Daily Archives: May 4, 2021

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Google loves to be different. So its no surprise that the company has out-there ideas for the post-pandemic office.

As Google starts to bring employees back to offices in some regions, it plans to experiment with ways to give them more elbow room and blend elements of virtual work with in-person collaboration. The goal, as my colleague Dai Wakabayashi described in an article on Googles vision of the new office, is to reimagine a happier and more productive workplace.

Dai spoke to me about what Google learned from the last year of employees working mostly away from offices, and whether a company with limitless resources will be a model of the future workplace.

Shira: What did Google find from more than a year of mostly remote work?

Dai: Google was surprised at how productive its work force was. Some employees liked working away from the office, or liked aspects of it, and werent willing to go back to an office full time. One downside that Google executives talked about was missing some creativity and collaboration, and a difficulty in establishing workplace culture and trust, when people werent together in person.

But even before the pandemic, Google had started to believe that its current office work environment was broken.

Broken in what way?

Part of the problem is that Googles work force has grown so quickly, and the company was packing people into offices. Googles parent company, Alphabet, now has 140,000 full-time employees, more than twice as many as it had five years ago.

Some employees said that they had trouble focusing in the office because there were too many people and distractions. And some of Googles office complexes were so sprawling that it took people a long time to travel from one building to another. Office work didnt work for a lot of people.

What is Google trying to do differently now?

First, it wants to provide more safety or the feeling of safety by staggering how frequently people come to the office and eventually de-densifying its offices. Thats to reduce the potential spread of Covid-19 now, and Google is thinking ahead to annual flu seasons and potential future pandemics. Googles head of real estate said that ensuring six feet of distance in the office meant it could use only one out of every three desks from the current configurations.

Google also realizes that it cant demand that people come into the office five days a week anymore. And it wants to be more flexible to peoples changing needs. One example is work spaces that can be configured to the needs of a particular team or project. Its also experimenting with personal heating and cooling systems at desks and camp-themed outdoor meeting spaces. Google is calling these changes a pilot that will apply to 10 percent of its global work space.

Is this going to happen everywhere? Where are my outdoor work tents and personal heating system?

This is probably going to cost Google billions of dollars, and most companies cannot afford that. But Google has been a trendsetter for a long time in employment practices and office design. Tech companies like Google helped spread the concept of wide-open office spaces with high ceilings and desks crammed close together. If these new ideas about an office environment with the best of remote work and in-person wind up successful, elements of what Google is doing may filter down to other kinds of companies, too.

What questions do you have about how this will work for Google?

Some Google workers want to go back to an office full time, and others want to work remotely forever. How is Google going to cater to the individual desires of tens of thousands of people? If Google mandates that people must work from an office two days a week or so, will it fire people who refuse? Google knows that its workers are in high demand.

And there are so many unknowns about whether a mix of remote and office work will be the best of both, or the worst of each. This is all a big deal for Google and for its employees. There is nothing more personal than freedom and autonomy around your work.

Tip of the Week

If youre planning to restart your commute to the office soon, you might be surprised to see technologies newly in use for buses, subways and other shared transportation. Brian X. Chen, The New York Timess consumer technology columnist, runs down some of the options to digitally pay for transit:

With workers gradually returning to offices, many are preparing to commute. Something to be aware of is that your options to pay for public transportation may have changed over the past year to include touch-free options, like paying with the tap of a smartphone rather than inserting a ticket or a card. Thats a boon in a pandemic-induced era of germophobia.

For iPhone owners, Apple Pay is now accepted by many transit operators in areas like the San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. For Android owners, Google Pay is also accepted by dozens of transit agencies.

So how do you set this up? The sites will vary slightly depending on where you are commuting, but the first place to check is your transit agencys website. For example, Bay Area commuters can visit the Clipper website and click on Pay With Your Phone. From there, the site will list steps to transfer or start a new Clipper card on Apple Pay or Google Pay.

A big lawsuit with big stakes: In a trial that starts on Monday, the maker of the Fortnite video game is claiming that Apple uses the power of its App Store to stifle competition and hurt app developers. My colleagues Jack Nicas and Erin Griffith wrote about what this court case means for the world of apps and iPhone users. (Jack also told DealBook what hes eager to hear from witnesses.)

The Clubhouse town square, or a weapon of authoritarians? Vivian Yee and Farnaz Fassihi explore the ways that Clubhouse, the audio-only conference app, is becoming one of the few places for people in repressive countries across the Middle East to freely connect and discuss taboo issues. My colleagues also ask: Will Clubhouse like Facebook and Twitter morph from a tool of free expression to another way for many governments in the region to control their citizens?

Quarantine necessity is the mother of invention: Bloomberg News wrote about several websites that have sprung up in Singapore during the pandemic to rent stuff like exercise bikes, portable washing machines and electronic pianos to travelers who are required to isolate in hotels or other government-chosen facilities for two weeks.

The washer and dryer can be musical instruments? Yes, they can. (Turn the sound on for the full experience of this Rick Astley tune, belted out in laundry machine beeps and slamming doors.)

We want to hear from you. Tell us what you think of this newsletter and what else youd like us to explore. You can reach us at ontech@nytimes.com.

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Google's Back to Office Plans - The New York Times

Official ReleaseMay 3, 2021

As a WNBA Changemaker, Google Commits to Helping Womens Basketball and Sports by Developing Innovative Marketing Activations, Robust Storytelling and Enhanced Google Product Experiences

As Part of the Partnership, Google Collaborates with ESPN and WNBAto Deliver 25 for 25: 25 Regular Season Games on ESPN networksfor the 25th Season of the WNBA

Google Becomes Associate Sponsor of ESPNs 30 for 30 & ESPN FilmsSeries this Spring, and Sponsor of the espnW Summit NYC

Google Becomes the Official Trends and Fan Insights Partner ofthe WNBA and the Presenting Partner of the WNBA Playoffs

NEW YORK, NY, May 3, 2021 The Womens National Basketball Association (WNBA) announced today that Google will become a WNBA Changemaker through a new multiyear partnership that will drive engagement during many key moments throughout the year. As part of the partnership, Google will serve as Presenting Partner of the WNBA Playoffs and as an Associate Partner of WNBA All-Star on ESPN and the WNBA Commissioners Cup.

Google is the fourth company to step up and become a WNBA Changemaker, joining the exclusive collective of current Changemakers AT&T, Deloitte, and Nike. As a WNBA Changemaker, the WNBA and Google will work together on developing innovative marketing initiatives, community-driven programming, and new Google product experiences for fans that will help elevate the league, WNBA players and womens sports. The WNBA Changemakers platform is designed to provide direct support to the WNBA in its ongoing business transformation across marketing, branding, and player and fan experience. Changemakers are deeply invested in driving positive change for the WNBA, womens sports, and women in society, and the platform catalyzes social change by offering Changemaker-only exclusive assets rooted in shared values such as gender, racial and LGBTQ+ equity.

When we launched our WNBA Changemakers platform at the beginning of 2020, we issued a call to like-minded companies to join us in elevating womens sports, and Google has answered that call, said WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert. We are incredibly grateful to Google for becoming the latest WNBA Changemaker and for their platform of helpful products for everyone. Googles support will be instrumental in driving our business transformation forward and demonstrates a commitment to the values we both stand for including building sustainable equity.As part of this deal, Google will also become the Official Trends and Fan Insights partner of the WNBA, as well as an official marketing partner and technology partner of the league.

For too long now, womens sports have been underrepresented in the media. The WNBA has worked tirelessly to change that and has been at the forefront of progress for gender equity, racial justice, and sport. We are proud to partner with the WNBA and ESPN over the coming years to continue the charge and deliver on our commitment to gender equity and the future of women, said Lorraine Twohill, CMO, Google. Its important to us that our product experiences are equitable for all genders and we want to make sure our media spend is equitable too, bringing more womens content to television. With the WNBA and ESPN, we can help ensure women athletes get the recognition and media time they deserve, so that the world can see their incredible talents.

Google will become the Presenting Sponsor of the WNBA on ESPN, collaborating with both brands to deliver 25 for 25 25 regular season ABC/ESPN nationally televised games to celebrate the 25th season of the WNBA. Additionally, Google becomes an Associate Sponsor of upcoming ESPN Films projects, including the 30 for 30 franchise. As an espnW Summit NYC sponsor, Google will be tipping off the conversation around the ESPN Film 144 on May 13th with WNBA All Star & ESPN Commentator Chiney Ogwumike. As a part of Googles commitment to womens sports, they will be presenting a montage of the weeks best sports highlights on SportsCenter beginning in May.

ESPN has led the industry in its long-standing commitment to womens sports across our programming and platforms, including as a founding telecaster of WNBA games and events 25 years ago and serving fans for over a decade through espnW, said Jimmy Pitaro, Chairman, ESPN & Sports Content. This new collaboration with the league and Google further extends our mission and dedication to elevating womens sports, adding to the more than 16,000 hours of live sports programming we produce each year.

Added Rita Ferro, President, Disney Advertising Sales, At Disney, we strive to super serve our audiences with the best available content, and recognize that equity, inclusion and representation in entertainment and sports are table stakes. Our first-of-its-kind, combined relationship with Google and WNBA is an example of how were putting an emphasis on womens sports and female athletes, answering the needs of our fans.

The rest is here:

Google Named New WNBA Changemaker and Presenting Partner of the WNBA on ESPN as Part of Multiyear Agreement - WNBA.com - Official Site of the WNBA -...

San Francisco's Off the Grid was forced to cut 256 employees after tech giant Google ended a catering contract, the food company confirmed Monday.

Off the Grid provided food truck catering and logistics services for Google's Bay Area campuses, according to the San Francisco Business Times that first reported the story.

"Unfortunately, Google ended our contract in mid-February, which was certainly disappointing as weve been incredibly proud of the work weve done supporting their community and our working relationship," Off the Grid's founder and CEO Matt Cohen said in a statement. "We immediately provided all impacted employees with two months of paid notice for them to look for other opportunities, and have been working diligently to support placement of them into new opportunities with Google's new service provider."

Employees were notified about the layoffs on Feb. 19 and they went into effect on April 23, according to the company's filing with the state.

General atmosphere of food trucks at the American Express event with Off The Grid on March 11, 2016 in San Francisco, California.

In this file photo taken on June 05, 2005, the logo of internet search engine company Google headquarters is seen in Mountain View in Silicon Valley, south of San Francisco.

The Business Times reported that Google hired the Palo Alto-based Bon Apptit Management Co. to replace Off the Grid.

Off the Grid was launched in June 2010 with the idea of getting a group of food trucks together to offer a fun dining experience with a variety of choices.

While Off the Grid's flagship food truck event at Fort Mason is closed due to the pandemic, the company is providing concessions for select Fort Mason FLIX showings, featuring drive-in movies.

Off the Grid markets that are open include Alameda (Saturdays), Serramonte (Tuesdays) and the San Francisco International Airport (Monday-Friday). You can find the full schedule here.

Google and Bon Apptit Management Co. didn't immediately respond to request for comment. The story will be updated if they respond.

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SF's Off the Grid forced to cut 256 employees when Google ends catering contract - SF Gate

Prince Charles sausage fingers is the seventh most popular Google search in the UK.

According to website Cornwall Live, the cheeky phrase has made it into the top 10 most popular queries submitted on the search engine in Britain, while Prince Charles fingers is the 20th most popular.

The reason for the popularity of the search is because the Prince of Wales who also holds the title of Duke of Cornwall suffers from a condition called dactylitis.

Dactylitis is severe inflammation of the finger and toe joints which causes them to turn puffy, with the nature of the inflammation causing sufferers digits to resemble sausages. Severe dactylitis can even make your fingers so rigid that you can no longer make a fist.

The name is derived from the Greek word dactylos which means finger. Experts say it can be caused by anything from water retention to poor circulation or even arthritis.

The 72-year-old royal isnt self-conscious about his condition though, and even made a joke about his "sausage fingers" in 2012 during a trip in Australia.

And while visiting India in November 2019, onlookers couldnt help notice both his hands and feet appeared very inflamed and puffy.

Charles was visiting Gurudwara Bangla Sahib - a Sikh house of worship to celebrate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, when photographers captured his hands looking red and inflamed.

Meanwhile, other popular UK Google searches include the late presenter Caroline Flack, Coronavirus symptoms, Coronavirus update, Premier League, Boris Johnson, Eat Out to Help Out, Kobe Bryant and Kim Jong Un.

And the top 10 Google searches worldwide are YouTube, Facebook, Google, Gmail, WhatsApp web, Amazon, Hotmail, Netflix, translate, and traductor, which is translate in Spanish.

Originally posted here:

UK public obsessed with Google searching Prince Charles and his fingers - Kingsport Times News

It's the first Monday of the month, and you know what that means? A Google update. Of Android. For its Pixel line. Well, those that are still supported anyway.

We're talking Pixel 3, Pixel 3 XL, Pixel 3a, Pixel 3a XL, Pixel 4, Pixel 4 XL, Pixel 4a, Pixel 4a 5G, and Pixel 5. That's the entire list. All of these devices aside from the Pixel 4a 5G and the Pixel 5 have build RQ2A.210505.002 headed towards them, while the Pixel 4a 5G and the Pixel 5 get build RQ2A.210505.003.

As usual with Google updates, expect this one to take multiple weeks reaching all of the units out there in the wild, in a very staged rollout. The entire changelog is available at the Source linked below, but here's the gist - you're only getting security fixes this time around, no new shiny features. Those are probably due next month, when we wouldn't be surprised to see yet another 'Pixel feature drop'.

Source

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Google is now rolling out the May update to supported Pixels - GSMArena.com news - GSMArena.com

While the boom in industry-specific solutions is a new phenomenon that every major cloud provider is pursuing, the case of Google Cloud is particularly distinctive because it launched its entire industry-specific effort just 2-1/2 years ago.

On my new Industry Cloud Top 10, Google Cloud is #2, behind #1 Salesforce and ahead of #3 Oracle.

After a recent lively conversation with the leader of Google Clouds industry solutions business, Lori Mitchell-Keller, I came away with 10 overarching reasons that underpin Google Clouds strategy in this booming category and that reveal the huge impact CEO Thomas Kurian has had since his arrival in January 2019.

Here are those 10 takeaways plus some illuminating perspectives on each from Mitchell-Keller, who joined Google Cloud about a year ago after a distinguished career in SAPs industries business. And you can hear my entire conversation with Mitchell-Keller on our Cloud Wars Live podcast episode.

First, customers want to figure out how to get significantly smarter, and quickly. Most companies have a lot of data, but its all in different silos. So a key value driver within Google Clouds industry-specific solutions is helping clients bulldoze those data silos.

Most corporations usually have some data scientists or ML experts that can really dig into the data and provide great insights, but thats not available to everyone in the company, Mitchell-Keller said. So were talking about helping customers ensure that their entire workforce is becoming smarter.

A second big thing we hear from clients is that they really want more of a freedom to adapt to the market as it changes. Many of these companies have large on-premise solutions that are typically very transactional and theyre trying to figure out how to get the freedom to be able to use their data to look at a new market insights versus being able to see only whats built into the solution.

Another big question is, How do I better connect my workforce and connect with people across my organization? Mitchell-Keller said. The ability to really collaborate and connect and be able to work concurrently on documents has been a real challenge.

We provide the opportunity to augment existing solutions without telling clients they should rip and replace. As you know, weve been talking about multi-cloud and hybrid cloud for quite some time and our solutions work on other clouds, not just ours. So the idea is how can we help our customers get better without a lot of churn or having to rip out some of the core solutions that theyve been using.

Speed is definitely another dimension, like growth and profitability, that all customers are looking at. With COVID, speed took on huge importance and became a huge imperative for every company. Mitchell-Keller cited three examples: the big grocery-store chain, Albertsons, was experiencing a huge influx of phone calls related to store hours, mask requirements, etc. In two weeks, Google Cloud stood up a Rapid Response Virtual Agent to handle almost all of those calls.

At home-improvement retailer Lowes, Google Cloud helped get curbside pickup in full gear in less than 2 months. In healthcare, Humana wanted to be able to extract vital information and insights from the deluge of phone calls coming in from members. In less than three months, we installed a solution using AI and ML to actually analyze those calls and to give Humana some really great insights and resulted in an 80% reduction in the processing time on any analysis around that call center experience, she said.

I have to say that our unique AI and ML capabilities, which I think are ranked highest in the market by lots of outside sources, really help us to be able to respond to our customers very, very quickly. The whole way we build solutions from start to finish is involving customers at every step of the journey.

The heart of what were doing across all the industries is really to tackle the toughest challenges that the C-suite executives are having, Mitchell-Keller said. Its not enough to just solve problems that are already out there, that have other solutions. Thats not what were interested in. Were interested in solving those tough challenges that either dont have a solution today or have a solution thats not doing the best work it could do. For example, demand forecasting: Businesses have been using the same algorithms to do this work for decades. And yet today we have lots of new information that we can use, like traffic patterns, weather, trends, as well as using ML to better understand how a demand might evolve over time.

We can build from the ground up and be very agile in the types of industry solutions that were building. And I want to make sure Im clear that were looking at industry transformation. Were not looking at industry continuous improvementof course, certainly we have solutions that help with thatbut what our customers really wanting from us is understanding how do they transform their business? How do they find new opportunities for revenue growth and new business models that they wouldnt have otherwise been able to implement without the help of Google Cloud?

In a couple of instances, Mitchell-Keller emphasized that wherever possible, Google Cloudd industry teams look to enhance what customers already have rather than competing directly against established solutions or providers.

To be very clear, were not in the business of building a demand-planning solution to replace any of the transactional vendors out there. We want to just help with the algorithm that can sit on top of any demand-planning solution. Again, our desire is not to cause churn in our clients, not to cause a rip and replace, but actually to provide them capabilities that augment what they already have, she said.

Some specific examples of that:

I put Google Cloud in the #2 spot because of a combination of its Kurian-inspired leadership and vision in this emerging field and because their execution plan employs the entire company in a unified effort to meet the rapidly emerging need among customers for advanced purpose-built solutions.

I also believe that Mitchell-Kellers outlook and mindset, reflected clearly in the 10 attributes outlined above, are playing a major role in turning Kurians compelling vision into high-impact reality.

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10 Reasons Google Cloud Is #2 on Industry Cloud Top 10 List - Cloud Wars

With Covid-19 restrictions lifting, more people are booking trips and hotels online, which is very good for Googles advertising business. Googles employees, however, are working from home and not traveling as much on the company dime -- and thats also good for its business.

During the first quarter, Google parent Alphabet Inc. saved $268 million in expenses from company promotions, travel and entertainment, compared to same period a year earlier, primarily as a result of COVID-19, according to a company filing.

On an annualized basis, that would be more than $1 billion. Indeed, Alphabet said in its annual report earlier this year that advertising and promotional expenses dropped by $1.4 billion in 2020 as the company reduced spending, paused or rescheduled campaigns, and changed some events to digital-only formats due to the pandemic. Travel and entertainment expenses fell by $371 million.

The savings offset many of the costs that came with hiring thousands more workers. And the pandemic prudence allowed the company to keep its marketing and administrative costs effectively flat for the first quarter, despite boosting revenue by 34%.

Google is notorious for perks such as massage tables, catered cuisine and corporate retreats, which have influenced much of Silicon Valley work culture. Most Google staff have worked remotely and without those perks since March of 2020.

However, Google plans to return to the office later this year. Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat told investors the company is planning a hybrid model, spacing staff less densely than before. Porat also said Google will continue to invest in its real estate across the globe.

Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal.

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Google Is Saving Over $1 Billion a Year by Working From Home - Bloomberg