Tag: Google

Google location data for 131 countries published in coronavirus lockdown reports

Jorge Gonzalez
Business Computing

Alphabet Inc. provided the data in order to help determine whether lockdowns are working. At the end of last week, Alphabet Inc. published Google location data reports for 131 countries to help show whether visits to workplaces, parks and shops had reduced throughout March. That was the month in which many governments issued stay-at-home orders to their populations to help slow the spread of COVID-19. This analysis from billions of individual phones is the largest available public dataset. The Google location data analysis provides health authorities with the largest available…

Read More

Google mobile first indexing going full steam ahead in September 2020

Sam Lambert
Mobile First Indexing - Google Search on smartphone

The search engine giant is switching completely, and currently 70 percent of sites are already there. Google has announced that it will be switching completely over to mobile first indexing as of September 2020. At that time, all sites crawled by the search engine’s spiders will be indexed primarily with smartphones and mobile devices in mind. It was initially believed that Google wouldn’t make the switch until the end of the year. A recent blog post from Google has updated that timeframe, revealing that it is moving fully to mobile…

Read More

Play Store adware crackdown drops 600 Android apps from the marketplace

Stephanie Beck
Adware Crackdown - Stop - Warning - Ban

Google has taken down hundreds of mobile applications and has banned several developers. Google has launched a massive adware crackdown, removing 600 Android apps and banning developers who were using out-of-application ads to send users spam. The effort was made to help slash the number of abusive Android developers breaking Play Store regulations. The adware crackdown was meant primarily to remove the apps and their developers when out-of-application ads were used for spamming users. An out-of-app ad is one with origins in one application but that will be displayed on…

Read More

Google AI model could help protect endangered orca species

Julie Campbell
Google AI - Orca in ocean

The tech giant’s artificial intelligence model works to “listen” to killer whales, an endangered species. The Google AI team has developed a new “listening” model that can help to provide improved protection for orca – also known as killer whales. These are an endangered species and the model was designed for use in the Salish Sea. The program is meant specifically for an orca subspecies, of which there are only 73 left. Center for Whale Research data shows that there are only 73 individuals left of the Southern Resident orca…

Read More

Google and Canadian Down Syndrome Society to improve voice recognition technology

Julie Campbell
Voice recognition technology - Project Understood - Canadian Down Syndrome YouTube

Digital voice assistants have a long way to go when serving people with speech challenges. It’s no mystery that voice recognition technology has a long way to go before it’s anywhere close to flawless. Anyone who uses Google, Siri or Alexa has had to deal with misunderstood words, phrases and commands. People with speech difficulties are coming together to help improve this situation with Google’s tech. Therefore, Google is working with the Canadian Down Syndrome Society, which launched a campaign to enhance its voice recognition technology. The company is working…

Read More