Dev Channel Update for Chrome OS

The Dev channel has been updated to Chrome Version: 75.0.3761.0 (Platform version: 12088.0.0 Chrome OS Version) for most Chrome OS devices. This build contains a number of bug fixes, security updates and feature enhancements. 

If you find new issues, please let us know by visiting our forum or filing a bug. Interested in switching channels? Find out how. You can submit feedback using 'Report an issue...' in the Chrome menu (3 vertical dots in the upper right corner of the browser).

Cindy Bayless 
Google Chrome

From kids’ music to the tech world, without missing a beat

Matan Ariel’s young nieces and nephew live on the other side of the world, but they keep up with their uncle thanks to his music—and thanks to Google, too. Though they live in Israel and he lives in New York, the three kids love to ask the Google Assistant to play his songs, which have gone double platinum in their country.

Matan, or “Uncle Matani” as they call him, works in sales in Google’s New York office. But he also has another love, children’s music, which brought him a level of success he never expected before he headed to Google.

He first started singing full-time during his three years serving in the Israeli military. He was part of an entertainment unit for the navy, traveling from base to base to perform at various ceremonies, whether they were celebrations or memorials or something in between. “Think about it as a cover band for Israeli pop songs,” he says. “It was a range of different performances.”

It was during his years in the navy that he decided to record children’s music. Some people in his entertainment unit were babysitters on the side, and they lamented the lack of quality songs for kids. Matan took action, setting up time in a recording studio and coming up with a plan to record as Matan Ariel & Friends. They chose classic Hanukkah songs, since they were in the public domain, and recorded the album immediately after their service officially ended.

One of the Hannukah songs from Matan Ariel & Friends.

Matan and his group recorded modern covers of classic Jewish holiday songs, in Hebrew, and they filled an important need for families in Israel. “There were either the classic songs we all knew growing up, but recordings from the ‘50s and ‘60s that hadn’t been digitally enhanced. You could even hear hissing sounds from the original vinyl records,” he says. “Or there were newer albums where people were saying, ‘I’m going to create my own Passover or Purim songs,’ and they just weren’t as good.”

And to Matan’s surprise, the album took off, selling out its initial run in just a few weeks. “I got an email a few weeks later, saying, ‘We sold out of the Hanukkah songs, so can we have more, because Hanukkah is still not here yet? And do you have Passover songs, and something you can sell year-round?’” he says. “I said, Sure, I’ll get you that!’”

A Passover song recorded by Matan Ariel & Friends.

Eventually, the album of Hanukkah songs exceeded Israeli double platinum status. Matan Ariel & Friends recorded 17 albums and five DVDs, about themes like birthdays and animals and around holidays like Passover, Purim and Sukkot. Two of his favorites are an album of Israeli lullabies and an album of Israeli memorial day songs.


After he graduated from college, though, Matan decided to step back from music and focus on the business world. These days, he leads a team of ad sales executives who work with agencies to help small and medium businesses use Google ads. He saves his singing voice for karaoke nights with friends and the occasional Googler cover band. At work, sometimes he’ll hand out CDs to his coworkers with children, but there’s one problem: many of them don’t have CD players anymore, so they just stream his music instead.


Matan says the biggest reward he’s seen from his music has been with his young nieces and nephew, who he doesn’t get to see as often as he’d like. “I wasn’t a stranger to them because [my brother and sister-in-law] would play my albums to the children, and they would show the DVDs to the children. So Uncle Matani was someone the kids knew,” he says. “I would come to Tel Aviv and they would see me, and run to me and hug me. That to me is an impact that goes even beyond the sales.”

New email alerts and location for easier alert center management

What’s changing

We’re making some improvements to the alert center for G Suite. Specifically we’re:

  • Moving the location of alert management for predefined admin alerts in the Admin console to the system defined rules section.
  • Adding optional email notifications for more alerts.


Who’s impacted

Admins only

Why you’d use it

We hope that this will help you identify and take action to resolve potential issues affecting your domain. To get the most out of the alert center, you could also sign up for our recently announced beta, which will help you collaborate and track the status of alerts within your domain, as well as triage faster with insights from related alerts.

How to get started




Additional details

Moving alert management location

  • The alert management controls for predefined alerts could previously be found at Admin console > Reporting > Alerts. They will now be at Admin console > Security > Alert center > Settings (gear icon). 
  • These predefined admin alerts include: 
  • There will be no change to any settings (whether email alerts are on or off, or the email subscriber list for any alerts) or the content of the alerts. We’re just moving where you should go to manage them. There will also be no change to the location of custom alerts. For the moment, they will still be at Admin console > Reporting > Alerts. 



Email notification options for more alerts 

  • We’re adding an option to get email notifications for several existing alerts that previously didn’t have the option to receive emails. 
  • These alerts include: 
    • Domain data export initiated 
    • Phishing message detected post-delivery 
    • Spike in user-reported spam, and others 
  • For each alert, you can choose whether to turn them on or off, and to specify which email address the alerts should go to. 
  • The email alerts will be on by default. To change or turn off email alerts, they can be adjusted at Admin console > Security > Alert center (gear icon), or directly access the new System defined rules section. 


Helpful links 




Availability 

Rollout details 



G Suite editions 
Available to all G Suite editions.

On/off by default?
These features will be ON by default.


Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Stable Channel Update for Chrome OS

The Stable channel has been updated to 73.0.3683.114 (Platform version: 11647.154.0) for most Chrome OS devices. This build contains a number of bug fixes, security updates and feature enhancements.  A list of changes can be found here.


If you find new issues, please let us know by visiting our forum or filing a bug. Interested in switching channels? Find out how. You can submit feedback using ‘Report an issue...’ in the Chrome menu (3 vertical dots in the upper right corner of the browser).

Cindy Bayless
Google Chrome

Duplicate larger sites in new Google Sites

Quick launch summary 

Previously, we made it possible to copy a site in new Google Sites. Based on user feedback, we’re improving site copy by making it easy to copy much larger sites — see here for supported sizes. We hope this feature helps site editors with large sites efficiently copy their existing sites, allowing them to back up their work, iterate on previous sites, or create ‘templates’ to start new sites.

To make a copy with the improved site copy, open a site in the new Google Sites, click the More menu > Duplicate site. See our Help Center to learn more about copying a site. 


Availability 

Rollout details

G Suite editions 

  • Available to all G Suite editions. 

On/off by default? 

  • This feature will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Visit the U.S. National Parks in Google Earth

Each spring, the National Park Service and the National Park Foundation dedicate a week to celebrating the protected spaces in our communities. Today, we’re bringing the national parks to you in a Google Earth guided tour through 31 different parks around the country.


From the breathtaking vistas of the Shenandoah Valley to the awe-inspiring hoodoos of Bryce Canyon, the National Parks allow us to truly experience the natural wonders of our country. Start with the pink granite formations of Otter Cliff in Maine’s Acadia National Park, then head west to explore the ancient Pueblo dwellings of Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. Finally, complete your journey with a peek through the North Window arch in Utah’s Arches National Park.

  • Acadia National Park.png

    Acadia National Park

  • Mesa Verde National Park.png

    Mesa Verde National Park

  • Arches National Park.png

    Arches National Park

Once you’ve virtually explored the national parks in Google Earth, we encourage you to put down your phone, put on some sunscreen and get outside to explore the wonders that our parks system has to offer. Start by finding the park closest to you.


Beta Channel Update for Chrome OS

The Beta channel has been updated to 74.0.3729.90 (Platform version: 11895.74.0) for most Chrome OS devices. This build contains a number of bug fixes, security updates and feature enhancements. A list of changes can be found here.


If you find new issues, please let us know by visiting our forum or filing a bug. Interested in switching channels? Find out how. You can submit feedback using ‘Report an issue...’ in the Chrome menu (3 vertical dots in the upper right corner of the browser).

Daniel Gagnon
Google Chrome

Better protection against Man in the Middle phishing attacks

Posted by Jonathan Skelker, Product Manager, Account Security

We’re constantly working to improve our phishing protections to keep your information secure. Last year, we announced that we would require JavaScript to be enabled in your browser when you sign in so that we can run a risk assessment whenever credentials are entered on a sign-in page and block the sign-in if we suspect an attack. This is yet another layer of protection on top of existing safeguards like Safe Browsing warnings, Gmail spam filters, and account sign-in challenges.

However, one form of phishing, known as “man in the middle” (MITM), is hard to detect when an embedded browser framework (e.g., Chromium Embedded Framework - CEF) or another automation platform is being used for authentication. MITM intercepts the communications between a user and Google in real-time to gather the user’s credentials (including the second factor in some cases) and sign in. Because we can’t differentiate between a legitimate sign in and a MITM attack on these platforms, we will be blocking sign-ins from embedded browser frameworks starting in June. This is similar to the restriction on webview sign-ins announced in April 2016.

What developers need to know

The solution for developers currently using CEF for authentication is the same: browser-based OAuth authentication. Aside from being secure, it also enables users to see the full URL of the page where they are entering their credentials, reinforcing good anti-phishing practices. If you are a developer with an app that requires access to Google Account data, switch to using browser-based OAuth authentication today.

Better protection against Man in the Middle phishing attacks

Posted by Jonathan Skelker, Product Manager, Account Security

We’re constantly working to improve our phishing protections to keep your information secure. Last year, we announced that we would require JavaScript to be enabled in your browser when you sign in so that we can run a risk assessment whenever credentials are entered on a sign-in page and block the sign-in if we suspect an attack. This is yet another layer of protection on top of existing safeguards like Safe Browsing warnings, Gmail spam filters, and account sign-in challenges.

However, one form of phishing, known as “man in the middle” (MITM), is hard to detect when an embedded browser framework (e.g., Chromium Embedded Framework - CEF) or another automation platform is being used for authentication. MITM intercepts the communications between a user and Google in real-time to gather the user’s credentials (including the second factor in some cases) and sign in. Because we can’t differentiate between a legitimate sign in and a MITM attack on these platforms, we will be blocking sign-ins from embedded browser frameworks starting in June. This is similar to the restriction on webview sign-ins announced in April 2016.

What developers need to know

The solution for developers currently using CEF for authentication is the same: browser-based OAuth authentication. Aside from being secure, it also enables users to see the full URL of the page where they are entering their credentials, reinforcing good anti-phishing practices. If you are a developer with an app that requires access to Google Account data, switch to using browser-based OAuth authentication today.

YouTube to live stream Coachella Weekend 2 for the first time ever

For the first time ever, YouTube will keep the cameras rolling for Coachella Weekend 2 with the exclusive second weekend live stream of the festival! After a record-breaking Weekend 1 live stream earning over 82 million live views — an increase of over 90% compared to views in 2018 —Weekend 2 will feature “Coachella Curated,” a new curated live stream of performances sponsored by Pantene & CALVIN KLEIN in the U.S., and Garnier and Coca-Cola in Canada. YouTube is making sure no one misses out on the action, bringing all of the “can’t miss” moments from the desert to music fans all over the world through the immersive live stream available to fans wherever they are.

First-Ever Weekend 2 Coachella Curated and Yuma Tent Live Streams (April 19-21)


Coachella Curated, hosted by Jason Bentley from KCRW, along with special guests, and available to live stream on Coachella’s YouTube Channel on any screen (desktop, mobile and living room) and within the YouTube Music app, will take a deep dive into the festival experience and deliver fans a slate of original content. Weekend 2’s curated live stream features select songs and performances from both weekends, artist interviews and commentary, mini-docs, animated adventures and more.

Coachella Curated trains its sights on artists from across the line-up and captures them both onstage and at home — spanning the globe to share stories from the homes of performers like Billie Eilish, Cola Boyy, Idris Elba, RÜFÜS DU SOL, Calypso Rose, Bob Moses, Mr Eazi, and Nina Kraviz. These traveling tales, filmed on six continents with festival founder Paul Tollett, offer a unique look at the international energy that comes together on the Empire Polo Grounds before beaming back out via YouTube.

Confirmed artists appearing in the Coachella Curated live stream display the diversity of talent taking the stage in Indio, from emerging artists Little Simz and Cola Boyy to headliner performers. The multi-genre musical menu also offers chart-toppers, such as Bad Bunny, Jaden Smith, Tame Impala, Billie Eilish, and SOFI TUKKER; festival favorites Bob Moses, Mac DeMarco and RÜFÜS DU SOL; and DJ heroes Dillon Francis, and Nina Kraviz. American acts Maggie Rogers, Khruangbin and Tierra Whack add female-fronted flavors of rock, pop, hip-hop and R&B, while international acts BLACKPINK, Los Tucanes De Tijuana, Calypso Rose, Christine and the Queens, Mr Eazi and Burna Boy showcase the borderless taste and boundary-less sounds of Coachella 2019.

Weekend 2 will also tap into the energy of the Yuma Tent, Coachella’s deep desert disco, broadcasting, for the first time, full DJ sets on a second dedicated channel. The Yuma stream will feature sets by Idris Elba, Guy Gerber, Nicole Moudaber, Deep Dish, Nocturnal Sunshine, and more.

Tune in April 19 - 21 starting at 5 p.m. PDT for an all-new Coachella streaming experience on Coachella’s YouTube Channel on any screen (desktop, mobile and living room) and within the YouTube Music app.

Relive Weekend 1 Through Video On Demand Performances and Interviews


Fans can also relive some of the jaw-dropping performances from Weekend 1, the most viewed Coachella live stream ever, with performance clips hosted on the Coachella YouTube channel and in YouTube Music, featuring performances from Ariana Grande, Janelle Monae, The 1975, Kacey Musgraves and more.

Also not to be missed are Weekend 1 interviews from 19-year-old robot, Miquela who spoke with J Balvin, King Princess, and JPEGMAFIA — all of which will air during the Weekend 2 live stream. Miquela spent Weekend 1 hanging out at the YouTube Music lounge as seen here and here. Tune into @youtubemusic and @lilmiquela on social this weekend for additional coverage.

Experience Coachella Through The YouTube Music App


The YouTube Music app (iOS, Android) will be home to this year’s most complete Coachella music experience with the launch of live streaming. Whether you’re at home on the couch or at the pool in Indio, you can enjoy playlists based on this year’s lineup, such as The Lineup, Hip-Hop, Latin, watch or listen in audio-only mode to the live stream both weekends, and check out performance clips after the festival is over on the Coachella YouTube Music channel.

Subscribe to Coachella’s YouTube channel for up-to-date information on when your favorite artists are streaming live, and follow @youtubemusic on Instagram and Twitter to watch the latest videos and relive past moments.

Source: YouTube Blog