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As COVID-19 has pushed more teams to work remotely, many of us are turning to video calls. And if you’ve ever been on a video call and wondered why it doesn’t feel quite the same as an in-person conversation, we have something in common. As a researcher at Google, it’s my job to dig into the science behind remote communication. Here are a few things I’ve discovered along the way.  #1: Milliseconds matter.  As a species, we’re hardwired for the fast-paced exchange of in-person conversation. Humans have spent about 70,000 years learning to communicate face-to-face, but video conferencing is only about 100 years old. When the sound from someone’s mouth doesn’t reach your ears until a half second later, you notice . That’s because we’re ingrained to avoid talking at the same time while minimizing silence between turns. A delay of five-tenths of a second (500 ms)—whether from laggy audio or fumbling for the unmute button—is more than double what we’re used to in-...

On March 24, government restrictions due to COVID-19 went into effect across the United Kingdom. With nonessential businesses forced to close, public gatherings banned, and most people required to stay at home, these regulations instantly transformed daily life. They also presented a serious threat to Katie Wignall’s business: Katie makes her living as a tour guide, showing curious visitors the highlights of London. But instead of trying to simply wait out the crisis, Katie looked to technology for a solution to creatively keep her business going. We chatted with her to find out how she’s successfully managed to take her walking tours virtual. One of the beaver statues on Oxford Street Describe your business, Look Up London . I provide walking tours all over London for public and private groups. I’m a Blue Badge Tourist Guide , which is the top accreditation for tourist guides in the UK. We do two years of training, pass 11 exams, and we’re the only guides that can t...

If you don’t work for a cultural institution, you’ve probably never had the opportunity to wander all alone through a museum’s hallways, exhibition spaces and galleries, after hours, with no one else around. That’s a privilege usually reserved for staff—until now.  In the first installment of Google Arts & Culture’s new video series called “ Art for Two ”, curators from three cultural institutions are extending a special invitation to explore their collections, minus the crowds, as they discuss their favorite rooms and pieces with digital curators Mr. Bacchus and The Art Assignment . You'll hear from the experts themselves: The director of the Museo d’Arte Orientale shows his favorite figurine and explains why it’s unusual. Sit at an antique kitchen table with Olivier Gabet, director of the Musée des arts décoratifs , or learn more about what makes Lucio Fontana’s installation at the Galleria Civica di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea so special. Marco Guglielm...

Smart speakers and Smart Displays often sit on the kitchen counter or living room table and are used by more than one member in the household. So we’ve made sure that each person can tweak their preferences for interacting with Google Assistant. When setting up your Google Assistant, you can choose to enable Voice Match and teach Assistant to recognize your voice so you can receive personalized results, like calendar reminders and favorite playlists—even if you share a device with other people in your household.  Now when you set up Voice Match, Google Assistant will prompt you to say full phrases instead of just the hotword "Hey Google." For example, during Voice Match set up, the Assistant will ask you to say “Hey Google, play my workout playlist” so it can better identify who is engaging with significantly higher accuracy. With Voice Match, you can link up to six people to a single Google Assistant-powered device, so you each get tailored results when using the device....

In their first letter to shareholders , our founders highlighted Google’s mission to “develop services that significantly improve the lives of as many people as possible." This vision continues to guide all of us at Google. From Search to YouTube, Gmail to Google Maps—we’ve worked to ensure that our products increase access to information, help people connect with one another, and amplify opportunities around the world. In doing so, Google’s business, products, and technology have long had implications for the advancement of global human rights. As a founding member of the Global Network Initiative (GNI), we’ve worked closely with civil society, academics, investors and industry peers to protect and advance freedom of expression and privacy globally as we deliver high-quality, relevant and useful content. Yesterday, GNI released its third assessment of Google, conducted by an independent third party, and determined that we are making good-faith efforts to implement the GNI Pr...

People are searching for new ways to connect with their communities while being physically distant. I’ve focused my career on building initiatives and resources for minority groups within large companies. To ensure Google is a workplace where everyone can do their best work, we've spent the last several years understanding how employees from different backgrounds experience Google and building internal programs that foster an inclusive work environment. As we navigate the impact of COVID-19 in our own workplace, it’s vital to continue building a culture of belonging. With much of our workforce working remotely, we’re focused on helping our employees connect and finding new ways to prioritize inclusion. Here are some of the lessons we’ve learned. Help boost virtual connections  We know current events are impacting our employees in different ways. Some are balancing expanded childcare responsibilities, while others who live alone may be experiencing feelings of isolation. Base...

We’re committed to giving our users transparency, choice and control when it comes to the ads they see on our platforms. That’s why we’ve long offered tools like Ad Settings which allows people to control how ads are personalized or even opt out of personalized ads altogether, as well as features like Why this ad? which helps explain why a specific ad is being shown. Now, we’re working to bring additional transparency into the advertiser behind the ads people see. In 2018, we announced a new identity verification policy for political advertisers. The policy requires all advertisers that want to run election ads on our platforms go through a verification program to confirm their identity. We display that identity in the ad unit so that users can learn more about the election ads they see on Google’s platforms. Since introducing this program, we’ve verified political advertisers in 30 countries. And now, to provide greater transparency and equip users with more information about w...