Weekly Update - May 23, 2020: Blogger, AdSense, Google Photos

This weekend we celebrate Memorial Day in the US, to honor military personnel who died serving in the US armed forces. In normal years many folks treat it as the first weekend of summer, with barbecues and trips to the beach. This year, with many of us still mostly confined at home, it will be a quieter holiday, with perhaps a bit more reflection than partying.

There are new features this week for Blogger bloggers, AdSense publishers, YouTubers, along with updates to video calling tools and more.

• Google Cloud Next is Google’s annual conference focused on cloud technology. Originally scheduled for the first week of April, it’s been transformed into Cloud Next OnAir, a free 9 week online event. Starting July 14th, it will include presentations, interactive demos, breakout sessions, and 1:1 meetings with Google experts. Every week will focus on a new topic, from industry insights, tools for productivity and collaboration (the sessions I'm most interested in), infrastructure, security and more.
• Blogger announced that the new account interface will be the default for many users by late June, and by late July you will no longer be able to revert back to classic Blogger. Give the new Blogger a try, if you haven’t already. Plus Blogger wants to know what you think, so be sure to send feedback.
• If the AdSense earnings from your blog or website have been dropping, use the new AdSense Earnings Checklist to understand why your earnings decreased and implement changes to your ads and site that will hopefully give your earnings a boost.
• You can now share Google Photos albums with specific people, rather than having to share with a link. This gives you more control over who can see and join your album. And you can still share with a link if you choose.
• You can now set a bedtime reminder in the YouTube mobile app.
• YouTube Select is a new option for advertisers, with “lineups” of curated advertiser-friendly videos and creators by category. It replaces “YouTube Preferred” channels and “prime packs”. While only the top creators are featured, it’s worthwhile to see what content YouTube is promoting in Tech, Science & Education, Beauty, Fashion & LIfestyle , Comedy, Food, Gaming and other categories.
• Facebook has clarified its rules for using music in videos on Facebook and Instagram. There are no limits in Stories or in recorded live performances. Otherwise they recommend using shorter music clips and note that you need to have a visual component - no videos with just recorded music. Even better, use one of the music or sound effect tracks in the Facebook Creator Studio Sound Collection that’s licensed for use on Instagram and Facebook.
• The Facebook Creator Studio app now lets you publish and schedule posts to your Pages.
• Instagram has introduced Creator Guides, “a way to more easily discover recommendations, tips and other content from your favorite creators, public figures, organizations and publishers.” It’s starting with “wellness” content.
• Maps on Flickr have updated imagery from Mapbox. I wish Google Photos let you see an overview of map locations of your images. 
• Hangouts is being replaced by two services developed for business, Google Meet and Google Chat. While Meet became available to personal accounts a few weeks ago, Chat is still only available to G Suite customers, but this week took a small step forward towards wider availability. The ability to use Chat to talk to people outside one’s G Suite domain is now rolling out. Previously this was only available to customers in the Accelerated Transition Program. The transition timeline announced in August 2019 seems to be mostly on track. Note that full transition from Hangouts to Meet and Chat isn’t expected until at last late 2020.
• If you use Gmail on the web, you have surely seen the new Google Meet setting on the left menu. If you don’t love the space it takes, a new setting to turn off Meet in Gmail is now rolling out, and should be available in the next few weeks.
• Google Duo is rolling out the option to have people contact you with your Google account email, rather than your phone number.
• You can now create Facebook Messenger Rooms on Instagram, for video calls with up to 50 people.
• Google’s Public Liaison for Search, Danny Sullivan, has an interesting article that looks at the Knowledge Panels in the search results and how that relates to Google’s Knowledge Graph.
• Google Translate’s translation widget for websites is now available for government, non-profit, and non-commercial websites (such as academic institutions) that focus on COVID-19 response. Other sites can use the Google Cloud Translation API, which isn’t free, but includes a $300 credit the first year of use.
• If you publish recipes with Guided Recipe markup for Google Assistant you can now validate your recipe pages in Google Search Console.
• For Accessibility Awareness Day, Google announced several updates that make technology more accessible to everyone. Action Blocks lets you create custom home screen buttons on your Android device that trigger any action the Google Assistant can perform. Realtime speech-to-text transcription app Live Transcribe now lets you add custom names and terms, search old conversations, and will vibrate your phone when someone says your name. And Sound Amplifier now supports bluetooth headphones, so you can place your phone near an audio source - like a speaker or your TV - and get amplified sound in your headset.
• Chrome 83 is rolling out, and has reorganized privacy and security settings. There is a new puzzle piece icon on the toolbar where you can find extensions, more easily manage cookies, and run an account safety check from the settings. It also includes Secure DNS and Enhanced Safe Browsing, designed to keep your interactions safe as you browse the web.
• Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai has be doing the interview rounds, talking to WIRED and the Verge about Google’s ongoing commitment to hardware development, Meet video calling’s rapid improvements, working from home and more.,

That’s all the updates for this week. Subscribe to get the Weekly Update in your email inbox or favorite feed reader every week. Miss last week’s update? Get it here.

Image: Monday, May 25 is Memorial Day in the US. It honors the men and women who died while serving in the US military. Flags photo by Jackie Williamson from Pixabay. Free for commercial use.