Google Cloud Platform News

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  How we're using AI to help address the climate crisis
  • sorangutan  

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  Communities around the world are facing the effects of climate change — from devastating floods and wildfires to challenges around food security. As global leaders meet in Egypt for COP27, a key area of focus will be on how we can work together to adapt to climate change and implement sustainable solutions. At Google, we’re investing in technologies that can help communities prepare for and respond to climate-related disasters and threats.

  Tools to alert people and governments about immediate risks

  Natural disasters are increasing in frequency and intensity due to climate change. As part of our Crisis Response efforts, we're working to bring trusted information to people in critical moments to keep them safe and informed. To do so, we rely on the research and development of our AI-powered technologies and longstanding partnerships with frontline emergency workers and organizations. Here’s a look at some of our crisis response efforts and new ways we’re expanding these tools.

  • Floods: Catastrophic damage from flooding affects more than 250 million people every year. In 2018, we launched our flood forecasting initiative that uses machine learning models to provide people with detailed alerts. In 2021, we sent 115 million flood alert notifications to 23 million people over Search and Maps, helping save countless lives. Today, we’re expanding our flood forecasts to river basins in 18 additional countries across Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia. We’re also announcing the global launch of the new FloodHub, a platform that displays flood forecasts and shows when and where floods may occur to help people directly at risk and provide critical information to aid organizations and governments. This expansion in geographic coverage is possible thanks to our recent breakthroughs in AI-based flood forecasting models, and we’re committed to expanding to more countries.

  

  The new Google FloodHub at g.co/floodhub shows forecasts for riverine floods. Forecasts are now available in 18 additional countries: Brazil, Colombia, Sri Lanka, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea, Malawi, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Angola, South Sudan, Namibia, Liberia, South Africa.

  • Wildfires: Wildfires affect hundreds of thousands of people each year, and are increasing in frequency and size. I experienced firsthand the need for accurate information when wildfires occur and this inspired our crisis response work. We detect wildfire boundaries using new AI models based on satellite imagery and show their real-time location in Search and Maps. Since July, we’ve covered more than 30 big wildfire events in the U.S. and Canada, helping inform people and firefighting teams with over 7 million views in Search and Maps. Today, wildfire detection is now available in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Australia.

  

  The location of the Pukatawagan fire in Manitoba, Canada.

  • Hurricanes: Access to authoritative forecasts and safety information about hurricanes can be life-saving. In the days before a hurricane in North America or a typhoon in Japan, detailed forecasts from authoritative sources appear on SOS Alerts in Search and Maps to show a storm’s predicted trajectory. We're also using machine learning to analyze satellite imagery after disasters and identify which areas need help. When Hurricane Ian hit Florida in September, this technology was deployed in partnership with Google.org grantee GiveDirectly to quickly allocate aid to those most affected.

  Managing current and future climate impacts

  Climate change poses a threat to our world's natural resources and food security. We’re working with governments, organizations and communities to provide information and technologies to help adapt to these changes.

  • Keeping cities greener and healthier: Extreme temperatures and poor air quality are increasingly common in cities and can impact public health. To mitigate this, our Project Green Light uses AI to optimize traffic lights at intersections around the world with the aim to help minimize congestion and related pollution. Project Air View also brings detailed air quality maps to scientists, policymakers and communities. And we’re working to expand our Environmental Insights Explorer’s Tree Canopy Insights tool to hundreds of cities by the end of this year so they can use trees to lower street-level temperatures and improve quality of life.
  • Meeting the world’s growing demand for food: Mineral — a project from X, Alphabet’s moonshot factory — is working to build a more sustainable and productive food system. The team is joining diverse data sets in radically new ways — from soil and weather data to drone and satellite images — and using AI to reveal insights never before possible about what’s happening with crops. As part of our Startups For Sustainable Development program, we’re also supporting startups addressing food security. These include startups like OKO, which provides crop insurance to keep farmers in business in case of adverse weather events and has reached tens of thousands of farmers in Mali and Uganda.
  • Helping farmers protect their crops: Pest infestations can threaten entire crops and impact the livelihoods of millions. In collaboration with InstaDeep and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, our team at the Google AI Center in Ghana is using AI to better detect locust outbreaks so that it's possible to implement control measures. In India, Google.org Fellows worked with Wadhwani AI to create an AI-powered app that helps identify and treat infestations of pests, resulting in a 20% reduction in pesticide sprays and a 26% increase in profit margins for farmers. Google Cloud is also working with agricultural technology companies to use machine learning and cloud services to improve crop yields.
  • Analyzing a changing planet: Using Google Cloud and Google Earth Engine, organizations and businesses can better assess and manage climate risks. For example, the U.S. Forest Service uses these tools to analyze land-cover changes to better respond to new wildfire threats and monitor the impacts of invasive insects, diseases and droughts. Similarly, the Bank of Montreal is integrating climate data — like precipitation trends — into its business strategy and risk management for clients.

  AI already plays a critical role in addressing many urgent, climate-related challenges. It is important that we continue to invest in research and raise awareness about why we are doing this work. Google Arts and Culture has collaborated with artists on the Culture meets Climate collection so everyone can explore more perspectives on climate change. And at COP27 we hope to generate more awareness and engage in productive discussions about how to use AI, innovations, and shared data to help global communities address the changing climate.

  Related Article

  Accelerating climate action at Google and beyond

  A new paper we published today shares updates on the work we have been doing as part of our third decade of climate action.

  Read Article

  
  
  https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/sustainability/cop27-adaptation-efforts/
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  New features for parents and kids on Google Assistant
  • sorangutan  

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  Earlier this week, I was in the kitchen watching my kids — at the (very fun) ages of seven and 11 — engaged in a conversation with our Google Assistant. My son, who has recently discovered a love of karaoke, asked it to play music so he could practice singing along to his favorite band, BTS. He and his sister ask it all kinds of questions: “How tall is the Eiffel Tower?” “How much do elephants weigh?” “Where was the Declaration of Independence signed?”

  Whether we’re dictating a text message in the car or starting a timer while cooking at home, one thing is true: Voice plays an increasingly important role in the way we get things done — not just for us, but for our kids, too. It allows them to indulge their curiosities, learn new things and tap into their creative, inquisitive minds — all without having to look at a screen. As a mom, I see firsthand how kids’ relationship with technology starts by discovering the power of their own voice. And as today’s kids grow up in a world surrounded by technology, we want to help them have safer, educational and natural conversational experiences with Assistant. Here’s how we’re doing it.

  Parental controls for safer, age-appropriate content

  Since we know kids — like my own — tend to use their families’ shared devices, we take very seriously our responsibility to help parents protect them from harmful and inappropriate content. Building on that long-standing commitment, we’re rolling out a number of new features that will make it safer for your kids to interact with Assistant.

  To give parents more control and peace of mind over the interactions their children have on Google speakers and smart displays, we’re introducing parental controls for Google Assistant. In the coming weeks through the Google Home, Family Link and Google Assistant apps on Android and iOS, you can modify media settings, enable or disable certain Assistant functionality and set up downtime for your kids.

  

  After selecting your child’s account, you can choose the music and video providers they can access — such as YouTube Kids, YouTube and YouTube Music — and your kids will only be able to explore content from those pre-selected providers. You can also decide whether you want your children to listen to news and podcasts on their devices.

  Through parental controls, you can also control the specific Assistant features your kids can use — like restricting them from making phone calls or choosing what kind of answers they get from Assistant. And to encourage a healthy relationship between kids and technology, just say, “Hey Google, open Assistant settings.” From there, navigate to parental controls, and you can block off time when they shouldn’t use their devices, just like you can do on personal Android devices and Chromebooks. Whether you have parental controls turned on or not, we always make sure you’re in control of your privacy settings.

  Educational and fun conversations with Kids Dictionary

  “What does telescope mean?” “What is the definition of ‘fluorescent’?”

  Kids are naturally inquisitive and often turn to their Assistant to define words like these when they’re not sure what they mean. To help make those interactions even more engaging, we're introducing Kids Dictionary, which gives simplified and age-appropriate answers across speakers, smart displays and mobile devices.

  With Kids Dictionary, children’s interactions with Assistant can be both educational and fun, allowing them to fuel their interests and learn new things. When your child is voice matched and Assistant detects their voice asking about a definition, it will automatically respond using this experience in Kids Dictionary.

  

  Whether they’re doing their homework or simply curious about a new word they saw in a book, they’re only a “Hey Google” away from a little more help.

  Kid-friendly voices for more engaging interactions

  Kids today are growing up with technology, so it’s important that their experiences are developmentally appropriate. In addition to our increased efforts around safety and education, we’re also introducing four new kid-friendly voices. These new voices, which we designed alongside kids and parents, were developed with a diverse range of accents to reflect different communities and ways of speaking. And like a favorite teacher, these voices speak in slower and more expressive styles to help with storytelling and aid comprehension.

  To activate one of Assistant’s new kid-friendly voices, kids can simply say, “Hey Google, change your voice!” Parents can also help their child navigate to Assistant settings, where they can select a new voice from the options available.

  Like all parents, I’m always amazed by my kids’ insatiable curiosity. And every day, I see that curiosity come to life in the many questions they ask our Assistant. We’re excited to not only provide a safer experience, but an educational and engaging one, too — and to continue our work to truly build an Assistant for everyone.

  10:25
  
  https://blog.google/products/assistant/new-features-for-parents-and-kids-on-google-assistant/
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  The inside story of how Google bathrooms became classrooms
  • sorangutan  

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  As a software engineer at Google, Daniele Midi spends most of his time working on developing smart home products. But every week he also sets aside time to help Googlers learn something new from a surprising classroom: the bathroom. Daniele is the editor-in-chief of Learning on the Loo (LotL), a volunteer-driven series of one-page lessons that show up in Google bathrooms in every office across the globe. The “episodes," as they're called, hang inside each restroom and cover subjects from productivity tips for Gmail to avoiding bias in decision making.

  The ultimate mission of LotL is to improve Googlers’ lives at work. Daniele first got involved as an intern in 2015, helping with distributing new episodes in his office. Soon after, he joined the small editorial team, and eventually stepped up to lead it. Today, LotL releases new episodes twice a month, on topics that deal with productivity, career and personal development.

  LotL launched in 2007 and drew inspiration from Testing on the Toilet (TotT), another Google institution, but a more tailored one. TotT began after a group of Googlers wanted to get input on how engineers could write better tests to ensure their code was working. One of those Googlers somewhat jokingly suggested posting tips about writing better tests in bathrooms. The idea caught on. Today, engineer Andrew Trenk heads up TotT, which now covers topics like coding best practices in addition to testing.

  TotT and LotL have a few things in common — for instance, the length. “A challenge is often getting everything to fit on one page,” Andrew says. “This also happens to be what makes the content so useful: Authors are forced to limit themselves to only their most critical points.” And like TotT, LotL aims to be actionable, with quick tips Googlers can use right away.

  One example episode: “Effective meetings,” published May 17, 2022, written by Oded Niv. This episode shares tips for what to do and why, both before the meeting starts (“set a prioritized list of goals and activities”) and during the meeting (“politely keep the focus on the agenda”).

  And another episode: “Are you writing clearly?”, published August 2, 2022, written by Nancy Fann-Im. Tips include “Less is more,” “Write like you speak” and “Be direct.” “Even executives appreciate brevity over jargon,” Nancy writes.

  All Googlers can submit LotL episode ideas via a form that asks things like whether their lesson is applicable to Googlers everywhere and what the takeaways are. It also includes the note that at least one image or meme is required. Daniele and his team of three other Googlers read through the submissions. Once they accept a proposal, the author or authors work on the one-page copy, edited by the LotL team.

  “I think people would be surprised at the level of scrutiny each episode goes through,” Daniele says. LotL even began an open editing group, so any Googler can give suggestions on upcoming episodes via Google Docs. “It’s particularly helpful to get feedback on whether a lesson makes sense globally,” Daniele explains. “Local office culture in the U.S., for example, is different from office culture in Korea.”

  Once the LotL team finalizes an episode, they send it to a cadre of Googler volunteers and local facilities teams across the globe who print and distribute it. (Each LotL is also available online and via email for Googlers.) From submission to launch day, the process takes a minimum of three to four weeks.

  Like so much about work, LotL had to evolve once the pandemic started. When people began working from home in 2020, LotL went entirely digital, and the content shifted. LotL proposals focusing on everything from at-home office setup to coping with the ongoing stress of the COVID-19 pandemic poured in. “It was a challenging time, for sure, but it was really wonderful to see how many Googlers wanted to share ideas to help each other, too,” Daniele says.

  Learning on the Loo remains a source of common ground for Googlers everywhere — and according to Daniele, it’s one that receives an encouraging amount of positive attention. “We recently added a short feedback form to our site,” Daniele says. “People will drop us emails that say, ‘Hey, I loved this, thank you so much!’ I just think that’s really, really cool.”

  
  
  https://blog.google/inside-google/life-at-google/inside-story-learning-on-the-loo/
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  New ways to find holiday deals on Google
  • sorangutan  

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  The holiday season is upon us, and many are already getting into the (shopping) spirit. Deals are particularly top of mind this year: Among Americans planning to shop for the holidays, 43% are planning to look for deals and sales more than last year.[72d1b6]So we’re sharing a few new features to help you easily find those discounts and get the perfect gift at the right price.

  New labels for coupons and promotions

  Coupon codes are a great way to save, but finding them — and making sure they work — can be challenging. To help shoppers save money and time, we’re bringing promotions front and center in product searches.

  

  Our new promotion badge will show up in Search on items running a promotion (like “15% off with coupon code HOLIDAYS”). While in the past we’ve shown when items are on sale or the price has dropped, you can now see specific promotions and compare them to others right in Search.

  We’re also adding a new coupon clipping feature, which allows you to easily copy promo codes when you’re ready to buy. These new features will roll out in the coming weeks.

  Compare deals side by side

  For the past year, more than half of U.S. shoppers have visited multiple websites before settling on what and where to buy.[6b9a3d]We’re bringing you a new, easy way to cut down on all that research time and compare shopping deals across retailers.

  

  If you search for a women’s puffer coat, for example, we’ll show you a side-by-side comparison of available puffer coat deals right in your results. This new view will roll out in the U.S. this month, just in time for the holidays.

  Get price insights

  While it’s easy to get enticed by holiday sales, it can be hard to tell whether something is a good value. So we’re bringing our price insights feature to Search to help shoppers understand the prices they see and make better buying decisions. Now, you’ll quickly see how one merchant’s price compares to others’ and whether it’s low, typical or high for that product.

  

  And merchants, don’t forget you can always see how your deals are performing and review your business’ promotions wherever you manage your product listings on Google.

  These new features will make it easier to find great prices and check everything off your list this season.

  
  
  https://blog.google/products/shopping/holiday-shopping-deals/
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  Accelerating climate action at Google and beyond
  • sorangutan  

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  Next week at COP27, global leaders will gather in Egypt to build momentum for climate action. Climate change is one of humanity’s most urgent challenges, and this decade is critical in setting the world on a path to a sustainable future. Google is committed to reducing our own emissions and using technology to help everyone make sustainable choices.

  Today, we’re releasing a paper that shares updates on the work we have been doing as part of our third decade of climate action. Here’s a look at our progress and ambitions.

  Built to be sustainable

  Sustainability has always been a core value for Google, and we know taking action starts with operating our business more sustainably.

  Last year we announced our goal of achieving net-zero emissions across our operations and value chain — including our consumer hardware products — by 2030. We aim to reduce 50% of our combined scope 1[dd5395], scope 2[c32b8a], and scope 3[19a617]absolute emissions (versus our 2019 baseline) before 2030, and plan to invest in nature-based and technology-based carbon removal solutions to neutralize our remaining emissions. There are three ways we are working towards this goal: advancing carbon-free energy (CFE), reducing emissions within our value chain, and addressing our residual emissions with carbon removal and other solutions.

  Our net zero goal builds on two decades of climate action at Google. We started purchasing renewable energy in 2010, and in 2017 we became the first major company to match 100% of our annual electricity use with renewable energy purchases. We have continued to do so for five consecutive years, and in 2020 we set the even more ambitious goal of operating our data centers and office campuses on 24/7 CFE by 2030.

  Accelerate action through partners

  While we’re committed to reaching our goals, our impact is far greater when we work together. That’s why we collaborate with thousands of partners across multiple industries — from cities and governments to companies and nonprofits — to advance sustainability and climate progress.

  Over half of the global population lives in cities, and urban areas account for over two-thirds of global energy consumption and more than 70% of global carbon emissions. To help reduce these emissions, we aim to help more than 500 cities and local governments reduce an aggregate of 1 gigaton of carbon emissions annually by 2030. We are working to achieve this through tools like our Environmental Insights Explorer, which empowers cities and regions with actionable data and insights to reduce global emissions, and Project Green Light, an AI tool that provides recommendations for city planners to optimize traffic light timing to reduce stop-and-go traffic.

  Likewise, many of the world’s biggest brands are working to operate more sustainably. Through Google Cloud, we’re helping customers minimize environmental impact. This summer we announced Google Cloud Ready - Sustainability designation to showcase partners that are committed to helping organizations accelerate their sustainability programs.

  We are also building tools to strengthen communities’ response to extreme weather events. For example, our forecasting initiative provides flood alerts and information to at-risk communities. During Pakistan’s severe flooding this year, we provided nationwide SOS alerts with links to the latest information from government authorities.

  Empowering everyone to make more sustainable choices

  The billions of people who use our products and services are looking for ways to live more sustainably, and we want to make it easier for them to do so. In 2022, Google searches reached all-time highs for terms including “rooftop solar power,” “solar energy,” “electric bicycles,” and “electric cars.”

  Last year, we rolled out eco-friendly routing on Google Maps in the U.S. and Canada, and this year it expanded to 40 countries across Europe. This tool gets people to their destinations as quickly as possible while minimizing fuel consumption. Already it has helped avoid an estimate of more than half a million metric tons of carbon emissions — that’s equivalent to taking approximately 100,000 fuel-based cars off the road[31542c].

  Beyond getting from place to place, we’re making it easier for people to build a clean energy future from their homes. As of this month, anyone in the continental U.S. can join Nest Renew, which automatically shifts their energy consumption to the times of day when local grid electricity is cleaner or less expensive.

  As we work to provide products and services that help people make sustainable choices and reduce their carbon footprints, we’ll continue improving our ability to measure the individual and collective impact of these decisions. This is important not only for Google, but also for the growing number of companies offering solutions to help their customers reduce emissions.

  A more sustainable future, for all

  This year, we’ve seen major steps forward on climate policy in the U.S., Europe, and other regions. We are excited about the potential of new policy measures and corporate commitments that will help us reach historic emissions reductions in the next decade. The conversations at COP27 will be a critical moment to continue building momentum and move from pledges to progress.

  Our aim is to make every day more sustainable through our operations, partnerships and products. We’re energized by the progress we’ve made so far, and more motivated than ever to do our part to accelerate the transition to a more sustainable future for all.

  
  
  https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/sustainability/cop27-google-climate-action/
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  Helping to create a more resilient Europe
  • sorangutan  

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  Helping to create a more resilient Europe

  When Ukraine was invaded in February, a group of 15 Google employees dropped everything to do what they did best — write code. But unlike their day jobs of helping to build Google Maps or improve Google Search, this team of Google.org Fellows assisted the International Rescue Committee (IRC) to build out ‘United for Ukraine,’ an information service aimed squarely at helping the people fleeing Ukraine connect with critical information about food, water, and shelter. This project has since helped more than 200,000 people access critical information, includingmatching over 10,000 refugees to temporary accommodations. Ensuring that they’re prepared for the next crisis, the IRC team, with support from Google.org Fellows, also worked to shorten the time required to launch future versions of the site, meaning people impacted by a crisis can get potentially lifesaving information much faster.

  This is the kind of transformational innovation that a team of Google engineers working alongside issue area experts at nonprofits can achieve. We’ve seen how this combination of funding and the right technical expertise can support organisations using tech solutions to combat some of Europe’s biggest challenges, such as developing afree carbon emissions calculator for businesses of all sizes, building a new digital platform for jobseekers, and incorporating machine learning to automaticallyflag false claims online.

  This is what has inspired us to launch a new €15M Google.org Impact Challenge: Tech for Social Good. European nonprofits, civic entities, academic and research institutions, and social enterprises can, for the first time, apply to receive pro bono technical help from a team of Google.org Fellows for up to six months, helping them transform their organisation’s work.

  For this new Impact Challenge, we’re particularly interested in seeing submissions from organisations focused on sustainability, economic opportunity, and cyber security — projects that will help to combat the threats of climate change, economic challenges, and the spread of online disinformation across Europe.

  10:25

  When asked to reflect on the International Rescue Committee experience working with Google.org Fellows, IRC CEO David Miliband said: “With help from Google.org Fellows, we were able to rapidly broaden the reach of a digital platform for Ukrainian refugees, at a time when there was no time to spare. In just 3 months they helped us achieve half of our entire roadmap for the next 5 years.”

  We’re now asking your organisation for the most ambitious and impactful technical project that you’ve never had the time nor the resources to pursue, and to imagine what would be possible if you had a team of Google.org Fellows working pro bono for six months full-time, as well as up to €3M in funding to make your project a reality.

  Learn more about the selection criteria and process here. We look forward to seeing organisations apply with their bold ideas for a more prosperous, green, and secure Europe.

  
  
  https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/google-org/announcing-the-googleorg-impact-challenge-tech-for-social-good/
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  3 app measurement strategies for business growth
  • sorangutan  

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  Marketers are investing more in their apps. In fact, 81% of retailers and 75% of e-commerce companies plan to increase their investment in promoting their mobile apps over the next 12 months.[770168]That’s why we’re introducing new tools to help you more accurately measure cross-platform conversions, strengthen campaign performance with privacy-focused measurement and adapt to shifts in platform standards on iOS and Android.

  Set up cross-platform conversion measurement

  People search across various sites and apps before taking action, with the average consumer switching five times between mobile web and apps in a 30 minute-session[8a20ef]. Without cross-platform conversion tracking, you’ll have measurement gaps and limit optimization across your web and app campaigns. To help advertisers more easily set up conversion tracking, we’ve been alpha testing Web to App Connect, a toolkit that guides advertisers through the process step by step.

  It’s also essential to prioritize frictionless web-to-app experiences for customers that already have your app — which you can do with deep linking. For example, let’s say a customer is searching for new shoes on her mobile browser and sees your ad. With deep linking, she will land on the in-app product page and can check out faster, improving the customer experience and driving better campaign performance. On average, advertisers who have implemented deep linking are seeing over 2X uplift in conversion rate.[1ebf67]Creating this smooth experience requires technical implementation, and Web to App Connect offers tools to help simplify this workflow.

  Canadian Tire, one of the leading retailers in Canada, has already seen success implementing optimized experiences with Web to App Connect.

  Web to App Connect made it easier for my team to collaborate with our developers to ensure our app users aren’t having clunky experiences. Vera Bondareva
  Marketing Director, Canadian Tire

  Web to App Connect will be available in beta early next year. You can express interest in being a part of the upcoming beta today and explore this guide to learn more about the toolkit.

  Optimize performance with privacy-focused measurement

  To be set up for long-term success, today’s leading marketers should prioritize measurement solutions that both deliver performance and protect user privacy. Google Analytics for Firebase, our privacy-forward measurement solution, provides powerful cross-platform measurement capabilities to help you understand how your users engage with your app and optimize your App campaign attribution, reach and performance.

  Vinted, a European marketplace for secondhand clothing, wanted to improve app performance by achieving more in-app actions and optimizing their cost per in-app action. After implementing and bidding on conversions from Google Analytics for Firebase, they were able to achieve 128% more in-app actions on iOS compared to their existing measurement solution, increase installs by 92%, and decrease their cost-per-engagement by 22%.

  After the transfer, we saw an immediate iOS performance impact and unlocked new opportunities. Ali Mehrabiyan
  Digital Marketing Manager, Vinted

  When you implement Google Analytics for Firebase, you also unlock exclusive features like audience management and tROAS bidding for App campaigns. And over the next few months we’re rolling out additional benefits, including:

  • Maximized performance: You’ll have the ability to use additional consented, signed-in data to automatically improve App campaign ramp up and modeling to more efficiently reach consumers.
  • Expanded inventory: Connected TV continues to grow in viewership, and by early next year, advertisers will get access to this key channel and the ability to measure performance across devices.
  • New audience lists: You’ll have the ability to more easily engage existing app users who have not been reached with push notifications.

  

  Adapt to shifts in platform standards on iOS and Android

  User expectations for privacy continue to grow, and updates such as last year’s rollout of the AppTrackingTransparency (ATT) framework on iOS have made measurement more complex. That’s why we’re supporting solutions that help advertisers navigate these changes, including the new version 4.0 updates to SKAdNetwork, Apple’s measurement API.

  Throughout 2023, we’re improving modeled reporting consistency for iOS app installs across measurement platforms in Google Ads. Next year, we’ll also release tools for advertisers using the Google Analytics for Firebase SDK, which streamline setting up SKAdNetwork conversion values and help better optimize their campaigns for in-app actions.

  Developing these new solutions will take time, but you can start taking steps today to get ahead. For example, to enhance conversion modeling and reporting accuracy, you can adopt on-device conversion measurement, a privacy-preserving solution we released earlier this year. With on-device conversion measurement, user interactions with app ads can be matched to app conversions in a way that prevents user-identifying information from leaving a user's device. You can also start setting up SKAdNetwork conversion values yourself or work with a measurement partner, such as our App Attribution Partners. Lastly, explore this guide to learn more best practices for your iOS App campaigns.

  And while nothing is changing today for Android App campaigns, we recently provided an update on our participation in the Privacy Sandbox on Android initiative. We regularly share feedback with Android about its public proposals so that the new privacy-preserving technologies can help you reach the right audiences, and more accurately measure your campaign results with less reliance on tracking identifiers. And we’ll be sharing what we’ve learned throughout 2023 on the experiments we participate in.

  
  
  https://blog.google/products/ads-commerce/app-measurement-strategies-business-growth/
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  Introducing two new solutions powered by Ads Data Hub
  • sorangutan  

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  Ads Data Hub helps advertisers, agencies and measurement partners do customized analysis of campaigns while protecting user privacy. More than 3,000 brands, agencies, and measurement partners use cloud-based Ads Data Hub to perform analyses for their specific business objectives.

  Customers of Ads Data Hub have different needs, so we’ve created more specialized entry points to get started. Marketers require tools to quantify a consumer’s path to purchase and the ability to activate new audiences. At the same time, measurement partners conduct third-party assessment of metrics such as video viewability and audience reach.

  To offer a more tailored experience, we are introducing an evolution to the Ads Data Hub core platform by introducing two dedicated solutions: Ads Data Hub for Marketers and Ads Data Hub for Measurement Partners.

  New solutions for more catered needs

  Ads Data Hub for Marketers offers a new way for advertisers and agencies to analyze their data. With this solution, they can seamlessly access insights to better inform the way they purchase media. This means a simplified experience for marketers running queries and activating their first-party data.

  Riot Games, for example, used Ads Data Hub for richer marketing analyses. The company centralized their insights and combined them with Display & Video 360 and Campaign Manager 360 data. This let Riot Games attribute credit to various ad touch points, accurately measure return on ad spend (ROAS), and establish a new benchmark showing that for every $1 Riot Games spent on Google media, it received $2 in revenue. Marketers, like Riot Games, perform these analyses regularly, with hundreds of thousands of queries run in 2022 alone.

  Over time, new query templates, automated workflows, and updates to reporting will reduce the need for additional technical resources and decrease time to generate insights - with plans to implement Publisher Advertiser Identity Reconciliation, also known as PAIR. In addition to these improvements, marketers will soon be able to activate their audience segments on new inventory, including YouTube. As privacy expectations evolve, we will continue to build more solutions that enable advertisers and agencies to measure and activate their first-party data with Ads Data Hub for Marketers.

  Ads Data Hub for Measurement Partners gives partners a new access point to provide YouTube measurement services on behalf of marketers, advertisers, agencies, or publishers. With this launch, it’ll be easier for partners to offer accurate measurement and deliver near real-time insights. For marketers, this means they can work with independent third-party partners to calculate and report on YouTube ad performance across devices, formats, and metrics.

  These third-party independent measurement services are available to marketers via our growing partner ecosystem. With Dynata, and other vendors, we have expanded measurement services on Ads Data Hub to enable cross-media solutions for YouTube. Customers will be able to analyze the performance of YouTube campaigns relative to other media channels (including linear TV, streaming TV, or online video sources). Another partner, DoubleVerify, has earned YouTube Video Viewability accreditation by the Media Rating Council (MRC), in addition to Ads Data Hub’s own accreditation announced last year.

  In 2023 we plan to integrate with new partners such as iSpot and VideoAmp, joining the list of measurement partners already available with Ads Data Hub.

  Commitment to a privacy-centric future

  Marketers and measurement partners will benefit from rigorous privacy checks that protect the personal data of users online while still being able to perform comprehensive analytics. These analyses, in addition to insight generation and audience activation, can all be performed with Ads Data Hub users only having access to aggregated data. By investing in privacy-centric solutions that address the specific needs of marketers and measurement partners, we've simplified the path to accurate measurement across YouTube and Google campaigns.

  
  
  https://blog.google/products/marketingplatform/360/ads-data-hub-powered-solutions/
• 

  How Scrolla is making news more accessible to South Africans
  • sorangutan  

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  The costs associated with paying for mobile phone data in many African countries are often incredibly high, making it prohibitive for lower income readers to access news. As our mission is to bring high quality news on mobile phones to underserved communities, we set out to create a new product for Scrolla.Africa which is light on data use. The new platform is called Scrolla Data Lite.

  Our core readers are pay-as-you-go mobile users, who make up about 75% of the market in South Africa. We found that people on these expensive pay-as-you-go data services were extremely cautious about downloading anything or surfing online. So beyond using data for messaging services, the idea of browsing on mobiles for news is regarded as a privilege.

  As a mobile-only investigative and political reporting outlet, we were operating on a shoestring budget when we launched, so the data use issue was not something we had the technical capacity to address. We decided it had to wait until we had evolved the prototype and our editorial colleagues — Everson Luhanga and Phillip van Niekerk — had established Scrolla’s editorial ethos.

  Our big break came when we were selected for the Google News Initiative Innovation Challenge for the Middle East, Turkey and Africa in 2021. We had a rough outline of how we would design a separate “Data Lite” site, which we used as the basis for our application. The Data Lite site doesn’t contain video or audio, and has stripped back features allowing for faster scrolling. The goals were to compress stories and images as much as possible and to automate the process so that our small team didn’t have to learn a new Content Management System (CMS). As a recipient of funding, we could build a Data Lite site far quicker and better than would have otherwise been possible, and bring in external engineering expertise to design the new platform.

  The site ended up saving readers 90% on the data costs of our “full fat” site, when we compare the 100 kilobytes on page downloads on Data Lite to our usual 1 megabyte. And this meant the Data Lite site gave us about a sixfold increase in traffic compared with the full data site. We couldn’t use video or audio on the new Data Lite site, which remains its only drawback. When it came to images, we gave the editorial team strict guidelines to minimize data use without compromising user experience. This left room for error, so we then built in additional automated safeguards which ensured that uploaded images didn’t risk leaving readers with a spike in data costs.

  Alongside data costs, language is an additional barrier in South Africa, so we publish in Zulu as well as English. Crucially, the GNI funding allowed us to design a system where we could include our Zulu content, together with English (a second language in South Africa), on one platform. The site had to be super easy to navigate and allow users to toggle between English and Zulu.

  

  A screengrab of the Scrolla app featuring the Zulu language.

  The biggest lesson we learned is it’s impossible to underestimate what a big deal these data costs are: to the extent that many readers are wary of downloading apps or touching the sort of advertisements which typically require a lot of data such as those with video. The GNI enabled us to build the site, and we're open to sharing the technology with other like-minded publications in Africa and beyond.

  
  
  https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/google-news-initiative/how-scrolla-is-making-news-more-accessible-to-south-africans/
• 

  How we detect, remove and report child sexual abuse material
  • sorangutan  

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  Since Google’s earliest days, we have worked to prevent the spread of illegal child sexual abuse material (referred to as CSAM). Child safety organizations and governments rightly expect — and in many cases require — us to take action to remove it from our systems. Which is why, when we find CSAM on our platforms, we remove it, report it and often take the step to suspend the account.

  Although CSAM accounts for a very small portion of the material uploaded and shared across our platforms, we take the implications of both CSAM violations and suspending accounts seriously. Our goal is to prevent abuse on our platforms while minimizing the risk of an incorrect suspension. Today, we are sharing more information on how we detect this harmful content and the steps we are taking to be more transparent about our processes with users.

  How we detect CSAM

  We rely on two equally important technologies to help us proactively identify child sexual abuse material: hash matching and artificial intelligence (AI). We also have a team of highly specialized and trained content reviewers and subject matter experts who help ensure that our technology delivers accurate results.

  This combination enables us to detect CSAM on our platforms at scale, while keeping our false positive rate extremely low.

  How we use hash matching to identify known CSAM

  CSAM that has been previously identified is automatically flagged by our systems using Hash Matching Technology. This technology assigns images and videos a unique digital signature — a “hash” — and then compares it against a database of known signatures. If the two match, the content is considered to be the same or closely similar.

  We obtain hashes from a variety of highly trusted sources including Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), and others. NCMEC specifically hosts a hash-sharing service used by the tech industry and specialist NGOs from around the world. This repository serves as one starting point – but we review every purported CSAM hash independently to confirm its accuracy. Once we confirm it as CSAM, we input it into our detection systems.

  The overwhelming majority of imagery reported by Google – approximately 90% – matches previously identified CSAM, much of which is already in the NCMEC database.

  How we use artificial intelligence to identify new content

  While hash matching helps us find known CSAM, we use artificial intelligence to flag new content that is very similar to patterns of previously confirmed CSAM. Our systems are specifically designed to recognize benign imagery like a child playing in the bathtub or backyard, which will not be flagged. A specialist team of trained personnel also reviews each piece of new imagery flagged, to confirm it is CSAM before it is ever reported.

  Quick detection of new images means that children who are being sexually abused today are much more likely to be identified and protected from further abuse. And to help promote safety across the web, we provide other companies and NGOs access to detection and processing technology through our Child Safety Toolkit. This includes our Content Safety API, which helps partners more quickly prioritize and review content that is highly likely to be abusive. In the past 30 days alone, the Content Safety API has helped partners process over four billion pieces of CSAM. Through the toolkit, partners can also license our proprietary CSAI Match Technology, to detect known video CSAM on their platforms.

  Our specialized content reviewers

  While technology is essential in the fight against CSAM at scale, human reviewers also play a critical role to confirm hash matches and content discovered through AI. Our team members bring deep expertise to this work with backgrounds in law, child safety and advocacy, social work, and cyber investigations, among other disciplines. They are specially trained on both our policy scope and what legally constitutes child sexual abuse material. We regularly update this training and our guidelines in consultation with legal counsel, independent experts and medical professionals.

  We know this is incredibly sensitive work and have a number of measures in place to protect reviewers’ physical and mental wellness. Our teams have access to tools, workspaces, resources and professional expertise, including counseling.

  Referring content to NCMEC

  Following this review process, we report the imagery identified as CSAM to NCMEC as required by US law. NCMEC evaluates the report and may decide to refer the case to a relevant law enforcement agency. If the local law enforcement agency chooses to investigate the NCMEC report further, requests for additional information from Google must be made through valid legal process or in accordance with applicable laws. You can learn more here on how we handle these types of requests.

  In doing this work, we also believe in the importance of transparency. Today, we updated our Transparency Report, with the latest data around our detection and reporting efforts. In the first half of this year, we've made over one million reports to NCMEC about content that met the legal definition of CSAM, and where appropriate, also suspended the Google accounts associated with that content (approximately 270,000 account suspensions).

  By using existing, confirmed CSAM to identify identical or similar material uploaded or shared to our platforms, we maintain an incredibly low false positive rate. However, if someone believes their account was incorrectly disabled, including for content flagged as CSAM, they can appeal the determination. A member of our child safety team reviews the appeal, and if we find we have made a mistake, we reinstate the account as soon as possible.

  Improving our processes

  Avoiding CSAM on our platforms is incredibly important work and is an area we’ll continue to invest in. At the same time, we recognize that we can improve the user experience when people come to us with questions about their accounts or believe we made wrong decisions. For example, we are actively working on ways to increase transparency and provide more detailed reasons for account suspensions (while making sure we don’t compromise the safety of children or interfere with potential law enforcement investigations). And we will also update our appeals process to allow users to submit even more context about their account, including to share more information and documentation from relevant independent professionals or law enforcement agencies to aid our understanding of the content detected in the account.

  We will continue to explore additional ways to balance preventing this harmful content from spreading on our platforms with creating a more streamlined support experience for all users.

  
  
  https://blog.google/technology/safety-security/how-we-detect-remove-and-report-child-sexual-abuse-material/
• 

  3 tips to maximize budget efficiency across media
  • sorangutan  

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  In an increasingly fragmented media landscape, making good use of your ad dollars is a tall order. Using a siloed strategy means you’re at risk of unintentionally reaching the same people more often than desired. This can lead to an ineffective use of your budget and poor user experience.

  For years, we’ve seen leading brands improve the efficiency of their ad operations and media using Display & Video 360 as a way to unify their campaigns across inventory sources, devices and markets. Today, we’ll share these marketers’ three best practices with some of their latest success stories highlighting key features to unify their media. Display & Video 360 continues to future-proof these tools using a combination of advanced machine learning technology, first-party data signals and privacy-preserving APIs.

  Plan and forecast reach in one place

  This is where it all begins. Plans that take your entire media mix into account are inherently more accurate. And planning solutions that are tightly connected to your media buying platform can let you more accurately and quickly assess the potential reach of your plans. Display & Video 360 planning tools let you estimate the reach of your campaign across any type of environment or inventory source — including web, audio, connected TV (CTV) and even linear TV.

  Reckitt is a global brand that found success optimizing its budget allocation for Airborne campaigns using Display & Video 360’s reach planning capabilities. Reckitt decided to diversify its media mix beyond traditional TV ads to boost its presence on CTV. So, it started looking for a planning tool that could account for CTV streamers. Harnessing Display & Video 360 forecasting solutions, the company estimated how much incremental reach could be gained by bringing together all its CTV deals — YouTube, Disney, The CW and Discovery — in the same campaign. The tool let them create accurate, custom media plans. By pulling insights like optimal spend and reach, Reckitt could compare the effectiveness of different campaign types. Armed with these insights, the company reached over 11 million CTV households within their core audience while keeping its spend under control. Reckitt also ensured these viewers weren’t duplicative with their traditional TV audience, generating 18% more viewers by adding CTV ads to their TV mix.

  Combine various inventory sources in one place

  I remember days when programmatic buying was just about serving standard display ads on the web. We’ve come a long way since then. Over the years, we’ve added access to thousands of publishers and all sorts of new inventory sources in Display & Video 360. For example, using digital out-of-home, brands can now reach people out in the real-world with the efficiency of programmatic technology. Today Display & Video 360 already partners with exchanges Hivestack, Magnite, Place Exchange, Ströer SSP, VIOOH and Vistar Media. These exchanges give access to large media owners around the world like Clear Channel Outdoor, Intersection, JCDecaux, Lamar and Ströer.

  With more top media companies like Disney making their inventory available programmatically, connected TV advertising gives brands another exciting terrain to engage with their customers. Today 93% of ad-supported connected TV households in the U.S. can be reached with Display & Video 360, according to comScore.[caf5bd]We’re also continuing to unlock top CTV inventory around the world. For example, you can now reach people watching Peacock, NBCUniversal’s ad-supported streaming service in the U.S. or Channel 4's programming in the U.K. And all these top CTV placements can be purchased alongside other programmatic ads in a consolidated CTV workflow featuring parameters applicable to any source of CTV inventory — whether it’s Hulu, YouTube, Paramount or any other publisher. This TV-specific insertion order makes it easier to optimize for common goals or control ad frequency across your entire CTV media mix.

  Combining all CTV apps under one insertion order gives us a better way to flex budgets and manage frequency across the two universes. Jaedyn Fuqua, Account Manager
  Adswerve

  Manage frequency in one place

  With Display & Video 360, you can manage ad exposure across media buys while respecting user privacy, even when third-party cookies and identifiers are not present. Frequency can be managed across any type of device and transaction type including CTV and Programmatic Guaranteed deals across a variety of exchanges.

  We're doubling down on programmatic reservation, particularly in the growing CTV landscape. So managing frequency for Programmatic Guaranteed deals with more exchanges is critical to help us further reduce waste associated with ad overexposure. Charles Cebuhar, Sr Director Digital Activation
  OMG Center of Excellence

  And you can get a tailored assessment of the impact of cross-channel frequency management solutions: Display & Video 360’s self-service data visualization shows how much reach was gained due to effective frequency management at the campaign level.

  This is how Audi turbocharged its incremental reach. To launch its all-new Q4 e-tron electric model in Germany, the automaker needed a cost-efficient way of reaching as many cord-cutters as possible with a new video campaign. The brand decided to use frequency management across a mix of standard in-stream video formats and exclusive Programmatic Guaranteed deals from Sky, DAZN and other well-known publishers in Germany. Having a real-time view of reach gains gave the brand and its media agency more precision in evaluating campaign performance. During the six-week campaign, Audi assessed that managing programmatic campaigns across channels in a consolidated way allowed the brand to reach 1.2 million additional unique users — or a 13% rise in incremental reach — without bumping up budgets.

  With a similar approach, L’Oréal Germany was able to increase the reach of its Garnier Greentalk campaign by 16% at no extra cost.

  With Display & Video 360, we’re able to see the added reach that comes from our unified frequency management strategy. This is a big step up in how we evaluate the success of our media. Nils Lenzko, Precision Advertising Manager
  L'Oréal

  Looking forward, we’ll ensure these media unification capabilities remain accessible to all Display & Video 360 users while respecting people's privacy online. In fact, we’ve already started enhancing these solutions using a combination of machine learning techniques and first-party data signals so they keep working in the future. For example, Unique Reach metrics already go beyond basic cookie measurement to help you understand how many times people were shown your ad across different devices, formats and networks. And Display & Video 360 already uses modeled frequency management in situations with limited user signals.

  These are just a few examples of the benefits of consolidating media. We also see advertisers who take a unified approach to media buying enjoy unified reporting, rationalized budgeting, and streamlined billing. As we move forward, we’ll keep adding more functionality to advertisers’ and media agencies’ toolbox to help them get better return from their unified media budgets.

  
  
  https://blog.google/products/marketingplatform/360/3-tips-to-maximize-budget-efficiency-across-media/
• 

  Turn insights into ROI with Google Analytics
  • sorangutan  

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  Three years ago, we introduced Google Analytics 4, a re-imagined tool that helps you get a complete view of consumer behavior across web and app by using first-party, modeled data. This is critical in an evolving privacy and technology landscape, where marketers have to rethink their approach to measurement in order to keep getting the insights they rely on. Today we’re introducing new resources to help you make the switch to Google Analytics 4, improved machine learning features, actionable reporting and new integrations.

  Make the switch now to Google Analytics 4 with helpful solutions

  Earlier this year we shared that we will begin sunsetting standard Universal Analytics properties on July 1, 2023. We recognize that setting up Google Analytics 4 to fit your needs takes time and resources, in particular for large enterprises with complex Analytics 360 setups. To allow enterprise customers more time to have a smoother transition to Google Analytics 4, we’re moving the Universal Analytics 360 properties’ sunset date from October 1, 2023 to July 1, 2024. We're focusing our efforts and investments on Google Analytics 4 to deliver a solution built to adapt to a changing ecosystem. Because of this, throughout 2023 we'll be shifting support away from Universal Analytics 360 and will move our full focus to Google Analytics 4 in 2024. As a result, performance will likely degrade in Universal Analytics 360 up until the new sunset date.

  To help everyone make the move, we're launching new resources and tools to help you get started with Google Analytics 4. Our step by step guide helps you complete the entire setup of Google Analytics 4 at your pace and customize it to your needs. Or, if you prefer a more automated experience, you can use the Setup Assistant in the admin section of your Universal Analytics property. Once a Google Analytics 4 property is created and connected, the Setup Assistant can automate some required setup steps and help you track your progress. For example, the Setup Assistant lets you select the goals you want to import to Google Analytics 4, copy desired Google Ads links and audiences, and add users who have access to your current property.

  

  The Setup Assistant tools

  The best Google Analytics 4 setup comes from following the steps above to create a customized property tailored to your needs. The earlier you do this, the more historical data and insights you will have in Google Analytics 4. For example, SunCorp, one of Australia's largest financial services brands, prioritized setting up Google Analytics 4 to build a base of historical insights.

  When Universal Analytics stops collecting data in 2023, we will have over two years of insights and reporting in Google Analytics 4. This is critical for a business like us to ensure we have a robust foundation of data to inform decision making. Mim Haysom
  Chief Marketing Officer, Suncorp Group

  Beginning in early 2023, the Setup Assistant will also create a new Google Analytics 4 property for each standard Universal Analytics property that doesn’t already have one — helping you jumpstart your migration. These new Google Analytics 4 properties will be connected with the corresponding Universal Analytics properties to match your privacy and collection settings. They’ll also enable equivalent basic features such as goals and Google Ads links. If you’d rather begin the switch on your own, you can opt out of having the Setup Assistant do it for you.

  Get accurate insights with new machine learning solutions

  Behavioral modeling uses machine learning to fill gaps in your understanding of customer behavior when cookies and other identifiers aren’t available. Soon, behavioral modeling will also be available in the real time reporting, giving you a complete view of the consumer journey as it happens. It’s helping marketers like Nestlé get accurate insights from more customer activity.

  Behavioral modeling with Consent Mode in Google Analytics 4 drove a 23% increase in the observable traffic in analytics reporting on European and UK websites. Jaime Rodera
  Privacy & Consumer Data Manager, Nestlé

  Improve ROI with new actionable reporting and integrations

  To get a more accurate picture of your campaigns across all of your marketing touchpoints, we will soon introduce custom channel grouping in Google Analytics 4 to help you see the performance of different channels aggregated. For example, you’ll be able to compare the performance of your paid search brand with your non-brand campaigns. These custom channel groupings work in reporting retroactively, and across the advertising and explore workspaces.

  Your insights are only as good as the actions you can take from them. On top of Google Ads, Display & Video 360 and Search Ads 360, we will soon launch an integration with Campaign Manager 360 via Floodlight. This will allow marketers to bid towards Google Analytics 4 conversions in Display & Video 360’s automated bid strategies.

  Now is the time to make Google Analytics 4 your cross-platform Analytics solution. Get started with Google Analytics 4 now, complete the setup by following our step by step guide and learn how to get the most out of it with the refreshed Google Analytics 4 certification.

  
  
  https://blog.google/products/marketingplatform/analytics/turn-insights-roi-google-analytics/
• 

  How Googlers are building for everyone, with everyone
  • sorangutan  

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  Over the past few weeks, I’ve been recharged by conversations with people from all walks of life: students participating in National Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Week; policymakers at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s events; and community leaders and Googlers from around the world. There’s a shared sense of excitement, and urgency, about the future we’re helping to build. And after years of virtual gatherings, many in-person events have had the invigorating feel of family reunions.

  A symposium with Black executives and the annual Hispanic Heritage Awards in September were energizing, too. At the award ceremony honoring the leadership and accomplishments of the Latino community, we announced a foundational donation from Google.org to the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino, which will center Latino stories as part of the American narrative.

  As a result of our ongoing equity efforts, we were recently recognized at the Business Travel Awards in Europe for our Accessibility Travel Desk. Through this program, business travel agents offer specialized pre-trip and on-trip planning services to Googlers with disabilities so they have what they need on the road. For our U.S. employees, we also recently introduced Health+ Communities, which aims to provide personalized care focused on addressing the particular needs of groups historically underserved in medical care, such as the LGBTQ+ community.

  There is always more to do to build toward sustainable equity. Here, four Googlers talk about other work in progress.

  Making onboarding easier

  Catalyzing change for startups

  Driving toward Africa’s digital transformation

  Connecting communities

  
  
  https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/diversity/q3-2022-dei-update/
• 

  Why Google Supports the US ‘Securing Open Source Software’ Act
  • sorangutan  

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  Open source software — code that is made freely available to the public to use or modify — is the foundation of the modern internet. It’s given us a world that is more innovative and more accessible. Yet the very openness that makes the digital world accessible to everyone, also leaves it uniquely vulnerable to security threats and cyber attacks.

  At Google, we’ve been working to solve this paradox for years — and have arrived at the conclusion that modern digital security actually can come through embracing openness. We protect more people online than anyone, and we recently announced a $10 billion investment in making the internet safer and more secure. But with the dramatic rise of state-sponsored cyber attacks and malicious actors online, it’s clear that we not only need stronger public-private partnerships — but dynamic policy frameworks to shore up security for everyone.

  That’s why we welcome efforts by the U.S. Government to advance open source software security, such as the Securing Open Source Software Act introduced in the Senate last month. This bipartisan bill proposes the creation of a framework to guide the federal government in their use of open source software. The proposed legislation reflects a helpful focus on security and cyber risk mitigation to respond to a recent spike in malicious cyber activity against the software supply chain.

  We are glad to see a continued emphasis on the importance of open source software security from the U.S. Government, and we hope that both public and private organizations will follow their lead to promote improved cybersecurity for the ecosystem at large.

  The problem of securing open source

  The world of open source software development allows collaboration and rapid innovation by sharing solutions freely. This community, built on openness and sharing, contributes an enormous amount of code to a majority of the applications we use today.

  However, despite the benefits of this openness, the unprecedented scale of recent attacks has emphasized gaps in infrastructure and tooling and the need for improved transparency into the security practices and attributes of open source projects. Seemingly simple questions about the open source supply chain are still difficult to answer:

  • Does a project contain known vulnerabilities?
  • Are the project’s maintainers and community following security best practices during software development?
  • What open source dependencies are part of a particular piece of software?
  • How secure was the distribution supply chain?

  Answering these questions requires specialized technical skills and capabilities, and given the primarily volunteer-driven nature of the open source community, we cannot expect open source developers to shoulder the full burden of advancing software security on their own.

  Continued advances

  Through our work with multiple industry collaborators, Google has helped create free tools, services and best practices to make it easier for the open source community to develop and distribute software securely, while providing consumers with information about the security of the software they use.

  We envision a more secure future where the burden of security is shared, and there is increased trust in and resilience of the open source software ecosystem. To get there, we need freely available, automated solutions that make developer’s lives easier, such as:

  • Infrastructure that prevents tampering, by default, when software is being built and released
  • Advances in vulnerability discovery and management that automate finding, tracking and fixing bugs for developers
  • Seamless connections across sources of security data and tools for analysis so consumers can have meaningful insight into the security of their software

  We’re currently working to make these solutions a reality, at scale, with little to no additional work for developers.

  Sustaining the community

  We hope that the framework that will emerge due to U.S. Government efforts drives further investments in open source communities by both the public and private sectors. We’re already seeing the impact of the $100M Google pledged to non-profit organizations and software foundations like the Open Source Security Foundation to support open source creators.

  This pledge backs efforts like our “open source maintenance crew,” a team of developers who spend 100 percent of their time directly enabling critical open source projects to adopt key security improvements. It also supports our Linux Kernel team, which continues to drive efforts to eliminate entire classes of bugs from open source code, including paving the way for greater memory safety using the Rust language.

  We encourage other major consumers of open source to follow this lead and directly invest both funds and developer time in securing open source projects and ecosystems. Furthermore, we call on other major consumers of open source, both public and private, to implement similar policies around safe open source usage as well.

  Securing open source software is a shared responsibility, and we look forward to continued collaboration on this urgent, critical problem.

  
  
  https://blog.google/technology/safety-security/why-google-supports-the-us-securing-open-source-software-act/
• 

  Improving accessibility led this UX researcher to Google
  • sorangutan  

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

  Today’s post is all about Jerry Robinson, a user experience (UX) researcher on our Central Product Inclusion, Equity and Accessibility team.

  What’s your role at Google?

  I’m the lead UX researcher on the Lookout team. Lookout is an Android app that uses AI to help people who are blind or have low vision perform daily tasks faster. It can read text and detect different objects within the camera’s field of view. One of my favorite features is the food label mode, which can quickly identify food products — like whether you’re holding a can of chicken or tomato soup.

  I conduct research with current and potential Lookout users to find opportunities to make the app more useful. I love this part of my job because I get to hear directly from the people using our products and share what I’ve learned with my teammates. It’s a privilege to be in a role where I can help our product teams better understand our users and carry out Google’s mission to make information universally accessible.

  

  Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

  I graduated from Morehouse College in 2004 with a degree in accounting. After working in the banking industry for five years, I decided to go to grad school and find a career where I could make an impact on people’s everyday lives. Also, as someone with a disability living in a world not always designed with them in mind, I was interested in accessibility and ways to support people with disabilities on their terms.

  I earned a Master of Science in Information Management and a PhD in Information Science. My dissertation was focused on accessible design from the perspective of people with physical disabilities finding their own ways to adapt to inaccessible situations in their everyday lives.

  How did the application and interview process go for you?

  I met a Googler at an assistive technology conference a few years earlier who told me about the open role. I expressed interest and connected with a recruiter, and eventually received a referral from another Googler.

  My biggest concern during the interview process was communication. I have a distinct speech pattern because of my cerebral palsy, and I’ve always been concerned that potential employers might hold that against me. However, I knew that Google had an inclusive work environment. And I was confident in my ability to conduct good UX research.

  The interview process actually assured me that I was a strong candidate. My interview committee asked tough questions, but they were extremely thoughtful and kind. One of them told me to think of the interview more as a conversation, while another complimented me on my presentation. I felt a level of respect from the very beginning that put me at ease and made me more certain that I wanted to work here.

  

  Jerry in a Google office micro-kitchen.

  What inspires you to come in (or log on) every day?

  I’m inspired by all the Google UXers I work with who are passionate about designing for everyone. Google, and the tech industry overall, needs people who are dedicated to making accessible design the norm rather than an afterthought.

  What resources did you use to prepare for your interview?

  My recruiter was incredibly helpful. He gave me tips about what to communicate during each interview round, including how best to present the scope, complexity and impact of my work. I practiced my final presentation several times before my last round of interviews to build up my confidence. And I went to bed early the night before to make sure I felt rested.

  Any tips to share with aspiring Googlers?

  Do all that you can to prepare, but also be confident in what you bring to the table. Know that you’re going through the process because you’re already a qualified candidate. Remind yourself that as often as you need to.

  
  
  https://blog.google/inside-google/life-at-google/improving-accessibility-led-this-ux-researcher-to-google/
• 

  How Android protects you from scams and phishing attacks
  • sorangutan  

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  Cybercriminals are targeting smartphones and tablets more than ever before. That’s because people are spending more time on their mobile devices, and they’re using them to send and store significant amounts of valuable data — like banking information, healthcare data and passwords. Cybercriminals are also targeting mobile devices because of their smaller screen sizes and frequent app and messaging notifications, which make it more difficult to verify if a sender is legitimate.

  These criminals are increasingly using phishing attacks, scams and malware to obtain sensitive financial information or account passwords. In fact, during the pandemic, phishing attacks grew by 600% and became the top infection method in 2021.

  Phishing attempts can come from a variety of sources like emails, text messages, voice calls and even third-party messaging apps. So it’s critical to have a layered security approach in place to defend from many angles. To help ensure we’re providing strong protection on Android, we hired a third-party security lab to evaluate our features and functionality that help protect you from scam and phishing attacks on your mobile devices. The report concluded that Android devices provide more features for scam and phishing protection than other mobile operating systems[15bb22].

  For Cybersecurity Awareness Month, let’s take a closer look at these features and ways you can further protect your devices.

  Avoid spam, scam and phishing attempts

  Attackers often use text messages since they’re an easy channel to reach people. Messages by Google uses machine learning models to help proactively detect 1.5 billion spam, phishing and scam messages every month. It looks for known patterns and either diverts bad messages into the spam folder or warns you if it notices something suspicious.

  

  Messages by Google detects 1.5 billion spam, phishing and scams messages every month.

  Messages are analyzed with your privacy in mind, so they stay on your device and are never shared with anyone. You can, however, report a message to Google to help protect others. Gmail, the default email app on most Android phones, is also highly effective at flagging malicious messages, automatically blocking 99.9% of spam, phishing and malware.

  Attackers today aren’t just using text messages and emails to phish for data. We’ve seen a 5x increase in the number of attacks involving phone calls, where a criminal tries to impersonate your bank or IT department to get you to hand over your credentials. Phone by Google provides multiple security defenses to help protect against attacks like these — from built-in caller ID and spam protection to Call Screen.

  Get warned about bad links, downloads and apps

  Many phishing and scam attempts try to get you to visit a malicious page impersonating a legitimate-looking site to enter your credentials, steal your social security number or download malware. Safe Browsing on Android protects 3 billion devices globally and helps warn you about potentially risky sites, downloads and extensions. It offers broad protection throughout your Android experience — from browsing on Chrome and other browsers to connecting to the web through social media apps

  

  Safe Browsing helps defend you from dangerous websites and malicious files whether you're on a browser or an app.

  Even if you download an app outside of Google Play, Google Play Protect checks the installation and can warn you about a harmful or malicious app. Play Protect also scans all the apps on your device every day for harmful ones, even if you’re offline.

  Get notified about your Google account

  On Android phones running version 7.0 and up, you can use the built-in security key for additional protection. When you or someone else tries to sign into your Google account, you’ll get a notification on your phone asking to confirm that it’s you.

  And it’s always good to regularly do a Security Checkup, which you can access right from your device settings. It’ll provide personalized security tips for your account, remind you to keep your passwords up to date, and share what devices you’re currently signed in on and what apps have access to your data.

  Learn more about how you and your data are safer with Google on Android devices.

  
  
  https://blog.google/products/android/android-scam-and-phishing-protection/
• 

  Democratizing access to health
  • sorangutan  

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  Editor’s note: This essay originally appeared in The Global Governance Project's magazine, as part of Google's wider participation in the World Health Summit. Dr. Garth Graham, the global head of YouTube Health, also contributed a piece on the role of information as a determinant of health.

  The COVID-19 pandemic energized public-private partnerships and strengthened the role of technology towards democratizing access to health to help billions of people everywhere live healthier lives — but fresh challenges are emerging from its shadow

  COVID-19 has been a generation-defining challenge filled with incalculable human costs and long-term impacts that remain unclear. Like many, I have been reflecting on how the pandemic will shape medicine and public health in particular for generations to come.

  The pandemic severely tested public health. Many places around the world could not keep pace with the demands of disease surveillance and continue to see challenges with vaccination rates. Still, public health rose to the occasion. Public health officials quickly interpreted evolving science to provide guidance that kept individuals and communities safe. There were also live-saving scientific advancements — from realizing the promise of mRNA vaccines and adaptive clinical trials to using real-world clinical data to inform regulatory processes.

  Underlying some incredible gains were public-private partnerships — particularly between the technology and health sectors — which I believe will continue to flourish. These partnerships have made the wider dissemination of public health messages, better data and surveillance systems, and faster interventions possible.

  For our part at Google, we adapted to accommodate this hopefully once-in-a-lifetime event by launching more than 200 new products, features and initiatives, in addition to providing in-kind donations totaling more than $1 billion.

  Surfacing quality information is part of our core mission. During the first weeks of the pandemic, we recognized the opportunity to provide the right information, at the right time through the reach of platforms such as Search and YouTube that amplified health messages to billions of people, encouraging them to “flatten the curve” through non-pharmacologic interventions. We donated Google Search Advertising and offered assistance to organizations, such as the World Health Organization, to provide more than two billion COVID-related public service announcements that connected nearly 100 million people to high-quality information.

  Issues masked by the pandemic

  Today, as we conceive of a time when COVID-19 is endemic, we must turn our attention in earnest to other global challenges that the pandemic masked or even exacerbated. For our part, we will continue to use our products, technologies and expertise to help people, their caregivers and their communities, focusing on areas that align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, such as mental health and maternal health.

  During the first year of the pandemic, anxiety and depression increased by 25% across the globe.[aea966]Searches for “mental health therapist” and “mental health help” reached record highs in the U.S. in 2022.[3def86]To make it easier to access mental health services and resources — such as clinically validated mental health self-assessments and crisis hotlines — we are enhancing information resources on Search and YouTube, partnering with organizations including the National Alliance on Mental Illness in the US, the Samaritans in the UK and iCall in India.

  The pandemic also made it clear that existing healthcare gaps need to be filled so people can access the best care no matter where they are. At least half of the global population lacks essential health services[31a300], such as immunizations and pediatric care. Technology can help fill these capacity gaps — especially artificial intelligence. Already, AI has demonstrated promise not just as a tool to support significant gains in health care, but also as a means to eliminate disparities and improve health for everyone, everywhere. We are invested in the research and development of these technologies, and doing so inclusively and ethically.

  For example, the global maternal mortality rate remains high, with an average of 152 deaths per 100,000 live births.[b27223]The vast majority of deaths occur in low- and lower-middle income countries. We are partnering with Northwestern Medicine to expand access to fetal ultrasound, validating the use of AI to create more automated and accurate evaluations of maternal and fetal health risks. The goal is to train providers and community health workers to conduct ultrasounds and assessments in the field.

  Another area where AI can be helpful is cancer screening. Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer with 2.26 million new cases occurring each year, yet early screening and detection can improve long-term outcomes.[3e6ff6]We have been researching how AI can reduce the time to diagnosis and improve the patient experience.

  The full picture

  As we support health service providers across the globe, we are uncovering ways to make sure they have the information they need to care for patients. Today, healthcare workers use smartphone applications to manage data specific to certain diseases, for example malaria and tuberculosis. But that data is often stored across multiple applications and formats, making it hard to have a full picture of a patient’s needs. To provide access to advanced mobile digital health solutions, we are working with the WHO to build an open-source software development kit, or SDK.

  We see these innovations as important steps on the road to democratizing health care. There are more on the horizon, fueled by AI and cloud computing, that can bring more meaning to the data and unlock innovation. A great example of this can be found in emerging efforts at the intersection of public health and climate change where we are beginning to see patterns and associations among climate, weather and health.

  Technology is just one tool to solve these public health challenges and its effectiveness depends on robust public-private partnerships. When we look back at the COVID-19 pandemic and all of the related health crises it brought awareness to, I believe that we will recognize it as a moment that energized our ability to collaborate. And that spirit of collaboration and partnerships will transform public health and democratize its benefits for everyone, everywhere.

  
  
  https://blog.google/technology/health/democratizing-access-to-health/
• 

  Five spooky filters to try this Halloween
  • sorangutan  

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  Think you know Halloween? 🎃 Google Arts & Culture is embracing spooky season with the release of our Spotlight on Halloween — a selection of the creepiest, most disturbing art exhibits created by our partners, ready to instill fear in even the bravest of souls.

  From terrifying filters to macabre artworks, here are some of the things you’ll be able to play around with:

  🤡 Who will you be for Halloween? 💀

  Ever thought of becoming a clown for the night? How about entering the body of a wretched monk by Goya? Have a go with our new Halloween Art Filters in the Google Arts & Culture app. Thanks to our partners making their art collections available online, we’ve been able to create five new 3D augmented reality filters based on iconic paintings. The filters allow you to explore the artifacts in detail, as well as giving you some history and context before you try them on.

  • Image of Art Filter of painting: Self Portrait with Magic Scene by Pieter van Laer

    Self Portrait with Magic Scene by Pieter van Laer

  • Image of Art Filter of painting: A Clown by Benjamin Luks

    A Clown by Benjamin Luks

  • Image of Art Filter of painting: Head of a Skeleton with a Burning Cigarette by Vincent van Gogh

    Head of a Skeleton with a Burning Cigarette by Vincent van Gogh

  • Image of Art Filter of painting: Monk Talking to an Old Women by Goya

    Monk Talking to an Old Women by Goya

  • Image of Art Filter of painting: Ghost of Flea by William Blake

    Ghost of Flea by William Blake

  🧙‍ Characters to give you a fright 👹

  See if you can identify witches from history and myth or try and imagine how you might feel meeting an Acromantula in the flesh via Jim Kay’s image of Aragog from Harry Potter. Not scared enough? Zoom in into Joos van Craesbeeck's painting of Saint Anthony or take a tour of Goya’s painting of Witches' Sabbath to meet the devil.

  🏚 Spooky and haunted places 👻

  In the mood for a ghostly encounter? Check out England's Haunted Castles, discover the vampiric history behind Alnwick Castle or uncover a tale of desire, betrayal and suicide that haunts the medieval ruins of Ludlow Castle. Wander through the Iowa house that inspired American Gothic or visit the Abbey in the Oakwood, where bare oaks reach up to the sky in complaint. Travel to Jordan, India or Ireland to explore places that have a certain...energy or visit a few museums in the dark to find a scary surprise.

  🍭 Treats to die for 🍬

  It’s time to carve a pumpkin or two and stock up on candy, from the sweet tastes of higashi (Japanese sweets) to mouth watering Mexican candy, from these outstanding desserts prepared by Spanish chefs to Alfajores, a type of sandwich cookie and one of Argentina’s most popular sweet treats.

  • Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Princess Takiyasha summons a skeleton spectre to frighten Mitsukuni, a triptych of color woodblock prints, 1844

    Princess Takiyasha Summons a Skeleton Spectre to Frighten Mitsukuni' by Utagawa Kuniyoshi.

  • Abbey among Oak Trees - David Friedrich, 1809-10

    Abbey among Oak Trees is the companion piece to Monk by the Sea by Caspar David Friedrich. Bare oaks reach up into the sky as though in complaint.

  • Selection of candies from Puebla, Mexico

    The platter contains a variety of sweets such as yemitas (egg yolk sweets), macaroons, cocaditas (sweet coconut candies), bocadillos de nuez (walnut bites) and tortitas de Santa Clara (Santa Clara cookies).

  • Death among dualities - Hector Bayona Acosta, 2007

    Since pre-Hispanic times in Mexico, indigenous people have worshiped death and seen it as a duality of life; part of the cycle of nature. Work titled Death among dualities by

    Hector Bayona Acosta.

  • Death is Everywhere - Morteza Modaiemzadeh, 2015

    Morteza Modaiemzadeh from Iran took part with this poster, which presents death as something as ordinary as a bowl of popcorn.

  • Scene of Three Witches from Shakespeare's Macbeth - George Cattermole, 1840

    Scene of Three Witches from Shakespeare's Macbeth by George Cattermole.

  Start your journey on Google Arts & Culture Halloween page or open Google Arts & Culture app for Android or iOS and tap on the rainbow camera icon at the bottom of the homepage.
  
  Share your scary photos and videos using the hashtag #ArtFilter.

  
  
  https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/arts-culture/five-spooky-filters-to-try-this-halloween/
• 

  What is Wi-Fi 6E on the Nest Wifi Pro?
  • sorangutan  

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  Earlier this month we announced our latest mesh Wi-Fi system, Nest Wifi Pro. With a new design, faster speeds and simple set-up, Nest Wifi Pro is a solid foundation for your smart home, supporting up to 100 devices per router. And it’s officially available today.

  One of Nest Wifi Pro’s biggest perks is that it uses Wi-Fi 6E, the most advanced Wi-Fi technology in over 20 years. But what exactly is Wi-Fi 6E and how does it improve your connection? Let’s dig a little deeper.

  10:25

  New, open radio band

  Wi-Fi 6E is an extension of Wi-Fi 6 (hence the “E”). Unlike previous Wi-Fi generations, it can access a wider and less crowded radio band — 6 GHz — for even faster speeds and performance. With the ability to access this new band, as well as the standard 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz radio bands most Wi-Fi systems use, Nest Wifi Pro has a true tri-band connection. As a result, it offers speeds up to two times faster than Wi-Fi 6[7128ae].

  Less latency and faster connections

  Wi-Fi 6E is still early in its adoption, so it’s not overly crowded. With less network congestion, Wi-Fi 6E improves your speed and reduces your chance of interference, making connections faster and smoother than before. With more room to operate, 6E can also handle multiple high-bandwidth activities, like streaming 4K movies or taking video conference calls from home — or all of them at once.

  We like to think of 6E as driving in the fast lane on a super highway, providing a clearer and more direct path to get you where you want to go.

  Works with all devices

  Even though Nest Wifi Pro is built with advanced Wi-Fi 6E technology, it’s still compatible with older devices like laptops and phones. That’s because it can access all three radio bands, allowing it to easily connect to your existing devices while setting it up to support the next generation of technology.

  And with Matter, coming soon via software update, you’ll enjoy the advantages of the new standard for in-home connectivity — like access to more smart devices, more customization and expanded coverage for your home.

  Nest Wifi Pro retails at $399.99 for a three pack, $299.99 for a two pack or $199.99 for a one pack. Check out the Google Store to learn even more about Nest Wifi Pro and to order yours today.

  
  
  https://blog.google/products/google-nest/what-is-wifi-6e/
• 

  How mentoring startups helped me grow as a Googler
  • sorangutan  

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  Growing up, I avoided mentorship at all costs. Since I was raised by a single mother and my father has been incarcerated most of my life, I always viewed mentoring programs as an attempt to replace something missing. In hindsight, though, mentorship would have helped me get where I am today in my career more quickly — and avoid some pitfalls along the way.

  So when I read about the Google for Startups Founders Academy, I jumped at the chance to participate as a mentor. Launched in2020, the four-month program connects founders from Black, Latino and veteran-led startups with experienced Googlers, investors and industry experts. Through this program, I could share guidance and resources with those with similar backgrounds as me to help them navigate all the complex aspects of running a startup and growing their business.

  After throwing my hat into the ring, I was accepted as a Google for Startups mentor and paired with Gritly, a Colorado-based edtech startup that specializes in tech sales boot camps for underrepresented groups. Gritly founder David Lopez grew up in a low-income, single-parent household and was the first person in his family to go to college. While on a full academic scholarship at the University of Colorado, David realized that a bachelor’s degree is actually not a prerequisite for many high-paying roles in the sales sector. Seeing an opportunity to create career pathways in their own communities, David and co-founder Avi set out to provide people from the Black and Latino communities, women, veterans and previously incarcerated individuals with the training and mentorship needed to succeed as entry-level tech sales reps.

  As a Black Googler who didn't finish college, I was immediately drawn to the Gritly team and their mission. I knew my startup sales experience and critical thinking skills could help steer David and Avi’s product vision and strengthen their unique business model. Although the Founders Academy program only required monthly meetings, I wanted to make myself more available. So I met with David and Avi every week to work through roadblocks, answer questions and celebrate wins. I also attended Gritly’s team meetings to get to know the entire group better. And since we’re all based in Boulder, Colorado, we were even able to meet in person multiple times.

  Over the course of the program, David and Avi pivoted Gritly into a digital portal that hosts more bootcamps and edtech programs for other role-specific training. This shift broadened the startup’s potential from a niche player to a fundamental part of the edtech space. We also worked together to refine both their product and pitching strategies to secure several angel investors and fellowships. Most recently, Gritly was selected as one of the first recipients of the Google for Startups Latino Founders Fund, which awarded them with $100,000 in equity-free funding, as well as Cloud credits and ongoing support from Googlers.

  When someone asked me what my favorite part about being a Googler was, I would usually say access to the world’s brightest minds. Now, after becoming a Google for Startups mentor, the answer is the opportunity to connect the dots. It’s a privilege to serve as a facilitator between people around the world solving problems and the Googlers who can support them with knowledge, tools and resources. Mentorship, I’ve finally learned, isn’t a way to make up for something you lack — it’s a chance to grow in ways you didn’t even realize were possible.

  
  
  https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/entrepreneurs/how-mentoring-startups-helped-me-grow-as-a-googler/