Category Archives: Google

It all started when hell froze over at the 2010 Super Bowl.

It was just the frigid situation that Google founders had said would have to happen if theyd ever spend money on a TV ad. Then-CEO Eric Schmidt had even called the big game the last bastion of unaccountable spending in corporate America.

Yet, here they were.

The commercial itself was called Parisian Love, and true to Googles original intentions, it was not created with such crass commercial intentions. In a blog post on Super Bowl Sunday 2010, Schmidt wrote, We didnt set out to do a Super Bowl ad, or even a TV ad for search. Our goal was simply to create a series of short online videos about our products and our users, and how they interact. But we liked this video so much, and its had such a positive reaction on YouTube, that we decided to share it with a wider audience.

Google had long been the digital advertising platform of choice for everyone from the Fortune 500 to your local barber, but it was this spot a decade ago that signaled the companys shift to creative advertising to sell itself. As a first-ever TV ad, it was flawless. A love story told with just a search bar. Product demo as dramatic narrative device. And it was a hit, becoming one of the most memorable ads of that year.

Since then, Google has become one of the worlds biggest and best creative marketers, even winning Cannes Lions Marketer of the Year honors in 2018. This shift was a necessity over the past decade, as its product offerings expanded far beyond search into hardware like mobile phones and smart speakers, where Google was an underdog. Its also become more important as brand marketing as the overall scrutiny of Big Tech has intensified.Its likely a major reason why Google has escaped the same kind of brand black eyes that have tarnished Facebook, despite the company having plenty of its own issues when it comes to not just personal privacy but also toxic content, likeYouTube being manipulated by pedophiles. The company, like most major corporations, balances its darker practices or policies with a more family-friendly outward facing image. In Googles case, its used these past 10 years to master the art of selling us a humane tech utopia.

Parisian Love wasnt created by a hotshot ad agency but instead by a handful of students dubbed the Google 5, working within Google Creative Lab, which had launched in 2009 to find a bridge between technology and traditional creative expression. Their brief, according to Lab executive creative director Robert Wong, was to remind people what they love about Google search and highlight some features they might not know about.

A year later, to promote the companys Chrome browser, Google Creative Lab worked with agency BBH to expand on the emo-product demo genre with Dear Sophie, in which a new dad uses all of Googles tools to create a digital scrapbook chronicling his daughters life and his messages to her.

The 2011 ad won Google ad industry accoladesand further established the brand as an emerging creative power. Chief marketing officer Lorraine Twohill, who joined Google in 2009, told me in 2018 that this ad was a significant turning point. In the early days, we had a Chrome digital-only campaign, which was about three things: safety, simplicity, and speed. Very rational, Twohill said. That did get us so far, but no one gets out of bed in the morning and says, I need a new browser. What changed the game for us was to go out and create The web is what you make of it, which is essentially a brand campaign about people using the web to make their lives better, with stories like Dear Sophie. Its as big a milestone as Parisian Love, at least internally. It really paved the way for us to do more of that kind of work.

In 2013, the company mined its products many uses for incredibly emotional stories. Two of the most popular centered around India, a country in which the company just happened to be aggressively building its user base. In October of that year, we heard how Australia-raised Indian orphan Saroo Brierley found his birth family using Google Maps. His memoir of the experience eventually became the critically acclaimed film Lion, which nabbed star Dev Patel an Oscar nomination.

A month later, Google India posted Reunion, telling a heart-warming story of two best friends out of the horrors of partition.

A sure sign of creative ambition is branching out to commercial work to projects that arent immediately identifiable as ads but are still unmistakably marketing opportunities. The most ambitiousand still one of the best-ever examples of branded contentis probably when Google Creative Labs Aaron Koblin, now cofounder and president of VR/AR company Within, worked with Arcade Fire to create an interactive music video for Chrome. It won a 2014 Emmy for Interactive Media.

To launch the new Pixel phone in 2016, agency Droga5 tried to leverage all the goodwill that Google had built up over the years. Executive creative director Kevin Brady told me that given how competitive the phone market was, Google was its own best differentiator. Our biggest creative challenge was to introduce people to the Google they know and love in a new format, a phone, Brady said. And around the globe, the most recognized connection to Google is the search bar. Sure, they have done so many other amazing things, but this one shape is the clearest and simplest symbol of all the smarts of Google. Once we realized that, and of course noticed that the shape of our phone was also a rectangle, but a very different shape, we had our campaign. It was building on a truly ownable and iconic equity that everyone could relate to and understand.

This vibe continued a year later with the Pixel 2 spot Ask More, which was essentially the brand anticipating all the questions wed have about the new phone.

Rounding out the decade, Google has wandered away from the everyday user, joining its rivals Apple and Amazon in recruiting celebrity talent to be just like the rest of us with technology.

This began in earnest in 2014 when the brand enlisted FKA Twigs to promote Google Glass. However cool she made the early augmented reality wearables seem, she alone couldnt save them.

Last Christmas, the company imagined a present-day Home Alone, complete with the real Kevin McCallister. In May, Awkwafina and 2 Chainz complained about the limitations of other devices at a nail salon.

Although these spots are undeniably conventionalalbeit grand in their own wayGoogle hasnt wholly abandoned its tech-tinkering roots. Look no further than its recent partnership with Dominos that delivered Cyber Monday Pixel 4 orders with pizza.

That first Super Bowl ad, Parisian Love, aired on February 7, 2010. Three days later, the company announced Google Fiber, which would build gigabit internet in municipalities. It would be a harbinger of perhaps the most surprising attempt at R&D as marketing since the heyday of company pavilions at the Worlds Fair.

Years before Amazon and its protracted (and seemingly cynical) search for a second headquarters, Google had a legitimate phenomenon on its hands, with consumers begging for the possibility of Google bringing ultrafast internet to their hometowns. In fewer than two months, 194,000 people wrote Google on behalf of their cities and 1,100 localities applied.

When Kansas City got the nod for the first installation, it genuinely transformed the city, at least for a time.

Soon after, people would learn that Google had its own R&D lab, mysteriously dubbed Google X (and later just X), and as word of the wild projects being tried within dribbled into the publicself-driving cars! hoverboards! space elevators! internet balloons!they served to burnish Google in a way that no 30-second spot or branded campaign ever could. This was the place where the future was being created. This was the Bell Labs of the 21st century.

The company embraced and co-opted the word moonshot to signify its ambitions, and it worked.Although the disparate projects that burbled out of the X lab were genuine in their intent, they undeniably served this double purpose for Google. They were great marketing, particularly in the fight for talent in Silicon Valley, and for the public they helped blunt any bad news about Google that came to light, from NSA whistleblowerEdward Snowdens revelations to Google Photos algorithmsracist labeling pictures of black people.

The company spent $4.4 billion on these Other Bets in 2016, which was less than 10% of its total operating costsin other words, not too bad as marketing budgets go, though pressure from investors as well as internal concerns about this kind of spending on long-term projects ultimately started to rein this in. When cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin decided to step away from any operational role in December 2019, it seemed to symbolize an end to this era of moonshot marketing.

But the halo from this decade of investments is likely to shine for a long time to come.

Googles met its biggest challenges over the last decade with marketing that managed to entertain, inspire, and yeah, sell a lot of products and add a lot of users.

The companys going to need every ounce of skill its built over that time to face perhaps the most significant challenge of the next decade. Thanks to the proliferation of smart devices, such as AI-enabled virtual assistants like Google Assistant, this next decade isnt about convincing people to buy its products over a competitors but rather assuring them that these very products arent a security threat, an existential oneor both.

Googles 2019 Super Bowl ad hinted at that, framing the always-on assistant as a bridge between cultures. One hundred billion words is a lot of listening.

Beyond selling a product, Googles marketing is now selling a version of society that more and more people are wary of buying into.

Its going to take a lot more than a twee version of Country Roads to win them over.

Excerpt from:

Why Google was the most important brand marketer of the 2010s - Fast Company

As he has in years past, the 44th President of the United States just released a list of his favorite music, movies, TV shows and books of 2019. And as in years past, the main thing about Obamas favorites are that he has pretty good taste. His movie list, for example, is full of solid choices, and he's careful to point out the one case where's he's biased:

More intriguing for those reading the Obama tea leaves, however, is his list of favorite books. Note the first choice on his list: The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power, by Shoshana Zuboff.

Zuboff's book examines capitalism in the modern era, and how tech companies like Google and Facebook want to control what human beings do in the name of profit. And Obama's own administration comes in for its fair share of criticism.

Super interesting that Obama lists Zuboff's Surveillance Capitalism," journalism researcher Avi Asher-Schapiro tweeted. She argues that the "revolving door of personnel who migrated between Google & the Obama admin helped "fortify" the surveillance capitalism business model.

Of course, Obama could have enjoyed this book despite the criticism of his administration. Or it may have led him to reflect on mistakes made in office. Either way, many observers noted just how surveillance capitalism (not to mention the surveillance state in general) grew under his 8 years in office.

You could dismiss Zuboff's critique as Monday morning quarterbacking except that much of the same critique was leveled at the Obama administration during his time as President. For example, there was this early 2016 Intercept report on the Obama administrations closeness with Google.

In fact, one of the major criticisms leveled at those who helped elect Obama in 2008 and 2012 is how many of them went to work for tech companies in the private sector instead of helping Democratic candidates down-ballot in the 2010 and 2014 midterms, when the party lost a substantial number of seats in the House of Representatives.

At the very least, Obamas recommendation should encourage more readers to check out The Age of Surveillance Capitalism especially, we would hope, his fellow Democrats running for the presidency in 2020.

Read the original here:

Obama praises book that slams his White House for its Google relationship - Mashable

As head of product inclusion at Google, Annie Jean-Baptiste works to ensure that the products and services Google offers are inclusive and reflective of the diverse audience the company serves.

Since starting at Google nine years ago, the 31-year-old has served as an account manager and a diversity programs manager before stepping into her current role two years ago. When reflecting on the books that have influenced her the career the most, Jean-Baptiste tells CNBC Make It Adam Grant's "Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World," comes to mind.

"Just given that sometimes you're in a space that's new and a little bit uncharted, I think that reading about people who have started something from scratch or started something that people didn't totally get at first is interesting," she says. "It's just really interesting to see how they build that consensus up from the ground floor."

In Grant's bestselling book, the Wharton School professor uses data and research to show readers what it takes to bring an original idea to life. He also challenges the belief that you have to take a crazy amount of risk in order to birth a great idea.

"You don't have to be a round peg in a square hole to be original," Grant said on CNBC's "On the Money" in 2016. "In fact, many originals hate taking risks."

For example, he says, "If you look at the data, entrepreneurs who avoid risk by saying, 'You know what, I'm going to keep my day job before I go all in' are 33% less likely to fail."

Though Grant's book may be perceived as a read that focuses on entrepreneurship, Jean-Baptiste can relate to the idea of building something from the ground up, considering her current role at Google was non-existent a few years ago.

"Product inclusion" includes elements of business, product and diversity, and Jean-Baptiste had worked in all of those areas, she says. But that doesn't mean the transition was easy. "It's a culmination of a lot of the work that I've been lucky enough to do and learn at Google," she says. "So seeing there was an opportunity and an opening to do that and to build that out, even though it hadn't been something that was happening before, can sometimes be scary."

In her two years as head of product inclusion, Jean-Baptiste and her team have launched several products including Google Assistant, Gmail's Smart Compose feature and Google's Pixel Camera. When developing the Google Assistant, which is an artificial intelligence-powered virtual assistant that can hold a two-way conversation with its user, Jean-Baptiste and her team worked tirelessly to test the product for racially and gender-insensitive language before its launch.

"Google has always said focus on the user and all else will follow," the tech executive says in a video about the product launch of Google Assistant. "If you're thinking about a challenge or product, you need to make sure that you're intentional about expanding who your users could and should be."

Similarly with Gmail's Smart Compose, Jean-Baptiste and her team tested the product before its launch to ensure that the predictive text feature wouldn't create any negative or offensive messages. They also tested Google's Pixel Camera before its launch to ensure that the lens accurately reflected all skin tones.

"I think, you know, the crux of this work is to really ensure that everyone feels seen and valued for their differences and feel like they were thought of," she says. "We know that we have work to do and that we're on a journey, but we're really excited and committed to making sure that we're building for everyone and with everyone."

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Don't miss: Stacey Abrams on the books that have impacted her career the most

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31-year-old Google executive says reading this one book has had a huge influence on her career - CNBC

If it's something you can watch on YouTube, the card would include a "Watch now" button with its price and a link that goes straight to its page on the platform. Meanwhile, if it's something you can catch in the theaters, that option is replaced with a "Get tickets" button that takes you to the Showtimes tab. Also when you put titles to your Watchlist, it gets added to a Collection featuring their cover art, so you can browse through them whenever you're looking for something to play.

9to5Google says the feature has been rolling out these past few days. We don't have access to it yet, but social media posts show people have been getting the feature. It seems to be only available on the web via mobile, though, and on the Google app for Android and iOS.

Image: 9to5Google

Read more:

Google Search now lets you add movies and shows to a 'Watchlist' - Engadget

Attendees visit the Disney+ streaming service booth at the D23 Expo, billed as the "largest ... [+] Disney fan event in the world," August 23, 2019 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. - Disney Plus will launch on November 12 and will compete with out streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon, HBO Now and soon Apple TV Plus. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP) (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images)

2019 was a big year for Baby Yoda - and Disney Plus.

Disney Plus was the top searched term on Google in the United States for 2019. Globally, the top searched term was India vs South Africa referencing a cricket match that occurred in September, also demonstrating the power of one of the largest, emerging markets for Google.

Following Disney Plus as top searched terms in the U.S. were Cameron Boyce, the 20-year-old actor who died on July 6, 2019, rapper Nipsey Hussle, who died on March 31, 2019 and Hurricane Dorian, the most intense tropical cyclone to have hit the Bahamas.

Globally, India vs. South Africa was followed by Cameron Boyce, soccer championship Copa America, cricket series Bangladesh vs India and the iPhone 11.

Among top searched babies of 2019 - in the U.S. - Baby Yoda ranked highest, followed by Baby Shark, Royal baby, Kim Kardashian and Kanye Wests baby and Cardi Bs baby.

FOXBOROUGH, MA - SEPTEMBER 18: New England Patriots wide receiver Antonio Brown runs onto the ... [+] practice field during New England Patriots practice at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, MA on Sep. 18, 2019. (Photo by John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

In the U.S. and globally, controversial, former NFL player Antonio Brown was the most searched athlete for 2019.

Globally, Brown was followed by Brazilian soccer player Neymar, Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Bryce Harper, who signed a giant free agent contract in February 2019, and former Boston Red Sox Slugger David Ortiz, who was shot in the Dominican Republic in June 2019. In the U.S., Harper ranked as the second most searched athlete, Ortiz as the third and now retired-quarterback Andrew Luck as the forth.

The top searched songs of 2019 in the U.S. and globally include Old Town Road by Lil Nas X, 7 Rings by Ariana Grande, Shallow by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper.

You can see the full list of top searches and trends here.

Originally posted here:

These Were The Top Google Searches And Trends Of 2019 - Forbes

The phrase "Hey Google" was everywhere in Las Vegas at last year's CES.

You won't have to search hard for Google at the Consumer Electronics Show next month. You never do.

A year ago at CES, the world's largest tech conference, Google went big. The search giant built an elaborate fun house dedicated to Google Assistant, its digital helper that competes with Amazon's Alexa and Apple's Siri. The two-story pop-up included a theme park ride a la "It's a Small World" that had riders use Google's software to help a frenzied dad get through a day of errands.

The search giant plastered the words "Hey Google" -- the trigger phrase for Assistant -- all over Las Vegas, where the trade show takes place. The phrase appeared above one of the main entrances of the city's convention center, as if Google had the naming rights to the building. (It didn't.) The company also turned the city's monorail into moving billboards and hired an army of human "Google Assistants," dressed in all-white, to roam the show floor.

Google is likely to take over Sin City again when CES 2020 kicks off in the second week of January, a pretty remarkable feat when you consider it's arguably the world capital of sensory overload. The tech show has grown in importance to Google, which is trying to sell more consumer devices that compete against the likes of Amazon, Apple and Samsung. As it tries to reach those consumers, the search giant is pouring marketing dollars into its promotions, just like every other tech company.

"We've spent a lot of energy over the last couple of years really getting the Assistant out," Scott Huffman, who leads engineering for Google Assistant, told me at CES 2019. A digital assistant, he noted, isn't very helpful if you don't know it's there.

Now playing: Watch this: Google buys Fitbit, because knowing everything you do...

9:59

Google is taking on all comers in the digital assistant space. But the grudge match that's developed between Google and Amazon has become a focal point of CES. Amazon takes a low-key approach compared to Google. But look around the massive show and you'll be hard-pressed to find a device that doesn't have a "Works with Alexa" label every few feet.

The stakes are higher than ever for Google. It had been slowly catching up to Amazon in the smart speaker market until this year, when Google's growth bombed. The company's share of the market shrank to 12% from roughly 30%, while Amazon grew to 37% from about 32%, according to Canalys. Chinese companies Alibaba and Baidu emerged as new threats, with each overtaking Google.

"Amazon had a head start and hasn't let up," said Avi Greengart, lead analyst at Techsponential. "Google needs to show its own momentum."

The search giant made a good case for why its software could outsmart rivals at the last CES. The company announced a new interpreter mode that could translate conversations in real time, a feature that leans into Google's formidable machine learning and engineering chops. Earlier this month, Google brought the feature to smartphones. None of the competing digital assistants have features that are as ambitious.

Scott Huffman

Google has made huge investments in consumer devices. At an event in October, Google released the fourth generation of its flagship Pixel phone that comes with a top-of-the-line camera and radar tech for gesture controls. The company also debuted new mesh routers and smart speakers. And last month, Google announced the $2.1 billion acquisition of Fitbit, the fitness tracker pioneer.

For the most part, Google has made that hardware push to serve one end: Spread Assistant far and wide. At the October event, executives talked up the idea of "ambient computing," an always-on, always-connected vision of the future that puts Google's services all around you. Assistant is the centerpiece of that strategy, an extension of Google's iconic search engine.

"Whether it's on computers, phones or smart speakers," Greengart said, "wherever a search starts, Google wants to be a part of it."

Read more here:

Google is poised to make another blitz at CES 2020 - CNET

Google's relationship with bitcoin and cryptocurrency has long been fraught but it has apparently just taken a turn for the worse.

The search giant previously banned bitcoin and cryptocurrency ads, knocking the bitcoin price, before deciding to allow them again in September last year after three-month block.

Now, Google has decided to remove hundreds of bitcoin and cryptocurrency videos from its video-sharing site YouTube in what's being called a "crypto-purge"leaving many who make bitcoin and cryptocurrency-related videos feeling unfairly targeted by the search giant.

[Update: 5:05am EST 12/27/2019] YouTube has said the decision to ban bitcoin and cryptocurrency videos from its site was an "error" and the removed videos would be reinstated.

"With the massive volume of videos on our site, sometimes we make the wrong call," a YouTube spokesman told crypto news site Decrypt. "When it's brought to our attention that a video has been removed mistakenly, we act quickly to reinstate it."

Google's YouTube video-sharing platform is the world's biggest video website, with 300 hours of ... [+] content on everything, including bitcoin and cryptocurrency, uploaded every minute.

The YouTube crypto-purge appears to only be targeting smaller channels and publishers, with crypto-related videos from the likes of bitcoin and crypto news outlet CoinTelegraph and U.S. business news publisher CNBC escaping the cull.

One YouTuber Chris Dunn, who has some 210,000 subscribers on the platform, asked YouTube for an explanation via Twitter.

"YouTube just removed most of my crypto videos citing 'harmful or dangerous content' and 'sale of regulated goods,'" Dunn wrote, adding he's been making videos on the platform for 10 years and built up 200,000 subs and 7 million views.

The number of videos targeted by Google's YouTube is well into the hundreds and "growing fast."

Some in the bitcoin and cryptocurrency industry have vowed to challenge the decision.

"YouTube deleting all Crypto content is a massive blow to the industry," Ran NeuNer, host of the CryptoTrader show on CNBC Africa, said via Twitter.

"YouTube is the go to place for educational video and the first port of call for new people entering the ecosystem to learn the basics. As a community we should challenge this formally."

Meanwhile, others have been searching for a reason for the purge, finding YouTube's citing of "harmful and dangerous content" unsatisfactory.

"So far Alphabet [Google's parent company] has made no attempt to explain the reasons for the culling," Mati Greenspan, the founder of research group Quantum Economics, wrote in a note.

"The first instinct that many had was that perhaps they're trying to protect the consumer from scams. However, this wouldn't make much sense given that Google and Facebook have already had a crypto advertising ban last year that has long since been reversed, likely due to regulatory clarity in the U.S. where it was found that bitcoin and ethereum are neither securities nor scams."

Greenspan added he is now "officially boycotting YouTube" due to the crypto-purge.

Google, along with the likes of social media giant Facebook, has been increasingly looking to financial services to bolster advertisement revenue in recent years, with public opinion moving against ad-funded business models.

Last month, Google, in partnership with U.S. banking giant Citigroup, said it's planning to launch its own fully-fledged "smart checking" bank accounts via Google Paypiling pressure on bitcoin developers to improve user experienceandadoption or face redundancy.

Meanwhile, the bitcoin price has climbed this year,largely due to interest in bitcoin and crypto from the world's biggest technology companieswith others,including the likes of iPhone-maker Apple and online retailer Amazon, branching out into traditional financial services.

The bitcoin price has stagnated recently after surging higher earlier in the year though it remains ... [+] around double where it began 2019.

Google's decision to take action against bitcoin and cryptocurrency-related content on YouTube has caused some to call for an alternative.

"It may be time the crypto community take a stab at its own blockchain-enabled censorship-resistant social media platform," Changpeng Zhao, the founder and chief executive of bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange Binance, said via Twitter.

Original post:

Googles YouTube Goes To War With Bitcoin And Crypto [Updated] - Forbes

While it seems like just yesterday we were all celebrating the beginning of 2019, the year is coming to an end.

Another year of making memories, and of course, shopping! We bet your credit card got some use this holiday season, but you're certainly not alone. Google just released the most searched products of the year, and we're not surprised that many are actually quite practical.

From the best vacuums, smart speakers and kids' toys, to the most searched beauty products, there is bound to be a category that catches your eye. Looks like it's time to put those holiday gift cards to good use. Shop the most popular products of 2019, according to Google ahead.

To quickly jump to the category you're looking for click on the links below or keep scrolling to see the full list.

L.L. Bean has sold over 4 million pairs of these cozy shearling slippers over the last five years and sell a pair every seven seconds during the holiday season! They're perfect to wear around the house, stain-resistant and great quality.

This North Face 1996 Nuptse Jacket would be a great addition to anyone's wardrobe. Look great all winter long in this durable, water-resistant, trendy coat. Available for men and women, it comes in black, purple, silver and red.

If you live in a cold-weather climate, you know how daunting the winter months can get. These classic Sorel boots are great in the snow and icy conditions. Not only are they fashionable, but they're waterproof suede and leather and have a non-slip rubber traction sole.

Known as "The world's first flossing toothbrush," the Waterpik has become one of the hottest items of 2019. The gadget combines the power of an advanced sonic electric toothbrush with a water flosser in one easy-to-use device.

There are a bunch of CC creams on the market, but this Juice Beauty stem cellular cream has dominated Google searches in the last few months. This vegan and cruelty-free cream has over 12 benefits including evening skin tone, sun protection and more.

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With almost one thousand five-star reviews on Sephora.com, this hydrating matte liquid lipstick gives intense, velvety color with a rich and creamy texture in one coat. It comes in over two dozen shades, so you're bound to be the perfect color just for you.

The Google Home Mini is one of the most searched tech items on Google, and that probably does not come as a surprise! It's both compact, useful, easy to use and the price doesn't break the bank.

Amazon's Fire TV cube lets you dive straight into your favorite movies and TV shows with the sound of your voice. From across the room, just say, Alexa, play 'Game of Thrones' on HBO," and she will automatically fire up your favorite episode. You can also ask Alexa to turn off the lights, get a weather report and so much more.

Another great streaming device option is the new Apple TV 4K. You can download any app available in the app store including Amazon Prime Video, HBO, YouTube, E! and more - so you can watch all of your favorite shows in 4K HDR.

If you've been eyeing an air fryer, this Ninja Foodi 5-in-1 Indoor Grill may be the best option on the market! Not only does it air fry but it also grills, roasts, bakes and dehydrates any food item of your choice.

Get your dose of freshly-made juice every day with this high-end juicer from Breville.

There are plenty of coffee maker options on the market but there's a reason so many people are searching for this Ninja coffee bar machine. It brews up to 10 cups of coffee, comes with a milk frother and is super easy to clean up.

Although Dyson products usually tend to be an investment, this one seems to be worth it! The Dyson Cyclone v10 Absolute Vacuum is cord-free and has powerful suction to deeply clean carpets and remove dirt. The brand's multi-floor vacuum was also highly searched.

The iRobot Roomba i7 vacuum is a state-of-the-art robot vacuum that uses a premium 3-stage cleaning system, dual rubber brushes and smart mapping technology that learns, maps and adapts to each room in your home. The Ecovas brand also has a similar item with a lower price point.

Reminisce with friends and family all winter long with this "A Christmas Story" leg lamp replica.

Help your little ones celebrate Anna and Elsa's latest story by helping them create Arendelle and beyond with this fun LEGO Disney Princess Frozen ice castle.

Each container includes a fun surprise for your child to enjoy. These little balls come with adorable mini replicas of popular items found at the grocery store. With over 70 to collect, there is plenty left to discover.

Fisher Price's interactive puppy toy is a great way to get your child moving and grooving.

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The most popular products of 2019, according to Google - TODAY

Search giant Google recently rolled out a new iteration of its Chrome browser. The latest version called the Chrome v79, which is available for users on Windows, Mac, ChromeOS, Android, and iOS platforms, has some new privacy and security features to keep you and your data safe.

Here are the 5 most easy ways of securing your data on Google Chrome:

Passwords protection

Google users will now be alerted if they are signing up on a website or anywhere else, using a password that has been exposed to some data breach. This feature is basically an integration of Googles recently launched Password Checkup tool. The tool alerts users about hacked passwords. The brand claims users have the option to control the feature through the Settings under Sync and Google services.

Real time phishing protection

Google is now extending predictive phishing protection for websites that may trigger phishing. In a blog post it said, Now well be protecting your Google Account password when you sign in to Chrome, even if Sync is not enabled. In addition, this feature will now work for all the passwords you store in Chromes password manager. Hundreds of millions more users will now benefit from the new warnings.

The company has claimed that it will provide real-time phishing protections on desktop, which users can avail by enabling Make searches and browsing better setting in Chrome.

Google Chrome also offers password checkup(Google)

Disable or Encrypt Data Syncing

Bookmarks and browsing history are usually saved on the users device computer. If sync is enabled data from the device is going to Google. In order to not share data with Google, one has to disable syncing. To disable sync, follow these steps

Tap on three dots on top right corner of Google Chrome

Go to Settings

Choose people from the list on left side

Your account name will appear with an option on the right to Turn on or off Sync

Toggle it, to Sync off

If a person uses multiple devices and has data sync across all of them, then instead of disabling the option to sync, the user can encrypt all data with a passphrase. To use this feature, Chrome will ask the person to create a passphrase that will be needed on every device that needs to be synced. To keep this data private, ensure the passphrase chosen is not the same as the one for the Google account.

ALSOREAD: 5 features of the Google Assistant that you probably did not know about

Refreshed UI for Profile

The new feature that has been rolled out with latest version shows the name aside of the profile picture of the account whos been switched to. Other features as tab freezing, back-forward caching mechanism, restricting the HTTPS mixed content sites to load have been added to ensure no data is leaked.

Enable Safe Browsing and Do Not Track

Safe Browsing feature can help in prevent certain malicious or poorly secured sites from opening in your browser. With the Do Not Track feature, websites cannot track the amount of time a user spends on any given page. Apart from that, this feature also stops the website from tracking your behavior, which includes the type of information that interests you.

Read the original here:

Google Chromes five security features that every user should know - Hindustan Times

Google has admitted that some of its employees have been exposed to harmful chemicals than can cause birth defects.

Factory workers making Google products, but hired by an outside supplier, have been exposed to N-Methylpyrrolidone, which can cause birth defects and serious skin and respiratory irritation.

Read more: France fines Google over anti-competitive behaviour

The workers, who are located at an unspecified location, had to submerge motherboard chips in the chemical every day.

Google admitted the violation in a report sent to investors, according to The Telegraph.

The report says it found 525 violations of its supplier code across a number of factories in Asia and the US.

This included some employees working more than 60 hours a week or more than six consecutive days.

Ted Smith, the founder and former executive director of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, told The Telegraph that the violation was a serious problem.

Most of the workers in these factories are women of childbearing age, he said.

There have been a series of studies done in the workplace and surrounding communities showing high rates of miscarriages from women exposed to this chemical.

Brands at the top of the food chain have been sailing by, pretending that they didnt know what was going on. There has been lots of activity to get them to focus on these issues.

It is unclear how many workers have been exposed to the dangerous chemical or if any other suppliers have similar components.

Read more: Amazon, Apple and Google team up to break home tech barriers

While N-Methylpyrrolidone is legal itself in Europe, it has been listed as a restricted chemical due to its side effects.

Google declined to comment.

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Google workers exposed to chemical that causes birth defects - City A.M.