Tag Archives: India

Lights, Camera, Beauty: Presenting our first class of NextUp for Beauty Creators!

In February, we announced our first edition of NextUp for Beauty Creators with L’Oreal Paris. Through this special edition, and our partnership with L’Oréal Paris, a pioneer in the beauty industry, we aim to create a strong beauty creator community that’s truly representative, inclusive, and diverse. 


YouTube has always been a platform for authenticity and to find content that’s relevant and relatable, and our fashion & beauty creators are using it to redefine what beauty means in today’s world. From haul videos to honest chats, lookbooks to life advice, beauty creators are using their platform to celebrate uniqueness and create collective experiences while providing reliable  tips and information to their community. Their authenticity, stories and passion for their craft has turned them into icons and a source of inspiration for their fans, and these are the voices we seek  to identify and amplify through NextUp. 


When we opened applications, we received an overwhelming response from hundreds of creators hailing from every corner of India. We’re very proud that the new class of 12 comprises fashion and beauty gurus creating content in multiple languages, and spanning different ages  and beauty sensibilities. A huge thank you to the creator community for their continued passion and enthusiasm, even during times like these!


Without further ado, introducing the first NextUp Class of 2020 for Beauty Creators! 


Latika Sehgal: Latika is a singer who stands for wearable fashion and honest beauty
Himadri Patel: Himadri holds community building at the heart of her beauty content 
StyleMeUpWithSakshi: Sakshi is a model who is all about body confidence and inclusivity!
Sarah Sarosh: Sarah is a beauty guru (and a doctor-in-training!) who focuses on Indian skin tones
Shruti Amin: Shruti’s detailed-oriented beauty reviews have helped her create a loyal audience
JoyGeeks: Aparna is a wellness guru who emphasises on beauty from the inside out! 
CoffeeTableTalks Tamil Beauty: Umadevi brings skin positivity and beauty tips to Tamil-speaking audiences
Meghna Verghese: Meghna is a lifestyle creator with a love for budget beauty
Angelina Pongener: Angelina is a fashionista who takes style notes from Harajuku, Cosplay and Gaming
Rachna Jintaa: Rachna is a skincare enthusiast who specially focuses on beauty for middle-aged women 
Suma Amujuri: Suma is a curly hair expert with her own product line, who creates content in Telugu! 
Lilmissgurung: Shraddha’s passion for sustainability sets her apart in the beauty & fashion space. 


So what’s next for these creators?


As the world adjusts to the new normal, the NextUp Creator Camp is pivoting to an immersive digital experience, with online learning & engagement modules spanning several weeks. Think virtual challenges, video mentorships and online creator & alumni meet-and-greets! The modules will cover YouTube best practices, well-being tips and production techniques to help creators refine their craft. L’Oreal Paris will be covering the business of beauty aspects of the Camp, with exclusive masterclasses by beauty industry specialists, market insight sharing, and networking with brand representatives. 


Each winner will also receive a voucher worth INR 1,40,000 for production equipment, to continue creating compelling stories for their YouTube community.  


Excited? So are we! Follow us on Twitter, and on L’Oreal Paris’ YouTube Channel to catch all the updates from this exciting initiative. 

Posted by Satya Raghavan, Director, YouTube Partnerships, India, & Marc Lefkowitz, Head of YouTube Creator and Artist Development, APAC

Stay "connected to culture" on International Museum Day

Culture is the glue that connects us, even when we can’t be together. Right now people around the world are learning, exploring and finding joy in unexpected places and things, and cultural organizations everywhere are responding with new ways of staying connected to audiences digitally.
Supporting cultural organizations online
To mark this year's rather unusual International Museum Day, together with the International Council of Museums, we’re supporting cultural organizations to continue their cultural programs online with our multi-language resource “Connected to Culture.” It has been inspiring and humbling to see creative cultural organizations from around the globe reimagining the way people interact with art and culture, and adapting to the virtual world. Together, they’re helping to keep our communities connected through shared, digitized cultural moments.
Launching new things to explore for everyone 
Also today, more than 80 museums from over 25 countries are sharing new collections and stories on Google Arts & Culture, joining over 2000 partners already onboard. Discover the Beijing Contemporary Art Foundation (China), Parsons School of Design (USA), Meiji Jingu Forest - Festival of Art (Japan), Patronato Ruta de la Amistad A.C (Mexico) or the Casa Buonarroti (Italy). Together, they contribute 250 new stories and over 10,000 artworks as well as virtual Street View tours to exciting places such as the sacred grounds of the Meiji Shrine in Japan.
Meet the photographers who are revolutionizing the world of fashion through joyful images.
Zoom into the world of Kandinsky in his painting, “Hard in Soft”
Today we’re Mad Hatters! Explore the natural materials used to make your favorite hats.
Zoom into the genius of Michelangelo, to discover his unique military sketches.
Why the long faces? Find out the history of these 1,000 year old figurines


Specifically from India, learn about the crafts from Uttarakhand like Aipan and Ringaal, and young grassroot innovators who created 'word counting pen' to 'portable climbers' from Kashmir with Project FUEL. Scroll back to the story of 200 year old printing presses from Kolkata, or how trade influenced textile designs with Museum of Art & Photography. Or sit back and discover artworks on stone and driftwood with Siddhesh Memorial Foundation for Art -- can you make your own?

Offering tools to teachers and parents
To support teachers, parents, and curious minds throughout this period of quarantine, we’ve launched new educational content—from the Family Fun on Google Arts & Culture hub, to lesson plans, and virtual field trips with digital skills lessons.
11 “Learn Anywhere” lesson plans, written by education experts at Lexicon Learning, help to dive into a wide range of themes on Google Arts & Culture. If you’re interested in how the Bauhaus school is still influencing design today, or whether dinosaurs are still alive, check out the free to download lesson plans on TES.
29 new educational virtual field trips on Google Arts & Culture lead you to famous places like Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned, the CERN tunnel, where scientists research the beginning of our universe, or Kenya to learn about the cradle of humankind.
Looking to explore the world from home and boost your digital skills? With new lessons from Applied Digital Skills - Grow with Google’s free, online digital skill curriculum - students can learn practical digital skills while virtually exploring art, historic events, and iconic figures on Google Arts & Culture. These five video-based lessons help students use GSuite tools to make pixel art inspired by Frida Kahlo, create a quiz on the Palace of Versailles for family and friends, and more!
Google Arts & Culture is now also featured in Teach from Home, an online website that many teachers and parents have sought ideas and inspiration from during the past weeks.


For many art lovers, culture vultures, creators and curators, the idea of spending International Museum Day at home may not be a familiar one but we hope these new additions to Google Arts & Culture will inspire you to explore and learn more about arts and culture, with the whole family while at home.
Posted by Liudmila Kobyakova, Program Manager, Google Arts & Culture

YouTube Music is Making it Simple to Transfer Over Your Google Play Music Library




Over the past few years, we have enhanced YouTube Music to deliver a comprehensive listening experience, and have also added features to make Google Play Music users feel right at home. Starting today, we’re excited to officially begin inviting Google Play Music listeners to effortlessly transfer their music libraries, personal taste preferences and playlists to YouTube Music, their new home for music listening and discovery.  


For now, users will continue to have access to both services. We want to ensure everyone has time to transfer their content and get used to YouTube Music, so we’ll provide plenty of notice ahead of users no longer having access to Google Play Music later this year.


Easy Transfer and Transition 
We know many listeners have spent a lot of time creating their perfect music and podcast libraries in Google Play Music, so we’ve made it simple to move both to their new homes. All Google Play Music users will soon receive an email with detailed instructions on how to begin transferring your full Google Play Music history and content, as well as podcasts, to their new homes. 


Music fans will be able to start the transfer process of their music library to YouTube Music by following these simple steps:


  • Download the YouTube Music app (iOS/Android).
  • Click on the transfer button in YouTube Music, and your uploads, purchases, added songs and albums, personal and subscribed playlists, likes and dislikes, curated stations and personal taste preferences will move right over.
  • Your updated recommendations will appear immediately on the YouTube Music home screen, and we’ll notify you via email and notifications when your music library transfer is complete and your music is in the “Library” tab.

    You can also check out the video with transfer details HERE.




    And if you’re a podcast listener, you can visit this web page and transfer your subscriptions and episode progress to Google Podcasts with a single click. Google Podcasts is our dedicated podcast player available for free on Android and iOS, and accessible from Google Assistant, Google Search, Google Home and more. 


    We’re looking forward to Google Play Music users transferring their libraries, so they can begin listening and exploring on YouTube Music and Google Podcasts.  


    Your New Home For Music: YouTube Music


    For listeners new to YouTube Music, the streaming service is your personal guide to the world of music, simply organized in an app and web player. A bit more on what YouTube Music has to offer:

    • Catalog: YouTube Music offers over 50 million official tracks, albums and high quality audio, as well as deep cuts, B-sides, live performances, and remixes you can’t find anywhere else. 
    • Listen everywhere: Explore YouTube Music’s audio-first music app, desktop and smart speaker experience.
    • Recommendations: Discover new music through YouTube Music’s home screen recommendations and personalized mixes  - My Mix, Discovery Mix, and New Release Mix - based on taste, location, time of day and Play Music preferences after transferring.
    • Official Playlists: Listen to thousands of official playlists from both YouTube Music and Google Play Music.

      We’ve listened to Google Play Music user feedback and recently introduced additional new features to YouTube Music for fans to enjoy. Some of the YouTube Music features we’re most excited to share include the following (with more updates on the way!):


      • Playlist Creation: We’ve increased playlist length from 1,000 to 5,000 songs to make room for even more of your favorites songs.
      • Uploads: You can listen to your uploaded and purchased music from Google Play Music after your transfer, or add up to 100,000 personal tracks to your library in YouTube Music (an increase of more than 50,000 compared to Google Play Music).
      • Offline listening: Paying members can download any song, playlist, music video or let smart downloads (Android only for now) do it for you so you always have something to listen to, even when you don’t have service.
      • Lyrics: Lyrics offer highly visible access to follow along to tracks.
      • Explore Tab: An all-new Explore tab offering one go-to place to discover new music and YouTube Music’s vast catalog of playlists through New Releases and Moods & Genres sections.

      Pricing

      Existing pricing is the same between Google Play Music and YouTube Music. Fans can enjoy the ad-supported version of YouTube Music for free, or enjoy YouTube Music Premium, a paid membership that gives listeners background listening, downloads and an ad-free experience for ₹99.00 a month. Or you can try YouTube Premium to extend ad-free, background listening and offline playback across all of YouTube for ₹129.00.


      Google Play Music Unlimited members will be automatically granted the equivalent tier of YouTube Music Premium or YouTube Premium based on the level of benefits with their current subscription, at the same price*.


      We can’t wait for you to start  exploring YouTube Music features and discovering new music favorites along the way. Have more questions or need help? Check out all of our support resources here.


      *Some users may see a price difference upon transfer. Learn more here.

      Posted by Team YouTube

      Inviting students to participate in Code to Learn competition 2020

      COVID has had a significant impact on how students engage with hands-on learning and poses additional responsibilities for parents and teachers to engage their students in meaningful learning experiences. 


      Today,  we are launching the seventh edition of the Code to Learn competition as a means to immerse students in creative and computational thinking, along with building their skills in programming.


      Students from Class 5 to 12 from any school in India can register through their parents or teachers to show their coding genius using exciting tools like Scratch, App Inventor and Google AutoML to build games, animation, android apps and/or their own machine learning applications; without writing even a single line of code!


      Over the years, Computer Science and Programming has evolved and become one of the strongest means of solving real-life problems. The Code to Learn competition provides a platform for kids to learn the basics of coding and build a stronger foundation in Computer Science. In a fun and engaging way,  we aim to inspire students to use technology to solve problems around them.


      In line with this objective, we have been running the Code to Learn competition successfully for school students in India for the last six years. The program has also been adopted by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India under the Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan.  


      Artificial Intelligence has become a strong enabler to solve many challenging problems of society. Google has put AI to use to solve some of the most pressing issues, from helping predict early blindness to giving timely updates on floods in India. We have a special AI track for class 9 -12 students where they use Google’s existing Machine Learning models to create projects with a problem statement and a data set of their choice. Students define a problem and select any open dataset or create their own (images or text) and train a pre-trained machine learning model to create their own Machine Learning application using Google Cloud AutoML.


      Code to Learn concluded successfully in 2019 and witnessed an overwhelming participation of students from across the country with innovative and exciting projects. We saw powerful applications ranging from fun games to applications that help farmers with timely information. In the Artificial Intelligence theme, we received excellent projects where students defined and tried to solve various societal problems like early detection of breast cancer, predicting learning disabilities through images of handwriting and segregating recyclable plastic waste using Computer Vision models.
      The competition registrations are now open and parents, teachers or legal guardians can register on behalf of the student on the competition website (g.co/codetolearn). Students from across India can submit their projects by 31st July, 2020. We also have online resources available on our website to learn Scratch, AppInventor and Google Cloud AutoML to get started.


      We are very excited about this year's competition, and are looking forward to seeing the innovation and creativity that students will present to us via their projects! For more details, visit our website: g.co/codetolearn.


      Code to Learn is co-organized by Google Cloud, ACM India, CS Pathshala, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), IIIT Bangalore. ACM is the worldwide society for scientific and educational computing with an aim to advance Computer Science both as a science (through CS Pathshala) and as a profession. IISc and IIIT Bangalore are research-oriented universities based in Bangalore.


      Posted by Divy Thakkar, Research and Education Program Manager, and Ashwani Sharma, Head of Research Operations and University Relations, India, AU/NZ and SEA 

      Stopping bad ads to protect users

      People trust Google when they’re looking for information, and we’re committed to ensuring they can trust the ads they see on our platforms, too. This commitment is especially important in times of uncertainty, such as the past few months as the world has confronted COVID-19. 

      Responding to COVID-19

      Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, we’ve closely monitored advertiser behavior to protect users from ads looking to take advantage of the crisis. These often come from sophisticated actors attempting to evade our enforcement systems with advanced tactics. For example, as the situation evolved, we saw a sharp spike in fraudulent ads for in-demand products like face masks. These ads promoted products listed significantly above market price, misrepresented the product quality to trick people into making a purchase or were placed by merchants who never fulfilled the orders. 
      We have a dedicated COVID-19 task force that’s been working around the clock. They have built new detection technology and have also improved our existing enforcement systems to stop bad actors. These concerted efforts are working. We’ve blocked and removed tens of millions of coronavirus-related ads over the past few months for policy violations including price-gouging, capitalizing on global medical supply shortages, making misleading claims about cures and promoting illegitimate unemployment benefits.
      Simultaneously, the coronavirus has become an important and enduring topic in everyday conversation and we’re working on ways to allow advertisers across industries to share relevant updates with their audiences. Over the past several weeks, for example, we’ve specifically helped NGOs, governments, hospitals and healthcare providers run PSAs. We continue to take a measured approach to adjusting our enforcement to ensure that we are protecting users while prioritizing critical information from trusted advertisers.

      Preserving the integrity of the ecosystem

      Preserving the integrity of the ads on our platforms, as we’re doing during the COVID-19 outbreak, is a continuation of the work we do every day to minimize content that violates our policies and stop malicious actors. We have thousands of people working across our teams to make sure we’re protecting our users and enabling a safe ecosystem for advertisers and publishers, and each year we share a summary of the work we’ve done.
      In 2019, we blocked and removed 2.7 billion bad ads—that’s more than 5,000 bad ads per minute. We also suspended nearly 1 million advertiser accounts for policy violations. On the publisher side, we terminated over 1.2 million accounts and removed ads from over 21 million web pages that are part of our publisher network for violating our policies. Terminating accounts—not just removing an individual ad or page—is an especially effective enforcement tool that we use if advertisers or publishers engage in egregious policy violations or have a history of violating policy.
      2.7 billion taken down.gif

      Improving enforcement against phishing and "trick-to-click" ads 

      If we find specific categories of ads are more prone to abuse, we prioritize our resources to prevent bad actors from taking advantage of users. One of the areas that we’ve become familiar with is phishing, a common practice used by deceptive players to collect personal information from users under false pretenses. For example, in 2019 we saw more bad actors targeting people seeking to renew their passport. These ads mimicked real ads for renewal sites but their actual intent was to get users to provide sensitive information such as their social security or credit card number. Another common area of abuse is “trick-to-click” ads—which are designed to trick people into interacting with them by using prominent links (for example, “click here”) often designed to look like computer or mobile phone system warnings.
      Because we’ve come to expect certain recurring categories like phishing and “trick-to-click,” we’re able to more effectively fight them. In 2019, we assembled an internal team to track the patterns and signals of these types of fraudulent advertisers so we could identify and remove their ads faster. As a result, we saw nearly a 50 percent decrease of bad ads served in both categories from the previous year. In total, we blocked more than 35 million phishing ads and 19 million “trick-to-click” ads in 2019.
      Top Offenders.png

      Adapting our policies and technology in real time

      Certain industries are particularly susceptible to malicious behavior. For example, as more consumers turn to online financial services over brick and mortar locations, we identified an increase in personal loan ads with misleading information on lending terms. To combat this, we broadened our policy to only allow loan-related ads to run if the advertiser clearly states all fees, risks and benefits on their website or app so that users can make informed decisions. This updated policy enabled us to take down 9.6 million of these types of bad ads in 2019, doubling our number from 2018. 
      At the end of last year, we also introduced a certification program for debt management advertisers in select countries that offer to negotiate with creditors to remedy debt or credit problems. We know users looking for help with this are often at their most vulnerable and we want to create a safe experience for them. This new program ensures we’re only allowing advertisers who are registered by the local regulatory agencies to serve ads for this type of service. We’re continuing to explore ways to scale this program to more countries to match local finance regulations. 

      Looking forward

      Maintaining trust in the digital advertising ecosystem is a top priority for Google. And with global health concerns now top of mind for everyone, preparing for and responding to attempts to take advantage of our users is as important as it has ever been. We know abuse tactics will continue evolving and new societal issues will arise. We'll continue to make sure we’re protecting our users, advertisers and publishers from bad actors across our advertising platforms. 


      Posted by Scott Spencer, Vice President of Product Management, Ads Privacy and Safety

      18 Asia Pacific news organizations with big ideas

      https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/3QNAGZs8FgkIihWFvMLCLIqhtBK7l24exHb8KGMUa7yjrOtba8J_svQfZ2UmheSHvIeNNr_wx8suPjDYueiVhMVBKQlHrOB1ezwi3dx41IKLsx9WwAvhCV85pgFXXuhItjyO3_2r
      Fazal Ashfaq, News & Publishing Lead APAC

      Last October, we invited news organizations to apply to the second round of the Google News Initiative Innovation Challenge in Asia Pacific: a call for new ideas to help journalism thrive in the digital age. Since then, the COVID-19 outbreak has affected publishers across the region and, after discussions with publishers, we made the decision to go ahead with the Challenge—alongside our broader support for journalism in this challenging time. 
      The first round of the Challenge focused on diversifying revenue and saw dozens of examples of creative new approaches. Iwate Nippo, a local publisher in Japan, developed a news and lifestyle app targeting elderly subscribers, while Australia’s Crikey created a new group subscription model—steps to strengthen their business and ensure they can continue to provide vital news, analysis and information.

      This time around, applicants were asked for proposals to increase reader engagement, which ultimately leads to greater loyalty and willingness to pay for content. We received 255 strong submissions across topics like user-generated content, community management, fact-checking and the use of technologies such as machine learning to tackle business challenges. Today, we’re announcing the 18 organizations from across the region selected to take their ideas forward with GNI’s support.
      Meet the selected applicants from the second round of the GNI Innovation Challenge in Asia Pacific.


      As in the first round, what set these organizations apart was the variety and creativity of their ideas. Gaon Connection in India is building an ‘insights platform’ to capture the opinions and preferences of rural communities. Three local news providers in Korea—the Busan Daily, Maeil Daily and Gangwon Daily—are collaborating to gather real-time insights that will help them create customized experiences for their readers. Australian Community Media is developing a new platform for classified ads that will better support local newspapers and small businesses. Japan’s Nippon TV is using augmented reality technology to bring its news archives to life—and these are just some of the proposals that stood out during the application process. 

      We’re grateful to all the organizations that took the time to apply. A strong Asia Pacific news industry has never been more important, and we’re looking forward to seeing the selected applicants put their ideas into action. 

      Posted by Fazal Ashfaq, News & Publishing Lead, APAC

      Connecting and collaborating with Google Meet & G Suite

      In this unprecedented time in history, we’ve seen millions of businesses across India adapt to the new normal of working remotely and learning from home. It is human nature to connect, and video conferencing plays a pivotal role here. 
      We saw more than 3 million new users connecting on Google Meet every day as of this month, spending over 3 billion minutes a day together. That’s a massive 30x jump from the numbers we saw earlier in January. And today, we’re making our premium video conferencing tool, Google Meet free for everyone, with availability rolling out over the coming weeks. 
      Stay home, stay safe, stay connected 
      Starting May, anyone with an email address can create a Google Account and use Meet to schedule, join or start secure video meetings with anyone — whether it’s a virtual dance class, a weekly book club, neighborhood meetings, or any other reason to connect with your community, friends, and family. 
      Until today, Google Meet was only available as part of G Suite, our collaboration and productivity solution for businesses, organizations and schools. Now, it is freely available on the web at meet.google.com and via mobile apps for iOS or Android. And if you use Google Calendar, you can easily start or join from there too. 
      We’re also rolling out new features including tiled layout for larger calls, the option to present a Chrome tab (instead of just presenting their window or entire screen), low-light mode and eventually noise cancellation. 
      Secure by design
      Meet is designed, built and operated to be secure at scale — for everyone. We employ a vast array of safe-by-default measures to keep your meetings safe without doing a thing, everytime. We don't require or ask for any plugins to be installed, reducing the amount of software users and businesses need to patch with security updates on their machines. 
      We also ensure that only authorised users can use and access Meet services by using a 2-Step Verification option for account — making them secure and convenient. Google Meet users can enroll their accounts in our Advanced Protection Program (APP), which provides our strongest protections available against phishing and account hijacking, and is specifically designed for the highest-risk accounts.
      Helping businesses collaborate with G Suite
      We’re not just connecting over video. We’ve also seen huge spikes in the use of our entire G Suite offering as more people create, share, and connect together while working remotely. Earlier this year we marked another major milestone — surpassing six million paying businesses and organisations who use G Suite. 
      “Employees are able to access every business application via Google Cloud Platform and continue to communicate as usual not only between themselves but also with customers, vendors and other stakeholders with G Suite. The Google Cloud team is always accessible and supportive to help us ease things. The use of collaborative tools has facilitated important human contact and responsiveness in an unprecedented time of remote work,” said V M Samir, Group CIO, Rustomjee, a leading real estate company in Mumbai.
      Mathan Babu Kasilingam, CISO of National Payments Corporation of India, an umbrella organisation for all retail payment systems in India says, “Google Meet has played a good role in helping our teams stay connected. It’s great to see that it is possible to work across various remote locations and manage to carry on business as usual through video conferencing.” 
      Here is what TR Chadha & Co, one of India’s prominent chartered accountancy firms, had to say. “G Suite has been a lifeline for the teams for the past month since we have transitioned to a work from home set-up due to the pandemic. With G Suite, our teams can securely log-in from any device to work wherever they are at any time,” said Gautam Kumar, IT Manager, TR Chadha.
      Securely stay connected and productive not just today but also in the future
      We’re carefully rolling out Meet incrementally over the coming weeks to ensure we can provide everyone with the reliability and security they expect from Google. This means you might not be able to create meetings right away, but you can sign up to be notified when it’s available.
      Meetings are limited to 60 minutes for the free product, though we will not enforce this time limit until after September 30.  Creating a trusted meeting space is important, so being mindful when sharing meeting links in public forums can help create a safe experience for all attendees. For more tips on how to use Meet securely and effectively, visit our Help Center.

      Posted by Karan Bajwa, Managing Director, Google Cloud India

      Get to know India’s most iconic artist, explore India’s landmarks and more on Google Arts & Culture

      We know that art has the power to encourage and inspire, and during this challenging time, we continue to work with our cultural partners to help them reach audiences online. Whether you’re looking to dive deep into Indian art and culture, looking to virtually visit a famous site or looking to play with some of our experiments, here are some ways you can keep exploring on Google Arts & Culture. 

      Discover the comprehensive collection of the artist Raja Ravi Varma

      Left to Right:
      1. ‘Women holding a Fruit’, by Raja Ravi Varma, from the collection of National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi
      2. ‘Rai Pannalal Mehta’, by Raja Ravi Varma, from the collection of The Raja Ravi Varma Heritage Foundation
      3. ‘Vishnu Garuda Vahan’, in advertisement for jam by C. & E. Morton Ltd. UK, by Ravi Varma Press, from the collection of The Ganesh Shivaswamy Foundation 

      Today, on the occasion of Raja Ravi Varma’s 172nd birth anniversary, we are proud to launch a comprehensive digital retrospective of his paintings, prints, sketches and rare photographs. These are presented alongside works inspired by the artist - on canvas, textiles, as studio photography and even as matchbox art! The retrospective features more than 30 stories and more than 700 images and videos from nine institutions, including The Raja Ravi Varma Heritage Foundation, National Gallery of Modern Art New Delhi, The Ganesh Shivaswamy Foundation and Museum of Art & Photography. “Raja Ravi Varma” shines a spotlight on his work, and offers insights into his rich and varied life. Learn about the legends of Urvashi and Shakuntala, or discover how the Jamdani technique was used to weave intricate Saris in Khadi. 

      On this occasion, why not enjoy a special new experience that takes you on a journey through Raja Ravi Varma’s most iconic paintings? Set to music inspired by Indian classical ragas, enjoy meditative experiences that celebrate Ravi Varma’s intrinsic love for musical instruments and melody, as portrayed in many of his paintings.



      Explore India’s Landmarks from Home
      Left to Right:
      1. Palace of Lights, Royal Opera House, Mumbai, from the collection of Royal Opera House
      2. The Great Gate, Fatehpur Sikri, by Samuel Bourne, from the collection of Museum of Art & Photography
      3. Soona Mahal, Mumbai, from the collection of Art Deco Mumbai Trust

      Virtually visit India’s only surviving opera house with 10 breathtaking virtual tours from Royal Opera House, in Mumbai. The building was reopened to the public in 2016 after extensive renovations to restore it to its former glory. Learn more about the Art Deco movement in Mumbai’s architecture design - the precinct which has been accorded UNESCO World Heritage Site status. Take a journey down memory lane with Museum of Art & Photography’s exhibition on the hidden histories of photography covering India’s most iconic sites to lesser known locations.

      Left to Right:
      1. Ajanta Cave no. 26, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, from Archaeological Survey of India
      2. An Indo-Portuguese Goan-style folding chair, from the collection of Museum of Design Excellence

      Then, sink into your favourite chair, and travel virtually to the Ajanta World Heritage Site’s Cave 26, to discover the many forms and histories of seating across India with the Museum of Design Excellence.
      Experience art in new ways
      We are always looking for new ways for people to engage with art through technology. One of our newest features is Art Transfer, that lets you transform your photos influenced by the style characteristics of renowned artists such as Frida Khalo or Leonardo Da Vinci. 

      Caption: Explore ‘Art Transfer’ on the Google Arts & Culture App

      Family Fun with Arts & Culture is another new resource for families at home to explore art, science, animals, music, books and cultures of the world, while also having fun. All of these features can be enjoyed at home with the Google Arts & Culture app on iOS and Android.

      Posted by Simon Rein, Program Manager Google Arts & Culture

      Helping you avoid COVID-19 online security risks

      As people around the world are staying at home due to COVID-19, many are turning to new apps and communications tools to work, learn, access information, and stay connected with loved ones. 


      While these digital platforms are helpful in our daily lives, they can also introduce new online security risks. Our Threat Analysis Group continually monitors for sophisticated hacking activity, and our security systems have detected a range of new scams such as phishing emails posing as messages from charities and NGOs battling COVID-19, directions from “administrators” to employees working from home, and even notices spoofing healthcare providers. During the past couple of weeks across the globe, our advanced machine-learning classifiers have seen 18 million daily malware and phishing attempts related to COVID-19, in addition to more than 240 million COVID-related spam messages. 


      To protect you from these risks, we've built advanced security protections into Google products to automatically identify and stop threats before they ever reach you. Our machine learning models in Gmail already detect and block more than 99.9 percent of spam, phishing and malware. The security we have built into Chrome browser also protects you by alerting you before you enter fraudulent websites, Google Play Protect automatically scans apps and data on your Android device so that you have the latest in mobile security, and more. 

      But we want to help you stay secure everywhere online, not just on our products, so we’re providing these simple tips, tools and resources.


      Know how to spot and avoid COVID-19 scams


      With many of the COVID-19 related scams coming in the form of phishing emails, it’s important to pause and evaluate any COVID-19 related email before clicking any links or taking other actions. Be wary of requests for personal information such as your home address or bank details. Fake links often imitate established websites by adding extra words or letters to them—check the URL’s validity by hovering over it (on desktop) or with a long press (on mobile). See the image below for a few key tips to be aware of.
       


      These tips are also available online on Google Safety center at g.co/covidsecuritytips in Hindi and English, with more Indian languages being added in the coming weeks. You can also download these tips as handy one-pagers (for Hindi and English.) 




      Use a password manager to create and store strong passwords



      With all the new applications and services you might be using for work and school purposes, it can be tempting to use just one password for all. To keep your private information private, always use unique, hard-to-guess passwords. A password manager, like the one built into Android, Chrome, and your Google Account can help make this easier.


      Protect your Google Account


      If you use a Google Account, you can easily review any recent security issues and get personalized recommendations to help protect your data and devices with the Security Checkup. Within this tool, you can also run a Password Checkup to learn if any of your saved passwords for third party sites or accounts have been compromised, and then easily change them if needed.


      You should also consider adding two-step verification (also known as two-factor authentication), which you likely already have in place for online banking and other similar services, to provide an extra layer of security. This helps keep out anyone who shouldn’t have access to your accounts by requiring a secondary factor on top of your username and password to sign in. To set this up for your Google Account, go to g.co/2SV. And if you’re someone who is at risk of a targeted attack—like a journalist, activist, politician or a high profile healthcare professional—enroll in the Advanced Protection Program, our strongest security offering, at g.co/advancedprotection.

      Our teams continue to monitor the evolving online security threats connected to COVID-19 so that we can keep you informed and protected. For more tips to help you improve your online security, visit our Safety Center.

      Posted by Saikat Mitra, Director - Trust & Safety

      Helping students and educators to continue learning and teaching from home

      The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has affected numerous sectors, one of which is education. India, with more than 1.5 million schools and more than 260 million enrollments, is home to one of the largest and complex school education systems in the world.


      For years, we have worked to expand access to technology in classrooms, with equal investment in developing tools, as much as ensuring that educators and students were equipped to use them. Never before has this mission been more relevant or urgent, than the current reality we face, with COVID-19 having disrupted our daily lives. 


      Teachers and educators have had to quickly adjust to meet the reality of students being unable to physically attend classes, while families across the country find themselves at home, with parents needing to balance their work with the learning needs of their children. As much as helping people find credible news and information is a key priority at this time, providing continuity in learning and education is equally mission critical and we are committed to providing helpful learning resources to families and educators in India.

      Supporting education and learning through YouTube

      To help parents, students, educators (or just the curious) find useful and high quality learning content created by education-focused creators on YouTube, we have launched the YouTube Learning Destination. The YouTube Learning Destination is accessible on mobile as well as desktop from the Explore tab, and contains resources spanning the full breadth of learning needs, from curriculum-relevant topics in physics, math, and biology, such as Permutations and Combinations,  Why does Salt make food taste better?, How does a plastic comb attract paper?, and Taxonomy to study hacks (How to make smart notes), language skills (How to change basic English into business English) and interest-based content like photography, yoga and more. So whether you’re  studying for a test, want to learn a new skill, or are just curious about the world, the YouTube Learning Destination is a handy resource to supplement curriculum learning for students or general skill building.

      The YouTube Learning Destination currently features content in English and Hindi, with Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Marathi and other Indian languages coming soon. 
      Caption: The Learning Destination on YouTube 

      Helping educators transition to remote learning

      To help ease the transition to remote learning during this situation, we have also rolled out free access to the premium features of Google Meet,  to extend enterprise-grade video-conferencing capabilities to all G Suite and G Suite for Education customers, globally, until September 2020, which enables upto 250 participants in a single video conference. In India, we  have collaborated with FICCI Arise and have so far trained 250+ schools across 23 states in the use of these tools. This ensures our teachers, students and customers can stay connected and work remotely.

      To enable teachers and educators to get the support they need to begin teaching remotely, we have provided training and tips through the Teach from Home hub, which is also available in Hindi. We’ve built this resource with UNESCO as a central resource for teachers. 
      Caption: The Teach from Home website is a resource that helps teachers and educators get started with remote teaching during the COVID-19 crisis

      This resource consists of numerous tutorials categorized around topics like setting up and teaching with and without video, keeping students engaged with discussions and virtual whiteboards, staying in touch with other teachers by sharing teaching resources and even making the teaching sessions accessible to children with special needs by implementing voice typing and closed captions.
      We have also launched a global EDU hub comprising a collection of resources that help get started with remote  teaching, to help educators ramp up quickly, while home isolation and social distancing norms are imposed to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

      To help kids understand the safety measures to be taken during this COVID-19 outbreak, we have also released children's  books from MoHFW and Chota Bheem on our reading app Bolo.

      We all know the power of great teachers and inspiring lessons, and we hope these steps will help our kids continue to learn for as long as schools remain closed, and return energised when the education system re-opens. 

      Posted by Bani Dhawan, Head of Education - South Asia, and Satya Raghavan, Director, YouTube Partnerships - India