Settembre, 2021

It’s time for another update to our Stadia Savepoint series, recapping the new games, features and updates on Stadia.

In August, Stadia Pro subscribers played through newly added games like PAW Patrol Mighty Pups: Save Adventure Bay, It Came From Space And Ate Our Brains, Epistory – Typing Chronicles, Killer Queen Black, Valkyria Chronicles 4 Complete Edition and GRIME. Claiming these titles within the growing Pro library of more than 20 games makes them easy to play instantly for as long as you’re a Pro subscriber. In addition, last month included Free Play Days every single weekend, with Pro subscribers getting the chance to play free games including Rainbow Six Siege, The Elder Scrolls Online and Far Cry 5.

For decades, Google has been a proud supporter of the Australian media industry, providing hundreds of millions of dollars to media organisations through our products and services, training programs, partnerships and assistance with digital transformation. 

Earlier this year, we introduced our biggest investment to support the news industry yet – News Showcase and have signed more than 100 titles from across Australia with talks continuing with dozens more outlets of all sizes.  

Today, we’re pleased to announce that we’ve significantly expanded the number of regional outlets on Showcase, having reached a new in-principle agreement with Country Press Australia. 

Dozens of regional media outlets across Australia join Google News Showcase

Country Press Australia represents almost 180 independently owned regional and local newspapers and online platforms  across Australia.

Under the agreement, it’s expected that Google will welcome over 70 regional Country Press Australia news publications to Google News Showcase – a product and licensing program that pays publishers to curate content and build deeper relationships with readers.

Kate Beddoe, Google’s Director of News Partnerships APAC, said the agreement would support many titles that have operated in their local communities for decades, providing vital news and information to their regions. “We are very pleased to reach this agreement and welcome Country Press Australia outlets to Google News Showcase,” Ms Beddoe said. “We are also working with Country Press Australia to support the ongoing digital transformation of its members, helping with the sustainability of these news businesses.”

“We’ve helped support the news industry for two decades and Showcase is our biggest investment yet. We look forward to continuing to build on this important work in partnership with the Australian news industry,” Ms Beddoe said. 

Andrew Manuel, President of Country Press Australia, said the agreement recognises the vital importance of local news media to their communities. “Country Press Australia member newspapers provide an essential service to local communities and are vital to the local democracies being able to assist in holding those responsible to account,” Mr Manuel said.  

“Local newspapers are often the only source of local news and provide a platform for informed public debate. This agreement will help sustain public interest journalism across regional Australia well into the future with a monetary exchange, innovation changes as well as enabling a sustainable online model for traditional newspaper publishers,” Country Press Australia President Andrew Manuel said.The CPA members bring the total number of publications on Showcase globally to nearly 1000.

“It’s hard being tiny on the internet,” S. Mitra Kalita,URL Media founder and former CNN Digital vice president, said during the inaugural Google News Initiative Community News Summit. “What it takes for me to get a dollar on local news versus a dollar in national news [is] so different.” 

Google was thrilled to bring together such a diverse and insightful group of community news leaders from the U.S. and Canada many of whom echoed this sentiment from Mitra during the two-day event (Aug. 17 – 18), which focused on the challenges and opportunities local publishers face when growing and monetizing their audiences. 

“Local news is where the rubber meets the road,” said summit host and GNI director Olivia Ma, in her opening remarks to a virtual audience of 495 publishers. “Those of us working on news here at Google take our responsibility to help people find trusted, authoritative local journalism very seriously.”

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the need for community news outlets to diversify revenue streams and innovate to find sustainable business models. “The reality was, I needed to get on the digital game plan or die,” Sonny Giles, CEO of the Houston Defender Network, said during a session on mythbusting digital advertising. 

Rebekah Monson, the co-founder of Letterhead and Where.by.us, built on that thought in a conversation about entrepreneurial strategies for maximizing audiences. She noted that local news entrepreneurs have to rally limited resources to succeed. “I don’t know any news orgs that hustle and embrace innovation change and interaction faster or more totally than local news outlets,” Monson said. 

Over the two days, publishers also talked about the wins and lessons learned from connecting with their audiences. While figuring out pricing structures for The Juggernaut, founder Snigda Sur said she was so afraid to charge a subscription fee at first and when she did, priced it too low. “What I wish I had known is (to) ask and ask for more,” Sur said. “Some of your earliest users are your biggest champions and your biggest ambassadors.”

Google is dedicated to making tech accessible for everyone, and our hardware innovation division, Google ATAP, is working on this as well. As part of a Jacquard (a connected apparel platform) research project, we at ATAP worked closely with members and advocates of the disability community to understand how advanced wearable technologies, like smart textiles, gesture interfaces and on-device AI can help more people.

Earlier this year, we worked with members of Champions Place, a shared living residence for young adults with disabilities, to better understand why existing technologies sometimes fall short of meeting the full needs of people with mobility and dexterity disabilities.

This research inspired us to use Jacquard technology to create a soft, interactive patch or sleeve that allows people to access digital, health and security services with simple gestures. This woven technology can be worn or positioned on a variety of surfaces and locations, adjusting to the needs of each individual. 

We teamed up with Garrison Redd, a Para powerlifter and advocate in the disability community, to test this new idea. 

Garrison’s feedback has been invaluable, and he’s shared some of his favorite functions. “The selfie option is helpful as far as creativity,” Garrison says. “If I’m in the gym and have the armband on I can capture images from a proper angle for my coach and the training staff, without having to wheel into position, which isn’t ideal. So that does increase my independence, which is important for individuals who have disabilities.” He also pointed out areas where we could improve. “It’s important that the surface can be sensitive to one or two fingers for people who may have more needs than I have.”

We hugely benefited from Garrison’s background and expertise, and implemented his feedback into our work. For example, we’re now developing machine learning models for gesture recognition that adapt over time to each person’s unique dexterity. This will allow people with different levels of motor disabilities to use simple gestures to do things like call someone, or order a rideshare service. These might seem like incremental steps forward, but as Garrison says, “It’s the small things that make a difference between being dependent and independent.”