Category "notizie dai blog"

While travel restrictions continue to vary across the globe, people are still dreaming of places to visit and things to do. Searches for “activities near me” have grown over the past 12 months, with specific queries like “ziplining” growing by 280% and “aquariums” by 115% globally. In response to this increasing interest, and to support the travel industry’s recovery, we’re introducing new ways to discover attractions, tours and activities on Search. 

Now, when people search on Google for attractions like the Tokyo Tower or the Statue of Liberty, they’ll see not just general information about the point of interest, but also booking links for basic admission and other ticket options where available. In the months ahead, we’ll also begin showing information and booking links for experiences in a destination, like wine tasting in Paris or bike tours in California. 

There’s a lot to consider when it comes to booking travel: price, health and safety, environmental impact and more. Last year, we shared travel tools to help you find health and safety information. Now we want to make it easier for you to find sustainable options while traveling — no matter what you’re doing or where you’re going.  

To make that happen, we’ve created a new team of engineers, designers and researchers focused solely on travel sustainability. Already, this team is working to highlight sustainable options within our travel tools that people use every day. 

Beginning this week, when you search for hotels on Google, you’ll see information about their sustainability efforts. Hotels that are certified for meeting high standards of sustainability from certain independent organizations, like Green Key or EarthCheck, will have an eco-certified badge next to their name. Want to dive into a hotel’s specific sustainability practices? Click on the “About” tab to see a list of what they’re doing — from waste reduction efforts and sustainably sourced materials to energy efficiency and water conservation measures.

Look around you right now and consider everything that was created by an inventor. The computer you’re reading this article on, the internet necessary to load this article, the electricity that powers the screen, even the coffee maker you used this morning. 

To recognize the incredible contributions of those inventors and the benefits they bring to our everyday life, the National Inventors Hall of Fame has inducted a new group of honorees every year since 1973. In this year’s combined inductee class of 2020/2021, Googler Marian Croak is being honored for her work in advancing VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Technology, which powers the online calls and video chats that have helped businesses and families stay connected through the COVID-19 pandemic. She holds more than 200 patents, and recently was honored by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. 

These days, Marian leads our Research Center for Responsible AI and Human Centered Technology, which is responsible for ensuring Google ​​develops artificial intelligence responsibly and that it has a positive impact. We chatted over Google Meet to find out how plumbers and electricians sparked her interest in science, how her inventions have made life in a pandemic a tiny bit easier for everyone, and what the NIHF honor means to her.  

When was the first time you realized you were interested in technology?

I was probably around 5 or 6. I know that we don’t usually think of things like plumbing or electricity as necessarily technology, but they are. I was very enchanted with plumbers and electricians who would come to our house and fix things. They would be dirty and greasy, but I would love the smell, you know? I felt like, Wow, what a miracle worker! I would follow them around, trying to figure out how they’d fix something. I still do that today! 

So when you have electricians come to your house, you’re still like, “Hey, how did you do that?”

There was a leak once, and I was asking the plumber all these questions, and he asked me to quiet down! Because he needed to listen to the invisible flow of water through the pipes to determine the problem. It was amazing to me how similar it was to network engineering!

You’ve had a few different roles at Google and Alphabet so far. How did you move to where you are today?

When I first came to Google, my first role was bringing the Internet to emerging markets. Laying fiber in Africa, building public Wi-Fi in railroad stations in India and then exploring the landscape in countries like Cuba and countries where there wasn’t an openness yet for the Internet. And that was a fascinating job. It was a merger of technology, policy and governmental affairs, combined with an understanding of communities and regions. 

Then I worked on bringing features and technology and Google’s products to the next billion users. And after I did that for a few years, I joined the Site Reliability Engineering organization to help enhance the performance of Google’s complex, integrated systems. Now my current role is leading the Research Center for Responsible AI and Human Centered Technology group. I’m inspired that my work has the potential to positively impact so many of our users. 

Today you’re being inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for your work in advancing VoIP technology. What inspired you to work on VoIP, and can you describe that process of bringing the technology to life?

I have alway been motivated by the desire to change the world, and to do that I try to change the world that I’m currently in. What I mean by that is I work on problems that I am aware of, and that I can tackle within the world that surrounds me. So when I began working on VoIP technology, it was at a time in the late ‘90s when there was a lot of change happening involving the internet. Netscape had put a user-friendly web browser in place and there was a lot of new activity beginning to bubble up all over the online world. 

I was part of a team that was also very interested in doing testing and prototyping of voice communications over the internet. There were some existing technologies but they didn’t scale and they were proprietary in nature, so we were thinking of ways we could open it up, make it scalable, make it reliable and be able to support billions of daily calls. We started to work on this but had a lot of doubters telling us that this wouldn’t work, and that no one would ever use this “toy like” technology. And at the time, they were right: It wasn’t working and it wasn’t reliable. But over time we were able to get it to a point where it started working very well. So much so that eventually the senior leaders within AT&T began to adopt the technology for their core network. It was challenging but an exciting thing for me to do because I like to bring change to things, especially when people doubt that it can happen.

What advice would you give to aspiring inventors? 

Most importantly, don’t give up, and during the process of creation, listen to your critics. I received so much criticism and in many ways it was valid. That type of feedback motivated me to improve the technology, and really address a variety of pain points that I hadn’t necessarily thought of. 

What does being inducted into the NIHF mean to you? 

Well it’s humbling, and a great experience. At the time I never thought the work that I was doing was that significant and that it would lead to this, but I’m so I’m very grateful for the recognition.

What does it mean to be a part of a class that sees the first two Black women inducted into the NIHF?

I find that it inspires people when they see someone who looks like themselves on some dimension, and I’m proud to offer that type of representation. People also see that I’m just a normal person like themselves and I think that also inspires them to accomplish their goals. I want people to understand that it may be difficult but that they can overcome obstacles and that it will be so worth it.

As a young girl growing up in Venezuela, I had an insatiable appetite for reading. From fictional novels to computer science manuals, you name it, I would read it. Books allowed me to get lost in other worlds, expand my imagination and ultimately inspire me to dream bigger. These days, you can catch me reading with my two young kids or when I take some quiet “me time” on the weekends.

That’s why I’m delighted that Google Assistant has partnered with Reese’s Book Club to offer a hands-free, immersive reading experience on Nest smart speakers, smart displays and Assistant-enabled mobile devices in English-speaking countries across the globe. Assistant users can now discover Reese Witherspoon’s monthly book picks, take a quiz for personalized book recommendations and get exclusive commentary about each book pick from Reese herself.

One of the unspoken truths of entrepreneurship is that it can be extremely lonely. When COVID-19 hit last year, I saw firsthand how the founders in our programs were affected. Office closures kept their employees apart, event cancellations kept founders from connecting, and many needed to pivot their startups to keep businesses afloat. Since our mission is to level the playing field for underrepresented startup founders, I knew we would have to show up in a new way to ensure these founders did not fall through the cracks. 

The Google for Startups Black Founders Fund was built in response to both the financial and societal pressures facing Black founders. And while those pressures have always been present, they were magnified in 2020. Last year, we gave 76 Black-led startups up to $100,000 in non-dilutive funding, meaning founders do not give up any ownership in their company in exchange for funding. Founders used this capital to keep their doors open, pay their employees, and focus on building their businesses. With this second $5 million investment in the U.S. Black Founders Fund, bringing the fund’s total to $10 million, more founders across the United States will receive this funding. The fund also includes technical support from tools and teams across Google, including as much as $120,000 in donated ads from Google.org and up to $100,000 in Google Cloud credits.

Today, we’re announcing the next 50 recipients of our second Black Founders Fund in the U.S., leaders who are solving problems in education, healthcare, sustainability and more. The 126 founders who are now a part of the fund in the United States have consistently told us about the importance of giving back and paying it forward. In this spirit, we asked the first group of founders to nominate recipients for the second round of the fund. 

We’ve seen that the fund has a catalytic effect for founders when raising capital after they receive these awards. In less than a year, our first group of founders went on to collectively raise more than $50 million in funding. In addition, about 80% of the founders used the awards to create jobs and reported the fund has helped grow their revenues. While the financial impact of that shouldn’t be understated, the most impressive takeaway I’ve witnessed since we started the fund isn’t about money. It’s the profound way this community of founders has shown up for each other, and ensured that they were not alone during this time. 

Facilitated by our partner Goodie Nation, founders attend weekly meetings in small groups where they can connect with each other, sharing experiences and resources. Black Founders Fund 2020 recipient Gerald Youngblood of Tankee, a gaming network for kids, nominated Ofo Ezeugwu from Whose Your Landlord, a platform that provides more transparency for renters. Goodie Nation CEO Joey Womack introduced them to one another. Gerald shared advice on a negotiation and fundraising approach that worked for Ofo — and later surprised him with the news that he is a 2021 Black Founders Fund recipient.

We know that the challenges founders of color in the U.S. face when raising funds for their companies aren’t specific just to Black founders. That’s why today we announced the Latino Founders Fund to support Latino-led startups across the country as part of our broader $15 million commitment to economic justice for the Latino community. Since the inception of the Black Founders Fund in the U.S., we have expanded to support a larger group of Black founders globally, investing a total of $16 million in more than 200 founders across the U.S., Brazil, Europe and Africa. As we welcome the next group of the Google for Startups Black Founders Fund, we’re excited to see how the founders continue to connect and build amazing companies. 

Ver abajo versión en español

Nine years ago, I stood as a volunteer in a room full of Black and Latino startup founders gathered together in the Google San Francisco office to pitch their companies.  This introduction to the startup world was magical—the energy in the room, the powerful ideas and the potential of people who looked and sounded just like me.

For more than a year after that experience, I did everything I could to land a full-time position with the Google for Startups team.  Lucky for me, a role opened up, and ever since I’ve been on a mission to help level the playing field for underrepresented founders around the world.

Fast forward to today and I still get butterflies in my stomach when I meet with founders and learn about their startups. My mission has not changed and I am proud to say we are more determined than ever to continue creating economic opportunities for Latinos.

Today, we are deepening our commitment to racial justice with a $15 million expansion focused on economic equity for Latinos in the U.S.  Our goal is to help Latino entrepreneurs, job seekers and students have equitable access to funding, training and the support they need to succeed in today’s economy.

Despite being the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. small business ecosystem, and growing revenues at a faster rate, Latinos continue to struggle to secure funding and capital — the necessary fuel for business owners to grow their companies.  Since 2015, more than $15 billion has been raised by Black and Latino founders, representing only 2.4 percent of the total venture capital despite representing more than 18.7% of the population. When Latino-owned businesses look for financing they remain significantly less likely to be approved for a loan despite reporting strong metrics on key lending criteria.

In an effort to close the opportunity and wealth gap for Latinos, we are unveiling a set of programs designed to open the doors to funding, training for the digital economy and empowering communities.

Introducing the Google for Startups Latino Founders Fund

We are making a $7 million commitment to the Latino startup community to help founders get access to capital needed to scale, and support organizations working to grow a robust community of Latino founders.

The Latino Founders Fund will give top founders cash awards up to $100,000 in non-dilutive funding: critical capital that helps founders retain ownership of their company and avoid debt. We’ve seen the profound impact the role that non-dilutive capital can have to supercharge a founder’s journey. While the capital is important, the fund includes much more than a check. Recipients from the Latino Founders Fund will receive hands-on programming and support from Google, deep mentorship from technical and business experts, as well as a vibrant community of fellow founders. This support will include $1 million in donated ads from Google.org, helping the founders raise brand awareness and reach new customers.

In addition to investments into Latino-led startups, we will allocate $1 million of the fund to support programs and community building organizations in the Latino startup ecosystem. We will expand our support of the Google for Startups partner network, and will also seek out new Latino focused organizations committed to this effort. For example, we’ll be providing scholarships for Latino founders to participate in Founder Gym, a long-time Google for Startups partner who runs a 6-week program training founders to raise funding for their startups.

We know that racial equity and economic opportunity are inextricably linked. This continues and expands on the success and impact of our Black Founders Fund, which welcomed 50 new founders today. In less than a year, recipients of the initial fund have gone on to raise more than $50 million in follow-on capital, and the vast majority of awardees have used those funds to create jobs.

Supporting Latino students and job seekers

Helping Latino students develop the digital skills they need to find and secure internships and jobs that will help them build successful careers is critical to closing the wealth gap. According to the National Skills Coalition, Latino workers are 14 percent of all workers, but account for 35% of those with no digital skills, and 20 percent of those with limited skills. This is why we are expanding the Grow with Google Career Readiness Program in partnership with the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) to reach Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs).  We’ll provide a $2 million investment for college career services centers across the US to help train 200,000 Latino college students by 2025 in digital skills. Our hope is this program will open the doors to opportunities that didn’t exist before for Latino students by providing tools and resources to help them on their journey to an internship or job out of college, which can have a profound impact on their lifetime earning power.

For Latinos already on a career journey or those looking to make a change, we are making a $1 million Google.org grant to the Hispanic Federation to enhance the capacity of Latino-led and Latino-serving nonprofit organizations to provide career-aligned digital skills training to more than 6,000 Latinos over the next year. This is an expansion of our initial 2019 grant when Google.org seed-funded the Hispanic Federation to launch an accelerator to strengthen institutions serving the Latino community with workforce development and digital training programs. Over the last two years, in spite of the pandemic and economic downturn, through our partnership with Hispanic Federation we have reached more than 6,000 Latinos with digital skills training across several states.  This builds on our ongoing commitment to the Latino community, which includes more than $20 million in Google.org grants over the past five years to help create more access to economic opportunity.

For a long time, Latinos have unfairly missed out on economic opportunities. Meeting and supporting Latinos throughout their entrepreneurial, educational and career journey is critical to closing the wealth gap. Today, we are reaffirming our long term commitment to help and empower Latinos reach economic equity.  Our hope is these programs will create clear paths to financial prosperity and even more opportunities in the future.

Invirtiendo en equidad económica para Latinos

Por Daniel Navarro, Google for Startups

Hace nueve años estuve como voluntario en una sala llena de fundadores de startups Afroamericanos y Latinos que se reunieron en nuestra oficina de San Francisco para presentar sus empresas. Esta introducción al mundo de las startups fue mágica: la energía en el salón, las ideas poderosas y el potencial de las personas que se veían y sonaban como yo.

Durante más de un año después de esa experiencia, hice todo lo que pude para conseguir un puesto de tiempo completo con el equipo de Google for Startups. Por suerte mía, se abrió un puesto un año después, y desde entonces se ha convertido en mi misión ayudar a nivelar el campo de juego para los fundadores subrepresentados en todo el mundo.

Hoy en día todavía siento mariposas en mi estómago cuando me reúno con los fundadores y conozco sus nuevas empresas. Mi misión no ha cambiado y me enorgullece decir que estamos más decididos que nunca a seguir creando oportunidades económicas para los Latinos.

Hoy estamos ampliando nuestro compromiso con la justicia racial con una expansión de $15 millones de dólares enfocándonos en equidad económica para los Latinos en los Estados Unidos. Nuestro objetivo es ayudar a los empresarios, los solicitantes de empleo y los estudiantes a tener un acceso equitativo a la financiación, la capacitación y el apoyo que necesitan para tener éxito en la economía actual.

A pesar de ser el segmento de más rápido crecimiento del ecosistema de pequeñas empresas en Estados Unidos, y que sus ingresos aumentan a un ritmo más rápido, los Latinos continúan luchando por asegurar inversión y capital — el combustible necesario para que los dueños de negocios hagan crecer sus empresas. Desde 2015, los fundadores de empresas Afroamericanos y Latinos han recaudado más de $15 mil millones de dólares, lo que representa solo el 2.4 por ciento del capital de riesgo total a pesar de representar más del 18.7% de la población. Cuando los negocios de propiedad de Latinos buscan financiamiento, es significativamente menos probable que sean aprobadas para un préstamo a pesar de reportar métricas sólidas sobre criterios clave de préstamos.

En un esfuerzo por cerrar la brecha de oportunidades y riqueza para los Latinos, estamos presentando un conjunto de programas diseñados para abrir las puertas al financiamiento, capacitación para la economía digital e invertir en sus comunidades.

Presentamos el Google for Startups Latino Founders Fund

Estamos haciendo un compromiso de $7 millones de dólares con la comunidad de startups Latinos para ayudar a los fundadores obtener acceso al capital necesario para escalar y apoyar a las organizaciones que trabajan para hacer crecer una comunidad sólida de fundadores Latinos.

El Latino Founders Fund otorgará a los mejores fundadores premios en efectivo de hasta $100,000 dólares en fondos no diluibles: capital crítico que ayuda a los fundadores a conservar el control de su negocio y evitar deudas. Hemos visto el profundo impacto que puede tener el capital no dilutivo para impulsar la trayectoria de un fundador. Si bien el capital es importante, el fondo incluye mucho más que un cheque. Los destinatarios del Latino Founders Fund recibirán programación práctica y apoyo de Google, una profunda tutoría de expertos técnicos y comerciales, así como una vibrante comunidad de compañeros fundadores. Este apoyo incluirá $1 millón en anuncios donados de Google.org, lo que ayudará a los fundadores a aumentar reconocimiento de marca y llegar a nuevos clientes.

Además de las inversiones en startups lideradas por Latinos, asignaremos $1 millón de dólares del fondo para apoyar programas y organizaciones de construcción comunitaria en el ecosistema de startups Latinos. Ampliaremos nuestro apoyo a la red de socios de Google for Startups y también buscaremos nuevas organizaciones enfocadas en los Latinos comprometidas con este esfuerzo. Por ejemplo, proporcionaremos becas para que los fundadores Latinos participen en Founder Gym, un socio de Google for Startups desde hace mucho tiempo que dirige un programa de formación de fundadores de 6 semanas para recaudar fondos para sus startups.

Sabemos que la equidad racial y las oportunidades económicas están indisolublemente vinculadas. Esto continúa y amplía el éxito y el impacto de nuestro Black Founders Fund, que hoy dio la bienvenida a 50 nuevos fundadores. En menos de un año, los beneficiarios del fondo inicial han recaudado más de 50 millones de dólares en capital de seguimiento, y la gran mayoría de los adjudicatarios han utilizado esos fondos para crear puestos de trabajo.

Apoyo a estudiantes Latinos y solicitantes de empleo

Ayudar a los estudiantes Latinos a desarrollar las habilidades digitales que necesitan para encontrar y asegurar prácticas y trabajos que los ayudarán a construir carreras exitosas es fundamental para cerrar la brecha de riqueza. Según la National Skills Coalition, los trabajadores Latinos son el 14 por ciento de todos los trabajadores, pero el 35 por ciento de los que no tienen habilidades digitales y el 20 por ciento de aquellos que tienen habilidades limitadas. Es por eso que estamos expandiendo el programa Grow with Google Career Readiness Program en asociación con la Asociación Hispana de Colegios y Universidades (HACU por sus siglas en inglés) para llegar a las Instituciones de Servicio a Hispanos (HSI). Proporcionaremos una inversión de $2 millones de dólares para centros de servicios profesionales universitarios en los Estados Unidos para ayudar a capacitar a 200,000 estudiantes universitarios Latinos para el 2025 en habilidades digitales. Nuestra esperanza es que este programa abra las puertas a oportunidades que no existían antes para los estudiantes Latinos al brindarles herramientas y recursos para ayudarlos en su camino hacia una práctica o un trabajo después de la universidad, lo que puede tener un impacto profundo en sus ingresos de por vida.

Para los Latinos que ya están en su trayecto profesional o para aquellos que buscan hacer un cambio, estamos otorgando una subvención de $1 millón de dólares a la Federación Hispana para mejorar la capacidad de las organizaciones sin fines de lucro lideradas por Latinos y que sirven a Latinos para brindar capacitación en habilidades digitales alineadas con carreras a más de 6,000 Latinos durante el próximo año. Esta es una expansión de nuestra subvención inicial del 2019 cuando Google.org financió la Federación Hispanapara lanzar un acelerador para fortalecer las instituciones que sirven a la comunidad Latina con programas de capacitación digital y desarrollo de la fuerza laboral. Durante los últimos dos años, a pesar de la pandemia y la recesión económica, a través de nuestra asociación con la Federación Hispana hemos llegado a más de 6,000 Latinos con capacitación en habilidades digitales en varios estados. Esto se basa en nuestro compromiso continuo con la comunidad latina, que incluye más de $20 millones de dólares en subvenciones de Google.org durante los últimos cinco años para ayudar a crear más acceso a oportunidades económicas.

Durante mucho tiempo, los Latinos se han perdido injustamente de oportunidades económicas. Conocer y apoyar a los Latinos a lo largo de su trayectoria empresarial, educativa y profesional es fundamental para cerrar la brecha de riqueza. Hoy, reafirmamos nuestro compromiso a largo plazo de ayudar y empoderar a los Latinos a alcanzar la equidad económica. Nuestra esperanza es que estos programas creen caminos claros hacia la prosperidad financiera e incluso más oportunidades en el futuro.