Google and U.S. developers find agreement over Google Play store

The Android app economy has helped create nearly two million American jobs; developers around the world have earned more than $120 billion using the Google Play Store. We’re proud that Google Play helps developers build great apps and rewards them for doing so. And we know that a successful ecosystem must benefit both developers and consumers, which is why we have rules of the road to keep the store secure, protect privacy and prevent fraud. While we strive to make Google Play the best platform for everyone, Android also provides consumers and developers the opportunity to use other app store options.

Today, we’re pleased to share a proposed agreement that will help ensure that both developers and consumers can continue to benefit from Google Play. Google and a group of U.S. developers have reached a proposed settlement that allows both parties to move forward and avoids years of uncertain and distracting litigation.

As part of the settlement, we’re establishing a $90 million fund to support U.S. developers who earned two million dollars or less in annual revenue through Google Play during each year from 2016-2021. A vast majority of U.S. developers who earned revenue through Google Play will be eligible to receive money from this fund, if they choose. If the Court approves the settlement, developers that qualify will be notified and allowed to receive a distribution from the fund.

In addition to the fund, we’re committing to maintain a number of existing practices and implement new benefits that help developers innovate and communicate with their users:

• To continue to provide developers with a tiered pricing model, we’ll maintain Google’s 15% commission rate for the first $1 million in annual revenue earned from the Google Play Store for U.S. developers, which we implemented in 2021.
• We’re revising our Developer Distribution Agreement to make it clear that developers can continue to use contact information obtained in-app to communicate with users out-of-app, including about subscription offers or lower-cost offerings on a rival app store or the developer’s website.
• In new versions of Android, Google will maintain certain changes implemented in Android 12 that make it even easier for people to use other app stores on their devices, while being careful not to compromise the safety measures Android has in place.
• To showcase independent and small startup developers building unique high-quality apps, we’re creating an “Indie Apps Corner” that will appear on the apps tab on the U.S. Google Play homepage and shine a spotlight on these developers.

These commitments, including the $90 million fund, build on a number of ways we already support developers, such as providing tools that help developers build great apps, lower their costs, and grow their businesses. In fact, compared to other prominent digital content stores, we provide developers more ways to interact with their customers.

Finally, we’ve heard developers want to understand more about how Google Play operates, which is why we’ve agreed to publish annual transparency reports. The reports will share information about the Google Play Store, including statistics such as apps removed from Google Play, account terminations, and other data regarding how users interact with Google Play.

We’re pleased that we worked with the developers to propose this agreement for the Court’s approval. As the agreement notes, we remain confident in our arguments and case, but this settlement will avoid protracted and unnecessary litigation with developers, whom we see as vital partners in the Android ecosystem. We remain steadfast in our commitment to building thriving, open platforms that empower consumers and help developers succeed.

by Wilson White via The Keyword

Mahima Pushkarna is making data easier to understand

Five years ago, information designer Mahima Pushkarna joined Google to make data easier to understand. As a senior interaction designer on the People + AI Research (PAIR) team, she designed Data Cards to help everyone better understand the contexts of the data they are using. The Data Cards Playbook puts Google’s AI Principles into practice by providing opportunities for feedback, relevant explanations and appeal.

Recently, Mahima’s paper on Data Cards (co-written with Googlers Andrew Zaldivar and Oddur Kjartansson) was accepted to the ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability and Transparency (ACM FAccT). Let’s catch up with her and find out more about what brought her to Google.

How did your background lead you to the work you’re doing now?

I've always been fascinated by conjuring up solutions to things. The kind of questions that I’ve found meaningful are those that are never truly solved, or never have one correct answer. (The kind of questions that exasperate us!) Those have been the problems I am always drawn towards.

Early in my career, I realized the power in visualizing data, but spreadsheets were intimidating. I wondered how design could make communicating complexity easier. So I found myself in grad school in Boston studying information design and data visualization. I focused on how people experience data and how our relationships to each other and our contexts are mediated.

I joined Google Brain as the first visual designer in a full-time capacity, though I had no background in artificial intelligence or machine learning — this was the deep end of the pool. This opened up the space to explore human-AI interaction, and make AI more accessible to a broader class of developers. At PAIR, my work focuses on making information experiences more meaningful for developers, researchers and others who build AI technologies.

What’s it like to have a unique background as a designer on a technical AI research team?

When you're an engineer and immersed in building technology, it's easy to assume everyone has a similar experience to your own — especially when you’re surrounded by peers who share your expertise. The actual user experience is very personal and varies drastically across users and contexts. That particular clarity is what designers bring to the table.

I’ve been able to engage my engineering and research colleagues with simple, people-centered questions right in the very beginning. How are people using an AI tool? What are they learning from it? Who else might be involved in the conversation? Do they have the proficiency we assume they have?

Pull quote: “Identifying what we don’t know about data is just as important as articulating what we do know.”

How did you begin designing Data Cards?

This project started when I was working on another visualization toolkit, Facets, to communicate the skews and imbalances within datasets to help machine learning practitioners make informed decisions. At the time, transparency was a moving target. Andrew, Tulsee Doshi and I started to proactively think about fairness in data, and saw a huge gap in the documentation of human decisions that dot a dataset's lifecycle.

This “invisible” information shapes how we use data and the outcomes of models trained on them. For example, a model trained on a dataset that captures age in just two or three buckets will have very different outcomes compared to a dataset with ten buckets. The goal of Data Cards is to make both visible and invisible information about datasets available and simple to understand, so people from a variety of backgrounds can knowledgeably make decisions.

As we cover in our FAccT paper, Andrew and Oddur and I arrived at two insights. The first is that identifying what we don’t know about data is just as important as articulating what we do know. In capturing these nuances, it is possible to narrow those knowledge gaps before even collecting data. The second thing that surprised us was the sheer number of people involved in a dataset’s life cycle, and how fragile knowledge is. Context is easily lost in translation both between and within teams, across documents, emails, people and time.

Data Cards stand on the shoulders of giants, like Data Sheets (Gebru, et al.) and Model Cards (Mitchell et al.). We've been immensely lucky to have had the support of many original authors on these seminal papers that have paved our path to FAccT.

How do you hope the paper is used across the tech industry?

Imagine a world in which finding verifiable information about the motivations of a dataset’s creators or performance of a model is as easy as learning about the ethical beliefs of a celebrity or the rating of a movie. Our vision for Data Cards is that they become a cultural mainstay — invisible, but their absence would be missed by ML practitioners.

In this paper, we introduce frameworks that other teams can use in their work. Alongside that, we’ve open-sourced the Data Cards Playbook, so we're trying to lower the barrier to access in every way possible.

by Ted Klimenko via The Keyword

Staying safe online with our updated Google Password Manager

Strong, unique passwords are key to helping keep your personal information secure online. That's why Google Password Manager can help you create, remember and autofill passwords on your computer or phone: on the web in Chrome, and in your favorite Android and iOS apps.

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Today we've started rolling out a number of updates that help make the experience easier to use, with even stronger protections built in.

A consistent look and feel, across web and apps

We're always grateful for feedback, and many of you have shared that managing passwords between Chrome and Android has been confusing at times: "It's the same info in both places, so why does it look so different?" With this release, we're rolling out a simplified and unified management experience that's the same in Chrome and Android settings. If you have multiple passwords for the same sites or apps, we’ll automatically group them. And for your convenience, you can create a shortcut on your Android home screen to access your passwords with a single tap.

You can now add a shortcut to Google Password Manager to your Android homescreen.

More powerful password protections

Google Password Manager can create unique, strong passwords for you across platforms, and helps ensure your passwords aren’t compromised as you browse the web. We’re constantly working to expand these capabilities, which is why we’re giving you the ability to generate passwords for your iOS apps when you set Chrome as your autofill provider.

You can now create strong passwords on your computer or mobile, on any operating system.

Chrome can automatically check your passwords when you enter them into a site, but you can have an added layer of confidence by checking them in bulk with Password Checkup. We’ll now flag not only compromised credentials, but also weak and re-used passwords on Android. If Google warns you about a password, you can now fix them without hassle with our automated password change feature on Android.

For your peace of mind, Password Checkup on Android can flag compromised, weak and reused passwords.

To help protect even more people, we’re expanding our compromised password warnings to all Chrome users on Android, Chrome OS, iOS, Windows, MacOS and Linux.

Simplified access and password management

Google built its password manager to stay out of your way — letting you save passwords when you log in, filling them when you need them and ensuring they aren’t compromised. However, you might want to add your passwords to the app directly, too. That's why, due to popular demand, we're adding this functionality to Google Password Manager on all platforms.

Adding your passwords directly is now possible on all platforms.

In 2020, we announced Touch-to-Fill to help you fill your passwords in a convenient and recognizable way. We’re now bringing Touch-to-Login to Chrome on Android to make logging in even quicker by allowing you to securely log in to sites directly from the overlay at the bottom of your screen.

Touch-to-Login signs you in directly from a recognizable overlay.

Many of these features were developed at the Google Safety Engineering Center (GSEC), a hub of privacy and security experts based in Munich, so Guten Tag from the team! Of course, our efforts to create a safer web are a truly global effort – from our early work on 2-step verification, to our future investments in technologies like passkeys – and these updates that we are rolling out over the next months are an important part of that work.

by Ali Sarraf via The Keyword

Preserving languages and the stories behind them

To celebrate the first year of UNESCO’s International Decade of Indigenous Languages, seven more indigenous languages are now available on Woolaroo — a Google Arts & Culture experiment that uses machine learning to preserve and help people explore endangered languages.

On average, a different language becomes extinct every 14 days. And of the 7,000 languages currently spoken around the world, more than 3,000 are under threat of disappearing — along with the rich cultures they represent.

Thanks to a collaboration with our global partners, ranging from language communities to national language institutes, you can now discover the languages of Maya, Tepehua, Sanskrit, Vurës, Kumeyaay/Diegueño, Potawatomi and Serravallese, spoken across Mexico, South Asia, the South Pacific, the United States and Italy. Simply choose a language, take a picture of an object, and Woolaroo will return the translation for it thanks to the Google Cloud Vision API.

Discover stories from endangered language speakers

For the first time on Google Arts & Culture, you can findstories written by the speakers of these languages. In these accounts, they share the cultures they’re connected to and how they’re using technology to promote language learning and preservation.

• A mobile phone uses the Woolaroo app to take a picture of a tree to find the name for it in Calabrian Greek.

  Using Woolaroo is easy: Simply take a photo, and see the words for your surroundings appear in the language of your choice.

• A Maya language speaker smiles at the camera against a red, rocky background.

  In partnership with Mexico’s National Institute of Indigenous Languages (INALI), Woolaroo now supports two of Mexico’s indigenous languages, Maya and Tepehua. Google Arts & Culture also now houses the stories behind these languages and photography celebrating the people who speak them.

• A Vurës speaker sits on a boat on the shore.

  The Vurës speakers on the South Pacific’s most linguistically diverse island nation share what makes their language and culture "... different from all others in Vanuatu and around the world."

• A Potawatomi tribe member is dressed in regalia.

  Potawatomi tribe members don traditional regalia and share perspectives on their language and culture through a story and photography collection.

• A young person takes part in a festival on Rapa Nui. They are outside with palm trees and a blue sky behind them.

  Explore a collection of stories and photography that shares the perspectives of speakers from Rapa Nui to North Africa.

Our Potawatomi tribe partner, Justin Neely, is using Woolaroo to promote and preserve the Potawatomi’s language, Bodéwadmimwen, among students and young people. “Words, phrases and verb conjugations show how the Potawatomi see the world — with an emphasis on connection to the earth, a high regard for mother nature and living beings, and a communal lifestyle,” says Neely. Neely felt that Woolaroo would suit children in particular, allowing them to use technology as a way to explore their heritage.

Explore more languages and communities on Google Arts & Culture, in the iOS or Android app and, and at g.co/woolaroo.

by Chance Coughenour via The Keyword

10 reasons to switch to Android

In the last year, over a billion new Android phones were activated. Ready to join the fun, but not sure which phone is best for you? Consider one that’s loaded with the best of Google, that can fold to fit in your pocket or fit your budget, or has a camera that can capture any shot. Regardless of which phone you choose, making the switch from iPhone to Android has never been easier.

Starting today, support for the Switch to Android app on iOS is rolling out to all Android 12 phones, so you can move over some important information from your iPhone to your new Android seamlessly. Once you’ve got your new Android phone, follow our easy setup instructions to go through the data transfer process. You’ll be prompted to connect your old iPhone with your new Android phone either with your iPhone cable or wirelessly via the new Switch to Android app. The instructions will walk you through how to easily transfer your data like your contacts, calendars and photos over to your new phone.

Once you’re all set up, you can get started on your new Android device by checking out our favorite features.

1. Express yourself in new ways: With the Messages app and Gboard, it’s easy and enjoyable to send messages — especially between friends who use Android. Group chats, high-quality photo and video sharing, read receipts and emoji reactions are all available thanks to RCS, and thousands of emoji mashup stickers are there to help you express your feelings. (Rest assured, your iPhone friends will still receive your messages as well.)
2. Video chat with anyone, anywhere: If your friends and family have Google accounts, it's easier than ever to video chat with Google Meet on Android. Or if you prefer FaceTime, you can still use that in the latest version of Chrome. Or with apps like WhatsApp in Google Play, you can chat with whomever you like for free around the globe. Android has so many options, it’s easy to stay connected with those that matter to you the most.
3. Tune into your favorite music: Catch up on the latest hits with your preferred streaming service available on Android. And if you had previously purchased and downloaded music on your iPhone, your music will transfer over to your Android phone, as long as it’s digital rights management (DRM)-free. Your purchases and downloaded content from Apple Music will still be accessible on your new Android device by downloading the Apple Music app.
4. Your favorite apps and more: With Google Play, you’ll find the apps you already use and love, and quickly start to discover so many more. Looking to plan an outdoorsy getaway? Hipcamp will help you book your next camping spot, Skyview Lite will be your stargazing guide to the sky, and AllTrails will help you find a hike that’s perfect for you and your friends. A summer of fun made possible with your new Android.
5. A privacy-first approach: On your new phone, your data is proactively protected by Android. Android helps defeat bad apps, malware, phishing and spam, and helps keep you one step ahead of threats. Messages, for example, helps protect people against 1.5 billion spam messages per month. Android also provides timely recommendations, like prompting you to select your location-sharing preferences when opening an app to help you make the best decisions for your privacy. Read more about how to keep your data private and secure.
6. More devices that work better together: Choose from a wide variety of Chromebooks, Wear OS smartwatches, Google TV devices and Fast Pair supported headphones, like Pixel Buds, that work better together with your phone. In fact, some of your Apple products will still work with your Android device, like AirPods.
7. Get more done with Google apps and services: Traveling on vacation and can’t read the local signs? Scan the text forinstant translation so you can get to your destination quickly. Editing a Google Doc on your laptop, but need to finish on the go? You can easily keep work going on your Android phone, too. Google prides itself on being helpful, and the best of Google is built into Android phones.
8. Share music, photos and more across devices: Nearby Share lets you easily share music, photos and other files between your nearby Android and Chrome OS devices. To share content like photos and videos with non-Android devices, you can easily use sharing built into Google Photos or several other apps that allow you to share with friends and family and keep them in an organized memory bank for the future.
9. Customize your Home screen with Android Widgets: Widgets are helpful additions to any Home screen, putting the information that’s most important to you right at your fingertips. There will soon be 35 Google widgets available on Android, so whether you want to have easy access to Google Maps’ real-time traffic predictions or have translations at the ready so you can communicate with family and friends, Android is there to make your life a little easier.
10. Technology that’s useful for everyone: Everyone has their own way of using their devices. That’s why we build accessible features and products that work for the various ways people want to experience the world. Whether you want to use your device without ever needing the screen using TalkBack, or you want to take what’s being said out loud and create a real-time transcript with Live Transcribe, Android has you covered when and how you need it.

And that’s not all. Between our major annual updates, we’re always adding new features to Android.

by Liza Ma via The Keyword

Hear from app and game founders in #WeArePlay USA

Last week, we launched #WeArePlay, a new series featuring the people behind your favorite Google Play apps and games. To celebrate the Fourth of July holiday, we’re putting a special spotlight on app founders and developers across every U.S. state. #WeArePlay USA introduces you to the passionate professionals behind more than 150 growing businesses.

Let’s take a quick road trip across the #WeArePlay USA collection, starting in the Big Apple. New Yorker Tanya was so inspired when her eight-year-old daughter asked to open an investment account that she created Goalsetter — an app that helps kids learn about finance through fun activities. She wants to help kids, and their parents, build stronger financial futures: “Part of my mission is to close the wealth gap in America by educating the next generation.” Read more stories from New York.

Our next stop is Raleigh, North Carolina to meet Joe, John and Grant. They created JouleBug to help people better understand their environmental impact through interactive challenges — like competing with friends to save the most energy or reduce the most waste. “As we go through our days, it’s become easy to waste resources and not even notice it,” says Grant. “We want to draw attention to this and show how simple it is to change your habits.” Discover more stories from North Carolina.

Making our way west, we meet Clarence and Edna in Tulsa, Oklahoma. They both share a passion for education and worked together to create Boddle — a 3D game that motivates kids to learn math. Using AI, Boddle also helps parents and teachers tailor learning content and track performance. Check out more stories from Oklahoma.

Our final stop brings us to Santa Monica, California with Jenova. While he was in film school, Jenova asked himself — could a game make you cry the same way a movie can? He launched thatgamecompany and started building games that tug at players’ heartstrings. His company now has close to 100 employees. Read more stories from California.

Explore the rest of the #WeArePlay USA collection, and stay tuned for more stories from around the world.

by Patricia CorreaGlobal Developer Marketing via The Keyword

4 ways creators can bounce back from setbacks

Life is never completely smooth sailing, and challenges can strike even with the best-laid plans in place. We asked creators how they handle challenges and how these obstacles — while often difficult in the moment — can serve as opportunities to learn, grow and build resilience.

Learn from your mistakes, and do better next time

Take Monique Elise, an author, financial analyst and lifestyle influencer passionate about empowering women. After her first brand collaboration failed, Monique realized these campaigns require more work than they appear to on the surface, and that being an influencer means much more than taking pretty photos. “I underestimated just how much work, preparation and organization goes into creating content that I’m truly proud of,” she shares. While initially disappointed in her results, she quickly shifted her mindset and learned what to do differently in the future. “Truthfully, that experience was so necessary,” she says, “because it made me understand how important it is to be prepared, especially if I want to represent my business in a meaningful way.”

Monique builds her confidence from a support group of family members, friends and peers.

Be prepared for the unexpected

As Monique shared, being prepared is key — and that includes being prepared for the unexpected. Rae Allen learned this as she was building her brand as a fitness and style creator. Rae’s goal was to run a mile every day, and just as she was getting started, she found out she needed a series of back-to-back surgeries. She quickly turned this setback into an opportunity to grow her platform in an authentic way.

“At first, I felt like a failure because I couldn’t technically run,” Rae shares. “But I realized I set the rules.” After her surgeries, she started walking, jogging, then finally running again — regularly posting about her recovery, and her favorite workout outfits, on Instagram. “If it weren’t for this setback, I never would have found my true passion for creating,” she says. “My platform changed immensely, as did my fitness journey as an athlete. Today people look to me for inspiration, motivation and empowerment.”

Rae Allen recently celebrated 2,700 days of running a mile every day.

Lean on your support group

When a challenge inevitably arises, it can feel like you need to solve it on your own. But that doesn't have to be the case. Monique depends on her support group of “friends, fellow creators and my boyfriend.” She shares, “Having a support system really helps when you’re suffering from self-doubt. Also, don’t be afraid to ask for help. You’d be surprised at how many people want to help you and see you succeed.” Having a peer group to share your experiences with can be especially comforting, because they can empathize with the nature of your work and offer actionable suggestions.

Channel resilience

No matter the endeavor, it’s important to keep moving forward and reaching for your goals. Monique and Rae both found strength in the face of disappointment, and the determination to press onward. It’s something that still inspires Rae today, and she wants to share that spirit of resilience with every creator: “Keep going! Whatever it is you’re facing — just keep going with one foot in front of the other. There will be highs and lows and it will be hard. No matter what we do in life, we will always face obstacles. So why not face obstacles doing something you love? The journey is worth it.”

by Chanelle Garcia via The Keyword

Reducing gender-based harms in AI with Sunipa Dev

Natural language processing (NLP) is a form of artificial intelligence that teaches computer programs how to take in, interpret, and produce language from large data sets. For example, grammar checkers use NLP to come up with grammar suggestions that help people write grammatically correct phrases. But as Google’s AI Principles note, it’s sometimes necessary to have human intervention to identify risks of unfair bias.

Sunipa Dev is a research scientist at Google who focuses on Responsible AI. Some of her work focuses specifically on ways to evaluate unfair bias in NLP outcomes, reducing harms for people with queer and non-binary identities. Sunipa’s work was recently featured at a workshop at the ACM Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAcct) conference in Seoul, Korea.

In our interview, she emphasizes that her work is achievable only through forging collaborative partnerships between researchers, engineers, and AI practitioners with everyday users and communities.

What inspired you to take on this career path?

While working on my PhD at the University of Utah, I explored research questions such as, “How do we evaluate NLP tech if they contain biases?” As language models evolved, our questions about potential harms did, too. During my postdoc work at UCLA, we ran a study to evaluate challenges in various language models by surveying respondents who identified as non-binary and had some experience with AI. With a focus on gender bias, our respondents helped us understand that experiences with language technologies cannot be understood in isolation. Rather, we must consider how these technologies intersect with systemic discrimination, erasure, and marginalization. For example, the harm of misgendering by a language technology can be compounded for trans, non-binary, and gender-diverse individuals who are already fighting against society to defend their identities. And when it’s in your personal space, like on your devices while emailing or texting, these small jabs can build up to larger psychological damage.

What is your current role at Google?

I am currently a Research Scientist at the Responsible AI - Human Centered Technology team. In my current role, I am working to build a better understanding of how to avoid unfair bias in AI language models across different cultures and geographies, aligned with Google’s AI Principles.

This is a challenge because language changes, and so do cultures and regional laws as we move from one place to another. This can all impact how people express themselves, what identities they choose and how they experience discrimination on a daily basis. Gender bias can manifest in entirely different ways in different parts of the world. In some of my ongoing work that focuses on a non-Western point of view, we are working with social scientists and NGOs in India while engaging with local communities. We are using the voices of many people who are living in a specific region and asking, “What are the biases prevalent in their society?”

What is gender bias in NLP?

Written text and training data for language technologies can lack representation or misrepresent different gender identities; this can reflect social biases. As a result, some NLP technologies can reinforce gender stereotypes and slurs, erase people’s gender identities, or have reduced quality of service for marginalized communities. What drives me in my work is my goal to make language technologies more inclusive and usable.

Why does this matter for AI?

Gender can be such an integral part of someone's identity, and having that wrongly assumed by an AI system can be triggering, unfair, and harmful. We need to work towards systems and societies that do not encode unfair biases and harmful stereotypes in order to break out of the cycle of perpetuating harms of stereotyping, misgendering, and erasure.

How can people who are not researchers, engineers or AI practitioners engage in this work?

A very direct way is for people to report potential harms as bugs within products they use. People can also participate in open discussions in workshops, panels and town halls. These are all helpful ways to build inclusive AI.

I want to emphasize, however, that the onus can’t only be on the user. It’s also on the side of the researcher, engineer and AI practitioner. The goal is to create a continuous feedback loop between humans and machines, with real people stepping in to ensure the creation of more responsible AI. As AI practitioners, we need to work with the people we’re trying to serve and have users collaborate with us to tell us what we need to do better.

by Stephanie Catahan via The Keyword

Go on an epic adventure with Netflix’s “The Sea Beast”

Craving a different type of drive this summer? Go on a high-seas adventure without stepping off land. Activate Waze’s latest driving experience, inspired by Netflix’s newest movie,“The Sea Beast.” (Check out the trailer and the film on Netflix July 8.)

Starting today, you’ll meet the dynamic duo of Maisie, a precocious stowaway, and Blue, a little beast with a huge mischief streak, and revel in the unlikely comedy of their friendship as they help you navigate every turn you take on Waze. And don’t worry: Maisie will help translate Blue’s sounds for you. You’ll also get to know some other Beasts that they find on their journey when you choose between three new Moods: Blue, Red and Yellow. Don’t forget to swap your vehicle for a Lifeboat, to get into the true adventurer’s spirit.

With Sea Beast Mode activated, get ready to explore the world together, on a journey full of surprise, wonder and funny banter — because where the map ends, the adventure begins.

If you’re interested in seeing the magic in real life, Netflix is hosting a series of experiences across the U.S. at aquariums, museums and more to celebrate the launch of The Sea Beast.

For a drive that takes you to the seas, visit Waze or click “My Waze” in your Waze app and tap the “Turn on Sea Beast Mode” banner to activate. It’s available globally, in English, for a limited time.

by Waze via The Keyword

Mentorship and support for Black and women founders

Women-led startups received just 2.3% of venture capital funding in 2020. The venture capital industry remains male-dominated, both among decision-makers and the entrepreneurs who are successful in their pitches for investment. For Black founders, the gap is even wider, with only 1.2% of VC funding in the U.S. going to Black-led startups in 2021.

Mentorship and access to resources are critical to closing the startup funding gap. To connect underrepresented founders to the right people and practices to help them grow, today we’re opening up applications for the Google for Startups Accelerator: Black Founders and Google for Startups Accelerator: Women Founders in North America. Applications are open now through July 28, 2022.

Google for Startups Accelerators are ten-week programs of intensive workshops and expert mentorship for revenue-generating tech startups. Founders receive virtual mentoring and technical support from Google engineers and external experts tailored to their business, without giving up equity in return.

To learn more about the impact of Google for Startups Accelerator mentorship on participating founders, we sat down with alumnae Ingrid Polini, cofounder and CEO of document management startup SAFETYDOCS Global, and Tiffany Whitlow, cofounder and Chief Development Officer of Acclinate, a digital health startup helping pharmaceutical companies diversify clinical trials by accessing and engaging communities of color. Ingrid was part of the 2021 Accelerator: Women Founders class, and Tiffany and her cofounder Del Smith were selected for both Accelerator: Black Founders and the Google for Startups Black Founders Fund in 2021.

What is one piece of advice you would share with founders who are considering applying for a Google for Startups Accelerator?

Ingrid: Be as open as you can about your business, so the team can really help you. Be present, participate and ask questions, because in the end, you’re applying your scarce time to it as a founder.

Tiffany: Go for it. The resources and ecosystem are invaluable.

Visit Google for Startups Accelerator: Black Founders and Google for Startups Accelerator: Women Founders to learn more about the programs, including details on how to apply.

by Ashley Francisco via The Keyword

Kickstart your monetization with the AdSense onboarding video series

Reuniting the historic Stonewall Inn

Photo of Stonewall Inn facade taken by CyArk during a documentation project in March, 2017. Learn more about the Stonewall Inn with CyArk on Google Arts & Culture

The Stonewall Inn is known around the world as the site of the Stonewall Riots, which ignited the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement in 1969 in New York City. But at the time of the rebellion, the Stonewall Inn actually consisted of what is now two locations: 53 Christopher Street, the current location of the Stonewall Inn bar, and 51 Christopher Street next door. Over the years, as rents rose, the two sites were separated, and there was little evidence left that 51 Christopher Street played such a vital role in the heritage of the LGBTQ+ rights movement.

On Friday, this all changed. LGBTQ+ activists, with Google’s support, joined local elected officials to break ground on the new Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center, reuniting the two sites.

Ann Marie Gothard, Governor Kathy Hochul, Senator Chuck Schumer and Google and Alphabet SVP and CFO Ruth Porat at Friday's groundbreaking.

Scheduled to officially open in the summer of 2024, the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center’s mission is to preserve, advance and celebrate the legacy of the Stonewall Rebellion. In 2016, then-President Barack Obama designated the 0.19-acre area, formerly known as Christopher Park, and the surrounding Christopher Street as the Stonewall National Monument, making it the first U.S. national monument dedicated to the LGBTQ+ community and their fight for equal rights.

Through a grant of $1 million from Google.org to help acquire the lease, Google is helping make this dream a reality. Visitors to the center will discover an immersive experience that takes them on a tour of LGBTQ+ history and culture. The center will host in-person and virtual tours, lectures, exhibitions and visual arts. It will also be the home base for the National Park Service Rangers who maintain the Stonewall National Monument.

Photo of Stonewall Inn interior taken by CyArk during a documentation project in March, 2017. Learn more about the Stonewall Inn with CyArk on Google Arts & Culture.

Google has been deeply invested with preserving and sharing the history of the Stonewall Riots for many years. In 2019, on the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion, we provided support for Stonewall Forever, an interactive “living monument” sharing 50 years of LGBTQ+ history. With a $1.5 million grant from Google.org and volunteers from Google’s Creative Lab, the LGBT Community Center of New York City (The Center) launched the living monument which connects diverse voices from the Stonewall era to the stories of millions of LGBTQ+ people today. The living monument contains countless colorful pieces that people can click on to view digitized historical artifacts, oral histories and interviews from today. In the years since, participation in Stonewall Forever has grown as thousands of people have added their history by uploading photos, messages and stories.

Launched in 2019 by the LGBT Community Center of New York City, Stonewall Forever is an interactive living monument sharing 50 years of LGBTQ+ history.

Supporting the LGBTQ+ community has been a longstanding commitment from Google. By supporting the reunification of the Stonewall Inn and the development of the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center, we’re proud to do our part to preserve and commemorate the achievements of the past and to take big steps toward a brighter, more equitable future.

by Rebecca ProzanWest Coast Government Affairs and Public Policy via The Keyword

Expanding access to clean energy careers

Climate change affects everyone, but not equally. Our fossil-based energy system has disproportionately impacted communities of color and low-income communities for generations. So as the world transitions to a carbon-free electric grid, it’s important to support programs building a just and equitable clean energy economy.

This transition to clean energy is expected to create 10.3 million jobs by 2030, outpacing the nearly 2.7 million fossil fuel jobs of today. Google.org and Google Nest recently partnered with Dream Corps Green For All to launch The Green For All Clean Energy Scholarship Fund, which aims to expand access to clean energy careers for jobseekers from underrepresented communities.

We recently announced our first recipients at Black Future Weekend, a Dream Corps event focused on diversifying the tech industry. As part of the application process, they shared their “green dream” and explained why they wanted a career in the renewable energy industry:

Quianya Enge (Carbondale, Illinois)

As someone directly impacted by the criminal justice system and now a doctoral student in Higher Education and Administration with a master’s degree in Workforce Education and Development, my dream is to build a career in the clean energy sector. Renewable energy jobs are perfect for those who need a second chance in the workforce. However, there is a negative perception of felons within the solar industry and society as a whole — and as a workforce developer, I’d like to change that. I want to build a team that helps individuals from marginalized communities find training and jobs in the solar field, and form partnerships with groups in the clean energy industry that work to reduce recidivism.

Alcia Shaw (Brooklyn, New York)

I grew up on a farm in Jamaica, deep within the island’s green-swathed mountains. Despite the hardships I faced growing up in a poverty-stricken country, as a young girl, I found tranquility in climbing the nearest tree and watching as the deep blue Caribbean Sea embraced the north coast. It will be a dream come true for me when our communities are no longer at risk of excess pollution, waste and questionable water sources. This scholarship will allow me to enroll in a sustainability management course at Yale University, giving me the qualifications I need to pursue my passion for equality and maintain the environmental integrity of my community and similar areas across the globe.

Kristian Thymianos (Las Vegas, Nevada)

To me, the clean energy sector is a way to keep my community alive despite the ongoing issues surrounding climate change. I grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada — where the only thing as intense as the city is the sun beating down on it. We contend with major issues due to climate change, like urban heat islands that threaten the health of our residents and tourists and negatively impact our infrastructure, and declining water resources. These are not unique to Las Vegas, but they impact our community more than others. ​​Finding ways to fix and provide for my hometown pushes me to do the work I do.

Extending the impact with Nest Renew

Last year, Google Nest unveiled Nest Renew, a service for compatible Nest thermostats in the U.S. that makes it easy to support clean energy right from home. Through the Energy Impact Program, a feature within Nest Renew, you can help direct funds to nonprofit partners working towards an equitable sustainable future.

Later this year, Dream Corps will join GRID Alternatives and Elevate Energy as a founding partner of the Energy Impact Program, ensuring continued support for scholarship recipients and guaranteed career placement for individuals from underrepresented communities.

by Karla Palmer via The Keyword

Waze helps Tour de France shift up a gear

Waze is activating a first-of-its-kind partnership and sponsorship with the Tour de France and the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift to improve your experience at every stage of the race, in and outside the car.

For the first time in the race’s 109-year history, the Tour de France and the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift will join Waze’s Global Event Partner Program, harnessing the power of the app to make it easier for both locals and spectators to experience the event, from start to finish. As the Official Traffic Manager of the race, we’ll provide tools, data and insights, not only helping drivers but also athletes, fans and more.

Plan your journey around more than 4,000 kilometers of road closures, locate temporary parking lots and monitor live traffic speeds as you navigate the action using Waze. From Copenhagen to the Champs-Élysées, Waze’s volunteer map editors will equip you with the real-time insights you need to outsmart traffic along the way.

by Waze via The Keyword

One KUAM: Building bridges for live news in the Pacific

Editor’s note from Ludovic Blecher, Head of Google News Initiative Innovation: The GNI Innovation Challengeprogram is designed to stimulate forward-thinking ideas for the news industry. The story below by Marie Calvo Monge, CEO, KUAM/Pacific Telestations LLC, is part of an innovator seriessharing inspiring stories and lessons from funded projects.

With a population of 50,000 spread across an archipelago of tiny islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) in the Pacific has often been too remote for other Guam based broadcast news crews to carry live coverage.

Previously, my organization’s coverage of significant events in the CNMI was handled in one of two ways: we could wait for a tape-delayed file from the island chain’s only local news operation, which was a lengthy process that taxed our workflow and internet bandwidth capabilities. Or we could send a two-person crew to gather the story, which they would edit and publish upon return to Guam, which was costly with airfare, transportation and lodging costing approximately $2,000 per trip.

But that has all changed thanks to the Google News Initiative Innovation Challenge funding the One KUAM project, which has enhanced and expanded the quality content our media group produces for and about our Pacific region.

Now, our regional correspondent operates efficiently as a “one-person band” and can send live HD quality video via their mobile device. We’re able to report live from multiple locations on broadcast and streaming, and we’ve even been able to feature live reports in HD from Tinian and Rota, the smaller islands of the archipelago, with a combined population of 5,000. We’re the first broadcast news station on Guam to do this.

These improvements have helped us achieve our goal of expanding our regional coverage and sharing the stories of Indigenous Pacific Islanders with more people. Our expanded coverage has brought more information to the homes of our viewers in the CNMI and also helped show how current issues – from climate change and COVID-19, to military training and cultural revitalization – impact the region as a whole.

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The increase in news coverage from the CNMI has also opened up a new advertiser revenue stream, with local businesses and agencies in the region now advertising on our stations to appeal to our expanded audience. Prior to rolling out the One KUAM project, we had no advertisers from that market. Since March 2022, we’ve drawn in nearly $15,000 in advertising revenue from CNMI advertisers.

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KUAM gained a noteworthy increase in viewers from our expansion to regional interactive coverage once we began reporting on events in the CNMI last fall. That market has been underserved in news coverage since the start of the pandemic, and our videos published to YouTube have generated an average of 10 times more views than usual from the CNMI. Our Facebook and Instagram posts have been viewed an average of seven times more than our normal traffic benchmarks, and videos on those platforms have been viewed and shared three times more than comparable coverage in our domestic market. Our overall growth of frequent users has increased 5.7%, with the overwhelming majority of those being from the CNMI.

We’ve made the leap from analog to fully digital operations and streamlined the workflow of our journalists. They now can gather and produce news with a more flexible multimedia skill set, integrating functions such as creating their own graphics, cross posting social and web content, and launching live reports for broadcast and live stream in HD directly from their mobile devices. Our new way of connecting to multiple internet connections has transformed the way we incorporate live reports into our productions while the teams can still use their existing cameras and mobile devices.

Our mission now not only includes hyperlocal journalism on Guam and national headlines from the mainland, but also regional stories from across the Western Pacific.

KUAM is Guam’s first commercial broadcast and news media group and has been broadcasting on television and radio for more than 65 years. We’ve also ushered in many innovations in our history. We were the first media group locally to garner national network affiliations (NBC and CBS) and the first to broadcast international sporting and news events locally via satellite. We were also the first to produce local broadcast news on Guam.

The GNI Innovation Challenge support we received has helped us continue that legacy of firsts. We’ve evolved our operation from local and broadcast-centric to the first and only one in the region that’s accessible to a global audience on multiple platforms and devices in a quality HD format.

by Marie Calvo MongeKUAM/Pacific Telestations LLC via The Keyword

Helping local journalism thrive online

Local news is at the heart of all communities – even in big cities. It’s often said London is a ‘city of villages’ and as someone who has grown up, studied and worked in different parts of the capital, I’ve always learnt a lot about my various neighbourhoods through the lens of the local newspaper. From the ‘Surrey Comet’ in Kingston, to the ‘Ham & High’ in Haringey, local journalism shines a light on issues as diverse as local government, culture and important new developments.

Today, thanks to the internet, readers can choose from an incredible array of news sources online. Anyone with a passion can set up a specialist blog and find a following. This is great news for creators and readers like me with a niche interest in anything from arts to architecture. But the online environment and changing audience habits have disrupted traditional business models. Today, local papers and news sites have to work harder than ever to capture – and monetise – audiences' attention with news they’ll enjoy.

One way we support local publishers to meet this challenge is by driving online audiences to their journalism via Google News and Search. In 2021, we sent more than 2.4 billion organic clicks to local news publications in the UK from global users on Google Search and News. A 2019 study by Deloitte in Europe valued each visit between €0.04-0.06 —which equates to more than £84 million in value going to British local news publications from Google traffic alone.

We’ve been working to give local news greater prominence on Google Search and News in recent years, and our latest changes to Google News will help readers discover local content even more easily.

Local publishers often tell us they want to strengthen their digital skills and build on their expertise to further cut through to online audiences. That’s why with the Google News Initiative we are focused on helping local journalism to thrive. We partner with local publishers on new products like Google News Showcase, or the digital portal we developed with the NMA to protect revenue from public notices. On partnerships that support experimentation and innovation in new sustainable business models, and on training to upskill journalists with digital tools and techniques. Our training covers topics like digital verification to tackle misinformation, data journalism, and tools designed to strengthen original investigative journalism.

Many local publishers across the UK are already innovating today with new digital strategies to pull in new readers and revenues. Today we’re announcing three new programmes that build on this long standing work, and there is more to come.

Supporting local publishers with subscriptions

To be successful in the long term, publishers must have a sustainable digital revenue model. As part of our Digital Growth Programme, we partnered with the NMA and FT Strategies to help 12 local publishers develop the expertise they need to build a blueprint for the future. Local partners like Barnsley Chronicle, Rotherham Advertiser, and Iliffe Media took part, and it’s been great to hear the response:

Jeremy Spooner at the Maidenhead Advertiser said: “The extremely high level of expertise delivered by the FT Strategies team, coupled with their access to insights on how to grow digital subscription revenue would not have been accessible by Baylis Media Ltd, had it not been funded by Google News Initiative. The programme has given the team the confidence to accelerate its Digital Subscription Strategy with a clear methodology now in place and a challenge goal set. Without doubt the programme has provided a significant boost to the Digital Revenue Strategy.”

Today, we’re announcing that we’re expanding the programme for another 12 months in response to feedback from the publishers involved.

A new nationwide training partnership with the National Union of Journalists

As a former journalist, I can begin to understand the pressure to stay across a range of new tools. The team I lead has trained 16,500 UK journalists and journalism students since 2015, with a focus on providing workshops outside of London.

Our new partnership with the National Union of Journalists will build on these efforts, and focus on helping local journalists across the UK and Ireland develop both their journalism and leadership capabilities. They’ll deliver 13 in-person workshops nationwide, and 30 virtual digital skills workshops to ensure the training is fully accessible to all.

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary said: “This partnership is an opportunity to improve the digital skills of our members, in particular by using technology to verify the authenticity and accuracy of images, videos and reports on social media and elsewhere online – an essential skill for a modern and ethical journalist. The training will also help mid-career members to progress towards leadership roles, with a particular emphasis on groups under-represented within the industry’s management – women, black and minority ethic, disabled and working class journalists.”

Partnering with PA Media on digital skills

Ensuring training programmes reach groups that are underrepresented in journalism is important if UK newsrooms are to better reflect the communities they serve. That's why we’re proud to sponsor the NCTJ’s Journalism Diversity Fund and to have helped support 200 aspiring journalists from diverse backgrounds through their training and into local newsrooms such as WalesOnline, Barnsley Chronicle and Newcastle World.

Today we’re launching a new partnership with PA Media to offer more targeted support for underrepresented groups across two key areas: digital skills and misinformation. First, we’re sponsoring 25 places on PA Media's four-week summer school for students from underrepresented backgrounds, with a particular focus on reaching students in Westminster and Camden – as well as a series of training festivals for 500 journalists. Secondly, we’re supporting PA Media to develop a new training curriculum to help journalists tackle misinformation as part of their daily news gathering processes.

Alongside these partnerships, we provide direct funding to support innovation in local news via the GNI innovation Challenge for Europe, our YouTube Creator Programme for Independent Journalists and our newly announced Global News Equity Fund.

We’re excited to see the impact these news projects have and to keep working with our local partners to help ensure a vibrant future for local British journalism.

by Matt CookeGoogle News Lab via The Keyword

Introducing Earth Engine for governments and businesses

We’re at a unique inflection point in our relationship with the planet. We face existential climate threats — a growing crisis already manifesting in extreme weather events, coupled with the loss of nature resulting from human activities such as deforestation. But at the same time, the world is mobilizing around climate action. Citizens are demanding progress, and governments and companies are making unprecedented commitments to transform how we live on this planet — from policy decisions to business practices. Over the years, one of the top climate challenges I’ve heard from businesses, governments and organizations is that they’re drowning in data but thirsty for insights.

So starting today, we’re making Google Earth Engine available to businesses and governments worldwide as an enterprise-grade service through Google Cloud. With access to reliable, up-to-date insights on how our planet is changing, organizations will be better equipped to move their sustainability efforts forward.

Google Earth Engine, which originally launched to scientists and NGOs in 2010, is a leading technology for planetary-scale environmental monitoring. Google Earth Engine combines data from hundreds of satellites and earth observation datasets with powerful cloud computing to show timely, accurate, high-resolution insights about the state of the world’s habitats and ecosystems — and how they’re changing over time. With one of the largest publicly available data catalogs and a global data archive that goes back 50 years and updates every 15 minutes, it’s possible to detect trends and understand correlations between human activities and environmental impact. This technology is already beginning to bring greater transparency and traceability to commodity supply chains, supporting climate resilience and allowing for more sustainable management of natural resources such as forests and water.

Earth Engine will be available at no charge to government researchers, least-developed countries, tribal nations and news organizations. And it will remain available at no cost for nonprofit organizations, research scientists, and other impact users for their non-commercial and research projects.

Earth Engine will also be available to startups that are a part of the Google for Startups Cloud Program. Through this initiative we provide funded startups with access to dedicated mentors, industry experts, product and technical support, and Cloud cost coverage (up to $100,000) for each of the first two years and more.

How organizations are using Earth Engine

Since we announced the preview of Earth Engine in Google Cloud last October, we’ve been working with dozens of companies and organizations across industries — from consumer packaged goods and insurance companies to agriculture technology and the public sector — to use Earth Engine’s satellite imagery and geospatial data in incredible ways.

Dynamic World, a global machine learning derived land classification over time available in Earth Engine's public data catalog, was developed in partnership with World Resources Institute (WRI).

For example, Regrow, a company that helps large consumer packaged goods corporations decarbonize their agricultural practices, started using Earth Engine to report and verify regenerative and sustainable techniques. Through Earth Engine’s analysis of historical and satellite imagery, Regrow can generate granular field data at the state or country levels across millions of acres of farmland around the world.

• Quote from Juan Delard de Rigoulieres Mantelli, CTO of Regrow: “Regrow aims to make regenerative agriculture ubiquitous across the globe with an overall mission to mitigate climate change. Earth Engine has allowed us to scale our technology and increase confidence in our data and reports.”

• Quote from Dr. Erin McCreless, Conservation Scientist at Rainforest Trust: “NGIS TraceMark enables near real-time fire and deforestation alerts to be sent directly to the inbox of Rainforest Trust staff, who immediately engage partners on the ground to investigate and intervene.”

• Quote from Maude Meler, SC Johnson entomologist: “We are putting the power in consumers’ hands in providing them with a tool to help predict their exposure and prevent mosquito bites. It’s an exciting time to be working in the field of insect science as we find new opportunities to combine science and technology, like Google Earth Engine, to be a force for good in our mission to prevent the spread of insect-borne diseases.”

• Animation of a globe with three gears turning.

As climate change causes shifts in biodiversity, Earth Engine is helping communities adapt to the effects of these changes, such as new mosquito outbreaks. SC Johnson partnered with Google Cloud to use Earth Engine to develop a publicly accessible, predictive model of when and where mosquito populations are emerging nationwide. The forecast accounts for billions of individual weather data points and over 60 years of mosquito knowledge in forecasting models.

For organizations that may not have resources dedicated to working with Earth Engine, we’ve continued to grow our partner network to support them. For example, our partner NGIS worked with Rainforest Trust to get action-oriented and tailored insights that can help them conserve 39 million acres of tropical forests around the world.

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It’s not too late to protect and restore a livable planet for ourselves and generations to come. Climate change experts have declared the next ten years the ‘Decade of Action’, a critical time to act in order to curb the effects of climate change. Making a global difference will require a transformational change from everyone, including businesses and governments. With Google Earth Engine, we hope to help organizations contribute to this change.

by Rebecca Moore via The Keyword