TheNewsGuru

Tag: Google

  • UKRAINE WAR: Google sends alerts for incoming air raids to Ukrainians Android phone users

    UKRAINE WAR: Google sends alerts for incoming air raids to Ukrainians Android phone users

    In an effort to help Ukrainians get to safety, Google will immediately start rolling out alerts for incoming air raids to their Android phone users.

     

    This was disclosed by the company in its blog post on Thursday.

     

    President of global affairs for Google, Kent Walker, said the Air Raid Alert system will work in conjunction with the Ukrainian government.

     

    “At the request, and with the help, of the government of Ukraine, we’ve started rolling out a rapid Air Raid Alerts system for Android phones in Ukraine.

     

    “This work is supplemental to the country’s existing air raid alert systems, and based on alerts already being delivered by the Ukrainian government,” Walker wrote.

     

    Vice president of engineering at Google for Android, Dave Burke, said the system is based off of the earthquake alerts they send users.

     

    He pointed out that the new system has started rolling out already and will ramp up to target all Android phones in Ukraine over the next few days.

     

    He said: “The system leverages our low latency alert mechanism we built for earthquake alerts,” Burke tweeted.

     

    “The air raid system is supplemental too, and shares the same triggers used for, the country’s existing air raid alert systems.”

     

    On March 4, Google directed Google Play users in Ukraine to the Ukrainian Alarm app. They said the app was created by Ukrainian developers in cooperation with the Ukrainian government to give people better air raid warnings.

     

    “Now, Ukrainians will be able to receive alerts if their phone location and internet is turned on without the third-party app.

     

    “Air raid alerts and sirens in Ukraine are a tragic daily reality, and we’re doing all we can to help people get these crucial alerts as many ways as possible,” the company stated.

     

    Google has already blocked Russian state media channels from its platforms, including the Google Play store.

     

    It has suspended Google Pay for customers of sanctions-hit Russian banks, meaning customers of those banks won’t be able to use the mobile payment system.

  • Google lauds increase in software development in Africa

    Google lauds increase in software development in Africa

    Google in Africa says the increase in software development in Africa has increased tremendously, with Nigeria adding 5,000 new professionals in 2021.

    Nitin Gajria, the company’s Managing Director, said, in a statement on Monday, that the rise was impressive in spite of the pandemic and global economic challenges the continent’s developer experienced.

    Gajria said its findings were based on the Ecosystem Report 2021 conducted across 16 Sub Sahara African countries.

    The managing director said that the findings came through fielded and analysed surveys of software developers as well as interviews with local experts.

    He said that with the use of the internet by small and medium businesses by over 22 per cent, there was the need for web development services in the continent.

    Besides, he said there was a higher demand for remote development work because 38 per cent of African developers work for at least one company based outside of the continent.

    ‘’This is evidenced by the magnitude of growth in Nigeria’s professional developer population, which added an estimated 5,000 new professional developers to its pool in 2021.

    “While Africa’s tech innovation sector is making great strides, global tech companies, educators and governments can do more to ensure that the industry becomes a strategic economic pillar.

    “At Google, we are intent on further igniting training and support for this community by bridging the existing developer skills gap and concentrating our efforts in upskilling female developers who face pointed challenges,” he said.

    Gajria said that following a series of initiatives, including developer advocacy, startup acceleration, training programmes, and global technical mentorship) that the company had implemented over the last 10 years, Google would train 100,000 developers across the continent by 2022.

    According to him, to date, the African continent is home to more than 150 active Google Developer Groups and 100 Developer Student Clubs in Africa.

    He said that combined, these groups reach over 200,000 community members in 40 out of the 48 countries in the Sub-Saharan African region.

    Gajria added that the company may have contributed nearly $180 billion to Africa’s economy, saying the projected potential contribution could reach $712 billion by 2050.

    “In order to reach this potential, we have to provide better access to high-quality, world-class skilling on mobile technologies platforms coupled with increasing connectivity in Africa.

    “Our effort to increase connectivity is focused on infrastructure, devices, tools and product localisation,” Gajria said.

  • Google sues S/Korea antimonopoly regulator over $173m fine

    Google sues S/Korea antimonopoly regulator over $173m fine

    Google has filed a lawsuit against the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) in response to the regulator’s 173 million dollars fine against google for obstructing Korean smartphone makers from using operating systems (OS) other than Android.

    Korean news agency Yonhap reported on Wednesday stating that KFTC’s decision was enforced in September.

    This came as Google was obliging local smartphone makers, such as Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, to sign an “anti-fragmentation agreement (AFA),” prohibiting producers to use modified versions of Android OS and forcing them to publish applications and games only in Google Play Store.

    Yonhap cited sources as saying that Google filed the suit on January 24 in order to overturn the fine and the order making Google to correct its policies and to suspend restrictions.

    Google said that Android’s compatibility programme has brought innovations and success to Korean developers.

    The decision “ignores these benefits and wound undermine the advantages enjoyed by consumers,” the company said as quoted by Yonhap.

    The tech-giant also applied for an injunction with the Seoul High Court, the trial will begin on Feb. 25.

    In August, South Korea’s parliament approved a bill, curbing Google and Apple’s payment policies, forcing developers to only use their payment methods.

    The bill was approved so local companies could avoid paying 30 per cent commission on every transaction to tech-giants.

  • How Google Maps reviews work

    How Google Maps reviews work

    Google on Wednesday shared information about how reviews worked on Google Maps and also introduced new content policies that safeguarded the process of posting reviews for business profiles.

    Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, Communications and Public Affairs Manager, West Africa, said this in a statement dedicated to keeping reviews on Google Maps authentic and reliable to protect local businesses from fraud and abuse.

    Kola-Ogunlade said that it also made the information helpful for users, saying that local guides had helped millions of people worldwide to discover new places by sharing local knowledge and experiences.

    “They share reviews, photos and knowledge on Google Maps and influence how millions of people navigate and explore the world.

    “Their contributions inform people about what matters to them, make it easier for them to find what they need, and help support small businesses.

    “Google Business Profile is an easy-to-use tool for businesses and organisations to manage their online presence across Google, including Search and Maps,’’ he said.

    Kola-Ogunlade said this had helped to customise individual businesses, enabled business owners to tell their stories, verified their businesses and edited their online business information.

    He said that the Maps User Contributed Content Policy was aimed at ensuring that information on Google Maps was reliable, protecting individuals and businesses from policy violations.

    He said that much of the work done to prevent inappropriate content was done behind the scene, saying that today Google was shedding more light on what happened after you hit “post” on a review.

    According to him, with more than one billion people turning to Google Maps every month to navigate and explore, Google aims to make sure the information they see, especially reviews, is reliable for everyone.

    The communications manager said that Google had created the Maps User Contributed Policy to make sure reviews were based on real-world experiences and to keep irrelevant and offensive comments off Google Business Profile.

    “Google will use machine learning models to moderate millions of reviews uploaded using the Google Business Profile tool while its staff would identify the subtle distinction or variation of various expressions of individual posts.

    “Machines identify patterns to determine if content is legitimate.

    “Issues flagged by machines include offensive or off-topic content; any Google account with a history of suspicious behavior; places with uncharacteristic activity such as an abundance of reviews over a short period of time.’’ he said.

    Kola-Ogunlade said it was about a particular place or business or any place that had received recent news or social media coverage that would motivate people to leave fraudulent reviews.

    According to him, businesses detecting policy-violating reviews on their profiles can alert Google via the How to remove reviews from your Business Profile on Google.

    “Individual Map users can report any violation via the Flag and fix inappropriate content portal. This will see the offensive content removed, user accounts suspended or in some instances, litigation being pursued,’’ he said.

    Google Business Profile is an easy-to-use tool for businesses and organisations to manage their online presence across Google including Search and Maps.

    This helps customers, individual businesses and enables business owners to tell their story, verify their businesses and edit their online business information.

  • How technology can ease stress of ‘back to school’ rush

    How technology can ease stress of ‘back to school’ rush

    Google on Monday highlighted five ways technology could ease the stress of students, teachers and parents go through the rush of back to school and getting back into the swing of things.

    Mr Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, Google Communication Officer said in a statement that tools such as beat traffic with a map, setting a reminder with an assistant, complete homework with the search among others were tools that could ease the back-to-school rush.

    Kola-Ogunlade said that it could be overwhelming for parents to balance their own professional endeavours with the demands of their children’s rigorous education, but technology can sometimes help to lighten the load.

    He said that parents, settling back to work after the restful holiday, face multiple tasks such as beating morning traffic to get their children to school on time, making sure that daily school supplies were lined up and ready to use among others.

    According to him, a tool such as Set reminders with Assistant is a smart way to remember all things that are important for school from lunches to school events.

    “One can get real-time information about traffic jams and delays using Google Maps, helping to plan better routes for school runs.

    “Not all parents are subject matter experts, but they do often have to play the role of designated tutor, or help out with homework.

    “YouTube is great for watching explanatory videos that are fun, informative, and educational, that can help parents tutor children who wish to learn more beyond their school work.

    “Children today spend more time online than ever before, as such, it is important to help them develop healthy online habits and make sure they are protected from ills such as online predators and cyberbullies,” he said.

    The communication officer said that Family Link allows parents to set digital rules to help guide their children as they learn and explore online.

    He said that the app helps children make good decisions about what they do on their devices and even shows teacher-recommended apps that can be added to their devices.

    Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

  • Google announces 1st investment in SafeBoda transportation app

    Google announces 1st investment in SafeBoda transportation app

    Google on Thursday announced its first investment from the Africa Investment Fund in SafeBoda, a transportation-led app, to help expand its growth in Nigeria and Uganda.

    Nitin Gajria, Managing Director for Google in Africa said in a statement that Google was thrilled about this first investment from the $50M Africa Investment Fund that it announced in October.

    Gajria said that this was part of Google’s ongoing commitment to tech startups in Africa.

    ‘’I am of the firm belief that no one is better placed to solve Africa’s biggest problems than Africa’s young developers and entrepreneurs.

    ‘’We look forward to announcing subsequent investments in other startups.

    ‘’The Africa Investment Fund is part of a broader plan to invest $1 billion over five years to support digital transformation in Africa,’’ he said in a statement.

    According to him, through this fund, Google will invest $50M in startups and provide them with access to Google’s employees, network, and technologies to help them build impactful products for their communities.

    He said that currently, Africa was home to 700,000 developers and venture capital funding for startups had decreased in 2020 compared to 2019, with a record $4 billion in equity funding raised in 2021, according to Partech Ventures Africa.

    Gajria said that digital startups in Africa were driving innovation in fast-growing sectors, including fintech, healthtech, media and entertainment, e-commerce, e-mobility, and e-logistics, contributing to Africa’s growing Internet gross domestic product (iGDP)

    He said that this first investment was in SafeBoda, a venture-backed company with investors that would help drive SafeBoda’s growth in Uganda and Nigeria, scaling its transportation-led app.

    According to him, it is to offer new payment and financial services solutions for its expanding set of customers: passengers, drivers and merchants.

    Ricky Rapa Thomson, co-founder, SafeBoda, said that SafeBoda was excited to have Google added to its community and ware excited to continue to drive innovation in informal transportation and payments in the motorcycle industry.

    Thomson said that as a former boda driver in Kampala, Uganda, motorcyclists were the lifeblood of Africa’s cities and power economic development.

    He said that SafeBoda was thrilled that leading global companies such as Google saw the importance of backing start-ups working towards those goals.

    SafeBoda app was launched in 2017 to connect passengers to their community of safer and trusted drivers.

    Since then SafeBoda had grown to serve over one million customers, expanding its transportation-led super app offering rides, parcel delivery, food and shop, payments, savings and other financial services.

  • See what Nigerians searched most on Google in 2021

    See what Nigerians searched most on Google in 2021

    Google on Wednesday highlighted Tiwa Savage, Euro 2020, how to check Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) as the top searches on Google in 2021.

    Mr Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, Communication Officer, West Africa, Google said in a statement that Google’s 2021 Year in Search compiles the moments, people, topics, events, and places that capture the world’s attention each year.

    Kola-Ogunlade said that as the pandemic entered its second year, Nigerians used the internet to search for answers and information that revealed their interest in topics related to music, movies, TV shows, sports, food.

    He said that celebrity personalities, pop culture and lifestyle were top searches as well as topics such as ‘Paralympics’, ‘Euro 2020’ , ‘EPL’ , ‘Chelsea F.C.’ and ‘Champions league’, reflective of the country’s uncompromising love for sport.

    The Communications officer Tiwa Savage, Destiny Etiko and Romelu Lukaku topped their respective categories, revealing Nigerians’ love for top entertainment personalities and athletes.

    ‘’Squid Game, the Korean TV series that enthralled the world, topped the category of trending movies and series.

    “From questions like ‘How to check JAMB result 2021?’, to search terms like ‘Alcohol lyrics’, and ‘TB Joshua’ Nigerians used Search to make sense of their world this year,’’ he said.

    He said the other trending searches were Paralympics, Obi Cubana Sound Sultan, Baba Ijesha, Sunday Igboho, Nnamdi Kanu, Alcohol lyrics among others.

    Google Trends is a publicly available tool that displays relative search volume across geographies, time periods and queries that people want to know about.

  • Obi Cubana, Tiwa Savage top 2021 Google most searched people in Nigeria

    Obi Cubana, Tiwa Savage top 2021 Google most searched people in Nigeria

    Nigerian singer, Tiwa Savage, and popular businessman, Obi Cubana, topped Google’s list as the 2021 most trending people in Nigeria.

    TheNewsGuru reports that Google announced this on Wednesday in a statement titled, ‘Google releases Nigeria’s 2021 Year in Search lists’.

    The search lists included top ten search queries on Google in different categories such as top trending searches, top trending people, top trending musicians, top 2021 loss, among others.

    Tiwa Savage topped the list in the most searched artiste and trending people lists. The singer was a major topic of discussion in October as she was involved in a sex tape scandal.

    Following Tiwa Savage in the most searched people’s list was Obinna Iyaegbu, popularly known as Obi Cubana, who trended in July after an elaborate show of wealth at his mother’s burial in Anambra state.

     

  • Google loses appeal over €2.4bn EU competition fine

    Google loses appeal over €2.4bn EU competition fine

    The EU General Court on Wednesday upheld on a 2.4-billion-euro (2.8-billion-dollar) European Commission competition fine from 2017 against Google for abusing its market dominance by promoting its own shopping service.

    Dismissing the U.S. tech giant’s appeal, the European Union’s second highest court backed the conclusions drawn by the EU executive branch.

    The Luxembourg-based judges found Google had favoured “its own comparison shopping service over competing services,’’ an official court press release stated.

    Wednesday’s ruling was a boost for EU ambitions to rein in Google’s market dominance and can still be challenged at the bloc’s highest court, the European Court of Justice.

    Google said the case related to “a very specific set of facts’’ and that it had complied with the commission decision in 2017, changing the way its service worked.

    It was now reviewing the EU General Court’s verdict, Google spokesperson Emily Clarke said.

    The commission began formally probing Google Shopping in 2010, following a number of complaints by European and U.S. competitors that the company had breached EU antitrust rules.

    After years of investigation, the commission concluded in 2017 that Google had systematically given preferential placement to its own shopping service and demoted rivals in search results.

    The fine was the first of three anti-trust penalties slapped on Google by the commission in recent years, totalling more than 8 billion euros.

    The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) welcomed the new ruling.

    BEUC director Monique Goyens said “Google’s misleading and unfair practices harmed millions of European consumers by ensuring that rival comparison shopping services were virtually invisible.’’

    The new legal victory brings fresh impetus to European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager’s attempts to regulate Google’s activities in the EU single market.

    The EU has a touchy relationship with the U.S. dominated global technology industry.

    The bloc’s executive has pushed back against what it views as data privacy violations, anti-competitive practices and sweetheart tax deals.

    Vestager in particular has gone after Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple, opening a string of investigations in recent years.

    A number of these have fallen flat when challenged in EU courts.

    In 2020, the EU General Court threw out a 13-billion-euro tax bill handed to Apple. Wednesday’s decision is therefore likely a relief for Vestager.

  • BREAKING: eNaira app ‘disappears’ from Google Play Store

    BREAKING: eNaira app ‘disappears’ from Google Play Store

    The eNaira app recently launched by President Muhammadu Buhari has ‘disappeared’ from the Google Play Store, checks have shown.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports the eNaira app was probably removed from the Play Store by Google due to the numerous complaints and poor performance ratings the app has received since launch.

    Users had earlier rated the application low and made several complaints on the eNaira app on the Google Play Store.

    The central bank digital currency, called eNaira, was launched on Monday and 36 hours after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) published on the Play Store, it has been unpublished.

    To access the eNaira, users have to download the ‘speed wallet’, which allows users to make quick and easy transactions. It is the digital storage that holds the eNaira and is held and managed on a distributed ledger.

    However, at the time of filing this report, the eNaira Merchant App, which has considerable positive comments is still available for download.

    Twenty-four hours after the eNaira App was published over 100, 000 users had downloaded it.

    Users who had downloaded the application said that they have not been asked to update the 8.76 megabytes application.

    The eNaira speed wallet had a rating of 2.0 of the obtainable 5.0 from 2,150 reviews on Play Store as of 5:45pm on Monday as users complained of glitches.

    It is unclear if the App was unpublished by Google because of the poor rating and negative reviews or the CBN. No words from the CBN on the matter yet.