- This week was CES - the big Consumer Electronics Show - in Las Vegas. Google hasn’t had an official presence there in several years, but this year they went in big, with a huge “playground” booth and Google Assistant everywhere. They announced Google Assistant-powered “Smart Displays”, plus a new Daydream stand-alone VR headset and VR180 cameras. And there were lots more TVs, computers, and gadgets from leading manufacturers. Not to mention the latest in self-driving pizza delivery vehicles.
- In the wake of last week’s Logan Paul “incident”, in which the popular YouTuber shared a video showing someone who had committed suicide, YouTube posted an open letter acknowledging for their lack of communication. They stated that “there will be consequences”, which there have been. But beyond that, YouTube promised they will be taking steps “to ensure a video like this is never circulated again.” They have also been reassuring advertisers that videos in the “Google Preferred” program (which get top advertising dollars) will be better vetted.
- Google Webmasters is rolling out the Search Console (beta) to everyone . They also announced that Google's PageSpeed Insights now includes real-world data, at least for some websites.
- If you have a Chromebook, check out the new official list of Chrome OS devices, which includes the Linux kernel version, the date official updates end, and status of mitigations for the Meltdown vulnerability. I learned my Chromebook - code name “minnie” - will get updates through the middle of 2020, which isn’t bad.
- Also of interest for families: Chrome Supervised Users is being deprecated January 15th. Google is working on new supervision features, but hasn’t announced when they will be available. Parents aren’t happy about the change.
- Facebook is making a major update to the News Feed. Posts from friends and family, and those that “spark conversations and meaningful interactions between people” will be higher in the feed. That means less content from brands and businesses. That sounds great to me - I primarily use Facebook to see what family and friends are up to. It will be interesting to see if brands move away from Facebook and invest in other platforms like Twitter, YouTube or (dare I suggest it) Google+.
Image: CPUs from retired computers waiting for recyclation by Ondřej Martin Mach on Wikimedia Commons ( licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported)
Upcoming:
- 14 January: Google+ Post of the week deadline: #MyMotivator
- 26 January: Google Partners 'Discover' - Digital Transformation: Mobile Solutions
- 31 January: AdSense on Air: Introduction to AMP
CES 2018
- Intel CEO: Meltdown and Spectre patches will come to 90%+ of chips in the next week (TechCrunch)
- Intel launches motion capture studio in LA to bring cinematic VR to Hollywood studios (TechCrunch)
- A new way to experience Daydream and capture memories in VR (Google Blog)
- New devices and more: what's in store for the Google Assistant this year (Google Blog)
- Report: Fearing Amazon Alexa, Google plans Assistant-focused store revamp, closer integrations in 2018 (9to5Google)
- New Products At CES powered by Android Things (Android Developers Blog)
- YouTube’s in-app messaging and Community tab may make their way to YouTube TV, YouTube Music (TechCrunch)
- Toyota Joins With Uber, Amazon, Mazda, and Pizza Hut to Find the Self-Driving Future (Wired)
- LG’s new 4K OLED and Super UHD TVs add Google Assistant, Alexa, and an even better picture (The Verge)
- The coolest thing I saw at CES: Forpheus, the Ping-Pong-playing robot (ReCode)
YouTube and Video Creation
- An open letter to the community from YouTube (YouTube)
- YouTube Removes Logan Paul From Preferred Program, Puts 'Thinning' Sequel on Hold (Hollywood Reporter)
- YouTube is telling advertisers it has a new plan to clean up the video site (ReCode)
- After Logan Paul incident, Google Preferred YouTube videos will face further vetting (Ars Technica)
- PewDiePie says he gets Logan Paul because he’s a ‘sociopath’ too (Daily Dot)
- An update on monetizing family-oriented Youtube videos (Creator Insider)
- YouTube Looking To Bring Community Tab, In-App Chat To YouTube TV, YouTube Music (TubeFilter)
- Postmortem: Every Frame A Painting - style, copyright, research, organization (Tony Zhou)
Go Live
- The YouTube homepage now highlights channels you subscribe to that are live right now (BarbaraEMac)
Google+
- Google+ #CommunityExperts: Azlin Bloor on How to sustain long term success in your Google+ Community (Google+ Moderators Community)
- Google+ Post of the Week topic: share what motivates you! (Rachel Bakker)
Other social media
- News Feed FYI: Bringing People Closer Together (Facebook Media Blog)
- Facebook is shutting down M, its personal assistant service that combined humans and AI (The Verge)
Google Photos and Mobile Photography
- VR180 cameras available soon (Google Blog)
- Memory machines: VR180 cameras, and capturing life as you see it (Google Blog)
- When it comes to gorillas, Google Photos remains blind (Wired)
Google for businesses
- Google My Business Now Officially Supports Video (Mike Blumenthal)
- Small Businesses: 5 ways to connect to your customers via Google My Business (Google Blog)
Bloggers and Webmasters
- New Google Search Console (beta) rolling out to everyone (Google Webmasters)
- Webmasters: Google's PageSpeed Insights now includes real-world data (Google Webmasters)
- Google PageSpeed Insights Unavailable Notice (SEO Roundtable)
- Google Webmaster Central Office Hours Hangout (January 9) (Google Webmasters)
- Google Webmaster Central Office Hours Hangout (January 12) (Google Webmasters)
AdSense and advertising
- AdSense Experiments update: "We're auto-completing some experiments, and deleting experiments that are more than a year old" (AdSense blog)
- Pop-Up Mobile Ads Surge as Sites Scramble to Stop Them (Wired)
Hangouts and Messaging
- Duo can now contact some people who don't have the app installed (Android Police)
- Google Lead Engineer Confirms Duo Support Headed To Chrome OS (Chrome Unboxed)
- Dial into Hangouts Meet from nine additional markets (G Suite Updates blog)
- Google Hangouts Emoji Keyboard Shortcuts - can you add 🤔? (Alan Hart)
- How to send someone a Hangouts message via Google+
- Skype finally getting end-to-end encryption (Ars Technica)
Made by Google, Android, Project Fi
- Google Assistant is coming to more devices: smart displays, Android Auto, more headphones and speakers and more (Google Blog)
Productivity
- Improved accessibility for Google Sheets, Slides, and Drawings: Braille and Screen Magnifier support (G Suite Updates)
- Bringing together all the different ways to pay with Google, including Android Pay and Google Wallet, into a single brand: Google Pay (Google Blog)
- Stable Channel Update for Desktop (Chrome 63) (Chrome Releases blog)
- Stable Channel Update for Chrome OS (Chrome 63) (Chrome Releases blog)
- This month on Bing: flight status and entertainment & sports predictions (Bing Blog)
Privacy and Security
- Keeping Spectre secret (The Verge)
- All Chrome OS devices, their Linux kernel versions, and status of mitigations¹ for Meltdown (Francois Beaufort)
More around the web
- Why Mickey Mouse’s 1998 copyright extension probably won’t happen again (Ars Technica)
- The Computer Virus That Brought Down Whac-A-Mole (Mental Floss)
- The Making of Apple’s Emoji: How designing these tiny icons changed my life (Angela Guzman)
Updated March 2019 to remove Google+ links
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