2021

Pop quiz: How long was 2021? So much happened this year that it seems impossible it was a mere 365 days. Here at Google, we launched the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, a new Nest Hub, lots of new Google Photos features and…well, this list could quite literally go on and on and on. Instead, here are 12 product updates from 2021 that you may have missed.

1. This summer, we refreshed a handful of emoji designs to make them cuter, more accurate and more flexible in meaning — plus it included fun new additions like Dark Mode.
2. In October, we launched Wait Times, a new feature for Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro phones that shows you how long the current wait time is when you’re calling a business or customer service number. It also shows you the projected wait times for the rest of the week, so you can decide when you want to make the call.
3. Fitbit Premium added Daily Readiness, a new score that tells you how ready you are for your next workout — or if you should prioritize recovery.
4. Activity Zones for all! This Nest Cam and Nest Doorbell feature, which lets you set up specific areas for your devices to pay attention to, was formerly only available with a Nest Aware subscription. In August, with the launch of Nest’s new cameras and doorbell, it became available on those devices at no additional cost.
5. Google TV launched in 2020, and in 2021 launched Watch With Me, a series on Google TV that teams up with your favorite stars like Simu Liu and Taraji P. Henson to share their favorite shows and movies (and snacks) with us.
6. For all their benefits, smart home stuff can also be confusing. To try and make it easier to understand, we launchedthe Google smart home directory, a website that shows you what kinds of products and systems work with Google Assistant. It also lets you filter by categories and prices, and features reviews.
7. Sure, the new Fitbit Luxe is stylish, but it also helps you manage your physical and mental health, with features like Active Zone Minutes and a Stress Management Score.
8. In March, we unveiled the second-generation Nest Hub, which comes with Sleep Sensing. This optional feature analyzes the movement and breathing of the person in the designated sleep zone to offer information on how well they’re sleeping, as well as customized tips on getting better sleep.

9. Guest Modefor devices including the Nest Audio and Nest Hub Max arrived this year, allowing you to give visitors the ability to ask Google Assistant questions, use timers or play music — without these interactions being saved to or affecting your account. All you have to say is “Hey Google, turn on Guest Mode.”

10. The Translate filter for Google Lens got an update that made it easier to highlight text and copy, listen to or search to find more in-depth information about specific phrases.

11. Accessibility updates were a major focus in 2021, including Select-to-speakupdates. Select-to-Speak is a Chromebook feature where users can select text to hear it spoken out loud in a variety of languages and accents, and now you can speed up, slow down or pause the voice, among other added controls. This is especially helpful for those who want to hear content read in a specific accent, or for someone with Dyslexia.

12. Google Photos launched an improvement to the popular auto enhance feature powered by Real Tone, which can improve color and lighting for any photo and works well across skin tones, regardless of what device you used or how long ago you took it.

Now…onto 2022! Hopefully it feels like it goes a little quicker than this year…

Editors note: To read this post in German, visit this link.

The Austrian legislator has just adopted significant changes to copyright law, implementing the European Copyright Directive from 2019. These changes include the incorporation of Article 15, which introduces a new ancillary copyright for press publishers. Google intends to enter into negotiations with press publishers in Austria to license their content under these new rights.

Austria’s new copyright law provides two important guiding principles. On the one hand, people and platforms can continue to link to, and use, very short extracts of press publishers’ content. At the same time, the law creates new rights for news publishers when extended previews of their work are used online. While the law does not define the scope of protected content, we will make offers for Extended News Previews (such content that may be protected by the new law) with press publishers in Austria.

This follows discussions we have already started with hundreds of news publishers across countries including Germany, Hungary, France, Denmark and the Netherlands, where the law is now in effect, and follows our previously announced agreements in Germany.

As always, publishers have full control over whether or not their content shows up in Search, and how much of that content can be used in a preview. They can change these settings at any time and we will continue to display previews in accordance with those settings provided by publishers.

We hope to reach agreements that enable us to continue to support access to information and journalism in Austria, without harming important principles of the open web.

Alongside these discussions we will continue to invest in our support for journalism. As people in Austria increasingly go online to get their news, journalists and publishers are turning to technology to reach their readers. Google helps people find that information by linking to news and other websites, and provides tools, advertising technology and funding to enable publishers to make money online. Earlier this year we also launched our licensing programme for news, Google News Showcase, in Austria as part of our ongoing support for journalism in Austria.

We look forward to working with publishers and journalists on all these efforts in the coming years.

Der österreichische Gesetzgeber hat soeben Änderungen des Urheberrechtsgesetzes beschlossen, mit denen die europäische Urheberrechtsrichtlinie von 2019 umgesetzt wird. Zu diesen Änderungen gehört die Einbindung von Artikel 15 der Richtlinie, der ein Leistungsschutzrecht für Presseverlage einführt. Google beabsichtigt, mit Presseverleger:innen in Österreich in Verhandlungen zu treten, um ihre Inhalte im Rahmen dieses neuen Rechts zu lizenzieren.

Das novellierte österreichische Urheberrechtsgesetz enthält zwei wichtige Leitprinzipien. Einerseits dürfen Personen und Plattformen weiterhin auf sehr kurze Auszüge von Inhalten der Presseverlage verlinken und diese nutzen. Gleichzeitig schafft das Gesetz neue Rechte für Presseverlage, wenn größere Auszüge aus ihren Werken online verwendet werden. Obwohl das Gesetz den Umfang der geschützten Inhalte nicht definiert, werden wir österreichischen Presseverlagen Angebote für eine erweiterte Vorschau von Inhalten, also Extended News Previews (solche Inhalte, die möglicherweise durch das neue Gesetz geschützt werden) machen.

Unser Ansatz folgt dem Vorbild von Gesprächen, die wir bereits mit Hunderten von Nachrichtenverlagen in Ländern wie Deutschland, Ungarn, Frankreich, Dänemark und den Niederlanden geführt haben, in denen das Gesetz bereits in Kraft ist, und folgt auf unsere zuvor angekündigten Vereinbarungen in Deutschland.

Wie bisher haben Verlage auch weiterhin die volle Kontrolle darüber, ob ihre Inhalte in der Google-Suche angezeigt werden oder nicht und in welcher Form diese Inhalte in einer Vorschau verwendet werden können. Sie können diese Einstellungen jederzeit ändern und wir werden die Vorschauen weiterhin gemäß den von ihnen vorgenommenen Einstellungen anzeigen.

Wir hoffen eine Einigung zu erzielen, die es uns ermöglicht, den Zugang zu Information und Journalismus in Österreich weiterhin zu unterstützen, ohne dabei die Grundprinzipien des offenen Internets zu verletzen.

Parallel zu diesen Gesprächen werden wir weiterhin in Journalismus investieren. Da die Österreicher:innen Nachrichten zunehmend online abrufen, nutzen Journalist:innen und Verlage Technologien, um ihre Leser:innen zu erreichen. Google hilft den Menschen, diese Informationen zu finden, indem wir Links zu Nachrichten- und anderen Websites anbieten und Tools, Werbetechnologien und Finanzmittel bereitstellen, mit denen Verlage online Geld verdienen können. Anfang des Jahres haben wir zudem unser Lizenzprogramm für Nachrichten, Google News Showcase, in Österreich gestartet.

Wir freuen uns auf die Zusammenarbeit mit Verlagen und Journalist:innen bei all diesen Initiativen in den kommenden Jahren.