Articles about Google

Believe it or not, Google Summer of Code 2019 will be the 15 year anniversary of the open source student program. If you aren't familiar, this is a program where Google pairs university students with open source organizations to work together over the summer. Yes, I said working together -- the students don't just observe, they get to actively participate in important open source projects! How cool is that?

Today, Google announces all the organizations that have been accepted as GSoC mentors, and the Linux community is very well represented. In fact, two of the most significant Linux distributions -- Fedora and Debian -- are both participating. In addition, one of the most important Linux desktop environments, GNOME, is taking part too. Even KDE and The Linux Foundation are in the mix! With all of that said, Google Summer of Code is not a Linux-only affair -- open source is the overall star of the show.

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The abuse of opioids and other prescription drugs in America is an absolute tragedy and epidemic. It affects people from all socioeconomic classes. Not only do these drug abusers risk death and financial ruin, but their actions negatively impact friends and family too. In other words, even if you don't abuse prescription drugs, there's a good chance your life will be impacted by somebody that does.

While many people envision prescription drug abusers buying their pills from an abandoned building or street corner (and that does happen), the truth is, many people get their drugs from medicine cabinets. In fact, according to Google, more than half of prescription drug abusers get started down the path to addiction with pills obtained from people they know -- friends and family. Why is this? Well, one reason is many people apparently don't know how to properly dispose of their unneeded prescription pills -- the search giant has seen a huge increase in searches for how to do so.

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While Apple reigns supreme on mobile from both a hardware and operating system perspective (iPhone and iOS are best in class), Google is still king of apps and services. Things like Google Maps, Chrome, and Gmail are used by many iPhone and iPad users. Why do Apple fans opt for these Google solutions? They simply work well and are extremely dependable. Apple Maps, for instance, is good, but Google Maps is great. The search giant provides reliable tools that people enjoy using.

Today, Google announces that its Maps app for iOS is getting even better. You see, users can now "follow" their favorite locations, such as theaters, restaurants, and museums to name a few. As a result of following these places, you will be provided with interesting information about them, such as discounts, holiday hours, or dinner specials, for example.

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Seeking to give a home to those who have helped to build the web, Google has launched a new top-level domain.

The new .dev TLD comes after the company launched .app and .page, all are protected by HTTPS. Google has already used the TLD for a few of its own projects, such as web.dev and opensource.dev, but now it is being opened up to a wider audience.

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Following criticism of how its strike system was implemented, YouTube has announced an update to its Community Guidelines that helps to make things clearer.

In the past it was often the case that strikes were handed inconsistently, and it was not always clear what misdemeanour had occurred. The updated system comes into force in the next few days, and it is slightly more lenient on first-time offenders.

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In recent years it seems that there has been an astonishing increase in the number of Flat Earthers -- people who believe that the Earth is flat, and anything that suggests otherwise is a conspiracy. The thinking is that, for some reason, NASA, international government, scientists and so on are all desperate to convince people that the Earth is round when it is in fact flat.

While Flat Earther numbers are still relatively small, the increasing membership of this school of thought in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary is both confusing and worrying. So just what is going on? The rise in internet usage has been blamed for the spread of fake news, conspiracy theories and all manner of bizarre ideas, and a new study has concluded that one particular site is responsible for the increasing support for the Flat Earth theory. That site is YouTube.

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As more and more people opt to work from home these days, videoconferencing is becoming increasingly important. Simply dialing into a voice-only conference call won't cut it -- actually seeing your coworkers (and them seeing you) is a far better experience. Of course, the downside is you will have to wear clothes!

Having a good webcam is an essential part of the videoconferencing experience. True, you can get by with the low-quality camera found on your laptop, but why torture people with grainy video? Instead, you should leverage a quality webcam that will impress and delight your coworkers. The Logitech C920 has long been such an option for both laptops and desktops, but today, the company announces an "s" refresh -- the C920s Pro HD Webcam.

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Chromebooks have fared far better than many people would have first thought when they first appeared on the market, and Google's Chrome OS is going from strength to strength. While not yet ready to topple either Windows or macOS, the operating system continues to gain features that make it increasingly appealing.

One addition that is on the horizon and likely to please many users and potential users alike is virtual desktops. This is something we have heard about before in relation to Chrome OS, but a recent commit to the Chromium Gerrit shows that "virtual desks" are being worked on -- and there's even a video showing off the feature.

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Google has announced that it is dramatically narrowing the focus of Android Things, originally conceived as the company's wide-ranging IoT platform.

Now rather than being an OEM tool that can be used to produce just about anything for the Internet of Things, Android Things will instead be focused on just two product lines: smart speakers and smart displays.

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It is not news that Gmail has a right-click menu; what is news, however, is the fact that it has been updated so it is now actually useful.

Google has gradually been updating Gmail over the years, and the refreshed context menu provides easy access to more message options. For control freaks, the new menu is a godsend and makes the web-based email tool more like using a desktop email client.

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A new survey from identity platform Okta shows that 67 percent of knowledge workers prefer Microsoft Word over Google Docs, while only 15 percent report the opposite.

Another 16 percent identify Google Docs as a top-three most frustrating app. When it comes to email, 49 percent prefer Microsoft Outlook over Gmail, while 35 percent report the opposite.

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Google+ is nearing the end of the line, and ahead of this Google has announced that its Notifications Widget is also to be killed off.

The widget -- which appears in the upper right-hand corner of various Google products including Gmail -- lets users know when there are notifications for various services such as Google Photos, Hangouts Chat and Google+. But when March rolls around, you'll have to rely on alerts for individual services instead.

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To coincide with Safer Internet Day, search giant Google is launching two new tools to help users detect if their username and password have been compromised.

Google's own research published today shows that many people still reuse passwords. The new tools are designed to raise awareness of account issues.

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New research commissioned by Google, carried out by Harris Poll and released to coincide with Safer Internet Day suggests there is a gap between perception and reality when it comes to online security.

The majority of people (69 percent) give themselves an A or B when it comes to protecting their online accounts -- only five percent give themselves a D or an F. In fact, most people (59 percent) believe that their accounts are safer from online threats than the average person and 61 percent say they are too smart to fall for a phishing scam.

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A number of British and European politicians have written to the UK home secretary, Sajid Javid, to complain about the government's EU Exit mobile app.

The app was created to enable EU citizens to apply for "settled status" in the UK in the wake of the referendum vote that saw the start of the Brexit process. The government stands accused of "digital discrimination" because the app is only available for Android devices -- and only relatively modern ones at that. iPhone users have been left out in the cold, as have those with older Android phones, adding to the stress and concern that already surrounds Brexit.

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