2021

Google News Showcase, our new product experience and licensing program for news, will begin rolling out with national, regional and local publishers today in Ireland. Showcase provides new ways for readers to access and understand the stories that matter to them.

In Ireland, this experience is powered by a series of licensing agreements covering more than 40 national, regional and local publications including The Irish Independent, The Irish Examiner, Connaught Telegraph, Clare Echo, Donegal Daily, Derry Now, Irish Times, Irish Mirror, The Journal,The Sunday World and more.

Since its creation in 2011 — and thanks to the collaboration of 2,500 cultural organizations in 80 countries — Google Arts & Culture has allowed people to explore the world through a cultural lens. Like culture, nature plays a foundational role in people’s lives and identities and over the years, its presence on our platform has developed organically, thanks to collaborations with natural history museums, scientists, artists, NGOS, preservation and scientific organizations. And as the climate crisis becomes more urgent, culture, storytelling and technology increasingly have a role to play.

Because of this, we are proud to announce today g.co/culturemeetsclimate, a new unified experience bringing together the diverse range of experiences, resources and features available to anyone interested in learning more about the environment, climate change and sustainability from museums, artists and scientists.

Artists meet climate data

The climate crisis and the challenges we face are a complex subject, but artists and culture can present it through a new lens. In June 2020, Google Arts & Culture teamed up with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to launch Heartbeat of the Earth, where artists interpret scientific climate data and which invites you to interact with a series of artworks that make the data more tangible and understandable. You can dive into an Acidifying Ocean with Cristina Tarquini and explore the impact of rising temperatures on marine life; or “see” and learn about the plastic particles that are ever-present in the atmosphere around you with Plastic Air by Giorgia Lupi; and to visualize the actual and predicted global sea level rise caused by the climate crisis, visit the Coastline Paradox by Timo Aho and Pekka Niittyvirta.

Stories from around the world

Thanks to the contributions of institutions and experts around the world, you can explore the planet’s treasures via multimedia storytelling and 360 imagery from Antarctica to the Great Barrier Reef and Borneo’s Rainforest, and how it supports an incredible ecosystem that is home to numerous endangered species. Learn about fascinating topics such as the magic of mangroves, how gardens can predict climate change or how edible plastic can help fight our plastics pollution problem. Get to know the first non-human ambassador to the United Nations General Assembly and follow a ranger through iconic National Parks in the US.

Discover how climate change and global socio-economic shifts are threatening our magnificent natural landscapes and disrupting small communities, from the resilient women of Namibia’s Himba Tribe to the Uro community of Lake Titicaca, to the Tribes of Papua New Guinea.

Find out about the devastating effect the climate crisis is having on our cultural heritage, and how people around the world are using technology to protect their cultural sites against climate change with Heritage on the Edge. Using 360 imagery, 3D modeling and storytelling, the collaboration with ICOMOS and CyArk highlights a small selection of cultural sites being affected by climate change: Rapa Nui’s (Easter Island) iconic statues, Scotland’s Edinburgh Castle, the great mosque city of Bagerhat in Bangladesh, the historic coastal city of Kilwa Kisiwani in Tanzania and the adobe metropolis of Chan Chan in Peru.

Culture Meets Climate is a live hub that will highlight all our new initiatives related to the environment, as new collaborations and experiences come online, so keep an eye on g.co/culturemeetsclimate for more.

Google’s work to address broad societal issues, such as climate change and digital skilling, focuses on creating solutions that are scalable and replicable by others. We believe solutions to global issues are most effective when the private sector, governments, nonprofits and academia come together to reinforce each other’s efforts. At Google, we focus on where we can best contribute to help make those efforts successful.

One example of this is the approach we have taken with Opportunity Finance Network (OFN), a network of Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs). At the beginning of the pandemic, we announced the creation of the Grow with Google Small Business Fund and committed $130 million in loans and grants. Our shared goal with OFN is to help CDFIs and small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the United States access funding they need to grow. The more than 30 million small businesses in the U.S. are the backbone of the economy and employ nearly half of the private workforce. Importantly, CDFIs focus on SMBs often overlooked by traditional lenders, serving people of color, those with low income, SMBs in rural areas and women. We subsequently increased our commitment and allocated an additional $50 million to support SMBs in the Black community. We were motivated by our conviction that economic growth is sustainable only if it is truly inclusive.

Today, I spoke at OFN’s annual conference and was proud to share that Google has, to date, placed more than 90% of our $180 million commitment. In addition, I announced a new $5 million Google.org grant to OFN to help CDFIs use technologies that support their small business lending, allowing them to scale and innovate as they work to meet the needs of the communities they serve.

We are excited about the work that we have led with OFN to help small businesses in overlooked communities, but we recognize that we are just one piece of a much larger puzzle. As is true with a lot of our work, our greatest impact lies in motivating others to join us, and we are proud that several other companies have made commitments to OFN and the CDFI ecosystem over the past year. We look forward to working alongside even more companies in the future and are hopeful that others will see this momentum and be inspired by it as we are.

Android 12, which starts rolling out on Pixel 3 and above today, delivers even more personal, safe and effortless experiences on your device. It features a totally reimagined and personalized user interface, new privacy features that are designed for your safety, and more seamless ways to get right into your gameplay or even switch to a new device. Here are a dozen of our favorite new features that are coming to Android 12:

Our most personal OS yet

1. When you change your wallpaper, the entire Android 12 experience changes to match its colors, thanks to advanced color extraction algorithms and the gorgeous Material You design. Easily personalize the look and feel of your entire phone, including the lockscreen, notifications, settings, widgets and even apps. This new dynamic color experience is available on Pixel first and will be coming to more device makers and phones soon.
2. Make way for new widgets! Material You brings redesigned widgets that are more dynamic and customizable than ever. By the end of this month, you’ll be able to try out over a dozen totally new or refreshed widgets from your favorite Google apps right on your home screen.
3. New visibility features make Android 12 more accessible than ever. A new window magnifier lets you zoom in on a part of your screen while preserving the rest of the screen context. Extra dim screen lighting is perfect for night-time scrolling or other situations when even the lowest brightness setting is too bright. You can even adjust text to bold or colors to grayscale for easier reading.

Privacy that puts you in control

4. You can now see when an app is using your microphone or camera thanks to a new indicator in your phone’s status bar. And if you don’t want any apps to access your microphone or camera, you can completely disable those sensors using two new toggles in Quick Settings. Simply flip the switch.

5. Keep your precise location private. Android 12 allows you to choose between giving apps access to your precise location or an approximate location instead.

6. Check out your privacy permissions at a glance. A new privacy dashboard gives you a clear and comprehensive view of when apps access your location, camera or mic over the past 24 hours. If you see anything that you’re not comfortable with, you can manage permissions right from the dashboard.

7. While your wireless headphones need to connect to your phone, they probably don’t need to know where you are. New Bluetooth permissions in Android 12 allow companion apps to connect to devices like watches or headphones without needing to access your location information.

8. Have apps that you haven’t used in a while, or forgot about? Unused apps’ permissions are reset and cached files are removed to help free up space on your device.

Making everything on your phone a little easier

9. Just because you reach the end of your screen doesn’t mean you need to reach the end of your screenshot. New scrolling screenshots will allow you to capture all the content on the page in one image.

10. Spend more time playing and less time waiting for game downloads. In Android 12, select games will allow you to play as you download, so you can jump straight into gameplay without needing to wait for the full download to finish.

11. Wi-Fi credential sharing is getting a whole lot easier. No need to find that old sticky note with your passwords or make your friend type in a complicated combination of characters to login to your WiFi. With Nearby Share, just open your Wi-Fi settings, select the network you want, and tap “Share.”

12. Android 12 makes it easier than ever to transfer all your essentials, memories, messages and data to a new Android phone. All that’s needed is a Wi-Fi connection to transfer from your old phone, or your phone’s cable if you’re switching over from an iPhone.

Android 12 is packed with lots of other great features that you can learn more about at android.com/12. In addition to the rollout to Pixel devices today, Android 12 will be coming to Samsung Galaxy, OnePlus, Oppo, Realme, Tecno, Vivo, Xiaomi devices and more later this year.

Today, we introduced the new Pixel 6 and Pixel Pro, and we’re also announcing a whole new way to get them. Pixel Pass brings together the latest Pixel phone with Google’s best mobile services, device protection and regular device upgrades — all in one easy subscription.

Pixel Pass is $45 per month for the Pixel 6 and $55 per month for the Pixel 6 Pro. With both Pixel Pass plans, you’ll get the most personal and helpful phone we’ve ever created, combined with the best of Google services to get the most out of your new device. That includes:

• YouTube Premium for ad-free watching and background play while using other apps
• YouTube Music Premium for ad-free, uninterrupted listening
• Google One with 200 GB of safe, reliable cloud storage for full resolution photos and videos, Google Store discounts, automatic phone backup and more
• Google Play Pass with access to hundreds of games and apps completely free of ads and in-app purchases
• Preferred Care coverage to cover life’s little accidents with hassle-free device repairs

You can subscribe to Pixel Pass on the Google Store or with a phone plan on Google Fi. When you subscribe to Pixel Pass on the Google Store, you save up to $294 over two years. Plus, your Pixel phone is unlocked, so it works with all major carriers. And if you subscribe through Google Fi with a phone plan, you can save an additional $5 off your monthly Fi plan, totaling up to $414 in savings over two years.

Once you’re subscribed to Pixel Pass, you can manage everything in one place and pay with just one low monthly bill. And if you try it out and it’s just not right for you, you can cancel anytime — just pay off the remaining value of your Pixel phone at regular price.

Pixel Pass with Pixel 6 is available for pre-order today in the U.S. starting at $45 per month on Google Store or Google Fi.