Weekly Update - September 24, 2016: YouTube Heroes, Google+ in Google Apps, Allo

This week’s top updates:

• YouTube Heroes program announced
• Google Allo launches
• Google+ becomes a core Google Apps for Work Service

Plus Google Trips, Google - and Bing! - get AMP’d, Yahoo's 2014 security breach, and more tips and updates for Hangouts, YouTube, Google+, Blogger, AdSense, Google Maps, Google Docs & Slides, and more.

Image: It’s officially autumn: the air is crisper, the leaves are changing and YouTubers are freaking out ... Painting "Autumn Leaves" by Sarah Jane Prentiss (1823-1877), public domain

Upcoming

• Google Webmaster Central Office Hours
• 23 September: French-speaking YouTube Creators - apply for YouTube NextUp Paris!(YouTube Space Next Up)
• 29 September: Join #AskAdSense on Google+ and Twitter every Thursday
• 29 September: Google Feed API ceases operation
• 29 September:, the Search Box gadget on Blogger blogs will only present search results from the blog. Search results from pages linked in posts, from the Web or from the Blog List and Link List gadgets will not be presented anymore.
• 29 September: the Blogger Slideshow gadget will no longer function, and will be removed from your blog
• 2 October: Brazilian Creators: Apply to be part of the next class of YouTube NextUp 2016 São Paulo
• 4 October Google teases that *something* will be announced - probably a new phone and maybe more?
• 17 October Everyone updated to the new Hangouts Chrome Extension experience

YouTube and Video Creation

• New YouTube Heroes: making YouTube a better place for everyone (YouTube)
• Why you should not freak out about the new YouTube Heroes program (Rob Lee)
• New YouTube introduces Creators for Change: making the world better through video (YouTube)
• Brazilian Creators: Apply to be part of the next class of YouTube NextUp 2016 São Paulo (Google Brazil)
• Tip How flagging content on YouTube works (YouTube)

Go Live

• Twitch’s co-founder wants the site to reach beyond gaming as it seeks to capture the market on all live-streamed online media (TechCrunch)
• Update Periscope announces new features for iOS devices (Periscope blog)

Google+ and Spaces

• New Google+ is now a core Google Apps for Work service (Google Apps Updates blog)
• New Use Friends+Me to schedule posts to your Google+ Profile and Collections (Friends+Me)
• Update Google now refers to " Brand Accounts " across properties. Instead of "Pages". (Robert Wallis)
• Tip Use Google+ Collections to boost exposure to your content (Robert Wallis)
• Update iPad support in the Spaces iOS App 1.06 (Luke Wroblewski)
• Update Sharing in Google Spaces on iOS is now faster and easier (Luke Wroblewski)

Other social media 

• New Photos, videos, GIFs, polls, and Quote Tweets no longer count toward your 140 characters (Twitter)
• New Twitter adds a button to help you train its algorithm (The Next Web)

Google Photos and Mobile Photography

• Update Google Photos update: faster sharing and new auto-created movies (Google Blog)
• New Google's Show and Tell automated captioning system has learned to identify and describe photos (Google Research blog)

Google for businesses

• New Google My Business - Thumbs Up for Reviews (J Clemens)
• Tip 5 Things You Can Do to Improve Your Google "Reviews From The Web" (Get Five Stars)

Bloggers and Webmasters

• Update Blogger update: Slideshow gadget retired, Search gadget searches blog only
• New Penguin is now part of the core Google search ranking algorithm (Google Inside Search blog)
• New Google Search results are officially AMP’’d (Google Inside Search Blog)
• New Disqus now compatible with Google AMP (Disqus blog)
• New Bing App joins the AMP open-source effort (Bing Blog)
• Tip Google Webmaster Central Office Hours (September 20) (Google Webmasters on YouTube)
• Tip Google Webmaster Central Office Hours (September 23) (Google Webmasters on YouTube)

AdSense and advertising

• Join #AskAdSense on Google+ and Twitter every Thursday starting September 29
• Should Google be able to pick and choose the types of ads it allows? (MIT Technology Review)
• Update Google delivers new app and video ad innovations for the mobile-first world (Inside Adwords blog)

Hangouts and Messaging

• New Introducing Allo: personal Google assistant, incognito chats, smart replies and more (Google Blog)
• Allo's weird SMS support explained, and other answers (Android Police)
• Allo’s privacy issues: Embrace them (Russ Buchmann)
• Chatting with Google: The many ways Assistant replaces or augments OK Google, Google Now, and Now on Tap (Android Police)
• Update Hangouts 13 for Android: now with more emotes (－‸ლ) (Android Police)
• Update Chrome OS 53 (partially) fixes support for casting to Hangouts (Paolo Amoroso)

Nexus, Android, Project Fi

• Update Wi-Fi Assistant available in additional countries for Project Fi
• Google teases *something* happening on October 4th

Productivity

• New Google Trips helps you plan and organize your trip (Google Blogs)
• Update Google Drive update: improved search, split docs into columns, access non-Google files after editing (Google Drive blog)
• Update Use your Android Wear watch to control your Google Slides presentation
• Update Google Maps now shows which way you are headed (Google Maps blog)
• New Google Play Books introduces “Discover” (Android blog)
• Redesigning the Chrome Desktop (Sebastien Gabriel)

Privacy and Security

• Yahoo confirms massive security breach (Yahoo)
• A Hack to Yahoo’s Shrunken Reputation (New Yorker)

More around the web

• A note from the editor-in-chief about Chris Ziegler (Verge senior writer turns out to have been working for Apple) (The Verge)

Posted by Peggy K