Weekly Update - April 27, 2019: Google Earth, News on YouTube, Simplify Gmail

Earth Day was celebrated this week, and we have a better view of our home planet and - hopefully - better resources for keeping track of what’s going on in the world. There are updates on YouTube, Google Earth, Google Docs, Gmail and much more.

• YouTube is expanding features in Europe to make authoritative news sources more prominent. Top News and Breaking News highlights videos from verified sources are available in the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland, and the Netherland, and will be coming to more European countries in the coming months. YouTube will also be adding publisher transparency labels to videos from news sources that receive government or public funding in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Poland. Google is also improving the quality of news reports in Europe in Google Search and highlighting the upcoming EU elections in Google News. (Facebook is also making changes to protect the upcoming elections from misinformation campaigns.)
• YouTube wants your feedback on the official help center monetization policy pages. What information do you want to see? Could it be better organized? Let YouTube know.
• Google Earth Timelapse got a major update. You can now watch the earth change from 1984 to 2018, using your mobile phone, tablet or desktop computer. The Google blog links to some highlights, including “the sprouting of Dubai’s Palm Islands, the retreat of Alaska’s Columbia Glacier and the impressive urban expansion of Las Vegas, Nevada” and more landmarks and cities around the world.
• Google Docs, Sheets and Slides has a new offline mode within Google Drive. When you have offline mode enabled, you can create, edit, and comment on Docs, Sheets, or Slides files when you have a poor or no internet connection. Any changes made to files while offline will sync in Drive once you are connected to the internet again.
• If you find Gmail on desktop too busy, you may want to try the Simplify Gmail Chrome extension. Designed by the former lead designer of Gmail, Michael Leggett, it moves “core functions” to the top bar, and hides the “visually busy” right and left sidebars. It runs entirely in your browser, and it’s not collecting any data or showing ads, and Leggett has promised he won’t ever sell it. (And I recommend this Fast Company article for some interesting tidbits about the development of Inbox and Gmail).
• Google Indonesia announced that Google Duo group video calling is now available, for calls including up to four people (maybe they will rename it Google Quartet?). Justin Uberti, tech lead for Duo, confirmed group calling is available in “select regions”.
• To support journalism around the world, the Google News Initiative (GNI) is funding a newsroom leadership program at the Columbia University School of Journalism in New York for journalists in the Asia Pacific region including India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand. The application deadline is June 26th.
• “Hey Google, tell me a story.” Tell Me a Story is available in Google Assistant to read stories for kids in English on your Android or iOS phone in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia and India. Google Assistant will also play audio books from Google Play Books, and you can use your Google Home speakers to “read along” books with your kids.
• Finally, there is a new Avengers-related Easter Egg in Google search. Do a search for “Thanos” and click the Infinity Gauntlet in the knowledge panel to unleash its power.

Read on for more updates for YouTubers, podcast listeners, business owners, webmasters and more.

Image: SeaWiFS: Sunny Day in Europe “It was a sunny day in much of Europe in this image captured on August 14, 2001. This SeaWiFS image has been projected to simulate the view of an observer looking northwest from 6400 kilometers (one Earth radius) above the Red Sea.” (Provided by the SeaWiFS Project, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, and ORBIMAGE, free to use)

Upcoming

• April 30: Deadline for Google Registry’s Website Competition
• April 30: Deadline for Local Guides Connect Live 2019 application
• April 30: Google Play Music Artist Hub shuts down
• May 3: Application deadline for the Geo for Good Summit (#GeoforGood19)
• May 6: Changes to Google Groups settings
• May 7: Google Partners Academy on Air: Capture attention with best-in-class video ads
• May 7: Google Pixel Event
• May 7-9: Google I/O. If you are attending, the official Google I/O app is now available.

YouTube and Video Creation

• YouTube updates: Fans in more countries can by Merch, post-roll ads absolve for videos 10+ minutes, subscription tab tap to filter by channel (Creator Insider)
• YouTube wants your feedback on the help center monetization policy pages (Creator Insider)
• Verizon partners with Google to make YouTube TV available to customers where and when they want it (Verizon)
• More ways to find authoritative information in Europe on YouTube and Google (Google Europe)
• Trending on YouTube: Sustainable Fashion, Living and Clean Beauty (YouTube)
• Vimeo Showcase lets you easily create a portfolio or video site or use embedded playlists (Vimeo)

Go Live

• The Gentle Side of Twitch (Gizmodo)

Social Media: Facebook and Instagram

• Inside the Team at Facebook That Dealt with the Christchurch Shooting (The New Yorker)
• Facebook sues company offering fake Instagram likes, views and followers (Facebook)
• Protecting the EU Elections From Misinformation and Expanding Our Fact-Checking Program to New Languages (Facebook)
• Facebook bans personality quizzes after Cambridge Analytica scandal (The Verge)
• People are manipulating you on Facebook (Smarter Every Day)

Social Media: Twitter

• What’s up with Twitter’s follower count, explained for everyone — including Trump (Recode)
• Twitter Is Not America (The Atlantic)
• Twitter won't treat white supremacy like ISIS because it'd have to ban some Republican politicians too (Motherboard)

Other social media

• Sri Lankan government blocks social media and imposes curfew following deadly blasts (Washington Post)
• Reddit is making it much easier to follow discussions around TV, news, and live events (The Verge)

Google Photos and Photo Sharing

• Samsung Motion Photos are starting to be shown in the Google Photos app (XDA Developers)
• Google Photos has removed its useful and compact yearly view (Android Police)
• Google Photos will finally tell you which photos weren't backed up, like the good ol' days (Android Police)

Google for Businesses

• How to Add Products Inventory to a Google Business Listing (Online Ownership)

Bloggers and Webmasters

• Enriching Search Results Through Structured Data (Google Webmasters)
• Google Reportedly Tolerated Non-Search Spam on Blogger (Search Engine Journal)

AdSense and Advertising

• AdSense on Air: Auto Ads (AdSense)
• GDC 2019: Making the most of Google’s app ads and monetization innovations for strategy and casual games (AdMob)

Hangouts, Meetings and Messaging

• Google Duo group calling is available in “select regions” (Justin Uberti)

Made by Google, Android, Google Fi

• And the 2019 Google Play Award nominees announced (Android Developers)
• The official Google I/O 2019 app is live (Google Developers)

Listening

• Google Podcasts has new features to take advantage of transcription, adds sleep timer and sorting button (Android Police)
• Podcast wars: $100 million startup Luminary launches tomorrow without Reply All or The Daily (The Verge)
• This National Tell a Story Day, take a page from your Assistant (Google)
• John Legend Is Your New Google Assistant—Listen for Yourself (WIRED)

Productivity

• Work anywhere with Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides in new offline mode (G Suite Updates)
• Work with Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides in Dropbox with a new beta (G Suite Updates)
• The former lead designer of Gmail just fixed Gmail on his own (Fast Company)
• How to Schedule Send in Gmail (Somnath)
• Get lost in the new Earth Timelapse, now on mobile (Google Earth)
• Redesigning Google Earth Timelapse (Google Design)
• Finding a place to charge your EV is easy with Google Maps (Google)
• Google Fit is now on iOS (Google)
• See the Road Ahead with Traffic Camera Images on Bing Maps (Bing)
• Chrome Data Saver is now Lite mode (Chromium blog)
• Stable Channel Update for Desktop (Chrome 74) (Chrome Releases)
• Chrome for Android Update (Chrome 74) (Chrome Releases)

Privacy and Security

• If You Care About Privacy, Throw Your Amazon Alexa Devices Into the Sea (Gizmodo)

More around the web

• Why NASA wants you to point your smartphone at trees (The Verge)
• Step into Childish Gambino's world with augmented reality (Google)
• Some Amazon Sellers Are Paying Upwards of $10,000 A Month To Trick Their Way to the Top of The Marketplace (BuzzFeed News)
• Years Ago, Black Feminists Worked Together to Unmask Twitter Trolls Posing as Women of Color. If Only More People Paid Attention. (Slate)
• Here’s what happened inside The Markup (Columbia Journalism Review)
• Steps toward a more sustainable future (Google)
• Our commitments to the environment, today and every day (Google)