Daily Archives: March 18, 2022

Google appears to be finally bringing the ability to delete the last 15 minutes of your search history to its Android app. Former XDA Developers editor-in-chief Mishaal Rahman said he was tipped about the feature seemingly rolling out, and a Verge editor has spotted the feature on their phone. Weve asked Google if it can share any details about the rollout, but to check and see if you have it, open Googles Android app, tap your profile picture, and look for the Delete last 15 min option.

This feature has taken some time to make its way to the Android app. Google first announced the feature at Google I/O in May, and it came to Googles iOS app in July. At that time, Google said it would arrive on the Android version of the app later in 2021, but for some reason, the company seemingly missed that deadline. Its unclear if Google plans to bring the feature to desktop in its May announcement post, the company didnt specify which platforms it would be available on, and in July, Google only said that the feature was coming to the iOS and Android apps. Google didnt immediately reply to a request for comment.

Google also offers a tool to automatically delete things in your search history that are three, 18, or 36 months old.

Read the rest here:

Google's Android app will finally let you delete the last 15 minutes of your search history - The Verge

John Mueller answered a question about why a site that ranked for one keyword phrase didnt rank for what they said was a synonym for the same phrase. John answered the question in general terms, explaining how whats important is the full context of the search query.

Before Google Hummingbird Google generally ranked sites by matching keywords in the search query to keywords in a web page.

After the Google Hummingbird update Google swapped out some important words in the query with synonyms without actually changing the meaning of the search query. The advantage of doing that was that now Google could find even more web pages to rank, some of which were even better than pages with the exact keyword match.

This technique is called Query Expansion.

Today Google does more than query expansion in order to rank web pages and as Muellers answer shows, some of that is generally focused on what users mean when they use a search query in order to understand the full context of the search query.

The person asking the question was confused because they expected a page that ranked for one keyword phrase to rank for a synonym version of that phrase. But it didnt rank for that alternate phrase and they wanted to know why.

Here is the question that was asked:

Why might there be tiny differences in synonyms or such terms that make such a big difference in ranking position?

The person asking the question gave the example of a page that ranked for the keyword phrase, edit video but didnt rank the query video editor.

The phrase edit video could be about one thing and video editor can be about something else and thats how John answered the question.

However, Googles actual search results treats both keywords relatively the same and shows results for video editors, only some sites that rank in one search results dont rank in the other, while some sites rank in both.

The difference in the above specific phrases are explained by the fact that edit video is not a straight one to one synonym for video editor even though Google shows somewhat similar results.

The reason they are different is because edit video is vague and theres a how to component inherent in the search phrase (edit video) that may be skewing the search results in favor of certain sites that rank for that phrase.

For example, the top result for the vague phrase has a seven step how-to in the web page and the People Also Ask (PAA) feature shows how can I search queries as being similar, whereas the search results for the other phrase does not have that same quality in the PAA feature.

Even though John didnt address the above specific nuance, his answer is still 100% correct and applicable to the specific even though he was answering the question in general terms.

John Mueller answered:

So from our point of view, that can be completely normal and thats something where on the one hand, we do try to understand things like synonyms in a query.

But we also try to look at the full context of the query.

And especially when it comes to synonyms, we might assume that something is mostly a synonym, but that doesnt mean that its completely a synonym.

John brings up an important point about synonyms and search phrases.

Because of the full context of a search query, it may mean that substituting a word for its synonym wont work because the substitution will change the meaning of the search query.

John Mueller next expands the idea of search query context to consider what a user may mean when they use a search query and how that may affect whether its appropriate to expand the search query with a synonym.

John explains:

And especially when youre looking at something like edit video versus video editor, the expectations from the user side are a little bit different.

On the one hand you want to edit a video. On the other hand you might want to download a video editor.

And it seems very similar but the things that the users want there are slightly different.

So from my point of view, that kind of of makes sense that we would show different rankings there.

And we have the same with things like slightly different spellings of words, like if you have the British or the American version of an English word; if you have a word or letter with an accent and it doesnt have an accent, we understand that these are mostly the same.

But we also understand that theyre slightly different.

And we try to show search results that kind of take that into account.

Johns advice is great for keyword research too.

The common approach is to choose the keywords with the most traffic and write articles about those keywords even though the site isnt exactly about those keywords. So theres a mismatch between the keywords in the title tag and in the heading elements.

Watch the video at the 39.:35 Minute Mark

Originally posted here:

Google Search Results and Synonyms - Search Engine Journal

Youtube logo is placed on a Russian flag in this illustration picture taken February 26, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

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March 18 (Reuters) - Russia on Friday demanded that Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google stop spreading what it called threats against Russian citizens on its YouTube video-sharing platform, a move that could presage an outright block of the service on Russian territory.

The regulator, Roskomnadzor, said adverts on the platform were calling for the communications systems of Russia and Belarus' railway networks to be suspended and that their dissemination was evidence of the U.S. company's anti-Russian position. It did not say which accounts were publishing the adverts.

"The actions of YouTube's administration are of a terrorist nature and threaten the life and health of Russian citizens," the regulator said.

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"Roskomnadzor categorically opposes such advertising campaigns and demands that Google stop broadcasting anti-Russia videos as soon as possible."

Google removed an advertisement that was flagged by the Russian government, according to a source familiar with the matter who declined to describe it.

The dispute was the latest in a series between Moscow and foreign tech firms over Ukraine.

YouTube, which has blocked Russian state-funded media globally, is under heavy pressure from Russia's communications regulator and politicians.

Outraged that Meta Platforms (FB.O) was allowing social media users in Ukraine to post messages such as "Death to the Russian invaders", Moscow blocked Instagram this week, having already stopped access to Facebook because of what it said were restrictions by the platform on Russian media. read more

Russian news media including RIA and Sputnik quoted an unnamed source as saying YouTube could be blocked next week or as early as Friday.

DOMESTIC ALTERNATIVES

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday wrote a fierce criticism of foreign social media firms, mentioning by name both Meta and YouTube, but he hinted that the door leading to their possible return to the Russian market would be left ajar.

"The 'guardians' of free speech have in all seriousness allowed users of their social media to wish death upon the Russian military," Medvedev, who served as president from 2008 to 2012 and is now deputy secretary of Russia's Security Council, wrote on the messaging app Telegram.

Medvedev said Russia has the necessary tools and experience to develop its own social media, saying the "one-way game" of Western firms controlling information flows could not continue.

"In order to return, they will have to prove their independence and good attitude to Russia and its citizens," he wrote. "However, it is not a fact that they will be able to dip their toes in the same water twice."

VKontakte, Russia's answer to Facebook, has been breaking records for activity on its platform since Russia sent troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24.

The site attracted 300,000 new users in the two weeks after Russia began what it calls a "special operation" to demilitarise and "de-Nazify" its neighbour.

On the day Instagram was blocked in Russia, VKontakte said its daily domestic audience grew by 8.7% to more than 50 million people, a new record.

Anton Gorelkin, a member of Russia's State Duma committee on information and communications, pointed Russians to services that would help them move videos from YouTube to the domestic equivalent, RuTube.

"It's not that I'm calling for everyone to immediately leave YouTube," he said on his Telegram channel. "But, probably, in light of recent events it is worth following the principle of not keeping all your eggs in one basket."

He said earlier this week that YouTube may face the same fate as Instagram if it continues "to act as a weapon in the information war".

Russian tech entrepreneurs said this week they would launch picture-sharing application Rossgram on the domestic market to help fill the void left by Instagram. read more

In November, Gazprom Media launched Yappy as a domestic rival to video-sharing platform TikTok.

Register

Reporting by ReutersEditing by Andrei Khalip, Angus MacSwan, Frances Kerry and Grant McCool

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Russia tells Google to stop spreading threats against Russians on YouTube - Reuters

Google is making some tweaks to the Play Store to make it easier for people with big screen devices to find apps thatll take advantage of the display real estate. According to a post on its Developers blog, the company has some changes planned for how apps are ranked and promoted, how reviews are displayed, and the alert messages you might see if youre browsing apps on a tablet, foldable, or Chromebook.

In the post, Google says that it will update how the Play Store ranks and features apps on big-screen devices, with the logic taking account of factors like the support of different device orientations, keyboard support, and more. The company says that the change, which will take place in the coming months, is meant to prioritize high-quality apps and games and help make sure the first apps people find are ones that will work well on their device.

Googles post also mentions that the Play Store will start showing people reviews and ratings from devices in the same category e.g., phone users will see reviews left by other phone users, tablet users will see reviews left by tablet users, and so on, so they can get a better idea of how well the app will work on their type of device. The company announced this change was coming last summer, but its good to hear that its still being worked on. Google says developers can see which reviews and ratings a user with a specific device will see in the Play Store console.

Finally, Google says itll be changing the alerts for apps that dont meet compatibility requirements to make sure big screen device users know how something will run after they install it. Its post is vague on what this actually means, saying that itll provide additional communications on this change later this year.

Google has been giving tablets and larger-screen phones a lot of attention recently. Its Android 12L update is focused on improving the big-screen experience with changes to the notification and Quick Settings shades and the addition of a taskbar. There have also been some interesting developments at its Platforms and Ecosystems team, where one of Androids original founders is working on developing Android for large screens.

Googles push on big screen devices is interesting, given that it makes no tablets, no folding phones, and all of one Chromebook (which was introduced in 2019). Of course, its got plenty of partners that make them, but if I were in the business of predicting what a company was working on, I think my ears would be perked up at this point. There are rumors of an upcoming Pixel foldable, and maybe thats all well see but maybe Google will make Android so good for tablets that itll just have to make one of its own.

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Google's tweaking the Play Store to make it better for tablets and folding phones - The Verge

The Google Home app is getting a fresh design that should make it a lot more intuitive, according to a report from 9to5Google. The upcoming 2.49 update will let you interact with your devices from a single screen, resembling the device control panel on phones with Android 11 and up.

Judging by the updates release notes on the App Store, it seems Google is hoping to make the app a lot more user-friendly than what it is right now, saying it should help you quickly find what youre looking for, dim your compatible lights, and change the music volume in a snap. More specifically, youll be able to tap on a device to turn it on or off, slide left or right on certain elements, like lights or speakers to make adjustments to brightness and volume, as well as long press on a device to see more options.

Google Home received its last major design change in 2018 and later added controls to change the color of your lights but has largely remained the same ever since. This has left us with a clunky app that forces us to tap into each device to make specific adjustments (although there are still some single-tap controls like turning things on or off).

Google says the redesign will roll out over the next few weeks, and even having the most recent version of the app on iOS or Android might not be enough to see the changes. Some users, like former editor in chief of XDA-Developers Mishaal Rahman, have successfully sideloaded the 2.49.1.8 update on Android and accessed the new settings.

More here:

Google Home app gets much-needed redesign with interactive buttons - The Verge

Google grabbed headlines last week when it announced it will pay $5.4 billion to buy cyber firm Mandiant. While the size of the deal alone is impressive, it may also be a harbinger for a record-setting year of M&A in the space.

Less than three months into the year, some noteworthy deals aside from the Mandiant/Google acquisition have already been announced both by companies in cyber and outside the space, including:

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Other companies, including Darktrace, ForeScout and Cloudflare, all announced deals early in the year. In total, more than two dozen deals have been announced thus far in 2022. While only a handful of announced deals disclosed terms, those that did were worth nearly $7.4 billion, easily on pace to beat the $13.7 billion for deals with announced terms in 2021which was a record year in terms of volume with 134 deals.

While the Google/Mandiant proposed marriage made big headlines because of what it could mean for cloud security, last year had an even larger deal in the greater cyber ecosystem when Okta paid $6.5 billion in a stock deal for Bellevue, Washington-based Auth0.

However, that was a very different spaceidentification and authenticationand did not involve one of the largest tech giants in the world in its cloud battle with Microsoft and Amazon.

Google is a late comer to the enterprise (space) in general, said Ofer Schreiber, partner and head of the Israel office for cyber venture firm YL Ventures. This is the cloud vendors war.

Those involved in the cybersecurity sector agree the Mandiant dealGoogles second-largest acquisition everand the Siemplify buy are both aimed at taking on AWS and Microsoft for cloud supremacy. Perhaps more specifically, it is to take on Microsoftwhich had been a rumored suitor for Mandiant earlier this yearand the security it has built around its Azure cloud offering.

Through the years, Microsoft has prioritized securityparticularly around the Azure cloudboth through internal development and through dealmaking, picking up cybersecurity startups such as Adallom, CyberX, Aorato and Hexadite.

Microsoft has a better standing in the enterprise market, Schreiber said.

With the acquisition of Mandiant, which can help automate incident response, Google strengthened its cloud security offering to potential customers. Schreiber said he believes the next buzzword in the industry could be XDRor extended detection and responsewhich collects and correlates data across multiple security layers such as cloud workloads, servers and endpoints.

Security really is a data issue, he said. You need data for sophisticated attackers.

Taking its cloud offering more to large enterprises was something Google had in mind back in 2019 when it named Thomas Kurian CEO of Google Cloud after his time at Oracle, said Alberto Ypez, co-founder and managing director at Forgepoint Capital, which specializes in cybersecurity and infrastructure software investments. Ypez sold his last cyber company to Oracle while Kurian was there, and Kevin MandiaMandiants founderserves on Forgepoints advisory council.

Ypez said he can see both the Mandiant and Siemplify deals working in unison for Google Cloudas Siemplifys orchestration aspect acts as a middleware layer and helps with integration.

Ypez, whose portfolio company Area 1 Security was acquired by Cloudflare just last month, does not necessarily expect the dealmaking to cease any time soon. Along with large players like those mentioned above continuing to buy select point solution specialists with strong IP, Ypez said he also believes the current uncertainty in the market will play a role.

I think this is a prime time for exits, said Ypez, who also was an early investor in Attivo. Companies may have to raise money at lower valuations these overfunded companies will have to make a choice.

Companies will look at targets in cybersecurity to expand their total addressable market, Ypez said. Acquisition targets that can do that and have high intellectual property can still see 20x trailing revenue, said Ypez, adding that potential acquirers consistently reach out to his portfolio investments.

However, Schreiber said due to the sheer amount of capital poured into the space through the last few years, valuations remain high and he is seeing a bit of slowing in dealmaking.

While deals in the range of $150 million to $400 million used to be seen in cyber, it now has become small deals for very young companies or big home run swings by tech giants.

You are seeing a lot of companies get bought early, he said. There just are not a lot of exits for a few hundreds of millions of dollars.

Illustration: Dom Guzman

Stay up to date with recent funding rounds, acquisitions, and more with the Crunchbase Daily.

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Google Sets The Pace In What Could Be A Record Year For Cyber M&A - Crunchbase News

Googles big annual developer conference, Google I/O, will take place May 11th and 12th, the company announced Wednesday. The event will once again be fully online, though it sounds like at least some of the conference will be streamed live from the Shoreline Amphitheatre, a frequent Google I/O venue.

This years event will be broadcast in front of a limited live audience, and is completely free and open to everyone virtually, Google spokesperson Alex Garcia-Kummert said in a statement to The Verge. That limited audience will be comprised primarily of Google employees and some partners, according to a Google statement shared with Axios Ina Fried.

Registration will be free and will begin sometime this month, according to an FAQ. There will be no tickets, which seems to mean that everyone who wants to attend will be able to.

Google I/O was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and returned as an online event in 2021. The company made a number of big announcements at last years event, including debuting Android 12s Material You design, revealing updates to Google Workspace, and saying that Googles Wear OS and Samsungs Tizen would be merging into one platform (now known as Wear OS 3).

We dont know exactly whats coming this year, but given that Google has already released the first preview of Android 13, it seems likely that one of the focuses will be that OS.

Update March 16th, 6:08PM ET: Added Google statement and additional context from Axios.

Link:

Google I/O takes place May 11th and 12th, and it will be fully available online - The Verge

Google Domains, the companys domain registration service, is losing the beta tag after first launching more than seven years ago, Google announced Tuesday. The service is now generally available in 26 countries, and the company says it already has millions of active registrations.

If you register with Google Domains, you can pick from more than 300 different domain endings, have access to high performance DNS (Google says its the same infrastructure it uses for itself), around-the-clock customer support from real people, and more. The company is also offering a 20 percent discount off any single domain registration or transfer-in to Google Domains for new and returning users with the code DOMAINS20.

However, if you register a domain with Google Domains, youll still need to actually build a website to use with it. Google unsurprisingly suggests its Google Sites product but also recommends its premium partners, which include Wix, Shopify, Squarespace, Weebly, and Bluehost.

Google Domains has been in development for quite a while it first launched in an invite-only beta in June 2014 and was opened up to a public beta in the US in January 2015. Even Gmail wasnt in beta for that long.

Continued here:

Google Domains is finally out of beta after more than seven years - The Verge