Quicksave: The latest from Google Play Pass

Google Play Pass helps you connect with awesome digital content: It’s your pass to hundreds of apps and games without ads and in-app purchases. We wanted to take another moment to spotlight a few of the games and developers we think you’ll enjoy.

Dive into the newest games

Tesla vs Lovecraft

An epic showdown between man vs monsters.

PRICE:$9.99Free with Google Play Pass subscription

Play as enigmatic inventor Nikola Tesla as you mow down nightmarish monsters from the mind of famed horror author H.P. Lovecraft.

Delight Games (Premium Library)

70+ interactive volumes to immerse you in new worlds.

PRICE:$29.99Free with Google Play Pass subscription

Enjoy a massive new trove of choose your own adventure stories that span every possible world from fantasy to mystery, horror, adventure and even some romance.

WHO IS AWESOME

Fall, chase and flip your way to victory in this two-directional platformer!

PRICE:$0.99Free with Google Play Pass subscription

Chase and run your way through different lands in a single-player mini-game collection that challenges you to outthink characters from four popular games.

Starman

Recover the light, and bring life back!

PRICE:$4.49Free with Google Play Pass subscription

Guide Starman through a breathtaking series of atmospheric architectural scenes and elaborate puzzles that are challenging, relaxing and immersive.

Explore the titles we ❤️   

Super Glitch Dash

The ultimate twitch runner has arrived.

PRICE:Free(No in-app purchases with Google Play Pass subscription)

Get ready to immerse yourself in this jaw-dropping, rhythm-driven runner that takes everything you love about the acclaimed original Glitch Dash to the next level.

Cytus II

From the makers of Cytus, experience a whole new chapter.

PRICE:$1.99Free with Google Play Pass subscription

Step into the future, where a mysterious DJ legend is at the center of this music rhythm game that puts 100+ songs from all over the world at your fingertips.

Summer Catchers

Embark on an epic road trip adventure of a lifetime.

PRICE:$3.99Free with Google Play Pass subscription

Travel to distant uncharted lands full of mystery, strange creatures and exciting races as you pursue a quest to finally experience summer.

Dandara: Trials of Fear Edition

The world of Salt is on the brink of collapse. Its only hope is Dandara.

PRICE:$5.99Free with Google Play Pass subscription

Defy gravity and discover secret mysteries in this 2D metroidvania platformer that puts you in a battle for survival against enemies bent on oppression.

No need for FOMO: Check out everything that’s been added since June 1, 2021.

Action

Lovecraft's Untold Stories

Space Marshals 3

Tesla vs Lovecraft

Adventure

Angelo and Deemon: One Hell of a Quest (Full)

Death Road to Canada

DISTRAINT 2

Heal: Pocket Edition

Pango Kumo - weather game for kids 3-6

Pango Pirate - Adventure Game for kids

Timo - Adventure Puzzle Game

Arcade

Aftermath

Bermuda Triangle

Color Ball Blast

Daggerhood

DRAW CHILLY

Super Drop Land

Whale Trail Classic

WHO IS AWESOME

Art and Design

Pango Paper Color - colouring book game for kids

Board

Draughts

Books and Reference

Dictionary.com Premium

Card

21 Smash - Best mix of Solitaire and BlackJack

Brave Hand

Castle Solitaire: Card Game

Casual

Pango Sheep: get all the sheep

Snail Bob 3

Education

The Bugs 2: What Are They Like?

Extraordinary Women

How do Animals Work?

Make It - Create Educational Games & Quizzes

May the Forces Be With You

Monopoly Junior

My Green City

My Little Pony: Story Creator

Educational

Car City: Kindergarden Toddler Learning Games

Car City Puzzle Games - Brain Teaser for Kids 2+

Car Patrol Hide & Seek: Preschool Animals Safari

Carl the Super Truck Roadworks: Dig, Drill & Build

Kiddopia

Logic Club

Pango Fox Factory - Coding Games For Kids

Pango Build City: create train tracks for children

Entertainment

Tonka: Trucks Around Town

Health and Fitness

Hydro Coach PRO - drink water

Lifestyle

Time Until | Beautiful Countdown App + Widget

Music

Pango Musical March : music game of marching band

Percuss — Rhythm Sequencer

Music and Audio

AudioLab 🎵 Audio Editor Recorder & Ringtone Maker

Strobe Tuner Pro: Guitar Tuner, Violin, Ukulele, …

Photography

PicLab - Photo Editor

TouchRetouch

Puzzle

Amigo Pancho

Azkend 2: The World Beneath

Dream Detective

The Eyes of Ara

Grids of Thermometers

Hashi Puzzle

hocus 2

I Love Hue Too

Oculux

Pango Blocks : puzzle game for kids 4 - 8 years

Pango One Road : logical labyrinth for children

Pettson's Inventions 2

Puzzle Retreat

Rip Them Off

Starman

Twinfold

YANKAI'S DIAMOND

Racing

Dead Paradise: Car Shooter & Action Game

Dirt Trackin Sprint Cars

Roleplaying

Cyberlords - Arcology

Delight Games (Premium Library)

RPG Aeon Avenger - KEMCO

RPG Grinsia

RPG Alphadia2

Space Raiders RPG

Undead Horde

Yōdanji: The Roguelike

Simulation

Casino Crime

The Little Crane That Could

Pango Build Safari : animal park for kids 3 - 8

Pig io - Pig Evolution io games

Shiny Ski Resort

Sports

Super Soccer Champs 2021

Strategy

Maze Machina

Pocket Harvest

Tactic Master - Strategy Battle & Tower Defense

Wanna Survive

Weather

Weather Forecast 14 days Pro - Meteored News

Weather XS PRO

Word

String of Words

by James Kavanagh via The Keyword

We’re here, we’re loud, we’re disabled and proud

I discovered Disability pride only after going to a youth Disability conference where I learned —  for the first time — how it felt to be a part of the majority in the room. Now I try to create that experience for more disabled people.

In addition to my marketing role where I work on naming our products, I’m also a lead on Google’s Disability Alliance employee resource group that is made up of thousands of Googlers. As part of this community, we advocate, build awareness, and share advice around Disability topics with the goal of creating innovative and inclusive products, programs, and practices. We help people understand the larger Disability community’s principle of “Nothing about us without us”, and for any new product or program at Google, we encourage everyone to think about “Nothing without us at all.”

Through building community and sharing our stories, we show that we can live full lives not despite our disabilities, but because we have accepted those disabilities with love. For Disability Pride Month, Googlers are celebrating their disabilities as part of their identities. I’m honored to have Parinita Das and Lio Benz share their stories with us.

Parinita in her home in Hyderabad, India.

Parinita Das

(she/her)

You’ve been at Google for over 14 years. What’s been  your favorite experience? 

Parinita: The open and inclusive culture is the most valuable experience I’ve cherished at Google over the years. It has taught me to be accepting of myself and others, which in turn has helped me grow into a better person.

What is your perspective on Disability pride and culture?

Parinita: I’m an upper limb amputee and I’m able to go about my day independently with most activities using a bionic arm. Only about 3% of total amputations are upper limb amputations, and a functional prosthetic arm costs twice as much of a lower limb prosthesis.

While technology focuses on making life limitless for amputees, I’m disheartened to see the lack of sensitization in people. In my view, the biggest barrier for people with disabilities (PwD) is the lack of a psychologically safe world. I dream of a world where there’s more inclusion in our hearts so that we don’t perceive PwDs as broken. Once we provide PwDs with the psychological safety that they not only need but deserve, the sky can be the limit to what we can achieve.

In India, where I live, we first need to develop psychological safety for PwDs so more people will self-identify themselves as having disabilities. Once the community grows, there’ll be more opportunities to build allyship, support each other and show the world what we’re really capable of. On a personal level, I’m a relatively new amputee who’s still learning to navigate this world that’s not built for PwDs. I take pride in the fact of how far I’ve come on this journey, and I feel confident that life is limitless for me!

Lio in their home in London, United Kingdom.

Lio Benz

(they/them)

Tell us about your role at Google.

Lio: I’m an interaction designer on the Google Play team in London. What I enjoy most about my work is transforming complex data sets into easy-to-understand interactions and data visualizations that developers use to improve their apps and games for millions of people around the world.

What is your perspective on Disability pride and culture?

Lio: My autistic neurotype defines my experience of the world, and what I can and can’t do. In my community, we call this being ActuallyAutistic. In our society that doesn’t meet autistic needs, I am disabled and I take pride in my disability.

When I claimed the word “disabled”, people reacted with skepticism because I don’t “look” autistic to them. Being autistic is still stereotyped as white and cis-male, so people outside that stereotype have more difficulty receiving a diagnosis. For children who are diagnosed, Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy can be traumatising, especially when it involves electric shocks. As adults, many of us are detained in mental health hospitals, and only 22% of us are in ANY kind of employment. Yet a lot of research still focuses on finding causes and “cures” instead of how we can lead fulfilling lives. We need allies to listen to Actually Autistic voices and bring intersectional perspectives to the places where decisions are being made.

by Aubrie Lee via The Keyword

Partnering with the NSF on a research institute for AI to improve elderly care

From the early days of the internet to the development of the Human Genome Project, U.S. government-funded R&D has yielded remarkable progress for society, and today it is an important engine for AI research. That’s why, last year, we were proud to announce our partnership with the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) to provide $5M to support the establishment of national research institutes working in the area of Human-AI Interaction and Collaboration (HAIC). This partnership—which is part of a more than $300M NSF investment in AI Research Institutes—will create vibrant research centers across the U.S. to advance how people and AI collaborate through speech, text, gestures, and more. It also builds on our partnership with the NSF  on next generation networks, and our AI research collaborations with U.S. federal agencies on weather modeling, robust AI systems, whale population monitoring, and more. 

Today, we are delighted to share that NSF has selected the AI Institute for Collaborative Assistance and Responsive Interaction for Networked Groups (AI-CARING) led by Georgia Tech, along with Carnegie Mellon University, Oregon State University, and University of Massachusetts Lowell to receive the $20M AI Institute for HAIC grant. AI-CARING will improve collaboration and communication in elderly caregiving environments by developing AI systems that adjust to the evolving personal needs and behaviors of those requiring care. With our growing research presence in Atlanta, we’re excited to build on our rich history of collaboration with Georgia Tech and its partners in this effort—most recently supporting some of these universities' work to help vulnerable populations find important information on COVID-19 and monitoring and forecasting disease spread.

With a growing population of older adults in need of caregiving, AI systems can be useful in a variety of contexts, like conversational assistants, health sensing, and improving coordination across the care network. For example, AI can help existing voice assistants better understand people with speech impairments, and can be integrated in home bathrooms to make them more accessible. The AI-CARING Institute will develop assistive AI agents across these types of contexts to help those requiring caregiving to sustain their independence and  improve their quality of life. Additionally, this research will be the product of interdisciplinary teams—with expertise across AI, geriatrics, behavioral sciences, and design—working to ensure that AI is deployed responsibly in this context, with human-centered principles in mind.

Congratulations to the recipient universities of the AI Institute awards and the faculty, listed below. We look forward to learning from the team’s research, sharing our resources and expertise, and building a collaboration to help older adults lead more independent lives and improve the quality of their care.

Recipient university institutions:

• Georgia Institute of Technology
• Carnegie Mellon University
• Oregon State University
• University of Massachusetts Lowell

Faculty:

• Sonia Chernova (Georgia Tech) - PI
• Elizabeth Mynatt (Georgia Tech) - Co-PI
• Reid Simmons (Carnegie Mellon University) - Co-PI
• Kagan Tumer (Oregon State University) - Co-PI
• Holly Yanco (University of Massachusetts Lowell) - Co-PI

by Leslie Yeh via The Keyword

New reach and frequency metrics in Display & Video 360

Earlier this week, we announced new ways to help you easily capture connected TV and audio streamers' attention and understand what drives them to become customers.

To deliver a consistent user experience across these new channels and more established ones, it’s critical to control the overall number of times people see your ads.

Effective cross-channel frequency management can also reduce budget waste and help you make every ad dollar count. On average, we found that customers see a 6% reach gain when managing frequency in Display & Video 360.

But beyond averages, we heard that you needed a personalized assessment of the impact of cross-channel frequency management solutions on a campaign-by-campaign basis. We’re introducing two new tools that help you appraise the benefits of your own cross-channel frequency management strategy on an ongoing basis and at no cost.

Quantify the reach impact of cross-channel frequency management

First, we’re adding a dedicated data visualization for each campaign that spans across channels and has a frequency goal set at the campaign level. The visualization shows how much reach was gained due to effective frequency management at the campaign level. You can also access the same information at the advertiser or at partner level by creating an offline report in the standard Display & Video 360 reporting.

Frequency management data visualization

Having a real-time view of reach gains gives you more precision in evaluating your campaign performance. It also lets you assess the value of managing your programmatic campaigns across channels in a consolidated way. This leaves you better armed to defend marketing budgets.

By measuring the actual reach gains that come from managing frequency across channels and eliminating unwanted impressions from our digital budgets, we can deliver better results for our clients. Georgina Thomson
Senior Director, Advanced Video Lead OMD USA

With this new data visualization, you don’t need to set up an experiment with a test and control phase in order to see the impact of applying your frequency management strategy across media types. Display & Video 360 uses log data to automatically compare the reach obtained by a cross-channel campaign against the reach that you would have obtained with separate campaigns, each containing a single channel and its own frequency goal.

Measure the extra reach coming from Programmatic Guaranteed strategies

Display & Video 360 will now calculate for you the extra reach you get for each Programmatic Guaranteed deal using Display & Video 360's frequency management solutions. This new metric will help you get a better understanding of how Programmatic Guaranteed deals contribute to the incremental reach you get from applying frequency management across media.

We can now easily monitor that our frequency distribution remains optimal across Programmatic Guaranteed and the rest of our Display & Video 360 buys – and quantify associated reach gains. Travis Freeman
Global Head of Media, Uber

This topline data point will be visible in a dashboard in the “My Inventory” tab. You’ll still be able to use Display & Video 360’s offline report to see budget savings reinvested and impressions passed due to frequency for each Programmatic Guaranteed deal.

Managing frequency without third-party cookies

We’re committed to building solutions that will let you maintain control over ad exposure in a way that respects user privacy even when third-party cookies and identifiers are missing. Since 2019, Display & Video 360’s cross-domain frequency management tools have been powered by machine learning technology. And recently, we’ve further evolved these models to enable advertisers to manage frequency on Firefox ETP and Microsoft Edge traffic. In the future, we’ll keep exploring innovative ways to protect users’ privacy while controlling users’ overexposure to ads and limiting media waste.

by Ketaki Sheode via The Keyword

Helping site owners manage consent in AdSense

Privacy regulations like the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) are an important part of privacy-first advertising. But navigating privacy regulations can be complex if you can’t dedicate resources to meet the varying regulatory requirements across the globe.  

The process of consent management often entails:

• Notifying site visitors on how their data is being used

• Enabling site visitors to provide consent or manage their data preferences

• Communicating those preferences to advertising partners, so that they’re respected

To help you gather and manage user consent for GDPR and opt-out requests for CCPA, we’ve launched new consent management features directly in AdSense Auto ads. These features offer an easy way for you to communicate with your site visitors, providing them an opportunity to manage their data and privacy preferences. This also gives you the ability to gather consent for advertising purposes, so you can continue to grow advertising revenue and fund your content. 

Gather and manage consent for GDPR

AdSense’s consent management solution is integrated with the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Europe’s Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF) v2.1, which standardizes the process and offers common language for gathering consent under the GDPR and ePrivacy Directive. When an EEA or U.K. user visits your site from those regions, your GDPR consent message will display to give them options to manage their data, and their choices will be automatically respected by AdSense and communicated to your advertising partners. 

Gather opt out requests for CCPA

AdSense also supports the IAB's CCPA Compliance Framework, which provides you with a standardized approach to manage opt-outs from users in this state. AdSense Auto ads detects when a user from California visits your site, shows them a CCPA opt out message, ensures their choice will be automatically respected by AdSense and makes the user’s choices available to other advertising partners you’ve integrated on the page. 

Grow revenue in a privacy-focused way

AdSense makes the process of gathering and managing consent easy. It allows you to communicate with your users and give them more transparency and control over how their data is being used. This makes it possible for you to continue to fund your content with advertising in a privacy-first way. 

The consent management solutions in AdSense are simple for publishers to use. As they’re already integrated into AdSense Auto ads, simply edit your site’s Auto ads settings, click “More features” and then turn on your consent messages. Of course, this feature is optional to use and you can work with any consent management platform of your choice. 

As new privacy regulations arise, we’ll continue to evolve our consent management solutions to help partners navigate user privacy decisions in a transparent way. We remain committed to helping site owners earn money through their content and grow their digital businesses for the future in a privacy-first ecosystem. Watch this space for further updates in the coming months.

Please visit the AdSense help center to learn more.

by AdSense Product Team via The Keyword

Google interns take on 2021

When I applied to be an intern at Google, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. But I knew what I was hoping for: a collaborative culture, to work on interesting new technology, and, of course, one of those colorful propeller hats. 

Still, I had no idea what part of the company I should work in, and I was worried about completing an entire internship remotely from my bedroom. I eventually was placed on the Global Communications and Public Affairs team — a specialty that was new to me. All my anxieties disintegrated when I met the Googlers who guided me through the internship process. I was welcomed onto a team that didn’t expect me to have everything figured out. They just wanted to support me.

During my internship, I’ve been encouraged to ask questions and given the resources to explore what interests me. Google is focused on continuous learning, and its internships are no exception. I may spend my morning interviewing a team lead about a product launch, followed by a coffee chat to learn about new Search features, and finish my day strategizing for this blog post. 

But my favorite part of my internship has been connecting with Googlers from all over the world and helping share their stories. This year, Google’s 3,500+ interns (who come from more than 400 universities and more than 40 countries) have been collaborating on and leading all kinds of meaningful projects. As we celebrate International Intern Day today, I spoke with a few members of my intern class about the work they’re doing at Google and what they’ve learned so far.

Making a real impact

Meet Sarah

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

As a PhD candidate studying human-computer interaction, Sarah is used to designing new ways for people to utilize technology. She has spent her internship researching how a device could be helpful to people with hearing loss who might lipread. As part of her work on the Hearing Accessibility team, she tested a bracelet that can translate audio into tactile vibrations, which can provide an added layer of communication in addition to lipreading. 

New to the area of hearing accessibility, Sarah quickly dove into the existing research, studying sound processing, phonetics and what makes lipreading both difficult and useful. 

“At the start of the internship I built a tool to help people practice with the devices,” Sarah says. “It also lets us run experiments with the devices remotely, and I’ve been really excited by what we’ve been able to learn with this tool over the last few weeks. It’s great to work on something that my teammates as well as our pilot users get value from.”

Work that’s never been done

Meet Lino

Berlin, Germany

Lino has spent his internship creating a central hub that helps direct Sales teams to relevant support resources and services. When he started, Lino wasn’t told to build a specific product. Instead, Lino’s team explained their problem and supported him while he worked on a solution. Through his project, he’s learned how to thrive in ambiguity.  

“Many of the things we do at Google haven’t been done before,” Lino says. “There’s no manual. It can be challenging to not have a step-by-step guide to follow, but really creating something from the ground up has been a very exciting experience.”

Learning with others

Meet Dana

Los Angeles, California

Throughout her internship, Dana has been working with Google Video Partners to grow a new format for audio ads. She’s partnered with various Google engineers to explore ideas like expanding to new inventory and making ad content more engaging. Did I mention she’s only a little more than half way through her 12-week internship? While working, Dana’s also built relationships with her peers. 

“Working virtually is nudging me to be more intentional about reaching out,” she says. “A highlight for me was when a team member organized a waffle-making event. Imagine 12 people on video call flipping waffles! It just made me so happy.”

Creating new opportunities

Meet João

São Paulo, Brazil

Balancing two projects, João worked as the technical point of contact for customers at Google Cloud Brazil, and analyzed team productivity at Google using AI. During his internship, he took advantage of Google’s career resources, earning two engineering certificates. The best part is that his time at Google isn’t over: Since João’s internship ended a few weeks ago, he accepted a full-time role.

“I'm very glad that my relationship with Google is only beginning,” João says. “It feels like every single contribution I made as an intern had an impact and it’s great to know there’s even more to come.”

by Julia Harter via The Keyword

Audience Explorer unlocks first-party data insights

If you’re hoping to attract new advertisers and earn the most value from your first-party data, it’s critical to explain what makes your audiences special. But it often takes technical skills or data expertise to develop insights that add order and meaning to your data. 

To help simplify this process and increase the value of publishers’ first-party data, in the coming weeks we’ll be launching Audience Explorer for partners using Google Ad Manager's Audience Solutions — a suite of premium features that enable publishers to ingest, build, activate and now analyze first-party audience segments within the platform. 

Audience Explorer was built to help publishers better understand and activate their first-party audience data. Without needing advanced tools or technical capabilities, publishers will be able to analyze their audience segments, develop enhanced narratives about their data and optimize their monetization strategies for both reservation and Programmatic Direct deals.

Easing access to audience insights

Audience Explorer delivers new dashboards and improved workflows that help publishers who are investing in first-party data strategies more easily understand their audiences. To ensure the new capabilities met the needs of publishers, we worked with over a dozen global partners to help develop and test the new solution. 

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“Macy's Media Network uses a data-driven approach to connect our shoppers with brands through a wide range of digital advertising services. Ad Manager's Audience Explorer tool helps us manage and scale our first party audiences to effectively plan and deliver targeted media for our advertising partners.”

- Melanie Zimmermann, Vice President, Macy’s Media Network, Macy’s 

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“Partnering with Ad Manager on the development of Audience Explorer has been important for our first-party data initiatives. With more than 100 million monthly active users across our 1,200+ communities, the new dashboard will help us better understand our audiences and package our inventory in new, compelling ways for our advertiser clients.”

- David Domitrovic, Director, Data Strategy & Analytics, VerticalScope

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Integrating the feedback we received, Audience Explorer allows publishers to visualize and interpret their first-party data in a variety of different ways. Partners can now explore the composition and behavior of a single audience segment, compare two segments side by side, or even overlap segments to better understand the similarities or differences in membership. Here are a few different ways publishers can benefit from Audience Explorer.

Scorecard table

When an Ad Manager user navigates to Audience Solutions in the platform, they’ll now be able to click on the title of an audience segment to open the new Audience Explorer dashboard. At the top of the dashboard, users will see the segment’s Scorecard. The Scorecard provides a quick snapshot of an audience segment over a specified period of time. High-level metrics in the Scorecard, like total unique identifiers or total ad impressions, can help publishers quickly understand which segments offer enough scale for the deals they're working on.

See top level insights on your first-party audience segments

Audience Explorer tab

The Audience Explorer tab in the dashboard features a collection of visual Insights Cards that provide new ways to think about, market and improve the performance of first-party audience segments. These interactive cards help publishers visualize things like what time of day different audiences are most active and which ad units are seen most often. For additional flexibility, the cards can also be toggled to visualize data by either the number of unique audience identifiers or the total number of ad impressions from users in a segment.

Use the Audience Explorer tab to learn more about a first-party segment

Segment comparison tool 

The comparison tool in the Audience Explorer dashboard enables publishers to compare two first-party segments side by side in a single Insight Card. This visualization helps publishers understand which audiences may fit an advertisers needs more closely, or how two different segments could be best used together in a single campaign.

Compare and contrast two first-party audience segments side by side

Segment overlap tab 

The segment overlap tool helps publishers understand how distinct each audience segment is. With this tool, partners will be able to explore metrics like the number of unique cookies, cookie overlap, unique impressions and impression overlap. By understanding what percentage of members belong to multiple audience segments, publishers will have a clearer understanding of unique reach when packaging multiple segments together for their advertiser clients.

Overlap multiple first-party audience segments to explore compositions

Investing in first-party solutions

Audience Explorer builds on our first-party data announcements from earlier this year, and reinforces our commitment to develop new identity and data solutions for our partners. We strongly encourage publishers to invest or continue their investments in privacy-secure, first-party audience signals for their advertiser clients as well. 

Looking to get started with first-party audience data in Ad Manager? Sign up to join our upcoming webinar, Using Publisher Provided Identifiers to activate first party audiences, on August 11, 2021. In this session you’ll learn how to build and ingest first-party audiences in Ad Manager, how you can use Audience Explorer to learn more about these audiences and how you can market inventory and execute campaigns using your first-party data.

by Josh ZukoffGoogle Ad Manager via The Keyword

Pharaoh's Conclave levels up opportunity in gaming

It’s far from just fun and (video) games:  esports is a rapidly-growing $1.5 billion industry.In 2020 alone, there was a 70% increase in the number of eSports viewers in the U.S., and it’s expected to total 474 million viewers by the end of this year.There are a range of lucrative careers in the competitive video gaming industry:  professional player, announcer, coach, tournament organizer and game developer and designer, just to name a few. But not everyone is exposed to these opportunities. 

As a lifelong gaming enthusiast and an educator with a PhD in computer science, I was concerned that Black and Brown school-aged kids and older youth weren’t being drawn to work in technology in general and esports in particular. While Black and Latinx youth in the U.S. spend more time per day on both mobile and console games than white youth, they make up less than 6% of the professional video game industry as adults. So my husband, Erich, and I founded Pharaoh's Conclave (PCX), a platform, league and apprenticeship program that creates pathways for meaningful careers and wealth generation for Black and Brown youth.  

Jakita O. Thomas, Ph.D. (left) and Erich P. Thomas (right), cofounders of Pharaoh’s Conclave

Pharaoh's Conclave is on a mission to prepare the next generation of the esports workforce — and open opportunities to marginalized communities — by providing K-12 and collegiate youth with access to industry tools, training and professional mentors. By connecting PCX youth with mentors who understand firsthand the way these students move through the world, we’re able to foster organic relationships that create impact and opportunities in the industry. More than 50 PCX program graduates have gone on to full-time careers in esports, transitioning from mentee to mentor. You make real change by starting at the grade level and giving youth the steps to achievement, all with the critical support of the community behind them. 

Working with kids is similar to raising kids: it takes a village. We understood that PCX couldn’t change the face of esports alone — and we also knew that tech is grappling with the same diversity problems as the gaming industry. Less than ​​1%of total venture capital funding in the United States went to Black founders in 2020. Receiving a $100,000 non-dilutive cash award from the Google for Startups Black Founders Fund not only empowered us to create economic opportunities for Black and Brown youth, but also fueled wealth generation in our community. Collectively, in just six months the first group of the Black Founders Fund recipients raised an additional $38 million in outside capital.

The investment from Google paved the way for additional wins, including a grant from the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, several new partnerships, and requests from multiple county and state entities across the Southeast to provide programming for K-12  and college students. The support empowered us to generate revenues from Level Up Academy (our online learning platform) and hire a professional software design team.  We’ve also established a formal apprenticeship program with the U.S. Department  of Labor the first of its kind for gaming. 

When you solve problems for the most marginalized people, you actually solve problems for everyone. When you fund Black founders, you elevate the entire community.  We will push the industry forward by working together — and by saving competition for the games themselves, instead of for access to the gaming industry. 

by Dr. Jakita Thomas via The Keyword

New support for Southeast Asia’s COVID-19 response

In many parts of Southeast Asia and beyond, the impact of COVID-19 remains severe. More than 18 months after the virus first began spreading, high caseloads and new variants are putting pressure on health systems. It’s a difficult time for people across the region, and heartbreaking for those who’ve lost loved ones.  

Vaccines offer a path to stability and recovery, and Google is working closely with governments, health authorities and nonprofits as inoculation programs roll out. But there’s also an urgent need for the equipment that health workers depend on as they battle the pandemic and care for patients on the front lines. 

Today, through our philanthropic arm, Google.org, we’re announcing a new, $2.5 million grant to help UNICEF and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) — as well as partners on the ground — scale up the COVID-19 response in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Pakistan.This will provide critical, life-saving support to the people who need it most.

In addition to funding this immediate medical response, Google.org will provide a further $5 million in ad grants so local government agencies and organizations like UNICEF can run public information campaigns — ensuring important health messages reach the widest possible audience.   

The new Google.org funds are part of Google’s broader contribution to the response to COVID across Asia-Pacific, including in Southeast Asia. In partnership with health authorities, we’re sharing the latest health information and supporting news sources people can trust. We’re also contributing in every way we can to Southeast Asia’s economic recovery, from providing small business owners and workers with digital skills training to fostering the next generation of startup founders. Through a separate Google.org grant, we’re helping ASEAN, the Asia Foundation and local nonprofits close digital divides in marginalized communities. 

And we continue to be humbled and inspired by the generosity of Googlers. Our global employee giving campaign — matched by Google.org and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance — has helped fully vaccinate more than 1 million people globally. Here in Southeast Asia, Googlers have donated $80,000 and counting for local nonprofits’ COVID response efforts in Indonesia and Vietnam.  

We’re sending our best wishes for safety and wellbeing to everyone affected by the pandemic throughout the region. Looking ahead, we’ll keep standing with the communities we serve — and working with our partners to shape a sustainable recovery for the long term. 

by Stephanie DavisSoutheast Asia via The Keyword

Expanding our cloud infrastructure to support Australia’s digital future

Even pre-pandemic, the adoption of cloud services was on the rise as organisations looked to drive digital transformation for business resilience and innovation. The impact of COVID-19 has only served to accelerate this momentum. As we continue to support the digital future of businesses, we are launching our second Australian Cloud region in Melbourne, Victoria. 

In 2017 we launched our first Cloud region in Sydney and, since then, we have continued to invest and expand across Australia in an effort to support the digital future of businesses. According to AlphaBeta, Google Cloud delivers almost AU$3.2 billion in annual gross benefits to business and consumers in Australia, including AU$686 million to our customers and AU$698 million to our partners.

The Melbourne Cloud region represents one part of our continued expansion in cloud infrastructure to support Australia’s digital future, and is a strong reflection of our commitment to enabling our Cloud customers and partners to continue growing, innovating, and driving digital transformation forward in the region.

Of the launch, Victorian Minister for Government Services Danny Pearson said, “We welcome Google’s investment in local cloud infrastructure that will support the growing cloud requirements of Victorian businesses.”

Our investment in local cloud infrastructure

Melbourne joins the existing 26 Google Cloud regions connected via our high-performance global network, helping customers benefit from low latency and high performance of their cloud-based workloads and leverage the cleanest cloud in the industry. Through our second Cloud region in Australia, customers will benefit from improved business continuity planning with distributed, secure infrastructure needed to meet IT and business requirements for disaster recovery, all while maintaining data sovereignty in-country.

Designed for high availability, the region opens with three availability zones to protect against service disruptions; we're the first hyperscaler to provide this capability in Melbourne today. It offers a portfolio of key products, including Compute Engine, Google Kubernetes Engine, Cloud Bigtable, Cloud Spanner and BigQuery.

We also continue to invest in expanding connectivity across the Australia and New Zealand region by working with partners to establish subsea cables, including INDIGO and JGA South, and points of presence in major cities including Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Canberra, Brisbane, and Auckland. We also work with interconnect partners to extend the reach of our secure network.

Helping customers in the era of the transformation cloud

Navigating the past year has been challenging for Australian organisations as they grapple with changing customer demands and greater economic uncertainty. Technology has played a critical role in managing these changes, and we’ve been fortunate to partner with and serve people, companies and government institutions to help them adapt, including Australia Post, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, and Optus. Hear more about what they have to say here. 

by Matt Zwolenski via The Keyword

A shared responsibility for quality journalism

Today we are publishing a paper that draws from our decades-long experience working with news publishers and journalists. It offers some ideas for constructive paths forward to foster the sustainability of the quality journalism that informs and strengthens communities, and elevates the essential stories in our lives. This paper includes possible areas for public policy support, such as incentive structures, innovation programs and projects to share best practices. While this is by no means an exhaustive list of ideas, we are publishing it to contribute to the wider discussion.

Supporting journalism has always been important to Google. As a company whose mission focuses on access to information, and whose success depends in large part on having a diverse open ecosystem of quality information, we are committed to helping find a path to a sustainable future for journalism. It's why 20 years ago, we built Google News to help connect people to stories that impact their daily lives. We launched the Google News Initiative to support news publishers in their transition to a digital world; we do this through tools, technology and significant financial support for both existing newsrooms and new, diverse online news outlets and projects. More recently, we launched Google News Showcase, through which we pay publishers to create and curate quality content for a new online news experience. 

Quality journalism enables communities to learn and share essential information, establish shared, accurate understandings of key public developments, and hold elected officials and institutions to account. And in this information age it has never been more essential for democratic discourse and social well-being. But digitization has challenged the underlying commercial model. That said, ensuring a sustainable, vibrant future for quality journalism needs to be done thoughtfully, and as a collective endeavor. 

Sensible public policy can be a key component to addressing these challenges; such policy will work best if it is informed by a robust dialogue among a diverse range of stakeholders including publishers, journalists, policymakers, civil society and the private sector. We must identify the underlying challenges and consider novel solutions. 

In the paper we are publishing today, we discuss three foundational proposals that we believe could help inform public policy approaches to supporting the future of quality journalism:

1. Convening cross-sector experts to identify focus areas and collaborate on shared solutions;
2. Investing in newsroom innovation and experimentation to identify and support sustainable business models; and 
3. Providing support for legacy institutions as they go through the digital transformation. 

There are no easy solutions to the complex set of challenges facing the news industry today, which is why we have been working for years to support legacy newsrooms and new entrants focused on providing local news and quality journalism.  The challenge is urgent – and across society we must work together to create sustainable solutions to these issues.

The experiences and lessons we describe in this paper would not have been possible without the valuable input we’ve received from the news partners we have worked with and learned from over the years. While there may be no simple solution, we are eager to listen, learn more and help drive innovation to support a successful public policy approach that results in a vibrant journalism ecosystem.

by Brad BenderNews via The Keyword

Vaccines and our return-to-office plans

Sundar sent the following email to Google employees earlier this morning. The email has been edited to remove internal links. 

Hi everyone,

I hope you are all taking good care. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we’ve put the wellbeing of our Google community front and center. We’ve done this while also taking care of our customers and partners, launching over 200 new products and features to help people and businesses navigate this difficult time. 

In March of 2020, we made the early decision to send employees home to slow down the spread of COVID. Since then, we’ve extended our Carer’s Leave coverage to help employees care for loved ones. We’ve continued to cover the full wages of on campus workers who couldn't perform their jobs because of office closures. And, we’ve made sure that Googlers and our extended workforce have access to vaccines as soon as they are available locally. Additionally, thanks to the generosity of Googlers and support from Google.org, we've helped Gavi to fully vaccinate over 1 million people in low-and middle-income countries globally. 

Even as the virus continues to surge in many parts of the world, it’s encouraging to see very high vaccination rates for our Google community in areas where vaccines are widely available. This is a big reason why we felt comfortable opening some of our offices to employees who wanted to return early. And I have to say it’s been great to see Googlers brainstorming around whiteboards and enjoying meals in cafes again in the many offices that have already re-opened globally. 

Getting vaccinated is one of the most important ways to keep ourselves and our communities healthy in the months ahead. As we look toward a global return to our offices, I wanted to share two key updates:

• First, anyone coming to work on our campuses will need to be vaccinated. We’re rolling this policy out in the U.S. in the coming weeks and will expand to other regions in the coming months. The implementation will vary according to local conditions and regulations, and will not apply until vaccines are widely available in your area. You’ll get guidance from your local leads about how this will affect you, and we’ll also share more details on an exceptions process for those who cannot be vaccinated for medical or other protected reasons.

• Second, we are extending our global voluntary work-from-home policy through October 18.We are excited that we’ve started to re-open our campuses and encourage Googlers who feel safe coming to sites that have already opened to continue doing so. At the same time, we recognize that many Googlers are seeing spikes in their communities caused by the Delta variant and are concerned about returning to the office. This extension will allow us time to ramp back into work while providing flexibility for those who need it. We’ll continue watching the data carefully and let you know at least 30 days in advance before transitioning into our full return to office plans. For those of you with special circumstances, we will soon be sharing expanded temporary work options that will allow you to apply to work from home through the end of 2021. We’re also extending Expanded Carer’s Leave through the end of the year for parents and caregivers.

I know that many of you continue to deal with very challenging circumstances related to the pandemic. While there is much that remains outside of our control, I’m proud of the way we continue to take care of each other while helping people, businesses and communities through these difficult times.  

I hope these steps will give everyone greater peace of mind as offices reopen. Seeing Googlers together in the offices these past few weeks filled me with optimism, and I’m looking forward to brighter days ahead. 

-Sundar

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by Sundar Pichai via The Keyword

Using AI to map Africa’s buildings

Between 2020 and 2050, Africa’s population is expected to double, adding 950 million more people to its urban areas alone. However, according to 2018 figures, a scarcity of affordable housing in many African cities has forced over half of the city dwellers in Sub-Saharan Africa to live in informal settlements. And in rural areas, many also occupy makeshift structures due to widespread poverty.

These shelters have remained largely undetectable using traditional monitoring tools. Machine learning, computer vision and remote sensing have come some way in recognizing buildings and roads, but when it comes to denser neighborhoods, it becomes much harder to distinguish small and makeshift buildings. 

Why is this an issue? Because when preparing a humanitarian response, forecasting transportation needs, or planning basic services, being able to accurately map the built environment - which allows us to ascertain population density - is absolutely key.

Enter Google’s Open Buildings

Google’s Open Buildings is a new open access dataset containing the locations and geometry of buildings across most of Africa. From Lagos’ Makoko settlement to Dodoma’s refugee camps, millions of previously invisible buildings have popped up in our dataset. This improved building data helps refine the understanding of where people and communities live, providing actionable information for state and non-state actors looking to provide services from sanitation to education and vaccination.

• An aerial photograph of a refugee settlement in Uganda

  Refugee settlement in Yumbe district, Uganda

• An aerial photograph of rural dwellings in Ethiopia

  Rural dwellings in Sholtaka, Ethiopia

  
  

• An aerial photograph of an urban area in DRC

  High density urban area in Kinshasa, DRC

Open Buildings uses AI to provide a digital footprint of buildings. This includes producing polygons with the outlines of at least 500 million buildings across the African continent, the majority of which are less than 20 square meters. The full dataset encompasses 50 countries.

The data provides the exact location and polygon outline of each building, its size, a confidence score for it being detected as a valid building and a Plus Code. There is, however, no information about the type of building, its street address, or any identifying data. We have also excluded sensitive areas such as conflict zones to protect vulnerable populations.

Satellite mapping using AI 

The Open Buildings dataset was generated by using a model trained to detect buildings using satellite imagery from the African continent. The information for the buildings detected is then saved in CSV files which are available to download. The technical details of the Open Buildings dataset, including usage and tutorials, are available on the dataset website and the Google AI blog.

How will this improve planning?

There are many important ways in which this data can be used, including — but not limited to — the following:

Population mapping: Building footprints are a key ingredient for estimating population density. This information is vital to planning for services for communities. 

Humanitarian response: To plan the response to a flood, drought, or other natural disaster.

Environmental science: Knowledge of settlement density is useful for understanding the human impact on the natural environment. 

Addressing systems: In many areas, buildings do not have formal addresses. This can make it difficult for people to access social benefits and economic opportunities. Building footprint data can help with the rollout of digital addressing systems such asPlus Codes.

Vaccination planning: Knowing the density of population and settlements helps to anticipate demand for vaccines and the best locations for facilities. This data is also useful for precision epidemiology, as well as prevention efforts such as mosquito net distribution.

Statistical indicators: Buildings data can be used to help calculate statistical indicators for national planning, such as the numbers of houses in the catchment areas of schools and health centers, mean travel distances to the nearest hospital or demand forecast for transportation systems.

Google’s AI Center in Accra

This project was led by our team at the AI Research Center in Accra, Ghana. The center was launched in 2019 to bring together top machine learning researchers and engineers dedicated to AI research and its applications. The research team has already been improving Google Maps with AI, adding 120 million buildings and 228,000 km of roads across Africa to Maps in the last year. This work is part of our broader AI for Social Good efforts.

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by Abdoulaye Diack via The Keyword

One engineer’s tips for getting into 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 we spoke with Akash Mukherjee, a Security Engineer at our Mountain View office, about what makes his work challenging and exciting.

What do you do at Google?

I’m a Security Engineer on the Chrome Browser Core Infrastructure team. My team makes sure that the infrastructure used to build and ship Chrome to billions of users is secure. We build tools to make it easy for secure development practice across Chrome. One cool part of this work is that we not only support Google’s internal developer community but also open source contributors.

What’s a typical workday like for you? 

Most of my day involves designing and building out tools, so a lot of writing code and design docs. I’d say I spend 15% of my time syncing with colleagues on updates for ongoing projects. I’m fortunate to have multiple projects to work on — this helps me feel constantly challenged and motivated to work.

I feel like I have a great balance between collaborating and working independently. 

What made you decide to apply to Google?

Google had always been at the back of my mind, but I was intimidated by the interview process and held off applying for a while. Still, I’d heard good stories about the work-life balance at Google from friends. I was actually getting ready to apply right when a recruiter reached out to me! It felt like a natural match not only in terms of technical skills, but also culturally.

How did you land in your current role?

Before joining Google, I was a security engineer at another company, where I was doing more automation work. Although it was exciting, I always felt something was missing. Joining Google I realized how much I value constant innovation and building new systems and tools. One of the coolest things about building new things is that it requires you to understand the vast existing infrastructure. It’s challenging, exciting work.

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

It’s fascinating to see how Google’s objective of building for everyone breaks down to the individual level. One of the benefits of working at Google is that the work we do impacts more than a billion people’s lives. That motivates me. It would be unfair not to also mention all the amazing people I work with on a daily basis — my colleagues are a crucial part of the work I do.

Besides work, I play soccer and love to explore driving around. I also have the cutest golden retriever and outside work, that’s where I spend most of my time.

How did you prepare for the interview?

Google’s interview process really tests your fundamental knowledge. Work on strengthening those building blocks and answer questions with technical details. This is a good starting point that I have used. If you look at the questions, you’ll see how fundamentals are important. 

Any tips for aspiring Googlers?

Believe in yourself, especially during tough times and failures. Anyone out there reading this, just get past the fear of failure and start learning from it. Failures teach us much more than success.

by Daphne Karpel via The Keyword

Italy’s capital of culture: Parma

The cultural scope of the beautiful Italian Peninsula never ceases to amaze people all over the world. But the possibility of getting to know the traditions and peculiarities of many Italian gems has been drastically reduced since the pandemic hit. Among such treasures is Parma, a delicate city set in the very heart of Italy. Beyond being the capital of iconic food such as Parmigiano and Prosciutto, Parma is a city of incredible cultural heritage that gained the prestigious title of “Italian Capital of Culture for the year 2020” but had to put a year-long calendar of events on hold due to the pandemic. 

Eighteen months later, the city is ready to celebrate its cultural heritage with the world on Google Arts & Culture. The collaboration between the Municipality of Parma and Google brought online the work of 33 institutional partners in the Parma area, including over 17,000 images from the archives of the municipal museums, 30 places digitized with Street View and much more. It’s a  project of true cultural valorization that highlights the magic behind this city.

Travel to Italy from home and check out some of Parma’s wonders. Explore the masterpieces, enjoy the sound of music and get a taste of that Italian cuisine:

1. Deep into a towering dome: Step inside and see the details of a 27-meters-high dome like you’ve never seen before and learn about the artist Correggio’s devotion to the Benedectine congregation.

2. Get your artists in place: Thanks to the Google Art Camera, the online experience faithfully reproduces over 200 masterpieces by international artists such as Picasso, Francis Bacon, Goya, Monet and Tiziano Vecellio but also by Italian artists including Ligabue, De Chirico, Boccioni, Filippo Lippi and Parmigianino. 

3. 300,000 bamboo plants: Did you know Parma holds the largest existing labyrinth in the world? Labirinto della Masone was created by the visionary mind of Franco Maria Ricci. It is composed of 300,000 bamboo plants and is considered a magical place, all waiting to be discovered!  

4. Music to your ears: The land of renowned musicians Verdi and Toscanini, Parma is a favorite destination for opera lovers, who can now immerse themselves in a collection of 10,000 stage photographs, sketches and posters from the newly digitized Casa della Musica(literally “House of Music) archives. Several museums are now online, with the goal of bringing the history of sound reproduction to all ears. 

5. No stereotypes when it comes to food: Known worldwide for Parmigiano Reggiano, the digital hub also features the Parmigiano Reggiano Museum to discover all about the history of one of the world’s most loved cheeses. 

6. Did you say Pasta?: “Pasta” is synonymous with Italy so of course the online hub also includes the famous Pasta Museum to virtually transport you from the wheat fields to the traditional Italian household to make pasta. Check it out to truly understand the role that this type of food has played and continues to play in gastronomy, art, culture and in the lives of people around the world.

• The painting portrays a noblewoman from the 16th century with soft but rich tones. She is carrying a feathered fan. Her gaze is enigmatic and directed to the observer.

  Get to know the enigmatic noblewomanportrayed by Parmigianino, master of Mannerism.

• The image is a full view of the fresco that decorates the Church's dome. 27-metres-high, surrounded by a golden light, the Second Coming of Christ is portrayed, surrounded by the Apostles.

  Zoom in and see the details of the San Giovanni Evangelista dome, just as the Italian Master Correggio did back in 1520.

• Almost shaped like a star, this maze is entirely made of bamboo trees and from this aerial view, you can spot the Masone Pyramid at the very center.

  Get lost in the largest maze existing in the world with over 300.000 bamboo plants.

• Fresh pasta gets dried by hanging on special racks. Here pictured a golden wall of drying spaghetti at the Pasta Museum.

  A commercial directed by Fellini, a story about the colander, a series of recipe books: it’s all about pasta!

• A view from the point of view of the stage, to appreciate the five orders and full seating of this opera theater. The arena is glowing thanks to a majestic chandelier.

  Discover the opera lovers’favourite stage.

The journey into the beauty of Parma doesn't end here. Continue to discover the wonders of the Capital of Culture 2020 and 2021and let yourself be amazed by the art, music and culture of the city.  

Want to continue traveling to Italy from home? Look behind the curtain of one of the world’s greatest and oldest theaters, La Scala Theater in Milan or take a virtual tour of some of Italy’s most iconic sites through the “Wonders of Italy” experience. 

This and so much more, on Google Arts & Culture and on the Google Arts & Culture app foriOS and Android

by Luisella MazzaGoogle Arts & Culture via The Keyword