This week Hangouts on Air were discontinued (boo), but classic Hangouts was updated so that you can report spammers and harassers when you block them (yay). There were also some small updates to YouTube, info for webmasters and more.
Image: Gladiolus is August’s flower. It stands for sincerity, strength of character, and honor. Gladiolus field of flowers by bernswaelz on Pixabay.
- Goodbye this week: Hangouts On Air were discontinued and Feedburner users can no longer add new domains to the MyBrand service
- Classic Hangouts actually got an update this week. Now, on desktop, you can report people to Google when you block them in Hangouts conversations. Google reviews the last 10 posts that person made. So yes, this means Google can read what you’ve posted in Hangouts.
- New YouTube features for Creators:
- YouTube Studio Beta is now the default, and links to Classic now redirect there. You can still switch back to Classic if you need to.
- YouTube Studio dashboard now has a card showing stats for your latest post
- The YouTube Studio mobile app is getting new snapshot report.
- YouTube Analytics will have a new Monthly Revenue Insights report
- In the new Live Control Room creators can create highlights while they are streaming
- On monetized videos there will no longer be a yellow marker on the timeline indicating midroll ads - instead there will be a 5 second countdown while viewers are watching
- Google Site Kit developer beta is now available. Site Kit is a WordPress plugin that makes it easy to set up, configure, and get insights from Search Console, Analytics, AdSense, Tag Manager and Optimize.
- Google Webmasters posted a detailed article about what webmasters should know about Google Search “core updates”. It includes a lot of detailed information and a list of questions you should ask yourself about the content and quality of your site. It also has links to articles by a number of SEO experts with other perspectives, which caused a bit of a stir on Twitter. Some other search experts questioned whether this constituted a special (and unfair) endorsement of those SEOs by Google. That resulted in a disclaimer being added that explains Google linked them because they found the articles to be helpful (which, yes, of course?).
- Google also posted an informative article about how featured snippets work in the Google Search results.
- The Google Files app, designed for users with low phone storage, now has 100 million users. It’s getting a new dark theme and an improved offline audio and video media player,
- Preempting leaks and rumors, Google announced new features in the Pixel 4 phone. It includes miniature radar developed by Project Soli for touchless gesture controls. The brief promo video makes the tech look pretty cool. I expect to see the technology appear in more Made by Google devices like the Nest Hub Max - I think the gesture controls make more sense in a home assistant than in a phone that you are likely to be holding in one hand anyway.
- Next year in Europe Google will be adding a new way for Android users to select the search provider to power the home screen search box and search in Chrome. Search providers need to apply to be included on the new choice screen, with the price they are willing to pay each time a user selects them. The highest bidders in each county will appear on the choice screen as options along with Google. Revenues allow Google to “continue to invest in developing and maintaining the Android platform.”
- Weekend entertainment: Watch the official Lollapalooza live stream, August 1-4
- Reminder: I’ve created a playlist of the videos I suggest in my weekly roundup link list. You can click the save playlist linkto save the playlist to your own YouTube account. I plan to add the latest videos each week. If you like it, let me know!
Image: Gladiolus is August’s flower. It stands for sincerity, strength of character, and honor. Gladiolus field of flowers by bernswaelz on Pixabay.
Upcoming
- August 9: Google Webmaster Central Office Hours
- August 12: Deadline to apply for YouTube NextUp Moscow, Russia
- August 12: Deadline for the Adobe Creative Tour Twenty One Pilots creation submission
- August 14: Women of Publishing Webinar: Monetization Tips and Tricks
- August 15: Registration for the free official Android Developers Summit closes
- August 18: Deadline to submit to “You Are the Champions” user-created Queen videos
YouTube and Video Creation
- Snapshot Report on Mobile, Super Chat Expansion, and Revenue Insights in YTA! (Creator Insider)
- YouTube Creator Group Teams With Europe’s Largest Trade Union To Launch ‘FairTube’ Initiative (Tubefilter)
- YouTube’s recent algorithm change explains why your feed is full of children’s videos (The Verge)
- YouTube Tweaked Its Algorithm To Promote “Quality Family Content.” That Change Decimated Kid-Friendly Creators’ View Counts. (Tubefilter)
- 6 tips about self-care from creators at VidCon 2019 (Patreon Blog)
- YouTube Premium starts getting 1080p offline video downloads (The Verge)
- PBS will stream live for the first time with YouTube TV (The Verge)
Go Live
- Fortnite star Ninja is leaving Twitch to stream exclusively on Mixer (The Verge)
- Ninja’s 80,000 Mixer viewers show that he’s bigger than just Twitch (The Verge)
- Breastfeeding does not violate Twitch’s rules, company confirms (The Verge)
Social Media: Facebook and Instagram
- Open-Sourcing Photo- and Video-Matching Technology to Make the Internet Safer (Facebook Newsroom)
- Facebook open-sources APIs to help fight child exploitation and terrorist propaganda (The Next Web)
- Instagram and WhatsApp will add ‘from Facebook’ to their names (The Verge)
- EU says sites using Facebook's Like button are responsible for your data (Engadget)
Social Media: Twitter
- How to get the old Twitter web interface back (The Verge)
Other Social Media
- TikTok turns one: its first 12 months, as told through TikToks (The Verge)
- TikTok’s a year old, when will its creators make money? (The Verge)
- More ways to shop your favorite brands on Pinterest (Pinterest)
Google for Businesses
- Beyond the Map: How we build the maps that power your apps and business (Google Cloud Blog)
- Launch: Manage your business on Google Maps iOS app (Google My Business)
Bloggers and Webmasters
- What webmasters should know about Google’s “core updates” (Google Webmaster Central Blog)
- Finding fresh, helpful information through featured snippets (Google)
- Voice Search in the Google Search Console: #AskGoogleWebmasters (Google Webmasters on YouTube)
- The essential guide to managing expired content (Jes Scholz)
- A new way to unify app and website measurement in Google Analytics (Google)
AdSense and Advertising
Hangouts, Meetings and Messaging
- Now you can report users when you block them in classic Hangouts on desktop
- Google beefs up Android RCS APIs in preparation for third-party messenger support (Android Police)
- Google Voice is killing SMS voicemail transcripts and Chrome Extension texting (Android Police)
Made by Google, Android, Google Fi
- With a tap on your phone, get help in an emergency (Google)
- Upgrade your drive with Android Auto (Google)
- Android Auto’s redesign makes meaningful changes at the expense of smarts [Video] (9to5Google)
- (Don’t) hold the phone: new features coming to Pixel 4 (Google)
- Google's New Gesture Controls Aren't Just for the Pixel (WIRED)
- An update on Android for search providers in Europe (Google)
- Google will charge search providers to be the Android default in Europe (The Verge)
- Get help from the Google Assistant on your DISH Hopper (Google)
Productivity
- Apple joins Google, Facebook, and Twitter in data-sharing project (The Verge)
- Additional tools for enhanced reporting in Google Sheets (G Suite Updates)
- Meet the new IFTTT (IFTTT)
- Power down with Google Fit (Google)
- Chrome for Android Update (Chrome 76) (Chrome Releases)
- Stable Channel Update for Desktop (Chrome 76) (Chrome Releases)
- Chrome 76 is Here With a Fortified Incognito Mode and Further Measures to Kill Adobe Flash Player (Gtricks)
- Google Chrome Hides WWW and HTTPS:// in the Address Bar Again (Bleeping Computer)
Privacy and Security
- Titan Security Keys are now available in Canada, France, Japan, and the UK (Google Online Security Blog)
- Defend high-risk users with the Advanced Protection Program for enterprise beta (G Suite Updates)
- Apple and Google temporarily stop listening to Siri and OK Google queries (Ars Technica)
More around the web
- How to Make a Phone Farm (Vice)
- Glitch exposes real age of influencer who used filter to look younger (Daily Dot)
- Google is testing a subscription for premium Android apps and games (The Next Web)
- The making of "Margaret by Moonlight" (Google)
- GitHub confirms it has blocked developers in Iran, Syria and Crimea (TechCrunch)
- Amazon is killing off the Dash button later this month (TechCrunch)
Facebook is working on encrypted messaging I believe. Hangouts apparently is going the other way.
ReplyDeleteFull encryption is at odds with fighting abuse, unfortunately. I'm pretty sure that Facebook lets you report messages too (although maybe not if you have the "Secret" setting enabled for the conversation).
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