Category Archives: Google

You like the way that dress looks but youd rather have it in green. You want those shoes but prefer flats to heels. What if you could have drapes with the same pattern as your favorite notebook? I dont know how to Google for these things, but Google Search product manager Belinda Zeng showed me real-world examples of each earlier this week, and the answer was always the same: take a picture, then type a single word into Google Lens.

Today, Google is launching a US-only beta of the Google Lens Multisearch feature it teased last September at its Search On event, and while Ive only seen a rough demo so far, you shouldnt have to wait long to try it for yourself: its rolling out in the Google app on iOS and Android.

While its mostly aimed at shopping to start it was one of the most common requests Googles Zeng and the companys search director Lou Wang suggest it could do a lot more than that. You could imagine you have something broken in front of you, dont have the words to describe it, but you want to fix it... you can just type how to fix, says Wang.

In fact, it might already work with some broken bicycles, Zeng adds. She says she also learned about styling nails by screenshotting pictures of beautiful nails on Instagram, then typing the keyword tutorial to get the kind of video results that werent automatically coming up on social media. You may also be able to take a picture of, say, a rosemary plant, and get instructions on how to care for it.

We want to help people understand questions naturally, says Wang, explaining how multisearch will expand to more videos, images in general, and even the kinds of answers you might find in a traditional Google text search.

It sounds like the intent is to put everyone on even footing, too: rather than partnering with specific shops or even limiting video results to Google-owned YouTube, Wang says itll surface results from any platform were able to index from the open web.

But it wont work with everything like your voice assistant doesnt work with everything because there are infinite possible requests and Googles still figuring out intent. Should the system pay more attention to the picture or your text search if they seem to contradict? Good question. For now, you do have one additional bit of control: if youd rather match a pattern, like the leafy notebook, get up close to it so that Lens cant see its a notebook. Because remember, Google Lens is trying to recognize your image: if it thinks you want more notebooks, you might have to tell it that you actually dont.

Google is hoping AI models can drive a new era of search, and there are big open questions about whether context and not just text can take it there. This experiment seems limited enough (it doesnt even use its latest MUM AI models) that it probably wont give us the answer. But it does seem like a neat trick that could go fascinating places if it became a core Google Search feature.

Link:

Google now lets you search for things you can't describe by starting with a picture - The Verge

A Google My Business profile is a must-have for your jewelry stores marketing plan. Its one of the most effective ways to ensure your jewelry store is visible in your community and seen by your customers.

With a Google My Business profile you can provide store hours, photos, location, types of jewelry and services you offer, customer reviews, links to your social media channels, answers to common jewelry questions and more. Google wants you to include as much information as possible.

Once you have a profile, your jewelry store can start showing up in Googles search results, maps, and more.

Your profile is seen across all Googles services and the best part is, its free.

Keep in mind that a Google My Business profile is only for businesses that have a physical location. If you just sell online, then you cant create one.

Its the one big advantage independent jewelers have over larger, online-only jewelry sellers; use it.

Here are four ways you can maximize your Google My Business profile and generate more business in 2022.

1. Interact with jewelry consumers.

Your Google My Business profile gives you an opportunity to interact online with people who are looking for an engagement ring or other jewelry.

Through your profile, you can allow direct messages, answer jewelry questions, and respond to reviews. Google allows you to do all this and more.

There are many interactive features that can help you to become the trusted, jewelry expert in your area.

Always focus on what your audiences needs are and take advantage of every community-building feature Google offers.

2. Showcase your jewelry business.

When customers are searching online for an engagement ring or jewelry gift, you are what people can see. Most people wont be aware of you and have never visited your store.

The first impression youll make is when your Google My Business profile pops up in search results or on Google Maps.

Photos become your best marketing tool so its important to show both the outside and inside of your store, as well as a good view of the jewelry styles and collections you offer. Photos of you and your staff are also a great way to put a face on your business, as people like to do business with friends.

The bottom line is, the more information you provide a potential customer, the more chances you have to win them over.

3. Learn more about your audience.

The Google My Business dashboard is a gold mine of information. You can gain insights about your audience and how your jewelry business is performing within the Google search results.

In the analytics area of the platform, you can see what keywords people are searching for to find your store and how they discovered you.

Google also shows you a breakdown of the actions taken on your business listing and which photos were viewed most in your profile.

With the right type of UTM tagging, you can track clicks from your Google My Business profile to your website and quantify how much traffic its driving and how many resulting sales youve made.

4. Optimize your profile for local SEO.

Google My Business was created by Google specifically for local SEO. Its sole purpose is to help people in their city or town find local businesses that serve their needs. Obviously, if someone is located in a different area thats not close by, then you wont be seen.

When someone searches for a specific keyword or service in their area, Google wants to show the best choice possible among all the businesses that are registered with it. If your listing is relevant, then Google is more likely to promote you.

As Google helps more searchers find what theyre looking for, Google is rewarded with repeat loyalty, and youre rewarded with a new visitor to your website or store. Googles search results become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Local SEO should always be a core part of your marketing strategy, if it isnt already.

Excerpt from:

The Smart Lab: How To Take Advantage of 'Google My Business' - National Jeweler

Recent Chrome OS updates have broken the camera on some Chromebooks for some users, as reported by About Chromebooks, but Google said Thursday it released a fix.

Some bug reports found by About Chromebooks before the fix was available listed differing issues; one said the camera simply does not work, while another said the camera is unable to focus properly. People also reported problems across a few different updates, with at least one dating back to Chrome 97. (Chrome OS is currently on version 100.)

There have been some reports of camera issues with the following devices, according to About Chromebooks:

In a Reddit thread about recent camera problems with the Duet 5, a person with a Verified Googler tag said Tuesday that the company is working on a fix. Our team anticipates that the fix will be available later this week with a software update and is not related to your device, said the person, who identified themselves as Alisha. We will share an update on this thread once the fix has rolled out.

Shortly after we first published this article, Google said on its support forums that it had released a fix for the issues in an update. Heres a guide from Google on how to update your Chromebook.

Update April 7th, 7:48PM ET: Google says it has released a fix.

Original post:

Recent Chrome OS updates broke some Chromebooks' cameras, but Google has released a fix - The Verge

Google Maps is getting an update that will add toll road prices and more map details like stop lights and stop signs, Google announced on Tuesday. The company is also adding iOS improvements, including a new pinned trip widget and the option to get directions on Google Maps directly from your Apple Watch.

The company says its adding toll prices on Google Maps for the first time to make it easier for users to make the choice between taking toll roads or regular roads. Users will see the estimated toll price to their their destination before they start navigating. The toll prices will be provided by local tolling authorities. To calculate the estimated toll price of a trip, Google will look at things like the cost of using a toll pass or other payment methods, what the day of the week it is and how much the toll is expected to cost at the specific time youll be crossing it.

Image Credits: Google

Google notes that users will still have the option to choose to avoid seeing routes with toll roads altogether through the apps settings. Users will start to see toll road prices on Android and iOS this month for nearly 2,000 toll roads in the United States, India, Japan and Indonesia. Google plans to add more countries to this list soon.

Google is also adding new details to the apps navigation experience to make it less stressful to drive on unfamiliar roads by adding traffic lights and stop signs. Users will also see enhanced details like building outlines and areas of interest. In some cities, users will see even more detail, such as the shape and width of a road, including medians and islands. The new navigation map will start rolling out to select countries in the coming weeks on Android, iOS, Android Auto and CarPlay.

The company is also adding new iOS updates designed to make it easier to use Google Maps on the go. Google is rolling out a new pinned trip widget that lets you access trips youve pinned in your Go Tab right from your iOS home screen. You can see your arrival time, the next departure for your transit trip and a suggested route if youre driving. Google is also making the existing Google Maps search widget smaller.

Image Credits: Google

Google has also announced that users will soon be able to get directions on Google Maps directly from their Apple Watch. Soon, youll no longer need to begin navigation from your iPhone. Youll be able to tap on the Google Maps shortcut in your Apple Watch app to automatically start navigation on your watch. The new functionality will begin rolling out in a few weeks. You can also add the Take me home shortcut to your watch and tap it to begin navigation to your home.

Lastly, Google Maps is integrating directly into iOS Spotlight, Siri and the Shortcuts app. You can say Hey Siri, get directions in Google Maps or Hey Siri, search in Google Maps to access Google Maps. Users will start seeing this feature in the coming months. Google plans to add enhanced Siri search functionality later this summer.

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Google Maps to add toll road prices, more map details, Apple Watch improvements and more - TechCrunch

Google Docs is getting support for emoji reactions, allowing you to respond to text with a simple symbol rather than a fully written comment. In an announcement post, the company says the feature supports all the emoji available in the latest release, which includes gender-neutral options and sillier symbols like melting face and biting lip.

A gif released by Google shows how the emoji reaction feature will appear as a third option alongside Add Comment and Suggest Edits when you highlight text. You can also type to search the emoji catalog. Google says these responses provide a less formal alternative to comments.

Emoji reactions have become a staple of modern software, and are available in numerous messaging apps (iMessage, Facebook Messenger), and social networks (Facebook, and Twitter as part of a limited test). Emoji reactions are coming to Google Docs as the service is undergoing a big overhaul and expanding from being a word processor into more of a a remote working collaboration tool.

Other new Google Docs features announced recently include markdown support, a new pageless layout, and the ability to seamlessly draft emails from a document.

Google says emoji reactions will be on by default and cannot be disabled. Theyre rolling out now for rapid release domains, but will come to most Google Docs users after April 20th. Theyll be available for Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus subscribers, but not more basic tiers like Enterprise Essentials.

Read more here:

Emoji reactions are coming to Google Docs - The Verge

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Boeing has selected the companies that will help it to move some of its business processes from data centers into the cloud, just as many other businesses are doing.

Boeing (ticker: BA) said Wednesday that it had awarded new business to three of the major cloud players: Googles parent Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon.com (AMZN), and Microsoft (MSFT).

Boeing will shift hundreds of business applications, previously managed in Boeing data centers, to Google cloud, making it possible for it to use Googles analytic tools.

The commercial aerospace giant will use Amazon s Amazon Web Services to strengthen its engineering and manufacturing processes. Boeing also awarded business to Microsoft to leverage the Microsoft Cloud and its [artificial intelligence] capabilities to update its technology infrastructure and mission-critical applications with intelligent new solutions that are data driven, it said.

All three news releases describing the deals read similarly. There appears to be enough cloud business to go around. Research firm Gartner estimates that more than half of IT spending will migrate to the cloud by 2025. That amounts to roughly $2.9 trillion in spending over the next four years.

That is a huge sum, but the announcements dont appear to be stock-moving events. Boeing shares were down 1.9% in early trading, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average had fallen about 1.2% and 0.7%, respectively.

Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet shares were off 3%, 3.5% and 2.5%, respectively.

Shares are weak for a second day following hawkish comments from Federal Reserve Gov. Lael Brainard.Ina Tuesday speech, Brainard said it is of paramount importance to get inflation down. That means higher interest rates and less monetary stimulus.

Coming into Wednesday trading, Boeing stock was down about 9% year to date. That stock is still being driven by Covid-19which affects global air traffic, and thus demand for jetsand the 737 MAX. The MAX was grounded worldwide between March 2019 and November 2020 following two deadly crashes inside of five months, forcing the company to stop delivering the planes to buyers. Boeings earnings and cash flow are set to recover as MAX deliveries pick up relative to 2021 this year.

Coming into Wednesday trading, Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet shares were down about 7%, 2% and 3% year to date.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com

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Boeing Partners With Microsoft, Amazon, Google in the Cloud - Barron's

Just this morning, I was sitting in my car waiting for Alternate Side of the Street parking to end (a dance that many car-owning New Yorkers go through) and texted my partner to come take his turn. As normal, I used the Messages app on my Pixel 6 phone to contact him and waited for the usual reply (On my way! or Be there in a few!), but after about four minutes or so, I realized that I hadnt had a response. When I checked the app, I saw that the text hadnt been sent instead, there was a tiny message saying my partners phone was off and asking if I wanted to send an SMS / MMS instead.

What?

I chose to send the SMS and got an immediate reply (proving that the phone was not off). What was the problem? Im not absolutely sure, but Google Messages uses RCS, an online protocol that Google has been trying to make a standard and for some reason, the app had apparently decided that my partners Pixel was not available.

Google has been making a lot of noise about Messages lately and has even made it more friendly when messaging with iPhones. But obviously, there are still kinks.

If you use Google Messages for your chats (rather than Chat, or Hangouts, or whatever) and, for some reason, your Messages app decides that you cant send an RCS text, heres a feature that you may want to enable just in case. It will ensure that you dont have to check whether or not your text has gone out; instead, it will automatically send your message via the less-secure but still-available SMS / MMS protocol. Once RCS is available again, it will switch back. (These directions are for a Pixel 6 with Android 12 as usual with Android, YMMV.)

And thats it! I like the security and media features that come with the Message apps RCS protocol, but when I send a text, I definitely want it to go through asap. (Otherwise, Id send an email or maybe a nice snail mail note.) If you agree, you may want to make sure that this feature is toggled on.

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How to force Google Messages to use SMS texts when RCS fails - The Verge

While Meta adjusts, some small businesses have begun seeking other avenues for ads. Shawn Baker, the owner of Baker SoftWash, an exterior cleaning company in Mooresville, N.C., said it previously took about $6 of Facebook ads to identify a new customer. Now it costs $27 because the ads do not find the right people, he said.

Mr. Baker has started spending $200 a month to advertise through Googles marketing program for local businesses, which surfaces his website when people who live in the area search for cleaners. To compensate for those higher marketing costs, he has raised his prices 7 percent.

Youre spending more money now than what you had to spend before to do the same things, he said.

Other tech giants with first-party information are capitalizing on the change. Amazon, for example, has reams of data on its customers, including what they buy, where they reside, and what movies or TV shows they stream.

In February, Amazon disclosed the size of its advertising business $31.2 billion in revenue in 2021 for the first time. That makes advertising its third-largest source of sales after e-commerce and cloud computing. Amazon declined to comment.

Amber Murray, the owner of See Your Strength in St. George, Utah, which sells stickers online for people with anxiety, started experimenting with ads on Amazon after the performance of Facebook ads deteriorated. The results were remarkable, she said.

In February, she paid about $200 for Amazon to feature her products near the top of search results when customers looked up textured stickers. Sales totaled $250 a day and continued to grow, she said. When she spent $85 on a Facebook ad campaign in January, it yielded just $37.50 in sales, she said.

I think the golden days of Facebook advertising are over, Ms. Murray said. On Amazon, people are looking for you, instead of you telling people what they should want.

The rest is here:

How Youre Still Being Tracked on the Internet - The New York Times

The logo of Google Play is displayed at Tokyo Game Show 2019 in Chiba, east of Tokyo, Japan, September 12, 2019. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo

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March 29 (Reuters) - Russian tech developers are building an alternative to Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google Play store and plan to launch it on May 9, a national holiday in Russia that celebrates victory in World War Two, the organisation behind the initiative said on Tuesday.

YouTube and Google Play this month suspended all payment-based services in Russia, including subscriptions, as Western sanctions over Russia's actions in Ukraine started to pose banking challenges in the country. read more

"Unfortunately, Russians can no longer normally use Google Play to buy apps and developers have lost their source of income," said Vladimir Zykov, director of projects at Digital Platforms, an organisation focused on digital development.

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"This is why we have created a Russian app shop, NashStore," Zykov said in a statement.

NashStore, which translates into English as "OurStore", will serve Android mobile devices and should ultimately be compatible with Russian Mir bank cards, the statement said.

Russia traditionally holds a patriotic display of raw military power on May 9 with a parade that passes through Moscow's Red Square commemorating the anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two.

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Reporting by Reuters, editing by Ed Osmond

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Russians plan to launch alternative to Google Play on Victory Day - Reuters

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidts foundation poured money into the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy over the past year, according to a report from Politico. The foundations close ties with the office raised ethics concerns with internal watchdogs.

Schmidt held a number of roles at Google and parent company Alphabet, including CEO, executive chairman, and technical advisor. He stepped down from that last role in 2020. Now, he sits on the boards and invests in tech companies, including a number focused on artificial intelligence. The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) directs science funding and helps steer AI policy one of the reasons Rachel Wallace, then the offices general counsel, raised concerns about his financial involvement, according to emails obtained by Politico.

Schmidts foundation, Schmidt Futures, paid salaries for OSTP employees, Politico reported. An unpaid consultant in the office was also employed by Schmidt Futures. A number of employees were offered Schmidt Futures fellowships, which fund travel to conferences. Some withdrew in response to ethical concerns. Some officials at the office also worked at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, where Schmidt is the chair of the board.

Hes also worked closely with Eric Lander, former director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy. Lander resigned in February after reports and credible evidence that he bullied employees, including Wallace.

An OSTP spokesperson who Politico did not name said that the OSTP works with many outside groups and that the legal office reviews any potential ethical conflicts.

Wallace, who headed the OSTPs legal office as general counsel, told Politico she attributes Landers behavior to her concerns around Schmidts involvement. I and others on the legal team had been noticing a large number of staff with financial connections to Schmidt Futures and were increasingly concerned about the influence this organization was able to have through these individuals, Wallace told Politico.

Read more:

Ex-Google CEO funneled money into the White House science office - The Verge