Google slips ads into its image search results
Google is going to extra lengths to make sure that you see its shopping links. The internet firm is introducing Shopping ads to image search results — look for pictures of a nice couch and you may see a link to buy it. Google says this is largely about enabling more on-the-spot purchases, but there’s no denying that this is partly about snubbing Amazon. After all, your first instinct may be to search Amazon when you spot that must-have item; you won’t have to do that after today.
That’s not the only update, though. Google is also making a bigger deal of local inventory ads. You’ll now find out whether or not a retailer has in-store pickup, and a store’s knowledge panel will also make inventory searchable. In other words, you won’t have to dig through a shop’s website (or make a phone call) to find out whether or not it’s worth a trip.
Via: Recode
Source: Google Inside AdWords
Google dolls up its data centers with a mural project
Google’s data centers are massive buildings nestled in cities around the world, and most of them are fairly drab from the outside. After all, it’s what’s inside that counts. However, Google is in the process of sprucing up these sad exteriors with the Data Center Mural Project. So far, data centers in Mayes County, Oklahoma, and Saint-Ghislain, Belgium, have received murals from artists Jenny Odell and Oli-B, respectively. Each of the paintings attempt to visualize the actual function of the data centers — mainly, hosting, distributing and securing online information.
“Whether it’s sharing photos, searching the web, or translating languages, billions of requests are sent to ‘the cloud’ every day,” VP of Google Data Centers Joe Kava writes. “But few people know all this information flows through physical locations, called data centers. Because these buildings typically aren’t much to look at, people usually don’t, and rarely learn about the incredible structures and people who make so much of modern life possible.”
Next up, data centers in Dublin, Ireland, and Council Bluffs, Iowa, will receive facelifts. Kava says that Google eventually plans to roll out this project to even more data centers around the world.
Via: Daily Dot
Source: Google
Waze begins testing new carpooling service in the Bay Area
Google-owned navigation app Waze is bringing their carpool pilot program stateside. The company will test the new Waze Rider app with 25,000 employees at select Bay Area companies who will be able to get a ride to work with the over 700,000 local drivers using Waze.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the Waze Rider app simply matches users with a driver heading their same direction, like a virtual version of a casual carpool. Riders will pay a standard 54 cents per mile based on IRS guidelines and, at least to start, the app will not be taking a cut of drivers’ pay.
Google has already been testing Waze Rider with its own employees and the new companies included in the test program include Adobe, UCSF and Walmart’s Global eCommerce division — all of which are located near Google’s headquarters. For riders whose employers aren’t yet involved, there’s a signup page where you can sign up to be notified when the program expands.
“This is kind of an extension of what we do at Waze, to build this trusted community,” said Josh Fried, who is heading up the company’s carpooling program. The new program comes two months after Lyft expanded its own ridesharing options to include carpooling service in the Bay Area. Last year, Uber also tested an UberCommute option in China and a Pool to SF option to help commuters get to San Francisco from cities further south in Silicon Valley
Google Spaces helps you share things with small groups
Apparently, Google+ refocusing on communities just wasn’t enough. Google has introduced Spaces, an app for Android, iOS and the web that’s designed solely for sharing experiences in small groups. All you have to do is start a topic, invite a few people (no, they don’t need Google+) and you’re off to the races — there’s a conversational view that makes sure you see whatever’s going on. Chrome, search and YouTube are built-in, so you don’t have to hop between apps to find a relevant story or video.
The app isn’t live as we write this (it arrives later on the 16th), so it’s hard to say how well it’ll work in practice. However, it’s clear that the folks in Mountain View believe that Google+ communities can only accomplish so much. They tend to revolve around larger groups, and it’s easy for someone’s thoughts to get lost in a sea of posts. Spaces is the antithesis of that: it’s for book clubs, developer meet-ups and any other close-knit community where every person’s input is valuable.
Source: Google Official Blog
Google Combines Search, YouTube, and Chrome Into New Sharing App ‘Spaces’
Google this morning announced a new app called “Spaces” for iOS, Android and desktop, that combines Google Search, YouTube, and Chrome together into one app to easily share and discuss content amongst friends. Similar to Gboard launched last week, Google is hoping to lessen the amount of time needed to jump between apps by streamlining multiple features into one application.
To start off, users can create a Space within the app centering around any article or video they like, and invite friends and family to the Space through texts, email, or a connected social network. From there, they can start discussing the topic in question, and even go through old conversations with a search function that can pull up image results as well as hits related to text.
Group sharing isn’t easy. From book clubs to house hunts to weekend trips and more, getting friends into the same app can be challenging. Sharing things typically involves hopping between apps to copy and paste links. Group conversations often don’t stay on topic, and things get lost in endless threads that you can’t easily get back to when you need them.
We wanted to build a better group sharing experience, so we made a new app called Spaces that lets people get people together instantly to share around any topic.
Google said it plans to test out Spaces at its annual Google I/O conference starting this week. The company will have Spaces set up for each session, letting developers and conference goers connect and discuss all of the event’s biggest topics in one organized app.
The rollout for Spaces is starting today, so users on iOS, Android, and desktop should be able to check out the new app soon.
Tag: Google
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French anti-racism groups target Facebook, Twitter and YouTube
Twitter, YouTube and Facebook will face legal complaints from three anti-racism groups in France, according to Le Monde. The French Jewish student union (UEJF), SOS Racisme and SOS Homophobie claim that the social networks failed to take down illegal hate speech material as required by French law. After a week-long test by the groups, the companies deleted only a fraction of videos, tweets and comments with themes like racism, homophobia and holocaust denial, they say.
Facebook was the most proactive, taking down 53 out of 156 messages or comments, while YouTube deleted just 16 out of 225 pieces of content signaled by the groups. Twitter pulled up the rear, erasing just eight out of 205 flagged tweets. The results demonstrate “an unwillingness to fight hatred on their platforms, in total contradiction with French laws and often their own terms and conditions,” say the groups. While the three social networks aren’t required to delete every single hateful comment, they must moderate such messages when reported.
Twitter’s Damien Viel with French Prime Minister, Manuel Valls at Twitter’s new Paris HQ. (Martin Bureau/AFP/Getty Images)
As Le Monde points out, Twitter’s poor takedown performance is particularly embarrassing, as the site recently inaugurated its French headquarters in Paris with French Prime Minister Manuel Valls. Last year, Valls launched a “national fight against illegal content” on social networks, calling “anti-Semetic, racist speech” on social networks “unacceptable.”
Unlike in the US, holocaust denial and other forms of hate speech are illegal in France and other European nations. In Germany, Facebook and Twitter recently agreed to delete the most serious forms of such content within 24 hours. However, in describing the difficulty for social networks to stay on top of prohibited content in France, Facebook said it deleted one particular image (related to the 2015 terrorist attacks) over 32,000 times.
However, the anti-racism associations point out that Facebook manages to “rigorously” take down any content with nudity or pornography. “This makes us question whether Facebook, which is modeled on an American vision of society, is willing to conform to the standards of the French community and legal system.” Added SOS Racisme president Dominique Sopo, “these platforms seem more shocked by bare breasts, which are promptly censored, than by hate speech content against individuals or groups.”
Via: Reuters
Source: LeMonde (translated)
Google Play makes it easier to test Android apps
It’s not too hard to beta test an Android app, but the process still tends to involve jumping through a few hoops. You might need to visit the developer’s website, for instance, or join a community. Thankfully, it’s about to get downright trivial in the near future: Google is rolling out a Play Store update that lets you join (or leave) Android betas right from the regular app’s listing. Certain tests may ask you to sign up for a Google+ community first, but you won’t have to go scrounging for a beta-specific app entry or download an installer from a website.
The updated store will also let you know when you’re using a beta-only app (that is, there has never been a finished release). And you’re not writing regular reviews anymore — instead, you’re leaving private feedback for the developer. It’ll sadly take some time for the Google Play update to automatically reach your device, but Android Police is offering an install file if you just can’t wait to experiment with unfinished code.
Source: APKMirror, Android Police
Chrome will downplay Flash as soon as this fall
We’ve come a long, long way from the time when Google was praising Adobe Flash as if it were a cornerstone of the internet. The internet firm has quietly proposed an “HTML5 by Default” initiative for Chrome that would make Flash more of an if-you-must backup than a must-have. The web browser would pick the HTML5 web standard for content when given the choice — when it isn’t an option, it would ask you to activate Flash. It’d skip that activation prompt for the 10 most popular sites using Flash (currently including YouTube, Facebook and Twitch), but only for a year. You’d first see HTML5 by Default in the open source Chromium browser in the fourth quarter of this year, with regular Chrome likely following soon afterward.
Google has certainly given its share of clues that Flash is on the way out, such as axing some forms of Flash ads. However, this would be the biggest push yet if it’s approved as-is. As the company’s Anthony LaForge says, it’s an acknowledgment of the “maturity” of HTML5. The plugin-free format can deliver a lot of what Flash does, just without the slowdowns, runaway battery consumption, security holes and crashes. Between this and existing HTML5-first efforts from rival browsers, it’s evident that Adobe’s proprietary tech is fading away.
Via: Softpedia, VentureBeat
Source: Google Groups
Google reportedly faces a record antitrust fine in Europe
It’s growing increasingly likely that Google will face European Union fines for allegedly abusing its dominance of internet search, but just how big will the penalty be? Huge, if you ask the Telegraph’s sources. They claim that the European Commission expects to fine Google “in the region of” €3 billion ($3.4 billion) — that’s an all-time high for an EU antitrust payout, and far larger than previous record-setter Intel (which paid the equivalent of $1.4 billion). The massive sum would reflect the length of Google’s perceived abuse, and might even “make an example” out of the company for supposedly implementing changes that made it even harder for competitors to get noticed in search results.
If the story is accurate, the Commission would announced the fine as early as June, and before a summer break at the latest. The terms aren’t finalized, according to the tipsters, so there’s a chance that the fine and other terms will change in the weeks ahead.
Neither the Commission nor Google has been willing to comment so far. However, Reuters sources previously stated that Google has given up trying to settle the EU case. While it reportedly still objects to accusations that it’s anti-competitive (it cites the success of online shopping sites like Amazon and EBay as proof it’s fair to rivals), it would rather resign itself to its fate than fight a losing battle.
Via: Reuters
Source: The Telegraph
The After Math: Buyer’s remorse
You can’t always get what you want, even if you pay good money for it. Disney has decided to drop its Infinity franchise and the studio that developed it. A judge ordered Lyft to double its class action payout to drivers. And Earth’s atmosphere has doubled — that’s right, doubled — in weight since we first got it. That’s it, I want to talk to the manager.
AIVAnet 