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Carolien Postma is used to testing and retesting (and retesting) new features. She’s a user experience (UX) researcher at Google, a role she describes as “making sure that whatever we build and create, that it actually creates value for our users and that it actually does what our users need it to do.” Over the past nine months, she’s been part of the team testing the upcoming emoji reactions for Google Meet. “This release was about giving people an easy way to express their feelings and feedback in a way that helped everyone in a call feel more connected,” Carolien says. “This was a fun one, too, because it’s something I can point to that makes my work tangible!” While the work was certainly fun, it was also important: Emoji help teams celebrate wins and offer support, and it’s important they represent everyone. Because of this, there were plenty of research hours behind the project. Here are a few of the things Carolien and her fellow UX researchers on the team investigated, and ...

These days, it can feel like information is coming at us from every direction. It’s probably happened to you before: You caught a few minutes of a news broadcast, came across a viral meme or photo on social media, got a push alert or a family member messaged you in a group chat — and you may not feel like you got the whole story. The widespread availability of information – from all different kinds of sources – is great for learning new facts and perspectives from around the world. But it can also make it difficult to sort out what information is credible and what isn’t. Earlier this week, Sundar announced Google is investing $10 million to help fight misinformation about the realities and facts of the war in Ukraine. This includes new partnerships with think tanks and civil society organizations to conduct region-specific research into misinformation and disinformation and cash grants to support fact-checking networks and nonprofits. International Fact-Checking Day on April 2 is...

En estos días, se siente como si la información viniera hacia nosotros desde todas las direcciones. Es probable que te haya pasado antes: escuchaste brevemente una transmisión de noticias, te encontraste con un meme viral o una foto en las redes sociales, has recibido una alerta en el teléfono o un miembro de tu familia te ha enviado un mensaje en un chat grupal, y es posible que sientas que no tienes toda la información sobre la historia. La amplia disponibilidad de información, desde todo tipo de fuentes, es ideal para aprender nuevos hechos y perspectivas de todo el mundo. Pero también puede dificultar la tarea de determinar qué información es creíble y cuál no. A principios de esta semana, Sundar anunció que Google está invirtiendo 10 millones de dólares para ayudar a combatir la desinformación sobre las realidades y los hechos de la guerra en Ucrania. Esto incluye nuevas asociaciones con grupos de estudio y organizaciones de la sociedad civil para llevar a cabo investigacione...

Back in 2017, Niken Satyawati’s day was filled with the business of running her household — caring for her three daughters, preparing meals, and the many other tasks any stay-at-home mom would know all too well. But in May of that year, Niken traveled from her hometown of Surakarta to Google’s office in Jakarta, where she attended a training session to learn the skills she needed to become a fact-checker. “I saw many hoaxes on the internet. It affects real life. Friendships are broken, fighting between families,” Satyawati said. “Someone must do something to reduce them.” So she decided to take matters into her own hands, joining a group of citizen fact-checkers who were gathering in online forums to fight misinformation. They called themselves Masyarakat Anti Fitnah Indonesia, the Indonesian Anti-Slander Society, or Mafindo for short. A co-founder of Mafindo — Septiaji Eko Nugroho — was recruiting volunteers to join this verification training in Jakarta. Niken joined a motley cr...

Since 2013, Women Techmakers Ambassadors (WTM) have brought people around the world together throughout March and April in celebration of International Women's Day (IWD), hosting events to connect and educate their local tech communities. This year’s theme is #ProgressNotPerfection, the idea of letting go of preconceived ideas of perfection and fears of failure, and instead celebrating progress in its many forms. I recently spoke with three WTM Ambassadors planning these events to hear what they’re most looking forward to. WTM Ambassador Maryam Alhuthayfi For IWD this year, Maryam is hosting tech workshops as well as leading a WTM Saudi # IAmRemarkable session to encourage women to explore technology. “There aren’t as many opportunities for women in tech in Saudi Arabia, so we need to push them forward to be visible, for companies to see that they are capable,” she says. True to the #ProgressNotPerfection theme, Maryam wants women to be unafraid of mistakes. “You can correc...

Every day, people come to Google looking for ways to keep themselves and their families safe. From highlighting resources in the wake of a natural disaster to providing time-sensitive health information, we’re constantly working on new features and improvements to help you quickly find what you need. And advancements in AI can power new technologies, like flood forecasting, to help people stay out of harm’s way. Here’s a look at how our AI systems are helping us connect people to critical information while avoiding potentially shocking or harmful content — so you can stay safe, both online and off. Finding trustworthy, actionable information when you need it most We know that people come to Search in the moments that matter most. Today, if you search on Google for information on suicide, sexual assault, substance abuse and domestic violence , you’ll see contact information for national hotlines alongside the most relevant and helpful results. But people in personal crises sea...

Thanks to regular automatic updates, Chromebooks are always stepping up their game. Each Chrome OS update helps your laptop (and you) get things done faster, easier and more securely. And you might have noticed we’ve had a lot of them. In fact, Chrome OS officially hit update 100 this week. In celebration of the big 1-0-0, we’re sharing a few announcements to improve Chromebooks for everyone — whether you’re using them to work, learn, manage a business or just kick back and relax. Find more with the new Launcher With a quick press of the Everything Button on your keyboard or the circle icon on the bottom left corner of your screen, Chromebook’s Launcher has made it easy to search for your apps and files — and even find answers online. And now, Launcher is getting an updated design and enhanced search functionality to help you more easily find what you’re looking for. First, you’ll notice that Launcher will open on the side of your screen instead of from the bottom — leaving m...

In early March, Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) published an update on the cyber activity it was tracking with regard to the war in Ukraine. Since our last update, TAG has observed a continuously growing number of threat actors using the war as a lure in phishing and malware campaigns. Government-backed actors from China, Iran, North Korea and Russia, as well as various unattributed groups, have used various Ukraine war-related themes in an effort to get targets to open malicious emails or click malicious links. Financially motivated and criminal actors are also using current events as a means for targeting users. For example, one actor is impersonating military personnel to extort money for rescuing relatives in Ukraine. TAG has also continued to observe multiple ransomware brokers continuing to operate in a business as usual sense. As always, we continue to publish details surrounding the actions we take against coordinated influence operations in our quarterly TAG bulletin...

The ongoing humanitarian crisis in Ukraine has been devastating to witness. Much like the rest of the international community, our response has evolved as the circumstances have developed . In addition to supporting the refugee crisis and fighting misinformation, we’re investing in Ukraine’s people and businesses. Today, we’re announcing a $5 million Google for Startups Ukraine Support Fund to allocate equity-free cash awards throughout 2022. Selected Ukraine-based startups will be announced on a rolling basis and will receive up to $100,000 in non-dilutive funding as well as ongoing Google mentorship, product support and Cloud credits. This hands-on support is designed to help Ukrainian entrepreneurs maintain and grow their businesses, strengthen their community and build a foundation for post-war economic recovery. Ukraine has a strong and vibrant startup community. Of the roughly 2000 startups in Ukraine, 126 startups have raised venture capital funding since the beginning of...

Every October, Kenya celebrates Mashujaa Day or National Heroes Day, when we honor people who have made great contributions to our nation and the world. A true son of Africa and one of our heroes is my father, frontline photojournalist Mohamed ‘Mo’ Amin , who moved the world with his extraordinary work and dedication spanning four decades. I was honored to unveil the project Mo Amin: The Eye of Africa on Google Arts & Culture, which features over 6000 photographs , some of which have not been seen by the world before. It also features more than 50 stories , showcasing the key moments, places and people he documented. It was a collaboration between the team at the Mohamed Amin Foundation and Google Arts & Culture. Even though Mo was proud to call Kenya his home, his work, his impact and his reputation transcended national and cultural boundaries. He mobilized the conscience of mankind through his coverage of the squalor and death at a camp in Northern Ethiopia during the f...

When we opened the Google Indonesia office back in 2012, we had a clear vision: to develop products and programs that were specifically helpful for Indonesians. Looking back, it’s been incredible to see the momentum the team has built over the years — and that original vision remains just as important today. As we mark the 10th anniversary of Google in Indonesia today, I took the opportunity to explore our archives. Here are our 10 top moments from the past decade. Building product features for Indonesians Over the years, many of our products and features have been developed with Indonesians in mind, such as our Google Maps two-wheel feature to help Indonesian motorcyclists. We’ve also localized features to make them helpful to Indonesians. That includes incorporating some of Indonesia’s hundreds of languages into Google Translate, including Javanese — the second-most-spoken language with 83 million native speakers. Our Google Maps Two-Wheel feature launched in 2018 ...