Category Archives: Google India Blog

The Official Google Blog for India

Meet the 2018 Creators for Change Global Ambassadors

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/SLNPjhdN28QUcQSWeXMupKVf3gFap1mhklkhVUHQx5hP1ZguhSIHwcOWXxtso521AEltryInCYxMJFqObLCk3Y9TniNkh6-xWtotJNPP4VH9-v9MwcSmpox2dxeJnNH1e2K4FE5b Juniper Downs Head of YouTube Public Policy YouTube
Today, we welcome 48 incredible creators to the YouTube Creators for Change program as the 2018 class of Ambassadors. This global initiative, which we kicked off in 2016, spotlights inspirational creators who use YouTube’s global reach to change conversations around tough issues and make a truly positive impact on the world. Chosen for their passion and dedication to creating social change, these YouTube creators come from over 16 countries and represent a combined audience of 29 million fans:

The 2018 class features 31 new creators as well as 17 creators from last year’s program (those returning are distinguished with a *):
[Australia] L-FRESH the LION*, Sarah Grimstone
[Brazil] Nátaly Neri, Muro Pequeno
[Canada] Rossana from Eh Bee Family, AsapSCIENCE
[France] Swann Périssé*, HugoDecrypte, Lea Camilleri
[Germany] MaximNoise, Datteltäter*, ImJette*, Diana zur Löwen
[India] AIB*, Niharika Nim*, MostlySane, Girliyapa,
[Indonesia] Gita Devi*, Jovi Hunter*, Film Maker Muslim*, Cameo Project*, Duo Harbatah
[Malaysia] The MingThing
[MENA] Fly With Haifa, Maha AJ*, Shog AL Maskery*, Muaz Osman, Omar Farooq, Raneem Al Muhandis
[Mexico] Victoria Volkóva
[Philippines] Janina Vela
[Singapore] Ministry of Funny
[Thailand] Picnicly
[Turkey] İlker Gümüşoluk*
[United Kingdom] Humza*, Jazza John, SuperSamStuff*, Riyadh K, BENI*, Fun for Louis, Myles Dyer*, MyPaleSkin
[United States] Jouelzy, Yasmany Del Real, Beleaf in Fatherhood, Subhi Taha*, Jubilee Project, Hallease


As part of our $5M investment in this program, these creators will receive support from YouTube through a combination of project funding, mentorship opportunities, and ongoing production assistance at our YouTube Spaces. They’ll also join us for our second annual Social Impact Camp at YouTube Space London this summer. The Social Impact Camp is an exclusive two-day-long camp featuring inspirational speakers, video production workshops, and mentorship opportunities with experts as well as time for the Ambassadors to connect with one another.


We’re also joining forces with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and social change agency Love Frankie to support YouTube creators from the Asia-Pacific region who are passionate about creating social impact and tackling tough issues through their videos. First up for this new partnership will be a series of Boot Camps in Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand between June - November 2018 where local creators will workshop creating content about local issues alongside experts such as NGOs, academic authorities, and subject matter specialists. Following these Boot Camps, select local creators will participate in a three-month Academy Program that includes mentoring from Creators for Change Ambassadors, local experts, and NGOs to help produce informed, high-quality content that resonates in their countries.


Over the next few months, the 2018 Creators for Change Ambassadors will kick off projects addressing hate speech, xenophobia and/or extremism through different creative forms, such as a series celebrating the Black community within Brazil and a video project that creates awareness about the negative impact that hate speech can have on mental and physical well-being. There are many more incredible ideas in the works -- we can’t wait to share more from these inspiring YouTube role models soon.


To the creators who are joining us as 2018 Ambassadors: thank you. We’re humbled to be working with you on sharing your messages of hope and tolerance.


By Juniper Downs, Head of YouTube Public Policy

Expanding our efforts to bridge the learning gap in India

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Google.org to fund content creation and teacher training efforts


We believe that every student and every educator, in every classroom, deserves the tools and skills that set them up for success in building the future they want for themselves. Last year, as part of a $50M global commitment to close learning gaps, Google.org announced the first round of projects in India to support nonprofits that are building technology to provide access to quality education and learning for all.


We started on this journey with a commitment of $8.4M grants to four NGOs — Learning Equality, Million Sparks Foundation, Pratham Books StoryWeaver, and Pratham Education Foundation. These organisations are focused on solving some of the critical challenges that India faces when it comes to access to quality education for both students and teachers.


As per the annual ASER 2017 report, India has made progress to bring 86% of youth in the 14-18 age group to join the formal education system. But ASER findings have consistently pointed to the fact that many children in elementary school need urgent support for acquiring foundational skills like reading and basic arithmetic.
About 25% of this age group still cannot read basic text fluently in their own language and more than half struggle with division. The report also highlights that the learning deficits seen in elementary school in previous years seem to carry forward as young people go from being adolescents to young adults.


While we know that technology alone won’t ‘fix’ or improve education, we’re optimistic that it can be a powerful part of the solution, and we are investing to ensure that all teachers and students are able to benefit from it. Since receiving Google.org funding last year, our grantees have reached more than 800,000 students and teachers with their tools and programs across India.
With the right support and focus - these organisations are able to make a big difference. Their success gives us the confidence to expand our efforts in India and today we are announcing additional grants totaling $3 million to support teacher learning and educational content creation.


Supporting teacher learning at scale:
There are 11 lakh teachers currently teaching in schools that are not properly trained as per data shared by the Ministry of HRD. According to a World Bank report, there are approximately 1,30,000 single teacher schools in India. Needless to say, bridging this gap is not easy and it is equally important to nurture and support this talent. They are often isolated and working with very little interaction and engagement with the ecosystem. Technology’s potential to scale prompted Google.org to make teachers a central part of its global education giving strategy.


We’re supporting The Teacher App with a grant of a $1 million in India to enable a connected experience on the topics that matter most to teachers, and to develop additional video content in core concepts of math, science, language, and pedagogy for their use in their classrooms. They will use the funds to scale their platform to reach 500,000 teachers in two years.
Expanding education and learning content:
With growing connectivity and affordable data, YouTube is emerging as a favourite destination for learning in India. Globally, learning and educational content drives over a billion views a day, and we believe there is a huge opportunity for creators in India to enhance education and learning through YouTube.


We’re delighted to share that we’re collaborating with the Central Square Foundation, through a $2 million Google.org grant and technical assistance from the YouTube Learning team, to aid the expansion of education and learning video content in India. The grant will support a minimum of 20 content creators to produce at least 200 hours of quality Science, Technology, Engineering and Math content in Hindi and vernacular languages. If you’re an educator or content creator interested in learning more, be sure to get in touch with the Central Square Foundation!


We are excited about these new projects that we have launched today, and are motivated to continue and expand our efforts to help build more locally relevant solutions and content for students and teachers to bridge the learning gap in India. We hope these efforts will contribute in shaping the future of India’s young learners.


Posted by Nick Cain, Education Lead, Google.org

Google Search now offers easy access to exam information

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/hD6tLHCe-mVW3jNQPDJq3GZrL_6vft_KFkCS64nLk3Ws4wZjPsOVjaRLtaQ1j7uO7vd6X5pzHVcznP38V6Klrxjgcx6zfP08w_OY6Lxand0tbnZq2oG9y2OVsDS90BKQHS0wiEpw Shilpa Agrawal Product Manager Google Search
Look up your JEE Main exam results and find information for popular exams in India right within Google Search


Exams are an integral part of an Indian student's academic journey and have a profound impact on their lives. Over 260 million students in India spend countless hours preparing for exams and eagerly await the moment that results are announced. They turn to the internet for all their exam needs, but often this information is hard to locate, and slow to load. To improve the exam experience for students, Google today is announcing two new features to make finding exam information easier and more reliable.


JEE Main exam results, right on Google Search
Starting today with the JEE Main exam results, we are launching a feature on Google Search to help students  quickly, securely, and seamlessly locate their exam score on their smartphone or desktop. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has worked directly with Google to make the JEE Main exam results available on the Google Search results page as soon as they are announced.


“At CBSE, we are always looking for ways to enhance facilities to millions of our students across the globe. We are collaborating with Google for smooth dissemination of results through an easy and secure platform,” said Rama Sharma, Senior Public Relations Officer, CBSE.


When a student searches for "JEE Main results" they will be able to directly look up their scores within Google Search. They simply have to enter their roll number and date of birth, and their individual results will be displayed. Google has worked closely with CBSE to ensure that the data is handled securely and used solely for the purpose of showing the results on Google, and only for the duration that this feature is live.




Easy access to information about other key exams in India
We’re also making it easier for students to get ready for tests with an improved Search experience for popular Indian exams. Now when you search for an exam like GATE, SSC CGL, CAT, and many more, you will see important information such as test dates right within Search. You’ll also be able to easily find links to register, view other important links, and visit the official test site.


Our vision has always been to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful to everyone. With over 260 million students enrolled in more than 1.5 million schools across India, we believe having reliable, seamless, and secure access to education-related information is crucial. That’s why today’s updates are just the first step of many to improve access to information about important exams and other exam-related content in Google Search in India, and to work with government-approved educational institutions to provide reliable and secure access to exam information for the benefit of even more students.

Posted by Shilpa Agrawal, Product Manager, Google Search

Bringing ‘Incredible India!’ to life

https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RSuOaRgArm0/WuGpnQMRmdI/AAAAAAAAAxg/yRSlWr-JMiY-kWOCuaEz-U1df_oQtr6zgCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-04-26%2Bat%2B3.56.21%2BPM.png Simon Rein Program Manager Google Arts & Culture
An immersive 360-degree view that tells India’s incredible story to India and the World


From the serenity of a Goan sunset to the teeming crowd of citizens inhabiting the country’s capital, India is a study in contrasts. This mixed bag of experiences makes India 'incredible' and a paradise which is much sought after. While many other countries offer one or other monolithic experience of holidaying, India opens the portals to diversified experiences of climate, geography, culture, art, literature, and food.


With Google Arts & Culture, you can experience the breadth of India’s culture like never before. In partnership with Ministry of Tourism for its internationally acclaimed tourism campaign -- Incredible India!, we bring online today a series of compelling visuals: Anyone, anywhere can now immerse themselves in Incredible India! Step into Hampi, Goa, Delhi and Amritsar and experience India as a destination of heritage, festivity, spirituality and adventure.
The highlight of the partnership is a 360 video that takes you on a journey to some of the most iconic destinations in India. Marvel at the breathtaking view from the Qutub Minar, get a close view of the Guru Granth Sahib in the sanctum sanctorum of Amritsar’s Golden Temple, explore the splendor of the Vitthala Temple complex carvings at Hampi, or kick back and get a sense of Goa’s easygoing vibe, all without ever leaving your seat.


Whether you are a teenager interested in India’s history, or a travel enthusiast waiting to experience Indian heritage like never before, or a globe-trotter who hasn't yet visited India, the virtual tour of the country, spanning South to North, can be your starting point. And using Google Cardboard, you can turn the 360 video into a fully immersive Virtual Reality experience.


Using the best of 360-degree video capture technology, including Google’s Yi Halo camera -- our teams visited Hampi, Goa, Delhi and Amritsar to capture stunning slices of life that typify each place. After 12 days in India, and over 40 hours of travel, we had transversed India. The music is inspired by the rhythms and melodies of the regions depicted in the video.
(L to R: The Stone Chariot at the Vitthala Temple in Hampi; the Qutub Minar)
(L to R: the Golden Temple; Goa’s Nerul River and Our Lady of Good Hope Church)


And if the video inspires you to explore further, you can learn about Hampi, Goa, Delhi and Amritsar on the Google Arts & Culture online platform at g.co/incredibleindia or on the free Google Arts & Culture mobile app on iOS or Android.
As part of our long-ranging association with the Ministry of Tourism, we are committing ourselves to bring new and global audiences to India’s rich heritage and history, by bringing the best in our technology. We hope you enjoy viewing it as much as we loved putting it together.

By Simon Rein, Program Manager Google Arts & Culture

Introducing new choices for parents to further customize YouTube Kids

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/4zPDt97o4uPRvyeh0pMGX09UGrKJQ1esli3JbiCPiTlLPGp6jO6qBINwr7ipOQeSnk_c6JEIgCZErsJKvPLCTqJSYfxH5CvNq-DGE-uk2bb3w9AYHGD5Rh1GcVnS7NBaYHzddFLU James Beser Product Director YouTube Kids
When we launched the YouTube Kids app three years ago, our goal was to give kids around the world a place to access videos that were enriching, engaging and allowed them to explore their endless interests.


Since then, our team has continued to work to improve the app experience for kids and families around the world. One area of focus has been building new features that give parents even more control around the content available in the YouTube Kids app so they can make the right choice for their unique family and for each child within their family.


We are excited to announce that throughout the year, we will be rolling out three new options in YouTube Kids:

Collections by trusted partners and YouTube Kids: Starting this week, our partners and the YouTube Kids team will offer collections of trusted channels on a variety of subjects from arts & crafts and music to sports, learning, and so much more. This makes it easy for parents to select only the channel collections and topics they want their kids to access. Just go into Profile Settings, and select from available collections such as Sesame Workshop and PBS KIDS. We will continue to add more partners over time.

Parent approved content: Parents know better than anyone what they want their children to watch. For those parents who want even more control over the videos and channels in the YouTube Kids app, we’re rolling out a feature later this year that will allow parents to specifically handpick every video and channel available to their child in the app.


Improved search-off control for an even more contained experience: Parents have always been able to turn search off within the YouTube Kids app, but starting this week turning search off will limit the YouTube Kids experience to channels that have been verified by the YouTube Kids team. This means that search off will not include recommendations from the broader YouTube Kids corpus.

For parents who like the current version of YouTube Kids and want a wider selection of content, it’s still available. While no system is perfect, we continue to fine-tune, rigorously test and improve our filters for this more open version of our app. And, as always, we encourage parents to block and flag videos for review that they don't think should be in the YouTube Kids app. This makes YouTube Kids better for everyone.


It is our hope that these additional options will allow every family to have the experience they want in the YouTube Kids app.


By James Beser, Product Director for YouTube Kids


The last video James watched was "Photosynthesis for Kids" on the Kids Learning Tube channel with his 2nd grade daughter

Making it easier to search for jobs in India

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/PiX8KpSYyPPWPHETLdHivaISZJyb_W18wiG4a-T77TgZsrE-e6KBS9pzITzRKMmOskp7N25ReNTc5BgPbNgRwDrF-ays99QUbaJrIhdcNL6jxdtXt5OpcaUzcIWXsFd_DeUkpWLC Achint Srivastava Software Engineering Lead Search Engineering Team
Whether you’re a student looking for a part-time job, a mobile service engineer looking to move to the next level of opportunities, or a teacher who wants to find work closer to home, finding the right job opportunity can be challenging. With job postings spread across websites, newspapers and notice boards, it’s not always easy to find openings that fit perfectly with your unique needs and skills. As a result, many people seeking employment feel like they can’t find what they’re looking for, or end up applying to roles that aren’t exactly meant for them.  At the same time, India’s online job market is showing healthy growth -- by 2020, 63 percent of people are slated to access online job postings*. This is also reflected in Google Search trends: in Q4 of 2017, we saw a jump of more than 45 percent in jobs search queries compared to the previous year.  More than 50 percent of job-related queries are originating from mobile which is unsurprising for India where the majority of Internet users are getting online from their smartphones. And these mobile-based queries are up nearly 90 percent year on year.

That’s why today, we’re bringing job search to Indian job seekers. We first announced this new search experience at I/O in 2017, as a key component of Google for Jobs, a company-wide initiative focused on connecting job-seekers and employers, through deep collaboration with the job matching industry. Now we’re bringing job search to India.  With this new experience, we aim to connect Indians to numerous opportunities across the country. No matter who you are or what kind of job you’re looking for, it will now be easier to find job postings that match your needs and skills.
Now, when you search for “jobs near me,” “jobs for freshers,” or similar job-seeking queries, you’ll see in-depth results that allow you to explore relevant job opportunities from across the web. We’re working with a number of organizations from across the industry to bring you the most comprehensive listing of jobs — including Aasaanjobs, Freshersworld, Headhonchos, IBM Talent Management Solutions, LinkedIn, Quezx, QuikrJobs, Shine.com, T-Jobs, TimesJobs, and Wisdomjobs. This means you’ll see job postings relevant to you from multiple sites, including others from company websites as soon as they’re up (thanks to open documentation, described later.) Job search on Google currently has over a million listings across job types and industries from over ninety thousand employers in the country.
Within this search experience on Google, you can access detailed information about each job, so you can hone in on opportunities relating to your specific skills. You’ll also be able to visualise comprehensive information about the posting, including job title, location, whether it’s full-time, part-time or an internship, and more. We’ll continue to add relevant filters, and surface more pertinent job-related information in the future. This new jobs search experience will be available in English on the Search app on Android and iOS, in Google search on the desktop and mobile.


During the job search process, keeping up with new jobs that are posted real-time can be tedious. With the ability to save job listings directly in this experience, you can conveniently get back to them whenever you need. You can also enable alerts for your job searches which will trigger emails updates of related listings, helping you stay in the loop on similar opportunities that might be of interest to you.


And to ensure even more jobs are listed over time, we’ve published open documentation for all third-party job search platforms and direct employers, big or small, for making their job openings discoverable in this new search experience. With 51 million Indian SMBs creating over 110 million jobs annually, they now have the ability to surface their jobs contextually and to a large pool of relevant job seekers.


People from all walks of life, experiences and backgrounds have actively seeked employment at some point in their lives. Whether you’re a fresh graduate looking for your first job or a parent looking for a part-time opportunity, we hope this new experience on Google will help make the job search simpler and more effective.


Posted by Achint Srivastava, Software Engineering Lead, Search Engineering Team

*KPMG-Google study, 2016

More information, faster removals, more people – an update on what we’re doing to enforce YouTube’s Community Guidelines

https://img.youtube.com/vi/WK8qRNSmhEU/maxresdefault.jpg YouTube Team YouTube Team YouTube
In December we shared how we’re expanding our work to remove content that violates our policies. Today, we’re providing an update and giving you additional insight into our work, including the release of the first YouTube Community Guidelines Enforcement Report.


Providing more information
We are taking an important first step by releasing a quarterly report on how we’re enforcing our Community Guidelines. This regular update will help show the progress we’re making in removing violative content from our platform. By the end of the year, we plan to refine our reporting systems and add additional data, including data on comments, speed of removal, and policy removal reasons.


We’re also introducing a Reporting History dashboard that each YouTube user can individually access to see the status of videos they’ve flagged to us for review against our Community Guidelines.


Machines helping to address violative content
Machines are allowing us to flag content for review at scale, helping us remove millions of violative videos before they are ever viewed. And our investment in machine learning to help speed up removals is paying off across high-risk, low-volume areas (like violent extremism) and in high-volume areas (like spam).
Highlights from the report -- reflecting data from October - December 2017 -- show:
- We removed over 8 million videos from YouTube during these months.1 The majority of these 8 million videos were mostly spam or people attempting to upload adult content - and represent a fraction of a percent of YouTube’s total views during this time period.2
- 6.7 million were first flagged for review by machines rather than humans
- Of those 6.7 million videos, 76 percent were removed before they received a single view.
For example, at the beginning of 2017, 8 percent of the videos flagged and removed for violent extremism were taken down with fewer than 10 views.3 We introduced machine learning flagging in June 2017. Now more than half of the videos we remove for violent extremism have fewer than 10 views.


The Value of People + Machines
Deploying machine learning actually means more people reviewing content, not fewer. Our systems rely on human review to assess whether content violates our policies. You can learn more about our flagging and human review process in this video:
Last year we committed to bringing the total number of people working to address violative content to 10,000 across Google by the end of 2018. At YouTube, we've staffed the majority of additional roles needed to reach our contribution to meeting that goal. We’ve also hired full-time specialists with expertise in violent extremism, counterterrorism, and human rights, and we’ve expanded regional expert teams.


We continue to invest in the network of over 150 academics, government partners, and NGOs who bring valuable expertise to our enforcement systems, like the International Center for the Study of Radicalization at King’s College London, Anti-Defamation League, and Family Online Safety Institute. This includes adding more child safety focused partners from around the globe, like Childline South Africa, ECPAT Indonesia, and South Korea’s Parents’ Union on Net.


We are committed to making sure that YouTube remains a vibrant community with strong systems to remove violative content and we look forward to providing you with more information on how those systems are performing and improving over time.  


-The YouTube Team


1This number does not include videos that were removed when an entire channel was removed. Most channel-level removals are due to spam violations and we believe that the percentage of violative content for spam is even higher.
2Not only do these 8 million videos represent a fraction of a percent of YouTube's overall views, but that fraction of a percent has been steadily decreasing over the last five quarters.
3This excludes videos that were automatically matched as known violent extremist content at point of upload -which would all have zero views.

Google Home and Google Home Mini launches in India

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/oJQ6oer9k-oKSnaW3KR5MwCfRndlnGcAU-FN0yA9kkYKRtwSGa3fSclA27uJ7h5rPzT1yEXW2U7wCkdYfJKj4vMZM5IPVKYOhWAHcCZ5n1qevNxrtJTE_cnGHcXNL4zsOhY9ElbG Rishi Chandra VP, Product Management Google Home
Bringing together the best of Google’s AI, software and hardware, now with a desi twist


Whether you’re getting the kids ready for school, doing a batch of laundry, or answering the doorbell for the morning vendors, Indian homes are busy ones. From catching that Bollywood blockbuster on your smart TV, to whipping up a quick Chole Bhature, to sinking into soulful Sufi tunes at the end of a tiring day, you can now get hands-free help.


Beginning today, Indian users can welcome in their lives Google Home -- our voice-activated speaker powered by the Google Assistant. With a simple “Ok, Google” or “Hey Google”, you can get answers, turn up the music, manage everyday tasks or even control smart devices around your home.


Google Home understands Indian accents, and will respond to you with uniquely Indian contexts. What’s great about the Google Assistant is that it’s the same across all your devices, so that it works seamlessly for you wherever you need a helping hand. You can for instance ask it for the quickest route to office, then tell it to push the directions to Google Maps on your smartphone, and you’re ready to navigate as you head out.


Designed to fit seamlessly into your home
We didn’t want Google Home to feel like a gadget, and took inspiration from consumer products that are commonly found in homes, like wine glasses, candles, and even donuts for Mini.


The top surface has LEDs that provide visual feedback when Google Home recognizes “Hey Google”, so you know when it is listening. In those rare moments when voice won’t do, the top surface is also a capacitive touch panel. You can simply use your finger to pause the music or adjust the volume.
Google Home was designed with two microphones to enable accurate far-field voice recognition. The microphone system uses a technique called neural beam forming. We’ve simulated hundreds of thousands of noisy environments and applied machine learning to recognize patterns that allow us to filter and separate speech from noise. This allows us to deliver best-in-class voice recognition and minimize error rates -- even from across the room. Home will be available in India in the Chalk color variant.
Google Home Mini is sleek and smooth, with no corners or edges. And it's small enough to easily place anywhere in your home. It’s almost entirely enclosed in custom fabric. We created this material from scratch, right down to the yarn. It’s durable and soft, but also transparent enough to let through both light and sound. And it is available in Chalk and Charcoal, with Coral coming soon. The four LED lights underneath the fabric that light up to show you when it hears you or when it’s thinking. Mini has far-field mics so it can hear you even when there’s music playing or loud noise in the background: its circular design it can project 360-degree sound, with just one speaker.


These devices join the Made by Google family of hardware products in India, and will be available for purchase online exclusively on Flipkart, and in over 750 retail stores across the country including Reliance Digital, Croma, Bajaj Electronics, Vijay Sales, Sangeetha, and Poorvika.


Tap into the power of Google with your Assistant
Need answers to a problem? Ask questions, translate phrases, run simple maths calculations and look up the meaning of a word. Too busy to stay on top of the news? Ask and you shall receive the latest stories from sources such as Times of India, NDTV, Dainik Bhaskar, India Today, Aaj Tak and more. Need a helping hand in the kitchen? Find ingredient substitutes, pull up nutritional information and unit conversions without having to wash your atta-covered fingers.


Google Home is truly ‘desi’
With a distinctly Indian voice, your Assistant on Google Home speaks and understands your language. Ask it “Hey Google, how desi are you?”, put its cricket knowledge to the test with “Hey Google, what is a silly point?”, tell it to “Play songs from the movie Satte Pe Satta”, or even get step-by-step cooking instructions in the kitchen with, “Hey Google, give me a recipe for Dum Biryani”.


Get personalised help for your everyday tasks
The Google Assistant on Google Home has been designed to help you get more stuff done when you have your hands full. With your permission, it will help with things like your commute, your daily schedule and more. And the best part? Up to six people can connect their account to one Google Home, so if you ask your Assistant to tell you about your day, it can distinguish your voice from other people in your family, and give you personalised answers. Just ask “Hey Google, tell me about my day” or say, “Hey Google, how long will it take to get to work?” and you’ll get up to speed on everything you need to know. It can wake you up in the morning (or let you snooze), set a timer while you’re baking, and so more.


Turn up those tunes
Find the right rhythm for every occasion, whether you’re getting into the zone with sunrise yoga, hosting a dinner party, or burning off calories dancing with your little ones. You can play songs, playlists, artists, and albums from your favourite music subscription services like Google Play Music (with a six-month subscription, on us), along with offers from Saavn and Gaana*. You can also pair Google Home or Home Mini with your favorite Bluetooth speaker and set it to be the default output for all your music.


Control your smart home
Google Home can help you keep track of everything going on in your home--you can control your lights, switches and more, using compatible smart devices from brands like Philips Hue, D-Link and TP-Link. Just ask your Google Home, and your Assistant will turn off the kitchen light. If you have a Chromecast, you can also use voice commands to play Netflix, or YouTube on your TV and binge watch your favorite shows. Enjoy multi-room by grouping Google Home devices together (with Chromecast Audio, Chromecast built-in and Bluetooth speakers) to listen to the same song in every room.


A speaker for any occasion
Whether you’re hosting a dinner or a solo dance party, Google Home delivers crystal-clear sound and creates an enjoyable listening experience. Plus, we designed Home to fit stylishly into any room. And you have the option to customize the base with different colors to reflect your home’s style.


With Google Home, we’re working with our partners to bring you many great launch offers: when buying Google Home or Google Home Mini on Flipkart you get a free JioFi router along with special offers on exchange and streaming music subscriptions; when buying a Google Home at Reliance Digital or MyJio stores you get a free JioFi router with 100GB of high-speed 4G data (worth Rs 2,499)**, and at select Philips Hue and Croma outlets you get a Philips Hue + Google Home Mini at a special bundled price. Also ACT Fibernet retail customers subscribing to 12-month advance rental plans of 90MBPS and above, will receive a Google Home Mini. And above all, users get 10 percent cashback when purchasing using HDFC Bank credit cards***.


Google Home and Google Home Mini will be priced at Rs 9,999, and Rs 4,499 respectively.


It’s just the beginning...
Your Assistant on Google Home will continue to get better over time as we add more features (look out for Hindi support coming later this year!) And Google Home is open to third-party apps for the Assistant, so expect even more of your favourite services and content.

Posted by Rishi Chandra, VP,  Product Management, Google Home


Note:
*Both available from April 10 to October 31, 2018, for all Google Home and Home Mini users in India
**Offer valid until 30th April 2018
***Cashback limited to 10% of MRP

Fostering the Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning ecosystem in India

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/3VQB35xs1d8m4ArLOI4HCerP94FqecM-KXwkMvk3GyI2IiVmG_YjUs_dmEbr7F4QlECo0hEUVWSedymD00PjZRJkx8P9lPR7ss3VHdK5R3CW3pWbBu4veLaFiToX-MRIJIjmHN4W Pankaj Gupta and Anand Rangarajan Engineering Directors Google India
Artificial intelligence has the potential to improve people’s lives in profound ways — from helping diagnose diseases and breaking down language barriers to making businesses more efficient. And we’re just at the beginning of what’s possible. We believe that ultimately, AI will help tackle huge challenges like healthcare, environmental protection and other social and developmental problems, while also spurring innovation for businesses and developers.


The opportunity is huge and not constrained by location – a company in  Bangalore or Gurgaon could serve the whole world. In fact, a recent report by Accenture concluded that India, by embracing AI technologies could add nearly $1 trillion to its GDP by 2035.  
 
India already has some of the key ingredients to become a major force in leading the next generation of disruptive innovation in machine learning (ML): a tech-savvy talent pool, renowned universities, healthy levels of entrepreneurship and strong corporations. This does however require for the whole ecosystem, be it government, industry professionals, academia or the developer community to come together and identify areas and opportunities;  participate and contribute to high quality research and innovation; and turn these systems into effective business models.


We at Google want to actively work with the community to foster and nurture the ecosystem. As a first step towards that we organised a workshop today at our campus in Bangalore, to bring together a cross section of the AI and ML community in India.
Jeff Dean, Senior Fellow, Google and Prabhakar Raghavan, VP, Apps Google Cloud kicked off the workshop by sharing Google’s vision for AI and the work we are doing to help businesses and developers innovate with AI. Faculty and researchers from the IITs and other leading universities, and industry practitioners from both startups and bigger companies including Amazon, Flipkart, LinkedIn, Myntra, Microsoft and Ola participated and spoke on the ongoing research and work being undertaken in India in many areas of AI/ML such as Deep Learning, Computer Vision, Natural Language Processing, ML Systems, and Generative Models.


Bringing together people from different parts of the community in a workshop is one step we’re taking to inspire people in India to innovate with AI. We also provide researchers, companies and developers with tools to solve complex problems with machine learning, including the open-source machine learning framework TensorFlow, custom-built machine learning chips TPUs, and Cloud AI––a suite of products to help businesses build their own machine learning powered services from pre-trained APIs to Cloud AutoML and the Cloud Machine Learning Engine. And just a couple of weeks ago, we made a set of educational resources about machine learning and AI available, including a free online machine learning crash course that anyone can use to learn and practice machine learning concepts.


Every year, Google gives large grants to over 250 academic research projects world-wide, supports PhD students, and hosts thousands of interns. At the event in Bangalore today, we announced an additional focused award round to support five faculty members in India on their AI research proposal. This is over and above the grants we have already made since 2012 to faculty and PhD students in India to support academic research and they are given as unrestricted grants with no return obligation (IP etc) to Google.


Likewise for entrepreneurs, we are working on an accelerator program, based in India, focused primarily on AI/ML technologies.  Our global accelerator program has already supported over 30 Indian startups of which six are focused on applied AI/ML innovation.


When every developer, entrepreneur or researcher can leverage the power of intelligent systems, there’s no limit to what AI/ML can accomplish, and that benefits all of us.


Posted by Pankaj Gupta and Anand Rangarajan, Engineering Directors at Google India

Say namaste to your Hindi Google Assistant!

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/psfQ4SmLzM70WnLOq8JCh2RNBgcNhGnzqqUPGmzXeiUfnd6K7J9aPd7xDaRweby1apCOotYuGbLNwAPB1ujMlVhvujHuMf-mCsik0eJInMvyPmKerrS1m4KzpIeI58QuXiomGg-M Purvi Shah Technical Program Manager Assistant
Everybody needs a helping hand sometimes -- that’s why we built the Google Assistant, a way to have a conversation with Google that helps you get things done. Over the last year, we’ve launched the Assistant in Hindi in Allo, brought the English Assistant to more phones, and made a special version available for Reliance Jio feature phones. Now, more Indian users can get help from their Hindi Assistant -- starting today, the Assistant in Hindi is rolling out to Android phones 6.0+ (Marshmallow and above) and soon coming to Android 5.0 Lollipop and iPhone devices.


The Google Assistant lets you have a conversation with Google to help you get things done in your world -- from telling you about your day, to finding the fastest route to work, or just setting an alarm for the next day -- all in Hindi. To try it out, just touch and hold the Home button or say “Ok Google” on eligible smartphones and your personal Google Assistant will be ready to help you throughout your day. Even when your hands are full, you can quickly send text messages, set reminders, or get directions with the Google Assistant.
Powered by machine learning, the Google Assistant is built on two decades of experience in Search as well as natural language understanding, computer vision, and understanding user context. That’s how your Assistant is able to understand intent behind words to handle follow-up questions and complex, multi-step tasks. And it'll get better over time -- with your permission, it can learn your preferences, your likes and your dislikes -- all done in a private, secure way that puts you in control.


The Google Assistant is truly Indian, it’s your helpful dost that speaks our language and understands the things you care about, from finding biryani recipes, to pulling up the latest cricket score, or finding directions to the nearest ATM. In order to make it even more useful to Indians over time, developers and businesses can now build Actions for the Hindi Assistant through the developer platform Actions on Google. Once an action is built, you can just say “Ok Google, talk to…” and access the service or content straight through your Google Assistant.



Here are some examples of questions you can ask your Google Assistant:
“Sabse kareeb Punjabi restaurant kahaan hain?“
“Dadar tak pahunchne mein kitna samay lagega?“
“Cricket ka score kya hain?“
  
You can even instruct it…
“Kal subah mujhe saat baje jagaao“
“Selfie kheencho“
“Daddy ko SMS bhejo "5 minutes mein pahunchenge"

For an overview of all Actions already available for the Hindi Assistant, you can check out this site.


With today's update, the Google Assistant in Hindi is now available on Android phones 6.0+ (Marshmallow and above), in Allo and soon on Android 5.0+ Lollipop, Android Oreo (Go edition), and iPhones (iOS 9.1 and above). To access the Hindi Google Assistant, set your device language to Hindi and update your Google Search app to the latest version. For more information please see the Google Assistant website.

Posted by Purvi Shah, Technical Program Manager, Assistant