https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/yiKeF2cOWpr1Lis7QdDccqeQxSqJKN6HRAH0TilaXgh6rdC655qw9bbA2RZ_tFRkawVZwUd_bHngJ7H0G8satlHWa4sH4ZFyZxERLz3NcJI4J3aLdSNFp6fXHgpgNg_GXC4nFzDo Sophia Lin Senior Product Manager Google Maps

Last month, we introduced new ways to experience your city with Google Maps—helping you find the best spots to eat, drink, and play based on the things you’re into. Many of these features start rolling out worldwide today. Read on for seven tips on how you can use Google Maps to see your neighborhood in a whole new light:



1/ The redesigned Explore tab gives you quick recommendations for restaurants, bars, and cafes in any area you’re interested in. Whether you’re staying local or planning a trip, you can always find the perfect spot no matter where you are in the world.



2/ Find the best burger in town or track the top brunch spots in the city with trending lists from local experts and Google’s algorithms.

3/ Indulge your inner foodie on Android by automatically keeping track of your progress against any of the restaurants featured in the trending lists. So if you’re on a mission to try the 10 best tacos in your area and you’ve only tried 5, Google Maps will note that for you so you can get to the tacos pronto.

4/ Know what’s going on. On Android, the new Explore tab now surfaces the top events and activities happening in your area. You can see photos, descriptions, and filter by categories like “good for kids,” “cheap” or “indoor or outdoor” so you can find just the right activity to fit your mood.
The new Explore tab is now available to all Android and iOS users globally.

 5/ Make plans faster. If you have Location History turned on, each restaurant or bar now features “Your match,” a numeric rating that tells you how likely you are to enjoy a place based on your own preferences—so you can save time scrolling through lists of reviews and quickly make a decision about where to go.  

 6/ Tell Google Maps about your food and drink preferences so it can surface better dining recommendations as you eat your way around town (to do this, go to your Settings to select the types of cuisines and restaurants you like, along with what you’re not so into).

Your match is now available to Android users worldwide.

 7/ Get inspired for your next culinary adventure. The new “For you” tab will keep you in the know about everything happening in areas you care about whether it’s near your home, work, or a city you visit frequently. Following a neighborhood allows you to instantly see if there’s a hot new restaurant in the area, a new cafe that’s a perfect match for your tastes, or if one of your favorite dining spots is in the news.
The For you tab is now available on Åndroid in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, and Japan, with content ramping up this week.

To start exploring, update your Google Maps app from the App Store or Play Store today. Share your favorite list of restaurants with us on Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #OnGoogleMaps, and make sure to follow @GoogleMaps for more tips on how you can use Google Maps to get around and discover your neighborhood.

By Sophia Lin, Senior Product Manager, Google Maps
 Sophia LinSenior Product Manager Google Maps

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/D-rK-oPiFFRkK6kNHY1uJnpVkYsxx43j09pNjtIdj2rdzaXHhr2XYAf1xHD2kOQAkYPE2lkKymZjHUQ229K-k_krmBrEm_l_42Fb2mb8wM1Mxk-pI_0t1Fa3chSR_JtRxSPHSqBc Sridhar Ramaswamy Senior Vice President Ads & Commerce
We launched AdWords nearly 18 years ago with a simple goal—to make it easier for people to connect online with businesses. A search for eco-friendly stationery, quilting supplies, or for a service like a treehouse builder gave us an opportunity to deliver valuable ads that were useful and relevant in the moment. That idea was the start of our first advertising product, and led to the ads business we have today.
A lot has changed since then. Mobile is now a huge part of our everyday lives. People quickly switch from searching for products, to watching videos, browsing content, playing games and more. As a result, marketers have more opportunities to reach consumers across channels, screens and formats. The opportunity has never been more exciting, but it’s also never been more complex. Over the years, Google ads have evolved from helping marketers connect with people on Google Search, to helping them connect at every step of the consumer journey through text, video, display and more.  
That’s why today we are introducing simpler brands and solutions for our advertising products: Google Ads, Google Marketing Platform, and Google Ad Manager. These new brands will help advertisers and publishers of all sizes choose the right solutions for their businesses, making it even easier for them to deliver valuable, trustworthy ads and the right experiences for consumers across devices and channels. As part of this change, we are releasing new solutions that help advertisers get started with Google Ads and drive greater collaboration across teams.  
Google AdWords is becoming Google Ads


The new Google Ads brand represents the full range of advertising capabilities we offer today—on Google.com and across our other properties, partner sites and apps—to help marketers connect with the billions of people finding answers on Search, watching videos on YouTube, exploring new places on Google Maps, discovering apps on Google Play, browsing content across the web, and more.  
For small businesses specifically, we’re introducing a new campaign type in Google Ads that makes it easier than ever to get started with online advertising. It brings the machine learning technology of Google Ads to small businesses and helps them get results without any heavy lifting—so they can stay focused on running their businesses. To learn more, visit this post.
We'll introduce more new campaign types at Google Marketing Live. Sign up to watch the livestream on July 10.
Stronger collaboration with Google Marketing Platform
We’re enabling stronger collaboration for enterprise marketing teams by unifying our DoubleClick advertiser products and the Google Analytics 360 Suite under a single brand: Google Marketing Platform.
We’ve heard from marketers that there are real benefits to using ads and analytics technology together, including a better understanding of customers and better business results. Google Marketing Platform helps marketers achieve their goals by building on existing integrations between the Google Analytics 360 Suite and DoubleClick Digital Marketing. The platform helps marketers plan, buy, measure and optimize digital media and customer experiences in one place. To learn more, visit the Google Marketing Platform blog.
As part of Google Marketing Platform, we’re announcing Display & Video 360. Display & Video 360 brings together features from DoubleClick Bid Manager, Campaign Manager, Studio and Audience Center to allow creative, agency, and media teams to collaborate and execute ad campaigns end-to-end in a single place. We’ll share more details about Display & Video 360 in the coming weeks, including a demo during the keynote at Google Marketing Live.
Google Ad Manager: A unified platform
We recognize that the way publishers monetize their content has changed. With people accessing content on multiple screens, and with advertisers’ growing demand for programmatic access, publishers need to be able to manage their businesses more simply and efficiently. That’s why for the last three years, we’ve been working to bring together DoubleClick for Publishers and DoubleClick Ad Exchange in a complete and unified programmatic platform under a new name–Google Ad Manager.
With this evolution, we’re excited to do even more for our partners—earning them more money, more efficiently, wherever people are watching videos, playing games or engaging with content, and however advertisers are looking to work with them. To learn more, visit the Google Ad Manager blog.
Transparency and controls people can trust
We know that the media and technology advertisers and publishers choose to use impacts the relationships they have with their customers. As always, our commitment is to ensure that all of our products and platforms set the industry’s highest standard in giving people transparency and choice in the ads they see. For example, we recently announced new Ads Settings and expanded Why this ad? across all of our services, and almost all websites and apps that partner with us to show ads.
You'll start to see the new Google Ads, Google Marketing Platform and Google Ad Manager brands over the next month.
We’ll be sharing more about these changes—and many other new Ads, Analytics and Platforms solutions designed to help you grow your business—at Google Marketing Live. Register now to watch live on July 10, 9:00 a.m. PT / 12:00 p.m. ET.

By Sridhar Ramaswamy Senior Vice President, Ads & Commerce

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/E1Us7XJbGkQIMl6Y9OCajSkJvQYjBo8UoXKlj1kVoeS4p91Y7_vOuq2O895ZVmJsgJBXFFxk1Hsvp2PusKdgs9RRPVHbjCZ9_4itZ3XbicYE7GX5dsmRY-QDucGUB_130C-2L6TE Anuj Gulati Developer Marketing Manager Google Play
Do you believe you have what it takes to make the next big mobile game? If you do, listen up! We’re offering developers in Asia a chance to perfect your mobile game with Google Play’s first Indie Games Accelerator program. If your gaming startup is based in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand or Vietnam, and you want to supercharge your growth, you can learn more and apply for the Indie Games Accelerator by July 31.
We’re always looking for new ways to support developers. So, as a special edition of the Launchpad Accelerator, we’re announcing a new-four month Indie Gaming Accelerator to train promising developers from these countries in Asia so they can successfully build, scale, launch and market the next generation of hit mobile games.

Developers accepted into the program will be matched with the best of Google—our people, network, insights and technology—while attending two all-expenses-paid gaming bootcamps at the Google Asia-Pacific office in Singapore, where they will receive personalized mentorship from Google teams and industry experts. Additional benefits include Google Cloud Platform credits and invites to exclusive Google and industry events. We’ll announce the developers accepted into the program on August 8.
There are many passionate gamers in Asia. The talented mobile game developers in the region have a tremendous opportunity to build apps and deliver experiences that entertain, educate and inspire. We look forward to seeing you get your game on with your application!
By Anuj Gulati, Developer Marketing Manager, Google Play and Sami Kizilbash, Developer Relations Program Manager, Google
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https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/2Ja7DHb6KW2O0w-u7XcAqN1KmPnre48UnKIVLRmQ0Xd04EOrP7-9R6AVmScz1Vsrw3FnB2vKyUPUshWT4VnReNwv2PVzBapicnHRp24rF488440jSnQpK4iKwkeog6CCS_MHkeMO Stephen HughesSoftware Engineer Google
Over the past six months, Files Go has helped users free up space, find files faster and share files offline. Collectively, our users are saving 100 TB per day by cleaning up Junk Files or Good Morning messages, especially in India, the most popular country for Files Go usage.

Today, we are releasing a major upgrade to the nearby sharing feature, making it more secure and even faster while still not requiring any mobile data — a big time and cost saver for our users.
Here’s what you can expect in this update:
  • Easier to find and use: Nearby sharing is now available in its own dedicated tab called “Share.” This tab has a simplified and smoother interface, and it works on any Android phone from the latest Google Pixel back to Android 5.0 (Lollipop).
  • Faster connections: Thanks to improved connection techniques, the average time it takes to connect two phones is now just five seconds.
  • Faster transfers: Files Go picks the fastest method of sending files available on your phone, such as 5GHz Wi-Fi Direct, so you get the highest transfer speeds possible. Users have seen speeds up to 490 Mbps—that’s four times faster than before, or 100 original quality photos sent in less than five seconds.
  • More secure: Files Go helps you verify that you are connecting to the right person and encrypts all your transfers for additional security.
Give it a try with a friend and let us know what you think. Please send any thoughts our way by using the Feedback option in the app.

By Stephen Hughes, Software Engineer, NBU

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/rCpKOFZ5jESk93aqi1AAmYjfl4dEN15Gm5nOrqZzrkeYZxN0hFsgEz9Q9vNRmrRy0ZAoPEZwSrDs9lWzG6Xx_r4vGylZoSOxLz8g3DhvNGJ0SplPMs1txFsXTm_VcPYYEdWXKwxZ Ashwani Sharma Head of University Relations and Computer Science Outreach Google
It’s time to let the coder in you come alive as the Code to Learn competition is back for its fifth edition. But, what is Code to Learn? Students from Class 5 to 10 from any school in India can be nominated by their school teacher to show their coding genius on Scratch or App Inventor to develop a fun Games, Animations, Story-telling or an Android app; without writing even one line of programming language code!


Over the years, Computer Science and Programming has evolved and become one of the strongest means of solving real-life problems. Be it helping underprivileged kids with book donations using an app, sending their friends innovative greetings through an app or making an app to help simplify learning for kids with dyslexia.

The Code to Learn competition is a platform for students to learn the basics of coding and build a strong foundation in Computer Science. Children are exposed to technology much earlier than ever before, and we believe that these foundational years are the best time to start nurturing their scientific inquisitiveness and curiosity. Through a fun and engaging way, we aim to teach students how to use technology to solve problems around them.
In line with this objective, we have been running the Code to Learn competition for school students in India for the last 5 years. The program has also been adopted by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India under the Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan.  
The contest registrations are now open and students from across India can submit their projects by August 31, 2018. There are links to online tutorials for both Scratch and App Inventor on the contest site and are very easy to learn.


In addition to this, we will also host training programs for teachers who can further teach their students in the classrooms. Teachers can register for the training on this form. We are excited about this year's contest, and are looking forward to seeing the innovation and creativity that students will present to us via their projects.


Code to Learn is co-organized by ACM India and IIIT Delhi. ACM is the worldwide society for scientific and educational computing with an aim to advance Computer Science both as a science and as a profession. IIIT Delhi is a research-oriented university based in Delhi.

By Ashwani Sharma, Head of University Relations and Computer Science Outreach, Google India

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/YbBCZGhf0H5ZxdRcbyzZ-RPKwKqNgXd3Vc-YBizQqr5mLvEA1HGSm4nvvhGJtpX6SRwCLWkFsegfvgaRy7Cc-tlt7Jj63Wsolw5MQNGPabS6FnU9jbsEoybT38ZqVwFEGcDQRXe_ Jan Hannemann Product Manager Google Account
Several years ago, we brought our privacy and security settings together in one place to make it easier for you to choose the options that are right for you. Billions of people have now visited their Google Account and over 20 million people do so every day.
Today, we’re announcing an improved Google Account experience. It includes new features to more easily navigate your account, more prominent security and privacy options, and detailed summaries of relevant information associated with it—like your personal info, your devices, payment methods, purchases, subscriptions, reservations, and contacts. The new experience is available today for all Android users and will launch on iOS and web later this year.
New ways to find what you need
We’ve added new features in your Google Account to make it even easier to review and control this data. We’ve introduced a new search functionality that enables you to find settings and other info you might be looking for in your account, like how to change your password. When you have a problem but don't quite know what to look for, you can access a new dedicated support section as well. There, you'll find help with common tasks, like upgrading your
account storage, and get answers from community experts.
More helpful privacy and security information
We know that when it comes to data and privacy, one size does not fit all. To help you better understand and take control of your Google Account, we've made all your privacy options easy to review with our new intuitive, user-tested design. You can now more easily find your Activity controls in the Data & Personalization tab and choose what types of activity data are saved in your account to make Google work better for you. There, you’ll also find the recently updated Privacy Checkup that helps you review your privacy settings and explains how they shape your experience across Google services.
In October, we updated our Security Checkup to provide you with an overview of your account security and personalized recommendations. The new Google Account experience builds on this and will show you prominent notices if we detect there’s something you can do to improve your security. For example, we might suggest you remove your account from old devices you’re no longer using or remove unverified apps you had granted access to your account data.
We are committed to providing you with the controls you need to choose what’s right for you. For years, we’ve built and refined tools to help you easily understand, protect, and control your information. As needs around security and privacy evolve, we will continue to improve these important tools to help you control how Google works for you.

By Jan Hannemann, Product Manager, Google Account

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/qJ_gi9ND04dEmfFAYnaA3adkofwivVOvjSpKH2Ig-WJkVHBuIkJeMLhXvkadmy74evZYZxNewt2cJu-CNAZOypfkCeKl9tB9Vip67tBXJJGiu7pC5YNiGrPg32eHoN31EYOh-1qK Amanda Boss Product Manager Offline Chrome for Android
Chrome’s goal is to make the web work well for everyone, everywhere. From building offline capabilities to an automatic data saver, we’ve launched a number of features to improve web accessibility especially tailored to NBU markets. However, it can be frustrating and hard to access the web when you lose connectivity or spend days disconnected. Spotty connectivity shouldn’t stop us from accessing our favourite sites to get information, whether it’s recent news or the latest cricket results.
Today, we’re introducing another way for Chrome on Android users in India, along with more than 100 countries including Nigeria, Indonesia, and Brazil, to surf the web with Chrome on Android devices — even without a constant internet connection. When you’re connected to free, unmetered WiFi, Chrome will automatically download relevant articles, based on what content is most popular in your location. If you’re signed into Chrome, you’ll also get articles that are relevant to you, based on your browsing history. This downloaded content is then available whenever you want to access it, even if you don’t have a connection.
Chrome on Android’s automatically downloaded content is available alongside all of your downloaded content
Keep browsing the web, even offline. You can get this feature by updating to the latest version of Chrome on Android in Google Play.
By Amanda Boss, Product Manager, Offline Chrome for Android

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https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/xZRV-Myrjkn0bNesUU6tKUwj3udM83A3oAZFIpHD9MJu3zHABnu69WyFG_uhHil0QXWZaFIC10hlotQ6f6VrjfRn0t5AkVL_97c8d8uay4wVktilzWy4GDRLF7y1clxNMC3pn8ki Rajant Meshram Manager, YouTube Creator & Artist Development Google Asia Pacific
Whether you are passionate about sharing original comic sketches with the world like BeYou Nick, or are a savvy lifestyle vlogger like Sejal Kumar, YouTube is committed to supporting you at every step of your creator journey. In our endeavour to hone the next generation of creators and artists, YouTube NextUp 2018 Contest is back across YouTube Spaces globally — and this time in Delhi!  
In the past two years, YouTube NextUp has successfully changed the trajectory for over forty (40) Indian creators, and inspired the creator community across the country. Our winners have come from different cities and states throughout the country, with language, genre, and gender being no bar.


Here’s a sneak peek of what goes on in our Creator Camp:
And NextUp is just the beginning of the journey. Our Alumni have gone ahead to diversify their content, expand their reach globally, and even perform at events like YouTube FanFest and walk the red carpet in front of over 10,000 screaming fans. Sign up for NextUp to see if this can be you!
So who’s NextUp? We’re looking for passionate and motivated YouTube creators who are ready to create more compelling stories with better production skills; those who are seeking mentorship from production and channel development experts, and eager participants looking for an opportunity to collaborate with talented creators and be a part of the global NextUp community.  
Up to 12 YouTube channels from India will be selected as winners to join the NextUp Class of 2018. If selected, you will be eligible to receive:
-A week of intensive production classes and filming opportunities at YouTube Space or   production studio in October, 2018
-Educational workshops and skill-sharing sessions designed by production experts, top creators and content specialists
-INR 67,500 voucher towards production gear
-At least 3 months of ongoing support from the YouTube Content Partnerships team
To enter the India YouTube NextUp Contest, see full details (including the eligibility requirements and contest rules) at youtube.com/nextup. We’re excited to see what you’ll come up with!
Posted by Rajant Meshram, Manager, YouTube Creator & Artist Development, Google Asia Pacific, recently watched FilterCopy Vs JordIndian | YOLO: You Only Laugh Once | S01E01

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/51dqE4egSh16lemo1IpnnGPPQzpWXhTlaFJaYG3dtfBThZjNY4Cpw0xJKPqvTSI8yWeY4SMPZq7uK3h0dEB1AaRYtk0fo87Udof7upaF_tA-arNm_Fb0o5NAeY-vukrPfMZnS1ns Irene Jay Liu News Lab Lead, APAC Google
Supporting trusted, authoritative journalism is a top priority for Google, which is why we are proud to announce the launch of the Google News Initiative Training Network in India in partnership with BoomLive, DataLeads and Internews.

This training network aims to support journalists from across India in their fight against misinformation, providing in-depth and hands-on verification training to 8000 journalists across English and six other Indian languages over the next one year. The training will equip them with best-in-class skills required to debunk fake news.
The Network will select 200 journalists from cities across India, who will hone their  skills in verification and training during 5-day train-the-trainer boot camps. They will be trained in-person by global verification experts and top Indian fact-checkers, including First Draft, Storyful, AltNews, BoomLive, Factchecker.in and DataLeads.

 The network of certified trainers will train more journalists in and around their region at 2-day, 1-day and half-day workshops organised by the Network. Training workshops will be conducted in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Marathi and Kannada in cities across India.
If you are a newsroom, press club or journalism college interested in joining this fight against misinformation and hosting one of these trainings for your teams/ members/ students, please share your interest here.

If you are a journalist or journalism professor keen to join this fight against misinformation by learning verification skills and techniques from these experts, please apply here. Applications are considered on a rolling basis, with limited seats for each language.


There will be three rounds of applications to become a Google-certified trainer:
  • Round 1: Deadline is July 5 for the first English train-the-trainer boot camp, which will be held in Gurugram from July 30-August 3
  • Round 2: Deadline is July 15 for trainers in Hindi, Kannada and Tamil and English
  • Round 3: Deadline is September 15 for trainers in Telugu, Marathi and Bengali and English
Separate train-the-trainer boot camps will be organised for English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Kannada and Bengali journalists across cities in India starting end of July:
Selected trainers will be alerted about the dates and venue of the boot camp via email. The Network will take care of your flights, accommodation and transfers to and from the venue for these 5 days and for any travel, if needed, to workshops that will be organised by the network. Trainers will be entitled to a stipend to compensate for the time they will need to commit to do trainings.
When journalists and communities work together, armed with the online tools to verify information, they can build a bulwark of trusted media to fight the tide of misinformation.
More power to fact-checking!
By Irene Jay Liu, News Lab Lead, APAC