Company News / General Interest, Tech4Good
Google Blog – 7.29.20 (7.23.20)
Today, we’re marking the one-year anniversary of our Bay Area housing commitment. Since last year, we’ve met with hundreds of advocates, developers and community leaders to understand how to quickly create affordable housing and support solutions to homelessness. In the Bay area, there’s a severe housing shortage of nearly 500,000 affordable units and the homelessness crisis affects around 35,000 people. So we focused our efforts on two areas: grants to assist people experiencing homelessness and investments to produce more affordable housing.
Source: A year of work on the Bay Area’s housing and homeless crises
Company News / General Interest, Coronavirus
Google Blog – 7.24.20 (7.23.20)
To make meetings more seamless, all G Suite users can now simply say “Hey Google” to take action on a Google Meet hardware kit. This feature was previously available in beta on
ASUS Google Meet hardware kits. It’s now generally available on those same ASUS devices, as well as on Logitech meeting room kits.
Entertainment Content / Streaming, Product Announcements, Smart Home
Google Blog – 7.23.20 (7.21.20)
The kitchen is a popular place for smart displays in many homes, and for good reason. Whether you’re listening to music, getting the news or catching up on a popular TV show, your Nest Hub or Next Hub Max keep you entertained while you’re prepping dinner or doing the dishes. It’s also the ultimate cooking companion, with access to tons of YouTube videos ranging from cooking clips to how-to videos. And now, for the first time on any smart display, you can add watching Netflix to your list of kitchen activities: Starting today, Netflix is available on Nest Hub and Nest Hub Max.
Source: Netflix arrives on Nest Hub and Hub Max
Company News / General Interest, Product Announcements, Social Media / Websites
Google Blog 7.21.20 (7.20.20)
People across the world are opting to hop on their bikes—especially with summer arriving in many parts of the world and more people looking for safer ways to get around. Since February, requests for cycling directions in Google Maps have jumped by 69 percent—hitting an all-time high last month. Whether people are hitting the road to get their heart pumping or commute safely during COVID-19, we’re making it easier for cyclists everywhere to get on their own bike or a shared one.
Source: Ride easy with new biking features in Google Maps
Company News / General Interest, Social Media / Websites
Google Blog – 7.16.20
Last year, I was on the New York City subway conducting user research for Touring Bird, a project I was working on with Area 120, Google’s in-house lab for experimental projects. One of the young commuters standing next to me was silently scrolling on her device, switching between a social media app, YouTube and an online shop.
Source: Shoploop: an entertaining new way to shop online
