Tag Archives: product launch

Canada, meet Google Wifi

Nothing is more annoying than losing your Wi-Fi connection when binge watching your favourite TV show or video chatting in a business meeting. From spotty connections to dropped signals, leave your Wi-Fi troubles behind with the help of Google Wifi, launching today in Canada. Google Wifi is a new kind of home Wi-Fi system that works with your modem and internet provider to give you strong, reliable coverage, in every room.
Traditional Wi-Fi routers aren’t always built to support the increasing number of devices we use or high bandwidth activities like gaming or watching videos. Google Wifi is different. It’s a connected system that replaces your current router and brings everything you love about Google -- smarts, security and simplicity -- to home Wi-Fi.

Strong, reliable coverage
Google Wifi uses a technology called mesh Wi-Fi. Within our mesh network, each Google Wifi point creates a high-powered connection, and the different Wifi points work together to determine the best path for your data. The result is Wi-Fi coverage even in hard-to reach areas, not just right next to the router.*

Keeps itself fast 
Most of us don’t want to spend time tweaking complex settings or managing our Wi-Fi network. Google Wifi is smart and automatically places your devices on the clearest channel and optimal Wi-Fi band, so the entire family can keep doing what they love without missing a beat. And as you roam around your house, our built-in Network Assist software will seamlessly transition your device between the Google Wifi system points in real time, to help you avoid dead spots and delays. Google Wifi is an expandable system, so if you have a larger home, you can simply add Google Wifi points.* They connect to one another to spread a strong network signal to every room.

A simple way to control your network
To make sure you’re always in control, Google Wifi comes with an app, available on Android and iOS*, that lets you do things like pause Wi-Fi on kids’ devices (or create recurring pauses for dinnertime or homework) and is built to help keep your network safe and secure. It also shows you which devices are connected and how much bandwidth they’re using and lets you prioritize devices within your network so you can stream that latest episode uninterrupted.

Google Wifi will be available in Canada on April 28th as a 1-pack for $179 and a 3-pack for $439 from the Google Store, Best Buy Canada, Staples Canada and Walmart Canada, with more retailers coming soon.

Find out more about Google Wifi here.

Posted by Ben Brown, Senior Product Manager 
*Home materials and layout can affect how Wi-Fi signal travels. Homes with thicker walls or long, narrow layouts may need extra Wifi points for full coverage. Google Wifi requires broadband Internet. Strength and speed of signal will depend on your Internet provider. Each Wifi point requires a nearby electrical outlet. The app requires a mobile device with Android 4 and up or iOS 8 and up.

Library, Groups, Expandables… oh my! Google Web Designer spruces up for the holidays.


Today, we are excited to announce a new local library and new grouping functionality in Google Web Designer, which make it easier to add, edit, manage and group creative assets. We’ve also spruced up many of the components in the gallery, which build on the updates we launched in August, to help designers and developers make interactive and engaging HTML5 ad units for cross-screen campaigns. 

Manage your assets with ease:
  • Add, edit, and manage your assets in one place in the new local library: Add assets from the stage or within the library workflow, drag and drop from your desktop, or use the new import dialogue under File. Then, customize your folders and organize your assets to your liking. 
  • Group elements together: Once you group elements together, they are stored in your local library. You can drag and drop groups onto the stage and edit them all at once. 
Create more engaging, interactive ads:
  • Build ads that expand in all directions: The “view mode” will allow you to see the expanded state as an overlay, and move it to the desired expanded position. Learn more.
  • YouTube autoplay feature: You can now use the YouTube component to build a masthead that automatically plays the embedded video.
  • Other enhancements to the components gallery allow you to:
    • Add “navigation” (the dots or thumbnails at the bottom of a gallery that show that multiple images exist.)
    • Auto-scale images: stretch, resize or crop images to fit within the gallery 
    • Snap to ‘n’ frames: advance by a specified number of frames in the swipeable or carousel gallery (i.e. 3 images show on the first page of gallery, swiping moves to the next 3). Learn more.
  • SVG (scalable vector graphics) support: Google Web Designer now supports uploads of SVGs and provides a set of basic features, including 2D editing, cut, copy & paste, and selection tool support. 
Share your awesome Google Web Designer ad units with us! Submit them to the Rich Media Gallery and we’ll promote them to the ~35,000 people who view the site each month.

If you don't yet have Google Web Designer, you can download it for free here.

Posted by Tony Mowatt and Sean Kranzberg, Product Manager and Engineering Lead for Google Web Designer

P.S. It may take a couple hours for the updates to show up in your version of the product.