fidzu : Google

Last November, Raymond Chan, a data scientist at Chope, attended one of our first ML bootcamps for developers and start-ups in Southeast Asia. Over four days, he gained a deeper understanding of how to use Google Cloud Platform to better structure data from approximately 775,000 records on Chope's real-time restaurant reservation booking platform every day. With this new knowledge, Chope has been able to use that data for more effective and timely decision-making, making it easier for customers to book restaurants.

Today in Singapore, we're opening the Developer Space @ Google Singapore-a space that brings together resources to help Southeast Asian developers, entrepreneurs and community groups grow, plus earn more with their businesses. This is the first physical space dedicated to developers that sits inside a Google office, so developers here can look forward to benefiting from insights, hands-on mentorship and networking opportunities with various teams working at our Asia Pacific headquarters.

Supporting startups and developers like Raymond, and helping them achieve their full potential is something we're passionate about. In addition to the ML bootcamps, we will run a range of workshops on the latest Google tools and technologies, as well as programs like LeadersLab and Indie Games Accelerator that fuel ecosystem growth. We will also support activities run by community groups like Google Developer Groups, Google Business Groups and Women Techmakers.

With developers and startups from Southeast Asia rapidly driving growth across the region, we can't think of a better place to open this new hub. Come join us throughout the year for an exciting roster of events and meet people who, like Raymond, are looking to build and scale great products. Check out our schedule of events here.

• Minister Iswaran Google Developer Space Singapore

  Minister S. Iswaran speaking at the opening of the Developer Space @ Google Singapore

• ML Bootcamp Singapore

  Participants in the Machine Learning Bootcamp. This global series was piloted in Singapore, and we look forward to training another 800 developers here by the end of this year.

• Developer Space Singapore 2

  Val Yap, Founder and CEO, PolicyPal speaking at the Developer Space @ Google Singapore opening.

In 2017, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency, with over 130 Americans dying every day from opioid-related drug overdoses. Last month, we saw that search queries for "medication disposal near me" reached an all-time high on Google.

53 percent of prescription drug abuse starts with drugs obtained from family or friends, so we're working alongside government agencies and nonprofit organizations to help people safely remove excess or unused opioids from their medicine cabinets. Last year, we partnered with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for National Prescription Take Back Day by developing a Google Maps API locator tool to help people dispose of their prescription drugs at temporary locations twice a year. With the help of this tool, the DEA and its local partners collected a record 1.85 million pounds of unused prescription drugs in 2018.

Today, we're making it easier for Americans to quickly find disposal locations on Google Maps and Search all year round. A search for queries like "drug drop off near me" or "medication disposal near me" will display permanent disposal locations at your local pharmacy, hospital or government building so you can quickly and safely discard your unneeded medication.

This pilot has been made possible thanks to the hard work of many federal agencies, states and pharmacies. Companies like Walgreens and CVS Health, along with state governments in Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan and Pennsylvania have been instrumental in this project, contributing data with extensive lists of public and private disposal locations. The DEA is already working with us to provide additional location data to expand the pilot.

For this pilot, we also looked to public health authorities-like HHS-for ideas on how technology can help communities respond to the opioid crisis. In fact, combining disposal location data from different sources was inspired by a winning entry at the HHS's Opioid Code-A-Thon held a year ago.

We'll be working to expand coverage and add more locations in the coming months. To learn more about how your state or business can bring more disposal locations to Google Maps and Search, contact RXdisposal-data@google.com today.

Editor's note: Today's post is by Harriet Ogilvie, a teacher at Lundavra Primary School in Fort William, Scotland. Harriet was one of the many teachers who recently joined us at BETT 2019 to share stories about using technology that engages students and transforms learning. Below, Harriet explains how she and other Lundavra teachers help students build communication skills and create online portfolios using G Suite for Education.

At Lundavra Primary School, students and teachers encourage parents and other local residents to visit our schools and learn about what's happening in our classrooms. It's important to us that we connect the Fort William community to the life of the school. To make this happen, we invite everyone in the area to "Community Cafes," once-a-month social events featuring student singing, homemade baked goods and a book exchange.

After the Community Cafes, students with Chromebooks in hand ask people if they enjoyed attending, and what they'd like to see at future Cafes. The students enter responses into Google Forms, which is helpful for us teachers as we plan our future community events-plus, it's much easier to keep track of than paper forms that wouldn't be returned. When students are getting this feedback using Google Forms, they can connect and communicate with fellow students, teachers and people in the community. Students learn language and communication skills as they formulate questions to ask attendees and start conversations with adults.

I like talking with my granny and her friends and helping her use the Chromebook. Neo
Primary 6 student about the Community Cafe

For students, gaining digital skills and building confidence often starts in the Community Cafes, but continues through students' development of learning portfolios, which are records of their classroom projects and their accomplishments. The portfolios help pupils take ownership of their learning and show what they've accomplished to peers and parents.

These portfolios used to be on paper. When we switched to online portfolios, students could be more creative in telling stories about their academic careers-for instance, by creating video book reports and adding photos of themselves and their classmates. They build portfolios using Google Sites-a much more flexible and engaging tool than paper portfolios that weren't easy to share and frequently misplaced. Students use the Padlet app with their Chromebooks to write regular reflections about their work, and embed the Padlet pages into their Google Sites. Using YouTube, students work with their peers to create vlogs about stories they write themselves. By the time students reach Year 7, they can teach their younger classmates how to build online portfolios-a confidence-building exercise for those about to move on to secondary school.

I am better at talking to people I don't know. I enjoyed looking at the data we collected from our Google Forms survey. I made it into bar graphs and pie charts to make it easier to understand. Kirsty
Primary 6 student

Teachers and students need tools that encourage students to leave their comfort zones. In our case, the tools in the background are from Google: Videos, portfolios, surveys, documents and online research that inspire students to choose how they want to learn and create. Every time students use Google tools, they learn skills that go beyond the lesson at hand. When they build their online portfolios, students learn how to organize content; when they teach younger students how to use Google Sites, they learn about leadership. And when teachers create assignments in Google Classroom and provide comments while students are working, students learn to give and receive feedback and collaborate with others. We're excited to find new ways to use Google to help our students become confident, engaged learners.

Editor's note: Today's guest post comes from Dr. Terri Irwin, wife of the late Steve Irwin, who is honored in today's Google Doodle.

Today's Google Doodle acknowledges the life and achievements of my husband Steve Irwin, whose efforts to protect wildlife and wild places have been recognised as the most extensive of any conservationist. We are so proud that his legacy lives on, as that was his greatest wish. He once said, "I don't care if I'm remembered, as long as my message is remembered."

Steve was born on February 22, 1962 in Upper Fern Tree Gully, Victoria, Australia. The Irwin Family moved to Beerwah on Queensland's Sunshine Coast in 1970 and opened a tiny roadside wildlife park called the Beerwah Reptile Park (later renamed as the Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park). Steve helped to monitor, study and relocate crocodiles living too close to populated areas, which lead to his love and respect for these apex predators.

I happened to go into this tiny roadside park in 1991, when I was visiting Australia with some friends. There I encountered an outspoken man who was clearly passionate about wildlife, especially crocodiles. He was actually inside one of the croc enclosures sharing with the visitors just how special crocodiles really are. "They are very protective mothers and male and female crocodiles show great affection to each other," he was saying. I had never heard anyone speak about crocs with such enthusiasm, much less have the calm courage to hand feed one of these giant saurians. I just had to speak to him. It was a decision that would change my life forever.

Steve and I married in June 1992 in my grandmother's church in Eugene, Oregon. Afterward, we received a phone call about a poacher trying to kill a large crocodile in North Queensland, so instead of a honeymoon, Steve and I went to Australia to save the croc before the bad guys got him. We invited a film crew to come along and document our efforts. Although we didn't arrive in time to save the crocodile, we did save his mate. She was a beautiful girl, not quite 10 feet long. We didn't know it at the time, but this would turn out to be the very first episode of "The Crocodile Hunter" and the beginning of a 14-year adventure, filming in locations across Australia and around the world.

• Steve Irwin doodle frame 1

  It was love at first sight when zookeeper Steve Irwin met naturalist Terri Raines. Steve and Terri's love for each other matched equally with their passion for animal conservation.

• Steve Irwin doodle frame 2

  The married duo were partners in life and in work, shooting nature documentaries across the globe, including this Komodo Dragon.

• Steve Irwin doodle frame 3

  One special moment in Steve's adventures is the time a wild mother orangutan dropped in and hugged him in Sumatra.

• Steve Irwin doodle frame 4

  Carrying the Irwin legacy, Steve and Terri raised their children to love and respect wildlife.

The very best part of our lives together would have to be our two incredible children. Bindi was born in 1998, the same year we changed the name of our zoological park to Australia Zoo. Robert was born in 2003, and we travelled and filmed with both of our amazing kids.

Our lives changed forever when Steve had an accident while filming in the Great Barrier Reef. Losing Steve was a real crossroads for us, but together we decided to continue his mission. Bindi, Robert and I have dedicated our lives to the wildlife conservation work that Steve began.

Today, Australia Zoo is still growing with more than 1,200 animals, and nearly 1,000 acres. We protect nearly half a million acres of habitat, and our non-profit organisation supports conservation projects around the world. We even have a Wildlife Hospital that has treated over 82,000 sick, injured, and orphaned wildlife, solely to return them back to the wild.

As Wildlife Warriors, we continue the battle to protect wilderness areas just like Steve did. Our global conservation programs protect many vulnerable and critically endangered species including rhinos in Kenya, tigers in Sumatra, elephants in Cambodia, crocodiles home in Australia and many more. We've also continued the longest running and most comprehensive crocodile research program in the world aiming to educate people everywhere about the essential role crocodiles play in our eco-system as apex predators and why they deserve to be conserved for future generations. We do this work every day to honor Steve's memory, and now today's Doodle honors him, too.

Editor's Note: Since 2016, more than 73,000 people have explored new opportunities with the Google Developer scholarship, part of Grow with Google's commitment to help people across Europe-from Hungary to rural France-succeed in the digital economy.

Zuzana, a working mother from the U.K., was awarded the Google scholarship and graduated from a Udacity Nanodegree program, enabling her to launch a new career as a web developer. She's among 21% of all Udacity Nanodegree students in the Grow with Google program in Europe who have received job offers after graduating. With her newfound confidence and skills, Zuzana was able to find the flexibility she needed to balance motherhood and her ideal career. Here is her story:

Being a mom to young kids isn't easy. There's always something you need to do for them, and it's really hard to make time for yourself. So it was a special moment when in 2014, as a 33-year-old mother of two, I graduated with an undergraduate degree in psychology.

I looked forward to applying my new skills, but none of the jobs for psychology graduates offered the flexibility I needed to look after my young family. For a while I worked as a teaching assistant in a school, but though the hours were great, I wasn't utilizing my degree. I felt stuck. So when I became pregnant with my third child, I decided to make a change.

I searched online for flexible jobs and started reading about people who had learned how to code and just months later were working from home. I'd never been interested in technology before- I simply thought that wasn't me. But out of curiosity, I started to look into what developers do.

When I read about web accessibility, something clicked. Web accessibility is about making the web accessible to all, regardless of a person's disabilities. Since I knew about the issues disabled people might have (like attention disorders, fine motor skills deficiency and sight impairment), I could see how these issues could affect them when using the web.

Learning web accessibility would allow me to apply psychology in a flexible work arrangement, and I could learn how to do it in my own time. I thought, Wow! Finally, there's something for me as a mom and as a person!

The Udacity Nanodegree program offered both a course on accessibility and a schedule that would fit my family commitments. I never thought I would get the Developer Scholarship from Google when I applied, so I was amazed to get an email saying I had been accepted.

I'd found it hard to think of myself as a web developer, but the scholarship changed that. It made me feel that someone believed in me, so I should believe in myself. The online interaction on the course was incredible, so I never felt like I was studying alone. Even so, when I was completing my Nanodegree program, it was a big step for me to go to a local tech meetup and present a talk to experienced developers. After I spoke, developers came up to me and told me how much they enjoyed my presentation. And shortly after that, one of them offered me my first job, as a web developer for a branding agency.

Whether it was psychology or programming, I've been hard at work studying ever since my first child was born. When I got that very first job, the kids celebrated with me because they knew how much hard work I'd put into it. I'm so glad I can be there for them-cooking, spending time together, helping them with their homework-and also focus on myself. The opportunity has opened new doors for my career, while keeping the door to my family wide open, too. I feel like I've finally found my perfect balance.

Starting this week, you can stay up to date on your favorite places right from the Google Maps app on iOS. Simply search for a place-whether it's a new restaurant that just opened up in your neighborhood or that must-try bakery across town-and tap the Follow button. You'll then be able to see important updates from these places in your For you tab so you can quickly learn about upcoming events, offers and more.

And now, places and businesses all over the world can see their followers in the Google My Business app, and actively post helpful information for their followers to see. The Follow button starts rolling out on iOS today.

People reach for their mobile phones throughout the day for help getting things done. And it's often a mobile app that delivers what they need-whether it's a new pair of rain boots or a puzzle game to pass the time during a commute.

Universal App campaigns help connect your app with more of these app-happy consumers. Today, we are simplifying the name of "Universal App campaigns" to "App campaigns." This move will not affect campaign features or functionality, and there's no action required for existing app promotion customers.

App campaigns will join Search, Display, Video, Shopping and Smart as the top-level campaign names available in Google Ads.

App campaigns use Google's machine learning technology to help you find the users that matter most to you, based on your defined business goals-across Google Search, Play, YouTube, and over three million sites and apps-all from one campaign.

To date, App campaigns have delivered unprecedented results for the developer community-helping drive more than 17 billion app installs, according to Google Internal data from 2019. We hope this more direct name will help advertisers and developers get started with Google Ads and select the right campaign type for their business goals.

You'll start to see these changes roll out over the next month. We'll talk more about this change-and other new App ad innovations-at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco in mid-March. We hope to see you there!

The performance benefits and security guarantees offered by AMPHTML ads, which are display ads created using the AMP framework, translate to better advertiser ROI, publisher revenue and overall better user experience. Because of this, Google has expanded serving AMPHTML ads not only to AMP pages, but also to regular web pages. As of January this year, 12% of all display ads served by Google are now AMPHTML ads.

All of the code in the AMP repository is open source which is carefully reviewed by the project maintainers before being merged. As a result, ads written in AMP start performant and stay performant. Such a process also drastically reduces the likelihood of AMPHTML ads having code that takes advantage of chipset level vulnerabilities or drain CPU by crypto-mining from users' devices.

Since AMPHTML ads can be trusted, they can be rendered into a more performant same-origin iframe. This performance boost results in the ad rendering faster on page which translates to higher publisher revenue and better advertiser ROI.

AMPHTML ads on AMP pages deliver even better ROI

An AMPHTML ad delivered to an AMP page has better performance compared to the same ad running on a regular web page. This is due to the inherent design of AMPHTML ads outlined here, giving advertisers better click through rates and viewability.

AMP pages have seen steady growth over the past few years and advertisers now have access to well over 1 billion impressions/day worth of premium (from a user experience & ad experience standpoint) inventory. In addition, more than 35 percent of ads served to AMP pages are already AMPHTML ads.

Publishers and Advertisers seeing success with AMP pages and AMPHTML ads

The news publisher EL PAIS partnered with Volkswagen, one of their advertisers, to run a multivariate A/B test measuring how Volkswagen's display ads created in AMPHTML vs HTML5 would perform on AMP vs regular pages.

Simply moving from a standard HTML page to an AMP page (with the same HTML5 ad) resulted in a 26 percent CTR increase. Moving further to an AMP page with AMPHTML ads resulted in an additional 48 percent CTR increase.

You can read the full case study here.

Getting started with AMPHTML ads for advertisers

AMPHTML ads are a subset of the AMP spec and ships with many good-by-default ads UI components, an analytics measurement framework, a spam detection system, viewability measurement and other building blocks to create a good and measurable ad.

We encourage you to read more about the benefits of using AMPHTML ads, but if you want to jump ahead to start creating them, this is a good place to begin.

Once you have created the ad, you can choose one of the following options to serve AMPHTML ads:

1. Work with an Authorized Buyer that allows to target just AMP or regular inventory
   

2. Use Google Ads to target inventory in the Google Display Network
   

3. Direct buy with publishers using Google Ad Manager
   

4. [Coming Soon] Display & Video 360 support to deliver AMPHTML ads to AMP pages
   

Google continues to invest in delivering better user ad experiences by increasing the share of AMPHTML ads vs regular ads. Once mobile app support launches in Q2, 2019, advertisers can fully transition to creating a single AMPHTML ad and have it render across all environments and devices.

We hope you'll take full advantage of the performance, security benefits and the increased ROI by choosing to build & serve AMPHTML ads in your next campaign.

As organizations increasingly turn to Android as their enterprise mobility platform, we want to make sure they can easily identify partners with experts who are best equipped to support them.

That's why we're expanding the Android Enterprise Recommended program to Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and companies with MSP business units who provision, manage and support millions of devices around the world on behalf of customers. Under the Android Enterprise Recommended program for MSPs, validated partners are trained on the latest best practices from Google to help customers simplify and expand their mobility deployments.

We're pleased to announce that Accenture, Brodos, Cognizant, DXC Technology, Econocom, Honeywell Enterprise, Mobile Mentor, Mobility MEA, Offshore Tech, SCC, SHI, Skywire, Stratix, Tech Data and Vox Mobile have been validated as Android Enterprise Recommended partners. Over time, we plan to add more MSP partners to the program.

Android Enterprise Recommended MSPs are required to deliver the following capabilities for customers (the full list of requirements can also be found here):

• Technical expertise and leadership with dedicated personnel trained by Google on implementing and supporting Android

• Certified experience with Android Enterprise Recommended Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) systems

• A close working relationship with Google with an assigned account manager and access to a 24/7 Google partner escalation desk

• A commitment to staying current on the latest Android product features and training requirements as part of annual program re-validation

When we launched the Android Enterprise Recommended program a year ago, we set out to make it simple for businesses to find Android devices and services that have been validated by Google for meeting elevated enterprise requirements. Since then, we've applied this framework to knowledge worker devices, then rugged devices,and-most recently-services with last month's launch of Android Enterprise Recommended for EMMs. With each step, we're aiming to give customers more confidence in deploying Android and ensuring their deployment is as consistent and current as possible.

Since Android Enterprise Recommended launched, we've received great feedback from customers who are putting the program to use. Research firm IDC found that 82 percent of European Android Enterprise Recommended customers said their devices are more secure and more enterprise grade than other devices. We'll continue to look for ways to expand this program and consistently raise the bar to help customers get more value from their investment in Android.

Developers, designers, writers and architects: you built the web. You make it possible for the billions of people online today to do what they do. Have you ever tried to register your preferred domain name, only to find out it's not available? Today, Google Registry is announcing .dev, a brand new top-level domain (TLD) that's dedicated to developers and technology. We hope .dev will be a new home for you to build your communities, learn the latest tech and showcase your projects-all with a perfect domain name.

Check out what some companies, both big and small, are doing on .dev:

• Want to build a website? Both GitHub.dev and grow.dev have you covered.
  
• Trying to create more inclusive products? Visit accessibility.dev for digital accessibility solutions.
  
• Learn about Slack's helpful tools, libraries, and SDKs at slack.dev.
  
• Connect with Women Who Code at women.dev.
  
• Who doesn't want to do more with their time? JetBrains.dev offers software solutions that make developers more productive.
  
• Want to brush up on your skills (or learn new ones)? Check out Codecademy.dev.
  
• Learn how to build apps on the Salesforce platform at crm.dev.
  
• Interested in learning how to increase the agility and productivity of your data team? Visit dataops.dev.
  
• Want to build & deploy serverless apps on a global cloud network? You can do that with Cloudflare at workers.dev.
  
• Get a sneak peek of what's running under the hood of the Niantic Real World Platform at ar.dev.
  

Like our recent launches for .app and .page, this new domain will be secure by default because it requires HTTPS to connect to all .dev websites. This protects people who visit your site against ad malware and tracking injection by internet service providers, and from spying when using open WiFi networks. With every .dev website that's launched, you help move the web to an HTTPS-everywhere future.

Starting today at 8:00 a.m. PT and through February 28, .dev domains are available to register as part of our Early Access Program, where you can secure your desired domains for an additional fee. The fee decreases according to a daily schedule. Beginning on February 28, .dev domains will be available at a base annual price through your registrar of choice. To find out pricing from our participating partners, visit get.dev.

Google has already started using .dev for some of our own projects, like web.dev and opensource.dev. Visit get.dev to see what companies like Mozilla, Netflix, Glitch, Stripe, JetBrains and more are doing on .dev and get your own domain through one of our registrar partners. We look forward to seeing what you create on .dev!

It's awards season, and that means glitz, glam and gold statues. Google is making it easy to keep up with your favorite flicks and celebs no matter where you turn, with new ways to stay up on the buzz with Google Search, Google Images and Google News.

And as we await the announcements of Sunday's winners, we took a look at the celebs and movies people have searched for-and the trailers they've watched on YouTube-to see who and what is capturing our attention, both on and off the screen.

Red Carpet Read-out

It's arguably everyone's favorite part of the night. Actors and actresses alike strut their stuff on the red carpet, and many people turn to Google Images to check out their camera-ready looks.

Stay up-to-date on your favorite celebrities this Sunday with a special "Latest" section on Google Images, available on mobile web browsers. If you search for pictures from the red carpet, or a celebrity nominated for an award, Google Images will not only show you the most relevant web pages and photos from across the web related to your search, but will show you the most recent images, too.

But before we get into this year's red carpet looks, we decided to look back at the past 10 years of worldwide Oscars fashion searches on Google Images to see which stars shone brightest:

1. Anne Hathaway
   
2. Jennifer Lopez
   
3. Jennifer Lawrence
   
4. Charlize Theron
   
5. Scarlett Johansson
   
6. Cate Blanchett
   
7. Natalie Portman
   
8. Halle Berry
   
9. Angelina Jolie
   
10. Olivia Wilde
    

Popular Performers

To help you learn more about your favorite celebrities, we recently launched stories on Knowledge Panels in Search, which provide an overview of notable moments from their lives and help you visually discover information from across the web. For the first time, we're bringing these stories to Google Images, and we're also introducing new stories about popular events like award shows.

Rolling out this week, if you search for nominees on Search or Google Images, you'll see a story showcasing information about their nominations, fellow nominees and other nods they've received throughout the 2019 awards season. Searches for "Oscars" have been on the rise leading up to the big night, and Search can help you explore more info about the films and actors, and stay up to date as results roll in on Sunday. If you want to go in depth, Google News will help you dive into all the news stories behind the nominees, red carpet, presenters and more.

You may have your guesses about which roles will earn top acting prizes, and we have the trends to see who's coming out on top in Search. Here are the nominees leading the pack in search interest for Sunday's top categories:

Actor in a leading role

1. Bradley Cooper
   
2. Rami Malek
   
3. Christian Bale
   
4. Viggo Mortensen
   
5. Willem Dafoe
   

Actress in a leading role

1. Lady Gaga
   
2. Melissa McCarthy
   
3. Glenn Close
   
4. Olivia Colman
   
5. Yalitza Aparicio
   

Actor in a supporting role

1. Sam Elliott
   
2. Adam Driver
   
3. Sam Rockwell
   
4. Mahershala Ali
   
5. Richard E. Grant
   

Actress in supporting role

1. Emma Stone
   
2. Amy Adams
   
3. Rachel Weisz
   
4. Regina King
   
5. Marina de Tavira
   

Favorite Flicks

If you're placing any bets on the big screen's best films of the year, perhaps you can take a hint from top lists from Search and YouTube. Even if they don't take home a statue, these films have captured people's hearts this year.

Top viewed Best Picture trailers on YouTube

1. Black Panther
   
2. Bohemian Rhapsody
   
3. A Star is Born
   
4. BlacKkKlansman
   
5. Vice
   
6. Green Book
   
7. The Favourite
   
8. Roma
   

Top searched Animated feature film nominees

1. Incredibles 2
   
2. Ralph Breaks the Internet
   
3. Isle of Dogs
   
4. Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse
   
5. Mirai

Top searched Foreign Language Film nominees

1. Roma
   
2. Cold War
   
3. Shoplifters
   
4. Capernaum
   
5. Never Look Away

Top searched Best Documentary Feature nominees

1. Free Solo
   
2. RBG
   
3. Minding the Gap
   
4. Of Fathers and Sons
   
5. Hale County This Morning, This Evening
   

Thank you to my agent, producer, director, fellow castmates and everyone who made this blog post possible. *orchestra begins playing, exit stage right*

Providing useful and trusted information at the scale that the Internet has reached is enormously complex and an important responsibility. Adding to that complexity, over the last several years we've seen organized campaigns use online platforms to deliberately spread false or misleading information.

We have twenty years of experience in these information challenges and it's what we strive to do better than anyone else. So while we have more work to do, we've been working hard to combat this challenge for many years.

Today at the Munich Security Conference, we presented a white paper that gives more detail about our work to tackle the intentional spread of misinformation-across Google Search, Google News, YouTube and our advertising systems. We have a significant effort dedicated to this work throughout the company, based on three foundational pillars:

• Improve our products so they continue to make quality count;
  
• Counteract malicious actors seeking to spread disinformation;
  
• Give people context about the information they see.
  

The white paper also explains how we work beyond our products to support a healthy journalistic ecosystem, partner with civil society and researchers, and stay one step ahead of future risks.

We hope this paper and increased transparency can lead to more dialogue about what we and others can do better on these issues. We're committed to acting responsibly and thoroughly as we tackle this important challenge.

At the first ever Google for Philippines event this week, we shared our vision for how we're going to help more Filipinos make the most of what the internet has to offer. This includes key updates and product launches that we hope can drive inclusive growth and support the Filipino people to participate in an increasingly digital world:

Connecting Filipinos to the internet

1. Google Station. To help improve internet access, we're bringing Google Station to the Philippines in partnership with SMART. Together, we're making Station available at more than 50 locations, including airports in Manila, Clark and Davao, as well as LRT 2 and MRT 3 stations by the end of this month. The platform will be at hundreds more sites country-wide by the end of the year.

2. Google Go.This AI-powered "all-in-one app" helps people, especially those coming online for the first time, discover, share and find content on the internet more easily. You can tap your way through trending queries and topics, or use your voice to say what you're looking for, and even listen to web pages being read out-loud. Google Go is tailor-made for devices which may have less space or less reliable internet connections, with search results on the app optimized to save up to 40% data.

Providing relevant and localized experiences for Filipinos

3. Jobs on Google Search. Filipino job seekers will soon be able to find job listings from sites across the web directly in Google Search as we're bringing jobs on Google Search to the Philippines. They'll be able to customize their job search through filters, save searches, or be notified when new relevant job postings appear. At launch, this will include half a million job listings from sites such as Department of Labor and Employment, Kalibrr, Jobayan and Jobs Cloud. To ensure that even more jobs are listed over time, we've published open documentation so all third-party job search platforms and direct employers can make their job openings discoverable through jobs on Google Search.

4. Number Coding in Google Maps. Developed in partnership with Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), this new feature will help drivers navigate from A to B in a way that avoids restricted roads on their coding day.

5. Digiskarteng Pinay. YouTube has always been a platform for learning. In collaboration with TESDA, Philippine Commission on Women, Cashalo and Unilever, this program will empower women by connecting them with educational content on YouTube-from health to nutrition, financial literacy and technical skills-that can support them in enhancing their livelihoods.

Enabling MSMEs to connect with customers online

6. Making MSMEs more discoverable in partnership with PLDT Enterprise. Working with PLDT Enterprise, we'll help businesses verify their business profiles and support them to get their businesses listed on Google My Business, a free and easy-to-use tool for businesses to manage their online presence across Google Search and Maps. With searches for products, stores and services "near me" doubling in the last 3 years, we believe this is an incredible opportunity for Filipino businesses to reach new customers.

We've written before about how we're working to support smart regulation, and one area of increasing attention is regulation to combat illegal content.

As online platforms have become increasingly popular, there's been a rich debate about the best legal framework for combating illegal content in a way that respects other social values, like free expression, diversity and innovation. Today, various laws provide detailed regulations, including Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act in the United States and European Union's e-Commerce Directive.

Google invests millions of dollars in technology and people to combat illegal content in an effective and fair way. It's a complex task, and-just as in offline contexts-it's not a problem that can be totally solved. Rather, it's a problem that must be managed, and we are constantly refining our practices.

In addressing illegal content, we're also conscious of the importance of protecting legal speech. Context often matters when determining whether content is illegal. Consider a video of military conflict. In one context the footage might be documentary evidence of atrocities in areas where journalists have great difficulty and danger accessing. In another context the footage could be promotional material for an illegal organization. Even a highly trained reviewer could have a hard time telling the difference, and we need to get those decisions right across many different languages and cultures, and across the vast scale of audio, video, text, and images uploaded online. We make it easy to easily submit takedown notices; at the same time, we also create checks and balances against misuse of removal processes. And we look to the work of international agencies and principles from leading groups like the Global Network Initiative.

A smart regulatory framework is essential to enabling an appropriate approach to illegal content. We wanted to share four key principles that inform our practices and that (we would suggest) make for an effective regulatory framework:

• Shared Responsibility: Tackling illegal content is a societal challenge-in which companies, governments, civil society, and users all have a role to play. Whether a company is alleging copyright infringement, an individual is claiming defamation, or a government is seeking removal of terrorist content, it's essential to provide clear notice about the specific piece of content to an online platform, and then platforms have a responsibility to take appropriate action on the specific content. In some cases, content may not be clearly illegal, either because the facts are uncertain or because the legal outcome depends on a difficult balancing act; in turn, courts have an essential role to play in fact-finding and reaching legal conclusions on which platforms can rely.

• Rule of law and creating legal clarity: It's important to clearly define what platforms can do to fulfill their legal responsibilities, including removal obligations. An online platform that takes other voluntary steps to address illegal content should not be penalized. (This is sometimes called "Good Samaritan" protection.)

• Flexibility to accommodate new technology:While laws should accommodate relevant differences between platforms, given the fast-evolving nature of the sector, laws should be written in ways that address the underlying issue rather than focusing on existing technologies or mandating specific technological fixes.

• Fairness and transparency: Laws should support companies' ability to publish transparency reports about content removals, and provide people with notice and an ability to appeal removal of content. They should also recognize that fairness is a flexible and context-dependent notion-for example, improperly blocking newsworthy content or political expression could cause more harm than mistakenly blocking other types of content.

With these principles in mind, we support refinement of notice-and-takedown regimes, but we have significant concerns about laws that would mandate proactively monitoring or filtering content, impose overly rigid timelines for content removal, or otherwise impose harsh penalties even on those acting in good faith. These types of laws create a risk that platforms won't take a balanced approach to content removals, but instead take a "better safe than sorry" approach-blocking content at upload or implementing a "take down first, ask questions later (or never)" approach. We regularly receive overly broad removal requests, and analyses of cease-and-desist and takedown letters have found that many seek to remove potentially legitimate or protected speech.

There's ample room for debate and nuance on these topics-we discuss them every day-and we'll continue to seek ongoing collaboration among governments, industry, and civil society on this front. Over time, an ecosystem of tools and institutions-like the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism, and the Internet Watch Foundation, which has taken down child sexual abuse material for more than two decades-has evolved to address the issue. Continuing to develop initiatives like these and other multistakeholder efforts remains critical, and we look forward to progressing those discussions.

No matter what your plans are this Valentine's Day, you'll probably end up taking a few photos to celebrate or capture the moment-and that's where Pixel's camera comes in. Pixel 3's camera has tools that can help you capture and get creative with your V-Day photos. Here are six tips for our beloved #teampixel.

1. Virtual Valentines

Playground is a creative mode in the Pixel camera that helps you create and play with the world around you. You can send a virtual Valentine, or make your photos and videos stand out with the new Love Playmoji pack and two sticker packs. Capture and celebrate the love in the air today and year-round with interactive hearts, fancy champagne glasses, animated love notes or lovebirds.

• Meal Playmoji
• Ice Cream
• Plants
• Mailbox

2. A V-Day Vision

Your Valentine always stands out to you. So make them the center of focus with Portrait Mode, and watch as the background fades into a beautiful blur… just like the world does when you're together.

3. Mood Lighting

Romantic dinner date? Use Night Sight to capture the mood when the lights are dim. Pixel's camera can capture the highlights of your Valentine's celebrations, even in low light.

4. Picture Perfect Palentines

If you're celebrating with your Palentines, Group Selfie Cam on Pixel 3 gives everyone the love they deserve in your group selfie.

5. Search at First Sight

The technology that lets you search what you see is baked right into Pixel 3's camera. See a shirt that would look great on your Galentine? Use Google Lens to find something similar online. Want to know what that flower is in your bouquet? Use Google Lens to identify it. Making a last-minute dinner reservation at that restaurant on the corner? Use Google Lens suggestions to dial the number on their sign with just a tap in the Pixel camera.

6. Sharing is Caring

With unlimited original quality photo and video storage using Google Photos on Pixel 3, you can snap as many shots as you want. From there, you can turn them into a movie or set up a live album, so you can relive (and share) your favorite Palentines' moments year-round with your friends.

So whether you're celebrating Valentine's, Palentine's or Galentine's day, Pixel 3's camera can help you capture your favorite moments with your favorite people.

It's easier than ever to meet new people and explore new places-but language barriers that prevent us from talking to each other still exist. With the Google Assistant, we're focused on creating the best way to get things done-regardless of who you're communicating with or what language you speak. To help you connect with people you're talking to, we recently introduced a new feature called interpreter mode that translates your conversations in real time.

We've been piloting interpreter mode at the concierge and front desks of hotels like Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Dream Downtown in New York City and Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport, where guests are using it to have free-flowing conversations with hotel staff-even if they don't speak the same language.

If you want to test out interpreter mode but don't have an upcoming stay at these hotels-don't worry! You can now use this feature to translate across 26 languages from the comfort of your own home. Give it a go on Google Home devices and Smart Displays, where you'll both see and hear the translated conversation. Simply ask your Assistant, "Hey Google, be my Thai interpreter" or "Hey Google, help me speak Spanish" to get started.

To give you an idea on how people from around the world have been using interpreter mode, let's check out how travelers have used it at hotels to experience and navigate new destinations.

Caesars Palace Las Vegas hosts thousands of guests each year from across the globe, and interpreter mode brings simpler, faster and more effective translation capabilities directly to their guests. Previously, if the concierge staff at Caesars Palace needed to help a non-English speaking guest, they'd have to dial their in-house translation service and pass the phone back and forth with them. Now, with interpreter mode on the Google Home Hub, concierge staff can personally provide guest recommendations in real time-leading to better service, plus quicker and easier guest transactions. In a city known for its entertainment and cuisine, guests are using the feature in languages like Spanish, Portuguese and Italian to speak with the concierge staff for help booking concerts and live theatrical performances, securing restaurant reservations, and getting directions around the Las Vegas Strip.

At Dream Downtown, the technology helps guests find exactly what they're looking for when they turn to the concierge staff for assistance. Spanish, Mandarin and French have been the three most popular languages translated, and patrons are using interpreter mode when they need to do things like check into their rooms or request amenities like towels or ice. During New York Fashion Week, a guest from France urgently needed to find supplies to complete a design project-but she only spoke a little bit of English. Using interpreter mode, she was able to translate the word "tape measure" for Dream staff, who then helped her find one at a store nearby. The guest was pleasantly surprised at how quickly she was able to get assistance-and she finished her design, right on time for the fashion show.

At Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport, where the concierge team welcome numerous international guests due to the hotel's proximity to the airport, Korean, Japanese, and Mandarin have been the top translated languages. Guests typically use the feature to get help with questions about San Francisco landmarks, tourist destinations and to discover restaurants nearby. Most recently, a Korean guest used interpreter mode to help plan out his first trip to San Francisco. Without interpreter mode, he wouldn't have been able to take advantage of local recommendations from the concierge.

Interpreter mode can help businesses better serve their guests through an improved customer experience. And this technology can be a helping hand wherever language barriers exist, including at hotels, airports, restaurants, customer service kiosks, organizations aiding humanitarian efforts and much more. If you're part of a business interested in bringing this technology to your customers, we'd love to hear from you.