Stadia Savepoint: October updates

It’s time for another update to our Stadia Savepoint series, recapping the new games, features, and changes for Stadia in October.

This month we celebrated some Good Stuff on Stadia, teaming up with YouTube Creators Lamarr Wilson and LaurenZside who revealed free and exclusive week-long demos for PAC-MAN™ Mega Tunnel Battle and Immortals Fenyx Rising, plus an OpenDev Beta for HUMANKIND. We can’t wait for these amazing games to launch on Stadia, starting with PAC-MAN Mega Tunnel Battle on November 17. Over three days we also revealed new games and content coming to Stadia including the Drastic Steps expansion for Orcs Must Die! 3 (Nov. 6), Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (Nov. 24), ARK: Survival Evolved (early 2021), Hello Engineer (2021), Young Souls (2021), and Phoenix Point (2021).

NEW Games on Stadia + Three FREE Demos | Official Recap

Throughout October, players explored a Dungeons & Dragons adventure in Baldur’s Gate 3 Early Access, fought against a surveillance state in Watch Dogs: Legion, and carved their path to vengeance in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. All of these games, plus many others that arrived this month, are now available for purchase on the Stadia store. For players that are subscribed to Stadia Pro, they received instant access to a library of 29 games in October, with even more available on November 1.

Crowd Choice now available

Crowd Choice, available in Baldur’s Gate 3 and Dead by Daylight, changes how games unfold when live streaming on YouTube. Viewers have the power to vote on decisions made by the player in each game.

Play Stadia with mobile data

Mobile data gameplay has graduated from Experiments and is now a fully supported feature on Stadia to play games using 4G and 5G. Data usage may use up to 2.7GB/hr. Gameplay is service-, network-, and connection-dependent, and this feature may not be available in all areas.

Referral rewards for friends and family

Refer someone for a free trial of Stadia Pro and they’ll get an extra free month of games. Plus, if they subscribe after their trial is up, you’ll get an extra free month of Stadia Pro as well. Terms apply.

Push notifications on mobile

Receive notifications in the Stadia app on Android and iOS devices about Stadia Pro games, incoming friend requests, and more.

Stadia Pro updates

• Claim six new games for free with Stadia Pro in November: Sniper Elite 4, Risk of Rain 2, The Gardens Between, Hello Neighbor: Hide & Seek, République, and Sundered: Eldritch Edition.
• Twenty-nine existing games are still available to add to your Stadia Pro collection: Destiny 2: The Collection, PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS, SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech, SteamWorld Dig, SteamWorld Dig 2, SteamWorld Heist, GYLT, Little Nightmares, Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid, SUPERHOT, Panzer Dragoon Remake, Crayta, West of Loathing, Orcs Must Die! 3, Strange Brigade, Just Shapes & Beats, Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break, Super Bomberman R Online, Gunsport, Hitman, Hello Neighbor, Metro: Last Light Redux, Embr Early Access, Dead by Daylight, Human Fall Flat, SUPERHOT: MIND CONTROL DELETE, Lara Croft: Temple of Osiris, Celeste, and Jotun: Valhalla Edition.
• Act quickly: It’s your last chance to add Just Shapes & Beats, Metro Last Light Redux, Strange Brigade, and West of Loathing to your Stadia Pro collection before November 1.
• There are still ongoing discounts for both Stadia Pro subscribers and all players - check out the web or mobile Stadia store for the latest.

October content launches on Stadia

• Baldur’s Gate 3 Early Access
  
• Cake Bash
  
• Crayta - Dark Circus
  
• Dead by Daylight
  
• HUMANKIND OpenDev Beta
  
• Human: Fall Flat
  
• Immortals Fenyx Rising Demo
  
• PAC-MAN™ Mega Tunnel Battle Demo
  
• PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS - Season 9
  
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
  
• Watch Dogs: Legion

New games coming to Stadia announced this month

• ARK: Survival Evolved
  
• Assassin’s Creed Origins
  
• Assassin’s Creed Syndicate
  
• Assassin’s Creed Unity
  
• Far Cry New Dawn
  
• Far Cry 5
  
• HUMANKIND
  
• Hello Engineer
  
• Orcs Must Die! 3 - Drastic Steps
  
• PAC-MAN™ Mega Tunnel Battle
  
• Phoenix Point
  
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon® Wildlands
  
• Young Souls
  
• Watch Dogs
  
• Watch Dogs 2
  

That’s all for October—we’ll be back soon to share more updates. As always, stay tuned to the Stadia Community Blog, Facebook and Twitter for the latest news.

by Andrey Doronichev via The Keyword

Accessory inspiration, courtesy of the Pixel team

A few weeks ago, Google introduced the Pixel 4a (5G) and the Pixel 5. And new Pixels mean new Pixel accessories, starting with the new Made by Google cases. 

As part of Google’s ongoing commitment to sustainability, the outer fabric of our new cases are made with 70 percent recycled materials. In fact, assuming each bottle contains about nine grams of plastic, two recycled plastic bottles can provide enough knitted outer fabric for five cases. 

We did all of this while delivering a pop of color. In addition to the Blue Confetti, Static Gray and Basically Black, we’re adding two new colors: Green Chameleon for the Pixel 5 and Chili Flakes for Pixel 4a (5G).

• Pixel 5 Case Sustainability

• pixel case

  
  

• Pixel 5 Case

Cases are only the beginning, though. How you outfit your phone says a lot about you, so we decided to find out what different members of the Pixel team are using in order to get some accessory inspiration. 

Nicole Laferriere, Pixel Program Manager
No more battery anxiety! The iOttie iON Duo is my perfect WFH companion because it allows me to simultaneously wirelessly charge my Pixel 5 and Pixel Buds. The stand provides a great angle so I never miss a notification and charges my Pixel quickly. And I love the custom Pixel Bud-shaped charging pad because it fits them so perfectly, and there’s no waiting to see if the device starts charging.

Ocie Henderson, Digital Store Certification Lead
What’s your favorite accessory and why?: I love the Power Support CLAW for Stadia because it’s my favorite way to game-on-the-go. 2020 has definitely impacted the amount of places I can go, of course, and the places I’m able to eat. Fortunately the drive-thru is still an option, and my Power Support CLAW can sit atop my Stadia Controller and transform my wait into an opportunity to adventure, too. 

Helen Hui, Technical Program Manager 
Moment lenses are my go-to accessory whenever I go hiking. With the lens on Pixel phones, I can skip the heavy digital camera and still achieve stunning results. Last December, I used the Moment Telephoto 58mm Lens and my Pixel 4 to capture stunning photos of Antelope Canyon in Arizona. I can't wait to try the new Moment case for Pixel 5.

Janelle Stribling, Pixel Product Marketing
When I'm not working, I'm always on the go—I especially love discovering new hiking trails, so my must-have accessory is my iOttie wireless car charger. I can attach my Pixel 5 with one hand and then I'm hands-free the rest of the drive since I can use Google Assistant and Google Maps to find my destination. I love arriving with a full battery so I can start capturing photos of the views immediately!

Nasreen Shad, Pixel Product Manager
Now more than ever, I like starting off each day working from home with a morning routine with my Pixel Stand. I keep it on my nightstand and use the Sunrise Alarm to gradually brighten my phone’s screen for a gentle wake up. With the new home controls, I can easily change my thermostat settings and turn on my living room lights before even getting out of bed. Once I’m up and at it, Google Assistant gives me daily briefing of headlines from my favorite news outlets And lucky for me, my San Francisco apartment is small enough that I can leave my Pixel on the Pixel Stand and play some music while I get warmed up for a morning jog.

by Paul Osborne via The Keyword

Behind the scenes with the new Nest Thermostat

Available today, the new Nest Thermostat is smarter and more affordable than ever. By using AI, it keeps homes comfortable while helping people save energy and even find out if something might be wrong with their eligible HVAC system.

To learn a little more about what powers the Nest Thermostat, we took some time to talk to Marco Bonvini and Ramya Bhagavatula, software engineers on the Nest team.

The Nest Thermostat has used AI since the beginning. What’s different about this latest launch? 

Ramya: We really focused on what the experience would be like for people. Nest thermostats have always been really sophisticated, and with the new Nest Thermostat we really wanted to put more control in peoples’ hands. They’re able to label their temperature settings: “This is my comfort zone, this is the temperature I like it to be when I’m sleeping.” We’re using people’s preferences and adding machine learning to find you ways to help save energy. If you enable Savings Finder, it will recommend minor changes to your set temperatures or schedule to help you save; if it looks good to you, you press “yes.” It takes away all the mystery.

Also, from the very start, we knew that with a smart thermostat we should have the ability to figure out when something might be going wrong with your HVAC system. Now, we’re taking steps to make that possible for most systems in Canada and the U.S. with HVAC monitoring, which is rolling out today to all Nest thermostats in those regions.

Where did the idea for the HVAC monitoring feature come from?

Marco: It started two years ago, as a side project. The first question was “is this going to be valuable for people?” and the answer was “yes.” When our customers had an HVAC issue, they would call us assuming there was something wrong. We were trying to help them troubleshoot and connect them to a Nest Pro, but we wanted to do it more proactively. That led us to the second question, “can we do this?” and the answer was also, “yes, we can do this.” Moving forward, we should be able to provide even more context, so it will help people, and pros, even more. We already saw improvements since we launched the beta earlier this year, so we’re really encouraged to provide more proactive help to customers. 

What made this possible? 

Ramya: Cloud computing advancements, definitely. We used to run a lot of algorithms on the device, that’s what got Nest started. Now, with cloud computing, we can aggregate data anonymously from Nest thermostats to inform what sort of actions we take and what we can suggest to owners. This helps inform features like Savings Finder and HVAC monitoring. 

Originally, each thermostat operated on its own, but now we have the power to make intelligent decisions based on anonymized data, which might not have been possible if we were just looking at each individual device. 

How does a smart thermostat find possible HVAC issues? 

Marco: We monitor the estimated ambient and target temperature and predict time to temperature. We have predicted the expected behavior and then look for anomalies which may be potential performance issues with the HVAC system.

What do you most enjoy about working on Nest thermostats?

Marco: Something that’s unique is that we’re providing these new features to legacy, older devices. In a lot of ways, Nest thermostats started the IoT category; the original is 10-years-old and it’s still running. While the thermostat has changed over the years, we’re committed to supporting everyone and all devices with compatible systems. An IoT device that’s 10-years-old that still gets new feature releases is pretty special.

by Laura Breen via The Keyword

Rebuilding Japan’s Shurijo Castle in the Cloud

When fire struck Okinawa’s Shurijo Castle in October 2019, it damaged a part of Japanese history dating back to the Ryukyu Kingdom of 1429-1879.

The Japanese government is planning to rebuild the site—but that process will take time. To preserve and highlight the castle’s heritage and culture in the meantime, Google Arts & Culture and the Okinawa Prefectural government are launching a digital project called Reconstructing Shurijo Castle. 

We spoke with Denny Tamaki, the Governor of Okinawa, about the exhibition’s significance. 

Tell us what you’re most excited about with this project. 

It would definitely be the 3D reconstructed models of Seiden Temple, the main temple of Shurijo Castle. The model was built by a group of engineers, students and computer vision and VR researchers. They collected 80,000 photos shared by 3,000 people across the globe who wanted to see the digital reconstruction of this beloved site and preserve the legacy of Ryukyu culture for generations to come. 

We hope this online exhibition will rekindle fond memories for those who have visited Shurijo Castle, and that those who have yet to see the site will be even more excited about visiting once it’s restored.  

What are some of the other highlights for you? 

One of the stories allows you to experience the beauty of the castle from an architectural point of view. You can explore the Main Hall of the castle, which was decorated using Ryukyuan lacquerware, characterized by its vivid red color, the use of inlaid seashells and various Ryukyuan artistic motifs incorporating Japanese and Chinese influences. 

There is also "Then and Now: Shurijo Castle From The Sky", which begins with a drawing of Shurijo Castle from the first half of the 19th century. It gives you a bird’s eye view of the castle over the years, including after the tragic fire of 2019, and through to the restoration efforts underway today.

What does this project offer audiences, both in Japan, and all over the world? 

Between 1429 and 1945, Shurijo Castle was destroyed by fire four times. Each time, it was restored. 

During the last war in particular, the castle was destroyed without a trace, but the main hall was restored in 1992, thanks to the dedication of ordinary citizens. The castle is a beautiful symbol of resilience and endurance in today’s modern world. 

Shurijo Castle is representative of Ryukyu culture and we believe that by learning about this extraordinary site, people all over the world will be able to experience the history and culture of the Ryukyu Kingdom and the splendor of Okinawa.

by Elisabeth Callot via The Keyword

Some gourd, old-fashioned Halloween fun with Google

A socially distant Halloween doesn't have to be antisocial; there's plenty of family fun at home to be had. We're launching several spook-tacular features across our products to help you celebrate. From AR characters and 3D magical cats to Doodle games and Google Assistant riddles--you’re in for a real treat.

Magic cats and Search surprises 

This Halloween our 2016 Magic Cat Academy Doodle is back with a subaquatic shriek-quel! When you visit the Google homepage for the next 48 hours, click the Doodle to join Momo the cat in an underwater adventure filled with new friends, old foes, and spooky surprises. Want to find more hidden treats? Search for “Halloween” and hear from famous chefs on their favorite seasonal snacks. Then, scroll to the search results page navigation on desktop for more. Can you say, Boooooo-gle?

AR Halloween Characters on Google 

What do dressed up pets have in common with ghosts and jack-o-lanterns? They are way too cute to spook! And now (even if you don’t have a dog or ghost of your own) we’re bringing them to life with augmented reality (AR). Search for Halloween, Jack-o-lantern, human skeleton, cat, dog, or German Shepherd in the Google App or on your mobile browser (Android or iOS) and you’ll find these de-fright-ful AR characters on Google. Tap "View in 3D" to see it up close and then bring it into your space with AR. Don't forget to take pictures or videos!

• AR Ghost.gif

• hotdog.gif

• skeleton.gif

Google Assistant riddles, songs and more

Embark on a spooky-themed riddle room adventure when you ask “Hey Google, tell me a riddle” in English in the U.S. People can also ask, “Hey Google, sing the Halloween song” to hear about Google Assistant helping a werewolf, ghost and vampire get their haunting skills ready for Halloween. This song is available in Arabic, French, Indonesian, Japanese, Spanish, English across the globe and Portuguese in Brazil.

Want to add some haunted vibes to your home? Just say, “Hey Google, haunt my house” to hear Halloween sounds and music play on your Assistant-enabled devices. If you have smart lights set up, they’ll even flash violet, green and orange. And if you still need some last-minute costume ideas, just ask “Hey Google, what should I be for Halloween?”

Nest presents spooky ringtones 

Ding dong! Change up your doorbell ringtone to our “Spooky sounds” theme. This year we added two new sounds, “Black Cat” and “Werewolf” along with our popular ghoulish sounds from last year; ghost, vampire, monster and witch. Ringtones are available globally on Nest Hello through November 1st, 2020.

Google Trends o’ Treats

There are still several socially distanced activities people can do to feel festive for fall. Pumpkin patches, corn mazes and horror movies are the most-searched Halloween activities across the country over the past month. It seems like more than half of the U.S. is searching to carve out some time for the pumpkin patch this year!

And if you’re still looking for that perfect Halloween costume, head over to this year’s Halloween Frightgeist for inspiration and explore what’s being searched across the U.S.

by Jack O'Lantern via The Keyword

Helping Australian teens hone media literacy skills

On April 28, 1996 at the historical Port Arthur site in Tasmania, 35 people were tragically killed. Alannah and Madeline Mikac, aged six and three, along with their mother, died that day. Because of this terrible act of violence, Alannah and Madeline's father, Walter Mikac AM, and a small group of volunteers, created the Alannah & Madeline Foundation with the belief that all children should have a safe and happy childhood. For more than 20 years, the Alannah & Madeline Foundation has worked to safeguard every child’s basic right to live free from violence and serves as a beacon of hope for a better, safer world. 

As the dangers children face today become increasingly complex, the Foundation is adapting and responding to modern challenges. To help young people become less susceptible to online harms like disinformation and hate speech, the organization is focusing on helping teens better understand their relationships with media.

In Australia, as in the rest of the world, it’s more crucial than ever to help young people distinguish fact from fiction online. Research by Queensland University of Technology and Western Sydney University shows that many teenagers regularly consume news media, but their trust in the stories provided by news organizations has fallen significantly since 2017. More than half of young Australians pay little or no attention to the source of news stories found online, and only one third agree that they can tell “fake news” from real news. Teachers believe it's important to teach media literacy, but many feel constrained by barriers like a strict curriculum and a lack of confidence about the topic. 

With support from Google.org, the Foundation set its sights on tackling this issue and worked with an advisory group of academics, industry experts and educators to develop Media Literacy Lab, a first-of-its-kind education resource for teachers and students aged 12-16. This e-learning platform helps Australia’s youth become media-savvy digital citizens, questioning what they see, practicing smart and safe online behaviors and seeking help when needed. 

A video from the foundation announcing their media literacy lab.

The Lab aims to both increase the media literacy of young Australians and support teachers to build their confidence in teaching the subject. Media Literacy Lab has two portals: one for teachers to administer the Lab and engage in professional learning, and one for students to experience narrative-based learning. In the Teacher Portal, educators can easily facilitate lessons, access resources and view real-time student reports. Media Literacy Lab’s gamified learning modules, including new and carefully curated content from our partners, sit in the Student Portal. Media Literacy Lab empowers students to strengthen their ethical understanding and critical thinking skills, crucial to navigate and thrive in today’s digital ecosystem.  

In its first month, we saw almost 200 Australian schools register, with nearly 270 educators facilitating the Lab and more than 100 users from other non-school settings like libraries and universities—a huge achievement amid a global pandemic. 

As we shifted to remote work in March as a result of COVID-19, we increasingly used Google for Nonprofits tools for organization and collaboration. Google Drive ensures our documents are protected, creating an easy way to invite the right people to contribute during product development. We simultaneously used Google Docs and Sheets for project management and content design documentation. The ability to collaboratively work with Google products was useful to keep project momentum. 

The Foundation recently extended the period to register and use Media Literacy Lab free-of-charge until the end of 2021. Next year, we will deliver a national series of professional learning events for teachers with expert guests and hold student workshops in critical media production. We will continue to support national media literacy research, partnerships, advocacy campaigns and policy development. With additional funding, we also plan to build new modules for upper primary students.

Media Literacy Lab forms part of the Foundation’s crucial work in transforming how society thinks about–and responds to–the barriers to every child’s basic right to safety. We believe explicitly teaching young people media literacy can lead to strengthened digital civic engagement and contribute to safer civil discourse, benefiting children across Australia. 

by Katie CostelloAlannah & Madeline Foundation via The Keyword

More online protection with the new VPN by Google One

We’ve all done it. You’re sitting in a cafe browsing your favorite online store and you enter your credit card number while connected to an unsecured Wi-Fi network. While convenient, a public Wi-Fi network may be less secure than your personal one. This can put your personal information at risk of theft from hackers.

To give you peace of mind that your data is safe, we’re announcing the new VPN by Google One on our 2 TB and higher plans to provide an extra layer of online protection for your Android phone. 

We already build advanced security into all our products, and the VPN extends that security to encrypt all of your phone’s online traffic, no matter what app or browser you’re using. The VPN is built into the Google One app, so with just one tap, you can rest assured knowing your connection is safe from hackers.

We’re also now rolling out Pro Sessions by Google One with VPN support. With Pro Sessions, you can schedule one-on-one online sessions with a Google expert to learn more about VPNs and how to stay safer online. You’ll get access to the VPN and Pro Sessions in addition to the 2 TB of storage and other member benefits you already get with the plan, like 10 percent back in store credit on all Google Store device purchases. Plus, if you’ve shared your 2 TB Google One plan with family members (up to five additional people), they can also enable the VPN on their own devices at no extra cost. These are just a few more ways that a Google One membership helps you get the most out of Google with more peace of mind and helpful experiences.

Google Store rewards give you Store credit on hardware purchases from the Google Store. This is only available in U.S., Canada, Australia, Germany and United Kingdom. One thing to note on Pro Sessions: there are limited appointments available on a first come, first served basis.

The VPN by Google One will roll out in the United States in the coming weeks through the Google One app (Android only) and will expand to more countries and to iOS, Windows and Mac in the coming months. Pro Sessions will also be available in the coming weeks to all 2 TB members in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada.

If you’re not already a member, you can sign up for a 2 TB Google One plan here.

by Larissa Fontaine Google One via The Keyword

Reflecting on our work with Asian newsrooms

When we first launched the Google News Initiative (GNI), the vastness and diversity of Asia Pacific and its media landscape felt daunting. In countries like India and Japan, newspapers remain extremely popular. In Korea, news aggregators are the go-to way to get the news. Digital-first media have blossomed in Hong Kong, the Philippines and Malaysia—and been very successful in challenging incumbents.

It quickly became clear that we couldn’t simply adapt GNI programs to Asia Pacific. We had to build programs for the region from scratch, tailored to local news businesses’ needs. 

As our first GNI Impact report shows, we’ve invested $33 million in Asia since March 2018, working with more than 1,000 news partners in 32 countries. That includes financial help provided through the Journalism Emergency Relief Fund, which we launched earlier this year to support publishers through the COVID-19 pandemic.

To date, our partnerships in the region have focused on three key areas.

Elevating quality journalism and fighting misinformation

Misinformation in Asian countries isn’t always that sophisticated. Usually it comes in the form of images or videos with a misleading headline, but it can easily and quickly spread in Asia’s mobile-first, highly-connected communities. 

We set out to help tackle this by setting up training initiatives for journalists, equipping them with fact-checking skills and creating networks to foster cooperation between news organizations. Media in Asia are very open to collaboration—they recognize that a stronger news industry comes from working together, through initiatives like Cekfakta, an Indonesian fact-checking coalition uniting 24 media organizations. Across the region, we’ve trained more than 79,000 journalists in person and more than 418,000 online (through the GNI Training Center) since 2015. 

Quality journalism also relies on diverse viewpoints, and we’ve developed programs to promote greater inclusion in newsrooms, including providing career development opportunities for journalists-turned-parents in Korea, and publishing research into diversity in media in Australia.  

At the same time, we know from our discussions with reporters and publishers that efforts to strengthen journalism have to go hand in hand with initiatives to broaden media literacy. Without the support and understanding of the general public, good reporting falls on deaf ears. We’ve provided funding to partners in Hong Kong, India, Southeast Asia and Australia, helping them create locally-relevant media literacy curriculums and organize training for those who need it most.

Helping news businesses grow sustainably

The opportunities for Asia Pacific publishers to access the Internet and experiment with online content vary widely, even within the same country. Internet penetration is almost ubiquitous in places like Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea, and deeply unequal in places like India, Indonesia or Malaysia, where big cities are generally well-connected but remote areas lag behind. Even media organizations that are able to take advantage of the internet often don’t have the skills to make the most of advertising, subscription and data immediately, while some resign themselves to skipping online publishing altogether. 

Our work has to reflect these realities, which is why we’ve launched local News Foundry programs in Japan and Indonesia, helping media get online or improve their digital presence, and set up the GNI APAC Data Labs to help Asian news organizations make better use of data analysis. For bigger publishers like India’s Dainik Jagran and Japan’s ABC TV and The Asahi Shimbun, we’re focused on ensuring they can get the most of digital tools such as Realtime Content Insights and Dynamic Ad Insertion technology. For small- and medium-sized news organizations looking to grow their digital businesses, we’ve opened up the GNI Digital Growth Program, which is available in several Asian languages. 

Supporting new ideas and business models

News organizations in Asia are open to new opportunities. The region’s growth means fresh ideas and unexpected approaches are emerging all the time. 

To harness that spirit, last year, we launched our first GNI Innovation Challenge in Asia Pacific, giving journalists and news organizations the initial support they needed to get their ideas off the ground. We’ve experimented with new formats and tools that are “Asia-first,” like Pinpoint, which was tested by the Philippines’ Rappler. And we’re using technology to help solve the daily challenges Asian newsrooms face. Journalists here are typically always on the go, working from their phones while commuting, instead of sitting at a desk. Tools like Source by Storyful, an image verification mobile app that uses our Cloud technology, are built for their daily realities.

We’ve tested different models for supporting media, and our biggest lesson is that being nimble is vital. We have to be as willing to change and adapt as the media we work with every day. 

What’s next?

Today, some countries in our region are on the path to recovery from COVID-19, while others are still struggling with it. From here, our programs will focus on where we can have the most impact in helping newsrooms work through the pandemic or build beyond it, depending on their individual circumstances. We’re ready to continue playing our part in securing the strong, diverse and creative news industry that Asia Pacific needs and deserves.

by Rohan Tiwary via The Keyword

A stronger future for journalism through the GNI

There are two universal truths about the state of the news industry today: Demand for quality journalism has never been higher, and the need for news businesses to embrace the transition to digital has never been more critical. When we launched the Google News Initiative in 2018, many news businesses might have presumed they had time to make this shift in a methodical and considered way. COVID-19 changed that timetable drastically.

The unanticipated upheaval of this year has affected how we continue to enable innovation in news. In planning for the future, it’s helpful to know what we’ve learned from the past. Our first GNI Impact Report looks at what we have done in collaboration with the news industry over the last couple of years to see what worked and where there are opportunities for growth.

Over the last two years, the Google News Initiative has supported more than 6,250 news partners in 118 countries through $189 million in global funding, programs, tools and resources. 

Beyond the numbers, we’ve learned that different parts of the world need different approaches, from small local outlets and large cross-border publishing operations in Europe, to news organizations serving the diversity of populations and languages in Asia Pacific. In Latin America, the lack of capital available to digital news startups has put a focus on transformation of legacy organizations and sustainable growth for news entrepreneurs. In the Middle East and Africa, the swift digital transformation and steep rise in local content creation provides exciting opportunities for news. And this year, the unfolding pandemic and social justice issues in North America have crystallized the importance of local news.

There’s still so much to be done. To take you a little deeper inside our work, we asked three members of our team to talk about our priorities.

Elevating quality journalism

Olivia Ma, Director, News Lab & Civics

As a journalist’s daughter, I learned about the importance of journalism as I sat with my father at our breakfast table each morning and watched him unfold each one of our three daily newspapers.  

How people access news has changed dramatically since then, which is why I’m passionate about helping news organizations strengthen their digital storytelling and build new ways to reach their audiences online. Over the last two years, we’ve equipped more than 340,000 journalists with skills such as digital verification, data visualization, and machine learning through in-person trainings, and have enabled an additional 1.7 million online trainings for journalists through the GNI Training Center. 

Along the way, we’ve observed some commonalities: Journalists want new tools to save time so they can focus on finding, reporting and writing stories. They’re also willing to collaborate with other news organizations and tech companies to get things done for the good of the public. One great example involves work to fight misinformation; our $6.5 million investment on pandemic-related misinformation enabled organizations like First Draft and Comprova to make fact-checking resources accessible and connect reporters covering COVID-19 globally. 

There’s a growing awareness and acknowledgement that diverse newsrooms result in better storytelling, coverage and business growth. To understand the gaps and opportunities, we’ve driven research that shines a spotlight on diversity in U.S. newsrooms, the role of gender in Argentinian journalism and different lived experiences of journalists in Germany. To help grow the talent pool of future journalists, we’re investing in the GNI Fellowship program and talent development programs like theMaynard 200and driving innovation by awarding funding to local media projects focused on diversity, equity and inclusion.    

Evolving sustainable business models

Ben Monnie, Director of Global Partnerships Solutions, News

As a business strategist for many years at The New York Times, and now at Google, I’ve learned that there isn’t a single business model that works for every organization. My experience with the GNI, however, has surfaced common lessons that enable publisher growth. Successful publishers harness data to understand their audiences, build products and make business decisions, using tools like News Consumer Insights. They’ve also adopted a digital-first mindset and a willingness to continually experiment

We’ve seen through our work on Subscribe with Google and global Subscriptions Labs that readers are willing to pay for quality news online through digital subscriptions, contributions and memberships. Publishers like The Buffalo News have put this insight to work by making digital subscriptions a priority, transforming their 140-year-old newspaper into a consumer-focused digital publishing business.

But the difficulty in funding journalism is growing, particularly at the local level. While the industry has seen further reduction in legacy local news organizations, we’re learning from emerging models supporting news in those communities. 

That’s why we’ve narrowed in on helping local publishers navigate the complex choices they face in growing their businesses today. By understanding the evolving landscape and identifying examples of success, we’re working with our partners to establish best practices and develop resources to help others. Efforts like our Digital Growth Program and Local News Experiments Projects, which launched local news offerings in the U.S. and the U.K., are applying lessons learned to help sustain the future of journalism.

Empowering newsrooms through innovation

Madhav Chinnappa, Director of News Ecosystem Development

Transformation can be difficult; having worked in news organizations for most of my career, I know that personally. Innovation requires being open to experimentation, trying new ideas, testing them and sometimes failing. 

New technology creates new opportunities, and we’ve seen this reflected as news organizations help us understand the world through data journalism and use machine learning to transform the way news is made and consumed. We’re also listening to how we can support newsrooms through technology, which is why we launched Journalist Studio to provide reporters with tools that help them do their work more efficiently.

Building on the work of the Digital News Innovation Fund in Europe, we’ve committed over $40 million through the GNI Innovation Challenge and YouTube Innovation Funding to help 213 news organizations try new ideas. Some partners experimented with new ways of storytelling, others used local journalism to help elderly readers in Japan stay informed. We saw outlets experiment with new revenue streams, create new products to streamline reader contributions and build the first membership program in Myanmar, where press freedom is at risk.

It’s been amazing to see how those open calls for new ideas stimulated new thinking and generated powerful collaboration between publishers.

What's Next

What’s next? The simple answer is “more.” More focus on building sustainable growth for local, through programs like the Local News Experiments Project. More tools like Pinpoint that save on newsroom costs and help journalists focus on creating quality journalism. More efforts like the Digital Growth Program to help publishers adapt and grow their businesses. And more collaboration, which is at the heart of everything we do at the GNI. 

The Internet has changed our world. It has changed societal behavior in ways we expected and ways we did not. The news industry and Google must continue to understand the impact of these changes and explore how we might innovate our way to solutions. We have both the need and the opportunity to rethink the role news plays in people’s lives and rethink how we can enable the citizens of our societies to have the tools and information they need to be informed citizens. We remain committed to working closely with the journalism community to build the constructive and sustainable news ecosystem that’s necessary for our open societies to thrive.  

by Richard GingrasNews via The Keyword

We supported 662 journalism projects in Europe

Five years ago, as we saw news publishers shifting towards digital formats and trying new ways of doing things in the internet era, we set up the Digital News Innovation (DNI) Fund to promote innovation and quality journalism. The €150 million program ran until 2019 and supported 662 digital news projects across Europe. Today we’re releasing a final impact report to show where the funds went and how publishers used them.

Applicants were able to pitch for projects of up to €1 million, focusing on the most pressing issues identified by the news industry: boosting digital revenue, telling local stories, battling misinformation and exploring new technologies. And because we know that many advances only come after some experimentation, individuals and organizations were also able to apply for smaller prototype projects and utilize funding of up to €50,000. 

We saw a wide variety of approaches from some of the biggest names in the industry as well as relative newcomers. The vast majority of the funds went directly to publishers, with the remaining 6 percent going to overhead costs such as project monitoring, information sharing and reporting. Here are a few of the projects: 

• Le Monde in France created a three-tier subscription model that has increased its digital subscribers by 40 percent since the start of 2020.

• In the UK, Archant has digitized its 150-year-old archive with the help of 900 community volunteers, and created a voice-activated service where readers and other publishers can access stories and information.

• Germany’s CrowdNewsroom used crowdsourcing to deliver verifiable facts on important local topics in the absence of official public information.
  

• By building a shield against bots and trolls, Edge NPD in Poland has helped protect readers, publishers and advertisers globally from the negative impact of fake traffic, saving the industry tens of billions of euros per year.
  

• SESAAB, the Italian publisher of L’Eco di Bergamo newspaper, used artificial intelligence to create personalised newsletters and online content recommendations.

• Digital news publisher Observador's podcast and radio offerings have gained 25 percent of the total audio on-demand market in Portugal. Live feeds from its website and app reach a monthly audience of over 180,000, and its podcasts are consistently ranked among the country’s 50 most popular.

• Debunk EU from DELFI, the largest online news publisher operating across Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, is an initiative to tackle fake news online using a combination of artificial intelligence techniques and a dedicated community of volunteers. The company has now formed partnerships with organizations in 17 countries. 

The projects supported by the DNI Fund reflect the diversity of the media landscape in Europe, from small local outlets to large cross-border publishing operations. During many conversations with our partners in the European news industry, we’ve seen how they used the funds to help foster creativity in their newsrooms, invest in technology tailored to their particular needs and calibrate new sustainable business approaches for journalism.  

The news industry’s shift towards digital will take time, and its need for support doesn’t end with the DNI Fund. That’s why we launched the Google News Initiative (GNI) two years ago, a $300 million commitment to help journalism thrive. As of today, the GNI has awarded a total of $54.3 million to European news organizations. We look forward to seeing the results, and learning more about how we can best support the industry.

by Ludovic Blecher via The Keyword

How marketers can meet the data challenge to drive growth

This year we’ve seen people around the world change the way they purchase goods and services in response to the pandemic. This is causing businesses to rethink growth strategies, with many turning to digital transformation to address rapidly changing customer needs and new challenges. With Google’s integrated marketing tools, marketers can discover the industry and customer insights that can prepare their business for what’s next.

In our new solution guide for Google Marketing Platform and Google Cloud, we share the successes of leading organizations who have used machine learning to unlock new insights to create extraordinary customer experiences that strengthen their brand and help grow their business.

Quickly spot trends

Bringing together first-party data helps organizations break down data silos, enabling them to identify emerging trends and take action.

The marketing team for Nissan Motors’ Asia Pacific region was looking to better align their marketing to their customers’ unique preferences. By partnering with MightyHive, their data analytics and cloud partner, Nissan exported its Analytics 360 data into BigQuery and used BigQuery ML to uncover distinct patterns across its customer segments. Nissan found that the vehicle model featured in a digital ad wasn’t always the model that people requested a test drive – meaning Nissan had the opportunity to recommend additional types of vehicles on the website, like suggesting a more premium model to test drive.

Customize messaging

With the right tests and tools in place, you can refine the exact messaging and visuals needed to strike the right chord with your audience.

Deckers brands wanted to ensure that ad creatives for its UGG brand were as effective as possible. Deckers partnered with Jellyfish, its global digital partner, to automate creative insights at scale with Google Cloud products. Using Dataflow, Cloud Vision, BigQuery, and Cloud Storage, Deckers and Jellyfish were able to scan a variety of ad creative elements to test against performance signals. These insights were shared with an interactive dashboard built in Data Studio and the team discovered the optimal number of shoes to display in their ads. The shoe count variable was associated with a 36% lift in ad performance over other variants and ads with the optimal number of shoes drove a 52% increase in return on ad spend.

Anticipate the future

Predicting the future actions of your customers, whether it’s buying online or in-stores, can help you refine the reach of our marketing campaigns and improve your return on ad spend.

Beauty company L'Oréal knew that most of their customers in Taiwan review product information online, but later visit a physical store to make their purchase. By combining website data from Analytics 360 and in-store data, L'Oréal used AutoML to predict which site visitors would go in-store to purchase and then tailored its marketing campaigns to reach those people. With this strategy, they achieved a 2.5X increase in offline revenue in sales from their Lancôme brand.

L'Oréal Case Study Video

Read the guide to take your business to the next level

In the guide, you can learn how other customers around the world have found success with Google Marketing Platform and Google Cloud. We’ve also put together a roadmap to help your team get started with these two platforms. Ready? Download our guide to get started today.

by Sean DowneyMedia Platforms via The Keyword

Holly Slonaker finds career growth and accessibility at Google

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

Today’s installment is a little different because we’ll be talking to two Googlers: Holly Slonaker, a Program Manager and member of the Deafglers community at Google, and Tricia Martines, the recruiter who worked with Holly throughout the interview process. They’ll share how Google is striving to support candidates with the accommodations they need during interviews.

Holly, what prompted you to apply for a job at Google?

Holly:This was my first time applying to Google. I had been at my previous company for nine years and was looking for new career growth opportunities. I applied on Google’s career website and didn’t know anyone at the company. I never really expected to hear back, as Google was such a pie-in-the-sky company to work for. I was surprised and delighted when Tricia reached out to me about the role! 

What was that first conversation with Tricia, your recruiter, like?

Holly: I remember my heart beating out of my chest when I saw the first email from Tricia. I couldn’t believe Google was interested in me! I was initially worried about needing accommodations for the phone interviews, but Tricia quickly put me at ease and assured me that she’d make sure I had what I needed, which made me feel incredibly valued as a candidate. I could then focus on preparing for my interview answers rather than worrying about whether I would be able to hear the questions. 

What accommodations were especially helpful during your interview process?

Holly: Being deaf, the job search process can present some unique barriers. From my first interaction with Tricia, I knew this experience was going to be different. She went above and beyond to make sure I had everything I needed to be as successful as a hearing candidate. We typed questions and responses live in a shared Google doc for the initial screening, and remote captioning was provided for all of my phone and in-person interviews. She even communicated the offer to me over the Google Hangouts chat app, so I was sure to capture all the details correctly and was still able to experience the excitement of a live offer.

Tricia, what resources did you use to help Holly prepare for her interview?

Tricia: We initially had conversations over a shared Google Doc to discuss the role and what to expect through the interview process. For the first interview, our Candidate Accomodations team was able to provide captioning services for Holly over a Google Hangout. The team was able to coordinate details for the onsite interview as well. Holly and I stayed in touch at each stage so I could answer questions and share with Holly what to expect along the way. We were so excited that Holly ultimately accepted the offer!

Holly, now that you’re a full-time Googler, how has Google continued to create an inclusive workplace for you?

Holly: The positive hiring experience has carried over for me as a Googler, with continued support from my managers, the Accommodations team and our employee-run Deafglers and Disability Alliance groups. A captioner joins all of my meetings, which is especially crucial in this new working-from-home normal we’re working in. All of our company-wide events are captioned; I don’t even have to request it, which is huge for me. I’ve even been asked to advise some of our research and engineering teams as they explore new accessible products for our Deaf and hard-of-hearing users. 

Feeling so inspired by Google’s work in this space, I recently changed roles and am now Google’s Accessibility Education Program Manager on the Central Accessibility team. I'm helping to educate Googlers on how to design accessible products for our users. 

A question for both of you: Do you have any tips you’d like to share with aspiring Googlers with disabilities?

Holly: My advice for others is to ask for what you need to be successful. Don’t be afraid to share your disability accommodation needs with recruiters. Companies like Google that value diversity will focus on what you bring to the table and will gladly provide disability accommodations to help remove barriers that prevent you from getting to that table in the first place.

Tricia: Google is a place that values diverse perspectives, and we want to hear from you. We have a Candidate Accommodations team in place to support you during the interview process and will facilitate the initial call with your recruiter to match your needs. If you need an accommodation, don't hesitate to let your recruiter or sourcer know. Your recruiter can engage the Candidate Accommodations team to support the initial phone call all the way through the onsite interviews.

by Daphne Karpel via The Keyword

6 things we learned about families and tech during COVID-19

In early March 2020, we conducted a survey to better understand people’s digital wellbeing and tech use. Shortly after, daily life took a turn as the COVID-19 pandemic surged and shelter-in-place orders went into effect in many places throughout the United States. Given that change, we decided to do the survey again in September to check in and see how families' digital wellbeing might have changed. 

While these surveys represent a relatively small sample size of the U.S. population, they still provide valuable insight into recent behavioral trends and add to the ongoing conversation about tech use and mental wellbeing. When comparing the results, we saw some interesting changes to how parents are managing tech for themselves and for their children.

We saw that parents are struggling more now to maintain healthy digital habits for their kids: 

• In March, 52 percent of parents said they’re overwhelmed managing the role of technology in their children’s lives. In September, that number rose to 60 percent.  
• In March, 39 percent of parents reported not knowing what kind of tech boundaries to set for their children, compared to 51 percent who reported feeling this way in our September survey. 

While our research revealed these challenges, we also saw that some parts of these families’ overall digital wellbeing have improved:

• In March, 34 percent of parents said they were likely to unplug and take tech breaks. In September, 41 percent of parents reported they were currently unplugging and taking tech breaks. 
• In March,63 percent of parents said they felt they could model digital wellbeing habits to their children. In September, that number rose to 73 percent. 
• In March, 68 percent of parents said they use technology to keep their children entertained. In September, that dropped to 57 percent.
• In March, 54 percent of participants said digital technology has a positive impact on the time they spend with their families. In September, this number rose to 63 percent. 

Everyone—children included—are  inevitably spending more time online, and there are a handful of Google tools that can help the entire family with this increase. For example, the Family Link  app helps you figure out what digital ground rules work best for your family, while also allowing you to keep an eye on kids’ tech use. The kids tab in Google Play features “teacher-approved apps” that are both enriching and fun. And Google Kids Space, a new experience available on select Android tablets, has tons of apps, books and videos for kids to discover. And there are also lots of ways parents can use our digital wellbeing features to take breaks from their devices, unwind for a better night’s rest and ultimately model better tech habits for the family. 

Seeing the changes in the survey results helped us discover more about  families and their tech use, and there’s still so much to learn. As we continue exploring this space, we’ll provide more learnings, tools and resources to support the unfolding changes. Learn more about our digital wellbeing resources at wellbeing.google.

_{Methodology: Findings are based on results of two separate online surveys conducted by Savanta, a Next15 company. Wave 1 was conducted in February and March 2020; wave 2 was conducted in September 2020. Although wave 2 was shorter than wave 1, for comparability purposes, questions asked and audiences surveyed remained consistent. The online surveys were conducted among n=1,000 (wave 1) and n=500 (wave 2) respondents, respectively. The sample was nationally representative as it relates to age, gender, household income, race/ethnicity and region. Half (50 percent) of the sample consisted of parents with at least one child under 18 and three-quarters (75 percent) of these parents have children under the age of 13 living with them. The margin of error for the total sample at the 95 percent confidence level is +/- 3.1 percentage points for wave 1 and +/-4.4 percentage points for wave 2.}

by Kate Lockhart via The Keyword

Celebrating 20 years of human life on the ISS with NASA

Today we are proud to announce on Google Arts & Culture a new online celebration of this week’s 20th anniversary of humans living and working on the International Space Station (ISS). Created in collaboration with NASA, this project includes NASA collections, stories, and some new games to help anybody learn more and engage in this important milestone in space exploration.

20 years ago, when the first crew of permanent astronauts, cosmonauts, and researchers arrived at their new home on the ISS it opened a new chapter in human space exploration. Today, we’re able to look back on all that’s happened, fromcutting-edge research to benefit humanity, to building essential foundations for international cooperation on our shared home: Earth.

For the first time on Google Arts & Culture, viewers will be able to explore a newly uploaded 3D model of the ISS in Augmented Reality, making it possible to bring the station back down to Earth and undertake fascinating examinations of each module of the station in incredible detail.

Also debuting is a new multiplayer Puzzle Party experiment. As our first game produced in collaboration with a single partner, it includes a dedicated set of images from NASA’s ISS archives on Google Arts & Culture to play with your friends and family. Piece together photographs ranging from the exterior views of the space station toastronauts on spacewalks, to learn more about the incredible work being done up in orbit.

Feeling inspired? Now you can recreate and remix some of the most iconic shots from the ISS — from shuttle launches to sightings of Earth from the station’s picture window known as the Cupola — with a NASA edition of the Art Coloring Book experiment, allowing anyone to make these images their own.

Dr. Gary Kitmacher, Mission Manager for ISS Communications and Education, helped curate the NASA experiences and provided subject matter expertise to this project. “I have dedicated 36 years of my life following and reporting on this incredible human adventure and the amazing achievements of the ISS. Partnering with Google Arts & Culture on this ISS 20th Project enables NASA to bring these stories to a new audience.”

• image.png

  Customize iconic images from the past 20 years of the ISS in your favorite colors with the NASA Edition of the Art Coloring Book.

• Screenshot 2020-10-26 at 11.38.09 AM.png

  Explore the space station in three dimensions with a highly detailed model created by NASA experts.

• image-CAF0IhEK5ZiaHg-large.jpg

  The International Space Station photographed by Expedition 56 crew members from a Soyuz spacecraft after undocking.

• image-6gHdilW1jria1w-large.jpg

  NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson, Expedition 23 flight engineer, works with experiment hardware in the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) located in the Columbus laboratory of the International Space Station.

• image-nwEU2sE03VVoYw-large.jpg

  Space shuttle Endeavour rises on twin columns of flame from Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on the STS-134 mission to the International Space Station.

We are excited to celebrate and share with everyone the human achievement that is the International Space Station with NASA through this Google Arts & Culture project.

by Simon DelacroixGoogle Arts & Culture via The Keyword