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Showing posts from August, 2022

Weekly Update - August 27, 2022: Podcasting, Twitch Partners, AI Test Kitchen

Do you listen to podcasts? If you do, you may have more listening options in the near future, as YouTube and Twitter both roll out podcast pages. Plus Twitch Partners can now stream on other platforms, YouTube Music is getting a bit less personal, Medium is listening to its users and more. Read on for details of those updates and more. Want weekly updates in your email inbox? Subscribe to my newsletter. AI Test Kitchen If you are interested in learning about what Google’s doing with Artificial Intelligence, sign up for the AI Test Kitchen . It will host a changing set of AI demos that you can play with and provide feedback on.  The Test Kitchen is starting with three demos of the LaMDA language model : you can “Imagine It” to use your imagination to explore any place (real or fictional), “List It” breaks down projects into a checklist of tasks, and “Talk about it (Dogs edition)” to talk about dogs. Learn more . Note: this will initially only be available to users in the US. P

Weekly Update - August 20, 2022: Google Search helpful content update, Google Workspace Individual, Reels & Shorts

This week’s most talked-about news is the Google Search “helpful content” update, which aims to rank sites with original quality content higher in the search results than unhelpful unoriginal sites. Will there be collateral damage? We’ll see when the update rolls out next week. Even if you don’t use TikTok, you should be thinking about making short vertical videos. This week Facebook and Instagram introduced a bunch of new features for Reels, and YouTube Shorts may bring new viewers to your longer videos. And for productivity, Google Workspace Individual accounts are now available in more countries. Plus Google Meet has improved background replacement and noise cancellation. Read on for details of those updates and more. Want weekly updates in your email inbox? Subscribe to my newsletter. Chat about tools for collaboration On Sunday the 21st of August (11 AM PDT/ 6 PM UTC), I will be hosting #OnEBoardChat to discuss collaboration tools. Everyone is welcome to join in,

Weekly Update - August 13, 2022: E2EE, Meet + Duo, YouTube locations

  This week’s focus is on end-to-end encryption in video and chat apps. Consider what’s more important to you — more privacy or more features? Plus there are updates for YouTubers, social media mavens and more. Want weekly updates in your email inbox? Subscribe to my newsletter. End-to-End Encryption in Video Conferencing and Messaging Why would you want end-to-end encryption of your messages? That prevents your messaging platform provider, malicious actors, hostile governments (Meta started with accounts in Ukraine and Russia), law enforcement, or anyone from accessing the content of your messages. It can also help businesses comply with data privacy requirements. Why wouldn’t you want it? Many features in video calling platforms are managed through Google’s or Zoom’s or Microsoft’s servers, so aren’t available in end-to-end encrypted calls. And it can be technically confusing .  The Google Duo app icon and name are updating to Google Meet . The original Google Meet app sh

Weekly Update - August 6, 2022: Back to School, Clubhouse Houses, Twitter Security Breach

Happy August! As a sure sign summer is nearly over, many US kids go back to school this week. Before you know it the leaves will be turning and it will be sweater weather. This week there are updates for video creators, web publishers and social media users. Top updates: a small update to the YouTube video editor, social audio platform Clubhouse to get private “Houses”, Twitter security “flaw” exposed pseudonymous accounts and more. To subscribe to the Weekly Update by email,  sign up for my newsletter . Meet + Duo If you are a Google Meet user or Google Duo user, or both, you should see changes in the mobile apps. The Meet mobile app now has a green icon and is called Meet (original). Open up Duo and you will see a notice that it is getting new features and will become Meet.  If you haven’t tried Duo, give it a try. It’s designed for video calling family and friends, and has nice features like the ability to leave vid