Help for retailers and shoppers in Asia Pacific

Retailers have played a vital role in Asia Pacific’s response to COVID-19, battling through a tough economic environment while serving their customers and communities, providing essential products and services, and supporting jobs. 

As more of the region’s businesses turn to ecommerce, we’ve been focused on supporting them in every way we can—including helping retailers list their products online for free. We’ve been doing this in India and Indonesia since 2019, and now we’re extending similar support across the broader region: making it free for merchants in Asia Pacific to list their products on the Google Shopping tab.  

For retailers, this change means free exposure to millions of people who come to Google every day for their shopping needs, regardless of whether they advertise on Google. For shoppers, it means more products from more stores, discoverable through the Google Shopping tab. For advertisers, it means paid campaigns can now be augmented with free listings. 

We made this change earlier this year in the United States, and retailers running free listings and ads got an average of twice as many views and 50 percent more visits. Small and medium-sized businesses saw the biggest increases.

Asia’s changing retail scene

This is a time of huge change in the way people shop and sell across Asia Pacific. Even before the pandemic, e-commerce was growing fast—in Southeast Asia, for example, the regional internet economy reached $100 billion in 2019, on its way to a forecast $300 billion by 2025. 

COVID-19 has sped up these trends. According to Google analysis, 53 percent of online shoppers in APAC say they’ll choose to buy online more frequently after the pandemic, while almost 40 per cent of people who weren’t online shoppers before say they intend to continue buying online. One in three have bought from a brand they didn’t shop with before. 

To help retailers adjust to these changes, we’re offering skills training through Grow with Google and sharing research and insights to inform their business decisions. We’ve launched a playbook and webinar series on how to better manage digital storefronts. And we’re working closely with many of our partners to help merchants manage their products and inventory. This includes global partners like Shopify, and those across the region, including Haravan in Vietnam, Shopline in Taiwan and Hong Kong, and LnwShop in Thailand. 

In advancing our plans with Google Shopping, we hope to build on these programs, providing extra support and relief for Asia Pacific retailers when it’s needed most.  

What’s next? 

Existing users of Merchant Center and Shopping ads don't have to do anything to take advantage of the free listings. For new users of Merchant Center, we'll continue working to streamline the onboarding process over the coming weeks and months.

We’re looking forward to working even more closely with retailers throughout Asia Pacific, helping shoppers find the products they need more easily, contributing to the recovery from COVID-19, and preparing for longer-term change in regional commerce.

by Scott Beaumont via The Keyword

Say goodbye to hold music

Sometimes, a phone call is the best way to get something done. We call retailers to locate missing packages, utilities to adjust our internet speeds, airlines to change our travel itineraries...the list goes on. But more often than not, we need to wait on hold during these calls—listening closely to hold music and repetitive messages—before we reach a customer support representative who can help. In fact, people in the United States spent over 10 million hours on hold with businesses last week.

Save time with Hold for Me

Hold for Me, our latest Phone app feature, helps you get that time back, starting with an early preview on Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a (5G) in the U.S. Now, when you call a toll-free number and a business puts you on hold, Google Assistant can wait on the line for you. You can go back to your day, and Google Assistant will notify you with sound, vibration and a prompt on your screen once someone is on the line and ready to talk. That means you’ll spend more time doing what’s important to you, and less time listening to hold music.

Tap “Hold for me” in Google’s Phone app after you’re placed on hold by a business.

Hold for Me is our latest effort to make phone calls better and save you time. Last year, we introduced an update to Call Screen that helps you avoid interruptions from spam calls once and for all, and last month, we launched Verified Calls to help you know why a business is calling before you answer. Hold for Me is now another way we’re making it simpler to say hello.

Powered by Google AI

Every business’s hold loop is different and simple algorithms can't accurately detect when a customer support representative comes onto the call. Hold for Me is powered by Google’s Duplex technology, which not only recognizes hold music but also understands the difference between a recorded message (like “Hello, thank you for waiting”) and a representative on the line. Once a representative is identified, Google Assistant will notify you that someone’s ready to talk and ask the representative to hold for a moment while you return to the call. We gathered feedback from a number of companies, including Dell and United, as well as from studies with customer support representatives, to help us design these interactions and make the feature as helpful as possible to the people on both sides of the call.

While Google Assistant waits on hold for you, Google’s natural language understanding also keeps you informed. Your call will be muted to let you focus on something else, but at any time, you can check real-time captions on your screen to know what’s happening on the call.

Keeping your data safe

Hold for Me is an optional feature you can enable in settings and choose to activate during each call to a toll-free number. To determine when a representative is on the line, audio is processed entirely on your device and does not require a Wi-Fi or data connection. This makes the experience fast and also protects your privacy—no audio from the call will be shared with Google or saved to your Google account unless you explicitly decide to share it and help improve the feature. When you return to the call after Google Assistant was on hold for you, audio stops being processed altogether.

We’re excited to bring an early preview of Hold for Me to our latest Pixel devices and continue making the experience better over time. Your feedback will help us bring the feature to more people over the coming months, so they too can say goodbye to hold music and say hello to more free time.

by Andrew GoodmanGoogle Assistant via The Keyword

A new, more helpful editor in Google Photos

Whether it’s a daily selfie or a #throwbackthursday photo, we all want our photos to look great before we share them. For some, that might mean getting the lighting or crop just right. Or maybe it means achieving a look that perfectly reflects your own personal style. Today, we’re rolling out a new, more helpful editor in the Google Photos app on Android with smart suggestions and easy-to-use granular adjustments, so your photos look their very best.

A little help to make your photos shine

Google Photos already helps you get the most of your photos by providing helpful suggestions like brightening, rotating or archiving a picture while you're viewing it. Now, we’re building off that idea and applying it to the editor to make editing easy—with Google Photos doing most of the heavy lifting. We’ve added a new tab right in the editor that uses machine learning to give you suggestions that are tailored to the specific photo you’re editing. 

These suggestions help you get stunning results in just one tap, by intelligently applying features like brightness, contrast and portrait effects. You’ll see some familiar suggestions like Enhance and Color Pop, and in the coming months, we’ll add more suggestions to Pixel devices to help your portraits, landscapes, sunsets and more really stand out. And if you want to see what changes were applied, many suggestions will show the specific edits that changed your photo, allowing you to customize further.

Granular manual controls that are easy to use

In addition to one-tap suggestions, the new editor makes it easy to find and apply granular edits, like brightness, contrast, saturation, warmth and more. With the editor’s new layout, you can quickly scroll through all your options to find the tool you need or discover new ones.

We’re also launching Portrait Light, a new editing feature coming to Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 that uses machine learning to improve the lighting on faces in portraits. To give you even more control over how your portraits look, you’ll be able to adjust the light position and brightness post-capture through the Google Photos app. You’ll also be able to add Portrait Light to regular photos not captured in Portrait mode—whether it’s a photo you just took or an important picture from the past—on Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5, with availability on more Pixel devices soon.

The new Google Photos editor is starting to roll out today to the Google Photos app on Android. Whether you go with a one-tap suggestion or manually fine-tune your photos, we can’t wait to see all the amazing images you create.

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Google TV: Entertainment you love, with help from Google

In today’s golden age of television, there are seemingly limitless options for you to enjoy at home—that binge-worthy show, the big game or the latest blockbuster movie. But with more choices than ever, it can take a long time just to find something to watch. That’s why we made Google TV—a new entertainment experience designed to help you easily browse and discover what to watch—available first on the new Chromecast with Google TV.

An experience that’s tailored for you

The new Google TV experience brings together movies, shows, live TV and more from across your apps and subscriptions and organizes them just for you. To build this, we studied the different ways people discover media—from searching for a specific title to browsing by genre—and created an experience that helps you find what to watch. We also made improvements to Google’s Knowledge Graph, which is part of how we better understand and organize your media into topics and genres, from movies about space travel to reality shows about cooking. You’ll also see titles that are trending on Google Search, so you can always find something timely and relevant. 

Searching is as easy as asking Google. Whether you’re looking to “find action movies” or “show me sci-fi adventure TV shows,” just ask Google to see results from across your favorite apps, like Disney+, france.tv, HBO Max, Netflix, Peacock¹, Rakuten Viki and YouTube, among others.

Google TV helps you search and discover movies and shows from across your subscriptions.

With so much content to choose from, you might need help keeping track of what to watch. Google TV’s Watchlist gives you one easy place to bookmark movies and shows you want to save for later. You can even add to your Watchlist from Google Search on your phone or laptop, and it will be waiting on your TV when you get home.

Save movies, shows and Live TV to your Watchlist for later.

What’s playing on Live TV 

Ever switch back and forth between your streaming content and your live content to find something to watch? With Google TV, you’ll see recommendations for both in one place so you’ll never miss the big game, breaking news or a reality show finale. The Live tab shows you what's airing now and what’s playing next, all just a click away.

Access the YouTube TV channel guide directly in the Live tab.

Live TV integration is available now with a YouTube TV membership in the U.S., which includes more than 85 channels, a DVR with unlimited storage space and more. Integration with more live TV providers is coming soon.

A little help from Google

With Google TV, the biggest screen in your home is now more helpful. Ask Google about the weather, sports scores and more, and get answers right on your TV. You can even view and control your compatible connected home devices with just your voice. Simply press and hold the Google Assistant remote button and say "Show me the front door" to see your security camera feed.

When you aren’t watching TV, ambient mode lets you connect to Google Photos so you can showcase images of your favorite people and places on your home’s biggest screen. Google TV is also compatible with more than 6,500 apps built for Android TV OS so you can access your favorites across gaming, fitness, education, music and more. Support for Stadia is coming in the first half of 2021.

Available on the new Chromecast with Google TV

The all-new Chromecast with Google TV comes with a remote and plugs right into your TV’s HDMI port, so you can watch your favorite content in up to 4K HDR. Starting today in the U.S., Chromecast with Google TV is available for $49.99 in three colors: Snow, Sunrise and Sky. We will be bringing Chromecast with Google TV to more countries by the end of the year. 

Starting in 2021, Google TV will also be available on televisions from Sony and other Android TV OS partners.

Last but not least, we know that your TV isn't the only place for watching entertainment. To make it easy to discover and enjoy your entertainment no matter where you go, Google TV will also be available via the new Google TV app, which will begin rolling out today to Android mobile devices in the U.S. as an update to the Google Play Movies & TV app. 

^{¹Google TV search and discover functionality for Peacock content will be available soon.}

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Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 pack 5G speeds and so much more

Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 are here, packing more helpful Google features into phones backed by the power and speeds of 5G¹. From Google’s latest AI and Assistant features, to the biggest ever batteries we’ve put in a Pixel, to industry-leading camera features, Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 join our much loved Pixel 4a in providing more help at a more helpful price. 

5G speeds at affordable prices

5G is the latest in mobile technology, bringing fast download and streaming speeds to users around the world. Whether you’re downloading the latest movie², listening to your favorite music on YouTube Music, catching up on podcasts with Google Podcast or playing a game on Stadia, Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 will provide you with fast speeds¹.

YouTube, YouTube Music and Google Podcasts on Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 also give you access to the content you want when you don't have connectivity by pre-downloading content via 5G when you don’t have WiFi connectivity¹.  For more information go to g.co/musicdownloads. 

New camera, new lenses—same great photos

Ask any Pixel owner and they’ll tell you: Pixels take great photos. Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 are no exception. These phones bring Pixel’s industry-leading photography features to the next level. 

• Ultrawide lens for ultra awesome shots: With a new ultrawide lens alongside the standard rear camera, you’ll be able to capture the whole scene. And thanks to Google’s software magic, the latest Pixels still get our Super Res Zoom. So whether you’re zooming in or zooming out, you get sharp details and breathtaking images. 

• Better videos with Cinematic Pan: Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 come with Cinematic Pan, which gives your videos a professional look with ultrasmooth panning that’s inspired by the equipment Hollywood directors use.

• Night Sight in Portrait Mode: Night Sight currently gives you the ability to capture amazing low-light photos—and even the Milky Way with astrophotography. Now, these phones bring the power of Night Sight into Portrait Mode to capture beautifully blurred backgrounds in Portraits even in extremely low light. 

• Portrait Light: Portrait Mode on the Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 lets you capture beautiful portraits that focus on your subject as the background fades into an artful blur. If the lighting isn’t right, your Pixel can drop in extra light to illuminate your subjects.

• New editor in Google Photos: Even after you’ve captured your portrait, Google Photos can help you add studio-quality light to your portraits of people with Portrait Light, in the new, more helpful Google Photos editor. 

• Night Sight and Portrait Mode (Selfie).jpg

  Night Sight and Portrait Mode

• Night Sight and Portrait Mode (Image).jpg

  Night Sight and Portrait Mode

• Night Sight and Portrait Mode (Cat).jpg

  Night Sight and Portrait Mode

• Captured on Pixel (Ultrawide 4).jpg

  Captured on Pixel - Ultrawide

• Captured on Pixel (Ultrawide 3).jpg

  Captured on Pixel - Ultrawide

• Captured on Pixel (Ultrawide 2).jpg

  Captured on Pixel - Ultrawide

• Captured on Pixel (Ultrawide 1).jpg

  Captured on Pixel - Ultrawide

• Super Res Zoom (Before).jpg

  Super Res Zoom (before)

• Super Res Zoom (After).jpg

  Super Res Zoom (after)

Save time with Hold for Me

Pixel has even more helpful features to save you time thanks to Google Assistant. Every month, Call Screen helps people with more than 25 million calls, saving people 2 million minutes, and Duplex helps users with a variety of phone tasks including reservations and getting business information. 

Now, with a preview of Hold for Me on Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 in the U.S., Google Assistant can wait on the line for you whenever you call a toll-free number and a business puts you on hold. Built on the smarts of Duplex and Call Screen, this new feature lets you go back to enjoying the things that matter to you, and Google Assistant will notify you once someone is on the line and ready to talk. And Hold for Me works on your device, so the entire call is private to you. Goodbye endless hold music, hello more free time. 

Stay connected and entertained with Duo 

To make it easier and more enjoyable to stay connected to the most important people in your life, the new HD screen sharing in Duo video calls lets you and a friend watch the same video, cheer on your favorite teams together and even plan activities—all while being thousands of miles apart. And coming soon with Duo Family HD mode, you’ll be able to keep kids entertained and engaged with new interactive tools, like coloring over backgrounds, while you video chat. 

A smarter way to record and share audio

Last year, Recorder made audio recording smarter, with real-time transcriptions and the power of search. Now, Recorder makes it even easier to share your favorite audio moments. Since Recorder automatically transcribes every recording, now you can use those transcripts to edit the audio too. Just highlight a sentence to crop or remove its corresponding audio.

Once you have something you want others to hear—say a quote from an interview or a new song idea—you can generate a video clip to make sharing your audio easier. To improve searching through your transcripts, smart scrolling will  automatically mark important words in longer transcripts so you can quickly jump to the sections you’re looking for as you scroll. But most helpful of all? Recorder still works without an internet connection, so you can transcribe, search and edit from anywhere, anytime.

The biggest Pixel batteries ever

Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 also have all-day batteries that can last up to 48 hours with Extreme Battery Saver³. This mode automatically limits active apps to just the essentials and lets you choose additional apps you want to keep on. 

And now, the specs

Like all Pixel devices, security and safety are paramount in Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5. Both devices come with our Titan^TM M security chip to help keep your on-device data safe and secure, and both phones will get three years of software and security updates. Pixel's security features received a perfect score on a recent analyst scorecard⁴.

Plus, Pixel 5 is designed with the environment in mind; we used 100 percent recycled aluminum in the back housing enclosure to reduce its carbon footprint

When you purchase a Pixel 4a (5G) or Pixel 5, you’ll also get Stadia and YouTube Premium trial for 3 months, 100 GB of storage with Google One for 3 months and Google Play Pass and Gold/Silver Status on Play Points. See g.co/pixel/4a5Goffers or g.co/pixel/5offers, as applicable, for more details.

Pixel 4a (5G) will be available in Japan on Oct. 15 and eight other countries starting in November, and Pixel 5 will be available starting Oct. 15 in the U.S. and eight other countries. 

Looking for the Pixel that’s right for you? Head to the Google Store now.

^{1 Requires a 5G data plan (sold separately). 5G service and roaming not available on all carrier networks or in all areas. Contact carrier for details about current 5G network performance, compatibility and availability. Phone connects to 5G networks but 5G service, speed and performance depend on many factors including, but not limited to, carrier network capabilities, device configuration and capabilities, network traffic, location, signal strength and signal obstruction. Actual results may vary. Some features not available in all areas. Data rates may apply. See g.co/pixel/networkinfo for info.}

^{2 Download speed claims based on testing videos from three streaming platforms. Average download time was less than 60 seconds. File sizes varied between 449MB and 1.3GB. Download speed depends upon many factors, such as file size, content provider and network connection. Testing conducted in an internal 5G network lab and on pre-production hardware in California in July/August 2020. Actual download speeds may be slower.}

^{3 For “all day”: Maximum battery life based on testing using a mix of talk, data, standby and use of other features. Testing conducted on two major carrier networks using Sub-6 GHz non-standalone 5G (ENDC) connectivity. For “Up to 48 hours”: Maximum battery life based on testing using a mix of talk, data, standby and use of limited other features that are default in Extreme Battery Saver mode (which disables various features including 5G connectivity). Testing conducted on two major carrier networks. For both claims: Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 battery testing conducted by a third party in California in mid-2020 on pre-production hardware and software using default settings, except that, for the “up to 48 hour claim” only, Extreme Battery Saver mode was enabled. Battery life depends upon many factors and usage of certain features will decrease battery life. Actual battery life may be lower.}

^{4 Based on 2020 analyst research funded by Google LLC.}

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Our best Chromecast yet, now with Google TV

Chromecast changed the way we enjoy our favorite movies, TV shows and YouTube videos by making it easy and inexpensive to bring your online entertainment to your TV—a revolutionary idea in 2013. Today, we have more content choices than ever, sprinkled across an ever-expanding variety of apps...which can make it difficult to find what to watch. This inspired us to rethink what simple and easy content discovery on your TV should look like. So today, we're making our biggest leap yet to help you navigate your entertainment choices with the all-new Chromecast with Google TV. 

Best Chromecast yet

Chromecast with Google TV has your favorite Chromecast features and now comes with the all-new Google TV entertainment experience. Google TV experience brings together movies, shows, live TV and more from across your apps and subscriptions and organizes them just for you. We're also bringing our most requested feature—a remote—to Chromecast.

A new look, inside and out

The new Chromecast with Google TV comes in a compact and thin design and is packed with the latest technology to give you the best viewing experience. It neatly plugs into your TV's HDMI port and tucks behind your screen. Power it on and you'll be streaming crystal-clear video in up to 4K HDR at up to 60 frames per second in no time. With Dolby Vision, you’ll get extraordinary color, contrast, brightness and detail on your TV. We also support HDMI pass-through of Dolby audio content.

More power in your hand

The new Chromecast voice remote is comfortable to hold, easy to use and full of new features. It has a dedicated Google Assistant button that can help you find something to watch, answer everyday questions like “how's the weather?” or play YouTube Music all with just your voice. And when it's time to cozy up on the sofa for movie night, you can control your smart home lights to set the mood or check your front door with Nest Camera to keep tabs on your pizza delivery. We also have dedicated buttons for today’s most popular streaming services, YouTube and Netflix, to give you instant access to the content you love. Best of all, you won't have to juggle multiple remotes thanks to our programmable TV controls for power, volume and input.

TV just for you

In need of some good movie or TV recommendations? Google TV's For You tab gives you personalized watch suggestions from across your subscriptions organized based on what you like to watch—even your guilty pleasure reality dramas. Google TV’s Watchlist lets you bookmark movies and shows you want to save for later. You can add to your Watchlist from your phone or laptop, and it will be waiting on your TV when you get home.

Chromecast with Google TV delivers the best cord cutter experience with a YouTube TV membership. You can see your live TV recommendations in the For You tab, alongside other curated content we picked from your streaming services. Switching between live TV and other content is a breeze too, all you have to do is ask Google Assistant or go directly to the Live tab to see what's on now and the full channel guide. With YouTube TV, you can watch live and on-demand TV from more than 85 top networks, like live sports, news, shows, movies and more. Membership comes with free unlimited cloud DVR storage space to record all your favorites and up to six accounts per household so the whole family can enjoy. And there are no hidden fees or long-term contracts. 

Best of all, you'll also have access to more than 6,500 apps and the ability to browse hundreds of thousands of movies and TV shows sorted and optimized for what you like—ask Google Assistant to see results from across your favorite apps, like Disney+, HBO Max, Netflix, Peacock¹, france.tv, Rakuten Viki and YouTube, among others. Plus, Stadia support is coming in the first half of 2021.

Starting today in the U.S. Chromecast with Google TV is available for $49.99 in three fun colors to match your decor or personality: Snow, Sunrise and Sky. You can also pre-order today in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain and the U.K., where it will be available  for purchase on Oct. 15.

^{1Google TV search and discover functionality for Peacock content will be available soon.}

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Made for music, the new Nest Audio is here

This year, we’ve all spent a lot of time exploring things to do at home. Some of us gardened, and others baked. We tried at-home workouts, or took up art projects. But one thing that many—maybe all of us—did? Enjoyed a lot of music at home. I’ve spent so much more time listening to music during quarantine—bossa nova is my go-to soundtrack for doing the dishes and Lil Baby has become one of my favorite artists. 

We worked with Kelton Research and found that over the past five months, Americans increased the amount of time they spend listening to music at home by 61 percent, and many people nearly doubled the amount of time they spend jamming out at home. So, given we’re all listening to more music than ever, we’re especially excited to introduce Nest Audio, our latest smart speaker made for music lovers.

A music machine

Nest Audio is 75 percent louder and has 50 percent stronger bass than the original Google Home—measurements of both devices were taken in an anechoic chamber at maximum volume, on-axis. With a 19mm tweeter for consistent high frequency coverage and clear vocals and a 75mm mid-woofer that really brings the bass, this smart speaker is a music lover’s dream. 

Nest Audio’s sound is full, clear and natural. We completed more than 500 hours of tuning to ensure balanced lows, mids and highs so  nothing is lacking or overbearing. The bass is significant and the vocals have depth, which makes Nest Audio sound great across genres: classical, R&B, pop and more. The custom-designed tweeter allows each musical detail to come through, and we optimized the grill, fabric and materials so that you can enjoy the audio without distortion. 

Our goal was to ensure that Nest Audio stayed faithful to what the artist intended when they were in the recording studio. We minimized the use of compressors to preserve dynamic range, so the auditory contrast in the original production is preserved—the quiet parts are delicate and subtle, and the loud ones are more dramatic and powerful. 

Nest Audio also adapts to your home. Our Media EQ feature enables Nest Audio to automatically tune itself to whatever you’re listening to: music, podcasts, audiobooks or even a response from Google Assistant. And Ambient IQ lets Nest Audio also adjust the volume of Assistant, news, podcasts and audiobooks based on the background noise in your home, so you can hear the weather forecast over a noisy dishwasher. 

Video shows Nest Audio being used in the home; in living rooms, a kitchen, a bedroom, and a library. Video also shows it on a shelf among plans, and later in a bathroom. Video also shows it being used as a speaker system, and later in a car - and then, back in the home as a man walks in the door and the podcast he was listening to in his car continues playing on his Nest inside the home.

Whole home audio

If you have a Google Home, Nest Mini or even a Nest Hub, you can easily make Nest Audio the center of your whole home sound system. In my living room, I’ve connected two Nest Audio speakers as a stereo pair for left and right channel separation. I also have a Nest Hub Max in my kitchen, a Nest Mini in my bedroom and a Nest Hub in the entryway. These devices are grouped so that I can blast the same song on all of them when I have my daily dance party. 

With our stream transfer feature, I can move music from one device to the other with just my voice. I can even transfer music or podcasts from my phone when I walk in the door. Just last month, we launched multi-room control, which allows you to dynamically group multiple cast-enabled Nest devices in real time. 

An even faster Assistant

When we launched Nest Mini last year, we embedded a dedicated machine learning chip with up to one TeraOPS of processing power, which let us move some Google Assistant experiences from our data centers directly onto the device. We’ve leveraged the same ML chip in Nest Audio, and in the U.S., Google Assistant on Nest Audio learns your most common music commands and responds two times faster than the original Google Home. 

Google Assistant helps you tackle your day, enjoy your entertainment and control compatible smart home brands like Philips Hue, TP-Link|KASA and more. In fact, people have already set up more than 100 million devices to work with Google Assistant. Plus, if you’re a YouTube Music or Spotify Premium subscriber, you can say, “Hey Google, recommend some music” and Google Assistant will offer a variety of choices from artists and genres that you like as well as others that are similar.

Differentiated by design

Typically, a bigger speaker equals bigger sound, but Nest Audio has a really slim profile—so it  fits anywhere in the home. In order to maximize audio output, we custom-designed quality drivers and housed them in an enclosure that helps it squeeze out every bit of sound possible. 

Nest Audio comes in five colors: Chalk, Charcoal, Sand, Sky and the all-new Sage, an earth tone inspired by our ongoing responsibility to protect the environment. Its soft, rounded edges blend in with your home’s decor, and its minimal footprint doesn't take up too much space on your shelf or countertop. 

We’re continuing our commitment to sustainability with Nest Audio. It’s covered in the same sustainable fabric that we first introduced with Nest Mini last year, and the enclosure (meaning the fabric, housing, foot, and a few smaller parts) is made from 70 percent recycled plastic. 

Nest Audio is available for $99.99 online at the Google Store and other retailers in the U.S., Canada and India starting Oct. 5. You can find it on shelves at retail stores including Target, Best Buy and more in 21 countries starting Oct. 15. 

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Founded: A new podcast focuses on women who lead

When women-led businesses are supported, funded and have the opportunity to scale, the economy grows. We recently supported a research report on women entrepreneurs in the U.S. from Endeavor Insight which showed that in 2017, more than 1.1 million women-led businesses generated nearly $1.5 billion in revenue and created more than 10 million jobs. 

The report goes on to highlight that if businesses founded by women grow to employ 50 or more people, they can potentially generate over 4 million new jobs and add over $500 billion in additional productivity each year to national GDP. Despite this, many industries, including the technology sector,  still continue to face significant gaps in gender parity. In 2019, only 2.8 percent of all VC funding went to women tech founders. 

Women founders deserve visibility and recognition, which is why Women Techmakers and Google for Startups joined forces to create a new podcast series called Founded. The podcast, built upon the original Founded video series, interviews women tech founders from across the globe. 

Cofounded and hosted by Rana Abdelhamid, each episode will highlight women whose passion and drive led them to grow and scale successful businesses. Their companies are tackling some of the world’s most pressing issues, solving challenges from improving medical diagnosis with AI to using technology to help make learning tools more inclusive.

Founded is not just about their businesses, but the women behind them. 

Our launch series includes six inspiring founders:

• Layla

  Layla Shaikley is the Cofounder and VP of CX at Wise Systems, which uses data-driven technology to improve transport operations.

• Tanya

  Tanya Sam is a tech-savvy investor that has made it her mission to empower the next generation of minority entrepreneurs.

• Noura

  Noura Liben is a startup advisor and angel investor who’s currently creating a digital health startup to develop front office tools for clinicians.

• Sanskriti

  Sanskriti Dawle is the CEO and Cofounder of Thinkerbell Labs, a company focused on making education more inclusive. Thinkerball Labs is also the creator of Annie, the world’s first self-learning braille literacy device.

• Hande

  Hande Cilingir is the Cofounder and CEO of Insider, an AI-powered growth management platform for marketers.

• Jairishi

  Dr. Jaishree Naidoo is the CEO and Cofounder of Envisionit Deep AI, a company that uses AI to streamline and improve medical imaging diagnosis.

To find out more about these women and hear their stories be sure to subscribe and listen to theFounded podcast, out now.

by Jen HarveyCo-founder of Founded via The Keyword

How The Trevor Project continues to support LGBTQ youth

This September, National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month feels different. Over the past nine months, LGBTQ youth have experienced unique challenges in relation to COVID-19.The pandemic has amplified existing mental health disparities and created new problems that have impacted the daily lives of many LGBTQ youth. 

As the world's largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ young people, The Trevor Project has seen the volume of youth reaching out to our crisis services for support increase significantly, at times double our pre-COVID volume. We’ve heard from a great number of youth who no longer have access to their usual support systems, including many who have been forced to confine in unsupportive home environments. The unprecedented crisis of 2020 has reaffirmed the need for increased mental health support for LGBTQ youth, particularly as we’ve ventured into a more virtual world. 

From transitioning our physical call center operations to be fully remote to publishing aresource to help LGBTQ youth explore conversations around the intersection of their racial and LGBTQ identities—The Trevor Project has remained open and responsive to the needs of the young people we serve despite the onslaught of challenges. Technological advancement has been essential as Trevor adapts to meet this moment. In particular, artificial intelligence (AI) is a crucial component for scaling our services to support the increase of youth reaching out. 

Kendra Gaunt joined The Trevor Project nine months ago as a Data and AI product owner.  

I joined The Trevor Project as the Data and AI product owner nine months ago, and started working alongside a team of 11 Google.org Fellows who were doing six months of full-time pro bono work with us. With the support of $2.7 million in Google.org grant funding and two teams of pro bono Google.org Fellows, we have introduced new AI applications to scale our impact. We built an AI system that helps us identify which LGBTQ individuals reaching out to us for support are at the highest risk of suicide so that we can quickly connect them to counselors who are ready to help at that moment. And now, we’re leveraging AI to ensure the safety of our TrevorSpace forums through auto-moderation, and to train more volunteer counselors through a conversation simulator.  It’s projects like these that have enabled The Trevor Project to directly serve more than 150,000 crisis contacts from LGBTQ youth in the past year. 

And we’re just getting started. With the guidance of best practices from Google, we’re building an in-house AI team. As we grow and develop a long-term product strategy around our use of data and AI, we acknowledge our responsibility to create a values-based system to guide how we use and develop AI. By applying learnings from Google's Responsible Innovation team, we created a set of principles to ensure that we develop models that avoid reinforcing unfair bias that impacts people based on their ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, and the intersection of these identities. 

I joined The Trevor Project because it’s an organization driven by values, and our use of technology reflects this. I noticed an opportunity to leverage my years of experience and partner with people who are committed to employing technology for social good. Through the thoughtful and ethical use of AI, we can overcome obstacles of scale and complexity as we pursue our mission to end suicide among LGBTQ youth.

To learn more about National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month and the work The Trevor Project is doing, check out ourCARE campaign. This includes actionable steps anyone can take to support their community and prevent suicide, as well as technological innovations that help us serve more young people, faster.

If you or someone you know needs help or support, contact The Trevor Project's TrevorLifeline 24/7 at 1-866-488-7386. Counseling is also available 24/7 via chat every day at TheTrevorProject.org/help or by texting 678-678.

by Kendra GauntThe Trevor Project via The Keyword

Powering economic recovery through retail

Progetto Quid is a small fashion business in Verona, Italy that provides employment opportunities for women coming out of difficult situations. When the company closed its stores during the lockdown, it  started making non-medical masks,  safeguarding its business and the future of its workers. Within two months they’d sold 700,000 masks, using Google Ads to reach their customers. As a result of switching production they were able to retain their entire staff.

This is just one of many stories of resilience we’ve heard from businesses small and large as they look to sustain themselves and support their communities. At Google, we’re helping retailers accelerate recovery with training, tools and insights to help them adapt fast. Through September we ran Accelerating Retail, a month of training and collaboration, directly engaging with more than 7,500 retailers across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and many more in partnership with industry bodies such as HDE in Germany and One to One Monaco in France. Listening to retailers of all types across so many countries has helped us to adapt and develop the products and services that we’re now launching to support economic recovery around the world. 

Helping retailers find more customers with free listings on the Shopping tab 

We’re now making it free for retailers to list their products on the Shopping tab throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Available globally in mid-October, search results on the Shopping tab will consist primarily of free listings, helping retailers to connect with more customers, regardless of whether they advertise on Google. Shoppers will be able to find more products from more stores, just in time for peak shopping season across the region. 

For retailers who already use Google Ads to reach potential customers, free product listings in the Shopping tab are a boost to your paid campaigns. In the U.S., where we launched successfully earlier this year, retailers running free listings and ads got an average of twice as many views and 50 percent more visits. Small and medium-sized businesses saw the biggest increases since the free listings launched there.

If you already use Merchant Center and Shopping ads, you don't have to do anything to take advantage of this change; your listings will automatically show up at no cost. And we are making the onboarding process as easy as possible for retailers who are new to this over the next weeks and months. In Europe, you can also choose any Comparison Shopping Service (CSS) to work with free listings.

Connecting people with trusted local professionals

Many people are shopping locally as they spend more time at home, and searches containing "available near me" have doubled around the world. In the first half of 2020, searches for local services, like home improvement or maintenance, increased by over 25 percent in a year across a  range of European countries.

To help trusted businesses reach local customers, we’re announcing the launch of Local Services Ads in 10 European countries: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.

Local Services Ads help people discover and connect with trustworthy local professionals—such as plumbers, house cleaners and electricians—backed by the Google Guaranteebadge. Potential customers can see license information and reviews from previous customers, and they can compare and contact providers. You don’t even need a website to use these ads, and you only pay when contacted by a customer—there’s no charge for people clicking on the ad. People can book services directly with a simple phone call. If you're a platform that's already connecting customers with professionals you can expandyour offering to include Local Services Ads.

Local Services Ads in Germany and the UK

Getting small businesses online

An online presence has never been more critical for a business’s success. But, according to 2019 YouGov research, around a third of small businesses in six European countries surveyed don’t even have a website. 

To help small business owners take their first steps online, this month we launched Google for Small Business in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. It provides personalized plans including guidance on which tools are right for your business. We’ve also recently expanded Grow My Store, which helps local retailers drive customer traffic and improve their online shopping experience, to Germany, France, Netherlands, Sweden and Spain. We plan to roll out both Google for Small Business and Grow My Store to more countries before the end of the year.  

Digital tools and skills have been a lifeline in lockdown. By working together, they can be a catalyst for accelerating recovery —for retailers, their staff, customers, and the wider economy.

by Matt Brittin via The Keyword

The shift to distance learning in Asia Pacific

When I was growing up in Serbia, there was only one small school in my village, and we often shared a classroom with the grade above us. The teacher would focus on my classmates and me for a couple of minutes, before turning his attention to the older students on the other side of the room. I can’t imagine how difficult that must have been—but somehow, he made it work, kept our classes fun and engaging, and gave us all the best possible education.

I’ve thought about that experience a lot over the past few months, seeing how teachers and students around the world have struggled to keep learning going during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Technology has made it easier to teach online—but not all communities have the same access to digital tools, or the same ability to use them. It’s one of the main reasons we launched Google.org’s $10 million Distance Learning Fund: an initiative to help educators and students get the resources they need, especially in underserved communities. 

In Asia Pacific, we’ve made a $1 million grant to INCO, a nonprofit that’s supporting local education organizations in Indonesia, Hong Kong, China and the Philippines. I recently spoke to some of the teachers and students these organizations have helped as they adapt to a new way of learning.  

Arnold Chan, politics teacher at Maximo Estrella Senior High School, Philippines 

I've been a public school teacher for four years now, and I've always found joy in teaching, especially when I interact with my students in class. When the pandemic hit the Philippines and classes migrated online, I was worried about whether I could efficiently and effectively deliver quality education remotely. I found myself becoming a student again, learning how to use online tools and design engaging learning materials through the Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication. Since attending a few training sessions, I'm now confident that I can provide the same quality of education online as I could in face-to-face classes.

Asih Nurani, English teacher at Regina Pacis Bogor Junior High School, Indonesia

I may have been a teacher for the last nine years, but I never once imagined running an online class. I knew I had to find new ways to engage my students. I also felt responsible for helping other teachers, especially the senior ones who weren't familiar with distance teaching tools. Thanks to the support and materials from INCO’s partner, Semua Murid Semua Guru, I was able to team up with some of my colleagues to develop additional training materials and teaching techniques to help other teachers cope with this transition!

Ka Ka (12 years old), student in Hong Kong 

During the class suspension period, I was really affected by the prolonged schooling disruption and I fell behind in English and Mathematics. Through the Changing Young Lives Foundation (CYLF)'s digital learning platform, I was able to catch up with classes I missed since March and received extra learning opportunities for different subjects by attending online classes daily. I am now feeling more confident about entering my secondary schooling in the new school year, and looking forward to joining more online tutorial classes!

Mirah (18 years old), student in Kintamani-Bali, Indonesia 

Distance learning was new to me, and I was also worried I could not study online as it required me to buy an internet package regularly, which my parents are unable to afford. But I am grateful to have received support from Putera Sampoerna Foundation-School Development Outreach, which covered my internet costs and provided me with my very own laptop. When I started attending my online classes, I realized how fun it was! We are currently doing project-based learning online, which allows us to do hands-on prototyping with our projects and collaborate with our classmates.

I’m humbled and inspired by these educators and students—their adaptability, their positive attitude, and their determination to keep teaching and learning no matter what. I’m looking forward to continuing Google.org’s support of nonprofits like INCO, as they and their partners make learning more accessible in communities throughout Asia Pacific.  

by Marija Ralic via The Keyword

Tribal schools embrace distance learning with Google tools

In the United States, there are 574 federally recognized tribal nations. Collectively they are referred to as “Indian Country,” but there is tremendous diversity among the tribes. Each has its own unique history, geography, culture and economy, as well as its own opportunities and challenges. 

Far too often, we only hear about challenges facing these tribal nations and rarely hear about the solutions tribes create. In response, the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development founded Honoring Nations, a national awards program that spotlights success in tribal governance. Since 1998, Honoring Nations has awarded 136 tribal governance programs from over 100 tribal nations, highlighting key lessons that other governments, both Native and non-Native, can adapt for themselves. By sharing these lessons, we are changing the conversation from what isn’t working to what is. We also facilitate the sharing of practical tools to improve the strength and vitality of Indian Country.

In 2013, our team was introduced to the Google American Indian Network, an employee resource group made up of Google employees. We began working with and using a variety of Google tools to enhance our ability to share stories of success with tribal leaders and policymakers, from Google Cultural Institutes to Google Maps and Google Voyager. In December 2018, our efforts culminated in the launch of the Nation Building Toolboxes, based on Google Sites. So far we have released four toolboxes: Business Enterprises, Constitutional Reform, Justice Systems and a special COVID-19 toolbox, dedicated to sharing multimedia resources in public and health policy, which was created in collaboration with the Johns Hopkins University Center for American Indian Health.

Launched in April 2020 and updated daily, the COVID-19 nation-building toolbox responds to the complex challenges facing Indian Country due to the pandemic. The coronavirus is revealing the cracks in all societies, including tribal nations. However, in Indian Country, these crises are magnified by decades of underfunding of infrastructure, from facilities to water systems to broadband. In fact, an estimated 34% of American Indian households lack high-speed internet access. This impacts critical communications, including how students access distance learning. Without the ability—or tools—to connect remotely, American Indian students are at a significant disadvantage. 

The Native American Advancement Foundation (NAAF), in partnership with the Tohono O'odham GuVo District, initiated a system of support to ensure the youth in their community didn’t fall behind during the pandemic. They integrated lessons from an Indigenous language learning resource, posted to our COVID-19 toolbox, from the Yurok Tribe in northern California. They also paired online resources with offline support through the distribution of educational learning packets, food, and supplies to households throughout the District. In addition, college students who returned home were recruited to provide remote tutoring to younger students. 

After learning about their extraordinary efforts to meet the needs of their citizens, we shared the strategies used in Tohono O'odham through the COVID-19 toolbox, so other nations facing similar challenges could draw inspiration from their solutions. This knowledge sharing and exchange not only highlights the innovation in Indian Country, but is an incredible example of Indigenous reciprocity.

We live in a digital age, and what's key in Indian Country is that we embrace technology on our own terms. That’s why digital tools which enable communication are so important. Google understands the need for these tools, especially now, which is why they've committed $10 million in grants to support communities through Google.org's Distance Learning Fund.

It is our hope that the stories we share through Honoring Nations and the Nation Building Toolboxes arm leaders and policymakers with practical tools that help to strengthen their nations, on their own terms—and as Wet’suet’en Hereditary Chief, Satsan, says, “put a new memory in the minds of our children.”

by Megan Minoka Hill (Oneida Nation of Wisconsin) via The Keyword

Web Creator Spotlight | Stuart Schuffman

Stuart Schuffman, a.k.a. Broke-Ass Stuart, is a globetrotting superblogger who has built his brand around the idea that you don’t actually need tons of money to enjoy yourself. Since the early 2000s he’s made it his mission to uncover hidden gems in his hometown of San Francisco and in cities like New York, San Diego, Detroit, Austin, and all over Europe as a longtime stringer for the backpacker’s bible, “Lonely Planet.” 

Over the years Stuart has published a handful of top-selling urban adventure guides dedicated to “busboys, poets, social workers, students, artists, musicians, magicians, mathematicians, maniacs, yodelers, and everyone else out there who wants to enjoy life not as a rich person, but as a real person.”

But to call Stuart a travel writer is to sell him short. He’s a web creator—a TV show host, marketer, social media manager, editor, writer, and publisher all wrapped into one. 

Launched in 2009, his website Brokeassstuart.com has grown from a local’s guide to metropolitan hotspots into a cultural force with an editorial staff covering politics, news, music, arts, and culture in the Bay Area and beyond. Even more impressive is the fact that Stuart still serves as the “Editor In Cheap” of his website while simultaneously writing and producing comedy shorts, live shows, and independent series that follow up where his show “Young, Broke, and Beautiful,” which aired on IFC in the early 2010s, left off.

“Life is an art project for me,” he says. But it’s also a job. And that’s where things get interesting.

We talked with Stuart to hear how he learned to navigate the ever-evolving landscape web creators face today.

So tell us ... what makes a web creator? What does your average day look like, etc?

It’s anyone dumb enough to plug away, day in and day out, over something they love and that they want to share with other people. I say “dumb” because it’s a terrible way to make a living, but if that’s not your main concern, it’s incredibly fulfilling on pretty much all other levels. 

As for my average day: things have been really topsy-turvy since COVID hit. Over 50 percent of our income dried up overnight so lately it’s been a lot of trying to figure out creative ways to fund this thing. I mean, I guess that’s how I spent much of my time before but, now it’s even more dire. 

Otherwise though, a typical day sees me: editing and publishing other people’s work, writing articles, doing social media for the content we create, doing sales, marketing, and business development, and answering a titanic amount of email. The thing about running your own independent media company is that my partner and I have to do about 30 different jobs. But at least I don't have some jerk boss I gotta deal with so it’s mostly worth it. 

Can you tell us a bit about your schedule? How do you get into the flow? What inspires you on a day to day basis and gets your creative energy flowing?

I give myself like an hour or so in the morning to watch Netflix while I slowly wake up. That way I’m ready to work without feeling rushed when I get down to it. As for inspiration, I’m always floored and inspired by the awesome content being created by our writers and editors. They make me so proud that I get to publish their voices. In fact, that’s one of the things I like best about what I do, I get to amplify voices that don’t always get heard.

Otherwise though, I get most excited when I’m creating new things. Life is an art project for me. Just in the past five years or so, I created and hosted seven episodes of a live late night show, put out a web series, won “best local website” a couple times, put out a zine, and ran for Mayor of SF. I’m working on some cool new projects right now that are still under wraps.

You’re super prolific! Can you describe your journey a bit? 

I’ve been doing this whole Broke-Ass Stuart thing for like 16 years now, so it’s a LONG story. But I’ll give you the short-ish version. 

Shortly after I finished college at UCSC, I was working in a candy store in North Beach. One day a guy I knew from the neighborhood I grew up in in San Diego came in with the woman that’s now his wife. As they were walking out she gave me her card and it said she was a travel writer. I thought, “I wanna be a travel writer” so I decided to become one. 

I put out my first zine, Broke-Ass Stuart’s Guide to Living Cheaply in San Francisco that summer (it was 2004). That was popular so I did an expanded version the following year. That ended up winning me “Best of the Bay” and I got a little notoriety. I got the zine in the hands of someone at Lonely Planet, and they liked it, and I ended up getting to go to Ireland to write about it for them.

I wanted to keep doing Broke-Ass Stuart but I also wanted to step it up and I actually found a book deal on craigslist. So I ended up doing three books. A Broke-Ass Stuart in SF book, an NYC book, and a book that was applicable everywhere in the U.S. 

Then in 2011 I had a travel TV show on IFC called Young, Broke & Beautiful. It was amazing. All the while though I was building up the website to be an arts & culture destination, so as my popularity grew, so did the site. Then running for Mayor obviously helped as well.

At this point we’re one of the most influential sites in the Bay Area for arts, culture, nightlife, and activism. It’s been a hell of a ride.

What are the best/worst parts of your job?

Getting to amplify voices that don’t always get heard while informing and entertaining hundreds of thousands of people a month is the best part for sure.

And then the hardest part, as you can imagine, trying to keep this thing afloat. I started this whole thing to be an art dude, but somehow ended up being a business dude out of necessity. I’m much better at creating funny and beautiful things than I am at making money. But I end up having to spend more time being a business dude than getting to create stuff. I’m at my happiest when I’m creating.

At the end of the day what is the ultimate goal of your blog/website? 

I used to care more about being famous, but as I get older, it doesn’t matter that much. I just want to create things that hopefully make the world a better place. Activism is a huge part of what we do at BrokeAssStuart.com. Over the years we’ve raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for various charities and causes. We’ve turned out tens of thousands of people to protest the many injustices that plague our world. Our Voter guides sometimes get like 30k views. And we’ve also made a lot of fart jokes. Gotta keep things balanced.  

Any words of advice for someone just getting started?

It's important to ask yourself if you really want to make a living doing something that you love. I know your immediate response is "Duh! Of course!" but really think about it. You're taking something that gives you joy and release, and turning it into a job. There will be many days where it is simply a job and that's something you need to be ok with.  

Another quick piece of advice is: build your audience before you try to monetize it. Get people to love what you do and believe in you before you start asking them for money.   

I could talk about this all day long. I've actually given a talk about how to "turn your side hustle into your main hustle" a number of times including at General Assembly and at Patreon's yearly conference, so if anyone reading this is interested in me giving the talk to you and your friends/coworkers reach out and we can figure out a price. 

And finally a quick #PayItForward. Name five other websites doing awesome stuff in your field.

SF Funcheap

48Hills

TableHopper

The Hard Times

Berkeleyside

Follow Broke-Ass Stuart on social media: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Patreon

by Justin JuulGoogle Web Creators via The Keyword