Author Archives: A Googler

YouTube Music makes discovery more personal with playlists mixed for you

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/vwz09fll1-AVy8mcSD49vSivK1h_eg__Nq97kubRgOW197eEQBm4_NfYt7sX7fDU98pltwhrN48Uk6Pt_i3aPM_ZeD9JlNjPGD8PSIKWOl7nt4n-L_aQa90XkCeGeyyvvh8fbRK0 Nathan Lasche Product Manager YouTube Music
YouTube Music is a dedicated music streaming service that guides you through the world of music. With official songs and albums as well as deep cuts, live performances, and remixes, you can listen to exactly what you want, when you want to. Or you can sit back and let us recommend music for you right on your home screen.


Rolling out today, we’re introducing a shelf of three personalized mixes -- the new Discover Mix, New Release Mix, and Your Mix -- to keep you up to date on what’s just been released and introduce you to a wider range of artists and sounds based on your personal taste. Updated regularly, these mixes will use your listening history to create a unique experience and guide your music exploration to exciting and fresh destinations week after week.




Check out what each of these new mixes is bringing to you:   


Discover Mix: Whether introducing you to an entirely new artist you’ve never heard before, or unearthing hidden, lesser-known gems from artists you’re already familiar with, Discover Mix will give you 50 tracks every week that help you expand your musical horizons. With new updates every Wednesday, it’s your go-to playlist to discover music. 


New Release Mix: This mix is your one-stop shop for a playlist of all the most recent releases by your favorite artists (and others we think you’ll like). Expect a big update every Friday (when most new releases drop) along with mid-week releases sprinkled in throughout the week to ensure you are always up-to-date on the latest releases. 


Your Mix: Your Mix is the perfect playlist for those times when you don’t want to think and just want to play something you know you’ll like. It’s full of songs by artists you know and love, and also mixes in some songs and artists you’ve never heard before, but that we think you’ll love. Small updates are made regularly, so the music never gets stale and there’s always something new in rotation. 


The more you listen to and like songs, the better your mixes will be. New to YouTube Music? Don’t worry, we can start delivering a personalized experience after you’ve selected a couple of artists you like during setup, or even after listening to just a few songs! 


Discover Mix, New Release Mix, and Your Mix are now available globally for all YouTube Music listeners. To check out your personalized mixes, download the YouTube Music app for iOS or Android or visit the webplayer to dive in.  


These new mixes are just the beginning of an even more personalized YouTube Music, so stay tuned for more music mixed just for you! 


Posted by Nathan Lasche, Product Manager, YouTube Music

Nathan recently listened to Dance Monkey by Tones and I

Better password protections in Chrome

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/twcxkyG0A10zlB0_s0YXtPgRgd_XSJ6IIuqZwRjdbsl_Dbie8iiabPvgdz0mLuALtfPaFiQpM_b2WpxcUX6-sqwboIs_a1TJX1gQ7LCfQ2X7RAHsz7uh2dy6LE8PBhVrA_fUvGfK AbdelKarim Mardini Senior Product Manager Chrome
Many of us have encountered malware, heard of data breaches, or even been a victim of phishing, where a site tries to scam you into entering your passwords and other sensitive information. With all this considered, data security has become a top concern for many people worldwide. Chrome has safety protections built in, and now we're expanding those protections further. 

Chrome warns when your password has been stolen


When you type your credentials into a website, Chrome will now warn you if your username and password have been compromised in a data breach on some site or app. It will suggest that you change them everywhere they were used.
Keyword Blog - breach detection.png
If your credentials were compromised, we recommend to change them immediately.

Google first introduced this technology early this year as the Password Checkup extension. In October it became a part of the Password Checkup in your Google Account, where you can conduct a scan of your saved passwords anytime. And now it has evolved to offer warnings as you browse the web in Chrome. 
You can control it in Chrome Settings under Sync and Google Services. For now, we’re gradually rolling this out for everyone signed in to Chrome as a part of our Safe Browsing protections.

 

Phishing protection in real time


Google’s Safe Browsing maintains an ever-growing list of unsafe sites on the web and shares this information with webmasters, or other browsers, to make the web more secure. The list refreshes every 30 minutes, protecting 4 billion devices every day against all kinds of security threats, including phishing.
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Safe Browsing list has been capturing an increasing number of phishing sites.

However, some phishing sites slip through that 30-minute window, either by quickly switching domains or by hiding from our crawlers. Chrome now offers real-time phishing protections on desktop, which warn you when visiting malicious sites in 30 percent more cases. Initially we will roll out this protection to everyone with the “Make searches and browsing better” setting enabled in Chrome.

Expanding predictive phishing protections


If you're signed in to Chrome and have Sync enabled, predictive phishing protection warns you if you enter your Google Account password into a site that we suspect of phishing. This protection has been in place since 2017, and today we’re expanding the feature further.
Now we'll be protecting your Google Account password when you sign in to Chrome, even if Sync is not enabled. In addition, this feature will now work for all the passwords you store in Chrome’s password manager. Hundreds of millions more users will now benefit from the new warnings.
Keyword Blog - phishing.png
Chrome will show this warning when a user enters their Google Account password into a phishing page.

Sharing your device? Now it’s easier to tell whose Chrome profile you’re using 


We realize that many people share their computers or use multiple profiles. To make sure you always know which profile you’re currently using—for example, when creating and saving passwords with Chrome’s password manager—we’ve improved the way your profile is featured.
On desktop, you’ll see a new visual representation of the profile you’re currently using, so you can be sure you are saving your passwords to the right profile. This is a visual update and won’t change your current Sync settings. We’ve also updated the look of the profile menu itself: it now allows for easier switching and clearly shows if you are signed in to Chrome or not.
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The new sign-in indicator.

 

From Munich with love


Many of these technologies were developed at the Google Safety Engineering Center (GSEC), a hub of privacy and security product experts and engineers based in Munich, which opened last May. GSEC is home to the engineering teams who build many of the safety features into the Chrome browser. We’ll continue to invest in our teams worldwide to deliver the safest personal browser experience to everyone, and we look forward to bringing more new features to strengthen the privacy and security of Chrome in 2020. 
All these features will be rolled out gradually over the next few weeks. Interested in how they work? You can learn more on Google Security blog.


Posted by AbdelKarim Mardini, Senior Product Manager, Chrome

An update to our harassment policy for YouTube


Over the last several years we have worked to improve the way we manage content on YouTube by quickly removing it when it violates our Community Guidelines, reducing the spread of borderline content, raising up authoritative voices when people are looking for breaking news and information and rewarding trusted creators and artists that make YouTube a special place. Today we are announcing a series of policy and product changes that update how we tackle harassment on YouTube. We systematically review all our policies to make sure the line between what we remove and what we allow is drawn in the right place, and recognized earlier this year that for harassment, there is more we can do to protect our creators and community.
Harassment hurts our community by making people less inclined to share their opinions and engage with each other. We heard this time and again from creators, including those who met with us during the development of this policy update. We also met with a number of experts who shared their perspective and informed our process, from organizations that study online bullying or advocate on behalf of journalists, to free speech proponents and policy organizations from all sides of the political spectrum.
We remain committed to our openness as a platform and to ensuring that spirited debate and a vigorous exchange of ideas continue to thrive here. However, we will not tolerate harassment and we believe the steps outlined below will contribute to our mission by making YouTube a better place for anyone to share their story or opinion.

A stronger stance against threats and personal attacks

We’ve always removed videos that explicitly threaten someone, reveal confidential personal information, or encourage people to harass someone else. Moving forward, our policies will go a step further and not only prohibit explicit threats, but also veiled or implied threats. This includes content simulating violence toward an individual or language suggesting physical violence may occur. No individual should be subject to harassment that suggests violence.
Beyond threatening someone, there is also demeaning language that goes too far. To establish a consistent criteria for what type of content is not allowed on YouTube, we’re building upon the framework we use for our hate speech policy. We will no longer allow content that maliciously insults someone based on protected attributes such as their race, gender expression, or sexual orientation. This applies to everyone, from private individuals, to YouTube creators, to public officials.

Consequences for a pattern of harassing behavior

Something we heard from our creators is that harassment sometimes takes the shape of a pattern of repeated behavior across multiple videos or comments, even if any individual video doesn’t cross our policy line. To address this, we're tightening our policies for the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) to get even tougher on those who engage in harassing behavior and to ensure we reward only trusted creators. Channels that repeatedly brush up against our harassment policy will be suspended from YPP, eliminating their ability to make money on YouTube. We may also remove content from channels if they repeatedly harass someone. If this behavior continues, we’ll take more severe action including issuing strikes or terminating a channel altogether.

Addressing toxic comments

We know that the comment section is an important place for fans to engage with creators and each other. At the same time, we heard feedback that comments are often where creators and viewers encounter harassment. This behavior not only impacts the person targeted by the harassment, but can also have a chilling effect on the entire conversation.
To combat this we remove comments that clearly violate our policies – over 16 million in the third quarter of this year, specifically due to harassment.The policy updates we’ve outlined above will also apply to comments, so we expect this number to increase in future quarters.
Beyond comments that we remove, we also empower creators to further shape the conversation on their channels and have a variety of tools that help. When we're not sure a comment violates our policies, but it seems potentially inappropriate, we give creators the option to review it before it's posted on their channel. Results among early adopters were promising – channels that enabled the feature saw a 75% reduction in user flags on comments. Earlier this year, we began to turn this setting on by default for most creators.
We’ve continued to fine tune our systems to make sure we catch truly toxic comments, not just anything that’s negative or critical, and feedback from creators has been positive. Last week we began turning this feature on by default for YouTube’s largest channels with the site’s most active comment sections and will roll out to most channels by the end of the year. To be clear, creators can opt-out, and if they choose to leave the feature enabled they still have ultimate control over which held comments can appear on their videos. Alternatively, creators can also ignore held comments altogether if they prefer.
All of these updates represent another step towards making sure we protect the YouTube community. We expect there will continue to be healthy debates over some of the decisions and we have an appeals process in place if creators believe we've made the wrong call on a video.
As we make these changes, it's vitally important that YouTube remain a place where people can express a broad range of ideas, and we'll continue to protect discussion on matters of public interest and artistic expression. We also believe these discussions can be had in ways that invite participation, and never make someone fear for their safety. We’re committed to continue revisiting our policies regularly to ensure that they are preserving the magic of YouTube, while also living up to the expectations of our community.
Posted by Matt Halprin, Vice President, Global Head of Trust & Safety

Year in Search 2019: Of massive moonshots and mega movies

Recapping the many trends that stoked our users’ imagination in 2019, here are the standout moments in Search across news, sporting events, personalities, movies, songs and more -- presenting our 2019 Year in Search recap.


The top 10 overall list of trending search terms this year reflected the country's excitement around events like the Cricket World Cup, the Lok Sabha elections, and the buzzing interest that surrounded the launch of Chandrayaan 2. Movies like Kabir Singh, Joker, and a double entry of Marvel’s blockbusters -- Avengers: Endgame and Captain Marvel -- also featured in the overall list.


In movies, the ones that spiked this year included a mix of musicals and action flicks. The Indian movies here included Gully Boy, Mission Mangal, and War. On the international front the list included the critically-acclaimed Joker and the two Marvel movies, which also turned out to be among the most searched queries overall.


Personalities that stood out this year included Abhinandan Varthaman, Lata Mangeshkar, and Yuvraj Singh, and we even saw a unique entry with the singing sensation that is Ranu Mondal. Sporting searches were dominated by the Cricket World Cup followed by the Pro Kabaddi League. Other international sporting spectacles like the Wimbledon, Copa América, and the tennis tournaments (including the Australian, French and US Open) were also highly searched.


In general news queries, searches were understandably dominated by the Lok Sabha Elections, Chandrayaan 2, and Article 370. The Maharashtra and Haryana state assembly elections were also highly searched. Rounding up the list were a mix of both local and global news moments such as the Pulwama attack, Cyclone Fani, the Ayodhya verdict, and the Amazon forest fire.


Among our ‘How to…’ searches, we saw a wide variety of queries ranging from “How to vote“ to “How to get Fastag” and even “How to select channels as per TRAI”. When it came to users looking to learn more and asking ‘What is…’, the top query was “What is Article 370?’. Other trending searches also included “What is howdy Modi?”, “What is DLS method in cricket?”, and “What is Article 15?”. And on local searches around ‘Near me…’, the top query was “Dance classes near me” followed by “Salons near me”. Interestingly, a pertinent entry in this particular list in 2019 was “Air quality Index near me”.  

View the complete 2019 India-specific lists and global trends in detail; and check out over a thousand global top-ten lists across pop culture, sports, music, politics, news, and more, from more than 75 countries.

#YouTubeRewind – What India watched in 2019



For the last several years, video has increasingly been a medium that inspired and fascinated Indians and also became the canvas for their imaginations. In the twelfth year of YouTube’s journey in India, 2019 has proven to be a coming-of-age year in more ways than one.


While movies and music continued to rule the hearts and minds of India, with ‘Rowdy Baby’ from Dhanush-starrer Maari 2 making it to YouTube’s global most viewed charts, breakout creators like Khandeshi Movies and their signature style of down-home comedy had us laughing with the rest of the country.


2019 was also the year when previously niche genres like farming, gaming and learning blossomed into categories worth reckoning, notching impressive reach and engagement. Across categories, women creators could be seen leading from the front. While 2016 had just 1 woman creator with a subscriber base of over 1 million, 2019 has seen that number climb to a whopping 120 women creators with over a million followers. 


While the portfolio of categories widened to add new verticals like learning and farming, Indian languages continued their expansion across verticals, with languages like Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam turning into fast growing video ecosystems in their own right. From comedy to gaming to beauty, each of these languages today houses a full showcase of the range of content on YouTube, with millions of creators fuelling the growth, and advertisers leveraging it to reach their marketing objectives. 


Here’s a quick look at 2019 in video, and what made the top charts globally and in India.


YouTube Most viewed Music Videos Globally


  1. Daddy Yankee & Snow - Con Calma (Video Oficial)
  2. ROSALÍA, J Balvin - Con Altura (Official Video) ft. El Guincho
  3. Anuel AA, KAROL G - Secreto
  4. Anuel AA, Daddy Yankee, Karol G, Ozuna & J Balvin - China (Video Oficial)
  5. Jhay Cortez, J. Balvin, Bad Bunny - No Me Conoce (Remix)
  6. Shawn Mendes, Camila Cabello - Señorita
  7. Maari 2 - Rowdy Baby (Video Song) | Dhanush, Sai Pallavi | Yuvan Shankar Raja | Balaji Mohan
  8. BLACKPINK - 'Kill This Love' M/V
  9. Billie Eilish - bad guy
  10. Ariana Grande - 7 rings

    YouTube Top Trending Videos in India


    1. Khandeshi Movies - Chotu Ke Golgappe
    2. Jaipur The Pink City - New Arabic Mehndi Design by Sonia Goyal
    3. Team Naach - O Saki Saki | Batla House
    4. The Motor Mouth - When Kapil Sharma met Doraemon voice artist
    5. Satish Tech - How To Make Helicopter Matchbox Helicopter Toy DIY
    6. Animated Video Pro - लालची दूधवाली | जादुई इंजेक्शन
    7. Cricket.com - Kohli, Dhoni too good for the Aussies | Second Gillette ODI
    8. Discovery Channel India - Exclusive Sneak Peek| Man VS Wild with Bear Grylls and PM Modi
    9. Sarpmitra Akash Jadhav - Dangerous Rescue Operation | Rescue indian cobra snake in the well from Ahmednagar maharashtra
    10. Experiment King - Chewing gum vs Hot oil experiment

      YouTube Top Trending Music Videos in India


      1. Rowdy Baby - Dhanush, Sai Pallavi | Yuvan Shankar Raja | Maari 2 
      2. Vaaste - Dhvani Bhanushali, Tanishk Bagchi | Nikhil D | Bhushan Kumar | Radhika Rao, Vinay Sapru
      3. She Don't Know - Millind Gaba Song | Shabby
      4. Coca Cola - Kartik A, Kriti S | Tony Kakkar | Tanishk Bagchi | Neha Kakkar | Luka Chuppi
      5. Coka - Sukh-E Muzical Doctorz | Alankrita Sahai | Jaani | Arvindr Khaira
      6. Ve Maahi - Akshay Kumar, Parineeti Chopra | Arijit Singh & Asees Kaur | Tanishk Bagchi | Kesari
      7. Dheeme Dheeme - Tony Kakkar ft. Neha Sharma
      8. Lehanga - Jass Manak, Satti Dhillon
      9. Pachtaoge - Arijit Singh | Vicky Kaushal, Nora Fatehi |Jaani, B Praak, Arvindr Khaira | Bhushan Kumar
      10. O Saki Saki - Nora Fatehi, Tanishk B, Neha K, Tulsi K, B Praak, Vishal-Shekhar | Batla House

        With the massive depth and diversity of content on the platform, some of the country’s most-loved brands have leveraged YouTube to tell some of the year’s most compelling brand stories, the best of which form the YouTube Ads Leaderboard for 2019.


        YouTube Ads Leaderboard India 


        1. Kia Motors - Kia Motors India | Magical Inspirations | Stunning Designs
        2. Samsung - Samsung India Good Vibes App: Caring for the Possibilities
        3. Pepsi - Har Ghoont Mein Swag | Tiger Shroff | Disha Patani | Badshah | Ahmed Khan | Bhushan Kumar
        4. Mi Smart LED TV - Mi Smart LED TV sab ki sunega | Say It See It - Xiaomi India
        5. OPPO - OPPO F11 Pro | Features, Specs & Product Overview | Available Now
        6. Google Assistant - Pooche koi bhi sawaal Hindi mein (mausam ki jaankari) | Google Assistant
        7. Aditya Birla Group - Aditya Birla Group - Big in Your Life
        8. OnePlus - 90 Hz Smooth Moves | OnePlus x Robert Downey Jr
        9. Horlicks - #FearLessKota #BottleOfLove
        10. Vivo - All new vivo S1 with 32MP Selfie Camera | #ItsMyStyle | HDFC and Jio Offer

          Our Rewind 2019 video compiles the top videos and creators that you liked and watched the most around the world, from the biggest games to must-watch beauty palettes and breakout stars. 




          For a deeper look at the year on YouTube and to see the top videos and trends in many other countries, head to this year's Rewind site. 

          Posted by Satya Raghavan, Director - YouTube Partnerships, India
          https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/AvUD7qGEuQ6LEuOZDn6D6D8BxrA-9oHW8_xnTICHDjkachJxDtgfHQpLdn6W-7qc91ituytKEgQ0OOa2hNPJPcAroDnQ5tWAbu8iExp80mEAp4NgqRmo3CEoYxBK6XgQXtgSFBLM Satya Raghavan Director - YouTube Partnerships India

          Google Play Best of 2019 Winners

          https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/SqdGrEKaUoQ4F34VVHjXwqCtnT3BF8K5JmCCCbWCK67FUMkqN-38-eTp6xsfGh6cFyEHTgDeZ2ulRJ4_P3VxNKs8TYmJpv3TXbNfZK8Gvt4_Xi63f_FVmmkEJUhigQjhT9ptNPfB Brett Bouchard Global Head of Editorial Google Play




          2019 took us to distant worlds and brought us together with new apps, games, movies and books. We grooved to the rhythms of Andhadhun, answered the Call of Duty, and read books of hope – it was an amazing year from beginning to Endgame. Now, we’re celebrating the year’s top content across Google Play.


          You rocked the vote to crown your favorites… and the votes are in: Your 2019 Users’ Choice winners are Spotify, Call of Duty: Mobile, Marvel Studios' Avengers: Endgame, and Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope. 


          Explore the lists below to see what the Google Play editors loved and what topped the charts in Indian entertainment this year. And check out the full lists in the Best of 2019 section of the Play Store.



          Mobile Magic 

          Screen Time


          Literary Legends 

          Top-Selling Ebooks of 2019


          Top-Selling Audiobooks of 2019


          Posted by Brett Bouchard, Global Head of Editorial, Google Play

          Shopping on Google brings new features to connect more users to retailers

          https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ESxE2TPcnaVUmmvFIIEI2cOkZCZX3GMP5EFAkI-L1UBi3FyyXvyj499d1rdmAOBB2d8R2bCMP7FVQcXqZlcudkSAL_a1fReM32Emy7go42CHw49EYjoAWZjmnubNXeVNUrJHiWmW Surojit Chatterjee Vice President - Product Management Google Shopping
          Last year we announced a new shopping experience on Search -- a frictionless way for Indian shoppers to discover new products on Google. We also enabled online merchants to list their products for free in the Merchant Center, along with auto feeds that made the process quick and easy.  

          We’ve witnessed incredible momentum since then. Indian shoppers engage with this shopping experience more often, and for longer periods of time compared to other markets, and there are now over 200 million offers available on Google Shopping. Not only that, share of clicks on listings that direct to small and medium business websites have increased by 30 percent! We’re committed to helping small and medium sized businesses succeed in India and are excited to announce new tools to help them connect with shoppers, online and off.



          Getting local stores online with Google My Business

          Although online shopping in India continues to grow in popularity, about 96 percent of shopping still happens offline. Soon, any local retailer will be able to create an online store through Google My Business and connect with the millions of shoppers searching for their products online. When they post photos of their in-store products, they will automatically be surfaced as product listings on Search and in the Google Shopping tab. We’re excited to welcome the 20,000 local businesses that are already on Google My Business in India into the Shopping experience when it launches early next year. 

          Shopping in Indian languages

          The rate at which Indian language users are coming online cannot be overstated -- 9 out of every 10 new users coming online are Indian language users (largely using their mobile phones, from tier 2 and 3 cities.) And these users are searching online more than ever: at Google For India earlier this year, we announced that 20 percent of Search queries in India are in Hindi.

          So we are glad to share that we are extending the power of Google Translate to the Shopping tab as well as the Shopping home page for Indian languages.



          Hindi
          Telugu
          Gujarati

          Over the next two to three years, approximately 500 million non-English speaking users will be online in India, and we hope that this step will enable them to more easily find products in their own language. And on the merchant side, it requires no extra effort -- the products that will be showcased to online shoppers in India will seamlessly be displayed in their preferred Indian language. This feature will also be available to shoppers in India early next year.

          As we shared when we launched Shopping on Search in India last year, our endeavor is to enable India’s small and medium retailers to grow and thrive, and to open a world of new online experiences for Indian shoppers. With the integration of Google My Business and Google Translate, we are excited to bring the full power of Google to Shopping. 
          Posted by Surojit Chatterjee, Vice President - Product Management, Google Shopping

          Nest Mini brings twice the bass in the same compact size

          https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/hnP7SRcg9dyIOPCYzvySKtpNAOeizzoXSVO0xWMSPJRuWzc1L2NzYyqbOvxnq_kqE1K9ueyznnY0MysJ7cRIuCH-wix1eVWj3qGCx3nun1Lr8sig8SpKkSuspFpcoWzPrh_mrTqO Saurabh Arya India Business Lead Google Home and Nest Products




          It’s only been two years, but already, millions around the world have received hands-free help from the Google Assistant in any room in your home, all thanks to Google Home Mini. And now, we’re bringing you the second-generation -- Nest Mini, which is completely re-engineered to make everything you love about the original even better. Back in May, we brought together the Google Home and Nest teams under the Google Nest brand, and Nest Mini is the next step as we build the helpful home.

          A new speaker with powerful sound


          People love listening to music on our Google Home and Nest smart speakers and displays. Since launching the original Google Home, people have listened to billions of hours of music on our devices globally. So with Nest Mini, we upgraded the hardware and software to make it sound even better, and it really brings the bass.
          Nest Mini provides bass that’s twice as strong as the original Google Home Mini (measured from 60-100 Hz at max volume). Our expert audio engineers developed proprietary audio tuning software, allowing us to get the most out of the hardware with a full, clear and natural sound at every volume level. We didn’t want to suppress any auditory details, so what you’ll hear when listening to music on Nest Mini is authentic to the artist’s vision. 
          If you’re listening to music, podcasts and other types of media on Nest Mini, LED lights will light up as your hand gets close to the device, indicating where you can tap to adjust the volume. We’ve also improved Mini’s ability to hear you in noisy environments. 
          And Nest Mini will dynamically adjust the volume of the Assistant, news and podcasts based on any background noise that may be happening at the time. So when the washing machine is running and you ask for the weather, you’ll hear the Assistant’s response at a louder volume.

          Whole home audio


          You can connect Nest Mini to your other Nest speakers to build a sound system for your whole home. If you have more than one Google or Nest smart speaker or display, simply create as many different groups as you’d like in the Google Home app, and enjoy music, podcasts and more throughout your home.
          And with stream transfer, you can fill your home with sound by moving your music, audiobooks and podcasts from one speaker to another with just your voice. Even transfer music or podcasts from your phone when you walk in the door. For example, If I’m hosting a dinner party, once I’m done cooking in the kitchen, I just say, “Hey Google, move the music to the living room speaker” to keep the party going. 
          The power of whole home audio goes beyond music, and it can be a helpful way to stay in touch with family members. With new Google Duo functionality on all Google Home and Nest speakers, you can call your devices from the Google Home app, use the intercom feature to talk from device to device, or even call someone on the other side of the world, for free—all you need is a Duo account and/or a Google Home or Nest smart speaker or display.

           

          Making the best Assistant better


          You already know that your Google Assistant can help you tackle your day, enjoy your entertainment and control compatible smart home devices brands like Philips Hue, TP-Link and more.
          Nest Mini is smarter and faster than the original Mini. We embedded a dedicated machine learning chip with up to one TeraOPS of processing power, which lets us move some Google Assistant experiences from our data centers directly onto the device. In the U.S., Nest Mini can now learn your most common commands and process them locally for a much faster response time -- we look forward to rolling out this functionality to Indian users soon.
          Nest Mini materials
          The fabric covering on Nest Mini is made from 100 percent post-consumer recycled plastic bottles.

           

          Sustainably designed for your home

          Nest Mini has the same iconic design as the original Mini, with soft rounded edges that blend in with your home. It comes in two colors: Chalk and Charcoal, which was inspired by Lake Como in Italy. We’ve also incorporated wall mounting capabilities into Nest Mini, because you told us that you needed creative ways to incorporate Nest Mini into your decor and save precious counter and shelf space.
          Like so many of you, we’re committed to helping the planet, so the fabric covering on Nest Mini is made from 100 percent post-consumer recycled plastic bottles (meaning plastic bottles that have already been used and recycled). A single half-liter plastic bottle makes enough fabric to cover more than two Nest Mini devices. The external enclosure is also made from 35 percent post-consumer recycled plastic. Now, all Nest products launching in 2019 are built using varying amounts of recycled plastics.
          I know you’ll love rocking out with Nest Mini as much as I do. You can buy Mini starting today for ₹4,499 on Flipkart.
          Just like Google Home and Home Mini, Nest Mini supports both English and Hindi. So once you set up Nest Mini, just say, “Hey Google, what can you do?” to get started. And once you do that, say “Hey Google, play the latest bollywood songs” and get ready to party.

          Posted by Saurabh Arya, India Business Lead, Google Home and Nest Products

          Now enjoy YouTube Premium and Music Premium with prepaid plans in India

          We are excited to unlock the YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Premium experience for users in India with a local credit or debit card from Visa or Mastercard. Starting today, users across India will be able to purchase either a one-month or three-month prepaid plan to enjoy YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Premium benefits.  
          With these new plans for India, users can now purchase prepaid plans without enrolling in an ongoing subscription and enhance their viewing and listening  experience with all the paid membership benefits for the period that they pay for. At any point, users will also be to extend their paid benefits by an additional 1-month or 3-months by purchasing additional top-ups for their membership.
          You can unlock a great new experience of enjoying YouTube and YouTube Music with these new plans


          To sign-up for a pre-paid plan, follow the sign-up instructions for a YouTube Premium or YouTube Music Premium membership. When selecting your membership option, select the 1-month or 3-month plan option. You can also upgrade from a YouTube Music Premium membership to a YouTube Premium membership on a pre-paid plan at youtube.com/premium

          We hope this added flexibility to decide on your prefered method of payment will help you to enjoy the YouTube Premium and Music Premium experience. To find out more about pre-paid plans  and get started, please visit youtube.com/premium and youtube.com/musicpremium.




          Posted by Pawan Agarwal, Head of Music Content Partnerships, India & South Asia

          Divyanshi Singhal doodles her hope to have “Walking Trees” in the future, to protect the next generations from deforestation

          https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/IhnLCVh9R6GMP951-3fPHDdhz1flVfvwglSWZ0wdV6fMgdYYSJ0aYO_SEg1iuAU_MY-X-Ksfl8rS9SSjKfYqBj1l7uUM7NI9TQjSY8qdjFnW9FhHOB-sTdiYiegpqXEIh9juEP9J Sapna Chadha Sapna Chadha, South East Asia and India author_team
          The idea of “walking trees” wins votes and hearts to become the national winner of this year’s Doodle for Google contest

          This year’s contest saw over 1.1 lakh children from classes 1 to 10 across the country sending in their doodles, based on the theme ‘When I grow up, I hope ..’. It was heartening to see so many fresh, creative depictions for a better world: from cleaning up the ocean, to flying solo using technology, to simply dreaming about a world without boundaries.


          After three months, and with participation from over 50 cities across India, we are thrilled to announce this year’s National winner of our Doodle for Google contest: seven-year-old Divyanshi Singhal  from Gurgaon is the national winner with her imaginative, thoughtful, and inspiring doodle, entitled ‘The Walking Tree’. Divyanshi’s doodle will be featured on the Google India homepage on November 14th as part of our celebration of Children’s Day. 






          Caption: 2nd grader Divyanshi Singhal from Gurgaon is the national winner of this year’s Doodle for Google Contest




          Divyanshi from DPS, Gurgaon, expressed her dismay on trees been cut down, where through her doodle ‘The Walking Trees’ she says, “When I grow up, I hope the world’s trees can walk or fly. The land could be cleared so easily without making them die. There would be so little deforestation and humans can just ask the trees and their friends to move to another place.”


          When we inquired how she came up with this delightful idea, she explained, “When I visited my grandmother, I was so sad to see the trees around her house being cut. So I thought that if trees could walk or fly, we will not have to cut them'' she said wistfully. 

          This year’s jury, comprising creative masterminds including Rajiv Chilaka, (creator of Chhota Bheem & CEO of Green Gold Animation,) Prajakta Koli (India’s leading female YouTube Creator,) and Neha Sharma (famous artist and creator of Neha Doodles) along with the Google Doodle team had a mammoth task at hand; first, to shortlist from the submissions received, then to choose the 20 Finalists from across the nation, with every piece of art as compelling as the other. All entries were evaluated on the criteria of artistic merit, creativity and theme communication, as well as the uniqueness and novelty in the approach.


          The final 20 shortlisted doodles were then showcased online at https://doodles.google.co.in/d4g/ for public voting. The designs for this year’s theme were incredibly creative across all class groups. In addition to the national winner, 5 group winners were also selected. Over 6 lac public votes helped us determine the following group winners for the 5 class groups   

          Class group 1-2: 
          G.S.S. Sharvan, Sri Prakash Vidya Niketan, Visakhapatnam
          Doodle Title: Ocean Friendly 
          “When I grow up, I hope to live in a world where the underwater sea animals become free from plastic waste. I would like to clear the underwater using a machine to help sea animals and plants.”


          Class Group 3-4: 
          Bhaswati Bishoi, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Bhubneswar 
          Doodle Title: From moon to moon!
          “My parents gave me the nickname “Moonmoon”, telling me go moon to moon. When I grow up, I hope to fulfill my parent’s dream, and to participate in the space voyage to discover the undiscovered.”


          Class Group 5-6: 
          Ankit Bhattacharya, Delhi Public School, Kolkata
          Doodle Title: Learning with Fun 
          Grades place students in predefined categories like A, B, C which compel them to run after marks rather than to acquire real knowledge. So when I grow up, I hope there is no fear of exams. Learning is more fun and students expand their horizons, improve creativity and skill without any stress.


          Class Group 7-8: 
          Pyla Vijay Kumar, Sri Prakash Vidyaniketan, Visakhapatnam
          Doodle Title: Khadi, an evergreen Indian pride
          “When I grow up, I hope to spread the significance and genuinity of KHADI material in order to increase its production and utilisation, thereby restoring the Indian Culture.”




          Class Group 9-10: 
          Sidagam Sai Sathvik, Sri Prakash Vidya Niketan, Visakhapatnam
          Doodle Title: Everlasting Impact -- Indian Folk Art
          “When I grow up, I hope the world recognises the magnificent treasure of India -- Indian Folk Art -- and passes it on to the next generations leaving an everlasting impact.”


          With the Doodle for Google competition, we aim to celebrate and promote creativity, passion, and imagination in young people across the country, and we continue to be overwhelmed by the participation from the talented and creative young artists each year. 


          A heartfelt thanks from the Doodle for Google team and the jury to all who voted and helped us select this year's winners. Most importantly, we thank the students who submitted their wonderful entries this year, and our partner schools and guest judges -- it was incredibly challenging to select the winning doodles from the amazing entries we had the honor of reviewing. 


          Keep on doodling, and looking forward to seeing you next year!


          Posted by Sapna Chadha, Senior Director of Marketing, Southeast Asia & India