Weekly Update - December 17, 2016: Google+, YouTube, Project Fi Fun

As the end of the year draws near, the last updates of 2016 are being released. My top updates:

• Google+ improves search, recommended and trending posts, lets you find more content in your Home stream and released the last iOS app update of the year
• YouTube’s Custom URL system is now independent of Google+, plus you can learn about what’s happening with subscriptions
• Project Fi spreads the holiday cheer, with $20 off if you join via a referral link and free goodies for subscribers traveling through the Mineta San Jose International Airport
• AI is transforming Google
• Microsoft introduces a personal universal translator for real-time group conversations

Holiday cheer:

• Sharing the Project Fi love: Get $20 when you join!
• Project Fi subscribers: if you are flying through San Jose, CA stop by the #FlyWithFi Travel Trolly
• Project Fi has holiday treats for subscribers! A World of Thanks (Google blog)
• Bing offers holiday treats and celebrates the spirit of giving (Bing blog)
• Santa's Village is now open! (Google Blog)

More of 2016: the best and most popular
(see last week’s roundup for more)

• The 2016 Google Top Contributor program meetup recap - good times were had!
• Some of our favorite moments from the #TCMeetups2016. (Google TC Program)
• The year in search 2016 - love is out there (Google)
• All the biggest moments of 2016. All in the Vimeo zodiac (Vimeo Blog)
• A top-10 list of Google BigQuery user experiences in 2016 (Google Cloud Platform Blog)
• National Geographic Best Photographs of 2016

Image: Gumpid mangjæ (After the wolfs) by John Savio (1902-1938) (Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

Upcoming

• 16 December Google Webmaster Office Hours: Search Console
• 20 December Google Webmaster Office Hours: Mobile, AMP 
• 22 December #AskAdSense every Thursday 9:30 AM PST on Google+ and Twitter

YouTube and Video Creation

• YouTube updates Custom URL system - it’s now independent of Google+ (YouTube Creator blog)
• BandPage users: back up your content and move your profile to your YouTube channel before March 2017 (BandPage)
• What's happening with YouTube subscriptions? Bots, subscribers and videos in your feed (YouTube Help)
• Vimeo releases apps for tvOS, Android TV, and Samsung's Tizen-powered TVs. (The Next Web)
• Facebook finally gets HD video uploads, tests PIP video, easier notification browsing, and more (Android Police)

Go Live

• Facebook introduces Live 360° video (Facebook Media Blog)
• Twitter announces you can now #GoLive (Twitter, Krishna De)
• Periscope sunk without Twitter’s wings (TechCrunch)

Google+ and Spaces

• Google+ iOS "N" (6.3.0): community moderation, photo & video posting (Michael Wattendorf)
• Improved Google+ search for Collections and Communities (Luke Wroblewski)
• Control how much Trending and Recommended content you see in your Google+ Home Stream (Luke Wroblewski)
• Find more content: scroll through Community and Collections recommendations in your home stream on the new Google+ Web experience (Luke Wroblewski)
• Best practices for Google+ Community Owners: the guide (Google+)

Other social media

• Instagram: Introducing Saved Posts (Instagram blog)
• Facebook Friendships in Europe (Facebook research blog)
• Facebook brings its dedicated Events app to Android (The Next Web)
• Facebook finally gets HD video uploads, tests PIP video, easier notification browsing, and more (Android Police)
• Reddit For Sale: How We Bought The Top Spot For $200 (Point on YouTube)

Fighting Fake News

• Facebook fighting fake news with flagging and human fact checkers (Facebook blog)
• Now you can fact-check Trump’s tweets — in the tweets themselves (Washington Post)
• It’s Not Enough to Know What News Is Fake. Help Stop Its Spread With Slate’s New Tool. (Slate)

Google Photos and Mobile Photography

• Snapseed 2.14 update: Perspective tool, Text centering, and more (Snapseed)

Google for businesses

• Business owners in the US and Canada: Get expedited verification on your Google My Business listing (Google Small Business)
• Google My Business Really, Really, Really Wants Your Photos - Will They Really Send You More Website Visits? (Mike Blumenthal)
• Google My Business now shows Google Maps photos insights (SEO Roundtable)

Bloggers and Webmasters

• Pro-Trump (and other) referrer spam in Google Analytics (Motherboard) 
• New wave of referrer spam wrecking Google Analytics data (Marketing Land)

Watch Google Webmasters Office Hours archives:

• Internationalization (9 December)
• Structured Data (13 December)
• AMP & PWA (w/Paul Bakaus) (14 December)

AdSense and advertising

• What to do if your AdSense account is disabled (AdSense @ YouTube)
• Google Contributor as we know it is being unceremoniously shut down (Android Central)
• Why Twitch Is Joining Facebook In Blocking Ad Blockers (Motherboard)

Hangouts and Messaging

• Skype Translator offers real time translation of calls to mobile phones and landlines (Skype blog)
• Telegram update adds ability to pin chats, improves photo editor (PhoneArena)

Nexus, Pixel, Android, Project Fi

• Gboard - updated Google Keyboard for Android (Google blog)
• Google’s new “Android Things” OS hopes to solve awful IoT security (Ars Technica)
• Move data from old iPhone to your new Android phone using Google Drive (Android)

Productivity

• Microsoft introduces a personal universal translator for real-time group conversations (Microsoft Blog)
• Introducing the new Google Wallet experience on the web (Google blog)

Privacy and Security

• Hackers compromised one billion Yahoo accounts in August 2013 (Yahoo)
• Bye Flash! Chrome moving to HTML5 by default (Chromium blog)
• A Note From Chris O’Neill about Evernote’s Privacy Policy (Evernote Blog)

More around the web

• The Great AI Awakening: How Google used artificial intelligence to transform Translate, and how machine learning is poised to reinvent computing (New York Times)
• Microsoft’s new plan is to flood your entire life with artificial intelligence (Quartz)
• ‘I’m Here to Help,’ Trump Tells Tech Executives at Meeting (New York Times)
• Say hello to Waymo—the next chapter of the Google self-driving car project! (Waymo) 
• If you’re in the knowledge business, your expertise is your stock in trade. So why would you ever give it away for free? (Stone Temple Consulting)

Updated March 2019 to remove Google+ links