Forecasting earthquake aftershock locations with AI-assisted science

Step aboard Discovery with virtual reality

Meet the bilingual Google Assistant with new smart home devices

U.S. wildlife to see (and maybe avoid) on your end-of-summer adventures

Throwing it back: Google leaders share their first summer jobs

Take a spin around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Google Maps

Protect your online accounts with Titan Security Keys

How “Broad City" animator Mike Perry gets creative with a Pixelbook

Wear OS by Google: Health and help are just a swipe away

Unlock your team’s creativity: running great hackathons

Creative, talented employees have awesome ideas, but chances are they rarely have enough time to actually try them out and find out which ones are worth pursuing. To allow their imagination to run free and spur creative innovation, companies need to create space and opportunities for employees to try out crazy new proposals. That’s why every so often, we regularly set aside some time to build a small, ad-hoc team around an idea, brainstorm, design, hack and share what we discovered.

A hackathon shifts the routine, gets people out of their comfort zone, and allows decisions to be made quickly. It creates new leadership opportunities, a chance to experiment, and an invitation to innovate. For our teams it’s also resulted in new products, new applications of emerging technologies, and important new cross-team collaborations. While not every hackathon will result in new products or features, we always find value in the learning and exploring that occurs.

Here are our tips for setting up a successful hackathon at your workplace:

Get support from your management and executive leadership.

A hackathon requires asking people to set aside their normal work for a few days (or a whole week) and that will impact the short-term ability to progress toward quarterly or annual goals. Make sure your leadership actively support the hackathon and its goals, so the team isn’t getting mixed messages about the trade-offs involved.

Your leaders also need to set the scene for the hackathon itself: what’s our goal for this hackathon, and what is expected from participants? This is a perfect time to emphasize the opportunity for risk-taking, crazy ideas, new technology experiments and creativity. A hackathon gives leaders the opportunity to empower the team to make decisions, tackle problems in new ways, and fail spectacularly.

Some of those failures can teach you more about your own process, infrastructure and tooling than successful efforts might—allowing the entire organization to become more efficient and productive. In other words, hackathons may only result in learning, not fantastic new product ideas; it’s a gamble, but a good one to take.

Get the right people in the room.

The magic of a hackathon is it encourages your teams to mix and work with new people, so they aren’t just coding with the folks they work with every day. Gather experts in a variety of relevant subject areas (machine learning, privacy, cloud storage, mobile development, etc.) to act as advisors and technology problem solvers, so teams don’t burn time trying to learn new technology from scratch.

Organize, organize, organize.

Organizing and running the hackathon takes its own big chunk of work. We set aside one or two large spaces for presentations and team formation. We set up an internal website to gather information and publicize, and get fun swag items that encourage participation and act as mementos or trophies. In the end we evaluate projects by voting, and award prizes to the top teams.

Real collaboration happens best face to face, and everyone being in the same room allows for free-flowing conversation. We’ve usually coordinate simultaneous hackathons at multiple different office sites, to minimize travel time and open up participation to folks on the greater team, regardless of their location.

Prepare your hackers by giving prompts in advance.

We’ve found a variety of prompts and brainstorming exercises to help leading up to the hackathon, so people can hit the ground running when the week starts. For example, you can ask people to finish the sentences:

• I wish I could …

• How might we …

• If only I could take time to fix …

• It’s such a pain that …

• Wouldn’t it be better for everyone if …

These prompts can help push people to think outside their normal scope of work. They might experiment with changes to commonly used processes or tools, or try to solve an existing business problem in a totally novel way. We sometimes see teams organize around work that removes a cumbersome task they have to do but don’t want to, or something they can’t do but wish they could.

You may want to schedule tech talks in the week or two before the hackathon, to get people thinking or inspire new ideas. These can cover new technologies you want to explore (augmented reality, deep learning, new wireless protocols), unsolved problems that need attention, or basics of a platform or piece of infrastructure that’s likely to be used by many teams.

Next up

I’ll be back with part two next week, covering advice for forming groups, sharing ideas and showcasing the results of your time hacking.

by via The Keyword

Protecting your home with the Google Assistant

Empty homes are more vulnerable to being burglarized, and it’s important to have a system in place that can monitor, alter and deter crime while you’re away. That’s where the Google Assistant can step in and help you keep an eye on everything at home.

We worked some of the most trusted home security brands to launch new devices that work with the Assistant.

Monitor your home 24/7. There are many security cameras and lights out there that work with the Assistant to help you keep an eye on your home while you’re away. With the new Arlo Security Lights, you can get instant alerts when motion is detected or pair the lights with Arlo security cameras. There are also several cameras, such as the  Nest Cam, for the interior and exterior of your home that stream 24/7 and can be checked by simply asking the Google Assistant on the app. And with any Nest Cam model, you can also ask Assistant to stream live feeds onto Chromecast-enabled televisions. If there’s an intruder, talk and listen through the camera to scare them off.

Lock from anywhere.Smart locks allow you to lock and unlock your door from anywhere in the world, making it easy for you to monitor your doorstep while you’re away. Beginning tomorrow we’ll launch a new integration with the Nest x Yale Lock.You can use the Assistant to check the status of your lock, remotely lock it, and even include it in a Routine. For example you can lock the door automatically before going to bed by saying “Hey Google, goodnight.” Additionally, with the recent integrations of the Assistant with the August Smart Lock, Schlage® Sense Smart Deadbolt, and Sesame Lock by Candy House, you can share access with trusted friends and family and lock the door with your voice. You’ll also get an alert whenever someone locks or unlocks the door.

Keep your home secure. Security systems aren’t new but “smart” security systems are. ADT Pulse, Honeywell’s new Smart Home Security solution and Nest Secure alarm system will let you know what’s happening at your home while you’re gone. If the alarm goes off, you’ll get an alert on your phone with information about what triggered the alarm. Silence the alarm through the apps and alert the police.

With these new security devices, your now have an easy way to protect your home with the Google Assistant. 

by via The Keyword

Google for India: Building services for every Indian, in their language

India has the second largest population of internet users in the world—and it’s only getting bigger. Around 40 million new users come online in India every year, and not just from metropolitan centers, but increasingly from rural areas as well. And they’re no longer predominantly men: in the next three years, we expect 45 percent of internet users in India to be women. This rush of new users online has greatly transformed the Indian economy and culture, from the rise of local startups to the growing use of e-commerce, digital payments, ride sharing, and online video by people from Jammu to Thiruvananthapuram.

Sometimes technology can help in extraordinary circumstances. India has gone online to rally behind the victims of the Kerala and Karnataka floods. Our Crisis Response team turned on SOS alerts on Google Search in English and Malayalam, and activated Person Finder to help people search for family and friends. Locations of flood relief resources like shelters are being shared on Google Maps. Outside of the tech support, Google.org and Googlers are contributing over $1 million to support relief and recovery efforts. And others can also donate to Kerala flood relief on Tez.

Technology is a key tool in crises, but it’s also critical for supporting India’s ongoing national momentum. In this spirit, we made announcements at this year’s Google for India event, towards three goals: making the internet work for more Indians, making our products more relevant to Indians, and taking the best of India to the rest of the world.

Making the internet work for more Indians

The first internet users in India consumed English-language content on their PCs, and later, their high-end smartphones. Today, however, there is a generation of internet users with completely different needs—where their first and only internet experience is via a touchscreen and not a keyboard. We have a responsibility to make sure that our products work well for every one of these users.

The first step is to provide more high-quality internet access. Google Station is partnering Andhra Pradesh State FiberNet Limited to cover over 12,000 villages, towns and cities in the state of Andhra Pradesh, potentially reaching 10 million people. This will provide high-quality internet access to areas that have never been connected before, from hospitals to villages.

The second is to help improve the smartphone experience in India. Our Indian hardware partners on Android such as Micromax, Lava, Nokia and Transsion are creating Android (Go edition) phones at prices within reach of more Indians. Early next month Samsung will continue that momentum with the launch of its first ever Android (Go edition) device, the J2 Core.

Many of India’s new internet users favor listening and speaking over reading text. That’s why we’re launching a new feature in Google Go that lets you listen to webpages. Powered by natural language processing and speech synthesis AI, this technology can read billions of webpages smoothly in a natural sounding voice. It supports 28 languages, including Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam, Marathi and Tamil—even on 2G connections.

Making our products more relevant to Indians

The majority of internet users in India today are Indian language users, and this number is expected to reach 500 million in the next two years. Smartphones are not useful unless they work in people’s primary language and provide access to great content in their native tongues.

To that goal, we are working with Indian language publishers to bring more relevant content online. Right now, the amount of online content in Indian languages is only 1 percent of what's available in English. So we’ve started a project called Navlekhā, a word derived from Sanskrit meaning “a new way to write.” This project comprises a tool that uses AI to render any PDF containing Indian language content into editable text, making it easy for print publishers to create mobile-friendly web content. It also provides Indian language publishers with free web hosting with AdSense support, so they can immediately start monetizing their content. Publishers will also receive training and support, and a branded .page domain for the first three years. Navlekhā has already started onboarding publishers from Delhi, and we aim to welcome many more from other regions in September. Sign up for the program at g.co/navlekha.

We’re also expanding the number of languages supported in our existing apps and services. The Search feed will now display your favourite news from both English and Hindi sources, using AI that learns which types of stories you like best. On the Google Assistant, we’re adding Marathi (with seven more Indian languages coming soon) and even more Indian apps—like Where Is My Train, Airtel, and Hello English—making them available through the convenience of voice control.

We’re creating more locally relevant experiences for Indians as well. Google Maps Go now brings turn-by-turn navigation functionality, while incorporating a brand new home screen with handy shortcuts. Google Maps will now also deliver better guidance to public transport riders, informing them of upcoming stops and sending alerts when it’s time to get off. And thanks to our new partnership with RedBus—India's largest inter-city bus ticketing service—more than 20,000 inter-city bus routes in 1,500 cities will be added to Google Maps.

Taking the best of India to the rest of the world

Since launching our India-first payments app Tez last September, over 22 million people and businesses have used Tez to make over 750 million transactions that are collectively worth over $30 billion annually. We believe that many of the innovations and features we have pioneered with Tez will work in other countries. To take Tez beyond India, we will be unifying all of Google’s payment offerings globally. As a first step, Tez will now be called Google Pay.

Other than the name, the app is staying the same with all the great features and functions you enjoy. Sending a gift with a Happy Birthday spark, or paying a merchant directly from your bank account with no fees is as quick and easy as ever. In the coming weeks, we’ll be making Google Pay even more useful by increasing the number of places you can use it in, expanding services for merchants, and working with banks to provide instant loans to Google Pay users.

These are just a few things we’re working on to make sure that Indians have a great experience online, no matter what phone they’re on or what language they speak. We thank all the Indians who watch and upload videos on YouTube, navigate on Google Maps, use Google Pay, and Search for the information they need. By working hard to make your experience better, we’re also building better products for the world.

by via The Keyword

Make Google read it

Helping veterans make their next move in civilian life

Making it easier to identify veteran-led businesses on Google

Create more effective ads for today’s consumer

‘Tis the season for planning holiday travel

Helping boost diversity in local newsrooms

Local journalism is among the most trusted sources in the U.S. But in order to report on and reflect the issues that matter to local communities, journalists and editors working in those newsrooms need to be reflective of the places and people they serve. The data is not encouraging—according to the Newsroom Employment Diversity Survey, in 2017, minority journalists comprised only 16.6 percent of the workforce in U.S. newsrooms—only a half- percentage point improvement from the previous year.

To help the local news industry with this diversity challenge, the Google News Initiative is partnering with the Local Media Association (LMA) to offer 50 scholarships to the Media Transformation 2018 conference taking place in Kansas City September 25-27. These scholarships will be awarded to a diverse mix of under-represented candidates on a first-come first-serve basis. The conference will educate attendees on sustainable business models, innovation, and media transformation for local news companies—and provide scholarship attendees an opportunity to grow their own careers and skills while bringing best practices back to the organizations they serve.

We’re also supporting the Women in Local Media Summit during the conference to advance women’s presence in the industry. The GNI will provide training, research and content to the LMA to enable a transparent discussion about increasing diversity of staff and news coverage during this session.

The Google News Initiative was formed to build a stronger future for journalism, in collaboration with the industry. Diversity in local journalism is core to that mission and we’ll continue to look for opportunities to help drive diversity and inclusion.

by via The Keyword

Animal crackers in my trends (and other searches out of the box this week)

Packing some animal crackers in your brand new lunch box? You might notice something different—read on for more about your favorite non-cookie, and for some of the week’s top Google searches (with data from the Google News Lab).

Animal crackers get a wild new look

This week, Nabisco announced that the animals on its famous packaging will no longer be depicted behind bars after PETA recommended that the company think ... outside the box. So we’ve agreed that the animals should roam free, but now for the ultimate head-scratcher (searched by many people this week): “Why aren’t animal crackers called cookies?” Political animals must love animal crackers because D.C. was the region with the most searches for animal crackers this week.

Any excuse for a new backpack

The kids are headed back to school, and their curious minds are searching for “How to sneak candy into school.” Clearly, everything’s going great so far. Calculators, backpacks and pens were the most-searched school supplies, and when it comes to prepping for school, the kids are wondering about “backpacks for school,” “outfits for school,” and “hairstyles for school.” I feel you—where can I get some advice on hairstyles for work?

Rounding the bases

The Little League World Series is underway, and the winner will be crowned (helmet-ed?) on Sunday. Search interest for certain teams shot up like a fly ball: searches for “Panama Little League World Series” were up 2,000 percent, ditto for “Little League World Series Japan vs. South Korea” (up 2,500 percent). From up in the nosebleeds, people less familiar with the Series wondered, “How many innings in Little League baseball?”

Hurricane Lane

The category two storm is getting closer to the Hawaiian Islands, causing excessive amounts of rainfall on the Big Island and a 3,500 percent increase in search interest for “Hurricane warning Hawaii.” To get ready for the storm, people are looking to the past: One of the top searched questions in Hawaii this week was “What category was Hurricane Iniki?” (one of the biggest hurricanes to hit Hawaii back in 1992).

My stars!

This week, a NASA intern took some profanity-laced language to the Twitter universe. It resulted in the loss of her internship—but there was a 3,350 percent spike in search interest for “NASA internship” so sounds like other people are interested in the job. Elsewhere in the search stratosphere, some are questioning the agency’s merch: “Why are NASA shirts popular?” was another one of this week’s trending questions about NASA.

by via The Keyword

Elections roadshow: supporting journalists’ midterm reporting

Journalists play a key role in making sure everyone has access to accurate information. From the spread of misinformation that can sway public opinion to digital attacks that take news websites offline, threats to quality journalism make it difficult for journalists to do their jobs.

As a part of our commitment to help people engage with democratic processes, the Google News Initiative is working across the world to support journalists in the lead-up to major elections.

Ahead of the midterm elections in the U.S., the Google News Initiative partnered with the Society of Professional Journalists Training Program to lead workshops in ten states and Washington D.C between now and November 6th.

Host cities will include:

• Indianapolis, Indiana
  
• Dallas, Texas 
  
• Austin, Texas 
  
• Las Vegas, Nevada  
  
• Phoenix, Arizona
  
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  
• Columbus, Ohio
  
• Milwaukee, Wisconsin 
  
• Madison, Wisconsin
  
• Morgantown, West Virginia
  
• Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota
  
• Miami, Florida 
  
• Washington D.C
  

In each city, the trainings will cover a wide range of Google tools and best practices for journalists covering elections including:

Safety and Security
This is especially important for journalists in the field conducting sensitive, difficult, and sometimes dangerous reporting. According to a recent study of more than 2,700 newsroom managers and journalists from 130 countries, at least half of those surveyed don’t use any tools or methods to protect their data and information online. During the training, you’ll learn how to protect yourself and your news organization from hacking, phishing, malware, censorship and other digital attacks.

Verification and Fact Checking
With content developed in collaboration with First Draft News, we’ll cover time-saving methods to verify the authenticity and accuracy of images, videos and reports that you find in social media and elsewhere online.

Data Journalism
Data journalism helps to tell deep, insightful stories. We’ll cover how to find, analyze, interpret and visualize data in compelling new ways—and help your audience gain a deeper understanding of election data and campaigns.

In addition to Google tools, the Society of Professional Journalists will be providing training on ethics and elections. You can learn more and sign up to these free training events at https://www.spj.org/election18.asp.   

If you can’t join a session, we’ve also provided free training materials for educators on these topics, as a part of membership to the Google News Initiative University Network. You can learn more about these modules and the University Network here.

To learn more about other Google tools for elections and beyond, and to review self paced training visit g.co/newstraining. We look forward to seeing you later this year in a city near you!

by via The Keyword

Dog days, always: the most fetching trends for National Dog Day

An update on state-sponsored activity

We’ve invested in robust systems to detect phishing and hacking attempts, identify influence operations launched by foreign governments, and protect political campaigns from digital attacks through our Protect Your Election program.

Our Threat Analysis Group, working with our partners at Jigsaw and Google’s Trust & Safety team, identifies bad actors, disables their accounts, warns our users about them, and shares intelligence with other companies and law enforcement officials.

This week, there has been a lot of news about attempted state-sponsored hacking and influence campaigns. We wanted to provide an update on some of our ongoing work in this area:

• State-sponsored phishing attacks 
  
• Technical attribution of a recently-reported influence campaign from Iran 
  
• Detection and termination of activity on Google properties

State-sponsored phishing attacks

Phishing—attempts to trick users into providing a password that an attacker can use to sign into an account—remains a threat to all email users. Our ​improving ​technology has enabled ​us to ​significantly ​decrease ​the ​volume of ​phishing ​emails that ​get ​through to our users. ​Automated ​protections, ​account ​security ​(like ​security ​keys), ​and specialized ​warnings give ​Gmail users industry-leading ​security. As part of our security efforts, for the past eight years, we’ve displayed prominent warnings to Gmail users who are at risk of phishing by potentially state-sponsored actors (even though in most cases the specific phishing attempt never reaches the user’s inbox).

In recent months, we’ve detected and blocked attempts by state-sponsored actors in various countries to target political campaigns, journalists, activists, and academics located around the world. When we’ve seen these types of attacks, we’ve notified users as well as law enforcement.

On Monday morning, we issued our most recent series of notifications to Gmail users who were subject to suspicious emails from a wide range of countries. We posted about these sorts of warnings here—if you received this type of warning, please read the blog post and take action immediately.

Iran and FireEye

To complement the work of our internal teams, we engage FireEye, a leading cybersecurity group, and other top security consultants, to provide us with intelligence. For the last two months, Google and Jigsaw have worked closely with FireEye on the influence operation linked to Iran that FireEye identified this week. We’re grateful to FireEye for identifying some suspicious Google accounts (three email accounts, three YouTube channels, and three Google+ accounts), which we swiftly disabled. FireEye’s full report has just been published today. It’s worth reading.

In addition to the intelligence we received from FireEye, our teams have investigated a broader range of suspicious actors linked to Iran who have engaged in this effort. We’ve updated U.S. lawmakers and law enforcement about the results of our investigation, including its relation to political content in the United States. We wanted to provide a summary of what we told them.

Connections to IRIB: forensic evidence

Our technical research has identified evidence that these actors are associated with the IRIB, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.

We can’t go into all the technical details without giving away information that would be helpful to others seeking to abuse our platforms, but we have observed the following:

• Technical data associated with these actors is strongly linked to the official IRIB IP address space.
  
• Domain ownership information about these actors is strongly linked to IRIB account information.
  
• Account metadata and subscriber information associated with these actors is strongly linked to the corresponding information associated with the IRIB, indicating common ownership and control.

These facts, taken together with other technical signals and analysis, indicate that this effort was carried out as part of the overall operations of the IRIB organization, since at least January 2017. This finding is consistent with internet activity we’ve warned about in recent years from Iran.

• We’ve regularly sent warnings to Gmail users about phishing attempts coming from Iran (including on Monday)
  
• We detected and warned users about a covert man-in-the-middle security attack in Iran in 2012
  
• We uncovered and warned users about politically-motivated phishing in Iran in 2013.
  

Detecting and terminating activity on Google properties

Actors engaged in this type of influence operation violate our policies, and we swiftly remove such content from our services and terminate these actors’ accounts. Additionally, we use a number of robust methods, including IP blocking, to prevent individuals or entities in Iran from opening advertising accounts.

We identified and terminated a number of accounts linked to the IRIB organization that disguised their connection to this effort, including while sharing English-language political content in the U.S.:

• 39 YouTube channels that had 13,466 total US views on relevant videos; 
  
• 6 blogs on Blogger
  
• 13 Google+ accounts

Our investigations on these topics are ongoing and we will continue to share our findings with law enforcement and other relevant government entities in the U.S. and elsewhere, as well as with others in the industry.

The state-sponsored phishing attacks, and the actors associated with the IRIB that we’ve described above, are clearly not the only state-sponsored actors at work on the Internet. For example, last year we disclosed information about actors linked to the Internet Research Agency (IRA). Since then, we have continued to monitor our systems, and broadened the range of IRA-related actors against whom we’ve taken action. Specifically, we’ve detected and removed 42 YouTube channels, which had 58 English-language political videos (these videos had a total of fewer than 1,800 U.S. views). We’ve also identified and terminated the account associated with one blog on Blogger.

We continue to actively monitor our systems, take prompt action, share intelligence, and remain vigilant about these and other threats.

by via The Keyword

Fifteen grants to support computing research for undergraduate women

Ayanna Howard, Professor and Chair of the School of Interactive Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology, wouldn’t be where she is today without her undergraduate research experiences at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Growing up, Ayanna seemed to have a knack for math, puzzles, computers and gaming. By the time she started college, she had figured out her passion for robotics, and became a summer intern at JPL. The hands-on research experiences, the formation of a strong network of peers and advisers while at JPL helped motivate Ayanna to pursue her PhD and eventually a career in academia.

Studies show that undergraduate exposure to hands-on research experiences can profoundly influence a student’s academic and career path. This is particularly true for women who are underrepresented in computing and who may see research careers as “not for them” because of the lack of support when pursuing research careers and pathways to computing.

To get more women involved in research and computing, we’re providing 15 exploreCSR (Computer Science Research) grants to support universities running CS research-focused workshops for undergraduate women. These workshops, modeled on, and inspired by Carnegie Mellon University's, OurCS, will help undergraduate women to enhance their research skills, create a sense of community with peers and faculty, instill confidence to problem solve beyond the classroom, and inspire and motivate them toward careers in research.

Here are the recipients (including Ayanna Howard!) who collectively plan to reach ~1,200 undergraduate women in 2018-2019:

Georgia Institute of Technology
Ayanna Howard, Professor and Chair
Improving the Academic Matriculation of Undergraduate Women in Graduate Computing (I.AM.GradComputing) Workshop

Howard University
Latifa Jackson, Assistant Professor
Broadening Participation in Data Mining (BPDM) Workshop

Indiana University - Bloomington
Suzanne Menzel, Senior Lecturer
OurCS: Opportunities for Undergraduate Research in Computer Science

Louisiana Tech University
Benjamin Drozdenko, Assistant Professor
Cyber Research for Empowering Women Experimenters (CREWE)

Michigan Technological University
Jean Mayo, Associate Professor
Exploring Computer Science Research

The University of Texas at El Paso
Martine Ceberio, Associate Professor
Building Pathways to Graduate School as a Way of Recruiting and Retaining Undergraduate Female Students in Computing

University of Maine, Orono
Penny Rheingans, Director, School of Computing and Information Science
ResearchME: Maine Research Focused Workshops and Mentor Networks

University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Danyelle Ireland, Associate Director, Center for Women in Technology
The CS-Impact Workshop Series: Exploring Opportunities for Undergraduate Computer Science Research & Graduate study

University of Michigan
Rada Mihalcea, Professor and Co-Director Girls Encoded
Building a Diverse Research Community: Introducing Women to Computer Science Research

University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Maria Gini, Professor
Exposing students to undergraduate research opportunities, while guiding and mentoring them through the process

University of New Mexico
Lydia Tapia, Associate Professor
Becoming a Robot Guru Workshop

University of Pennsylvania
Chris Callison-Burch, Associate Professor
SPUR WOMEN: Support and Promote Undergraduate Research for Women

University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez
Nayda G. Santiago, Associate Professor
Increasing Hispanic Women participation in Undergraduate Computing Research

University of Washington
Richard Ladner, Professor Emeritus
OurCS@UW + AccessComputing

The selected group of grantees represent a diverse mosaic of faculty and institutions that brings a clear focus on cultivating and retaining a “critical mass” of women in computing, and a commitment to exposing undergraduate women in computing to foundational research training. As the workshops take flight in the new school year, we hope to share updates on each workshops’ progress and results.

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Don’t run out of data: Two new ways Datally can help

Everyone runs out of data sometimes. These moments sting—which is why we built Datally to help. And today, we’re releasing two new features to help you tame your data.

Emergency bank

Emergency bank saves some of your data so you have it protected for later—just in case you need it. Enter your balance and how much data you’d like to save for emergencies, and Datally will automatically block your apps from using data once you reach your emergency data allowance. You decide when and how to use your emergency bank data—for example, to send that urgent message or schedule a ride home.

Bedtime mode

Check your data balance before bed, then check again when you wake up. It should be the same, shouldn’t it? Too often, apps drain your data overnight. Bedtime mode turns off all of your phone’s data usage at night. Choose your bedtime and wake up time, and Datally makes sure your data isn’t draining while you’re dozing.

Datally’s mission is to help you never run out of data. You can use Emergency bank and Bedtime mode starting today.

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VR Labs Open Doors of Opportunity for STEM Students

New Analytics Academy course: Google Analytics for Power Users

Easier Search Console access for Analytics owners

Verifying websites in Search Console can be useful for site owners, giving you access to information about how your site is performing in Google Search. You can also get notified of issues, such as accidental blocking of Googlebot or getting hacked. Over the next few months, if you're a verified owner of a Google Analytics property, we'll now automatically verify you for that same website in Search Console.

Quicker verification, with no extra steps

Now that we're launching auto-verification, you don't have to manually configure Search Console and Analytics. To be eligible for auto-verification, you still need to follow the existing requirements for Search Console ownership. If you don't want to be verified for Search Console, simply delete the property in Search Console.

See how your site is performing on Google Search

Search Console is a free tool that provides website owners with information which can be critical to performance in Google Search. Once verified, Search Console compiles reports on the website's performance in Search, including search queries, the website's rankings, and the number of clicks and impressions. Additionally, there's information about a site's indexing, the status of various implemented features on the website, as well as reports and notifications of critical issues.

We hope this change makes it easier for you to get access to data in Search Console, to be able to discover issues quicker, as well as to learn about opportunities for your website in Google Search. If you have any questions, visit the Webmaster Help Forum.

by via The Keyword

Five insights on voice technology

Between two interns: the scoop on a summer at Google

Google Images data in Google Analytics

Selling inventory is easier with Google Ad Manager

Hey Google, tell me something good

Introducing the new Google Fit

There’s a lot of talk out there about how to stay active and healthy: “get your steps in,” “sitting is the new smoking,” “no pain, no gain.” It can feel overwhelming. So we’ve worked with the American Heart Association (AHA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to understand the science behind physical activity and help you get the amount and intensity needed to improve your health.

Activity goals to improve your health

The new Google Fit is centered around two simple and smart activity goals based on AHA and WHO’s activity recommendations shown to impact health: Move Minutes and Heart Points.

When it comes to your health, it’s important to move more and sit less. Earn Move Minutes for all of your activity and get motivated to make small, healthy changes throughout your day, like taking the stairs instead of the elevator, or catching up with a friend over a walk instead of a coffee.

Activities that get your heart pumping harder result in even greater health benefits. Heart Points give you credit for these activities. You’ll score one point for each minute of moderate activity, like picking up the pace while walking your dog, and double points for more intense activities like running or kickboxing. It takes just 30 minutes of brisk walking 5 days a week to reach the AHA and WHO’s recommended amount of physical activity, which is shown to reduce the risk of heart disease, improve sleep, and increase overall mental well-being.

However you move, make it count

When you’re walking, running or biking throughout the day, Google Fit will automatically detect these activities using your phone or watch sensors—like the accelerometer and GPS—to estimate the number of Heart Points you earn. If you’re into a different type of exercise, you can choose other activities like gardening, pilates, rowing or spinning, and Google Fit will calculate the Heart Points and Move Minutes achieved during your workout. Google Fit also integrates with other fitness apps like Strava, Runkeeper, Endomondo and MyFitnessPal, so you get credit for every Move Minute and Heart Point you earn. You’ll get tips and help to adjust your goals over time based on your activity. Your journal will show your activities, achievements and goal progress across all of your apps.

If you already use Google Fit on Android phone or Wear OS by Google watch, you’ll see these changes on your phone or smartwatch beginning this week. If you’re new to Google Fit, learn more at google.com/fit and join us on our way to a healthier and more active life. 

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The High Five: Put some R-E-S-P-E-C-T on it

Daydreaming and I’m thinking of Trends. This week, with a little help from the Google News Lab we honor the Queen of Soul, celebrate birthdays, shine some light on the left-handed among us and much more. Here’s a look at this week’s top trends.

Paying respect to a legend

On Thursday, we said goodbye to Aretha “Queen of Soul” Franklin who lost her battle with pancreatic cancer at 76. This musical legend gave the world iconic hits like “Respect,” “Natural Woman,” “Think,” “I Say A Little Prayer,” and “Chain of Fools,” all of which came in as the most-searched Aretha Franklin songs this week. She never shied away from the opportunity to flaunt her dramatic furs and show-stopping hats, all while reaching octaves and bravados that could make anyone drown in their own tears. Celebrities, world leaders and fans alike took time to pay their respects with folks in D.C., Michigan, Maryland, Georgia and Mississippi continuing to Rock Steady and search for details on the Queen of Soul. May we forever ride the midnight train of soul and take a drive down the Freeway of Love because that’s what Aretha would want us to do.

Dodging traffic in Los Angeles

Traffic is a way of life in Los Angeles and Elon Musk’s Boring Company is looking to make life a little bit easier, at least if you’re going to Dodger Stadium. The company is proposing a 3.6-mile underground tunnel in an effort to curb congestion on L.A. roads and people are intrigued. So much so that search interest in “boring company tunnel” spiked more than 60 percent over the past week in the U.S. Some people had tunnel vision, also searching for the North River Tunnels, Twin Peaks tunnel and Hezekiah’s Tunnel.

Sixty going on thirty

Madonna and Angela Bassett celebrated their sixtieth birthdays this week and people were in utter disbelief. Questions like “How old was Madonna when she had her daughter?” and “How does Angela Bassett stay looking so young?” were trending, as the mystery behind their fountain of youth glow remains unsolved. Washington D.C. was one of the top regions searching for both Madonna and Angela Bassett and the top search question on turning 60 was “What to say to someone turning 60?” Uhhh … Happy Birthday?  

Righty tighty, lefty loosey

Left-handers day was this past Monday and to celebrate, Oreo created a special left handers package and even sent a free package of cookies to all the residents of Left Hand, West Virginia. Lefties and righties alike took to Search to find out, “What percentage of people are left handed,” “Is there a left handers day club,” and “Is LeBron James left handed.” They also wanted to know if there were products and perks made especially for lefties such as “Best pens for lefties” and “Scholarships for lefties.” Looks like this week was the right week to be a left-handed.

Representation matters

Crazy Rich Asians, the first major studio production in 25 years to star an all-Asian cast, opened in theaters this week and is on track to net $30 million dollars by the end of the weekend. The top five states searching for the film include D.C., California, Hawaii, New York and Washington, and people searching for Crazy Rich Asians also searched for Geetha Govindam, Mile 22, and BlacKkKlansman over the past week in the U.S. Double-feature weekend at the theater anyone?

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Safety-first AI for autonomous data center cooling and industrial control

Simplifying Data Studio embeds and social sharing

Helping you find useful information fast on Search

Announcing the 10 startups that will take the stage at Demo Day Asia

Upgrading your paid storage with Google One

Since introducing Google Photos, we’ve aspired to be the home for all of your photos, helping you bring together a lifetime of memories in one place.

We offer two options to back up your photos and videos: original quality and high quality. Starting today in the U.S., those of you who back up in original quality and pay for expanded storage will be upgraded to Google One. For the same price or in some cases less, you’ll now have extra space and additional benefits—like 24/7 support from Google experts—to help you get more out of Google. There are no changes to our high quality backup option.

 

Check out what backup plan you’re currently using and, if you’d like to upgrade to Google One, visit the Google One website. Google One is rolling out to more countries over the next few weeks.

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Introducing a new transparency report for political ads

Search, Trends and fact checking during the Mexican elections

Android 9 Pie (Go edition): New features and more options this fall

Upgrade to Google One to get more out of Google

On your mark, get set, go! Stay up to speed with the 2018 Asian Games

Getting started with Google Analytics for Firebase

Pump up the jams: New music streaming services now available on Google Home

Cue the music: You can now ask your Google Assistant on Google Home, Mini and Max to play some of your favorite songs with Pandora Premium and Deezer.

Both services are now available on the Google Assistant across supported devices like Google Home, Smart Displays and more. Pandora Premium subscribers can search and play their favorite songs, albums and playlists, just by using their voice. 

Plus, Deezer now allows you to stream music hands-free with access to more than 36 million HiFi tracks from around the world. So if you’ve got a Google Home Max, get ready to turn it all the way up.

To play music from Pandora or Deezer, link your accounts in the Google Home app. Then all you have to do is say, “Hey Google, play my Chill Vibes playlist on Deezer,” or “Hey Google, play my Chill playlist on Pandora.”

If you have a Google Home, you can try Pandora Premium free for 90 days. Deezer on Google Home is available for HiFi and Premium users in the U.S., Canada, Italy, Australia, U.K., France and Germany. Check the Google Home app on Android or visit store.google.com to see if your region is eligible for a special 90-day Deezer Premium trial offer

With the addition of Pandora Premium and Deezer, you have even more choices when it comes to music streaming services. So, next time you’re throwing a party or hanging out with friends, we’ve got the DJ booth covered.

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Google Cloud’s continuing commitment to advance healthcare data interoperability

Patient needs are at the forefront of everything Google Cloud builds for healthcare. And as patient expectations for seamless experiences have increased, so has our commitment to eliminating the technological barriers that make it challenging for providers to deliver connected care.

Data interoperability is one important element to delivering connected care to patients. At HIMSS 2017, we announced our support for the HL7 FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) Foundation to help the developer community advance data interoperability. Earlier this year we launched our Cloud Healthcare API to provide a scalable and security-focused infrastructure solution designed to ingest, process, and manage key healthcare data types. The Cloud Healthcare API empowers customers to use their healthcare data—including HL7v2, FHIR, and DICOM—for analytics and machine learning in the cloud.

To deliver true healthcare data interoperability, many stakeholders in the healthcare ecosystem need to engage to develop collaboratively and support open standards, open specifications, and open source tools that facilitate a frictionless healthcare data exchange with appropriate permissions and controls.

To that end, today at the Blue Button 2.0 Developer Conference at the White House, Google along with Amazon, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, and Salesforce are announcing our joint commitment to removing barriers for the adoption of technologies for healthcare interoperability, particularly those that are enabled through the cloud and AI. The common goal of this program is to deliver better patient care, higher user satisfaction, and lower costs across the entire health ecosystem.

The statement is available here on ITIC.org.

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A Trek through Search trends, starring popular films and Croc-ular shoes

If there was a category for “popular shoe,” would Crocs be nominated? Take a minute to think about that, while we take you through a few of the most-searched trends of the week:

This guy knows how to live long and prosper

Patrick Stewart is reprising his role as Star Trek’s Captain Jean Luc Picard in a new spinoff, which caused the largest spike in Star Trek searches in the past 12 months (up 150 percent). There was a 2,200 percent spike in searches for “Patrick Stewart return to Star Trek” in the wake of the announcement, along with the top-searched question: “Who was Patrick Stewart’s competition for Star Trek?” (Apparently there’s not much competition, he keeps coming back for more!) 

When the rubber hits the runway

Searches for “Crocs going out of business” went up 4,700 percent this week, signaling that fashion offenders everywhere were in a panic (they eventually breathed a sigh of relief after the company confirmed it’s here to stay despite closing down a few manufacturing facilities). Search interest in Crocs surpassed search interest in Uggs (usually the more-searched brand) by 180 percent over the past week in the U.S. And top regions searching for the infamous footwear this week include West Virginia, Maine and North Carolina. 

Popularity contest

“How many Oscars categories are there?” was a top-searched question this week after a new category was announced dedicated to popular film. Not everyone was thanking the Academy after the news came out. Meanwhile, trending movie searches this week included old Oscar winners and nominees like “The Godfather 2” and “When Harry Met Sally,” as well as the newly- released “Crazy Rich Asians.”

Bring it on

People in Georgia, Louisiana and DC were particularly interested in the NFL’s announcement that male cheerleaders will be on the sidelines of Los Angeles Rams and New Orleans Saints games this season. This week’s most-searched football teams overall (regardless of cheer squads) include the ever-popular Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears.

Ride-hailing

If you live in New York, you might be facing delays for your Uber and Lyft pickups now that the city has decided to cap the number of rideshare licences it awards. As people sought to understand the new policy, we saw searches asking about the number of rideshare vehicles on the road overall. Meanwhile, search interest in Uber is still 100 percent higher on average than search interest in Lyft. Showing drivers aren’t easily dissuaded, we also saw a rise in searches for “how to make the most money with ridesharing apps.”

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AI4ALL participants tell all—summer camps get girls involved in AI and tech

Fill in the blanks with #teampixel

Hey Google, what’s the news?

After NEXT 2018: Trends in higher education and research

Three things to know about Google Ad Manager

Empowering India’s female entrepreneurs

Data Studio's new features help you tell more compelling stories

Time for a refresh: Meet the new Google Classroom

Your Google for Education Guide for Back to School

For Louis Armstrong’s birthday we tune in to “Tiger Rag” on a Gramophone

Android 9 Pie: Powered by AI for a smarter, simpler experience that adapts to you

Android 9 Pie: Improving productivity, security, and digital wellbeing for the enterprise

Try out Digital Wellbeing to find your own balance with Pixel

ICYMI in July: here’s what happened in G Suite

How we’re helping journalists prepare for upcoming elections

Meet Abbie Turner: student, chihuahua owner and Android developer

Last year, we announced the Google Developer Scholarship Challenge in partnership with Udacity, as part of Grow with Google’s commitment to help people find a job or grow their business. Since then we've awarded more than 60,000 scholarships to aspiring coders in Europe, enabling them to develop expertise in mobile and web development. And in April, we selected 6,000 of the Challenge program's top performers to receive scholarships for a six-month Nanodegree hosted by Udacity.

Abbie Turner, 22, is one of these talented individuals, who will complete her Android Developer Nanodegree this summer. Abbie is a full-time undergraduate student at Sheffield Hallam University and will soon enter the final year of her software engineering degree. We caught up with her to find out how she's been getting on, and how the Google and Udacity Nanodegree has helped her land an internship placement with a local software business.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I'm a quiet person but I love to socialize with my friends and family. I have a pet chihuahua called Blue, I'm a Disney fanatic, and I love Marvel movies and the BBC's “Sherlock” series. I absolutely love technology. I'm the only woman on my software engineering course at university, so it's just me and 300 boys.

How did you get into coding?

When I was 16, I had a week's work placement at a software company. I got to meet all the software engineers because we all shared a big open plan office. That was when I first had the idea of going into software. I've completed the first two years of my software engineering degree and just finished an internship with a Sheffield-based audio systems company called Cloud Electronics.

What impact has the Google Scholarship had on you professionally?

I got accepted into the Nanodegree program just before applying for my internship at Cloud Electronics. I included the Nanodegree on my CV, and it turns out that’s why I was selected for the placement.

For my internship, Cloud Electronics asked me to develop an Android app for its sound systems, to control the volume and playlists across different speakers from a mobile. It was quite daunting! The Android world changes so fast, but the Udacity courses are up-to-date and intuitively structured so I always knew where to look when I needed information or advice from a mentor. This made it much less stressful building the app for work and finding solutions to problems.

How did you manage to fit the Nanodegree in alongside studying and working?

I completed the Nanodegree while working at my year-long placement. I worked 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in their offices but dipped in and out of the Nanodegree course to learn what I needed to as I built the app for my internship. Effectively, I was being trained on the job by Google and Udacity. There are software engineers at Cloud Electronics, but the mobile app skills I was learning were new to the team. So it provided my employer with an opportunity too.

What has it been like connecting with other Google/Udacity scholars?

Being a woman in software engineering can be a bit lonely, but the Google and Udacity scholarship program provides a massive community. Being able to talk to other women who share my interests has been really great. We chat via a Slack channel all the time.

What do you do when you're not studying?

A few of us in the scholarship group recently organized a T-shirt competition. Everyone wanted the Google Udacity T-shirts that the engineers wear. So we set up a competition for Google scholars to submit their own designs and voted for our favorites. People can buy them, and all the money goes to charity. More than 350 T-shirts have been sold, and we've donated nearly $300 to We Care Africa, a charity promoting access to education for children in Africa. Google has given us this scholarship—this amazing opportunity—so we wanted to give something back.

What are your plans once you've finished studying?

Once I've finished my degree I want to get a job as a mobile developer in Sheffield. There are loads of developer jobs in Sheffield, Leeds and the surrounding area. Everyone has smartphones nowadays and, if you ask me, Android is where it's at!

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We’ll take “what’s trending” for a hundred

da da da da da da da da da da da DA dadadada da da da da da da da DA da da da DUH DUH DUUHH DUM DUM.

You may be a Jeopardy! whiz, but can you name a few of the top search trends of the week? Here’s a look, with data from the Google News Lab.

And now, for final Jeopardy...

Captain Jeopardy! himself, Alex Trebek, might be hanging up his boots after a 34-year run. Trebek recently said in an interview that his chances of returning when his contract expires are 50-50, so let’s not—“First word in the title of the 2002 thriller starring Jodie Foster,” “What is Panic?”—just yet.  One of the top questions on Search this week was, “Who would replace Alex Trebek?” Apparently the front runners are Alex Faust, the play-by-play announcer for the LA Kings, and Laura Coates, an on-air personality for CNN. And if search interest is any indication of who would get the nod, “Laura Coates” was searched 170 percent more than “Alex Faust” over the past week.

Lebron’s greatest accomplishment isn’t on the court

Three-time NBA Champion and four-time MVP Lebron James just opened up the “I Promise” school for at-risk youth in his hometown of Akron, Ohio—prompting one of the top-searched questions of the week, “How to get into LeBron’s school?” Lebron called the opening of the school the greatest moment of his career, which is saying something considering he’s arguably the best basketball player to ever live. Either way, “I Promise” made him the top-searched NBA player this week, followed by Carmelo Anthony and Kobe Bryant.

Did I tell you that I do CrossFit?

The 2018 CrossFit games are underway, and the fittest folks in all the land are gathering in Wisconsin to flex their muscles and see who can tell each other the fastest that they do CrossFit. The states with the most searches for CrossFit this past week were Wisconsin (gotta work off the cheese), Colorado (gotta work off the munchies?) and Montana (not sure what they’re working off). For exercise fiends across the country—not just CrossFitters—the top searched workouts of the week were “ab workout,” “shoulder workout” and “HIIT workout.” For the record, the only CrossFit I partake in is trying to fit this burrito ‘cross my mouth.

Keep calm and be yonce

Due to Beyoncé’s deity-like status, she’s been given complete control over the September issue of the fashion bible, a.k.a. “Vogue.” Bey’s inaugural act as “Vogue” top dog? Hiring the first black photographer to shoot a cover in the magazine’s 126-year history: 23-year-old Tyler Mitchell. Search interest in Tyler saw a 1,000 percent spike, while queries for Beyoncé were 55 percent higher than fellow superstar Rihanna, who is on the September issue of British “Vogue.”

Hide ya kids, hide ya jewels

Some sneaky sneaky folks stole the Swedish family crown jewels from their display at the Strängnäs Cathedral on Tuesday, then escaped via speedboat into a nearby lake. Nicholas Cage, that you? “How much are the Swedish crown jewels worth?” was a big question on Search—but the crown jewels weren’t even the top-searched heist of the week. That honor was stolen by “McDonald’s Monopoly heist.” My childhood self wept as we learned that the McDonald’s Monopoly game was rigged for 12 years by the marketing firm responsible for the game. I’m not loving it.

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G Suite Pro Tips: how to record macros in Google Sheets

Five new grants to support CS education research

Excitement about computer science (CS) education is growing across the country—from educators and students to corporations, governments and nonprofit organizations alike. But as we work together to make CS education more available in the U.S., there’s a need for more scientific education research to determine the best way to teach CS—a fairly new discipline.

After consulting with many CS education experts, we realized that while some research existed, more was needed.

To better understand current research needs, we funded exploratory research and held a gathering of  prominent CS education researchers who advised us on current research needs. Using criteria they helped us develop, we invited more than 100 CS education researchers to contribute proposals for innovative new research.

Today, we’re excited to announce the recipients of the Computer Science (CS) Education Research Awards:

Harvard University Graduate School of Education
Associate Professor Karen Brennan

How do K-12 Teachers Assess Creative Work in CS Classes?

Making CS accessible for all K-12 learners requires opportunities for young people to feel interested in and connected to computing. Creative programming activities foster interest and connection, but uncertainty about how to assess programming as creative work makes it difficult for K-12 teachers to incorporate creativity in the computing classroom. This one-year study will investigate how CS teachers are currently assessing creative curriculum used to teach CS. This research will inform teachers, instructional designers, and researchers about classroom-level decision-making and design.

Indiana University Bloomington School of Education
Associate Professor Anne Leftwich

Examining the Impact of Socially Relevant Problem-based Learning Curriculum at the Elementary Level: Students’ CS Interest/Knowledge and Teachers’ Implementation Needs

This project will pilot a 6th grade student-centered Problem-Based Learning (PBL) with social impact CS curriculum that investigates what support tools can be designed to decrease instances of bullying in schools. The researchers will use a research practice partnership with local 6th grade teachers to improve our understanding of how PBL impacts students’ CS interest and knowledge at the elementary level, and what supports teachers need to facilitate PBL in the CS classroom.

University of Massachusetts Amherst, College of Information and Computer Sciences
W. Richards Adrion, Professor Emeritus

CSforAll in Springfield MA: An Elementary CS/CT Curriculum Integration Pilot

This is a pilot study to integrate Massachusetts’ Digital Learning and Computer Science standards with CS and computational thinking (CT) concepts, learning progressions, and practices in core curricula at the kindergarten and grade 3 levels in the highly diverse Springfield Public School (SPS) district in Massachusetts. The researchers create, assess and revise 16-24 integrated CS/CT lessons in eight schools at each grade level. This project will help us better understand how to increase teacher knowledge and effectiveness for creating and teaching an integrated CS/CT K-5 curricula that reaches and engages diverse students.

University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education
Yasmin Kafai, Chair, Teaching, Learning, and Leadership Division

MADE (Music ArtDesign with Etextiles)

This program will introduce students in Career and Technical Education courses to more advanced computing concepts through electronic textile designs. Working together with Exploring Computer Science (ECS) high school teachers, the researchers will collect evidence of student learning and teacher practices to address critical questions about student growth in their CS practices, knowledge, motivation, and future projections. This project will provide curriculum prototypes for integrating arts into high school computing and help us better understand student learning and teacher professional development in Career Technical Education courses.

University of Texas, Austin
Carol Fletcher, Deputy Director Center for STEM Education

Project ROCS (Rural Opportunities in CS)

This project will produce a framework for collecting and reporting outcome measures that accurately show access to and participation in K-12 CS education, especially for students in rural communities. This project will develop viable solutions for measuring, scaling and sustaining equitable access to CS education within rural communities and other historically underserved populations.

Each of the selected grantees brings a unique and innovative approach to addressing current research questions. Stay tuned over the coming year for updates on program recipients' progress and results.

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Hot searches for summer entertainment

Ah, summer--the season of hot outdoor concerts and cool, air-conditioned movie theaters. Here’s a glimpse into the songs, artists, concerts and movies that have been heating up all summer, according to Google Trends insights from the past 3 months.

“What did they say?”

Half the fun of any song of the summer is singing along as you’re cruising with the windows down. These are the top trending lyrics people are searching for:

1. Drake, “In My Feelings”

2. Childish Gambino, “This is America”

3. Kanye West, “Lift Yourself”

4. Drake, Lil Baby “Yes Indeed”

5. Pusha T, “Story of Adidon”

6. Drake, “Emotionless”

7. Drake, “Duppy Freestyle”

8. The Carters, “APES**T”

9. 6ix9ine ft. Nicki Minaj, “FEFE”

10. Post Malone, “Rich & Sad”

Festival Fever

Music festivals have become a summer entertainment staple. Here’s how some of the remaining summer festivals stack up against each other:

1. Vans Warped Tour

2. Lollapalooza (Chicago, IL)

3. Outside Lands (San Francisco, CA)

4. Austin City Limits (Austin, TX)

5. Made in America Festival (Los Angeles, CA)

6. Electric Zoo (New York, NY)

7. Bumbershoot (Seattle, WA)

8. Lockn’ Festival (Arrington, VA)

9. Hard Music Festival (Fontana, CA)

Favorite flicks

Franchise fans have plenty of reasons to head to the theater this summer with sequels topping the box office charts. Here’s how some of the biggest films rank in terms of search interest:

1. Avengers: Infinity War

2. The Incredibles 2

3. Deadpool 2

4. Ocean’s 8

5. Ant-Man and the Wasp

6. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again

7. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

8. Solo: A Star Wars Story

9. Mission: Impossible-- Fallout

10. Sicario: Day of the Soldado

For those on the hunt for family-friendly flicks, here were this summer’s faves:

1. The Incredibles 2

2. Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation

3. Teen Titans Go! To the Movies

4. Disney’s Christopher Robin

5. Show Dogs

If you’re looking to score tickets to an upcoming concert or purchase passes for a movie to round out your summer, try our new event search features, or check out showtimes and ticketing options for your local theater. Now, if you’ll excuse me,  I need to go to search for more Drake lyrics...

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