- YouTube mobile apps have a new Explore tab, replacing the Trending tab. There are buttons to find music, news, gaming, beauty, learning, and movie content; a more prominent Creator on the Rise section; and, of course, trending videos.
- Gmail will let you create and use multiple email signatures.
- Google Sheets now lets you sort and filter cells by text or fill color and set custom table ranges for charts.
- You can now fix an image to a specific place in your Google Docs document. Plus there is a new sidebar with image formatting options.
- Google Groups lets you create discussion groups and mailing lists, and manage access permissions for Google Docs, Google Drive, and Google Sites access and editing. It’s been around since 2001 and has a decidedly old-fashioned-looking interface. Now it’s getting a fresh look, and there is a new version in beta available to G Suite customers. I expect the new version will roll out to everyone once it’s out of beta.
- The Internet Archive’s Open Libraries program has more than a million scanned modern digital books you can check out today. The only downside is that you either have to use the Internet Archive’s not-great reader, or install Adobe Digital Editions.
COVID-19 pandemic-related updates
- Beth Mole at Ars Technica has put together an excellent comprehensive guide to the new coronavirus. No hype, just science and known facts. It’s regularly updated with new information.
- If you want to contribute to the effort to understand and develop drugs to fight SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, you can use spare processing cycles on your computer on a project with Folding@Home. Folding@Home is a 20-year old distributed computing project for disease research.
- YouTube now has a dedicated page with product information relating to COVID-19. There you can find updates on monetizing coronavirus-related content, which is now allowed on a limited number of channels, and any changes to upcoming in-person events or support. The platform is also working to keep viewers and creators informed.
- G Suite customers will be able to use advanced Hangouts Meet features, including recording and in-organization live streaming, through July 1st. Google now has helpful Meet tutorials to get you started, whether you are an admin or a user.
- Google is postponing Webmaster Conference events.
- Google for Games Developer Summit will be on March 23, online and free for all. The keynote address is at 9am Pacific time, and will be followed by 10 hours of developer sessions. Register to get updates.
- The Adobe Summit/Imagine 2020 is now also online and free. Register for access to the keynote and breakout sessions, which will be live on March 31.
- G Suite now has 2 billion active users and many more free consumer users. Many now are working, teaching, or taking classes from home. Google using this opportunity to encourage people to use their products. And it’s not just Google, of course. There are updates for communicating with colleagues, classmates, family and friends, plus tips for getting things done at home from Google, Microsoft, Slack, Discord, Zoom and more. Be sure to read on for the latest updates.
Upcoming
- March 17: Google Webmaster Office Hours
- March 20: Google Webmaster Office Hours
- March 23: Google for Games at GDC will be offering a “digital experience”.
- March 31: Adobe Summit 2020 – Digital Experience Conference (Online event)
COVID-19 related updates
- YouTube Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) updates (YouTube)
- Google's response to COVID-19 (Google)
- Google bans face mask ads globally due to misleading coronavirus claims (Search Engine Land)
- Businesses affected by COVID-19: Provide customers with udated info (Google My Business)
- Get helpful health info from the NHS, right in Search (Google)
- The UK Government is Partnering With Social Media Influencers to Combat COVID-19 Misinformation (Social Media Today)
- New capabilities to empower healthcare organizations (Microsoft Teams)
- Contrary to Trump’s claim, Google is not building a nationwide coronavirus screening website (The Verge)
- Keeping People Safe and Informed About the Coronavirus (Facebook)
- Facebook Expands Access to Local Alerts in Order to Help Communicate COVID-19 Updates (Social media Today)
- Instagram cracks down on coronavirus AR effects (The Verge)
- Pinterest is limiting search results for coronavirus to internationally-recognized health organizations
- Apple’s COVID-19 response: temporarily closing retail stores, COVID-19 section in Apple News (Apple)
- Yext aims to deliver more coronavirus-related answers by making its site search free (TechCrunch)
- Fake coronavirus outbreak maps are floating around online, spreading malware (The Daily Dot)
- AT&T, Verizon, and others pledge not to cut your internet off during coronavirus pandemic (The Next Web)
Learn at home
- Even without internet at home, students can keep learning (Google)
- Preparing students to learn from home with Chromebooks (Google)
- With school closures, teachers can keep their lessons going remotely (Google)
- Enabling Distance Learning with G Suite and Chrome (G Suite on YouTube)
- Teaching on Twitch was a “mild disaster” for one games professor (The Verge)
- Update: How to use Zoom for online learning (Zoom)
- GitHub launches new tools for teachers, including autograding (TechCrunch)
Work from home
- 8 tips for getting it done when working from home (Google)
- New to Working from Home? Here are Some Tips to Help You Meet Like a Pro (Zoom)
- Conference canceled? How to plan a virtual event, fast (Vimeo)
- 9 tips for having the best online meeting experience with Microsoft Teams (Microsoft)
- In This Together: Sharing Our COVID-19 Learnings (LinkedIn)
- Staying Connected and Productive with Virtual Events (LinkedIn)
- Business continuity at Slack: Keeping our customers up and running during COVID-19 (Slack)
- The manager’s manual for remote work (Slack)
- Transitioning to a Fully Remote Workforce On a Moment’s Notice (GoToMeeting)
- Preparing for the Future of Work with the Right Tools (GoToMeeting)
Home Entertainment (or not)
- Pokemon Go updates game to make it more fun when you aren’t out much (Pokemon Go Live)
- Helping out where we can (Discord)
- Shoelace, Google’s Area 120 social app, pauses meetups in light of coronavirus (9to5Google)
- Pornhub is handing out free premium subscriptions to help Italy fight coronavirus (The Next Web)
- Updates on the 2020 movie releases affected by coronavirus (Polygon)
YouTube and Video Creation
- Learn How to Reduce Yellow Icons with Self-Certification! (Creator Insider)
- Navigating YouTube Studio (YouTube Creators)
- Updates to Public Subscribers List, Comments Bug, Monetization Classifier Improvements, and MORE! (Creator Insider)
- YouTube To Introduce Themed Content Shelves Within Nascent ‘/Fashion’ Hub (Tubefilter)
- Google Search now shows where websites’ embedded YouTube videos originated from (9to5Google)
- YouTube Premium and Music now available in Nigeria, Turks and Caicos Islands, Venezuela (9to5Google)
- YouTube Kids now available in 11 new countries (Update: Four more) (Android Police)
Go Live
Social Media: Facebook and Instagram
Other Social Media
- Opinion | We Forgot About the Most Important Job on the Internet (Annalee Newitz)
- How to handle toxic people as an online community manager (The Next Web)
Google for Businesses
- Businesses affected by COVID-19: Provide customers with updated info (Google My Business)
- Events Are Removed from Google Maps (LocalU)
- Google Maps integrates Lens to translate & illustrate restaurant menus (Nackblog)
Bloggers and Webmasters
- How to change my Google Search result snippet? | Search for Beginners Ep 10 (Google Webmasters)
- .dev 1 year anniversary (Google Developers)
- Turning a Page with Page Layouts (WordPress)
AdSense and Advertising
Made by Google, Android, Google Fi
Productivity
- Set custom table ranges for charts in Google Sheets (G Suite Updates)
- Sort and filter cells by text or fill color in Google Sheets (G Suite Updates)
- Create and use multiple signatures in Gmail (G Suite Updates)
- Fix images to a certain location on a page in Google Docs (G Suite Updates)
- G Suite Pro Tips: Declutter your inbox with Gmail filters (Google Cloud)
- Chrome OS to get native app for printing and scanning documents (9to5Google)
- Stable Channel Update for Chrome OS (Chrome Releases)
Privacy and Security
- How Google Play Protect kept users safe in 2019 (Google Online Security Blog)
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