2021

GA 4: l’evoluzione di Universal Analytics Più che un’evoluzione, oseremo definirla un “drastico” cambiamento, non solo dello storico pannello di amministrazione ma di tutto il sistema di tracciamento che apre le porte ad un nuovo e innovativo modello di raccolta ed elaborazione dei dati. Sembra…

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

La capacità di apprendere è un valore centrale per le attività di Google. Ogni giorno più di un miliardo di persone si rivolgono alla nostra Ricerca per trovare risposte o scoprire qualcosa di nuovo. Il nostro team dedicato all’Apprendimento e alla Formazione lavora per stimolare questa curiosità e aiutare le persone a sviluppare le proprie conoscenze, mettendole in contatto con esperienze di apprendimento di qualità attraverso i nostri prodotti, che si tratti della Ricerca o di YouTube, di Google Classroom oppure di Chromebook.Dopo oltre 20 anni di esperienza nello sviluppo della Ricerca Google, ho recentemente preso la guida del team dedicato ad Apprendimento e Formazione, di cui fa parte anche Google for Education. L’obiettivo di Google for Education è portare il meglio di Google nel mondo della didattica, un obiettivo su cui ci concentriamo da oltre 15 anni. Durante la pandemia le persone si sono rivolte alla tecnologia come mai prima, per poter restare in contatto, per imparare e per continuare a insegnare anche a distanza. Questa situazione ci ha portato a intensificare il nostro impegno per rendere i nostri strumenti sempre più accessibili e utili.Nell’ultimo anno gli insegnanti e gli educatori ci hanno ispirato con la loro capacità di garantire, nonostante le numerose difficoltà, una continuità nella didattica per i loro studenti. Oggi vorremmo condividere le nostre novità a supporto del loro lavoro, tra cui oltre 50 nuove funzionalità di prodotto.In primo luogo, vogliamo che i dirigenti scolastici e universitari siano in grado di portare innovazione nei propri istituti con prodotti sicuri e flessibili che soddisfino le loro esigenze:G Suite for Education diventa più flessibile e si chiamerà Google Workspace for Education. Google Workspace for Education include tutti i prodotti già utilizzati da oltre 170 milioni di studenti e insegnanti a livello globale, come Classroom, Meet, Gmail, Calendario, Drive, Documenti, Fogli e Slide, ma per andare incontro alle diverse necessità di utilizzo sarà disponibile in quattro versioni distinte – Google for Education ne aveva solo due, la versione gratuita e quella Enterprise. La versione gratuita si chiamerà Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals e chi usa questa versione non vedrà alcun cambiamento a parte il nuovo nome e nuove funzionalità.Classroom si arrichisce di nuove funzionalità, tra cui strumenti analitici avanzati per organizzare il flusso delle lezioni all’interno dell’istituto.Le nuove funzionalità in arrivo su Meet offriranno maggiore visibilità e controllo, inclusa la possibilità di impostare criteri specifici per chi può partecipare alle videochiamate, aumentandone così la sicurezza.Siamo inoltre impegnati a creare una tecnologia che sia più vicina agli insegnanti, per permettere loro di concentrarsi su ciò che sanno fare meglio: aiutare gli studenti a raggiungere il loro pieno potenziale.I componenti aggiuntivi di Classroom, in arrivo entro la fine dell’anno, consentiranno agli insegnanti di integrare i loro materiali direttamente nell’interfaccia di Classroom. Avranno anche un accesso più facile a strumenti per comprendere il coinvolgimento degli studenti, in modo da poterli seguire al meglio.Attraverso nuove funzionalità di Meet gli insegnanti avranno un maggiore controllo sulle aule virtuali, inclusa la possibilità di terminare la riunione per tutti i partecipanti e disattivare l’audio per tutti contemporaneamente, riuscendo così a organizzare meglio il flusso della conversazione.Infine, vogliamo fornire agli studenti gli strumenti di cui hanno bisogno per svolgere le proprie attività al meglio, ovunque si trovano.Meet funzionerà meglio in caso di larghezza di banda ridotta, per dare la possibilità agli studenti con connessione Internet debole di poter continuare a seguire le lezioni. Entro la fine dell’anno aggiungeremo anche una funzionalità per caricare immagini di compiti cartacei e per far funzionare offline l’app Classroom per Android, in modo che gli studenti possano scaricare i compiti e completarli anche in assenza di una connessione stabile.Quest’anno introdurremo le reazioni emoji su Meet – attivabili a discrezione dei docenti – per dare la possibilità agli studenti di interagire in modo leggero senza disturbare la lezione.Nuove funzionalità che rendono i prodotti più accessibili, come i cursori colorati su Chromebook e Switch Access – che consente di interagire con un dispositivo Android utilizzando uno o più sensori anziché il touchscreen – consentiranno agli studenti di adattare gli strumenti alle loro esigenze.Grazie all’attenzione e all’ascolto che dedichiamo agli studenti, agli insegnanti e ai dirigenti scolastici – i veri esperti dei nostri prodotti – possiamo migliorare ogni giorno. Quella che ieri sembrava magia, oggi è diventata la normalità e nuove aspettative si fanno avanti. Mano a mano che la tecnologia progredisce e migliora, faremo in modo che gli strumenti per la didattica ne traggano i benefici.L’insegnamento e l’apprendimento non si sono fermati nell’ultimo anno, nonostante gli ostacoli imprevedibili e le molte incognite causate dalla pandemia. Il merito va tutto agli eroici sforzi degli insegnanti e dei dirigenti scolastici, così come degli studenti e delle loro famiglie. Siamo orgogliosi di poter lavorare insieme a loro per rendere la didattica più accessibile a tutti e per offrire un’esperienza il più possibile utile e formativa.Scritto da: Ben Gomes, SVP Learning & Education

Dr. Marian Croak has spent decades working on groundbreaking technology, with over 200 patents in areas such as Voice over IP, which laid the foundation for the calls we all use to get things done and stay in touch during the pandemic. For the past six years she’s been a VP at Google working on everything from site reliability engineering to bringing public Wi-Fi to India’s railroads.Now, she’s taking on a new project: making sure Google develops artificial intelligence responsibly and that it has a positive impact. To do this, Marian has created and will lead a new center of expertise on responsible AI within Google Research.I sat down (virtually) with Marian to talk about her new role and her vision for responsible AI at Google. You can watch parts of our conversation in the video above, or read on for a few key points she discussed.Technology should be designed with people in mind. “My graduate studies were in both quantitative analysis and social psychology. I did my dissertation on looking at societal factors that influence inter-group bias as well as altruistic behavior. And so I’ve always approached engineering with that kind of mindset, looking at the impact of what we’re doing on users in general. […] What I believe very, very strongly is that any technology that we’re designing should have a positive impact on society.”Responsible AI research requires input from many different teams.“I’m excited to be able to galvanize the brilliant talent that we have at Google working on this. We have to make sure we have the frameworks and the software and the best practices designed by the researchers and the applied engineers […] so we can proudly say that our systems are behaving in responsible ways. The research that’s going on needs to inform that work, the work we’re doing with engineering better solutions, and it needs to be shared with the outside world as well. I am thrilled to support teams doing both pure research as well as applied research — both are valuable and absolutely necessary to ensure technology has a positive impact on the world.’’This area is new, and there are still growing pains.“This field, the field of responsible AI and ethics, is new. Most institutions have only developed principles, and they’re very high-level, abstract principles, in the last five years. There’s a lot of dissension, a lot of conflict in terms of trying to standardize on normative definitions of these principles. Whose definition of fairness, or safety, are we going to use? There’s quite a lot of conflict right now within the field, and it can be polarizing at times. And what I’d like to do is have people have the conversation in a more diplomatic way, perhaps, than we’re having it now, so we can truly advance this field.”Compromise can be tough, but the result is worth it.  “If you look at the work we did on VoIP, it required such a huge organizational and business shift in the company I was working for. We had to bring teams together that were very contentious — people who had domain expertise in the internet and could move in a fast and furious way, along with others who were very methodical and disciplined in their approach. Huge conflicts! But over time it settled, and we were able to really make a huge difference in terms of being able to scale VoIP in a way that allowed it to handle billions and billions of calls in a very robust and resilient way. So it was more than worth it.”(Photo credit: Phobymo)

With every major Android release, we want to strike the right balance between improving security and manageability and making the platform more usable and private for employees. With Android 12, now in developer preview, we’re introducing a number of features that not only bolster security, but also provide more simplicity and utility for IT and more privacy and productivity for employees. Simplifying password complexityFor users on work profile devices, we’re introducing a more straightforward, modern approach to password restrictions. Instead of granular requirements that often result in easily forgotten passwords, we’re establishing pre-set complexity levels of high, medium or low that will be used to access the device. With Android hardware-backed brute force protections in place since 2016, IT doesn’t have to employ super-complex restrictions, which can still be guessed by computers. By utilizing the new complexity levels along with other Android security protections, including SafetyNet Attestation API and Google Play Protect, IT teams can be assured devices are safe and easy to use for employees.Easily set up a work security challengeAdmins can still utilize a more granular password, if they prefer, through the work security challenge to manage access to business apps in the work profile. The work security challenge enables an IT-approved password for access to data in the work profile, separate from a simplified password for the device. We’ve improved the device setup process to prompt employees if their provided password doesn’t meet complexity requirements set by their admin. Users who receive a prompt can simply choose to increase the strength of their device password or set up a work security challenge to access apps in the work profile. If approved by IT, employees can also switch back to one password for both work and personal if they change their mind. For company-owned devices, admins will be able to choose whether they use the new password complexity levels or continue using the more granular restrictions.Certificate management on unmanaged devicesCertificate management is a critical tool that allows enterprises to enable authentication for employee access to remote services. Today, the process can be seamlessly handled on managed devices through an Enterprise Mobility Management’s (EMM) device policy client, which can programmatically generate keys, install certificates from the Android KeyChain service and present them for authentication. In Android 12, we’re streamlining credential management for unmanaged devices by making the process available to apps beside the device policy client. With this expanded credential management, more companies can extend secure access to employees regardless of their location, a key requirement in the COVID-19 era. Additionally, employees can avoid the cumbersome, manual process of installing certificates themselves.Enrollment-specific IDs for personal devicesFor employee-owned managed devices, we’re creating a new enterprise-specific device identifier that may help enhance privacy in the event an employee leaves their current employer. Instead of relying on hardware identifiers such as IMEI or serial numbers, personal devices will get a new identifier derived programmatically during enrollment. Enrollment-specific IDs allow IT admins to identify the device if it’s re-enrolled at the same organization, even if the device is factory reset. But these IDs limit IT’s ability to track the device if the employee leaves the company. Today’s initial preview covers some of the features you’ll see in the next release of Android with more to come as we get close to launch. Learn about the enterprise features in the Android 12 Developer Preview at the Android developers website. To give Android 12 a try, you can download it to a Pixel device today.

Jacquard by Google aims to simplify your digital life by turning everyday things, like sneakers and jackets, into intuitive interfaces. A connected jacket with woven Jacquard technology lets people connect to their smartphone and use simple gestures to trigger functions from the Jacquard app. With this interactivity and connectivity built in, you can tap your sleeve to hear directions to your next destination or brush your cuff to change the song playing on your compatible music service. Jacquard technology works for phones running Android 6.0.1 or newer and iOS 11 or newer.As a team, we’re motivated to understand how connected garment technology can provide access to digital services in situations where traditional mobile devices are difficult or inconvenient to use. As part of that goal, we started a series of research projects to explore and discover how Jacquard technology can help people with disabilities live more independent lives. We worked with Champions Place, a shared living residence for young adults with disabilities in the greater Atlanta area. Residents at Champions Place tried out the Jacquard Levi’s ® Commuter Trucker Jacket and let us know how a connected garment could be even more helpful to each of them. We discovered that for the residents at Champions Place a connected jacket gave them a simple and unobtrusive way to access technology on the go. For example, many residents at Champions Place commonly rely on emergency call solutions—usually a device worn around the neck that lets them quickly call for assistance. Those who use these devices imagined how the connected garment could be used as a discreet and less obtrusive alternative while blending into their daily lives. Once technology becomes part of the things you wear every day, fashion choices become as important as function. One resident trying out the Jacquard connected jackets admitted, “I am not necessarily a jean jacket person. I am thinking it will be useful that I can have a band that can be slipped on, underneath different sleeves or jackets, that way it is not tied to one piece clothing.” It’s feedback like that, that helps us to explore design solutions that people want to wear. We learned that fashion style and form factors, like a smart jacket or connected patch, matter, and one solution doesn’t fit all. Our work with Champions Place has just started. So far, the feedback has helped us envision how technology like Jacquard can help people live more independent lives without sacrificing style. Enhancing everyday objects with digital functionalities can lead to products that are helpful, comfortable, easy-to-use and stylish for everyone — including people with disabilities.Learn more about Jacquard by Google.   Related ArticleYoung adults with physical disabilities find independenceWe worked with Champions Place, a shared living residence for young adults, to make it as accessible as possible to its residents using a…Read Article

Starting today, the Apple TV app, including Apple TV+, is now globally available on the new Chromecast with Google TV, with more Google TV devices to come. To access the Apple TV app, navigate to the Apps tab or the apps row in the For you tab.Google TV gives users with subscriptions to Apple TV+ the ability to tune into award-winning original shows, movies and documentaries from the world’s most creative storytellers. You can enjoy Apple Originals, including series like “Ted Lasso,” which was recently nominated for two Golden Globes, “For All Mankind” season two debuting tomorrow, “The Morning Show” and “Servant,” as well as movies like “Greyhound” and “Palmer.” The Apple TV app also gives you access to your library of movie and TV show purchases from Apple, as well as personalized and curated recommendations and Apple TV channels. And with Family Sharing, up to six family members can share subscriptions to Apple TV+ and Apple TV channels.With Google TV in the U.S., you can browse Apple Originals in your personalized recommendations and search results. And with Google Assistant, you can also use your voice to ask Google to open the Apple TV app or play an Apple Original title. If you aren’t ready to watch right away, you can add Apple Originals to your Watchlist for later. These features will roll out globally in the coming months.The Chromecast with Google TV is packed with the latest technology—it streams crystal-clear video in up to 4K HDR at up to 60 frames per second and now has a voice remote. The remote has a dedicated Google Assistant button that helps you find something to watch, answer everyday questions like “how’s the weather?” or dim your compatible smart home lights with just your voice. It also eliminates the need for multiple remotes thanks to programmable TV controls for power, volume and input. In addition to Chromecast with Google TV, the Apple TV app will also be available on Google TVs from Sony and TCL. We plan to roll out to more Android TV-powered devices in the coming months.

On February 13, Google Research’s own John Anderson was the recipient of the Academy Award for Technical Achievement — an award given annually for technical accomplishments that “contribute to the progress of the motion picture industry.” John is being recognized for contributions to the Taz Hair Simulation System developed during his time at Pixar. His work is most notably featured in Pixar’s movie “Brave,” powering the springy curls of the main character Merida. This is John’s second Academy Award over his 14 years working in film. He received his first in 2002 for his work on George Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic’s Creature Dynamics System, which similarly enabled the realistic animation of movement of hair, skin and clothing used in movies such as “Star Wars: Episode I,” “The Mummy” and “Mighty Joe Young.”Mark Meyer (left) – Research Group Lead at Pixar and John Anderson (right) – Principal Scientist at Google Research during their shared time at Pixar.Simulation is a difficult computational problem, as it attempts to recreate a continuous physical world using a limited amount of compute power. To make the real world processable by computers, designers of a simulation must “discretize” or chunk the world into coarse pieces and calculate the physical interactions between those coarse chunks. Within those chunks, simulation designers must “parameterize,” or make assumptions about the behavior of the world, as computing the physics beyond this point would be too expensive. The art of simulation is tuning these assumptions and balancing the accuracy, scale and cost of the recreation of the physical world.Example of the output of the Taz Hair Simulation System.For curly hair, like Merida’s in “Brave,” there are countless collisions between individual strands of hair at any given time. Even more complicated are the individual physics of those strands of hair, effectively acting like small springs. The hair simulation technology used in Brave employed clever mathematical schemes which kept the computational cost low, enabling animators to work quickly and efficiently, while still maintaining a high degree of physical accuracy, ensuring that Merida’s tight curls still bounced and flowed like real hair.Before joining the film industry, John served for nearly 14 years as a professor of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at University of Wisconsin-Madison. It was this experience in physics and computational fluid dynamics which served as a basis for a number of his contributions across his film career. At Google, John now focuses on leveraging his unique background to help the world combat the effects of one of the day’s most pressing issues: climate change. John leads a group within Google Research that explores how we can improve simulation to better model the climate and climate-change-exacerbated phenomena like floods and wildfires.Like in hair animation, large climate models depend on the individual interactions of small scale processes, such as the turbulent or chaotic movement of individual clouds. However, instead of the clever mathematical schemes used for Merida’s hair, John’s research group focuses on using machine learning to predict the dynamics of the physics, enabling modellers to both improve the accuracy of those “within chunk” assumptions or replace the model altogether with a machine-learned equivalent.John’s group employs Google’s TPUs to generate high resolution recreations of floods, wildfires and clouds. The outputs of these simulations are used to train machine learning models which can then be used within subsequent simulations to reduce cost and improve accuracy. His group believes that through the application of machine learning to simulation, we will be able to create more efficient models that will accelerate our ability to predict and prepare for the effects of climate change.From bringing to life the smallest details in animation and film to improving global models of climate and weather, John’s work has greatly advanced how we understand the dynamics of the physical world. Congratulations, John!

For many of us, Google Maps is the place we go for information about the world around us. We search for businesses, seek directions, check photos and read reviews. One way Maps is kept accurate and reliable is through updates that everyday people add. Since we started accepting contributed content in 2010, more than 970 million people have updated Google Maps in the form of reviews, photos, ratings and factual information like addresses and business hours. These contributions allow Google Maps to keep up with the world constantly changing around us and also help people make more informed decisions.Just as Google Maps is a reflection of the real-world, so are the people that contribute to it. The same neighbor who lends a hand could also be writing witty reviews of local restaurants. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true. Just as there are bad actors in the real-world, there are those who try to game Google Maps with inappropriate content — the vast majority of which is removed before you see it.While much of our work to prevent inappropriate content is done behind the scenes, we wanted to share some detail about our investments and progress in keeping Google Maps reliable and trustworthy. How we single out the bad actorsBad actors try to mislead people through a variety of techniques, from fake reviews that attack a business to inauthentic ratings that boost a place’s reputation. Fighting this unhelpful content is a complex, ceaseless battle — one that we rarely detail publicly so as to not tip off scammers to our ever-changing techniques.One of the best tools we have to fight back is an understanding of what normal, authentic Google Maps usage looks like. For example, we know that the average person is likely to use Google Maps while navigating a commute or road trip, and while searching for nearby restaurants or services. They’ll leave reviews at places they’ve been, and usually add ratings or photos in location-specific clusters.Observations like these inform our machine learning algorithms, which scan millions of daily contributions. These algorithms detect and remove policy-violating content across a variety of languages, and also scan for signals of abnormal user activity. For instance, they can detect if a new Google Maps account in say, Bangkok, suddenly leaves bad car dealership reviews in Mexico City and 1-star restaurant ratings in Chicago. The policy-violating content is either removed by our automated models or flagged for further review, along with the user account.We also deploy thousands of trained operators and analysts who help with content evaluations that might be difficult for algorithms, such as understanding reviews with local slang.Who are the bad actors and how do we stop them? Our teams and protections are built to fight two main types of bad actors: content fraudsters and content vandals.Fraudsters, who are ultimately motivated by money, try to trick people with scams like fake reviews to attract customers or fake listings to generate business leads. To deter them, we preemptively remove opportunities for them to profit off of fake content. For example, we have focused efforts on detecting content coming from click farms where fake reviews and ratings are being generated. Through better detection of click farm activity we are making it harder to post fake content cheaply, which ultimately makes it harder for a click farm to sell reviews and make money. And to catch fake business profiles before they appear on Maps, we’ve strengthened our Google My Business verification processes with new machine learning models that help identify fraudulent engagement. By fighting large-scale efforts to create fake business profiles, we’ve stymied millions of attempts from fraudsters aiming to steal customers from legitimate businesses by crowding them out of search results. Then there are content vandals, who may be motivated by social and political events or simply want to leave their mark online. For example, they post fake reviews or edit the names of places to send a message, and they add off-topic photos as pranks.Content vandalism can be more difficult to tackle as it’s often random. For instance, a teenager who posts an off-topic photo to their high school’s listing on Maps as a joke or someone who left profanity in a nonsensical review.Impeding content vandals comes down to anticipation and quick reaction. As places become more prone to vandalism, we adjust our defenses. For instance, last year we quickly modified our algorithms to preemptively block racist reviews when we observed anti-Chinese xenophobia associated with COVID-19. To avoid the spread of election-related misinformation, we limited the ability for people to edit the phone numbers, addresses and other information for places like voting sites. And we restricted reviews for certain places where we saw higher rates of policy-violating content, like schools in the U.S. Our progress in fighting unwelcome contentWith the help of people and technology that closely monitor Maps 24/7, we’re able to take swift action against scammers, ranging from content removal and account suspension to litigation. In 2020 alone, we took the following actions to ensure the content you see in Google Maps is reliable:We blocked or removed 55 million policy-violating reviews and nearly 3 million fake Business Profiles. This is 20 million fewer reviews than we removed in 2019 as we saw a drop in the overall number of reviews due to fewer people being out and about during COVID-19.We took down more than 960,000 reviews and more than 300,000 Business Profiles that were reported to us by Google Maps users. This is an increase over 2019 largely due to increased use of automated moderation which complements the manual review of flagged content performed by operators and analysts.We reviewed and removed more than 160 million photos and 3.5 million videos that either violated our policies or were of low quality. For example, thanks to advancements in our automated systems, we’ve significantly improved our detection of photos that were extremely blurry. This has led to major improvements in the quality of photos on Maps – both new photos added and ones shared in years past. And as we more aggressively targeted bad actors overall, account removals could lead to deletion of all content left by one account, in some cases thousands of photos.Our technologies and teams disabled more than 610,000 user accounts after detecting and investigating suspicious or policy-violating behavior.  We stopped more than 3 million attempts by bad actors to verify Business Profiles on Google that didn’t belong to them.Content contributed by our users is an important part of how we continue to make Google Maps more helpful and accurate for everyone. As more people share their local knowledge on Google Maps, we’ll continue to invest in the policies, technologies and resources needed to make sure information is reliable.

Morgan Pitts has always had an eye for style. While studying marketing at the University of Maryland, many of Morgan’s friends encouraged her to start a blog, but it was not until after graduation that she actively began blogging to showcase her own work. From there, an impromptu tweet and an idea for a T-shirt inspired Morgan to build a platform as a way to build an online community. Now she uses @blackgirlswhoblog and the #blackgirlswhoblog hashtag on Instagram to share playlists and inspiration, and to empower Black women across the world to share their voices, too. What is “Black Girls Who Blog?”“Black Girls Who Blog” is an online community of Black women in the blogosphere and a place where Black women who blog can be seen, heard, celebrated and validated. What made you decide to start it up?When I graduated, a friend who was doing pageants had asked me to style her for new headshots. So, I decided, I want to start a blog. I want to have something tangible to show my work.Fast forward to a year later, April of 2014: I unintentionally tweeted that I would love to have “Black Girls Who Blog” on a T-shirt. It was aimless, and I didn’t think anything of it. I just sent it out to Twitter. At that time, I had a small community of Black women who blogged; we followed each other, and we supported each other’s posts. A friend of mine reached out and asked if an illustration should accompany the text on the shirt. She sent me a draft of the original Black Girls Who Blog logo and had shirts printed. That is how #BlackGirlsWhoBlog was born. I started an Instagram to promote the T-shirts. When that run died down, I thought I’d just continue posting on this account and share different Black women who blog, who I thought were fly, talented, cool and have quality work. I started making every day a theme and that gave me some consistency. The rest is history.The Black Girls Who Blog T-shirt allows fans and followers to show their appreciation IRLAre you the only person behind it? Do you do all the writing?Yeah. I do literally everything. I’m a one-woman show.How do you find people? How has the community grown since you launched it?When I first started, I was posting bloggers that I was aware of. As the hashtag and the page grew, I just had to search through #BlackGirlsWhoBlog on Instagram. Features are selected by using the hashtag and tag in the photos. There is some color coordination that goes into the selection so every week there’s a cohesive color theme.What is the response from the people you feature? Do you feel like the community is growing? The community is very dynamic. You have people who are going to hold it down and support, who were here back in 2014, and you have people who are stumbling across it today. They become immersed and want to be a part of it. I don’t tell people they’re being featured. I do my own research, and then I curate the content I post. Everyone is even more excited when they’re featured because they have no idea that it’s coming. They wake up, and they’re like, “Oh my gosh!”Michelle Ijeoma was recently featured on @blackgirlswhoblog. She’s a corporate lawyer who blogs about beauty and style at michelleijeoma.comHow are things looking for the Black Girls Who Blog hashtag?A few months ago, the #BlackGirlsWhoBlog hashtag on Instagram hit one million users, and I’m proud of that. You can obviously see the following, how it’s grown and how people interact with the content.What are some things that you’ve learned about this community that you didn’t know before?You assume that the only bloggers out there are the popular ones. You don’t even realize how many people have their own personal blogs that they take very seriously, update consistently and put a lot of time, effort and money into. There’s so many different topics, so many different lanes of blogs out there. Morgan celebrates her birthday wearing a gold skirt and a baby-blue “Eat. PRAY. Blog.” T-shirt.You appear on a lot of panels; can you talk about that?I did two events in New York. One was a panel with three of the ladies that I’ve mentioned in my blog, talking about how the blogosphere and the internet have given microphones to marginalized voices.  I did another event with Glossier. They were expanding their shade range of complexion products, so I did an event with them. And then most recently, I did an online video call tutorial on how to make video content with the Jumprope app. [Events like these are] an extension of “Black Girls Who Blog.” They’re events for community members, and I do them when the opportunity presents itself. Someone has come to me and asked , “Hey, would you be interested in doing this?” If I’m interested, I pitch the idea. It’s an extension of the brand IRL versus in a URL.A digital promotional flyer for Morgan’s Jumprope workshop. Follow Black Girls Who Blog on Instagram to catch one of Morgan’s future speaking events.

Welcome to the latest edition of “My Path to Google,” where we talk to Googlers, interns and alumni about how they got to Google, what their roles are like and even some tips on how to prepare for interviews.Today’s post is all about Rob Tate, a senior account manager for digital ad sales based in New York. Rob shares his experience joining Google mid-career and how he was able to translate his “traditional” sales background in print marketing and retail to a role in digital ad sales. Rob now works helping small businesses shift their focus to e-commerce — something that’s become especially prominent since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.Can you talk us through your role at Google?As an account manager for digital ad sales, I work mainly with web hosting and email marketing companies to manage their digital advertising campaigns across Google Ads platforms. A cool project I’m working on at the moment is brand expansion through Video Ads Sequencing on YouTube. It’s exciting to work with companies who really want to transform their brand story and see YouTube as a valuable piece of the puzzle.What were you up to before joining Google?I grew up in Prince George’s County, Maryland.  Even in my younger years, I had an interest in STEM, being a part of a science and technology program in high school where I studied architectural engineering. After graduating from North Carolina A&T State University with a bachelor’s degree in business management, I worked in the federal government for a few years, where I completed the USPS Management Foundations program with a focus on product innovation and brand marketing. While I was working there, I was also a graduate student at University of Maryland University College (UMUC), where I earned my MBA. Outside of work, what do you like to do?I am a small business owner and run a graphic design consulting company that helps other small and medium-sized businesses build their brands online. My other passions are photography, traveling,  trying out new restaurants, writing, collecting all types of art from Black artists and spending time with my friends and family.Can you tell us about your decision to apply to Google? I was always interested in Google! I applied to roles for years with no success, and finally got into the recruitment process a few years ago. I was mid-level in my career, having five years of work experience when I started the recruitment process. With a more traditional sales background working with print marketing campaigns and retail sales, I knew that my work experience along with my personal experience as a small business owner would help me in my new role, but I was still nervous.What inspires you to come in (or log on) every day?Knowing that the work I’m doing is helping people. It’s not just advertising and marketing: We partner with our clients to build user-centric strategies that help their businesses grow. During the pandemic, so many small businesses have shifted their focus to e-commerce and websites instead of physical locations. We’ve been able to be a big part of those companies shifting their strategies to meet their customers’ needs, even from home.How did the application and interview process go for you? The recruitment process started with me being contacted via LinkedIn by a Google recruiter. I had a bunch of interviews over the course of a few months, and I wasn’t used to that. I felt like Google was a whole new world, but my recruiter did a great job of providing helpful resources to make me feel comfortable during the process. Can you tell us about the resources you used to prepare for your interview or role?I did a bunch of research on the role I was interviewing for — pulling information directly from the job description. I used the How We Hire section on Google’s career site and tips about interviewing with Google to decide what parts of my experience to focus on during interviews. Do you have any tips you’d like to share with aspiring Googlers?Show your willingness to think outside of the box. It sounds cliché, I know, but the way you think can take you far. That expertise that you may not think applies to the role you want at Google may be exactly what gets you the job! Be confident and show your personality — share how the things you do outside of work may help you in the workplace. The small details make a difference and tell your story.

For centuries, Black artists have used their crafts to share their lived experiences with the world. Art as self-expression is not a new concept, but how we display it and share it in today’s digital world is. Throughout Black History Month, Google is honoring the creativity and influence of Black artistry by putting it front and center on our products and platforms. Doodles galore  Today, we’re honoring internationally acclaimed poet and civil rights champion Audre Lorde with a slideshow Doodle, illustrated by Los Angeles-based guest artistMonica Ahanonu. The slideshow features a powerful excerpt from Audre Lorde, challenging the misconception that similar identities are a prerequisite to unity. You can also go behind the scenes for a closer look at Audre Lorde’s legacy and explore Monica’s creative process for bringing this inspiring Doodle to life.We’re also celebrating the Blackstories, voices,music and culture that have contributed to creativity and innovation on YouTube and throughout the world. Every Monday, we’ve featured the artwork of a Black artist on the YouTube homepage to celebrate different aspects of Black creativity, including science, arts, motion and history. Click through to see all the artwork for the month of February:An illustration featuring words like Black History Month, Respect, Create and PowerLeandro Assis celebrates voices of Black creativity.An illustration of Black women scientists teaching young Black girls about science.Keisha Okafor pays tribute to Black creativity in STEM.An illustration featuring Black singers, painters, musicians and other artistsMarco Cheatham illustrates Black creativity in the arts.An illustration of six people dancing in front of a yellow background.Shanée Benjamin cheers Black creativity in motion.Content collections across Google productsSince 2015, our Black History and Culture hub on Google Arts and Culture presents the collections and stories of more than 80 partners. This year, we celebrate Black creativity on a new  BHM chapter page with six new partners: Soul’s Grown Deep Foundation, The Kinsey African American Art & History Collection, Greenwood Art Project, National Jazz Museum in Harlem and the International African American Museum. We’re also adding new original works by Wisconsin poet laureate Dasha Kelly Hamilton and photographer Misan Harriman.Courtesy of the Kinsey African American Arts & History Collection, a Google Arts & Culture partner.You’ll also see Black content front and center on Google Play and Google TV. We’re celebratingBlack creators, culture and history on Google Play, including a collection ofapps by Black innovators and interviews like this one with DeShuna Spencer, founder and CEO of kweliTV. You can also plug into iconic Black films and TV shows as we highlight content collections like “Black Love Stories” and “Revolutionary Black ‘90s Sitcoms” throughout the month on Chromecast with Google TV, or in the Google TV app on Android devices in the United States. And on February 26, YouTube Originals will celebrate the “Black Renaissance” with a special featuring Black creators, artists, writers, storytellers and history makers who have shaped our nation. The special will feature the voices of President Obama, Michelle Obama, Stacey Abrams, Jason Reynolds, H.E.R., Shantell Martin, Bob the Drag Queen, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and more.Wallpapers for your browser and phoneStarting today, you can customize the look of your Chrome browser using a new collection of themes. We worked with six contemporary Black artists to turn Chrome into their canvas and each artist has presented their interpretation of the ways people use Chrome, from finding new information to connecting with others. You can also add new wallpapers to your phone. Google Pixel has partnered with Melissa Koby, a Jamaican-born, Florida-based illustrator, on an exclusive collection of Google Pixel phone wallpapers paying tribute to Black people around the world who continue to find joy and beauty despite trials. Google Pixel has also launched Google Pixel x Black Owned Everything, an exclusive collaboration that spotlights a bespoke collection of products from Black-owned businesses from across the country curated by costume designer Zerina Akers and her company, Black Owned Everything.An illustration of five people in front of a city backdrop.On the Hill by Melissa Koby for Google Pixel reminds us that the “Shining City on a Hill” was made such by the people standing at the bottom of the hill, in the sun. They have, despite their trials, found moments of joy and beauty and the strength to persevere.An illustration of seven hands holding flowers up to the sun, in front of a blue sky backgroundGive Flowers by Melissa Koby for Google Pixel pays tribute to our ancestors who created a life for themselves in this country. The pursuit of their dreams were kept alive by the hope of brighter days for themselves and their future generations.An illustration of many people walking on a pink background, with one person standing on a yellow circleMany One People by Melissa Koby for Google Pixel honors the different paths and walks of life that Black people in America take that shape their existence.Digital art and storytelling to amplify small businesses To help people more easily discover Black-owned brands and products they’ll love, we’ve partnered with mixed-media artist Amani Lewis to create an original piece of fine art integrating products made and sold from Black-owned businesses—a piece of “shoppable artwork.” Brands featured in the artwork include Jungalow, Blk & Bold, Diarrablu, Lonéz Scents, Coloured Raine and 3rd Eye View. You can explore the painting on Google Shopping  and purchase items directly on the merchants’ own sites or through the Shopping tab. We’re also amplifying work by young Black artists such as Briana Peppers, Jade Purple Brown, Pink Lomein and more as they show support for their favorite Black-owned businesses. You can follow along on Twitter to see these specially commissioned works of art as they go live throughout Black History Month, and check out Google for Small Businessto learn more about how you can support Black-owned businesses. A painting of three people sitting at a table, featuring bright colors and vibrant texturesAmani Lewis Shoppable Artwork, featuring products by Jungalow, Blk & Bold, Diarrablu, Lonéz Scents, Coloured Raine, and 3rd Eye View.An illustration featuring four Black business owners: A jeweler, a chef, a plant store owner and a yoga instructor.Brianna Peppers celebrating and encouraging support of Black-owned businesses.An illustration of a woman wearing sunglasses and a white shirt with the black text Yowie on it, sitting on a chair.Jade Purple Brown honoring Yowie, a Black-owned home and lifestyle store based in Philadelphia.An illustration of a Black woman with the phrase “Support Black Businesses” written on her hair.Pink Lomein honoring a few of her favorite Black-owned businesses: Ch0ked,People of Color Beauty,Inclusive Randomness,Charm Junkee andCharged Up Jewelry.Finding community through technology In addition to showcasing Black artists across our products and platforms, we also want to help raise awareness to some of the challenges Black artists face in their day to day lives. Tune into this featured interview with Jillian Mercado, founder of Black Disabled Creatives, and Brent Lewis, co-founder of Diversify Photo, as they discuss the adversities of Black and disabled Black artists. They also discuss how they used Google tools to build a public database of artists and innovators who are often overlooked because of their identities and lack of access to opportunities. Black artistry continues to influence every aspect of American culture, and we hope you’ll join us in amplifying these powerful voices. 

This Black History Month, the Chrome team is showcasing exciting new work by Black artists in a collection of themes that let you customize the look of your browser.We commissioned six contemporary artists and invited them to turn Chrome into their canvas. Working in different mediums and bringing different points of view, each artist has presented their interpretation of the ways people use Chrome: finding new knowledge, connecting with each other, exploring our world and taking action towards our goals.Our design team crafted themes around their work to fuse them seamlessly into Chrome, coordinating the colors of your tabs and making sure the work looks great on all types of laptop and desktop screens.We drew inspiration from the #drawingwhileblack hashtag, organized by featured artist Abelle Hayford, as well as from the many artists who have used their talents to advance the call for justice and give us visions of a better future. We hope these themes help you discover new artists, and bring you energy and joy throughout your day as you go to new places through art. Browse all 24 themes in the collection on the Chrome Web Store, and read on to hear from the artists:“Telepathy” – Sabrena Khadija“Telepathy” – Sabrena Khadija“Black women are my one true source of inspiration. For my ‘Telepathy’ theme I wanted to represent the bonds that connect us and allow us to uplift, empower, and embolden each other. To show that whether we are sisters or strangers, the bonds that connect us remain strong.” Sabrena Khadija is a Brooklyn-based illustrator from Prince George’s County, Maryland.“Bubbly” – Olivia Fields“Bubbly” – Olivia Fields“One day, I was doing the dishes and a tiny bubble managed to escape from the kitchen and travel all the way to my workspace. As I watched it move slowly through the room, I realized I was still drawn in by its gentle movements as well as the urge to pop it before reaching its destination. ‘Bubbly’ is inspired by that warm nostalgic feeling of spending time at play. ”   Olivia Fields is a cartoonist and illustrator based in Brooklyn, New York, where she currently works as a freelancer.”Stay Flo” – Laci Jordan“Stay Flo” – Laci Jordan“Inspired by exploration, escapism, and vacation. ‘Stay Flo’ captures the idea of the movement, flow, and lush vibes commonly experienced through exploring (and vacation).”   Laci Jordan is a multidisciplinary designer, illustrator and creative director. Born and raised in Huntsville, Alabama, Jordan currently lives in Los Angeles.”The Explorer” – Janelle Cummins“The Explorer” – Janelle Cummins“I wanted to create designs influenced by its fluidity. I arrived at a unifying theme of water, a versatile element that provides, sustains and captivates. This theme design shows a macro shot of scenes within water droplets caught on blades of grass. A curious ladybug enters one of the encapsulated worlds.”   Janelle Cummins is an illustrator born and raised in Barbados, who now calls the San Francisco Bay Area her home.”Ntentan (Connections)” – Derrick Ofosu Boateng“Ntentan (Connections)” – Derrick Ofosu Boateng“Connection as a part of human existence is so vital for the society as a whole. Not just on the surface, but deep within us, where we’re joined spirit to spirit, heart to heart. It’s such a healing relationship. That was my inspiration for this collection.”   Derrick Ofosu Boateng is a Ghanaian digital artist inspired by the richness of Africa and the way of life of her inhabitants.”A Spark” – Abelle Hayford“A Spark” – Abelle Hayford“For this illustration, I wanted to approach the concept of ‘finding’ in a more symbolic way. When I find or discover ideas or concepts it feels like a giant spark of inspiration coming to life.”   Abelle Hayford is a Los Angeles-based illustrator and artist working in animation and comics.

Over the last year, the education community had to quickly adapt to challenges, and Google Classroom evolved with them. Today, Google Classroom helps more than 150 million students, educators and school leaders around the world teach and learn — up from 40 million last year. We first built Classroom to simplify and improve teaching and learning. We wanted to help teachers build stronger connections with students and give them back time to focus on the things that made them want to teach in the first place. As more teachers use Classroom as their “hub” of learning during the pandemic, many schools are treating it as their learning management system (LMS).While we didn’t set out to create an LMS, Classroom is committed to meeting the evolving needs of schools. We’ll continue to put the people who use our products first and listen to your feedback to address your top priorities. And we’ll always make sure Classroom retains the simplicity and ease-of-use that’s made it so helpful to teachers, students, and school leaders around the world.Here’s a sneak peek into new features coming to Classroom over the next year — from the ability to use Classroom with other tools and more controls to features that help students learn from anywhere, as well as a simplified workflow for teachers. Better together: Use Classroom with other toolsUse your favorite EdTech tools and content with Classroom (coming later this year)School leaders, teachers and students often use multiple educational tools each day and need them to work together. Soon, for teachers using Google Workspace for Education Plus or Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Classroom add-ons will let them choose their favorite EdTech tools and content from a marketplace and assign it to students directly inside Classroom — all without extra log-ins. Admins will also be able to install add-ons for teachers in their domains. Integrate your favorite edtech tools and content with Classroom add-ons.Set up classes in advance with SIS roster syncing (coming later this year)Provisioning classes for an entire school system can be time consuming. Later this year, admins using Education Plus will be able to create classes and populate and sync rosters directly to Classroom from their Student Information System (SIS).Streamline grade entry (coming later this year)Grade Export, which is available to eligible Skyward and Infinite Campus customers, is coming to Aspen SIS. This will allow teachers to track grades and push them from Classroom’s Gradebook to their SIS, eliminating the need to put grades in two places.This is for you, adminsGet deeper insights with Classroom audit logs (coming soon)With audit logs, admins can get to the root of Classroom-related issues and pinpoint instigating events, such as who removed a student from a class or archived a class on a specific date. Classroom audit information will soon be available directly in the Admin Console.Analyze Classroom activity logs (coming soon)Admins using Education Standard or Education Plus can soon get deeper insights about Classroom adoption and engagement. Admins will be able to easily schedule exports of Classroom audit logs to BigQuery, where they can get adoption and engagement insights. We’re also building a customizable Data Studio template to help admins visualize Classroom data.A better hybrid learning environment for teachers and studentsTrack student engagement (coming later this year)To give teachers visibility into which students are engaged and which are falling behind, we’re launching student engagement tracking. Educators will be able to see relevant stats about  how students interact with Classroom, such as which students submitted an assignment or commented on a post on a particular day.Keep learning happening while offline (coming later this year)We’re updating the Classroom Android app to work offline or with intermittent connections. Students will be able to start their work offline, review assignments, open Drive attachments, and write assignments in Google Docs — all without an internet connection.Submit better pictures of homework (coming later this year)We’ve seen an increase in the number of images uploaded to Classroom — especially from students taking photos of paper assignments. We’re making it easier to attach and submit photos in the Classroom Android app and for teachers to review. Students will be able to combine photos into a single document, crop or rotate images, and adjust lighting.Seamlessly scan, edit and attach images of paper assignments with the Classroom Android app.A simple workflow for educators Improved grading on mobile (coming later this year)More teachers are using mobile devices to give feedback on the go. We’re improving how you use Classroom to grade on Android, including the ability to switch between student submissions, grade while viewing an assignment, and share feedback.Rich text formatting (coming soon)Teachers and students (on web, iOS and Android) will soon be able to customize Classroom assignments and posts using rich text formatting — including bold, italics, underline and bullets.Use rich text formatting in Classroom posts or assignments. Originality reports in new languages (coming soon)Originality reports help students turn in their best work, while making it easy for instructors to detect potential plagiarism. Soon they’ll be available in 15 languages including English, Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian, Swedish, French, Italian, Indonesian, Japanese,  Finnish, German, Korean and Danish, Malay and Hindi.CS First integration (now available)CS First is our free, introductory computer science curriculum. You can now import student rosters from Classroom into a new CS First class and students can sign in using a Google account.Many of these features were based on your feedback — so keep it coming! We hope these features improve your experience as they become available. If you want to know about upcoming updates, subscribe to our Workspace Updates blog.

Chromebooks — which last year were largely used as classroom tools for writing reports and working on projects — are now the main way many students go to school. As distance learning takes place around the world, educators and students have had to quickly adapt to teaching and learning through Chromebooks. And along the way we’ve updated features and tools to make learning from anywhere easier. This year, we have 40 new devices and accessibility improvements coming so that every student can learn the way they want to. Tools to help educators teach from anywhere Teachers have long recorded lessons to help students do homework and study for tests, but in the past year it’s become downright critical for virtual learning. Which is why we’ve built a screen recording tool right into Chrome OS that is coming in the latest Chromebook update in March. With this tool, teachers and students can record lessons and reports in the classroom and at home. Easier ways for leaders to manage technologyChrome Education Upgrade unlocks access to Google Admin Console, making it possible for schools to centrally manage massive fleets of Chromebooks. Now, there are over 500 Chrome policies in Google Admin Console, including new ones like Zero Touch Enrollment, which make it easier to deploy and manage Chromebooks at scale — even remotely.As schools buy hundreds or even thousands of Chromebooks for teachers and students, it’s overwhelming to find the best device to purchase. To make it easier we’ve created a resource to help you find the right Chromebook for whatever you’re looking for — whether it’s in-class learning, virtual learning or devices for faculty and staff.10:25Updates that equip every student, everywhere  We’re launching over 40 new Chromebooks. Many of them include convertible Chromebooks that function like a laptop and a tablet, and come with a  stylus, touchscreen, and dual-cameras for students to take notes, edit videos, create podcasts, draw, publish digital books and record screencasts. Every new Chromebook is equipped to deliver exceptional Google Meet and Zoom experiences — right out of the box. We also have devices that can better support students with limited access to the internet, or in countries with strong mobile broadband networks. These devices, called Always Connected devices, have an LTE connectivity option that allows you to connect via your preferred cellular network.Making education products that work for all students, also means creating accessibility features. And it turns out these features are helpful to everyone — including people with disabilities. ChromeVox, our full-featured screen reader, has new features including improved tutorials, the ability to search ChromeVox menus, and smooth voice switching that automatically changes the screen reader’s voice based on the language of the text. We are also making significant audio, video and reliability improvements to Meet on Chromebooks so it continues to work smoothly for everyone. How we’re setting the bar higherAs many students are learning from home, it has become even more important for parents and guardians to help support their child’s learning, while also making sure they’re safe online. We’re making it possible for families to add a Google Workspace for Education account to their child’s personal Google Account managed with Family Link. This lets children still log into the apps and websites they need with a school account, while making sure parents can still set guidelines for device and app usage. 10:25We’ll continue to listen and evolve Google for Education products so they benefit educators, leaders and students. To learn more about all of the upcoming improvements to Chromebooks and Chrome OS, subscribe to our Chrome Enterprise Release notes.

Intel accoglie oggi l’ottavo CEO della sua storia: Bob Swan cede il timone del colosso statunitense dei microchip a Pat Gelsinger. In questo articolo vediamo chi è Gelsinger, tra vita privata e carriera lavorativa. Il nuovo CEO di Intel ha davanti a sé sfide difficili e non tutti pensano che riuscirà a vincerle.