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Showing posts from October, 2022

Introducing two new solutions powered by Ads Data Hub

Ads Data Hub helps advertisers, agencies and measurement partners do customized analysis of campaigns while protecting user privacy. More than 3,000 brands, agencies, and measurement partners use cloud-based Ads Data Hub to perform analyses for their specific business objectives. Customers of Ads Data Hub have different needs, so we’ve created more specialized entry points to get started. Marketers require tools to quantify a consumer’s path to purchase and the ability to activate new audiences. At the same time, measurement partners conduct third-party assessment of metrics such as video viewability and audience reach. To offer a more tailored experience, we are introducing an evolution to the Ads Data Hub core platform by introducing two dedicated solutions: Ads Data Hub for Marketers and Ads Data Hub for Measurement Partners. New solutions for more catered needs Ads Data Hub for Marketers offers a new way for advertisers and agencies to analyze their data. With this solution,...

How Scrolla is making news more accessible to South Africans

The costs associated with paying for mobile phone data in many African countries are often incredibly high, making it prohibitive for lower income readers to access news. As our mission is to bring high quality news on mobile phones to underserved communities, we set out to create a new product for Scrolla.Africa which is light on data use. The new platform is called Scrolla Data Lite . Our core readers are pay-as-you-go mobile users, who make up about 75% of the market in South Africa. We found that people on these expensive pay-as-you-go data services were extremely cautious about downloading anything or surfing online. So beyond using data for messaging services, the idea of browsing on mobiles for news is regarded as a privilege. As a mobile-only investigative and political reporting outlet, we were operating on a shoestring budget when we launched, so the data use issue was not something we had the technical capacity to address. We decided it had to wait until we had evolved ...

How we detect, remove and report child sexual abuse material

Since Google’s earliest days, we have worked to prevent the spread of illegal child sexual abuse material (referred to as CSAM). Child safety organizations and governments rightly expect — and in many cases require — us to take action to remove it from our systems. Which is why, when we find CSAM on our platforms, we remove it, report it and often take the step to suspend the account. Although CSAM accounts for a very small portion of the material uploaded and shared across our platforms, we take the implications of both CSAM violations and suspending accounts seriously. Our goal is to prevent abuse on our platforms while minimizing the risk of an incorrect suspension. Today, we are sharing more information on how we detect this harmful content and the steps we are taking to be more transparent about our processes with users. How we detect CSAM We rely on two equally important technologies to help us proactively identify child sexual abuse material: hash matching and ...

How mentoring startups helped me grow as a Googler

Growing up, I avoided mentorship at all costs. Since I was raised by a single mother and my father has been incarcerated most of my life, I always viewed mentoring programs as an attempt to replace something missing. In hindsight, though, mentorship would have helped me get where I am today in my career more quickly — and avoid some pitfalls along the way. So when I read about the Google for Startups Founders Academy , I jumped at the chance to participate as a mentor. Launched in 2020 , the four-month program connects founders from Black, Latino and veteran-led startups with experienced Googlers, investors and industry experts. Through this program, I could share guidance and resources with those with similar backgrounds as me to help them navigate all the complex aspects of running a startup and growing their business. After throwing my hat into the ring, I was accepted as a Google for Startups mentor and paired with Gritly , a Colorado-based edtech startup that specializes in te...

Creating sustainable growth for Southeast Asia’s digital economy

The past few years have shown Southeast Asia’s incredible resilience, as people and businesses have come online – often for the first time – to find new ways of accomplishing what would previously have to be done in person. In 2022, we’ve seen that resilience again, with global economic headwinds rising just as the region began to emerge from the pandemic. Despite the challenges, Southeast Asia’s digital economy continues to show its dynamism and strength. It’s expected to reach 20% growth in gross merchandise value (GMV) this year, heading towards US$200 billion in value. Encouragingly, as the latest e-Conomy SEA 2022 report confirms, the region is on track to hit that milestone three years earlier than we expected in our inaugural report in 2016. Over the past three years, 100 million new internet users have come online. The accelerated adoption of digital services we saw during the pandemic is now slowing down as technology becomes an integral part of people’s lives – ...

A new genome sequencing tool powered with our technology

Genome sequencing provides a more complete description of cells and organisms , allowing scientists to uncover serious genetic conditions such as the elevated risk for breast cancer or pulmonary arterial hypertension . While researching genomics has the potential to save lives and preserve people’s quality of life, it's incredibly challenging work. Back in January , we announced a partnership with PacBio , a developer of genome sequencing instruments, to further advance genomic technologies. Today, PacBio is introducing the Revio sequencing system, an instrument that runs on our deep learning technology, DeepConsensus. With DeepConsensus built right into Revio, researchers can quickly and accurately identify genetic variants that cause diseases. How Google Health’s technology works Genome sequencing requires observing individual DNA molecules amidst a complex and noisy background. To address the problem, Google Health worked to adapt Transformer, one of our most influential ...

Kwentuhan: Sharing our stories this Filipino American History Month

“Kwentuhan” roughly translates to “sharing stories” in English. For Filipino American History Month, or Kapamilya Month as our Filipino Googler Network refers to it, we sat down with Paolo Malabuyo, Director of User Experience in Google Maps and executive sponsor of the Filipino Googler Network, to learn about his story. As a child growing up in the Philippines, we heard you were somewhat of a Lego competition legend. How did this kickstart your interest in working in UX and design? I was the youngest of four and I always felt like I was in the shadow of my older, smarter, more athletic and more accomplished siblings. I don’t recall having many ideas about what I wanted to be when I grew up, until my grandmother immigrated to the United States in the 1960s and started sending small handfuls of Lego pieces through the mail. This started my fascination with Lego and culminated in my participation in Lego competitions across the Philippines. I still think that the greatest j...

The Art of Survival: A Yazidi Cultural Archive

The arts are integral to how we make sense of the world. Traditional arts and cultural practices have long been used to elevate human experience and shift perspectives. However, in recent decades these benefits have increasingly been the subject of more formal study , highlighting the direct health benefits of participating in the arts such as increased physical activity, stress-reduction and connection. Such benefits are particularly vital for people who have experienced forced displacement. Current evidence points to how the arts and arts therapies promote physical, mental and social well being for people who are working through the aftermath of violence and conflict. Dance and dance/movement therapy can help people release grief and recover a sense of joy. Theater and drama therapy can aid people in re-discovering a sense of playfulness, rehearse new ways of being, deepen empathy and communicate across differences. Music and music therapy can decrease stress, facilitate emo...

A brief history of our search interest in pumpkin spice lattes

Pumpkin Spice Lattes are practically synonymous with autumn. It just isn’t fall until you sip a PSL while fiery orange leaves crunch under your boots. The Pumpkin Spice Latte is an undeniable staple of the season — look no further than Google Trends for proof. Here are 10 moments of PSL search trend history. “Pumpkin Spice Latte” began gaining popularity as a search term in the fall of 2010. 2. It started out as a solidly autumnal treat — up until 2017, search interest in “Pumpkin Spice Latte” first peaked in September, and then again in October and November. 3. These days, it’s becoming more of a late-summer, early-fall beverage: Since 2018, search interest in “Pumpkin Spice Latte” has peaked in August. 4. On that note: Searches for “Pumpkin Spice Latte” were highest in 2022 during the week of August 28 - September 3. 5. Search interest in “pumpkin spice latte” hit new heights in August of this year. 6 . …Which isn’t terribly ...

In Madrid, a pitch for “open security”

The following is adapted from remarks delivered by Kent Walker, President of Global Affairs, at the “Google Cybersecurity Summit: Protecting Europe's Digital Space” in Madrid on October 26, 2022. Today’s cybersecurity discussion couldn’t be more timely. Against a backdrop of rising geo-political tensions, we are seeing more and more efforts to undercut our shared security. Cyber and information wars have become tools of the trade in attempts to exploit our vulnerabilities and destabilize our economies and our democracies. It is no wonder that when the European Commission unveiled its plan for Europe’s digital transformation by 2030 , it called security a fundamental right central to its vision. So where do we begin the task of securing the digital world? On the one hand, some would embrace data localization requirements, limits on market access, and even restrictions to accessing some cross-border services . Essentially walled gardens and high fortresses. But we would...

Helpful Search tools for evaluating information online

People turn to Google every day for information in important moments. Sometimes that’s to look for the best recipe for dinner, other times it’s to check the facts about a claim they heard from a friend. No matter what you’re searching for, we aim to connect you with high-quality information, and help you understand and evaluate that information. That’s why we design our ranking systems to prioritize the most useful, highest-quality content and provide direct access to reliable information for important topics. We’re also investing in new ways to give you more context about the information you find online and introducing more information literacy features, based on research and best practices from experts. This week marks UNESCO Global Media and Information Literacy Week, and we’re sharing some new announcements about this important work. Get context with About this result When you’re searching for information on Google, it can be helpful to have quick access to more context about...

The future of fighting misinformation in Asia-Pacific

The global Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2022 shows that trust in news has declined in almost half the countries surveyed, and more people are actively avoiding the news. Meanwhile, a majority of those surveyed said they worry about identifying the difference between real news and misinformation on the internet. The Asia Pacific region is no stranger to these trends, and ahead of elections in Malaysia, Thailand, Pakistan, India and Indonesia, the fifth annual APAC Trusted Media Summit , organized by the Google News Initiative (GNI), brought together journalists, fact-checkers, educators, researchers, activists, and policymakers to share best practices for fact-checking and media literacy. Here are our key takeaways from the event. Pre-bunk rather than debunk. Researchers at the University of Cambridge found that short "prebunking" videos, rolled out as ads on social media, are effective at improving people's ability to spot fake information. Debunks, on ...

The 5 best ways to stay secure online with Chrome

We designed Chrome to be secure by default, protecting you from dangerous and deceptive sites that might steal your passwords or infect your device. Chrome pioneered many of the techniques that are now foundational to browser security (such as sandboxing and site isolation), and with recent advances like predictive phishing protection , you can be confident that we’re using the latest technology to keep your data safe. But what can you do yourself to make sure you stay safe online? To mark Cybersecurity Awareness Month, we talked to a few Chrome security engineers to share a few pieces of advice: Keep Chrome up to date Hundreds of security engineers across Google work to keep Chrome safe against the latest threats, and those improvements come out at least every two weeks. “We try to shorten the time between when a security bug has been discovered or reported and when a fix is released,” says Amy Ressler, a security technical program manager. “No matter how fast we work, we kno...