Weekly Update - November 11, 2017: Google Docs & Slides, AdSense, Chrome & Ads

This week Google Top Contributors from North and South America (and a few other places) met in Mountain View, California to learn, shmooze, and have some fun. It was a great time, and it was awesome to see everyone in person. In the past few weeks, there were also meetups in Dublin, Ireland and Singapore for Top Contributors around the world.

Check out the photos of all three TC Summits on Google+, Twitter, and Instagram.

• As a result, the Weekly Update will be a bit shorter than usual this week. Here are my top updates:
• The image insertion process for Google Docs, Slides, and Drawings has been redesigned. Now you can more easily add one of your own photos or a photo from the web to your document or presentation.
• Google Docs and Slides now has fonts to support 62 languages, including non-Latin scripts like Cyrillic and Devanagari
• The AdSense ad balance tool is back - it lets you reduce the number of ads you show to visitors to your website without significantly decreasing your income (hopefully).
• Starting in Chrome 64, redirects from 3rd party content (like ads) will just show an infobar, rather than loading the new page.

Plus there are tips and updates for YouTubers, webmasters, Plussers, and more.

Image: Google Top Contributor Meetup in Mountain View (by me)

Upcoming:

• 14 November: Google Webmaster Central Office Hours Hangout on Air
• 16 November: Google Partners Academy on Air: AdWords Attribution: Understanding the Full Customer Journey
• 22 November: AdSense on Air: Get your website mobile ready
• 23 November: Google Partners Academy on Air: Smart Bidding: Embrace the Future of Marketing
• 30 November: Google Partners Academy on Air: DataStudio: Automate Your Reporting
• 1 December: YouTube Paid Channels will be made private

YouTube and Video Creation

• Recent YouTube updates and bugs in the latest news flash from Creator Insider​. (Creator Insider)

Go Live

• Twitch is finally releasing the nearly 30 million usernames associated with Justin.tv (TechCrunch)

Google+

• Share your best pet photos, videos and stories on Google+! (Google+)

Other social media

• You can now add any photo or video from your camera roll to your Instagram Story (Instagram)
• The naked truth about Facebook’s revenge porn tool (Violet Blue @ Engadget)
• Instant Articles Introduces “Monetization Tab”, With Simpler, One-Click Control for Turning on Recirculation Ads (Facebook Media blog)
• Facebook rolls out GIF-supported polls feature to web and mobile apps (The Verge)
• Twitter rewrote its user guidelines so it’s easier to tell what will get you banned (Recode)
• Twitter is giving everyone longer tweets, but you probably won’t use them (Recode)
• Reddit bans Nazi boards in crackdown on ‘violent’ content (The Verge)
• Russian troll account duped the media, and everyone else (Mashable)

Google Photos and Mobile Photography

• Google Photos photo books are now available in Canada (Google Canada blog)
• Google Photos will create a HDR image from exposure-bracketed frames (Srđan Stevanović​)

Google for businesses

• Google to show restaurant estimated wait time on Search and Maps (Google Blog)

Bloggers and Webmasters

• Google Webmaster Central Office Hours (November 9) (Google Webmasters)

AdSense and advertising

• The AdSense ad balance tool is back (AdSense)
• Chrome 64 will block those pesky redirecting ads everyone hates (Android Police)

Hangouts and Messaging

• Duo 22 is rolling out with updated adaptive icons (Android Police)

Made by Google, Android, Project Fi

• Making Pixel better for Drivers (Android Developers)
• Android's monthly security bulletin now details functional updates for Pixels and Nexus phones (Android Police)
• A look back at Android's first public beta version, 10 years ago (Derek Ross)

Productivity

• Insert images more easily in Google Docs, Slides, and Drawings (G Suite Updates)
• Google Docs and Slides now has fonts to support more languagesi (G Suite Updates)
• Copy comments and suggestions in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides (G Suite Updates)
• Google to show restaurant estimated wait time on Search and Maps (Google Blog)

Privacy and Security

• Chrome: expanding user protections on the web (Chromium blog)
• Chrome Stable Channel Update for Desktop (Chrome Releases)

More around the web

• Waymo’s fully self-driving cars are here (Waymo)
• Project Loon Has Provided Internet to 100,000 People in Puerto Rico (Gizmodo)
• Designing emoji is harder than it looks: gender, cheeseburgers, poo and more 

Updated March 2019 to remove links to Google+