Peggy Ks Tips and Tricks

Your Google account lets you use products and services like Gmail, YouTube, Google Photos, and Drive. It also sets your identity for most Google products. Is your account secure? Is your information private? Could you recover your account if you lost access? Join me tomorrow (Wednesday, May 25) live when I join Tinkering with Tech to discuss how to protect your Google account. I hope to see you there! And please take a few moments to make your account secure and private: Run a security checkup: myaccount.google.com/security-checkup Run a privacy checkup: myaccount.google.com/privacycheckup Check your Google profile settings: myaccount.google.com/profile Set a reminder and watch :  (The recording will be available after the show)

Hey all. This week was Global Accessibility Awareness Day. Google and Apple highlighted some of their new and upcoming accessibility features, which I’ve collected below.  YouTube announced new features for viewers that make it easier to find the most interesting part of a video, plus you can now loop your video to watch it over and over again. And for creators there is a new Content tab where you can view your stats by content type. Plus there are social media updates, new security features and more. Intteresting in getting creator news every week?  Subscribe to get the Weekly Update in your email inbox. Free is still free (for personal use) If you have a free legacy G Suite account that you use for non-commercial purposes, you can keep your account . Business users still need to upgrade to a paid Google Workspace account. Educational institutions and nonprofits can migrate to a free Google Workspace edition. But you need to sign in to your admin account and take action as so

This week was Google I/O , Google's annual developers conference. There were tons of announcements, with some cool new technology on the horizon. I’ve summarized what I found most interesting below. Note that I’m not a developer, so I’ve focused on new hardware and software for consumer users. Since there are so many updates this week, here is a list of my top picks: New video and audio improvements in Google Meet meetings Live Sharing in Meet meetings, letting participants share controls and interact on third party sites (like watching YouTube videos from a playlist). This won’t be available until the end of the year. Cool new AI-based tools that make things better for everyone, including better recognition of skin tones, and under-development Augmented Reality glasses that display live translations or captions Updates for YouTube creators including Clips available on all channels and Channel Memberships gifting in beta. Subscribe to get the Weekly Update in your email inbox

Happy Mother’s Day weekend to all you moms out there! This week’s top updates: You can Live Redirect to someone else’s live stream or Premiere on YouTube; Google, Apple and Microsoft are working towards a passwordless future; Facebook is (mostly) ditching audio content; Twitter is testing Circle posting (+1!) and more. There are also a number of security how-tos for anyone who needs to keep their internet activity private, or doesn’t want their location tracked, or is attending a protest. And yes, it’s related to t he leaked US Supreme Court draft opinion on the legaity of abortion . If you want the Weekly Update in your email inbox, sign up for my newsletter . Events Google I/O begins May 11. The virtual conference is totally free. You can see the program here . Derrek Lee at Android Central speculates about what he expects will be presented, but there is sure to be more (and no guarantee everything he mentions will be included). YouTube and Video YouTube launched Live R

Happy (almost) May! This week there are a bunch of updates for YouTubers, including Super Thanks for most Partners, a new Research tab in YouTube Analytics, new advertiser friendly guidelines for kids content and more.  Beyond that, the big news this week is that Elong Musk bought Twitter, although the implications of that aren’t clear (Musk talks a lot, but it’s hard to know what he’s serious about, or what he actually plans to do). Read on for details. Note: If you want the Weekly Update in your email inbox, sign up for my newsletter . Events If country music is your jam, watch the Stagecoach music festival live on YouTube this weekend. Check out the official Stagecoach Festival music channel.. To learn more about Google products and services: May 4: Google Workspace Summit May 11-12: Google I/O YouTube and Video Super Thanks is now available to all channels in the YouTube Partner Program. Enable Super Thanks on the “Supers” tab in your monetization settings in YouTu

This week big tech shared their clean energy goals and appreciation of nature and so forth for Earth Day. It at least sounds like they want to save the planet. Plus you can now organize your Meet meeting before it starts in Calendar, create commenting guidelines for your YouTube channel, create video podcasts on Spotify and more. Plus there are tips and updates for web publishers, video creators, social media mavens, live streamers, meeting attendees and more. If you want the Weekly Update by email, sign up for my newsletter . Read on for all the news. Celebrating Earth Day Earth Day was Friday, April 22. This is time to consider how you can help the environment, learn new ways to garden, participate in a cleanup, or find out what you can do to limit the impact of climate change. And, of course, all the big companies had to chime in. Google explained how they are working towards a carbon-free future and making climate change data accessible to everyone . Check o

Happy Easter and Happy Passover to all who celebrate! Have a joyous week! This week there are a number of updates for YouTube Creators, including the ability to grant someone access to your YouTube Studio to edit subtitles, Search Insights for content planning, sampling other videos in Shorts and the possibility of winning a lifetime VIP pass to Coachella. There are also a number of productivity updates, including the option to bring your Google Meet meeting into Google Docs, Slides and Sheets. This is your personal meeting view, so the document you are working in is not automatically shared, allowing both collaboration and multitasking. Plus WhatsApp is getting Communities. And we learned Elon Musk doesn’t understand the complexities of content moderation (not too surprising, that). If you want the Weekly Update in your email inbox,  sign up for my newsletter .   Read on for details.  Coachella The Coachella Valley Music Festival is this weekend and next weekend. Watch the music

  It’s been a quiet week for product updates. But even so, there are updates and tips for YouTubers, web publishers and search, Meet meeting participants, and more. If you want the Weekly Update in your email inbox,  sign up for my newsletter . Join this week’s #OnEBoardChat Sunday I will be hosting the #OnEBoardChat Twitter chat on the topic of community moderation. In particular how off platform behavior or events should influence moderation decisions, both for individuals and businesses or organizations. Join us, or follow the discussion here . Some reading to spark discussion: Anil Dash: “ Community safety and ignoring the world ” YouTube: “ Preventing harm to the broader YouTube community ” Twitter: “ Our ongoing approach to the war in Ukraine ”, particularly “To address the harmful dynamics created by blocks and limitations on online services, we will not amplify or recommend government accounts belonging to states that limit access to free information and are engaged in armed

Happy April all! And Ramadan Mubarak. This week’s top updates include upcoming Google Meet and Chat features, expansion of YouTube @mentions to all channels, Calendar booking and appointment scheduling, and more.  Ramadan Google Search for Ramadan to access Google’s Ramadan information portal, find prayer times , or use Google’s Qibla Finder map tool . Meta is celebrating #MonthofGood with creator highlights and Ramadan AR effects, Messenger sticker packs and Instagram stickers. April Fools April Fools' Day passed with few of the joke posts from tech companies that seemed ubiquitous just a few years ago . I agree with Andy Baio here : A contrarian take from a long-time April Fools’ critic: April 1 on the internet is terrible because most “jokes” are low-effort lies (e.g. fake press releases, acquisitions, product announcements), but high-effort absurdist April Fools’ projects are delightful and always welcome. h