Author Archives: A Googler

What’s under the hood: Security on Google Pay

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/kqimQE52YHUk85s4_gch87PrS7s5lO0NDSP3WkTLWJh3eJCMSeuEskErQ-sj2UmtRsIoO4gehtH99tYnR1V4f9duF3FRuNEQQ0GLAABwWbLTUOFvi17V0grH__j2cCX5bzJUi-7j Ambarish Kenghe Director, Product Management Google Pay
In the last two years, instant bank-to-bank transfers via UPI have become the preferred form of payment for millions of Indians, many adopting digital payments for the first time. At Google Pay, we’ve been very excited to be part of this story, and bringing the convenience of UPI to millions of users, in a simple and secure user experience. 


We launched Google Pay with the best of Google’s security infrastructure, leveraging our experience of 20 years of bringing some of the world’s most helpful technology products to billions of users worldwide. Some of these are: 

  • Enhanced fraud protections with SafetyNet: Beyond the ‘one device - one account’ safeguards offered by UPI, Google Pay is secured with Google Pay advanced fraud models and backed by Google’s authentication platform, ensuring world class protections against fraud attacks and faster identification and suspension of fraudsters.
  • Secure access: The PIN entry screens in Google Pay have been secured against remote desktop attacks since the early days of app’s launch, keeping our users safe, even when widespread scams have affected other digital payments users.
  • Blocking fraudsters from getting on to Google Pay: Our exhaustive risk relations check at the onboarding stage prevents known bad actors from recreating their accounts on the app.
  • Scam protections: Since its launch, Google Pay uses machine learning-based scam prevention models, and also displays explicit ‘scam’ or ‘stranger’ warnings if a user receives a request from someone suspicious or not in their contacts.
             

    • Explicit language and prominent warnings during collect requests: Collect requests as a flow are unique to UPI and thus might be new to several users. For this reason, Google Pay displays very clear and prominent warnings to the user about what it entails at each step.

      Additionally, to help our users fully understand each step on the app, we have now launched notifications and SMS alerts to clarify the direction of flow of money: Google Pay will now send app notifications as well as SMS to inform users each time they receive a collect request to highlight that approving the request will deduct money from the users’ bank accounts. 

      We are mindful that at Google Pay, users are entrusting us with their most sensitive asset - their money. We are conscious of the responsibility that comes with this trust. The above security features, and a lot more ongoing work in this direction, are a small example of how we keep our users safe. 

      As we make this journey together, there are steps that our users can also take to keep their money secure. Just as we learnt to handle cash carefully, the world of digital payments requires care and mindfulness as well, to ensure we keep our money safe. Some of these are:
      • Just as you keep your ATM card PIN private, your UPI PIN needs to be safeguarded in the same way. This code is only for your use, to securely access your UPI-linked bank account, via Google Pay. The same applies to your phone PIN.
      • Google Pay customer care representatives will never ask for your PIN or ask you to authorise a money transfer, while troubleshooting. If anyone contacts you with such a request, always decline.
      • UPI places incredible power in the hands of the user and money can only leave your account if you authorise it. Only approve transfer requests from people you trust, or for transactions that you have initiated. If you don’t remember initiating a transaction, decline.
      • Please pay attention to ‘scam’ and ‘stranger’ warnings that appear on Google Pay, in case an unknown contact requests for a money transfer. Read these signals carefully and only transact with people you trust. 
      • Be alert to the direction of the money flow. Receiving money never requires your UPI PIN, only sending money does. If you need to enter your UPI PIN, you are authorising a payment.
      • If you ever need any kind of support or help, our 24/7 support is available to help, who you can contact safely from within the app. Do not call unverified numbers present on the web. 
        These simple tips, along with Google Pay’s security infrastructure, can ensure that your experience on digital payments stays seamless, and you can leverage its many conveniences to the fullest. This journey is an ongoing one as we continue to learn and evolve the product, and look forward to your feedback to make Google Pay even more helpful in your daily life. 

        Posted by Ambarish Kenghe, Director, Product Management, Google Pay

        26 million women in rural India are dreaming big, breaking barriers, helping communities and improving livelihoods

        Even as India has taken the lead to become the fastest growing Internet user market in the world, with a 31% growth in rural India, 75% of the rural population still don't have access to the Internet and 40% claim to be unaware of the benefits of the internet*. It is therefore important to equip rural India with a greater understanding of the Internet, and empower them with the right skills to find information on the web that can help improve their lives. 


        A recent meeting with two of our Saathis Rama Devi and Asiya Gawandi, really brought home the profound impact of our Internet Saathi program on women in rural India. 


        Rama Devi who comes from a very humble background is transforming farming practices in Vempalle, a small village in Andhra Pradesh where for generations farmers have been using chemical fertilizers. She used voice search to learn more about “how to make organic manure”, “benefits and cost effective ways of organic farming over chemical fertilizers” on the internet. She learnt that organic sources like animal waste, vegetable compost, agricultural residues, human excreta, etc. can help reduce expenditure, and grow yield. She has now trained 120 farmers and over 1200 women beneficiaries on how to make organic manure. 


        On the other hand, Asiya Gawandi, from a small village Maujgarhjia in Maharashtra has trained 1500 women in her village who are using the internet in their everyday life now. Many of these women have gone ahead and started their small businesses. Collectively, these women have started a local market -- "Apna Bazaar" where they these enterprising women come forward to sell food items, handicraft, beauty products like sugandhi ubtan, and the list goes on. They continue to enhance their skills and learn new techniques using the Internet. 


        Today we have over 70,000 incredible women across 260K villages in 18 states, who are using the power of the Internet to drive positive change in their communities and have already benefited over 26 million women. To further our efforts, we are happy to announce the expansion of the program to two new states -- Punjab and Odisha. In Punjab, the program will cover around ~5,000 villages, starting from Paras Rampur, Kotli Than Singh, Burj, Vehra, from Hoshiarpur and Kapurthala districts. In Odisha the program has kicked off from Sindhia in Baleshwar, Parakana in Puri, Bhuinpur in Kendrapara, and we will cover ~16,000+ villages. 


        It is encouraging to see that the female to male internet literacy ratio is now at 4:10 [Source: Kantar ICUBE Study 2018] but there is still a lot more that needs to be done to make the internet gender equitable. We believe that a gender-equitable Internet is good for everyone, and when a diverse group uses the Internet, the online world becomes relevant and useful to more people. 




        Internet Saathi program has shown us that with the right opportunities, there is no limit to what women can achieve. It is remarkable to see the passion of women like Rama Devi, and several others of them in rural India, learning about the Internet, not just for their own needs but for their families, kids and their communities.

        In a recent study with Kantar, we interviewed over 2500 people across rural India to understand the impact that providing access has on their livelihood.

        What we learnt -- 
        Over time, women start to become more confident, becoming a key source of information for her village, and also help empower the next generation:

        / About 70% of Saathis believe they are seen as a source of information in their village -- people are coming to them consistently for answers to help children with schoolwork, to learn  new cooking recipes, search for jobs, or to run a business. 
        / 8 in 10 Saathis and their beneficiaries believe people in their village respect them more. 
        / 9 in 10 women beneficiaries believe in a woman’s right to express herself, and earn a living for her family.
        / That’s not all, 7 in 10 women who attended the trainings with the Saathis have seen an improvement in their children’s education.


        Increased confidence leads to a level of independence that creates financial opportunities for women to pursue their dreams: 

        / 3 in 10 Saathis and 2 in 10 beneficiaries have set up some form of business. This, in turn, has provided economic growth, with the business often earning between Rs. 3000 and Rs. 5000 every month.
        / 5 in 10 Saathis have seen positive impact on employability.


        Many of our Saathis or those who have been trained by them, have either started a business -- be it stitching or honeybee, and parlour, or helping their family improve their financial standing or driving positive change for their community. They have truly become role models for millions of other women. 


        It’s encouraging to see real stories of impact that are reshaping the digital narrative for rural India. We are grateful to Tata Trusts, our onground NGO partners, local activists and several Google volunteers who have contributed to the success of this program, and without whom the journey would have been incomplete. 


        By Sapna Chadha, Director of Marketing, Southeast Asia & India, Google 

        *Source: Kantar ICUBE Report 2018

        Explore your world with these new Google Maps features

        https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/RZK2IimfzK2Pl_ApOPsfwa2ROyDLcm1gl_DU2oY9Psr2SA3a-k6k5BKo2-KHgInO_15EH8WyuGKcSAJzHLJPgEiRqgVBLtis05RrWWiYg23yMIwqvXriIgzB96bSOOwALCp8MuGZ Krish Vitaldevara and Chandu Thota Director Google Maps
        From showing you the quickest morning commutes, to helping you stay safe on your ride home at the end of the day, Google Maps has a long history of building India-first features to keep Indians on the move, safely.


        But we want to help with more than just getting from A to B. Starting today, we are happy to announce three new features in Google Maps available to Indian users on their phones: a redesigned, India-inspired Explore tab, a new For You experience, and dining Offers that help you find places you’re likely to enjoy with deals to make the experience even sweeter. Whether it's finding things to do in an area or getting offers on dining out, or recommending places and experiences, we hope Google Maps can now help you discover a new side to your city. 




        Explore tab: Ever since we launched the Explore tab, it has been a one-tap means of getting suggestions on dining, events, and things to do based on the area being viewed. But we wanted to make this experience even more helpful; to reflect the rich diversity of local neighborhoods and communities. Which is why we have redesigned the Explore tab for India.


        We’ve heard that Indian Maps users prefer a more assistive and visual browsing experience that is easy to access. Based on top queries and the way people interact with Google Maps in India, we’ve added seven shortcuts that you can access from the Explore tab: Restaurants, Petrol Pumps, ATMs, Offers, Shopping, Hotels, and Medical Shops. Using machine learning, we automatically identify the top suggestions across these categories in every city.


        In addition to exploring near your location, you can now also explore other popular neighborhoods in your city -- simply tap the arrow option next to “Explore Nearby”. Using machine learning, we’re  able to automatically identify the top areas in every city. Besides your own city, you can also look up other Indian cities by just searching the city name -- an easy way to get up to speed before you travel.




        For You: Didn’t know about that hip new cafe that opened up in a neighboring suburb? Now it’s easier than ever to stay in-the-know: tap the For You tab to get inspiration on new restaurants, trending places, and personalized recommendations tailored to your interests. This feature also uses the ‘Your Match’ score, which uses machine learning to combine what we know about millions of places with the information you’ve added -- restaurants you’ve rated, cuisines you’ve liked, and places you have visited. The first time you use this feature you can select the areas/localities you are interested in, and get more personalized and relevant recommendations over time.


        Not only that, users can now ‘follow’ a business and get business updates, news on events and stay on top of any offers posted by them in the ‘For You’ tab. We’ll also recommend other businesses based on merchants you follow -- these interests are user-defined and also inferred by Google.


        The For You tab offers a simple, assistive experience to help you discover your city with a single tap -- and it will continue to improve over time.




        Offers: Everyone loves a good deal, but keeping track of offers from newspaper clippings or email announcements or through multiple apps can be hard — and lead to a bulging wallet. That's why we've added a way to discover local offers, starting with restaurants. We are launching an Offers section where you can find deals and claim them at restaurants across the top 11 Indian metros. Simply tap the ‘Offers’ shortcut in the Explore tab or filter for restaurants with offers. We’re launching this feature in partnership with EazyDiner, where you can now find offers for over 4,000 restaurants and hope to add many more categories and partners soon.


        We can’t wait for you to try out these new features, and to discover those hidden gems in your city. Happy exploring!

        Posted by Krish Vitaldevara, Director, Google Maps, and Chandu Thota, Director, Google Maps

        Get alerts with Google Maps if your vehicle goes off-route

        https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/E-onB1zDiYOKAtubcCgVg3S4sH6YcaEESJF3XsERTu0MH1ZEkZ0BD20by94COOs2dea4KRExSCvzpDkEzSbG1-tXWaFud73fPrWUTaRzVM7iidIBadHYtdr8Ii5Qry-rTQe3qlzB Amanda Bishop Product Manager Google Maps
        Smita left her office late in the evening and boarded an auto-rickshaw for her 30-min trip back home. After a long day at work, instead of relaxing and catching up on her chats, she was constantly checking Google Maps to ensure that the driver was on the right route. 


        At Google Maps, we have focused on building India-first features to deliver a more relevant and reliable experience for our users. Through our extensive research across India, we found that a lot of people limit their mobility due to safety-related concerns. Today, we're excited to announce a new feature - Stay Safer - for passengers like Smita, traveling in taxis and auto-rickshaws, to give them peace of mind, or avoid being taken through a longer route. 


        Now, after searching for your destination and getting directions, you can enable this experience by selecting the “Stay safer” and “Get off-route alerts” option. If your driver deviates more than 0.5KM from the Google Maps suggested route, your phone will buzz with a prominent notification, and you can tap it to see where you are compared to the original route. Then, you can also choose to share your live trip with friends and family directly from that screen so they know you are off route and can keep track of your journey, and take appropriate action, if required.

        It has been inspiring to work closely with users across India to develop, test and launch this feature. At Google Maps, we are committed to helping make journeys safe and hassle-free and look forward to bringing more experiences like this to India and beyond.


        Ready to give it a try? The feature is now available to Android users in India using the latest version of Google Maps. 


        By Amanda Bishop, Product Manager, Google Maps

        Stories of Yoga on Google Arts & Culture

        https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/bKIJotzBb6eXKxx0QAr076phfHy0gVDt1IKvVpCfgK00_uZV2lrqBPc5DNOJkbgtXCJ_Cb1aaJgJiA87nAY19z1Pfni3l8mvqYLTDexlMmLFbOamFVvdLyk9jJCQ0GLD1h7E_6q2 Simon Program Manager Google Arts and Culture

        Yoga has been around for a few millennia, but I’m completely new to the practice and have only practiced a few poses, like Ekpadasana (the “one leg posture”). Just like a yoga teacher would lead you through the steps of this posture, a new Google Arts & Culture collection called Stories of Yoga, takes you through the history, culture and science behind the practice. If you’re a new yogi like me, follow the sequence below to learn the “one leg posture,” and read on for some insights our partners have shared for the “Stories of Yoga” exhibit.




        1. Come to a standing posture. Take in a deep breath. 
        Do you know what the word “yoga” means? It has a lot of nuanced interpretations. The ancient Indian text, called Rigveda, implied yoga means “achieving the unachieved,” “harnessing,” or “connection,” and the exhibition “What is Yoga?” explains other interpretations.


        2. Finding your balance, bring up your right foot and place it in the center of the inner thigh of your left leg. Your toes should point downward. 
        One of the most widely-known gurus, Swami Sivananda, introduced five principles of yoga: proper exercise (āsana), the right breathing (prāṇāyāma), relaxation (śavāsana), proper diet, and positive thinking & meditation (vedānta). 


        3. Bring your palms together in front of your chest as if in prayer, and focus your gaze on a spot in the distance in front of you. Exhale.
        Yoga is older than you might think, it actually dates back by a few millennia. The so-called Vedas and Upanishads started referring to yoga around 3000 BC. Two of the earliest teachers who recorded texts dedicated to yoga were Yajnavalkya and Patanjali. Visit the Museum of Classical Yoga and explore a brief timeline.


        4. Hold the position and inhale and exhale deeply a few times. 
        Yoga strengthens your body as well as the mind. Learn about Shri Yogendra, who started off as a wrestler before rooting himself into yoga and founding the Yoga Institute. Or follow the journey of well known guru B.K.S Iyengar, who used yoga to heal his tuberculosis-affected body.


        5. Release back into the standing posture slowly, and repeat for the other leg. 
        Did you know that women were actually barred from practicing the yoga discipline? Meet pioneer Shrimati Sita Devi Yogendra, who changed perceptions by becoming the first female guru. She introduced sequences specially tailored for women’s physiology. 


        6. As a variation, you can lift your arms up all the way while holding the prayer position. As another variation, you can do the entire sequence while lying flat on your back instead of standing. 
        There are so many different postures and their variations, and each school has a set of their own. Take a sneak-peek into some of the yoga centers in virtual walkthroughs and see the practice sessions up close. 


        It is not a big stretch to learn more about yoga thanks to Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres & Ashrams, The Yoga Institute, Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute, Vivekananda House and other institutions on Google Arts & Culture at g.co/storiesofyoga.

        By Simon Rein, Program Manager, Google Arts & Culture

        Neighbourly introduces four new ways to connect with your neighbours

        https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/t5Mu7x9pTw2eCYx2o_Vdjzefiu1pmgTgI_4Lx2cnAKem-LRGYi0RRYWp9TIw-eJ1_5vtMqPR8ahiD_kNS2oSr-E3s6sdUiLlVP7X4fKvNxQJyJ9bFR-J0VBg-WbCwWgQ_8CHvkGX Muzayun Mukhtar User Experience Researcher, Neighbourly
        You can now browse and post local photos, events, polls, and tips


        Life happens a few kilometers from home or work. Neighbourly is an app that connects local communities to help them learn and share about everything happening nearby. After launching last year in Mumbai, Neighbourly opened up to cities across all of India, with neighbours asking and answering millions of questions along the way.


        // Is there a cricket coaching centre for girls around Nangainallur?
        // Can a professional photographer in Kadugodi cover a 2 hour event on Saturday 6-8 pm?
        // Is anyone looking for a pet black labrador who is lost near the Sector 44 petrol pump?


        Neighbours have been eager to share their unique knowledge. According to one samaritan, “I love to check out my mohalla in Indore and help people there with my local knowledge, while I get help from my new neighbours in Bangalore.” We’ve also clearly heard the feedback that asking a question is just the beginning -- there’s so much more local information out there that only neighbours know. With the latest update of Neighbourly, people can now: 


        // Post Photos - Snap a photo of the meal you enjoyed at a newly-opened restaurant.
        // Create Events - Invite new neighbours to watch an upcoming cricket match.
        // Create Polls - Get quick input on the best local vegetarian restaurant.
        // Share Tips - Update neighbours on hazards and repairs happening on the roads.

          Neighbourly adds support for local photos, events, polls, and expert tips.


          These features will make it even easier to share with and learn from your neighbours. You can also show off how well you know your neighbourhood by solving a Neighbourhood Challenge -- puzzles that will appear from time-to-time in the app. Your neighbours will then vote on your contribution!

          Enter a Neighbourhood Challenge to show off how well you know your neighbourhood. 


          The Neighbourly app is available on the Google Play Store for all smartphones running Android 5.0 (Lollipop) and higher. If you already have Neighbourly, you’ll see these new features starting today. Be sure to try your luck at a Neighbourhood Challenge, too! Neighbourly’s mission is to give people a helpful, human, and local way to keep up with everything happening nearby. We look forward to hearing your feedback.


          By Muzayun Mukhtar, User Experience Researcher, Neighbourly

          Web rangers: Meet the superheroes of 2019

          For the last five years, Google India has been organising Web Rangers contest to raise awareness on Online Safety, and the importance of navigating the web in a safe and secure way by raising awareness amongst youth.


          This year we announced the Web Rangers contest for students aged between 10-17 to share with us their efforts to educate their friends and family on Online Safety. Web Rangers Contest this year had two categories -- Campaigns and Projects that got hundreds of submissions from across India. The students submitted entries that ranged from educational videos, websites and even in person workshops organised in both their schools and neighbourhoods.


          A big shout out and heartiest congratulations to all the web superheroes who won this year.


          The winning submissions are below:


          Web Ranger #1, Rajwinder Singh, Thane, Maharashtra
          Rajwinder Sing built a site to demonstrate the importance of education and awareness on Online Safety and also has a quiz to help you test your knowledge.


          Web Ranger #2, Harshath ramana, Chennai, Tamil Nadu
          Harshath ramana created an animated video sharing tip on staying safe online and how to avoid phishing, especially the ones telling you that you have won a grand prize and try to steal your information.


          Web Rangers #3, Suryansh Pathak, Jaipur, Rajasthan
          Suryansh Pathak created a video, showing the different kind of phishing emails and ransomware and how to recognize if you are being phished or when you lose access to your account. The video explains details of fake link, checking for spelling and also shows how you can avoid ransomware.


          Web Ranger team of #4 #5 and #6, Rishal Pandey Chettri, Sewandeep Sharma, and Aditya Chettri, Gangtok, Sikkim
          The team of Rishal Pandey Chettri, Sewandeep Sharma and Aditya Chettri created Cyber Warriors reaching over 30,000 people. They organised workshops in their schools, along with the slogan writing contest and a quiz. Their efforts were highlighted in the local newspaper and they also ran a social media campaign sharing tips on staying safe on the internet.


          By Sunita Mohanty, Director, Trust & Safety, Google India

          Helping enterprises in India transform their businesses in the cloud

          https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/G3KPUrjBYGKSh6FB_bNwfQncjERxF9lW0NUUJQ9UaPYW19-vBJMMmCBW8Yl6bpLYBB3ppjbZwwqPbwswcQlR8SqAVmqU-Jp1r8V_dG00BjKtd0usHGQOJKKNyf5HlDTFwl6CzVuO Nitin Bawankule Country Director Google Cloud, India


          In the last year, there’s been an upward trend in cloud adoption in India. In fact, NASSCOM finds that cloud spending in India is estimated to grow at 30% per annum to cross the US$7 billion mark by 2022.


          In my conversations with customers, discussions have evolved beyond cost savings and efficiencies. While those are still very relevant reasons for adopting cloud technologies, Indian enterprises are looking to Google Cloud to help them drive digital transformation, identify new revenue generating business models, reach previously untapped consumer markets, and build customer loyalty through greater insight and personalization.


          To help more enterprises in India take advantage of the cloud, today we’re kicking off our Google Cloud Summit in Mumbai and next week we take the show on the road to customers in New Delhi and Bangalore. More of a community gathering than a conference, our Cloud Summits are where conversations start, partnerships form and problems are solved; and where customers convene to learn from their peers and experts about how the cloud is transforming business. It’s also our opportunity to better understand the needs of Indian businesses, and to get inspired by our customers’ success stories. Here are a few highlights.




          Tata Steel: Mining data and maximizing its power


          Tata Steel is a great example of an established enterprise from a traditional industry that is modernizing and embracing cloud computing. With an ambition to be a leader in manufacturing in India and a digital-first organization by 2022, Tata Steel believes smart analytics is key to enhancing operational efficiency and gaining business advantage.

          To organize data from siloed systems across the organization and make it easily accessible to all employees, Tata Steel is using Cloud Search and plans to scale it to more than one million documents and 28 disparate enterprise content sources including enterprise resource planning (ERP) and SharePoint. In fact, Tata Steel is one of the first Indian enterprises to harness the power of Cloud Search to meet some of the most aggressive ingestion demands, with indexing durations reduced from weeks to seconds.


          They are also leveraging Google Cloud Platform (GCP) services like Google Cloud Storage and BigQuery to build their data lake and enterprise data warehouse so they can take advantage of advanced analytics and machine learning. Managed services such as AI Platform further enable Tata Steel to manage end-to-end AI/ML workflows within the GCP console. This complements their existing on-premise reporting and analytics tools, and brings data management to the forefront of everything they do—from forecasting market demand to predictive equipment maintenance.


          “Digital is not just a goal, it’s become a way of life. We are digitizing everything from the deployment of factory vehicles to improving material throughput to marketing and sales. As a result, we have petabytes of structured and unstructured data that is not only waiting to be mined, but that we can generate intelligence from to create opportunities across our multiple lines of business using GCP,” said Sarajit Jha, Chief Business Transformation & Digital Solutions at Tata Steel.


          Helping L&T Financial Services reach customers in rural communities


          In rural communities, quick access to financial services can make a tremendous difference to livelihoods. L&T Financial Services provides farm-equipment finance, micro loans and two-wheeler finance to consumers across rural India backed by a strong digital and analytics platform. Their digital-loan approval app, which runs on GCP, makes it significantly faster and easier for people to apply for financial assistance to purchase important things such as farming equipment and two-wheelers. It also helps rural women entrepreneurs get quicker access to funds for their businesses through micro loans.


          L&T Financial found G Suite to be a far better collaborative tool to help staff work together efficiently. Employees can interact with each other in real time using Hangouts Meet, and the task of information sharing is more seamless and secure through Drive. BigQuery also helps L&T Financial Services generate behavior scorecards to track credit quality of its micro-loan customers.


          “Cloud is the technology that enables us to achieve scale and reach. Today there are countless data points available about rural consumers which enable us to personalize our products to serve them better. With access to faster compute power, we can also on-board consumers more efficiently. Our rural businesses have clocked a disbursement CAGR of 60% over the past three years." said Sunil Prabhune, Chief Executive-Rural Finance, and Group Head-Digital, IT and Analytics, L&T Financial Services.


          Creating conversational connections for Digitate’s customers


          Digitate, a venture of TCS (Tata Consultancy Services), has integrated Dialogflow into its flagship brand ignio, an award-winning artificial intelligence platform for driving IT operations, workload operations and ERP operations for diverse enterprises. This integration is the next step in ignio’s product development journey, and will enable users to chat or talk with ignio to detect issues, triage problems, resolve them and even predict system behavior.


          “ignio combines its unique self-healing AIOps capabilities for enterprise IT and business operations with Dialogflow’s AI/ML-based, easy to use, natural and rich conversational capabilities to create an unparalleled, intuitive and feature-rich experience for our customers,” says Akhilesh Tripathi, Head of Digitate.


          Indian enterprises going G Suite


          The base of Indian enterprises that are making the switch to G Suite to streamline their productivity and collaboration also continues to grow. Sharechat, BookMyShow, Hero MotorCorp, DB Corp and Royal Enfield are now able to move faster within their organizations, using intelligent, cloud-based apps to transform the way they work.


          A hybrid and multi-cloud future in India


          Customers want and deserve choice and flexibility, and openness continues to be a major differentiator for Google Cloud. Since we announced Anthos, our hybrid, multi-cloud solution at Next ‘19, customer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. That’s because Anthos embraces open standards, and lets customers run their applications, unmodified, on existing on-prem hardware investments or in the public cloud.


          IDC predicts that by 2023, 55% of India 500 organizations will have a multi-cloud management strategy that includes integrated tools across public and private clouds. (IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Cloud 2019 Predictions  — India Implications (# AP43922319). So when we hold our flagship Cloud Summits in India in 2020, I look forward to sharing more success stories of Indian enterprises that have taken the next step in their digital transformation journey.

          Posted by Nitin Bawankule, Country Director, Google Cloud, India

          Our ongoing work to tackle hate

          Over the past few years, we’ve been investing in the policies, resources and products needed to live up to our responsibility and protect the YouTube community from harmful content. This work has focused on four pillars: removing violative content, raising up authoritative content, reducing the spread of borderline content and rewarding trusted creators. Thanks to these investments, videos that violate our policies are removed faster than ever and users are seeing less borderline content and harmful misinformation. As we do this, we’re partnering closely with lawmakers and civil society around the globe to limit the spread of violent extremist content online.


          We review our policies on an ongoing basis to make sure we are drawing the line in the right place: in 2018 alone, we made more than 30 policy updates. One of the most complex and constantly evolving areas we deal with is hate speech. We’ve been taking a close look at our approach towards hateful content in consultation with dozens of experts in subjects like violent extremism, supremacism, civil rights, and free speech. Based on those learnings, we are making several updates:


          Removing more hateful and supremacist content from YouTube
          YouTube has always had rules of the road, including a longstanding policy against hate speech. In 2017, we introduced a tougher stance towards videos with supremacist content, including limiting recommendations and features like comments and the ability to share the video. This step dramatically reduced views to these videos (on average 80%). Today, we're taking another step in our hate speech policy by specifically prohibiting videos alleging that a group is superior in order to justify discrimination, segregation or exclusion based on qualities like age, gender, race, caste, religion, sexual orientation or veteran status. This would include, for example, videos that promote or glorify Nazi ideology, which is inherently discriminatory. Finally, we will remove content denying that well-documented violent events, like the Holocaust or the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, took place.


          We recognize some of this content has value to researchers and NGOs looking to understand hate in order to combat it, and we are exploring options to make it available to them in the future. And as always, context matters, so some videos could remain up because they discuss topics like pending legislation, aim to condemn or expose hate, or provide analysis of current events. We will begin enforcing this updated policy today, however it will take time for our systems to fully ramp up and we’ll be gradually expanding coverage over the next several months.


          Reducing borderline content and raising up authoritative voices
          In addition to removing videos that violate our policies, we also want to reduce the spread of content that comes right up to the line. In January, we piloted an update of our systems in the U.S. to limit recommendations of borderline content and harmful misinformation, such as videos promoting a phony miracle cure for a serious illness, or claiming the earth is flat. We’re looking to bring this updated system to more countries by the end of 2019. Thanks to this change, the number of views this type of content gets from recommendations has dropped by over 50% in the U.S. Our systems are also getting smarter about what types of videos should get this treatment, and we’ll be able to apply it to even more borderline videos moving forward. As we do this, we’ll also start raising up more authoritative content in recommendations, building on the changes we made to news last year. For example, if a user is watching a video that comes close to violating our policies, our systems may include more videos from authoritative sources (like top news channels) in the "watch next" panel.


          Continuing to reward trusted creators and enforce our monetization policies


          Finally, it’s critical that our monetization systems reward trusted creators who add value to YouTube. We have longstanding advertiser-friendly guidelines that prohibit ads from running on videos that include hateful content and we enforce these rigorously. And in order to protect our ecosystem of creators, advertisers and viewers, we tightened our advertising criteria in 2017. In the case of hate speech, we are strengthening enforcement of our existing YouTube Partner Program policies. Channels that repeatedly brush up against our hate speech policies will be suspended from the YouTube Partner program, meaning they can’t run ads on their channel or use other monetization features like SuperChat.


          The openness of YouTube’s platform has helped creativity and access to information thrive. It’s our responsibility to protect that, and prevent our platform from being used to incite hatred, harassment, discrimination and violence. We are committed to taking the steps needed to live up to this responsibility today, tomorrow and in the years to come.


          -- The YouTube Team

          Google Search and the Assistant help you stay on top of the ICC Cricket World Cup action

          https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/3lUODl0kE_250hnO0twrLSbm1USv5rBhhgZRwW-HAb_s-W-uiRaviq_kh8e-zEvtvCx5CsrK5HdMXTa1b-3hVKopOmMjo_b4JTaMB1QJqYEU6mYA-r9HrbWJkJBU3motb0io-1r6 N/A N/A N/A
          Over the next month and a half, cricket fans across the country will be gripped in the fever that is the ICC Cricket World Cup! We’re as excited as you are, and have been working on many features that will be lighting up across our products to help you get the most out of this exciting sporting season. From Google Search to the Assistant, here’s how you can stay in the know -- and even have a bit of fun.  


          Google Search
          During the cricketing action, you can explore the tournament table, stats, and upcoming matches right in Google Search. Just search for “ICC Cricket World Cup” in English, Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, or Urdu to get started.




          Get in on the action with your favorite team—for instance search for “India cricket team”—to read up on the latest news, view squads, lineups, and even dive into winning probabilities, which will continuously update before and during the game.


          If you can’t watch a live match, Search can help you stay on top of the game. You can view short video clips highlighting exciting moments, and read through live commentary in English and Hindi. If you’re following a team or all matches in the World Cup, you’ll also see game notifications appear on your home screen to make sure you don’t drop the ball.


          To keep track of all the matches, you also can pin real-time scores on your Android phone screen from Search on mobile browsers or from the Android Google App. Find the match you’re looking for, then tap and drag to pin the match anywhere on your screen.




          After each match, you can dive into summaries including player of the match, top performers and key moments. Within an hour after a game ends, you’ll find video recaps from select broadcasting partners featuring highlights of major match moments.



          Google Assistant and Google Home

          To make sure you never miss a game, try asking your Assistant, “Hey Google, when does India play next?” And while you’re watching your favorite team hit another six or rip through the opposing top order, you can ask your Assistant for interesting stats about your favorite player or team -- like how many career runs a player has, or who the player of a specific match was. You can even get up-to-date stats by asking, "Hey Google, what are the current Cricket standings?" This also works in Google Search.




          Highlights, live audio, behind-the-scenes and more from YouTube


          On YouTube you can get highlights to every game on the official ICC channel. And top teams like India and Australia will take you behind the scenes with the players on their YouTube channels.    


          Now that you have everything you need to stay informed during the ICC Cricket World Cup, it’s time to pick up your bat and ball and dive into the action!