Education website, as well as TES, a resource hub with plenty of home learning essentials. Educators looking to connect with other teachers to share ideas on using Google Earth and mapping tools in the classroom can check out the new Google Earth Education Community Forum, and continue to follow Google Earth on Twitter and Facebook.

  
  
  https://www.blog.google/products/earth/tips-to-learn-at-home-with-google-earth/
• 

  Fee relief to support our news partners during COVID-19
  • sorangutan  

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  During times of global crisis, people rely on quality journalism to stay informed and safe. And the ads that appear alongside news coverage help fund the journalists who write breaking news stories, and keep news sites and apps running. 

  Many news publishers around the world use Google Ad Manager to support their digital businesses with advertising. As the coronavirus pandemic takes a toll on our global economy, theGoogle News Initiative is working to identify ways to provide immediate financial support to those news organizations around the world producing original journalism. 

  That’s why we’ve decided to waive ad serving fees for news publishers globally on Ad Manager for five months. Over the coming days, we’ll notify our news partners that meet the requirements about the details of the program, and what they can expect to see in their account statements. 

  This builds on the GNI’s Journalism Emergency Relief Fund, which is delivering aid to thousands of small and local news publishers globally, and other programs to support the industry. With these efforts, we aim to help news organizations reduce some of the cost of managing their businesses and funding important journalism during this time.

  
  
  https://www.blog.google/outreach-initiatives/google-news-initiative/supporting-business-our-news-partners-during-covid-19/
• 

  A little help getting through the day
  • sorangutan  

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  Like many families, my husband and I have been staying-at-home for over a month, while looking after our two young kids who are out of school. Balancing two full-time jobs—running the team that builds features for Google Assistant and homeschooling my 6- and 3-year-old children—is an unexpected challenge that I know I’m not alone in navigating. In fact, search interest for “how to work from home with kids” tripled over the past month in the U.S., while search interest in “how to keep kids busy during quarantine” spiked more than 350 percent in the past day, worldwide. 

  My husband and I are figuring out a schedule that minimizes the chaos, enabling us to work while also cherishing time with our kids. Here are some of the things we’ve learned and how Google Assistant is helping us get through the day.

  Morning 

  With the four of us sharing the same space all day every day, It can be especially important to carve out “me time.” Most mornings before my kids get up, I ask my Nest Hub Max, “Hey Google, show me workout videos” and I exercise along to a YouTube tutorial (here’s one I love). This solo time energizes me and sets the right tone so I can tackle the day.

  
  

  I’m also restructuring my day to meet the needs of both work and family. While it might not be the case for everyone, I’m fortunate to have some flexibility in my work schedule. So instead of working a typical 9 to 5, I’ve established shifts with my husband so one of us gets uninterrupted time to focus on work, while the other helps our kids. I take the afternoon shift with my kids, so I schedule all of my work meetings in the morning. I typically hop back online after the kids are in bed so I can follow up on any urgent items and give my team guidance for the following day.

  
  

  I also use ready-made Routines to trigger several actions with one single command. They’re super easy to set up and they’re the ultimate multitasking partner. For example, when I say “Hey Google, good morning,” Google Assistant turns on my kitchen lights, starts the coffee maker, reads out my calendar and plays the news. And when I want a quick update on specific topics, I ask things like, “Hey Google, what’s the latest news on coronavirus?” so I’m informed before the kids are up.

  
  

  And with the lines between work and home completely blurred, I’ve realized I need to be much more intentional about my time. I ask Assistant to set reminders so I can keep track of upcoming online classes for my kids or remind my husband about our schedule. 

  
  

  I also make sure my kids’ homeschooling classes and activities are added as calendar appointments, so I have a clear overview of what's going on for the family that day.

  
  

  Afternoon 

  When I’m with the kids in the afternoon, I make sure to over-communicate with my colleagues about my whereabouts. For example, I block off my calendar in the afternoon and even put an “out of office” message in my email to set expectations about my availability. 

  
  

  My daughter is starting to read, so one of her daily lessons is going over the alphabet. I ask Google Assistant to sing the ABCs on our Nest Mini when we review her alphabet book, so she starts understanding each letter.

  
  

  As part of my son’s school assignments, he writes at least one or two pages a day. We've gotten into the habit of writing out jokes which we print and tape on our sidewalk so our neighbors can enjoy. Since he’s still learning how to spell, he’ll often ask Google Assistant for help spelling difficult words.

  
  

  And is it just me, or are kids hungry all day long? To manage my (seemingly endless) grocery list, I ask my phone, “Hey Google, add pasta and cream to my shopping list.” And when I’m at the grocery store, I can quickly pull up my list without touching my phone by asking, “Hey Google, what’s on my shopping list?”

  
  

  Evening 

  To create some separation between the workday and family time, we started a new evening ritual: dance parties. I scheduled a Custom Routine that automatically dims our living room lights and turns on a party playlist at 5:30pm each day. This also helps my kids shake out some energy, so it’s a win-win.

  
  

  A few times a week before dinner, we video call the kids’ grandmas using Google Duo on our Nest Hub Max. If they don’t happen to be by their own Smart Displays to answer the call, they can easily pick up on their phones. Their grandmas live in Washington and Canada, so it’s special to connect with them regularly since we can’t see each other in person.

  
  

  Around dinnertime, I try to get inventive with what I have so I can minimize grocery store trips. One of my favorite Google Assistant features is getting recipe inspiration based on what’s left in my fridge or pantry. Try asking, "Hey Google, what can I make with broccoli and cheese”—or whatever ingredients you need to use up!

  
  

  Once dinner is ready, I simply say, “Hey Google, broadcast it’s dinner time” and my message is sent to all Assistant enabled speakers around our home, no need to shout.

  
  

  And when it’s time to wind down for the night, we ask Assistant to tell us a story or play soothing sounds. Try it out by saying, “Hey Google, read me a bedtime story” or “Hey Google, play ocean sounds.” 

  
  

  Whether you need help making mundane tasks more magical (“Hey Google, help me wash my hands”) or need assistance getting a meal on the table, I hope what I’ve learned in my own home can help make your day just a bit easier. 

  
  

  
  
  https://www.blog.google/products/assistant/little-help-getting-through-day/
• 

  50 billion reasons Nest is saying thank you this Earth Day
  • sorangutan  

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  50 billion is a big number. It's hard to comprehend something that enormous. But Nest Thermostat owners have saved over 50 billion kilowatt hours of energy since we first introduced the device. In honor of Earth Day on April 22, we at Google Nest want to say thank you for helping our planet. 

  But again...we know: 50 billion of anything is a lot. We wanted to help give you some context about what 50 billion kilowatt hours of energy actually means.

  

  Little things can make a big difference

  All it takes are a few simple changes at home that we can all make to collectively have an impact. If you need help getting started, you can ask Google Assistant, “Hey Google, give me an Earth Day tip” for simple ways you can help do your part, like switching your monthly bills to paperless or turning off the water while brushing your teeth or doing dishes. You can also change the temperature on your Nest thermostat by just a few degrees until the leaf symbol pops up, so you know you’re saving energy. 
  

  This Earth Day we want to make it easier for even more people to save energy, so we’re offering discounts on the Nest Learning Thermostat and Nest Thermostat E starting today through April 29. It’s our small way of saying thank you.  

  
  
  https://www.blog.google/products/google-nest/nest-earth-day-thank-you/
• 

  How to be healthy at home
  • sorangutan  

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  Right now, your home could be an office, a gym, a playground or even your own personal restaurant where all of your friends (virtually) hang out. While we’re all trying to figure out how to stay well and adjust to health routines at home, search interest in “exercise” and “handwashing” have reached an all-time high. Since health and wellness are top of mind right now, here are a few resources to help you be well.

  
  

  Make the most of your time at home

  YouTube is encouraging the world to Stay Home #WithMe by featuring videos from creators that help you promote mental and physical wellbeing while you’re at home. Check out topics ranging from “Meditate With Me” to “Work Out With Me” and “Dance With Me.”

  

  Staying healthy can mean breaking a sweat while exercising or sitting still and calming your mind. Google Play has created a collection of special deals and free content for “Workout & wellness” and “Mindfulness & meditation.” Google Play also has feature roundups of apps by category for when you’re at home to help you “Sleep well & find balance” and “Stay healthy & work out.” 

  

  Google Play is featuring special offers on helpful apps while you’re at home.

  Also on Android TV, Google Play is adding new collections to help you find useful apps for your smart TV quickly.  Starting with the “Stay mindful & fit” collection in the U.S., you can easily find apps like Peloton, which offers workouts that can be done with or without equipment, to help you get moving right in your living room. “Stay mindful and fit” will be rolling out to Google Play on Android TV devices starting this week.

  

  New app categories for Google Play on Android TV surface useful apps for your TV.

  You can also kickstart a workout by asking Google Assistant, “Hey Google, show me workout videos” and follow a YouTube tutorial on your Smart Display, like Nest Hub Max, or on your phone.

   

  Performance at a glance

  Whether you're in the middle of your at-home workout, yoga session or taking a quick jog around the block, the latest Google Fit update on iOS and Android app bring bold text and bright visuals to the design, making it easier for quick check-ins on your activity goals. You’ll also start to see tips from WHO for reducing the risk of catching or spreading infections.

  

  Google Fit redesign makes it easier to check progress towards activity goals.

  On Wear OS by Google smartwatches, we've made it easier to keep track of your at-home workouts and see how you’re doing throughout the day or week at a glance. The latest design includes visual updates to the Heart Points tile which now shows your progress toward the World Health Organization-recommended amount of physical activity. We’ve also added a new Workout tile to start tracking your go-to workouts with just one tap.

  

  Wear OS by Google tiles bring quicker access to the best of Google Fit.

  Help washing your hands

  WHO recommends washing your hands for 40 seconds, which might be longer than you’re used to. Over the last month, search interest for "hand washing songs" spiked 850 percent in the U.S. To stick to 40 seconds, simply say, “Hey Google, help me wash my hands” and Google Assistant will play a song on your Smart Display, smart speaker, phone (Android and iOS) or Wear OS by Google smartwatch with speakers. If you want to skip the tunes, Google Assistant can set you up with a 40 second timer, or on Wear OS you can now add a hand-wash timer as a tile or as a shortcut on your watch face.

  Get help washing your hands for 40 seconds.

  These new features are all currently available, or rolling out in the coming weeks. We’re also always adding more apps and content to our collections, so stay on the lookout for more ways to stay healthy.

  
  
  https://www.blog.google/products/google-fit/be-healthy-at-home/
• 

  It’s faster and easier to use Ads Data Hub
  • sorangutan  

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  Advertisers tell us that understanding the business impact of their marketing is more important than ever. But they also report that it’s becoming more difficult as the industry—in response to growing concerns about privacy—changes its practices around how data is collected and used. Ads Data Hub enables customized analysis of your Google ad campaigns while protecting user privacy and upholding Google’s high standards of data security.
  

  Today, we’re providing an update on improvements to Ads Data Hub that help you analyze data more quickly and easily, better understand the way that people interact with your ads, and use insights from your data to reach the right customers. With these updates, you can tailor your measurement to your unique business needs, understand how your marketing is performing, and drive the greatest business impact.
  

  Improvements to help you analyze your data faster and easier
  

  Over the past year, we’ve been investing in the infrastructure that underlies Ads Data Hub to make it available to a larger number of customers and simplify the process of writing queries. Over 200 brands, agencies and measurement partners are actively using Ads Data Hub today. And usage continues to increase, with successful queries up over 145 percent in 2019 compared to 2018. But we’ve heard from customers that we need to make it faster and easier to run analysis.
  

  In the coming weeks, we’ll add self-service account linking for Google Ads, Campaign Manager, and Display & Video 360, so you can more easily access your Google ad campaign data across multiple products in a secure, privacy-centric environment. This includes allowing you to create multi-tier account structures, which adds flexibility to how brands and agencies can configure ads data within Ads Data Hub to address unique account hierarchies and user access requirements.
  

  

  Link your Google Ads, Campaign Manager, and Display & Video 360 accounts to Ads Data Hub
  

  We’re making it easier to run analysis with a Sandbox environment, which recently rolled out to all customers. This environment includes a test dataset and can be used to experiment with data and query development, which can help make execution faster by giving you a better understanding of the types of queries you can write and insights you can get in Ads Data Hub.
  

  We’ve also launched a new query library that gives you access to over 20 templates for the most common types of analysis run in Ads Data Hub. For example, the All events template can be used to get impressions, clicks, conversions and Active View stats for a specific account. Ads Data Hub users can also suggest new templates directly via the in-product feedback form.

  • E02547721-Google-GMP-Resize-Blogpost-Screenshot-Mar20_GoogleAds_v2.png

                                                              Query templates help you write and run queries for the most common types of analysis

    
    

  • E02547721-Google-GMP-Resize-Blogpost-Screenshot-Mar20_CampaignManager_v2.png

                                                              Query templates help you write and run queries for the most common types of analysis

    
    

  • E02547721-Google-GMP-Resize-Blogpost-Screenshot-Mar20_DisplayVideo_v2.png

                                                              Query templates help you write and run queries for the most common types of analysis

    
    

  • E02547721-Google-GMP-Resize-Blogpost-Screenshot-Mar20_YoutubeReserve_v2.png

                                                              Query templates help you write and run queries for the most common types of analysis

    
    

  A frequent request we’ve heard from customers is to be able to access and analyze ad data closer to real-time. To address this, we’ve brought latency down from 24-48 hours to 6 hours for display and YouTube ads data from Google Ads, as well as for data from YouTube ads bought via Display & Video 360. That means, if an impression was served at 8am, you can query data associated with that impression from 2pm on the same day.
  

  New ways to understand the consumer journey

  Manually stitching together event-level data from Campaign Manager and Display & Video 360 to reconstruct the path to purchase is possible today in Ads Data Hub, but it can be time-consuming and difficult. That’s why we’ve introduced consumer journey paths, a set of pre-processed data that automatically join impression, click, and conversion events together if they’re part of a single journey. This will help advertisers get valuable insights about the consumer journey faster and with higher quality output than manual approaches, and is available to all Ads Data Hub customers that have Campaign Manager and Display & Video 360 data enabled in their account.

  To cover more of the ways people interact with media and your brand, we’re expanding beyond computer, mobile and tablet device measurement to include TV screens. This includes coverage for connected TV and gaming consoles. These devices are becoming a bigger part of many media plans, so understanding their role in delivering value for your business is also becoming more important.
  

  Today, Ads Data Hub includes key advertising metrics such as viewability, impressions, clicks, and conversions from display and video ads in Google Ads, Campaign Manager, and Display & Video 360. And in the coming months we’re enabling more measurement use cases by adding advanced Active View metrics for YouTube—including viewability and audibility metrics—that allow you to uncover deep insights into creative performance and user attention.
  

  Reach the right customers with customized audience list creation
  

  Beyond measurement, one of biggest pieces of feedback we’ve heard from customers is that they’d like to take action on the insights they uncover in Ads Data Hub, while protecting user privacy. We’ve begun a test to allow a limited group of customers to build audience lists based on clicks or conversions from Google Ads, Campaign Manager, and Display & Video 360, and use these audience lists to inform who sees display ads in Google Ads and Display & Video 360. For example, you could create an audience list in Ads Data Hub of users that have already purchased your product, then use that as an exclusion list to ensure you don’t continue to show them your ads served via Google Ads and Display & Video 360.
  

  User privacy protections are deeply embedded across all of these features, and—as always—there’s an aggregation requirement of at least 50 users for output of any data from Ads Data Hub. Over time, we'll continue to evolve the capabilities of Ads Data Hub by providing access to additional ads datasets and developing deeper integrations across our ad platforms.
  

  
  
  https://www.blog.google/products/marketingplatform/360/faster-and-easier-to-use-ads-data-hub/