Tag: Google

EU threatens online platforms with tougher rules on illegal content

The European Commission has called on social media platforms to crack down on hate speech, terrorist propaganda and other illegal content, warning that rules may be toughened if the industry fails to regulate itself.

EU Security Commissioner Julian King said on Monday, after a meeting that included representatives of Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

“Illegal terrorist content online has incited too many attacks.

“Today we discussed, with industry, the need for faster action. If possible on a voluntary basis, but if necessary, we’ll look at further steps,’’ King said.

According to European Commission Vice President Andrus Ansip, if platforms will not act proactively, legislators will.

Internet regulation is a hot topic in Germany, where a new law compelling online giants to remove hate speech, fake news and other illegal posts has come under fire from both the media industry and political leaders.

The commission, the EU’s executive, warned ahead of Tuesday’s meeting that greater efforts are required to remove illegal internet content.

“Even if tens of thousands of pieces of illegal content have been taken down, there are still hundreds of thousands more out there.

“Also removal needs to be speedy: the longer illegal material stays online, the greater its reach,’’ King, Ansip and three other commissioners said in a joint statement.

In May 2016, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Microsoft agreed with the commission on a code of conduct aimed at cracking down on illegal hate speech.

A review of its effectiveness is due to be published later this month.

January 22, 2018
Powering Cloud beneath sea: Google floods ocean bed with subsea cables

In commitments to connecting the world and serving its Cloud customers, Google said it has spent over $30 billion on improving its infrastructural base from data centers to subsea cables, and it is not done yet.

The Internet giant announced it will be commissioning three new submarine cables to add to its already existing ones to make a total of eleven in efforts to further expand its cloud network

“Today we’re excited to announce that we’re adding three new submarine cables,” Google said in a blog post announcing developments to open regions in the Netherlands and Montreal, followed by Los Angeles, Finland, and Hong Kong, in the first quarter of 2018.

“In 2019 we’ll commission three subsea cables: Curie, a private cable connecting Chile to Los Angeles; Havfrue, a consortium cable connecting the U.S. to Denmark and Ireland; and the Hong Kong-Guam Cable system (HK-G), a consortium cable interconnecting major subsea communication hubs in Asia.

A complete list of Google’s subsea cable investments. New cables highlighted yellow

“Together, these investments further improve our network – the world’s largest – which by some accounts delivers 25% of worldwide internet traffic. Companies like PayPal leverage our network and infrastructure to run their businesses effectively,” the Internet search giant stated.

Diagram shows Google’s subsea cable investments

Google said the three new subsea cable investments, indicated by three yellow lines in the diagram above, will serve to further expand its existing cloud network.

TheNewsGuru reports Google network has over 100 points of presence and over 7,500 edge caching nodes. Google subsea cables provide reliability, speed and security to users.

“This investment means faster and more reliable connectivity for all our users,” Google said.

“It wouldn’t be possible to deliver products like Machine Learning Engine, Spanner, BigQuery and other Google Cloud Platform and G Suite services at the quality of service users expect without the Google network.

“Our cable systems provide the speed, capacity and reliability Google is known for worldwide, and at Google Cloud, our customers are able to make use of the same network infrastructure that powers Google’s own services.

“While we haven’t hastened the speed of light, we have built a superior cloud network as a result of the well-provisioned direct paths between our cloud and end-users.

“We’re excited about these improvements. We’re increasing our commitment to ensure users have the best connections in this increasingly connected world,” Google added.

January 18, 2018
PayPal leverages Google Cloud to power billion transactions

PayPal’s Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Sri Shivananda, has said his company is leveraging on the Google Cloud platform to power billions of transactions across the globe.

Google’s Engineering Vice President, Ben Treynor Sloss, quotes the PayPal’s senior executive as saying in a blog post published on Tuesday.

“At PayPal, we process billions of transactions across the globe, and need to do so securely, instantaneously and economically.

“As a result, security, networking and infrastructure were key considerations for us when choosing a cloud provider,” he said.

Google stated over the course of three years it has spent over $30 billion in improving its infrastructure – from data centers to subsea cables, “and we’re not done yet,” the Internet giant added.

The Internet search company went further to reiterate commitment to connecting the world and serving its Cloud customers.

“Today we’re excited to announce that we’re adding three new submarine cables, and five new regions,” Google said in a statement.

TheNewsGuru reports Google will open its Netherlands and Montreal regions in the first quarter of 2018, followed by Los Angeles, Finland, and Hong Kong – with more to come.

In 2019 the Internet search giant will commission three subsea cables: Curie, a private cable connecting Chile to Los Angeles; Havfrue, a consortium cable connecting the U.S. to Denmark and Ireland; and the Hong Kong-Guam Cable system (HK-G), a consortium cable interconnecting major subsea communication hubs in Asia.

“Together, these investments further improve our network – the world’s largest – which by some accounts delivers 25% of worldwide internet traffic.

“Companies like PayPal leverage our network and infrastructure to run their businesses effectively,” Google said.

“With Google Cloud, we have access to the world’s largest network, which helps us reach our infrastructure goals and best serve our millions of users,” Sri Shivananda affirms.

TheNewsGuru also reports the Google network has over 100 points of presence and over 7,500 edge caching nodes. This investment means faster and more reliable connectivity for all its users.

The technology firm said it wouldn’t have been possible to deliver products like Machine Learning Engine, Spanner, BigQuery and other Google Cloud Platform and G Suite services at the quality of service users expect if it were not for the Google network.

“Our cable systems provide the speed, capacity and reliability Google is known for worldwide, and at Google Cloud, our customers are able to make use of the same network infrastructure that powers Google’s own services.

“While we haven’t hastened the speed of light, we have built a superior cloud network as a result of the well-provisioned direct paths between our cloud and end-users.

“We’re excited about these improvements. We’re increasing our commitment to ensure users have the best connections in this increasingly connected world,” Google stated conclusively.

January 17, 2018
Amit Fulay ‘unfriends’ Google, accepts Facebook job offer

The Head of Product for Google Allo and Google Duo, Amit Fulay, has announced leaving the Internet search giant to join number one social media platform, Facebook.

Fulay took to microblogging platform, Twitter yesterday to post about his resignation from the Mountain View company, hinting at Facebook, he will be joining a product development team.

Today is my first day at Facebook – accepted their friend request 🙂
Excited about the opportunity to serve so many users.

— Amit Fulay (@amitfulay) January 8, 2018

The last 7.5 years have been nothing short of amazing at Google. It was a privilege to help build Allo, Duo & Hangouts. Thanks to my amazing teammates who made the journey something I will cherish forever.

— Amit Fulay (@amitfulay) January 8, 2018

In his 7.5 years at Google, Fulay was instrumental in the development of instant messaging mobile applications like Allo, Duo, and hangouts.

At Google, Fulay has been working as a Product Manager since 2010. He was recently made the Head of Product for Real-Time Communications, which included Duo, Allo, WebRTC, and other products from the company.

Fulay is also active on Twitter, where he announced new features and asked for feedback regarding the Google Allo and Duo apps.

Meanwhile, Facebook has not revealed what Fulay is specifically in charge of, in the company. His LinkedIn account has not been updated yet.

It is expected that Fulay will be a part of Facebook’s efforts on its messaging platform. He also tweeted.

Google has not revealed who will be replacing Fulay in the company.

January 9, 2018
Malicious extensions: Your Google Chrome is safer than ever

Internet search giant, Google, has taken steps farther to protect users of its foremost web browser, Chrome, from malicious extensions.

Google introduced a new method to detect confusing and deceptive browser extensions on the web browser.

The search giant stated in a blog post that in the next few weeks, it will start using machine learning as an expansion of abuse protection to reduce harm to Chrome users.

Google said it will upgrade its automated inline installation abuse detection features to find out malicious extensions.

The search giant already has an extension-level protection but it will now incorporate machine learning to look at each inline installation request for bad signals in ads and webpages.

Once Chrome detects the signals, it will selectively disable the request and redirect users to the extension page on the Web Store.

This will ensure that inline installation of the extension from non-deceptive sources is not affected.

Google has posted some FAQs to help developers understand the new policy. The company has said that the expanded protections will roll out starting in a few weeks.

January 5, 2018
Google’s high-speed Internet Balloon crashes in Kenya

Google’s high-altitude Internet balloon, launched by Google to provide high-speed Internet in remote parts of the earth under Project Loon, has crashed in a Kenya farm, a media report said on Saturday.

The balloon, a part of a 10-balloon batch, was deployed for testing in Nakuru, Nanyuki, Nyeri, and Marsabit in July 2017. It crashed at Nthambiro in Meru on Friday night, media reported.

Some residents complained of headaches after they gathered around the device to get its glimpse.

“The device from project loon indicates it fell after its expiry period of six months. No one is yet to claim the device,” Igembe South OCPD Jane Nyakeruma was quoted as saying.

Earlier this year, Google announced that it was “years closer” to deliver Internet to remote parts of the world using high-flying balloons.

Researchers at Google’s Project Loon — part of the company’s X research lab — said it was now able to use machine learning to predict weather systems, meaning the firm has a greater control over where its balloons go, making it possible to focus on a specific region, rather than circumnavigating the globe, BBC reported.

Under the project, the firm suspended a network of huge balloons that beam down connectivity.

The balloons float in the stratosphere around 11 miles high. By raising or lowering altitude, the balloons can be caught in different weather streams, changing direction.

January 2, 2018
Shell, Facebook, Google, Apple, other 96 best places to work in 2018

Fastest growing jobs and recruiting website, Glassdoor, has ranked employees choice best places to work in 2018.

According to Glassdoor, the ranking system is based on “a proprietary awards algorithm”, which is designed to calculate the “quantity, quality, and consistency of company reviews submitted by employees between November 1, 2016, and October 22, 2017”.

While Facebook has become the best place to work in America, Cupertino-based tech giant Apple tumbled to number 84 from 36th position last year, and Shell ranks at number 95, Glassdoor’s 2018 list of best places to work reveals.

Apple still remains a highly rated employer – with 4.3 out of 5 rating by Glassdoor – but other tech giants like Google, World Wide Technology, Yahoo, and VMware are way ahead in the listings.

Global management consulting firm Bain & Company is the second best place to work, followed by Boston Consulting Group, In-N-Out Burger and Google.

“It’s clear employees love working at Facebook. What we really see them appreciate most is the company’s mission-driven culture, transparent leadership and the fact that their work literally impacts the lives of billions of people worldwide,” Glassdoor CEO Robert Hohman said in a statement.

When it comes to “cons” for working at Apple, several employees who anonymously reviewed the company on Glassdoor said the iPhone maker is “strapped for resources” and “offers a poor work-life balance”.

“Office space is very sparse, bring your own tea and snacks kind of a deal. Lunch isn’t free, although dinner is. Nobody is going to pat you on the back for your work, and you’re expected to advance your own career, or find the mentorship you need,” one Apple employee wrote on Glassdoor.

SAP is at 11th spot, Salesforce at 15th, LinkedIn at 21th, Adobe at 31th, Microsoft at 39th and SpaceX is at 50th place in Glassdoor’s listing.

December 7, 2017
Extremist content: Google reveals new plans for YouTube

U.S. IT giant Google will increase the number of employees engaged in the detection of extremist content on its video-sharing service YouTube, as well as other materials violating the service’s rules, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said.

In June, Google announced additional measures to counter the spread of extremist data via YouTube.

The company voiced plans to widen the use of technologies to identify extremist- and terrorist-related videos, to attract more experts to its programme of identifying problematic videos, toughening the rules as for the content that did not clearly violate YouTube’s rules and to expand its role in struggle against radical movements.

“Since June, our trust and safety teams have manually reviewed nearly two million videos for violent extremist content, helping train our machine-learning technology to identify similar videos in the future.

“We will continue the significant growth of our teams into next year, with the goal of bringing the total number of people across Google working to address content that might violate our policies to over 10,000 in 2018,” Wojcicki said in an article published on the official blog of YouTube.

The official added that the company was also fighting against aggression in comments, as well as cooperating with a number of child safety groups, such as the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, in order to ensure fight against predatory behavior.

According to Wojcicki, YouTube has also exerted efforts to increase the “network of academics, industry groups and subject matter experts” that teach the company’s specialists to better respond to the developments in the world and on the Internet.

December 5, 2017
What is Datally, Google’s new mobile data-saving app all about?

Google has inaugurated a new product known as Datally, a mobile data-saving app that helps one to understand, control and save data into the emerging market.

Google Country Manager, Mrs Juliet Ehimuan-Chiazor in a media briefing in Lagos, said that with Datally, one could save and do more with data.

TheNewsGuru reports that an emerging market is a country that has some characteristics of a developed market, but does not meet standards to be a developed market.

This includes countries that may become developed markets in the future.

According to Ehimuan-Chiazor, the app is a technology built to tackle some of the challenges being faced by Internet users of the emerging market.

“Some of the characteristics of the emerging market are their aspirations for better life, appetite to lift family out of poverty, and highly mobile among others.

“They face some challenges such as; huge percentage of people who use low earned phones, connectivity and localised content which forces them to either use airplane mode, rationing, or tethering to save data.

“Datally, the new data management app will help them understand how data is being used on the phone and help to control and save it,’’ she said.

According to her, Datally can also help one to understand where data is going, to save up to 30 per cent of data, and turn-on data saver bubble to see a real-time speedometer of one’s data.

She said the new app could also help one find great Wi-Fi nearby, and rate Wi-Fi networks among others.

“Datally shows you how much data you have used on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis and alerts you when apps consume a lot of data.

“Over time, Datally will learn your usage patterns and offer more recommendations to save data,’’ she said.

Ehimuan-Chiazor said that apps frequently use data in the background to update content and information and one may not know it happens.

She added that Datally’s Data Saver feature would turn off background data for these non-essential functions as well as let one manage data usage on an app-by-app basis.

According to her, Data Saver bubble will be used to block background data and track real-time data usage, whatever app one is using at a particular time, it works like a speedometer for ones data.

She said that one could also block data with one tap if data usage gets out of control.

The country manager said finding quality public Wi-Fi could be challenging, adding that within the range of a public network, Datally’s Wi-Fi finder would notify one and help you connect.

She said that directions were also given for one to be able to locate the Wi-Fi and once one was connected to a network, it was important to rate it in order to help others in the Datally community find great Wi-Fi.

“Datally app takes about 6MB of space, easy on ones phone’s storage, works on all phones running Android 5.0 (Lollipop) and higher, and it is available globally on the Google Play Store,’’ she said.

December 1, 2017
Top list 2017: TheNewsGuru mobile app performing best on Google Play Store as Google shares best apps, games, music, movies, TV shows, books of 2017
In continuing with its annual tradition, Google on Friday announced the best and most popular apps, games, music, movies, TV shows, books of 2017 on the Google Play apps store.

While Game of Thrones emerged the most popular TV show on Google Play for the second year in a row, Rick and Morty and The Walking Dead are on the second and third positions, respectively.

Kendrick Lamar has become the most streamed song of this year, while Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You is now the second-most streamed song worldwide, whereas His DNA holds the number three spot.

Nintendo’s “Super Mario Run” was the most downloaded new game of the year, but not all bubbles were burst, as “Bubble Witch 3 Saga” was closely behind at number two.

Photo Editor – Beauty Camera & Photo Filters was the most downloaded new app with fans touching up their favorite photos for social media.

TheNewsGuru.com mobile app is outperforming news apps on the Google Play, and the app has recorded tremendous downloads barely three months of its release.

FREE DOWNLOAD: Click/tap image above to download TheNewsGuru.com mobile app

“To close out another great year for Google Play, we’re sharing the best and most popular apps, games, music, movies, TV shows and books in 2017.

“We also have curated lists this year from our editors to help you find the best apps and games of 2017, such as “Socratic – Math Answers & Homework Help” and “CATS: Crash Area Turbo Stars,” respectively,” Brett Bouchard, Global Head of Apps & Store Engagement, Merchandising, Google Play, said announcing the list.

Most Popular New Apps of 2017
Top Trending New Games of 2017
Top Five Streamed Songs of 2017
Top Five Movies of 2017
Top Five TV Shows of 2017
Top Five Books of 2017
Download TheNewsGuru.com mobile app here
December 1, 2017