As a scientist, educator and businesswoman, my goal is to engage as many young minds as possible to get them excited about science and technology. That's why the explosion in affordable technology over the last few years has been so exciting for STEM evangelists like me. Technology is no longer available only to the affluent and the privileged; instead, computers, tablets and smartphones are in the hands of individuals across all income levels. Reaching such a diverse audience is critical to our society's ability to design the next generation of digital technologies and train the workforce of the future.

As a professor and the founder and Chief Technology Officer atZyrobotics, a company that develops interactive STEM games and learning tools for children, I want our company's educational programs to be available to the greatest number of people in order to have the greatest level of impact. In order to be successful, companies like mine need to reach kids where they spend their time-on their tablets, phones and other electronic learning devices. That means we want our apps to be compatible with as many devices as possible, and it's why we've chosen to use Android's open platform for our development. I've been able to reach far more people by building upon open platforms like Android than I ever could by teaching in a classroom.

As an app developer, I've benefited from Android's ease of use, open coding platform, and popularity within diverse segments of the population. We've been able to expand our reach to all audiences, particularly those in disadvantaged communities. Many lower-income people (and many in developing countries) rely on more affordable or older Android devices, and because Android lets us update apps on older-model phones, we can ensure we're providing the best experience to these users. Open platforms are also the main reason why most of our apps, including those that teach young children to code, are free.

Zyrobotics would be far less successful without the app stores housed on Android and Apple and the number of users we are able to reach through those platforms. Both Google and Apple's app stores have been especially useful in helping us maximize our apps' exposure to the children and parents with whom we want to connect, and helped us introduce important STEM concepts to children as early as five and six years old through30 STEM-focused apps and games, such as our award-winning Turtle "Learn to Code" app.

The United Statescontinues to lag behind other industrialized nations when it comes to preparing our children for STEM careers, and thattechnology workforce gap is partly a result of a lack of early engagement in STEM. Reaching children when their interests are just beginning to take shape is vital to building a more vibrant, diverse and successful STEM workforce for the future. Android helps us do that. I support smart regulation of technology companies that helps ensure that today's technology be made even more widely available, accessible and unbiased.

The benefits of technology to educate and empower the next generation are immeasurable. Open platforms create opportunities-for companies like mine, and the people we serve. Let's keep it that way.

Ayanna Howard, Ph.D., is Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Zyrobotics, an educational technology company, and the Linda J. and Mark C. Smith Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Her artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and assistive technology research has resulted in more than 250 peer-reviewed publications and a number of commercialized products.

Editor's note: This guest post comes from Conrad Anker, a rock climber and adventurer who used Google Earth to aid his quest to explore Antarctica's remote Queen Maud Land with other athletes from The North Face team.

Nearly twenty-two years ago, my late friend Alex Lowe, Jon Krakauer and I huddled over a stack of tattered Norwegian maps from the"International Geophysical Year, 1957 - 58." These were the first maps of Antarctica's remote Queen Maud Land, a stark glacial landscape dotted with impossibly jagged granite spires protruding from thousands of feet of ice. As we scanned the only detailed account of this faraway land, the complex and cryptic landscape made it blatantly obvious why these were some of the last unclimbed peaks on earth.

Back in '98, our paper maps were a static window into this dynamic land. We peeked in with trepidation, knowing that once we arrived on the ice cap, our lives would depend on rough estimations and ballpark figures, which still left a lot to chance. How many days would it take to reach the towers from our base camp? What if a storm pinned us down? What if we were unable to cross a dangerously crevassed part of the glacier?

Two decades later, the same thirst for pushing limits in the face of the unknown is calling me back to Queen Maud Land. This time the adventure began with my family in the comfort of our living room in Bozeman, Montana-our paper maps are replaced with smartphones and laptops. With Google Earth, my family was able to explore Queen Maud Land with me before my boots ever touched the ground. Together, we flew over snow covered glaciers and found our way up the massive granite walls I hoped to scale with my fellow teammates who are climbing with me as a part of an expedition put together by The North Face. We understood the complexity and enormity of the expedition together.

I always tell my family that the most important part of the mission is coming home-a goal that requires obsessive preparation, planning and training. Google Earth allowed us to drop pins on potential landing zones suitable for the fixed wing aircraft we were going to travel in. With the ability to visually assess the landscape in 3D, we could better see hazards and challenges before embarking on the expedition. Climate change has dramatically altered the landscape of the Antarctica I explored in the nineties and looking at up-to-date satellite imagery helped me come up with a new approach to navigating the terrain.

When we finally touched down on the ice, my fellow climber Cedar Wright aptly mentioned that "it was pretty surreal to recognize a place you had never physically been by your time spent exploring it remotely using Google Earth." And he was right. After we got our bearings, we were able to confidently and strategically explore dozens of never-before-climbed peaks in this lunar landscape. The challenges of climbing in the frozen landscape were ever present, but the gift of being able to successfully put up so many stunning new climbs with a team of this caliber was an unforgettable privilege.

On expeditions like these we are reminded of why we explore. They're a physical and mental challenge that demonstrate how we are capable of succeeding in places we never before thought possible. The spirit of exploration is alive and well across our society-and technology like Google Earth opens up even more possibilities to explore ... so, what will your next adventure be?

Learn more about the expedition and check out all of the photos and videos from The North Face expedition to Antarctica.

Security has always been a top priority for Pixel, spanning both the hardware and software of our devices. This includes monthly security updates and yearly OS updates, so Pixel always has the most secure version of Android, as well as Google Play Protect to help safeguard your phone from malware. Last year on Pixel 2, we also included a dedicated tamper-resistant hardware security module to protect your lock screen and strengthen disk encryption.

This year, with Pixel 3, we're advancing our investment in secure hardware with Titan M, an enterprise-grade security chip custom built for Pixel 3 to secure your most sensitive on-device data and operating system. With Titan M, we took the best features from the Titan chip used in Google Cloud data centers and tailored it for mobile.

Here are a few ways Titan M protects your phone.

Security in the Bootloader

First, to protect Android from outside tampering, we've integrated Titan M into Verified Boot, our secure boot process.

Titan M helps the bootloader-the program that validates and loads Android when the phone turns on-make sure that you're running the right version of Android. Specifically, Titan M stores the last known safe Android version and prevents "bad actors" from moving your device back to run on an older, potentially vulnerable, version of Android behind your back. Titan M also prevents attackers running in Android attempting to unlock the bootloader.

Lock Screen Protection & Disk Encryption On-Device

Pixel 3 also uses Titan M to verify your lock screen passcode. It makes the process of guessing multiple password combinations harder by limiting the amount of logon attempts, making it difficult for bad actors to unlock your phone. Only upon successful verification of your passcode will Titan M allow for decryption.

In addition, the secure flash and fully independent computation of Titan M makes it harder for an attacker to tamper with this process to gain the secrets to decrypt your data.

Secure Transactions in Third-Party Apps

Third, Titan M is used not only to protect Android and its functionality, but also to protect third-party apps and secure sensitive transactions. With Android 9, apps can now take advantage of StrongBox KeyStore APIs to generate and store their private keys in Titan M. The Google Pay team is actively testing out these new APIs to secure transactions.

For apps that rely on user interaction to confirm a transaction, Titan M also enables Android 9 Protected Confirmation, an API for protecting the most security-critical operations. As more processes come online and go mobile-like e-voting, and P2P money transfers-these APIs can help to ensure that the user (not malware) has confirmed the transaction. Pixel 3 is the first device to ship with this protection.

Insider Attack Resistance

Last, but not least, to prevent tampering, Titan M is built with insider attack resistance. The firmware on Titan M will never be updated unless you have entered your passcode, meaning bad actors cannot bypass your lock screen to update the firmware to a malicious version.

With the Pixel 3, we've increased our investment in security and put industry-leading hardware features into the device, so you can rest assured that your security and privacy are well protected. In the coming months, the security community will be able to audit Titan through its open-source firmware. In the meantime, you can test out Titan M and all of the smarts Pixel 3 brings, when it goes on sale on Thursday, October 18 in the U.S.

Gboard, Google's on-screen keyboard, is a tool that helps people communicate exactly the way they want on a mobile device. Gboard supports over 400 languages, thousands of emoji and stickers, and an endless number of GIFs.

Part of helping people communicate is making sure Gboard is accessible for all people, and the languages they speak. One language not supported by Gboard, however, is American Sign Language. ASL isn't a written language, so it's not suited for a typical keyboard. However, ASL is one of the most expressive languages, and similar to other languages, has its own slang and regional variations. This makes it perfect for a visual communication format like stickers.

We collaborated with Jessica Flores, a Deaf artist, advocate and popular YouTube creator, to design a series of animated stickers for Gboard that feature ASL. We talked to Jessica about her background, her experience creating the stickers, and how she hopes people might use them.

Ryan: How did you get started doing YouTube videos?

Jessica: I started my YouTube channel about two years ago. At the time, I was working at a coffee shop, and a lot of the customers would ask me the same questions about my hearing loss over and over again, which I totally don't mind. But once I started noticing this, I began to wonder if there was a way I could educate a much larger audience, instead of just one person at a time.

Ryan: What feedback have you received from other Deaf or Hard of Hearing people on your work?

Jessica: I grew up being the only Deaf person I really knew, so I felt very alone and isolated. When I started my YouTube channel years later, I thought there was only going to be a few people who could relate to my content, but boy, was I wrong! I get messages and comments all the time from both Deaf and Hard of Hearing adults and kids telling me they can relate to my videos. Whenever I get these messages, it's hands down, one of the best feelings in the world.

Ryan: How do you typically use expressions like stickers/GIFs/emoji? What do you like/dislike about this experience?

Jessica: I use stickers, emojis, and GIFs really often. Some might tell you, too often or, more-than-one-normally-should often. (Insert wide eye, straight big smile emoji here)

Personally, a text message just doesn't allow me to fully express what I am trying to say, or how I am feeling. I probably feel this way because I am a very animated person. Whenever I sign or talk, I feel like I always need to use all of my facial expressions and body language to express what I am trying to say. Even if it is just something simple like, "Hey can you pass the salt?" it ends up being very animated.

Ryan: What was your vision for these stickers? How did the end product compare to your vision?

Jessica: At the beginning of the project, I had no idea what direction these stickers were going to go in. I thought for sure the stickers would feature one character signing all the words.

But after looking at all of our sketches, I realized I wanted a sticker set that would help spread Deaf awareness and expose American Sign Language to more people, even just a little bit. I knew that if we designed a character for the stickers who signed, only those who knew ASL would know what the signs meant, and those who didn't know ASL might end up ignoring the set completely.

We settled on the perfect solution: making the words become the characters. Now, if you know ASL, you will understand the whole set, as well as the slang. And if you don't know ASL you will still be able to follow along with most of the signs their meanings.

Ryan: Were there any challenges you encountered as an artist creating the stickers?

Jessica: A lot of people don't realize that, in sign language, a simple change in facial expression or body language can change a sign's meaning completely. Just like how a tone of someone's voice will allow you to figure out if they are mad at you, or if they're asking you a question.

So when I had a word like "No", I had to think about what kind of "No" I wanted to sign. Did I want it to be a sad "no", a happy "no", a sarcastic "no"? Then, if I picked sad, I had to ask myself, "How sad is it? Is it so sad it's crying or is it just bummed out sad?" There are so many ways to sign and say "no" that it was hard to pick just one.

Ryan: How do you hope people will use them?

Jessica: I hope it will inspire people to start learning basic ASL or the other many different types of sign language: Mexican Sign Language, British Sign Language, Filipino Sign Language, etc.

My other hope is that the set will encourage people to start learning about Deaf/Hard of Hearing history, community, and culture. People still have a lot to learn about Deaf people. And the faster we can all learn about each other, the faster we can work towards making the world more accessible for one another.

Replacing aging computers with new devices can be a strain on school budgets, which means that schools often find themselves with out-of-date hardware sitting in cupboards, collecting dust. However, there's a way to give old devices new life-by replacing their current operating system with one that's easy to use, manage and is ready for the cloud.

We're partnering with London Grid for Learning, a nonprofit organization focused on improving schools' access to technology and Neverware (creator of the CloudReady operating system), to help schools across London extend the life of their old devices. LGfL has committed to purchasing CloudReady licenses for over 85 percent of London's schools so they can transform their slow, older hardware into fast, nimble devices that run just like Chromebooks. As CloudReady is based on Google's Chromium OS, it perfectly complements a cloud-first digital approach, such as using G Suite for Education.

At Connaught School for Girls in East London, pupils and teachers were struggling to use old and slow machines, especially once the school started integrating more digital tools, including Google Classroom. Tight budgets hindered replacement of the devices. The school saw Neverware as a budget-friendly way to revive its old laptops for the Google Classroom adoption, without purchasing a fleet of new devices or paying for laptop disposal.

The results were transformative as the students started using the devices more. ''In the last academic year, the devices were booked four times. Now the laptops are booked 21 out of 25 periods per week, creating better access to IT for our students,'' Silk says. "The beauty of Neverware is that it just works and your older devices are no longer a liability; they can be an asset again."

Given current budgetary pressures and compliance demands, it's more important than ever to find practical solutions that increase secure, affordable access to technology in schools. By partnering with London Grid for Learning and Neverware, Google for Education is improving access to education technology in London schools, whilst also contributing to the sustainability of older technology. If you are an LGfL school, visit go.neverware.com/LGfL to learn how you can use CloudReady by Neverware to refresh your underperforming or underutilised devices. All other schools in the UK can check out CloudReady directly at their website.

Last week we announced Pixel 3 and Pixel 3XL, our latest smartphones that combine the best of Google's AI, software, and hardware to deliver radically helpful experiences. AI is a key ingredient in Pixel that unlocks new, useful capabilities, dramatically changing how we interact with our phones and the world around us.

But what exactly is AI?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a fancy term for all the technology that lets our devices learn by example and act a bit smarter, from understanding written or spoken language to recognizing people and objects in images. AI is built by "training" machine learning models-a computer learns patterns from lots of example data, and uses these patterns to generate predictions. We've built one of the most secure and robust cloud infrastructures for processing this data to make our products smarter. Today, AI helps with everything from filtering spam emails in Gmail to getting answers on Google Search.

Bringing the best AI experiences to Pixel 3 involved some re-thinking from the ground up. Our phones are powerful computers with multiple sensors which enable new helpful and secure experiences when data is processed on your device. These AI-powered features can work offline and don't require a network connection. And they can keep data on device, private to you. With Pixel 3, we complement our traditional approach to AI, where machine learning and data processing is done in the cloud, with reliable, accessible AI on device, when you're on the go.

Benefits of on-device AI

We've been working to miniaturize AI models to bring the power of machine learning and computing in the cloud directly to your Pixel. With on-device AI, new kinds of experiences become possible-that are lightning fast, are more battery efficient, and keep data on your device. We piloted this technology last year with Now Playing, bringing automatic music recognition to Pixel 2. This year, your Phone app and camera both use on-device AI to give you new superpowers, allowing you to interact more seamlessly with the world around you.

Take Call Screen, a new feature in the Phone app, initially launching in English in the U.S., where the Google Assistant helps you screen calls, including from unknown or unrecognized numbers. Anytime you receive an incoming call, just tap the "Screen Call" button and on-device speech recognition is used to transcribe the conversation from the caller (who is calling? why they are calling?) so you can decide whether to pick up, hang up, or mark as spam and block. Because everything happens on your device, neither the audio nor transcript from a screened call is sent to anyone other than you.

This year's Pixel camera helps you capture great moments and do more with what you see by building on-device AI right into your viewfinder. New low-power vision models can recognize facial expressions, objects, and text without having to send images off your device. Photobooth Mode is powered by an image scoring model that analyzes facial expressions and photo quality in real time. This will automatically capture smiles and funny faces so you can take selfies without having to reach for the shutter button. Top Shot uses the same kind of image analysis to suggest great, candid moments from a motion photo-recommending alternative shots in HDR+.

Playground creates an intelligent AR experience by using AI models to recommend Playmoji, stickers, and captions so that you can express yourself based on the scene you're in. And without having to take a photo at all, image recognition lets you act on info from the world around you-surfacing Google Lens suggestions to call phone numbers or show website addresses-right from your camera.

Pixel 3 is just the beginning. We want to empower people with new AI-driven abilities. With our advances in on-device AI, we can develop new, helpful experiences that run right on your phone and are fast, efficient, and private to you.

In July, in our response to the European Commission's competition decision against Android, we said that rapid innovation, wide choice and falling prices are classic hallmarks of robust competition, and that Android has enabled all of them. We believe that Android has created more choice, not less. That's why last week we filed our appeal of the Commission's decision at the General Court of the European Union.

At the same time, we've been working on how to comply with the decision. We have now informed the European Commission of the changes we will make while the appeal is pending.

First, we're updating the compatibility agreements with mobile device makers that set out how Android is used to develop smartphones and tablets. Going forward, Android partners wishing to distribute Google apps may also build non-compatible, or forked, smartphones and tablets for the European Economic Area (EEA).

Second, device manufacturers will be able to license the Google mobile application suite separately from the Google Search App or the Chrome browser. Since the pre-installation of Google Search and Chrome together with our other apps helped us fund the development and free distribution of Android, we will introduce a new paid licensing agreement for smartphones and tablets shipped into the EEA. Android will remain free and open source.

Third, we will offer separate licenses to the Google Search app and to Chrome.

We'll also offer new commercial agreements to partners for the non-exclusive pre-installation and placement of Google Search and Chrome. As before, competing apps may be pre-installed alongside ours.

These new licensing options will come into effect on October 29, 2018, for all new smartphones and tablets launched in the EEA. We'll be working closely with our Android partners in the coming weeks and months to transition to the new agreements. And of course, we remain deeply committed to continued innovation for the Android ecosystem.

It's October. Pencils-once sharp and eager to write in August-are starting to dull. Students are gazing out the window, and it's not just because of the falling leaves-this happens every October, when the newness of the new school year has worn off.

To fight this Octoberitis, some educators get students moving by doing a gravity experiment in the stairwell, or role play activities during history. While you're experimenting in the classroom, we'll be launching new tools to help you keep the learning spark alive, and make the longer days feel shorter.

And want to know something that's made our October a bit brighter? We're excited to announce that over 40 million students and educators are now using Google Classroom, and 30 million are using Chromebooks, on top of 80 million using G Suite for Education globally.

Bring the outside world into the classroom

Back when we learned with just pen and paper, math class and functions could seem dull. But now, augmented reality can add another dimension to your lesson. With the latest update to the Acer Chromebook Tab 10, it became the first ChromeOS device to support ARCore, Google's platform for building augmented reality experiences. Developers can build AR experiences for classrooms, like GeoGebra, an interactive geometry, algebra, statistics and calculus app. Students can toggle between 2D screens and AR in the 3D app as teachers guide them in exploring math in new ways.

Using the Acer Chromebook Tab 10, educators can bring everything from a skeleton to the solar system into the classroom with the help of Expeditions AR. With content from partners like Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Oxford University Press, the world comes to you when you can drop the works of Van Gogh into the middle of your Art History lesson, or a great Kapok tree when studying the rainforest. To unlock the power of AR, ask your IT administrator to enable these Android apps, and make sure your tablets are upgraded to the latest operating system.

To conduct a science experiment, the only equipment you'll need is a Chromebook. Students can complete more than 40 science labs which map to high school biology, chemistry, and physics standards with Labster Chromebook labs. These online labs allow schools to offer unlimited lab practice time without needing to buy any extra equipment. Not only that, but these labs can also be assigned and graded with the Classroom integration, and teachers can track how students are progressing. To get labs at your school, visit labster.com/chromebooklabs.

Collaborate to reach every learner

You spend hours planning and customizing lessons to engage every learner in your class, but it can be difficult for students to follow along in rigorous and fast paced learning environments. To support students and faculty who are deaf or hard of hearing, we built closed captions in Google Slides (only available on Chrome web browsers), which uses machine learning to turn on automated closed captioning when presenting. Captions are currently available for U.S. English language only, but stay tuned as we explore adding more languages. Learn more about accessibility features in G Suite and ChromeOS.

We've launched new Docs updates to make writing a paper in MLA format a smoother process. You can already set left and right indentations as well as set hanging indents via a dialog box. Now, students and faculty can also adjust the margins of headers and footers, and use a vertical ruler to adjust placement of table rows and header and footer margins.

Educators can also give feedback to students in Classroom or Course Kit, our free toolkit that allows instructors to use G Suite within their existing LMS. Using the new grading tool, educators can leverage the comment bank to give feedback on Docs and PDFs. Use G Suite for Education but have a different LMS? Request access to the Course Kit beta today.

Jamboard - the collaborative whiteboard app - can also help shake things up. We're bringing the jam to the web, where anyone can create and collaborate on jams from individual Chromebooks, no Jamboard hardware required. And with the new View Only mode, teachers can share jam sessions from their lessons that day while restricting edit access. Have a BYOD policy, or enabling Device Off Hours? Jamboard on the web is an easy solution for collaboration.

If you're interested in trying out a Jamboard device in your classroom, you can apply for the new Jamboard Learning Space Transformation program. Continental U.S. based G Suite for Education customers can submit a proposal on how you'll transform your learning space with Jamboard today.

Hopefully these new features and product tips are the antidote you need to the Octoberitis that's bound to hit your classrooms. If not, you have Halloween to look forward to...

Be sure to follow along on Google for Education's Twitter and Facebook pages. We love hearing from you, so please share your tips for the best October yet.

On average, users watch over 180 million hours of YouTube on TV screens every day¹. We know that marketers want in on this shift in viewing behavior, so we've been hard at work building a rich YouTube experience for set-top boxes, gaming consoles, streaming devices like Chromecasts and smart TVs of all stripes.

Today we're launching the TV screens device type to make it easy for you to find engaged, valuable audiences while they are watching YouTube on that original device purpose-built for watching video: the TV. The TV screens device type joins computers, mobile phones and tablets in Google Ads and Display & Video 360, meaning you can tailor your campaigns for connected TVs - for example, by using a different creative or setting a specific device bid adjustment. You can also see reporting for ads that run on TV screens to help you determine the impact of these ads within your overall mix.

We've already seen that people react positively to ads on the TV screen - based on Ipsos Lab Experiments, YouTube ads shown on TV drove a significant lift in ad recall and purchase intent, with an average lift of 47 percent and 35 percent respectively². And customers like Pixability are voicing their excitement for the feature:

"Consumers are cutting the cord and this is a tremendous opportunity for advertisers to reach their audiences in the living room with digital video. With the launch of TV Screens device targeting and measurement on YouTube, our customers are better able to understand how their audiences are watching TV screens, and connect with those audiences as they're engaged in leaned-back viewing." - David George, CEO, Pixability

Start reaching users on devices that stream TV content - such as smart TVs, gaming consoles, and streaming devices like Chromecast - today. To learn how, click here.

_{1 Google Internal Data, Global, June 2018. Based on 7 day average for TV watch time}

_{2 Google/Ipsos Lab Experiment, US, March 2018 (32 ads, 800 US residents 18-64 y/o)}

We built Google Maps to help people get where they need to go no matter what mode of transportation they use. Our newest feature brings helpful information about electric vehicle (EV) charging stations to the Map, so you can be confident that your car will be charged and ready for your ride, wherever you're headed. Here's how it works:

A quick search for keywords like "ev charging" or "EV charging stations" will display the nearest supported stations. To help you make a quick decision about which station to use, we'll show you information about the business where the station is located, the types of ports available, charging speeds, and how many ports there are. You'll also see information about the station from drivers, including photos, ratings, reviews and questions.

In addition, businesses that have charging stations will now feature a link to information about the chargers.

Google Maps now supports charging stations around the world, including:

Global: Tesla, Chargepoint

US:SemaConnect, EVgo, Blink

UK:Chargemaster, Pod Point

AU & NZ: Chargefox

The ability to search for electric vehicle charging stations starts rolling out today on Android and iOS, with desktop launching in the coming weeks. To get started on mobile, update your Google Maps app from the App Store or Play Store today.

With the world of commerce at their fingertips, consumers are more curious, more demanding and more impatient than ever before. As a result, retailers have to anticipate customers' needs in order to provide the products they're looking for and plan marketing strategies. In a recent study, we learned that 84 percent of Americans are shopping in any given 48-hour period, in up to six different categories.¹ Whether they're looking up designer sneakers or DSLR cameras, Google is the first place they go to discover a new brand or product.²

Starting today, a new version of our Shopping Insights tool can help you uncover which products and brands are popular, trending up or down, and how these insights vary by regions in the U.S. This new version includes data for more than 55,000 products and 45,000 brands-significantly increasing coverage over the previous version-as well as nearly 5,000 categories. It's a free tool, available to everyone, that can help you follow trends in your categories.

In addition to more data, we've also added several key features to help you inform your strategies.

Compare the popularity of a brand within searches for a category

Nearly nine out of 10 smartphone users are not absolutely certain of the brand they want to buy when they begin looking for information online.³ That's a huge number of consumers looking to uncover new brands and products. With this new feature, retailers can track the relative popularity of various brands within a category and adjust their strategies accordingly.

For example, the most-searched backpack brands of last 12 months were JanSport, Fjällräven and The North Face, classic brands that have been around for at least 50 years. Searches for the category and all three brands peaked during back-to-school season in 2018, and saw slight growth during the holiday season.

But if you reset your time range in Shopping Insights to the holiday season in 2017 (see below), you'll find that a very different brand was popular in search. MCM, a luxury brand that specializes in "street luxe"-a fashion trend popular among millennial shoppers-was the most-searched brand when consumers were shopping for backpacks. It continued to grow in December, even when searches for other brands were tailing off, peaking on December 25. In fact, MCM was also the only luxury brand in the top 10. By tracking this data weekly, marketers can optimize their tactics in season, and respond to changing consumer preferences within different categories.

You can also use Shopping Insights to understand the relative importance of brands within different categories, and how consumers search for products. In the example above, while MCM was the most searched brand, the top three brands were only mentioned in ~8 percent of the queries. This means most users were searching using keywords that described the category and characteristics of the products they were looking for, rather than specific brands.

In contrast, for video game consoles, the top three brands were mentioned in ~90 percent of the queries. Whether shoppers are searching for specific products, using broader shopping queries or brands, knowing this information will help you adjust your marketing strategy. Showcase Shopping ads, for example, can help retailers tap into consumer demand in such categories.

Subscribe to personalized reports with weekly and monthly trends

You can now create up to 10 weekly and monthly email reports for the products and categories you want to follow, so you don't miss current or future trends. We'll send you additional data on popular, growing and trending products and brands. For example, in our monthly category reports, we determine which products are trending up or down by removing noise and seasonality effects from the product's search volume. In weekly reports, you can see which products grew the most in the previous week, as well as any outliers.

Getting started with Shopping Insights

The Shopping Insights Tool is available on desktop and mobile in the U.S. Start exploring the data and subscribe for free reports on Shopping Insights today.

---

1. Google/Ipsos, "Shopping Tracker," Oct - Dec 2017, Online survey, US, n=3,613 online Americans 13+ who shopped in the past two days.

2. Google/Ipsos, "Shopping Tracker",April - June 2018, Online survey, US, n=2703 adults 18+ who shopped in the past two days

3. Google / Ipsos Connect, Jan. 2018, Playbook Omnibus 2018, n=1,604 US online smartphone users, A18+

What do fighting wildfires, searching for dogs in photos and using portrait mode on your phone have in common? Data science and machine learning. Experts across a range of businesses and industries are using data to give machines the ability to "learn" and complete tasks.

But as the field of data science is rapidly growing, workforce projections show that there isn't enough new talent to meet increasing demand for these roles, especially in machine learning. Given the nationwide scarcity of computer science faculty, we've been thinking about how to give students a hands-on computer science education, without CS PHD educators.

At a handful of colleges across the country, we're piloting the Applied Computing Series (ACS): two college-level introductory computer science and data science courses and a machine learning intensive. The Series will help students understand how to use the best available tools to manipulate and understand data and then solve critical business problems.

The machine learning intensive is meant for students who have already taken introductory computer science classes and who want to pursue more advanced coursework. The intensive will ultimately prepare them for opportunities as data engineers, technical program managers, or data analysts in industries ranging from healthcare to insurance to entertainment and media. Through partnerships with colleges and universities, we provide industry-relevant content and projects; and colleges and universities provide experienced faculty to lead in-class project work and provide coaching for students.

The Applied Computing courses are currently available to students at eight colleges and universities: Adrian College, Agnes Scott College, Bay Path University, Heidelberg University, Holy Names University, Lasell College, SUNY Buffalo State, and Sweet Briar College. If you're a university and want to apply to be a site for the Applied Computing courses in the fall of 2019, find out more on our website.

The machine learning intensive will start in February 2019 at Mills College and again during the summer session at Agnes Scott College, Bay Path University, Heidelberg University and Scripps College and is open for applications from all U.S. students. If you're a student who has already completed college-level computer and/or data science coursework and want to apply for the machine learning intensive, learn more at our website.

Today, 76% of U.S. holiday shoppers over 18 use three or more channels.¹ At the same time, they expect their experiences to be fast, frictionless, and personalized wherever they are, on whatever device they use. A recent study shows that Google is the first place US shoppers go to discover or find a new brand or product. With Shopping Actions, they can move seamlessly from browsing to buying with a universal cart that works across Search, the Google Assistant, and Google Express whether they're on mobile, desktop or even a Google Home device.

Today, we're announcing new Shopping Actions partnerships with Nike, Best Buy, and Sephora, enabling shoppers to search and shop effortlessly for tens of thousands of products ahead of this holiday season.

Best Buy gives customers even more ways to shop

Best Buy knows that when it comes to buying tech, it's important that customers can shop how, when and where they want. With Shopping Actions, Best Buy's products are now available on Google Express. Shoppers can use their voice to ask the Google Assistant to check store hours, order status, or even place an order.

"We're committed to enriching lives with technology, and part of that means giving people the tools they need to research and buy in stores, online and at home. This partnership let's our customers explore the latest tech in a whole new way."

-Allison Peterson, President of E-commerce, Best Buy

Nike serves athletes wherever they shop

As the first brand from the Footwear and Apparel industry to join Shopping Actions, Nike makes it easy for shoppers to discover and buy from a rich online assortment. Whether they are shopping through Search or with their voice on the Google Assistant, later this month shoppers will be able to find and buy Nike products directly on Google's platforms.

"We're excited to partner with Google and together deliver premium Nike content and inspiring experiences to consumers. We'll enable frictionless discovery and purchase of Nike products across Google's ecosystem and elevate the consumer experience with direct access to Nike products and additional benefits when they add their NikePlus membership at checkout."

- Eric Wood, VP of Digital Partnerships, Nike

Sephora leads the way in seamless omnichannel experiences

Sephora is passionate about seamless shopping. Across their award-winning App, website, and 400+ stores, Sephora constantly innovates to offer a connected, smart and fast shopping experience. With 1 out of 3 last-minute shoppers saying they choose where to buy gifts based on how soon they can get them, Sephora saw a perfect fit with Shopping Actions.² Sephora clients can now buy across Google's properties and earn valuable Beauty Insider points with each purchase as part of Sephora's robust loyalty program -- with overnight delivery to almost anywhere in the US.

Get started

Nike, Best Buy, and Sephora join hundreds of other merchants already taking part in the program, a 7x increase since we first launched the program. It's easier than ever to join Google Shopping Actions, thanks to integrations with e-commerce solution partners including ChannelAdvisor, CommerceHub, Feedonomics, and Zentail. Even more are coming soon.

However big or small your business, Shopping Actions can help you reach more customers faster and easier. Learn more: fill out our interest form.

^{1. Google/Ipsos, U.S., Omnichannel Holiday Study, Holiday shoppers 18+ who shopped in previous 48 hours, n=5944, Nov. 2017-Jan. 2018.}

^{2. Google/Ipsos, U.S., Omnichannel Holiday Study, Holiday shoppers 18+ who were last minute shoppers n=1121, Nov. 2017-Jan. 2018.}

Val Yap is the founder and CEO of PolicyPal, a digital insurance broker that lets people buy, understand and organize their insurance on their mobile phones. She's also a graduate from Start on Android, a program that helps developers perfect their apps with technical support and other perks from Google before launching on Google Play.

Why did you establish PolicyPal?

In 2013, I was working in London when my mother was diagnosed with cancer. I left my job, packed my bags, and moved back to Singapore to be with her. Relocating and seeing my strong mother stricken with illness was stressful. The daily grind of dealing with medical appointments and bills made things worse, especially when her insurance claim for her treatment was rejected.

Thankfully, my mother recovered. But we unexpectedly lost my father to a heart attack later that year. We knew he had insurance, but we had no idea what. Even as we were grieving, I had to visit different insurance companies to check. That whole year was a nightmare for my family.

Coping with my father's passing and my mother's illness, the last thing I wanted to do was go through insurance policies. But we needed that information and there was no other choice. If we had easier access and better understanding of our coverage, this tough time for our family would have been a bit easier to bear.

We're sorry to hear about that. How did you go about solving similar problems for others?

Many of us have insurance, but we just pay the premiums and forget about it. When an emergency strikes, we're scrambling to understand how we're covered. I started PolicyPal as a digital folder for people to organize and retrieve their policies quickly and painlessly. You just need to take a photo of the insurance document, and PolicyPal stores a digital copy in your mobile phone. It also analyzes your insurance policies and recommends how to fill gaps in your coverage.

As we learned more about the problems faced in the insurance industry, we expanded our product offerings. We set up PALNetwork, an ecosystem which leverages blockchain technology to automate underwriting and claims processing, and empower partners to customize new financial products. We are also the first provider in Singapore to provide insurance for people holding cryptocurrency assets.

How did the Start on Android program help you in launching your app?

With the support and help from Start on Android, we received valuable feedback ahead of time from the community, helping us improve our app's performance and user experience. We even managed to acquire and retain some early users through the program, which gave us a fantastic head start when it launched.

What are your plans for the future?

We're focusing our efforts on serving people in more countries in Asia. I think insurance technology will develop very differently in this region from mature markets like the U.S. or Europe. People in emerging Asia will leapfrog from being unbanked and uninsured to getting insurance through novel solutions, for example, mobile apps instead of agents. We're looking at expanding beyond Singapore to countries like Indonesia and Thailand.

You're a female startup founder. What advice do you have for other aspiring women entrepreneurs in tech?

Find a mentor. Working with female mentors has been a game-changer for me. We go through experiences that men don't and it's essential that you build friendships with people who can empathize.

My second piece of advice applies to all genders! Don't enter a sector just because it's fashionable. Think about what problems you want to solve first and who you're solving for. Go deep into your mission and make sure you feel it's something you're still going to be excited by in 10 years.

More than 2,400 regular season Major League Baseball games are in the books and we're down to just four teams. The National League Championship Series and American League Championship Series are just getting underway-here are 15 ways the Google Assistant can help make sure you don't miss a minute of the action. Batter up.

To stay on top of MLB history, scores, schedules, and standings, start with
"Hey Google …"

1. "When does the World Series start?"

2. "When did Fenway Park open?"

3. "Who was the ALCS MVP in 2017?"

4. "When do the Astros and Red Sox play next?"

5. "Did the Dodgers win?"

6. "What's Minute Maid Park's capacity?"

7. "How are the Red Sox doing?

8. "Who do the Brewers play next?"

9. "Tell me about the Houston Astros"

10. "Who's the pitcher for the Dodgers?"

Do your own personal warm up before the game

11. Make sure you're ready for whatever the weather may bring. Before heading to the game, ask "Hey Google, what's the weather like at Dodger Stadium?"

12. Didn't score tickets but want to watch the game with fellow fans? Simply say "Hey Google, find the nearest sports bar."

When you're cheering from your couch instead of the stands

13. Set a reminder so you don't miss a second of the game. Say "Hey Google, remind me to turn on the game when I get home."

14. Hosting a watch party at your place? Whip up ballpark-worthy snacks for all of your friends to enjoy. Try asking, "Hey Google, what are some dip recipes?"

15. Fact: Baseball and loaded nachos are a match made in heaven. Throw them in the oven and when they're done, broadcast a message to the Google Homes throughout your house to let your guests know when it's time to dig in… and enjoy the Postseason!

We're a little bit more than a fortnight away from Halloween 2018, so it's time to head to Search for costume inspiration. This year's Frightgeist-brought to you by Google Trends-shows what's brewing in the costume cauldron near you and in other hot spots across the country.

The top searched costumes for 2018 are a not-so-macabre mix of Halloween classics (where my witches at?) and contemporary looks the kiddos will go crazy for. Here's your top ten, just a click away from Google Images ideas to bring each of these to life (or back from the dead):

1. Fortnite

2. Spider-Man

3. Unicorn

4. Dinosaur

5. Witch

6. Harley Quinn

7. Superhero

8. Pirate

9. Rabbit

10. Princess

As you can see, Fortnite fever has swept the country-- so much that it's a top search costume in a whopping 43 states. Here are seven states that stand apart and the costumes that are capturing people's attention--look forward to some Utahcorns and Vermonsters in your neighborhood this year:

• Alaska: Mermaid

• Arkansas: Dinosaur

• Idaho: Unicorn

• Oregon: Dinosaur

• South Dakota: Spiderman

• Utah: Unicorn

• Vermont: Monster

This year's top spot is occupied by a new-to-Frightgeist costume trend. Here are other additions to the top 100 for 2018, in order of popularity:

14. The Incredibles

23. Black Panther (Wakanda forever!)

44. Nun

59. Vampirina

70. 1970s (what a coincidence!)

Not all costumes have the staying power of pirates and princesses. Here are a few of the looks that fell from the top 100 for this year's list:

1. Princess Leia

2. Daenarys Targaryen

3. Darth Vader

4. Minions

5. Emoji

If this sampling of scary isn't what you had in mind to land your perfect Halloween look, head to the Costume Wizard fright now and amp up the spookiness or uniqueness to find the ghoulish get-up you desire.

Have a gourd time this Halloween!