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Week in Review - July 16, 2016: Hangouts, Project Fi, Pokémon GO

This week Google Hangouts got some long-awaited updates. It’s now possible to invite people to group chats with a link, taking the pain out of invitations. And if someone gets unruly, you can kick them out of the conversation. Hangouts 11 for iOS was also released and Hangouts 11 for Android is starting to roll out. The biggest changes are in the Android app, with the introduction of video messaging (yay!), and the removal of merged conversations (boo!).

There have also been updates for the Google+ iOS app and Google+ Create program, Google and YouTube explained how much revenue it’s sending to the entertainment industry while fighting piracy, Project Fi now offers international high speed data, and the Republican and Democratic conventions will be live streamed.

It’s also been a hard week, Susan Wojcicki asked YouTube creators to use their voice to "help us all figure out how to live together in respect." And Google and mobile carriers are offering free calls to France in the wake of the attack in Nice.

Call France for free

Finally, unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard that Pokémon GO was released this week. (Is there a Pokémon that lives under a rock?) It’s not only amazingly popular - it’s caught the imagination of the tech press, so lots of related stories this week.

Image: My computer is infested with Pokémon!


Upcoming:

Pokémon GO

YouTube and Video Creation

  • How Google Creates Value while Fighting Piracy (Google Public Policy blog)
  • A letter from +Susan Wojcicki to YouTube Creators: Your voice is needed more than ever this week (YouTube Creators blog)
  • Update Warner Bros. Settles FTC Charges It Failed to Adequately Disclose It Paid Online Influencers to Post Gameplay Videos (Federal Trade Commission)
  • Tip Use YouTube Analytics to earn more from your videos (YouTube Creator Academy)

Go Live

  • Twitch Creative now allows performances: comedy, magic, music, theater and more (Twitch blog)
  • Watch the Republican & Democratic National Conventions live in 360-degrees on YouTube (YouTube blog)
  • Watch the Republican and Democratic National Conventions on Twitch (Twitch blog)

Google+ and Google Spaces

Google Photos and Mobile Photography

  • Update Google Photos iOS update 1.12.1 (Google Photos)
  • Update Snapseed update 2.7: Insights on iOS devices (Sven Tiffe)
  • Tip Photographers: Google+ Create gives you Featured Photos Priority Access (Luke Wroblewski)

Google for businesses

  • Update Create a link for customers to write reviews of your business on Google (Mike Blumenthal)

Bloggers and Webmasters

AdSense and advertising

  • Tip Is your AdSense click-through-rate (CTR) and revenue (RPM) lower than expected on mobile? (Inside AdSense blog)
  • New Google integrates Shutterstock into Adwords and Adsense (Spencer Wade)

Hangouts and Mobile Messaging

Nexus, Android, Project Fi

Privacy and Security

  • Tip Websites that support (or don't support) Two Factor Auth (2FA) (David King)

Productivity

More around the web

Updated March 2019 to remove Google+ links

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