#jeprog

When I first joined Google 13 years ago, I was most excited by the company's sense of exploration and possibility. Search allowed you to look up nearly any fact in the world and Maps helped you find even the most remote destination. That spirit of possibility also led to the launch of Google Expeditions, a virtual reality (VR) tool designed to bring the world into every classroom. With this product, educators took students on new adventures to experience far-away places, travel back in time or learn about cultures unlike their own. It has been truly magical to see how educators and students alike incorporated our VR tours into their imaginative curriculums.

Engaging students in the classroom has taken on an entirely different meaning this year. As schools around the world reimagine education from the ground up for a hybrid world, we’ve also been thinking deeply about how to adjust our tools to meet the moment and simultaneously build for the future. We’ve heard and recognize that immersive experiences with VR headsets are not always accessible to all learners and even more so this year, as the transition to hybrid learning has presented challenges for schools to effectively use Expeditions.

Virtual field trips on Google Arts & Culture

Many schools and families use Google Arts & Culture, Google’s free initiative to bring the world’s art and culture online, to experience museums, heritage sites and wonders of the world from their classrooms and homes. To continue to add to the collection, and make Expeditions 360 tours available to everyone, we're migrating most of them to Google Arts & Culture, accessible from the free site as well as the app on iOS or Android, where users can view the tours in 360 or on the web from any device. As Arts & Culture will offer many of the Expeditions tours, we'll no longer support the Expeditions app, and the app will no longer be available to download after June 30, 2021.

With the transition to the Google Arts & Culture platform, educators and students will find a vast array of culturally enriching content from around the world with collections on Natural History, Black History and Culture, the road to equality for women’s rights, and other topics like invention and discovery or fashion. Google Arts & Culture is continuing to expand its augmented reality (AR) content using interactive camera features, such as Art Filter and Art Transfer, that help you learn about cultural artifacts in new and engaging ways that would otherwise not be possible to create in the physical world.

We hope this product evolution to Google Arts & Culture will provide educators with a bridge to continue to use immersive content to transform their classrooms and enrich the learning experience for their students. As always, we’ll continue to share updates, user tips and gather feedback, and we look forward to continuing our support for the educational journeys of people around the world.

For Web Creators, holidays can be a great way to connect with readers, providing tips and advice on how to prep for upcoming celebrations. Diwali, also known as the Festival of Lights, marks the beginning of the new Hindu year and is celebrated by spending time with friends and family, eating delicious foods, decorating with colorful designs and lighting diyas (oil lamps), which represent goodness and purity. 

This year we sat down with two popular Web Creators, Hetal Vasavada (founder of Milk & Cardamom) and Neha Mathur (founder of Whisk Affair) to discuss how they approach the holidays from a content perspective and their must-have Diwali snacks.

How does a big holiday affect the way that you create content online?

Hetal: I’ve always shared all my recipes on my blog and the one thing bloggers know is that we do a lot of work for free. This year is actually the first time that I’ve ever done an Ebook. Investing in creating an Ebook of 10-15 recipes helps to offset all of the free content that is shared on my blog. Also if you look at the insights area of Pinterest or any other social media platforms, it’ll tell you when people start searching for things. It’ll let you know when people search for Halloween sweets or Thanksgiving meals. Make sure that you start posting around that time too!

Neha: I use Google Trends, Search Console and Google Analytics. From Google Trends I get to know what people are actually looking for and can then work to create a post around that. Google Search Console tells me the in and outs about which posts did well and which season they did well in. Once you start to do it, you’ll automatically start to get the hang of it. 

Have you explored any new content formats on your blog? 

Neha: Well, Web Stories just came out and I’m totally hooked on the short-story format! I’m trying to create a Web Story every single day and they are getting very good responses from readers.

What about Web Stories excites you to create content? 

Neha:One thing I’ve noticed is that not everybody is enthusiastic about reading long articles. The best thing about Web Stories is that they see the snippets and if they like it they will move to your blog and check out your entire process. Let’s take Diwali for example: If I post a step-by-step recipe for Gulab Jamun, sometimes readers don’t have an idea of how easy or difficult the process can be. But after seeing a simplified version of that same recipe on Web Stories, they might be more likely to want to learn more and will go to your blog for the whole tutorial.

 What is an unexpected dish that folks have for Diwali? 

Hetal: Mexican bhel puri! Lately everyone is more into Indian fusion meals to make both the adults and the younger kids happy. So I’ll do Mexican Bhel puri where it’s tortilla chips, salsa—salsa is the chutney, tomatoes and guacamole. It’s almost like a mixed Mexican salad. 

Neha: I would ask them to actually do a little fusion, so let’s say you love a boondi ka laddu. I have a fabulous recipe where I do a parfait kind of thing where I put a layer of rabri in a small parfait glass and then top with the boondi ka ladoo and it becomes a nice fusion dessert. It hardly takes any time so if you aren’t keen on making boondi ka ladoo or rabri at home you can always buy and then just assemble and make it your own dessert.

Can you give us a tip to make samosas at home?

Hetal: There are two types of people in the world, people who like the filling and people who like the crust. For me, the crust needs to be on point! One technique is double frying, you can fry it at a lower temperature around 350 F until they get golden and then turn the heat up to around 375 F and fry them again. That will help create those little bubbles on the outside of the pastry crust and it’s just so good, it really emphasizes the flakiness.

If you’re already using Web Stories for WordPress, we have a sweet new update for you—and if you’re not, now is the time to get started.

Web Stories for WordPress 1.1 is the first major update after the initial stable release and includes three big updates: Great typography at your fingertips with the help of the new font-aware text sets, countless high performance GIFs powered by Tenor and caption support for videos.

On the text tab, you’ll now find a list of high quality text sets created specifically for editorial use-cases. We partnered with the typography experts at iA, known for its award-winning app iA Writer and  world-class typography craftsmanship. The result is a set of carefully created combinations that let you mix and match different harmonious typography, and a dynamic toggle (“Fonts in Use”) that shows you only text sets that match what you’re already using, so you can be confident that your choices pair well together.

While Web Stories are a natural way to tell editorial stories, that doesn't mean they can't include fun visuals. Go wild and embed the perfect animated GIF into your story, just one click away courtesy of Tenor. And as an added bonus, we use high performance video instead of the GIF format behind the scenes to make sure stories load quickly.

Video captions make your video more accessible.

Finally, watching Web Stories is getting a little easier for those who have hearing loss, or are simply in a situation where they can't turn up their volume. You can now upload video captions directly in the editor, making things easier to reach audiences who require text. Learn about the required VTT format and start adding them to all your videos today.

If you’ve made a cool story with the editor, tell us about it on Twitter or Instagram. And if you’re experiencing any bugs, let us know in our Support forum. We can’t wait to see what you make next.

Welcome to the latest edition of “My Path to Google,” where we talk to Googlers, interns and alumni about how they got to Google, what their roles are like and even some tips on how to prepare for interviews.

Having spent his childhood between London, Milan and Dhaka, Bangladesh, Bickey Russell began his career at Google in sales before pursuing his passion for developing technology to serve under-resourced communities. Today, he’s the founder and leader of Kormo Jobs. Guided by Google's commitment to our AI Principles, Bickey and his team are helping job seekers across Bangladesh, Indonesia, and India find meaningful work. 

What’s your role at Google?

I founded the Kormo Jobs app and currently lead global product operations for it as well as some other new projects in the Next Billion Users initiative at Google.

I drive Kormo Jobs’ go-to-market approach. This involves things like working with employers to use Kormo Jobs to post openings on our platform and building up a community of job seekers who get value from Kormo Jobs as they look for work and grow their careers.

Participants at a vocational training institute in Jakarta learning about Kormo Jobs.

You’ve held a few different roles in multiple offices. How did you end up working on Kormo Jobs? 

I’m super passionate about the positive impact technology can have on society in countries like my native Bangladesh. Throughout my career at Google I have moved from business analysis to sales, partnerships management and leadership roles, and worked in London, Mountain View and currently, Singapore. Despite all that change, I have always been involved with initiatives to make Google products work better in Bangladesh—ranging from Maps to Bangla language capabilities. 

In 2016, I was fortunate to be able to collaborate with colleagues and pitch an app idea I had to Google’s internal innovation incubator, Area 120. We were hoping to use machine learning to build a better way to help people in Bangladesh get jobs in more blue-collar sectors. Our small team was fortunate to join the Area 120 program, and after just three years, our app became a Google product. Kormo Jobs is live in Bangladesh, India and Indonesia. 

And what were you up to before joining Google?

I grew up in London, Milan and Dhaka, spending middle school and high school  in Dhaka before returning to London for university where I did a degree in geography.

I worked in retail throughout my time in university. The highlight was probably selling band t-shirts in Camden Market! My first full-time job was working as a researcher, and then as a business analyst. 

Can you tell us about your decision to apply to Google?

I was fascinated by the Internet, and I wanted to join a fast-paced company that has an entrepreneurial and open working culture. Google’s vision was majorly inspiring and so attractive to me at the time, and it still is. I felt that if I could join a company like that, I could make an impact.

I applied via the Google careers page. The interview day was quite nerve-wracking, but actually a lot of fun. I remember talking a lot about my interest in cricket, plus my favorite websites and Google products. I was also asked to propose a plan on how we might develop the market for Google AdWords in the UK for a particular industry. That was a challenge, but I guess I did okay!

Bickey presenting the Kormo Jobs app at a Google India event.

Can you tell us about the resources you used to prepare for your interview or role?

I didn’t know anyone who worked at Google at the time, but since I knew the job was to join the advertising business in the UK, I reached out and talked to a lot of my network in the advertising and media space to prepare. Plus, I used Search to do research!

Do you have any tips you’d like to share with aspiring Googlers?

I would say that aspiring Googlers should really think about why they are interested in the specific role they are applying for. I often interview candidates who are keen to work at Google but haven’t done enough preparation on why they would be a good fit for the role and team that they have applied to join.

Bickey working with an employer using Kormo Jobs.

What inspires you to log in every day?

Having been at the company a long time, I’ve seen firsthand countless times the impact technology can have on people and society at large.

I am inspired by the fact that Google’s AI Principles guide us to make socially beneficial AI systems—and that I get to work with an amazing team at Kormo Jobs to put this principle into practice every day. We invest in applying our tech capability to solving important problems—finding work, earning money, building a career—to people in places like my home town of Dhaka.

Every day I get excited when I see that we’ve helped more people get a job than we did the day before.

My partners and I started DeafTawk, a mobile application that provides online sign language interpretation at an affordable cost, to eradicate hurdles in communication for the deaf community. I was born blind, like my co-founder AQ, while our other-co-founder, Wamiq, is hearing impaired. Growing up in Pakistan, each of us was well aware that there are too many barriers for people with disabilities to be successful. 

Our tagline for DeafTawk is “Bridge the Gap.” We thought, wouldn’t it be incredible if we could connect deaf people all over the world with quick and easy sign language interpretation, from their phones? We started in 2018 with two interpreters and no customers. Today, we have more than 1,100 interpreters and we’ve helped nearly 18,000 people in Singapore and Pakistan. But we wanted to do more. As we looked to the next stage for DeafTawk, we knew that we still had our own gaps that we wanted to bridge.

We were thrilled to learn that we’d been selected for the Google for Startups Accelerator, a three-month online program to support startups working on social, economic and health problems across the region. We saw it as an opportunity to expand our knowledge and expertise in AI and machine learning, and explore how we could widen our customer base among businesses. 

In the last few months, we’ve attended workshops and worked with different Google mentors to help us refine our business strategy, engage investors in a more targeted manner and ensure they are the right match. Our mentors challenged us to see things from a different perspective, while serving as a constant support whenever we faced challenges. We were given networking opportunities, allowing our team to come into contact with experts in the tech community. And the AI team at Google has been working with us to develop a prototype for our sign language interpretation solution, which would provide the option to use a bot that can automatically sign based on text or voice inputs. We’re hoping to launch this soon. Looking ahead, our goal is to expand to even more markets and reach 250,000 users by the end of 2024. 

Today marked the official completion of the GfS Accelerator program. Along with our fellow graduates—Advance, GIZTIX,  Hacktiv8, Kata.ai,  MHub, Riliv, Rumarocket, Sehat Kahani, SenzeHub, Shoplinks, Smartfuture, Thuocsi.vn, TopCV and Walee—we’re grateful for the the chance to take our business to the next level and help find solutions to pressing challenges across our region.

2019 Google for Startups networking event for Veterans and Military Spouses at the American Underground in Durham, NC. Photo by Erin Bell of Bull City Photography.

For veterans, the transition from military life to the workforce can be tricky. I know how crucial it is to offer support, because I’ve been there myself. It's not that I doubted my abilities, but after eight years as a Navy officer, I quite literally did not know what my options were in the professional world.

Kevin Ryan

Thankfully, I was fortunate to land in a challenging role with a ton of support at Google. Even still, I remember feeling completely overwhelmed during my first two weeks before realizing when I had felt just as lost before: My first time on a submarine. When I first struggled to get my bearings on a ship, I taught myself to focus on the task at hand and get the job done. 

Similarly, when I first started out in tech I didn’t necessarily know what program management or technical operations entailed, but I did know how to take absolute ownership over a specific assignment. These skills might have different names in the military and civilian worlds, but they do translate—and American businesses can benefit from this kind of tactical experience.

Veterans are uniquely qualified to tackle the challenges of building a company. We have the ability to handle uncertainty, face challenges with grit and perseverance, work collaboratively in a mission-focused and results-oriented manner, communicate clearly and lead effectively—all key attributes for aspiring entrepreneurs. I’ve seen this firsthand not only in my current role as Network Deployment Manager at  Google Fiber, but as a VetNet mentor at Atlas.

Based down the street from me in Durham at Google for Startups tech hub American Underground, Atlas helps guide the military community in life beyond the uniform through opportunities in education, employment training and entrepreneurship. I’ve loved bringing Google resources to help Atlas attract talent and assist transitioning service members with resumes and job-seeking advice.

And we want to discover what more we can do to help veterans pursue entrepreneurship. Google for Startups recently teamed up with Endeavor Research to learn more about the current state of veteran entrepreneurship in the United States. After speaking with industry leaders, startup ecosystem experts and the military community, we found that veterans face specific challenges when starting and growing a business—namely, access to capital and  networking opportunities. 

Sixty percent of veteran-owned businesses experienced a financing shortfall, compared to 52 percent of  businesses not owned by veterans. Part of this is because building the right types of networks in the business world can be a complicated process for veterans; they tend to have strong networks in the military community, but weaker civilian professional ties. We want to help change that, and our research surfaced four clear ways we can better support veteran entrepreneurs in our communities: 

Focus on building highly curated connections to help veterans navigate the civilian business world.

Build awareness of the value of veteran entrepreneurship and recognize the diverse needs of founders within this group.

Assist veterans in securing professional and educational experiences that better prepare them for startups and growing a business. 

Provide dedicated support to help veterans navigate financial challenges and secure capital. 

To put these findings to work and help veterans build the strong networks they need to succeed as entrepreneurs, we’re launching a three-month Google for Startups Fellowship for veterans in partnership with Atlas. The fellowship will match cohorts of transitioning service members at a startup in the Google for Startups Partner Network where, in addition to their fellowship work, they'll receive invites to educational workshops, mentorship and support from Google mentors like myself. Transitioning Service Members within 180 days of separation who meet the eligibility requirements of the DOD Skillbridge program can participate in the Google for Startups Fellowship. Interested candidates can learn more and apply for the Fellowship at www.atlas.vet/fellowship.

I’m extremely proud to be a part of this effort, and to know that Google prioritizes veterans like myself. These Google for Startups fellowships provide the crucial exposure veterans need to find their sea legs in the corporate world—and to prove that the transitioning military community has so much valuable knowledge, talent and experience to contribute. As one of my Atlas mentees, a U.S. Army veteran, pointed out: ”Soldiers don’t settle for less. Everyone needs that in business—a person who sees an issue and has the confidence to fix it.”

Every autumn, millions of people around the world come together for firework displays, feasts, prayer, and festivities in celebration of Diwali—the festival of lights. Millions of clay lamps illuminate homes and public spaces. Floors are covered with cheerful rangolis to bring good luck. With the food, family and festivities, Diwali is all about the experience of coming together, and the vibrant spectacle of color and light, but the global pandemic changes how we celebrate this year. Google Arts & Culture has created a virtual Diwali experience that everyone can be a part of, wherever you are in the world.

Festive lights in Augmented Reality

To recreate some festival fervor, try out a new Augmented Reality experience. Decorate your space virtually with diyas (lamps), detonate virtual anar (firecrackers), for some explosive, playful fun, and to learn more about these important cultural traditions.

10:25

Dive into Diwali from home

Google Arts & Culture has partnered with over 20 cultural heritage organisations to launch Diwali @ Home. Striking images and immersive online stories weave a journey through the festival of lights, its legends and folklore, and dive into the sights, sounds and smells of an iconic festival.

Month of Kartika.jpeg

Month of Kartika from the collection of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya

Dokra Diya.jpeg

Dokra Diya from the collection of Banglanatak

Radha Krishma Fireworks.jpeg

Radha and Krishna Watching Fireworks in the Sky from the collection of National Museum, New Delhi

The color, food, festivities and nostalgia of Diwali are shared through new online exhibitions from partner institutions including Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Indian Museum, National Museum and many more.

Interactive art coloring book for family fun

There’s also plenty of hands-on fun for families with interactive coloring books—in artworks inspired by traditional Indian paintings in a specially developed coloring book! Find it with Google Search, simply by searching for “Diwali” on your phone.

Lady Lighting a Lamp from the collection of Salar Jung Museum, and a page from the interactive Diwali art coloring book

Finally, watch a video conversation between Amish Tripathi, author and Director of The Nehru Centre, and art historian broadcaster and former museum director Neil MacGregor on Diwali and why it’s particularly special this year.

So, with the help of a little Google magic, we hope our Diwali @ Home experience adds to your festive cheer as you celebrate in your own way this year, on the Google Arts & Culture app foriOS andAndroid.

Australia is home to some of the most magnificent creatures in the animal kingdom: birds that laugh, duck-billed monotremes and marsupials that smile, hop and sleep for ~20 hours a day. They can’t be found in the wild anywhere else in the world. Until now. 

With AR on Google, you can meet eight life-sized Aussie animals up close and bring them into your backyard, living room, classroom—or take them on your adventures. Just search for koala, kangaroo, quokka, wombat, platypus, emu, kookaburra or echidna on your mobile browser (Android or iOS) or in the Google App and tap “View in 3D.”

10:25

You’ll be able to see their life-size scale, detail, movement—and even hear their sounds on Android devices (sounds are coming soon to iOS too). You’ll also be able to capture content of these Aussie icons.

Our fascination with Aussie creatures, especially koalas, has been on the rise this year. During Australia’s devastating bushfires—which endangered thousands of koalas—search interest for koalas hit an all-time high globally in January and we even worried they may be extinct (thankfully, we can confirm they aren’t). 

Here’s a list of the top worldwide trending questions this year so far for the Aussie AR animals you’ll now get to meet in Search: 

Are koalas extinct 2020?

What does a baby platypus look like?

Can an emu fly?

How many koalas have died?

How big are wombats?

Are koalas friendly?

How do koalas drink water?

What does the inside of a kangaroo pouch look like?

Can koalas be pets?

How are baby kangaroos born?

While most of us can’t travel to the Aussie outback right now, you can learn about these animals from the comfort of your couch or picnic rug.  Search for these Aussie AR animals on your mobile or tablet today so you can paddle with a platypus, cackle with a kookaburra and meet your new mARsupial mates!