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Preserving stories of Black History in the UK and beyond
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In 1981, African-American civil rights leader Queen Mother Moore visited the U.K. on a speaking tour that would have an enduring impact on Black British history. Coming in the wake of London’s Brixton uprisings, her teachings from the movement in the U.S. would go on to inspire the foundation of the Black Cultural Archives (BCA), a living monument to Black history and culture.
To celebrate Black History Month in the UK this October, Google Arts & Culture partnered with the BCA to bring its unique collection of images, artifacts and artworks together online for the first time.
Based in London’s Brixton neighborhood, the Black Cultural Archives is the only national heritage center dedicated to collecting, preserving and celebrating the histories of African and Caribbean people in Britain. With this project, Google Arts & Culture has digitized over 4,000 items from the BCA to help inspire and educate.
The collection features over 30 online stories, with highlights including the Black Women’s movement in the UK, the evolution of Black British dance and a collection of paintings and ceramics by Jamaican-born artist Rudi Patterson. Thanks to our Art Camera technology, you can now study the intricate details of newly digitized artworks in Gigapixel resolution.
This past summer, Google Arts & Culture also partnered with London’s Somerset House to digitize and share stories from its recent exhibition Get Up, Stand Up Now, which explored the past 50 years of Black creativity in Britain and beyond. The partnership culminated in a new collaboration with Samm Henshaw, recognized by YouTube Music UK as a “One To Watch” emerging artist. Inspired by the generations of creative pioneers featured in the Somerset House exhibition, Samm wrote an original track honoring “the motherland” and invited visual artist Wumi Olaosebikan to contribute a creative response to his song through painting.
The theme of the motherland can also be found in another new exhibition on Google Arts & Culture. Everyone in the world can trace their origins back to East Africa, which is sometimes called the cradle of mankind. We’ve collaborated with the National Museums of Kenya in a new online collection that celebrates the heritage and stories of Kenya’s many communities.
- Muthoni Drummer Queen
  Muthoni Dummer Queenis an inspirational force in Kenya's music scene. She fuses African drums, hip-hop, reggae/dancehall, and neo-soul/blues to create powerful music that explores her experiences growing up in Nairobi and the spaces that women occupy in the city. (Credit: Margaux Martin)
- Dancing people at the Turkana festival
  The annual Lake Turkana Cultural Festival: One of Kenya's top tourist attractions is the three-day festival held in June and takes place at Loiyangalani, Marsabit County. This festival features all nomadic communities in Northern Kenya, including the Samburu community. In addition, Tobong'ulore festival is held in Turkana county.
- A Porridge gourd called Kamba
  The Kamba (also known as Akamba) belong to the Bantu community and lived in the eastern region in Kenya. They speak Kikamba language and are closely related in language and culture to the Kikuyu, Embu, Mbeere and Meru.
- Isukha musician
  The Isukha(also commonly referred to as Abaisukha) are a sub-community of the larger Luhya (Abaluyia) community in Kenya. They are well known for their traditional Isukuti dance, which is performed by both the Ishukha people and their close relatives the Idakho. It is a rapid dance accompanied by drumming of the isuki drums.
- A colourful Ornament
  In Africa, body ornamentscommunicate ethnic background, social status, age and beliefs. Traditional ornaments appear in various forms, such as earrings, bracelets, armlets and belts. This bead collar is strung on makonge (sisal) thread and worn by little girls and women during ceremonial occasions.
- Comic depiction of a African heroine
  Mekatilili Wa Menza is said to be one of the earliestKenya's freedom fighters
This is Google Arts & Culture’s most ambitious project to date in Africa, and lets you explore Kenya across cultures, generations and geography through over 10,500 high resolution photographs, more than 100 expert-curated exhibits and 60 Street Views.
To explore these remarkable stories in more detail, and to discover collections from more than 2,000 museums around the world, visit the Google Arts & Culture app for free either on the web or on iOS or Android.

https://www.blog.google/outreach-initiatives/arts-culture/preserving-stories-black-history-uk-and-beyond/
Cloud Covered: What was new with Google Cloud in October
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As fall arrived, we fell hard for news about machine learning, new trainings for those working on cloud technology, and some tips about secure passwords. Bundle up and read on for what was hot in cloud last month.
We celebrated National Cyber Security Awareness Month.
Cyber attacks constantly evolve, and we build automatic protections into our products to keep people safe. That’s part of the puzzle, with another big piece being what you can do to keep your accounts protected. We introduced some best practices for password management, 2019 edition, to offer tips on developing good habits around passwords. Plus, we explored some best practices around two-factor authentication (2FA) when using Google Cloud. And finally, we made the new USB-C Titan Security Keys available for everyone in the U.S.
Students of cloud can explore new cloud 101 trainings.
New trainings came out in October, designed to tackle a few of the big questions that come up when businesses are first moving their applications and data into cloud services. One big decision is whether to use Google Compute Engine or Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE). Compute Engine is more similar to how businesses have been operating their technology systems, while GKE is a newer type of technology. The trainings can help explain the hows and whys of using and setting up each of the options.
We explored tech accessibility for Disability Awareness Month.
Accessibility isn’t just about physical spaces—it also matters that apps, online content and digital tools are inclusive of all users. So during Disability Awareness Month, we explored some of the Chromebook’s accessibility features, like the Select-to-speak text reader, the ChromeVox built-in screen reader, dictation tools and more. G Suite also comes with built-in accessibility features that make it easy to add closed captioning to your presentations, use voice typing tools and more.
We heard a story about jobs and tech changing together.
Changes at work can be hard, but can also result in great things. Lots of our engineering teams follow a model, developed here, called Site Reliability Engineering (SRE). It’s a methodology that helps teams build services that are reliable for users and that take the human element of technology into account—so IT teams on call can work harmoniously without getting burned out. This story describes how the Google team in charge of the network moved to this model. It involved changing the roles of team members so they can now do fewer repetitive tasks and more of the work to solve bigger problems.
Machine learning gets better at seeing moving images.
At Google Cloud, customers use our AI Building Blocksto get started easily with machine learning without requiring AI expertise. Recent updates to our vision products offer even more ways get insights from images and video. Customers use AutoML Vision to create models that are specific to their domain, so that they can get important information from images. AutoML Vision Edge, which runs ML models for devices like sensors, now detects objects in addition to classifying images. Plus, a new feature in AutoML Video means models can be trained to track objects in videos—useful for things like traffic management or sports analytics. In addition, a new feature in the Video Intelligence API can detect, track and recognize logos of popular businesses and organizations.
APIs took center stage.
APIs are interfaces that enable different software programs to communicate with one another—think of how you can sign in to one app on your phone with the login credentials from another. As you might imagine, these APIs are pretty important in our interconnected world, and there are quite a lot of them out there. API management, then, is its own important area of using modern technology—it’s how organizations secure, analyze, and expose APIs in ways that make it easy for developers to build on them. Google Cloud’s API management platform, Apigee, was once again recognized a leader in the 2019 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Full Lifecycle API Management. This report is often used by our customers as a reliable evaluation tool.
That’s a wrap for October. Keep up on cloud on our blog, and we’ll see you next month.

https://www.blog.google/products/google-cloud/cloud-covered-what-was-new-with-google-cloud-in-october-2019/
What’s new in Chrome OS: Virtual Desks, simpler printing and more
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One of the best parts of Chromebooks is that every new version of Chrome OS brings dozens of improvements to keep your device safe, fast and hassle-free. The latest version of Chrome OS includes tools to help you organize your workspace, make phone calls more easily, and print and share feedback more quickly.
Organize your workspace with Virtual Desks
Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the number of windows and tabs you have open? Organize your workspace and multitask more easily with Virtual Desks on Chromebook.
Think of Virtual Desks as separate workspaces within your Chromebook. Use this feature to create helpful boundaries between projects or activities. If you’re working on multiple projects, you can dedicate a desk to each one. Or if you like to take a break during the workday, you could create a desk for web browsing or gaming. If you’re a student, you can create a different desk for each class.
Once the latest Chrome OS update arrives on your device, open Overview and tap New Desk in the top right-hand corner of your screen to try out Virtual Desks. Try dragging windows between desks.
You can also try out the following keyboard shortcuts to take full advantage of Virtual Desks:
- Create a new Desk with “Shift” + “Search ” + “=”
- Switch between Desks with “Search ” + “]”
- Move windows between Desks with “Shift” + “Search ” + “]”
Click-to-call
Chromebooks just got even better for people who use an Android phone. Now, you can right-click a phone number when browsing the web on your Chromebook and send the number to your mobile phone.
To set-up this feature, sign into your Google account on your Chromebook and phone and ensure that you’ve turned on syncing for Chrome browser. Save time by getting on the phone quicker and work across devices more easily.

Print without hassle
Now, compatible printers will automatically show up in your printer list—no setup needed. Press Ctrl + P on your keyboard, choose your printer, and you’re done.
We've also reduced the number of steps needed to save printers to your profile. If there’s a specific printer you use frequently, you can now save it as default. Just visit your Settings and head to the Printers section.

Share feedback more easily
When members of the Chromebook community share thoughts on how to improve our software, our team reviews the suggestions to determine what we’ll build next. For example, a few months ago we implemented improvements to notification management based on comments from Chromebook owners.

Now it’s even easier for you to quickly share feedback. Just press and hold your power button for a second, and alongside the “Lock” and “Power off” buttons, you will now see a dedicated button for feedback.
Let us know if you have suggestions for Chrome OS so we can make your experience even better.

https://www.blog.google/products/chromebooks/whats-new-november2019/
Supporting social impact startups
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Around the world, there are more startups addressing the world’s most pressing social challenges. There’s Asaduru, a South Africa-based green building business; Skilllab BV in the Netherlands, which helps refugees better integrate into labor markets; and Limbic in the UK, which uses AI to better understand mental health data.
Technology can help address some of the world’s biggest challenges, from empowering others to use AI to address social challenges, to setting ambitious and long-term environmental sustainability goals. When businesses and investors work together with government, nonprofits, communities and individuals, we can make real progress.
Today we’re launching the Google for Startups Accelerator focused on sustainable development goals. Geared toward social impact startups working to create a healthier and more sustainable future, the accelerator provides access to training, products and technical support. Startup founders will work with Google engineers and receive mentoring from over 20 teams at Google, as well as outside experts and local mentors.
Startups will be selected based on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals including poverty, inequality, climate, environmental degradation, prosperity, and peace and justice. Applications will open for startups from across Europe, the Middle East and Africa in the next few weeks and eight to ten startups will take part in a six-month accelerator program in early 2020. A second cohort will be selected later in the year.
The program is designed to address the unique challenges founders face when building a social impact company:
Product and engineering expertise
People with social impact expertise don’t always have experience building tech products. So our program seeks to bring startups together with the best technology products, data and people to help them build expertise.
Business development
Monetization for social impact startups is complex and can involve multiple parties: The people who pay for it may not be the people who use it, or the people who benefit from it. Our accelerator will help founders connect with the audiences they need to, such as potential users, investors and advertisers.
Access to funding
While investors are increasingly seeing the value in social impact startups, there are unique challenges in attracting the right investors, and competing with traditional startups who are focused primarily on growth or acquisition. This accelerator will help participants connect and work with a wider base of potential investors.
The new accelerator is part of Google for Startups which help startups build and scale great products by matching them with the best of Google—our people, network and advanced technologies.

https://www.blog.google/around-the-globe/google-europe/supporting-social-impact-startups/
2019 holiday checklist: Inspire shoppers with gift-giving ideas
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Whether they’re shopping for themselves or for others, 48 percent of today's shoppers say they're open to buying from new retailers during the holiday season. And increasingly, they’re leaning into videos and inspirational imagery to help them decide. Below, we’ll dive into how Google solutions can help you tap into and create shopping intent, and capture the attention of those undecided shoppers with richer, more interactive experiences
Make YouTube more shoppable
Video has also become a favorite research tool for holiday shoppers. Nearly two-thirds of shoppers say online video has given them ideas and inspiration for their purchase. And more than 90% of these folks say that they’ve discovered new products and brands via YouTube. To tap into this shopping intent, we’re introducingShopping ads to the YouTube home feed and YouTube search results, making YouTube more shoppable and extending the reach of your Shopping campaigns.

Shopping ads on the YouTube home feed (top) and YouTube search results (bottom)
Retailers like PUMA are excited to reach new customers on YouTube in advance of the holiday season to help them continue the shopping journey. “Consumers are continuing to watch more content on the YouTube platform and we want to be where they are, to reach and engage them,” said Rick Almeida, Vice President of eCommerce at PUMA Group. “This new opportunity will enable PUMA to extend our shopping strategy into a new property and inspire consumers.”
Now, people coming to YouTube to browse and research products may see visual Shopping ads, based on their interest. This means if a consumer expresses an interest in running, they could see ads from retailers that offer running apparel, like PUMA, highlighting different products and prices. If you’re already using standard Shopping campaigns today and are opted-into YouTube on Display Network, you are eligible for this experience.
In addition, we’ve made YouTube video ads more interactive, giving viewers useful and actionable information like store location, interest forms and additional calls-to-actions to help you drive more conversions. In the coming months, sitelink extensions will become available for TrueView for action ads. This makes it easy for viewers to navigate to additional landing pages like your holiday catalogs, your store hours, and more. In a beta test with 30 advertisers, adding sitelinks showed a 23% increase inconversions¹.
Example of how Sitelink extensions will work under your TrueView for action video
You can get started with these new extensions by heading to the extensions tab in Google Ads, and clicking on the extension you’d like to get started with. You can learn about these YouTube updates and more here.

Inspire more customers with rich imagery
In a recent Google / Ipsos study, we found that 85 percent of consumers will take action within 24 hours of discovering a product: reading reviews, comparing prices or purchasing the product—sometimes all at once! We offer multiple solutions to help you convert digital window shoppers into satisfied customers.
Showcase Shopping ads, for example, are expanding to Google Images -- helping shoppers explore your brand and product selection. When people search for broader terms like “holiday party dresses”, they’ll see Showcase Shopping ads that group related products together, displaying a diverse range of offerings. They’re great for attracting new customers; on average, we see that about 85 percent of traffic from Showcase Shopping ads to retailer websites come from new visitors. In addition, these ads are now expanding to new search categories like beauty and electronics, when they’ve mainly appeared for apparel and furniture-related searches previously.

Urban Outfitters is one example of a retailer using Showcase Shopping ads to get into the consideration set and inspire those new to their brand. Urban Outfitters expanded their Showcase Shopping ads to 50 key categories across apparel, home decor, and beauty. Overall, they saw a 241 percent CTR lift across campaigns running Showcase Shopping ads, with 52 percent of those customers being new. Moreover, Urban Outfitters saw a 186 percent increase in sales from new customers via Showcase Shopping ads (compared to reactivated customers).
Urban Outfitters Showcase Shopping ad for beauty
Scrolling through personalized feeds like news, video and social is a bigger part of today's consumer journey. And with Discovery ads (beta), you now have a new canvas to inspire hundreds of millions of people with your products as they explore their interests across the feeds in Discover, YouTube and Gmail.
Nectar is one brand updating its Discovery ads with holiday-focused creatives to show off its mattress line and special offers, like its free 365-Night Trial and Forever Warranty™. To drive engagement, Nectar used a variety of high-resolution image assets featuring its mattress in well-lit, realistic settings, while also highlighting promotions in its ad text. Nectar has used custom intent audiences to connect with the right customers, like consumers in the market for bedroom furniture or interested in adjustable bed frames. And during testing, the brand saw an 8% lift in total sales at a 70% lower cost-per-acquisition compared to its paid social campaigns. As a result, Nectar’s parent company, Resident, plans to roll out Discovery ads across its full portfolio of home retail brands.
Reach out to your Google account team to join the global Discovery ads beta.
A Discovery ad for Nectar by Resident as shown on Discover, YouTube, and Gmail
Ready for more tips? Tune in next week to learn how you can drive more shoppers into your local stores.
1. Compared to the same ad without sitelinks. Source: Google data, US, June 2019. Beta experiment with n=30 TrueView for Action advertisers

https://www.blog.google/products/ads/gift-giving-ideas/
Commute better with Pigeon, the crowdsourced transit app
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Like many New Yorkers, I take the subway to and from work, which is one of my favorite parts of living here. But that commute can be one of the least enjoyable parts of my day if I run into an unexpected incident or delay. One summer morning, while waiting for a delayed train on an unbearably hot platform, I wondered: What could I be doing with my time in the 15 minutes I’ve been standing here? Why couldn’t I easily alert other riders, so they could avoid the same fate?
My cofounder and I approached Area 120, Google’s lab for experimental projects, with an idea: build a crowdsourced transit app that provides better real-time information for riders, by riders, to give people around the world access to accurate transit data. Pigeon launched in September of 2018. Since then, Pigeon has helped New Yorkers make better transit decisions on hundreds of thousands of trips each month.
Today, Pigeon is launching in five new U.S. cities: Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Commuters in these cities can download Pigeon on iOS or sign up for our Android waitlist, and start commuting better by working together.
More real-time information means better commuting
Pigeon users in each city will have access to information that other transit apps don’t provide, like real-time crowds, unexpected incidents, and more context about delays. Pigeon sends alerts whenever there is important information that riders care about, like power outages and major service changes. Pigeon also sends customized notifications to commuters before they leave their home or office, so that they can plan around delays, reroutes and even the weather.
Ride better together with crowdsourced reporting
With Pigeon’s reporting feature, riders can post about delays and other transit happenings with comments and images. These reports are then displayed on a map, along a rider’s route and in a shared activity feed, to provide more context and coverage of transit happenings. Reports include information like delays, train crowdedness, escalator outages, live entertainment and dirty or unsafe conditions.
Pigeon also makes commuting more fun. Our users commiserate over shared experiences like being packed in a crowded subway, finding surprising joy from dogs tucked in bags and celebrating local entertainers.
We are thankful to the community of riders that power Pigeon, and we seek to help them become even more familiar with their local transit system. So in addition to announcing our expansion to five new U.S. cities, we are also releasing an NYC Subway Insights Report based on data from crowdsourced reports which shares how subway riders feel about the subway lines they frequently ride. We learned which station was reported to be the hottest during the summer months, as well as the lines with the most rush hour delays and most crowds.
With Pigeon launched in five new cities across the U.S., we hope to improve commuting for even more public transit riders, as well as build local transit communities that work together to improve their daily rides.

https://www.blog.google/technology/area-120/pigeon-transit-app-new-cities/
Google Play Points: a rewards program for all the ways you Play
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Since 2012, Google Play has been your place to find and enjoy apps, games, movies, TV shows, and books. More than 2 billion people in 190 countries use Google Play to discover blockbuster movies, apps that help you be more productive, and books that inspire imagination.
To show our appreciation, we created a new rewards program called Google Play Points that lets you earn points and rewards for the ways you already use Google Play. Over the past year, millions of people in Japan and South Korea have joined the program, and starting today, Google Play Points is launching in the United States.
It’s free to join, and you can earn Play Points to use for special items and discounts in top games like Candy Crush Saga and Pokémon GO, or for Google Play Credit to use on movies, books, games, and apps.
Play your way and earn points
With Google Play Points, you’ll earn points on everything you buy with Google Play, including in-app items, movies, books, subscriptions and more. You can also earn Play Points by downloading featured free apps and games. Weekly points events can boost your earning rate on movies, books, and select games.
Google Play Points has four levels, from Bronze to Platinum. Your level depends on how many points you’ve collected, and higher levels have perks like weekly prizes.
Redeem your Play Points how you’d like
We’re partnering with developers of some of the top apps and games on Google Play so that you can redeem points for special in-app items like characters, gems and more. You can also use Play Points for Google Play Credit and rent an award-winning movie or buy a best-selling audiobook.
We’ve been inspired by the Play community’s generosity and participation in Play Store giving. You can use your points to help support a great cause—or causes—of your choice from a rotating list of nonprofits, starting with Doctors Without Borders USA, Save the Children and the World Food Program USA.
Join for free
Google Play Points will be available over the next week. It’s free to join, there is no recurring or monthly fee, and you’ll earn three times the Play Points on everything you buy your first week. To get started, open the Play Store app on your Android device. Tap menu, then Play Points. Learn more about Play Points--and get ready to earn points and rewards.

https://www.blog.google/products/google-play/google-play-points-rewards-program-all-ways-you-play/
How Android 10 enhances mobile security
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We recently shared how Android 10 delivers an abundance of helpful features for enterprises. Today, we’re shining a spotlight on some of the new security and privacy features in Android 10, which give IT admins new tools and protections to help keep their device fleets prepared against the latest threats.

Updatability enhancements
Getting reliable security updates is critical for enterprises, who want the latest protections for their devices. Android 10 introduced Google Play system updates, building on the work of Project Mainline, which focused on a simpler and faster method to deliver updates to the Android ecosystem. Many essential components like media codecs, time zone data, DNS resolver, and Conscrypt are now modularized, enabling them to be updated through Google Play.
Google Play system updates can be delivered more directly and uniformly across the ecosystem, as vulnerabilities can be patched from Google Play without a full operating system update.
Our security efforts are regularly evolving to better meet ecosystem needs. For example, the 2015 Stagefright vulnerability accelerated patching security vulnerabilities across different device makers with our monthly security updates program. This has led to substantial progress in ecosystem security. Google Play system updates create a stronger framework for quickly and comprehensively addressing future vulnerabilities. We can accelerate the delivery of a patch and make the update available through Google Play, giving greater consistency to the whole ecosystem.

Strengthening data protections
Protecting data in transit and on the device are essential elements to mobile security in an enterprise setting. In Android 10, we added support for TLS 1.3 and made it the default, but TLS 1.2 is still supported. TLS 1.3 protects more of the handshake process and can be up to 40 percent faster than previous versions. With better encryption, it enhances the protection of device identities and removes some obsolete and less secure features.
TLS 1.3 removes support for weaker cryptographic algorithms and uses a newly-designed handshake that fixes a number of weaknesses in TLS 1.2. Additionally, it no longer supports certificates that use SHA-1 hash algorithms.
Storage encryption is also critical to enterprise security. All Android 10 devices are required to encrypt user data. While most devices achieve this through the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), Android 10 uses a new encryption mode called Adiantum, which expands encryption to a wider range of hardware, such as devices with lower-end ARM processors that do not support AES extensions.

Safeguarding app installs with Google Play
Google Play uses a number of tools to deter the installation of malicious apps on devices. Application signing validates that an app has been properly signed by the developer, which indicates it has been submitted unmodified for installation on Android devices.
Android 10 supports the latest APK signature scheme, which better secures apps against malicious activity. Together with Google Play Protect, Android 10 continues our efforts in applying best-in-class data and device protection.
These security features in Android 10 are a part of our continuing investment in the enterprise and dedication to improving security and privacy for Android users. In the following weeks we’ll be sharing more about the many ways that Android 10 builds on our strong security foundation. Learn more about getting started with Android Enterprise and our ongoing security work.

https://www.blog.google/products/android-enterprise/android-10-security/
Connect with news in multiple languages with Google News
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Today, more than 60 percent of people around the world speak and consume news across two or more languages. Finding articles in these languages can be challenging, since it requires you to search for topics across various apps and websites. To help solve this problem, we’ve built a new feature in Google News that will provide access to news articles from multiple languages and countries from around the world, all within one app.
With this update, you’ll be able to include content in two languages together within your news app, and benefit from the headlines and stories in each language to learn more about a culture or to catch up on what’s going on elsewhere. For example, this means you can stay up to date on the news in English and Hindi at the same time, and enjoy articles from local news outlets in both languages alongside one another. You’ll be able to connect with any of your favorite publishers and topics from anywhere around the world.
We’ll still apply your previous personalization preferences, giving you the most relevant articles and topics you care about across your language choices, so you’ll never miss a story.
This expanded capability is now available for the Google News app on Android and iOS, across 141 countries and 41 language options. To activate this feature, navigate to your language settings in your Google News app.
There’s still lots more to do to help connect people with quality and trustworthy news on the issues they care about, but we hope today’s update will make it easier to connect with different cultures and perspectives from the comfort of your device.

https://www.blog.google/products/news/news-multiple-languages/
Grow your veteran-led business with digital tools
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Running a small business can be great second career after serving in the military. As a U.S. Army veteran, I would know. In addition to my role at Google helping small businesses get found online, I also co-own an occupational therapy practice with my wife in Kirkland, Washington.
We were one of the first small businesses to add the “Veteran-Led” attribute to our business profile on Google My Business after it was introduced last August. It’s a simple way to share a piece of the personal history behind our business with fellow veterans and people in my community. Since then, thousands of veteran-led businesses across the U.S. have added the attribute to their business profiles, including Old School Boxing and Fitness Center in San Diego, California, and Honest Soul Yoga in Alexandria, Virginia.
At Propel Electric Bikes in Brooklyn, New York, owner and U.S. Army veteran Chris Nolte uses the attribute to help his veteran-led business stand out on Google Search and Maps. And with Google Ads, Chris is able to put his bikes in front of potential customers in New York and across the country. With support from digital tools like these, he’s successfully grown his business, even opening a second location in California.
Now, in honor of National Veterans Small Business Week, Grow with Google is introducing a resource hub where veterans like Chris can find products, tools, and programs to start or grow their businesses. Here’s a preview of what you’ll find there.
Almost one in four transitioning service members have an interest in starting their own business. So to make it simpler for veterans to grow their business and marketing skills, the Primer app offers quick, easy-to-understand lessons that they can access from anywhere. The lessons offer helpful tips on topics like creating a business plan, increasing sales, managing finances, and more. Primer also offers custom mini-courses tailored to veterans and military spouses that you can find by searching “veteranled” or “milspousebiz” in the app.
This National Veterans Small Business Week, we’re also inviting veteran business owners to a livestream workshop focused on growing a small business. Viewers will learn how Google My Business can help an entrepreneur establish a local online presence, build a loyal customer base, show off products or services and drive online and physical traffic to their business. We’ll also be joined by the California Veterans Business Outreach Center, a program from the Small Business Administration, to hear more about their offerings for veteran-owned businesses. Tune in on YouTube for Tuesday’s livestream workshop.
When I was making my own transition to civilian life in 2013, I looked to fellow veterans for career guidance. As a Googler and a business owner myself, I’m proud to help fellow veteran-led businesses find new online resources to grow.

https://www.blog.google/outreach-initiatives/grow-with-google/tools-for-veteran-businesses/
How the Nest Wifi team set up their home networks
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The building I live in was built in 1912—and 100 years ago, nobody was thinking about Wi-Fi signals when building homes. So I’ve had to improvise. My fiancé and I have a Nest Wifi router set up in our living room, at the far end of our one-bedroom apartment. But even though our apartment is only 850 square feet, we’ve found having a Nest Wifi point gives us the signal boost we need, even down three stories to the building’s garage and backyard. We placed our Nest Wifi point in the kitchen, and since the device doubles as a smart speaker with the Google Assistant, I can listen to music and my favorite podcasts while I’m cooking dinner or doing the dishes.

Every home is unique, and that’s why we designed the Nest Wifi system to be completely modular. While most homes up to 3,800 square feet will be covered by a Nest Wifi router and point, you can also get a three-pack consisting of a Nest Wifi router and two points for homes up to 5,400 square feet. You can even purchase a standalone Nest Wifi router for a smaller home, or a standalone Nest Wifi point to add to an existing network. Plus, Nest Wifi is backward compatible with Google Wifi, so you can easily upgrade your network.

Nest Wifi is on shelves today at the Google Store, Amazon, Target, Best Buy and more retailers. Here’s how a few people behind Nest Wifi have used it to make the most of their home’s connectivity.

Pushkar Sharma, product manager
I live in a 1300-square-foot house with a large backyard. I have a Nest Wifi router in my garage, because that’s where our cable drops in. But one of the bedrooms behind the kitchen often drops to low speeds. I have now added a Wifi point in my daughter’s bedroom, and it extends our signal to all rooms and even the backyard. So now I can make Google Duo video calls on my phone to my parents while I sit outside. As a family, we love asking the Google Assistant on our Wifi point to answer questions or play Bollywood songs.

Shea Ritchie, product marketing manager
We live in a long, old, San Francisco apartment, with high ceilings and thick walls, and the cable box is in the living room, on one end of the apartment. Our Nest Wifi router sits in there next to the TV–we cut the cord last year, so good Wi-Fi is critical for watching our favorite shows and sports without constant buffering. My boyfriend works from home, so halfway down the hall in his office we have his work’s access point plugged into the Google Wifi point we’ve been using for the last few years. Without the Google Wifi point in the office, his work network wouldn’t be strong enough for him to actually get online. At the other end of the apartment, I keep the Nest Wifi point in Mist next to my bed so I can listen to guided meditation at night and the news every morning. We use the Google Home app to manage our network, share the guest network password and troubleshoot from anywhere.

Melissa Dominguez, engineering manager
We live in a two-story house with a large backyard. We have the Nest Wifi router in the office, which is downstairs at the front of the house, and a Nest Wifi point in the master bedroom, which is upstairs at the back of the house. This gives us great coverage for the whole house and yard, access to the Assistant from the adjoining bathroom so I can ask about the weather while I get ready. Plus, I can enforce bedtime with Wi-Fi pause schedules and remind the kids to get out the door on time with a scheduled broadcast reminder. This helps the kids build good habits without constant nagging from their parents.

Sanjay Noronha, product manager
We have a U-shaped house with stucco exterior walls—a big no-no for Wi-Fi signal. The Nest Wifi router is at the end of one of the legs of the “U.” We put a Nest Wifi point in the kitchen, which is at the opposite side. We spend most of our time in the kitchen, where having a Wifi point in plain view allows for a fast and robust signal where we need it the most. Even our garage door opener is Wi-Fi connected, so we can verify we didn’t forget to close it after we’ve left home. I’ve got Safesearch turned on for everyone so we don’t stumble upon explicit content, and we have Wi-Fi schedules set up for the kids.

https://www.blog.google/products/google-nest/nest-wifi-on-shelves/
AI is helping rural patients get crucial medical care
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For those of us who live in big cities in developed countries, it’s easy to take access to hospitals and medical specialists for granted. But many rural communities in developing countries have too few medical clinics and doctors. With only prohibitively expensive and slow options for managing their healthcare, many patients in these areas deal with a lack of diagnosis and treatment.
Rafael Figueroa, an entrepreneur from Brazil, created Portal Telemedicina to help address this problem. His company uses advanced technology to drastically reduce the time and cost barriers to quality medical care. Portal participated in Google’s startup acceleration program, and Rafael has become one of the program’s top global artificial intelligence mentors.
Now, more than 500 rural clinics and large healthcare institutions throughout Brazil and Angola use Portal’s technology. The company was selected by the United Nations as one of 10 global companies to join Accelerate2030, which supports entrepreneurs working towards achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
We asked Rafael to reflect on his path toward entrepreneurship, the work Portal is doing and how technology is making it all possible.
How does Portal work?

Here’s an example: with our technology, a patient that lives in the rural rainforest in Brazil can go into their local clinic and get an X-ray. With just a few clicks, local nurses can send the information through the cloud to specialist physicians in the capital city of São Paulo. Those specialists can then give diagnostics to those patients, from 1,000 miles away.
Portal's telediagnostic platform helps doctors give more accurate and fast diagnoses, using artificial intelligence to help diagnose thousands of patients each day. The system double checks all of the diagnostics against the AI prediction and, in case of discrepancy, automatically sends the exam to three other doctors, in order to reduce human errors.
How does AI know what to look for in an exam image?
Computers are only as “smart” as the information you input into the system. Our platform uses more than 30 million exams and health records that the computer can use to “learn” and reference so that it can make medical findings at or above human level accuracy.
How did you know you wanted to be a healthcare entrepreneur?
I have always strived to help people. I’ve worked with NGOs and have been aware of the discrepancy in access that people have based simply on where they live. In 2013, I had my own healthcare emergency while in Northeast Brazil, and in the absence of a medical specialist, I had a misdiagnosis which almost took part of my mobility. I rushed to São Paulo and underwent surgery. I spent six months without walking, which gave me plenty of time to think about the lack of access to doctors in remote regions.
How have Google technology and programs helped you grow Portal?
Google products help us run many aspects of our business, but most importantly we use the machine learning platform TensorFlow, which gives us the image recognition technology that examines the X-rays to make a diagnosis. During Google’s acceleration program, we worked with experts that helped us through tech our challenges and prepared Portal’s technology platform for fast growth.
Do you have any advice for other entrepreneurs?

Don’t presume you know the right path to follow. Prioritize building a platform where you can run experiments very quickly. The key factor is to put the product in the user’s hand ASAP to collect their feedback. Based on that, start to develop a more sophisticated technology.

https://www.blog.google/outreach-initiatives/entrepreneurs/portal-telemedicina/
Here's a 'stache of Movember trends from Google Search
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November is here, ushering in chilly weather, pumpkin-flavored everything, and 30 days of whiskers appearing on upper lips in support of men’s health causes. This four-week phase of facial fuzz is also known as Movember.

We peeked at Google Images trends to see what types of cheek chops and mouth manes are capturing imaginations this year. Spoiler: there’s no wrong way to style your stubble.

The superior ‘stache
Few things are as dignifying as a masterful mustache. This year, gentlemen are gravitating toward the traditionally bushier upper lip adornments, and maintenance is top of mind. Search interest in cowboy and cop mustache styles--and mustache wax to keep them tidy--is up more than 5,000 percent since last year.

Other ‘stache styles catching attention include the ultra-thin pencil mustache, which has seen more than a 5,000 percent growth in search interest, and the horseshoe mustache at 350 percent growth, for those who prefer their whiskers extend to their chin. The most inspirational mustache-havers this year are NFL players Gardner Minshew and Aaron Rodgers whose lip decor saw more than a 5,000 percent increase in search interest in the past 12 months.

Boss beards
When it comes to beards and other facial hair options, it’s a story in contrasts, with both super-groomed looks as well as longer, more exuberant styles on the rise. Search interest in the ultra-clean faded and square beard styles has doubled. The more prominent, historically-inspired Viking beard and mustache-plus-goatee Van Dyck look have also seen big leaps in the past year.

But not everything is new—retro sideburns and the trusty soul patch have seen 190 percent and 110 percent more search interest on Google Images this year, respectively.

Facial fuzz in the US of A
Men nationwide are responding to the facial hair furor with a flurry of creativity. We looked at Google Search trends to see which beard, mustache and stubble styles were uniquely popular in each U.S. state, and it’s a wonder to behold. The handlebar mustache reigns supreme in six states across the country, and the goatee remains king in four. Here are a few others to call out (and if you wanted to see what all these styles look like, we have a solution for that….):

Arizona: Circle beard (mustache plus rounded goatee combo)
Colorado: Braided beard (one braids or two, it’s all up to you)
Delaware: Chinstrap beard (a razor-thin beard that follows the jawline)
Idaho: Monkey tail beard (asymmetrically shaved to look like a curling “tail”)
New Jersey: Huge beard (as opposed to tiny)
South Dakota: Glitter beard (start with gel, add glitter, and voila! A bedazzled beak)
Virginia: Beard dreads (not just for the top of your head anymore)
Washington, D.C.: Chevron mustache (the bushy-yet-perfectly-shaped classic)
Washington: 70’s mustache (isn’t this redundant?)

Note: All Google Images data pulled from “Beauty & Fitness” category of Google Trends.

https://www.blog.google/products/search/heres-stache-movember-trends-google-search/
Investing in the Wear OS ecosystem
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When we introduced Wear OS by Google (then called Android Wear) five years ago, wearable tech was pretty nascent.
While it was early, we felt there was something really exciting about this next era of computing and we wanted to enable an ecosystem of partners by providing a flexible platform.
We’re really proud of the progress. We've also admired the amazing things others have done with wearables, and today we announced that Google has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Fitbit. The Fitbit team has built a great health and fitness experience that is loved by people all over the world.
This agreement underscores our belief in how important wearable tech has become, and it’s also an exciting opportunity for Wear OS. We’re looking forward to collaborating with Fitbit to bring the best of our smartwatch platforms and health applications together, and enabling our partners to build the next generation of wearables.
We’re hard at work on the next evolution of Wear OS—and if you’d like to join us, we’d love to hear from you.

https://www.blog.google/products/wear-os/investing-wear-os-ecosystem/
Helping more people with wearables: Google to acquire Fitbit
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Today, we’re announcing that Google has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Fitbit, a leading wearables brand.

We believe technology is at its best when it can fade into the background, assisting you throughout your day whenever you need it. Wearable devices, like smartwatches and fitness trackers, do just that—you can easily see where your next meeting is with just a glance of an eye or monitor your daily activity right from your wrist.

Over the years, Google has made progress with partners in this space with Wear OS and Google Fit, but we see an opportunity to invest even more in Wear OS as well as introduce Made by Google wearable devices into the market. Fitbit has been a true pioneer in the industry and has created engaging products, experiences and a vibrant community of users. By working closely with Fitbit’s team of experts, and bringing together the best AI, software and hardware, we can help spur innovation in wearables and build products to benefit even more people around the world.

Google aspires to create tools that help people enhance their knowledge, success, health and happiness. This goal is closely aligned with Fitbit’s long-time focus on wellness and helping people live healthier, more active lives. But to get this right, privacy and security are paramount. When you use our products, you’re trusting Google with your information. We understand this is a big responsibility and we work hard to protect your information, put you in control and give you transparency about your data. Similar to our other products, with wearables, we will be transparent about the data we collect and why. We will never sell personal information to anyone. Fitbit health and wellness data will not be used for Google ads. And we will give Fitbit users the choice to review, move, or delete their data.

Three and a half years ago, I joined Google to create compelling consumer devices and services for people around the world. Our hardware business is still relatively young, but we’ve built a strong foundation of capabilities and products, including Pixel smartphones and Pixelbooks, Nest family of devices for the home, and more. Google also remains committed to Wear OS and our ecosystem partners, and we plan to work closely with Fitbit to combine the best of our respective smartwatch and fitness tracker platforms. Looking ahead, we’re inspired by the opportunity to team with Fitbit to help more people with wearables.
_{This blog post includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements generally can be identified by phrases such as Alphabet, Google or management “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “foresees,” “forecasts,” “estimates” or other words or phrases of similar import. Similarly, statements herein that describe the proposed transaction, including its financial impact, and other statements of management’s beliefs, intentions or goals also are forward-looking statements. It is uncertain whether any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do, what impact they will have on the results of operations and financial condition of the combined companies or the price of Alphabet or Fitbit’s stock. These forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to the ability of the parties to consummate the proposed transaction and the satisfaction of the conditions precedent to consummation of the proposed transaction, including the ability to secure regulatory approvals at all or in a timely manner; the ability of Google to successfully integrate Fitbit’s operations, product lines and technology; the ability of Google to implement its plans, forecasts and other expectations with respect to Fitbit’s business after the completion of the transaction and realize additional opportunities for growth and innovation; and the other risks and important factors contained and identified in Alphabet’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), any of which could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements included in this blog post are made only as of the date hereof. Google and Alphabet undertake no obligation to update the forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.}

https://www.blog.google/products/hardware/agreement-with-fitbit/
3 ways veterans can maximize their civilian job search
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In 2007, I made the transition to civilian life after serving in the military for five years. Though I was sure my experience as an engineer in the U.S Army would be valuable to employers, I had far less experience writing a resume that would appeal to recruiters hiring for civilian jobs. It’s easy to find an email template online of what a resume should look like, but translating what you did in the military to civilian speak is a real challenge.
To support service members who are preparing for their own transitions to civilian careers, Grow with Google teamed up with experts from the Center for Veteran Transition and Integration at Columbia University and FourBlock. Together, we created new Applied Digital Skills lessons designed to help veterans find a job and succeed in the civilian workforce.
The job search begins with a resume, so let’s start there. If you’re a veteran looking to transition to the civilian workforce, here are three tips for creating or updating your resume for your job search.

1. Search for civilian job postings that interest you.
You can find job listings that call for skills you developed during your time in service by searching “jobs for veterans” on Google Search and entering your military occupation code (MOS, AFSC, NEC or rating). Watch this quick video lesson for more on finding civilian job listings related to your military experience.

2. Decide which military experience to include on your resume.
When editing your resume, it’s important to write about your experience in a way that civilian recruiters will be able to understand. This includes highlighting traits you exhibited while fulfilling military duties, and replacing military-specific terms (think: your military occupation code) with words or phrases civilian employers will understand. For example, you might consider changing a term like “combat operations” to something that may be more likely to resonate with hiring managers, like “high-risk environment.” Learn more about choosing military experiences to feature on your resume.

3. Update your resume to fit the job.
To increase your chances of landing an interview, you’ll want to tailor your resume to fit the job description. This shows a recruiter that you have experience with the specific job they’re hiring for, even if your job title in the military was different. You can also tailor your skills section to the job listing, and highlight relevant coursework, certifications, or awards. Go deeper on tailoring your resume to a specific job listing.
To get more hands-on digital skills training to support you in your job search, check out our full Applied Digital Skills curriculum designed and curated for transitioning service members and veterans. And to learn more about Grow with Google’s free products, tools, and trainings for transitioning service members, veterans, and military spouses, visit grow.google/veterans.

https://www.blog.google/outreach-initiatives/grow-with-google/resume-tips-for-veterans/
Want to make a podcast? 5 tips to get you started
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Editor’s Note: Luvvie Ajayi is the host of the podcasts Rants & Randomness and Jesus & Jollof and the author of the New York Times best-seller I’M JUDGING YOU: The Do-Better Manual.

So many people are talking about podcasting these days. Maybe you’ve been thinking of starting a podcast of your own, but you aren’t sure where to start. If so, I’m here to offer help.

I’ve partnered with Google Podcasts and PRX on a free Podcasting 101 video series that launches today. Over the course of ten short episodes, my co-host Sean Rameswaram, host of Vox’s Today, Explained, and I walk you through all of the things you need to know to get your podcast started. Additionally, each video is subtitled in five languages (Spanish, Portuguese, French, Hindi and Arabic).

I’m eager to share all the lessons I’ve learned since I launched two (yes, two!) podcasts in 2018. For me, podcasts are a new and intimate way to connect with my audience and tell the story of the world as I see it. I talk more about that in the very first episode of the series. Take a listen!
Podcasting 101 episode 1
OK, so you should really watch the videos to get all the good stuff, but here are some of my top tips to get you started:
1. Define your who.When you’ve figured out your “why” for making your podcast, then you need to figure out “who” should listen. A focus statement like this can really help:
- My show is about _________
- And on it you’ll hear _________
- And you should listen if you are _________.
2. Structure matters. Once you define who you are making your show for, you need to think about the format of your show. Surprisingly, figuring out a structure is something that can give you more flexibility. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel each time. For example, on Rants & Randomness I have four regular segments: the Feel Good, the Rant, the Spotlight, and the Interview. I’m open to changing those segments, like when I have a really great guest and want to break out a separate episode just for them, but my listeners always know what to expect.

3. Prepare for interviews. If you’re going to have a guest on your show, it’s your job to learn everything possible about them before you start interviewing. You want to have a plan for where you want the interview to go. And you definitely want to avoid asking the same questions that everybody else does. But also don’t be afraid to go off-script. Following your guest and your own curiosity is often how you get the good stuff.
4. Write the way you talk. If you want your listeners to connect with you, you need to sound like yourself. A good way to practice is to record yourself telling a friend your story. Listen back to the recording, and notice how you sound when you’re just naturally saying something.
5. Connect with people. The challenge once you’ve made your show is reaching your listeners. With so many podcasts out there, you need to create ways for people to find you and to engage with your community. For example, I created my LuvvNation social network as a safe place for my community to show up and be themselves. I approach that network, and all of my social media channels, as a place to engage with my audience, not just blast out news of my work.
So, what are you waiting for? Binge the entire Podcasting 101 video series (all episodes are less than five minutes). Then go make your podcast, and tell me all about it with the hashtag #podcreator.

https://www.blog.google/products/search/want-make-podcast-5-tips-get-you-started/
"Clapping back" at racial stereotypes in a new book
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Elijah Lawal just published his first book, but he’s been writing since he was 10 years old. Back when he was a kid, he wrote a story about a boy who ran away from home—and eventually became the president of Panama. His new book, published in the U.K. earlier this year, has very little to do with his imaginative works of little-kid fiction, but it came from a similar refusal to accept things the way they are.
Elijah, who works in communications in Google’s London office, just wrote “The Clapback: Your Guide to Calling Out Racist Stereotypes.” He says it’s his attempt to debunk harmful stereotypes aimed at the black community, and to give people the tools to respond when they are faced with such myths.
Each chapter introduces a stereotype, explains its origins and shows why it’s harmful. “If there's a stereotype that black people can't swim, and if I believe that false stereotype, then it means I'm very unlikely to go swimming,” he explains. “It means I’m very unlikely to take my kids swimming. That feeling is passed on to them, and they're very unlikely to take their kids swimming. Then before you know it there's not enough black representation in Olympic swimming.”
Elijah certainly wasn’t drawn to writing for the glamour factor. “Writing a book is hard, lonely and often boring,” he acknowledges in his writing. He worked on the book every weekend for three full years, because he felt compelled to help others. “I just felt that I've been blessed with this knowledge, and so I've got to try and share it with other people,” he says. “I thought the best way to do it was with a book.”
Trying to get the book published was equally unglamorous. With a full first draft in hand, he started pitching his book to literary agents, trying to find the one who would represent his work to publishing houses. The rejections immediately poured in—so much so that Elijah had to change his way of thinking about them. A former colleague convinced him to think of it like he was seeking rejections instead of acceptances, and make it like a game. “Trick yourself into believing that the aim is to get 100 rejections,” Elijah recalls learning. “Then when you get rejected 100 times, go for 200 rejections.”
Eighty rejections in, and more than a year later, Elijah finally got the response he’d been hoping for. In fact, he got three agency acceptances in quick succession. When the first one appeared in his inbox at the end of a long workday, he got up from his desk, ducked into the nearest meeting room and did a little dance. The hardest part was over, and the agent he chose helped find a publisher.
In fact, things went so smoothly from there that he’s already got ideas brewing for two or three more books. “I kind of pictured this as a trilogy, so: debunking racial stereotypes, then debunking gender stereotypes, and then debunking religious stereotypes," he says. And a fellow Googler gave him the idea of turning “The Clapback” into a kids’ book, an idea he’s also considering.
The project has broadened Elijah’s horizons both personally and professionally. When he started working on the book, he was in a job that didn’t require much writing. Committing himself to a regular writing practice not only filled a creative void in his life, but also helped him be more creative at work.
And his colleagues have loved the result. “The reception of the book has helped me realize how willing people are to engage on this issue internally at Google—I’m amazed by how many people have been so supportive,” he says. “That’s been one of the joys of having this published.”

https://www.blog.google/inside-google/googlers/elijah-lawal-the-clapback/
Shaping ad experiences to an evolving YouTube viewership
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Think back … can you remember the first time you heard about YouTube? Or even better–can you recall the first video you watched? It’s a fun parlor game we YouTubers sometimes play–and an occasion to reflect on how far the platform has come since its earliest days.
And for those of us who have been on the ads team for more than a few years, it’s particularly remarkable to think about how our ad products have changed as well. Back when we introduced TrueView 9 years ago, people entered the site typically from a link and typically on desktop, watched a short form video and then left to do other things. In fact, desktop represented 90 percent of all YouTube usage in 2010. The appetite for in-stream ad experiences was extremely low in these contexts, which prompted us to introduce a skippable video format that put the choice to view an ad in the hands of the user. Advertisers only paid if viewers watched the complete ad or 30 seconds if longer, so it was a win-win.
In the years since then, YouTube has grown to accommodate not only diverse content types and audiences, but also a new diversity of viewing patterns. In 2016, mobile viewing eclipsed desktop, and in 2019 TVs are our fastest growing screen. Today, viewers may just as readily binge six or seven short videos on their mobile phone, before they switch on YouTube on their TV and watch several hours of longer form video.
In short, YouTube viewing has evolved to serve seemingly divergent consumer mindsets – active browsing sessions where they discover new content and more longer, more leaned-back sessions. This has required a reconsideration of how we serve ads in each of these varied contexts.
Our mission as an ads team is to build the right ad experience for each of these contexts – from active discovery through to more leaned-back sessions:
Ad innovations to match viewer modes
The changing ways people watch YouTube also means that a view has different value in different contexts. This is why we continue to develop additional metrics beyond views and view-through rate–like Brand Lift, or direct actions and conversions – to quantify ad impact, while also developing new ad formats that are matched to viewing patterns and advertiser goals. While we work on these new ad experiences, our priority is to align pricing with anticipated advertiser value.
This led us to introduce Smart Pricing over a year ago, which aligns media costs with anticipated value of a given context. For example, if we know a user is watching content in a longer, TV-style session – we will price those ad impressions according to what our effectiveness models indicate is the typical value of that type of viewing mode. Smart Pricing delivers better results for advertisers – at launch we saw:
- More efficient awareness—5 percent gain in brand awareness per dollar
- Higher ROI for advertisers – 7 percent gain in ad recall per dollar
Beyond Smart Pricing, we are also working on ways to align YouTube media directly to your marketing objectives, and delivering value as you measure it. For instance, with video reach campaigns, you can optimize for your reach and awareness goals more easily using multiple video creatives and formats within a single campaign. Google’s machine learning will automatically serve the most efficient combination of those formats to help you reach your audience at scale.
The variety of viewing contexts is an asset, as YouTube increasingly meets the needs of viewers looking for short form, long form, TV screen experiences, a go-anywhere music player, social video, highly produced traditional video and more. And the continued evolution of our ad experiences means brands will see a benefit from each viewing mode. We take pride in continuously evolving our platform based on changing user behavior and will continue to experiment with delivering advertiser value across a variety of user contexts. And we invite you, our trusted customers, to partner with us as we build an effective video ad system for the age of choice.

https://www.blog.google/products/ads/evolving-video-ads/
A call for the next big ideas in news
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This time last year, we launched the Google News Initiative Innovation Challenge, part of our $300 million commitment to help journalism thrive in the digital age.
With our first challenge, we funded23 projects focused on diversifying reader revenue in the Asia Pacific region. Since then, we’ve launched challenges in North America, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Turkey, receiving more than 1,300 project submissions from 77 countries--and recently selected 64 more projects for funding.
Today, we’re opening our second challenge in Asia Pacific. This time, we’re calling for projects which aim to increase reader engagement. The more deeply people engage with the stories they read, the more likely they are to return to a news website, visit more pages during a session, sign up for an email newsletter and become subscribers.
We’re interested in hearing about creative ideas around reader engagement, including but not limited to personalization, analytics, audio and loyalty programs. And the Innovation Challenge is open to organizations of every size--startups, NGOs, broadcasters, traditional news publishers and freelancers--so long as they can clearly show the impact of the project from a reader’s perspective, and deliver it within a year.
The application window for project submissions is open until January 7, 2020, and you can read more about the eligibility, rules and criteria and funding at the Google News Initiative website or at a town hall on November 13.
To find out more about the results of the first round of funding, we spoke to Disha Mullick of Khabar Lahariya, who has created a new subscription model around a video series about young people in rural India.
How did you develop this subscription model?
We initially talked about aiming the subscription model at our primary, rural audience. The dream is for this audience to become our strongest, most loyal subscribers. But discussions internally with the Google News Initiative and with our peers in digital media pushed us to test the idea with our urban, English-speaking audience first.
Our vision is to take hyper-local content and voices to a broader audience through immersive video storytelling. Embedded reporters would help link these local stories to global shifts in gender and power, technology, environmental change and financial instability. If this platform works, we’ll adapt it to other audiences who may take longer to come around to the idea of paying for content.
What is the long-term plan for growing your subscriber base?
We plan to create a model that combines the features of a membership model and a digital subscription or paywall--one that’s inclusive of both rural and urban audiences willing to pay for good quality, hyper-local content. We also hope to be able to provide other features, like workshops and fellowships, travel opportunities—perhaps even access to small grants for media or other entrepreneurial projects.
What advice would you offer the next group of reporters looking to increase reader engagement?
I can't over-emphasize the impact of investing in local content. Even if that's not what gets monetized easily, it’s what builds trust and credibility, which have been shaken by the amount of misinformation floating about. I also think the way we engage readers needs to be responsible, to counter the state's imperative to control social media or the flow of information on the internet--which may be knee-jerk reactions to the violence and abuse we see.

https://www.blog.google/around-the-globe/google-asia/call-next-big-ideas-news/