Marzo, 2022

From predicting floods to improving waste management, organizations and researchers across Asia Pacific are using technology to respond to the impact of climate change.

Supporting this important work is a priority for Google.org. At today’s Southeast Asia Development Symposium, we announced a $6 million Sustainability Seed Fund to help organizations dedicated to addressing some of the region’s most difficult sustainability challenges. We look forward to sharing more in the coming weeks, including how nonprofits can apply.

The new fund builds on the support Google.org has already provided — through grants, technology and Googlers’ time — for sustainability-focused organizations and researchers across Asia-Pacific over recent years. I recently had the chance to talk to one of those existing grantees, Professor Hamish McGowan from the University of Queensland in Australia, who received $1 million in Google.org support in 2021. Professor McGowan and his team are working on a world-first hazard detection system for bushfires. It’s a powerful example of technology’s potential to protect communities in the short term and inform planning over the long term. It’s also part of Google’s Digital Future Initiative to propel Australian innovation and help Australians solve pressing problems.

Here’s what I learned from our conversation.

We know that bushfires have been a persistent issue in Australia. Could you give us a sense of the environmental challenges you’re seeing and how big this issue is?

Tackling bushfires is a nationwide issue. The Australian landscape has always been subject to fire, including what we may term nowadays as catastrophic fires. For example, many of Australia’s plants have evolved to require fire to germinate.

However, as the climate has changed in response to both natural and anthropogenic causes — and as urban areas expand into bushland — fire incidence has increased and arguably the scale and intensity of fires have too. One of the great challenges is managing and mitigating risk from bushfires in response to climate and land-use change and pollution pressures.

Could you share more about the solution you and your team have created to address the bushfires?

Over the past few years, my graduate students and I have developed a mobile weather radar capability with the support of generous industry organizations, including Google. Initially, the radar was used to study severe thunderstorms in southeast Queensland. We then tested the radar’s ability to observe bushfires and their interactions with the atmosphere. With the assistance of the radar’s manufacturer, Furuno Electric Co from Japan, we have now developed the capability to use the radar to identify and monitor meteorological hazards associated with severe bushfires — such as extreme winds, vortices, or burning embers. We are now developing this capacity further by applying artificial intelligence (AI) to near-real-time analysis of the radar data — so we can produce nowcasts of bushfire-related hazards.

I’m glad that through Google.org, we’ve been able to support the University of Queensland along the way. What do you hope to achieve with the new solution?

Our work ultimately aims to provide increased accuracy in forecasting bushfire movements and alerting community members and emergency responders before they spread. The $1 million grant from Google.org will enable our researchers to work on a new capability to identify and forewarn people in locations up to 30 kilometers downwind from the fire front that may come under attack from embers – sometimes in areas previously perceived as safe. Right now, we’re in the process of preparing for our first season of data collection using the mobile radar and have appointed new staff to the project.

From your perspective, how important are partnerships and support from governments, businesses, and communities in developing technology solutions?

Extremely important! We’ve long worked closely with local governments and various other organizations in areas of research and development. There are plenty of opportunities for collaboration and it’s wonderful to hear that Google.org is launching a new fund to support this kind of work across Asia Pacific.

What do you aspire to achieve with this solution in the next 10 years?

We hope to have a new bushfire warning capability that can be applied globally to save lives, businesses, and the environment from the perils of extreme bushfires and their interactions with the atmosphere.

A self-described “marketer by day, women’s advocate by night,” Nyamekye Nti has built her career around storytelling for good. “I craft stories and narratives about Google products, and those skills help me craft stories to advocate for women,” she says.

When she’s not marketing Google Cloud products, Nyamekye is running Yielding Accomplished African Women (YaaW), a nonprofit dedicated to building the largest online career community of Black college women in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Since its launch in 2018, YaaW has trained more than 1,000 women in 12 African countries and certified more than 750 African women through accelerator programs, STEM “sororities” and groundbreaking conferences sponsored by Google and others. And while originally focused on Africa, YaaW is quickly going global.

Fresh off her win as Africa Tech Festival’s 2021 Female Innovator of the Year, we spoke with Nyamekye about her passion for representation in STEM and what advice she has for fellow entrepreneurs.

How would you describe your job at Google to someone who doesn’t work in tech?

I’m a marketing strategist at Google, meaning I find ways to explain to Fortune 500 companies how Google Cloud can help them. I do that through customer testimonials, stories, blogs and events.

What inspired you to get involved in STEM representation?

I’m an alumni of several leadership development programs. They inspired me to believe and bet on myself, and that really catapulted my entire college and corporate career. I was able to work at the best of the best companies, because these programs gave me the skills, attitude and connections to succeed. I knew I had to bring this specifically to Black women. Because as much as I loved those experiences, I still felt there were gender-specific gaps in skill-development training. Those gaps led me to start Yielding Accomplished African Women (YaaW).

Tell us more about why you started YaaW.

Forty percent of Black college students switch out of STEM majors because they don’t believe they can actually finish these degrees. They don’t have the support they need. And many times, even when they do complete it, they don’t have access to recruiters and companies to set them up for career success. As a Black woman who studied STEM and went into finance, I understand this fight. And what we want to do at YaaW is ensure that the path is easy for anyone.

In 2019, YaaW hosted the Women in Machine Learning Conferencein Ghana. What was that experience like?

This was the first machine learning conference in Africa specifically for women. It was a three-day event filled with sisterhood, personal development, professional development and a lot of heavy training. We even brought in three women machine learning engineers from Google.

You founded YaaW at just 21 years old. What advice do you have for other young women who want to start their own businesses?

Research. But go beyond just your business model and quantitative analysis. What in history can give you secrets for the future? When I was in college, I was just gleaning from history — from philosophers and sociologists who wrote things hundreds of years ago that we still stand on today. If you’re building something, research who’s done it extremely well. You’d be surprised by how much you can learn from them.

Who’s an inspirational woman in your own life?

My grandmother. She was illiterate, never went to school and worked on a farm all her life. She made a choice to make sure all of her children were educated — and this was in the 60s, in Ghana, as a poor woman. Now we have doctors and lawyers — and people giving interviews like this! — in the family. This year, YaaW is establishing a million-dollar scholarship program for Black college women in her name.

Building your online presence starts with a domain. It’s your online address, your home on the web, and it should be simple to get started. That’s why we launched Google Domains in beta in 2015: to be the easiest place to find, buy and manage a domain. Since then, millions of customers have trusted us with their online home, and we’ve added more tools and features to bring Google’s ease of use, reliability and value to finding and using a domain name.

Today, we’re moving Google Domains out of beta and into general availability in 26 countries. With millions of active registrations, we know how valuable domain names are to customers, and we take seriously the responsibility to provide a service that’s often at the very heart of a business, brand or passion.

As we move out of beta, from now until April 15, we’re offering new and returning users 20% off any single domain registration or transfer-in to Google Domains using the code DOMAINS20 (see discount Terms and Conditions). And if you’re new here, read on to get to know us a bit better.

Here’s what you get when you register with Google Domains.

Tools to build your online presence with Google. With more than 300 domain endings available, you can find a name that’s right for your business. Google tools can spread your brand further: Turn people who find you on Google Search and Maps into new customers with a free Business Profile and add custom email and collaboration tools with Workspace. Without coding, create a professional-looking website or online store for free using Google Sites or with premium partners like Wix, Shopify, Squarespace, Weebly and Bluehost. And there are simple integrations with tools like Google Ads and Search Console, so you can reach customers across the web, and track where your visitors are coming from.

The reliability you need. Google Domains provides stable and reliable service. We give you access to high performance DNS, meaning your domain name is easy to access regardless of where your visitors are located. It’s the same infrastructure used by Google. Plus we offer around-the-clock customer support from real people.

Added value with no added cost. Privacy and security features should be standard when you’re creating your online home. Features like 2-Step Verification and one-click DNSSEC bring an added layer of security to your Google Domains account at no additional cost. If you want to keep your information private, we also cover the cost of privacy protection.

Whether they’re promoting passion projects, working on a side hustle or dedicating their lives to a cause, our millions of customers have chosen Google Domains because it’s good for their businesses — and good for the internet.

Movies and TV can make us laugh, cry and even shape who we are. Our watchlists can be surprisingly revealing. We’re teaming up with entertainers, artists and cultural icons on a newWatch With Meseries on Google TV to share their top picks and give you a behind-the-scenes look at the TV and movies that inspired them.

Awards season is here, making it the perfect time to chat with director Chloé Zhao, who took home the golden trophy in 2021. Her film “Nomadland” won best picture and best director, and is a perfect example of Chloe’s unique ability to deliver incredibly human, universal experiences. “As a storyteller, it’s important to have empathy,” she says. “You don’t necessarily have to have gone through what your character went through, but it is important to be vulnerable and open enough to let those characters guide you through it.”

We sat down with her to learn more about her filmmaking and the directors who inspire her. “I would say I’m not your typical cinephile. You know, I haven’t seen everything, but there are a handful of directors who I worship and I’ll watch their films over and over again.”

Before we brushed up on her list of influential films and TV, we asked Chloé a few questions to learn more about her — and get a peek at her watchlist.

What does your watchlist say about you?

Chloé Zhao:My watchlist says that I’m someone who is very inconsistent, has a wide range of interests and can be a bit strange. I’m attracted to interesting stories and characters who can be perceived as a bit messed up.

What did you grow up watching?

Chloé Zhao: Mangas, Anime and Wuxia dramas — especially the ones starring Tony Leung! — were a huge part of my childhood. I constantly draw influence from these mythical and magical stories in how I approach filmmaking.

Who do you typically watch TV and movies with?

Chloé Zhao:I always watch TV with my dogs — I don’t have a choice! They have to sit next to me, one on each side.

Is it acceptable to talk during a movie?

Chloé Zhao: It’s not easy to make a movie, so as a filmmaker, I prefer people to not talk or check their phones during them. There’s incredible content on phones these days, so we have to force people to turn them off!

What’s one show you love to watch?

Chloé Zhao:I love “The Office.” Greatest show ever. I especially like watching the love-hate relationship between Dwight and Jim!

Dive into Chloé’s watchlist and learn more about the directors that inspire her on Google TV, rolling out over the next few days. Tell us your favorites using #WatchWithMe!

With more people playing games on their mobile devices than ever before, developers have a huge opportunity to grow their gaming business. This week at the Google for Games Developer Summit, we’re announcing new ways to help you reach more players and increase your app revenue for the long term.

Attract valuable players quickly and effectively

Finding players is critical when you launch a game — and you only get one shot at a strong first impression. An effective user acquisition strategy can help boost your game’s success.

With App campaigns for pre-registration, you can attract players and build excitement for your game early. Previously, you had to wait for your app to launch before creating App campaigns for installs. In the next few months, you’ll be able to set up App campaigns for apps that are in pre-registration state in the Google Play store — helping you prepare your app for a smooth launch.

You’ll then need to engage your high-value players and develop a monetization strategy. Last year, we introduced target return on ad spend (tROAS) for ad revenue, which allows you to earn more from ads shown in-app. Soon, you can improve your tROAS campaign performance by sending all AdMob revenue, including mediated revenue, to Google Analytics for bidding — with just a click of a button in the AdMob user interface. Third-party ad revenue in Google Analytics also allows you to import revenue from any monetization platform into Google Analytics for tROAS bidding. tROAS for ad revenue is currently in closed beta.

Earn more from your games

Players are spending more time in-game — in fact, our recent study shows that existing players increased their playtime by 42% in 2021. AdMob’s monetization solutions can help you make the most of this surge.

Most publishers aren’t able to fully measure user revenue from their ads strategy without building their own internal systems. With AdMob’s impression-level lifetime value (LTV), you can estimate the average LTV of user segments and identify user acquisition strategies with the highest return on investment (ROI). To make this even easier to activate, impression-level LTV has been integrated into top app attribution platforms Adjust, AppsFlyer and Singular.

For example, BlackLight Studio Games, the creator behind the popular strategy board game Ludo SuperStar, wanted to expand into new markets and boost their ROI. The team used AdMob’s impression-level LTV to measure ads revenue and identify markets with the highest ROI based on user acquisition cost. The team then increased App campaign spend in select markets and achieved a 45% increase in overall revenue.

In addition to AdMob’s impression-level LTV, we’re announcing even more features to help you grow your app revenue for the long term:

• Firebase Remote Config personalization (beta): Using machine learning, automatically find the optimal experience for each user. Learn how Halfbrick used personalization to increase revenue by 16%.
• AdMob rewarded optimizations: Benefit from more impressions and revenue with display ads in rewarded ads. Display ads will run alongside videos or other playables for a lightweight user experience.
• More demand sources with AdMob: Get access to a diverse range of more than 200 demand sources available for real-time bidding, with Vungle and Snap in beta and more onboarding soon.

To hear more about how these solutions can help you drive growth for your games business, watch the Google for Games Developer Summit keynote and check out other sessions.