How Sameer got back into tech and on our Responsible AI team

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.

Today’s post is all about Sameer Sethi, a lead technical program manager on our Responsible AI team.

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I was born and raised in a Punjabi family in Delhi, India. Growing up, my parents were my role models and the biggest pillars in my life. My passions are trying different foods and drinks and exploring the world with my wife, who I met while traveling.

Walk us through your path to Google.

After completing my Bachelor’s of Engineering in Dublin, I worked as a software engineer at various telecom companies in Ireland. Afterwards, I moved back to India to help take care of my father and ended up opening an Indo-European bakery. While I enjoyed running a small business (especially one dedicated to my love of food), I still wanted to find an outlet for my engineering skills and use them to create a positive impact. So I got my master’s degree in engineering and ventured back into the tech world as a product manager.

I partnered with Google on a project during that time, and having seen my work firsthand, my Google colleagues encouraged me to apply for an open position in Google Fiber. The role tapped into my passion for data engineering, and I could make a difference by helping to provide fast, reliable and fairly priced internet access to everyone. So I applied and got the job.

What’s your role at Google now?

Now, I’m a lead technical program manager on Google’s Responsible AI team. I work with researchers, ethicists and machine learning practitioners to help Google build responsible AI products guided by our AI Principles and the societal impacts of our work.

What do you wish you’d known when you started the interview process?

I read about Google’s interview process online and got the impression that it would be a nerve-racking experience. To my surprise, however, it was quite the opposite. While the interviews definitely required a lot of preparation, all of the interviewers were very friendly, and the process is designed to make you feel comfortable and help you do your best. Looking back, I would have been much less nervous knowing that the interviewers were friendly and there to help me succeed.

What resources would you recommend to prepare for a Google interview?

I’d suggest reading about the hiring process and checking out the Life at Google YouTube channel to hear directly from Googlers about what it’s like to work here, and how to best prepare to apply or interview. And remember, your recruiter is your best ally so take their recommendations. They know the Google hiring process inside out.

Any tips you’d like to share with aspiring Googlers?

I’ll second what many other Googlers have said: Always strive for your best, prepare well and understand that the interviewers are there to help you succeed. Don’t lose hope, and never stop dreaming.

Source: The Official Google Blog

Chrome Dev for Android Update

Hi everyone! We've just released Chrome Dev 109 (109.0.5409.0) for Android. It's now available on Google Play.

You can see a partial list of the changes in the Git log. For details on new features, check out the Chromium blog, and for details on web platform updates, check here.

If you find a new issue, please let us know by filing a bug.

Krishna Govind
Google Chrome

Source: Google Chrome Releases

All the ways to stay up to date on the FIFA World Cup™

The World Cup kick-off countdown is on! To make sure you don’t miss any major moments, here are new features that will help you stay up to date as 32 nations compete to win it all.

Get in on the action with Search

Whether you are a casual fan, soccer aficionado or hopping on the bandwagon, we’ve got you covered! To prepare for the tournament, search “World Cup” and follow your favorite teams. Simply click on the bell in the top-right-hand corner to opt-in to receive notifications about your squad. We know the best fans care deeply about the details like who is dominating the passing game. Now, when you look up a match you will be able to view in-depth stats, win probabilities and key events timelines.

Screenshot of a Search result page featuring the win probability and stats for a match

You can also catch all the “ooh”, “ahh'' and “GOOAAAL” moments you might have missed with daily recap videos directly on Search from FIFA+ and official broadcasters including beIN SPORTS, BBC, ZDF and more. Dive even deeper and look up your favorite athletes to learn more about their stories and accomplishments.

Screenshot of a Search results page for the query world cup matches showcasing individual game video recaps and overall day 1 video recaps

No matter which player or team you are rooting for, soccer is all about community and a little friendly competition. On Search when you look up players, you’ll be able to rate players based on how you think they’ll perform and see how that rating stands up against the others. Soon you can also compete with fans in our multiplayer online game. People from around the world will work together to help their team score the most amount of goals to win. Once a real-life match is set, pick your team and work with other fans to score the most virtual goals before the match ends.

Gif of an interactive scoring game where you are competing with players from around the world to try and score as many goals as you can

Find exciting content from the FIFA World Cup™ 2022 on YouTube

There are even more ways to watch the biggest moments throughout the tournament on YouTube. World Cup fans can catch up on and rewatch the most exciting moments of every game on YouTube via FIFA and official broadcast channels. Starting November 20, YouTube TV subscribers can watch live the FIFA World Cup 2022™ on FOX and FS1, and make the most of their viewing experience with gameday features such as key plays to catch up on real-time highlights, stats, scores and standings. Members subscribed to the 4K Plus add-on can enjoy all 64 matches in ultra-high-definition. For those looking to tune in to the Spanish broadcast, Telemundo is included as part of the YouTube TV Base Plan. You can also find exclusive Shorts and long-form content for this year’s World Cup from creators like Deestroying, Rima, Cheeky Boyos, Jesser, Abo Flah and more. Relive and react to your favorite World Cup moments using the Remix feature in Shorts. Be sure to follow along using #ShortsFIFAWorldCup and join in the fun by using this hashtag when you upload your own content.

Catch the matches and highlights with Google TV

With your Google TV device, you'll be able to tune in to everything from the group stage to the finale. Jump straight into live matches featured in your For you tab. A new row lets you explore World Cup content like live games, highlights, recaps and more from FIFA+, ITV, Peacock, Telemundo, ViX and other broadcasters. These updates on Google TV are available on the new Chromecast with Google TV and other Google TV devices including Hisense, Philips, Sony and TCL.

Image of Google TV homescreen on a TV frame highlighting the Latest from FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 row with featured content.

Discover new places to see the action

Want to watch the game with other fans? A new label for businesses on Search will launch ahead of the games and help you do just that. Soon you can simply search for “Where to watch the world cup near me” within Search to find a nearby venue of your choice. Business owners should review their local rules about showing sporting events to the public before applying the new label.

Static image of a local restaurant displaying a business label that says “Showing the World Cup.

Grow your knowledge about the World Cup with Assistant

Google Assistant is helping long-time soccer fans and those new to the World Cup with an expanded collection of facts. Say "Give me a soccer fun fact" to learn about the first females to referee the tournament, the number of stadiums lined up to host the event and more. To chat about the game, ask Assistant, "Do you like soccer?" and "Who's your favorite soccer player?", or celebrate together with "It's game time" or "Say goal!"

Source: The Official Google Blog

All the ways to stay up to date on the FIFA World Cup™

The World Cup kick-off countdown is on! To make sure you don’t miss any major moments, here are new features that will help you stay up to date as 32 nations compete to win it all.

Get in on the action with Search

Find exciting content from the FIFA World Cup™ 2022 on YouTube

Catch the matches and highlights with Google TV

Discover new places to see the action

Grow your knowledge about the World Cup with Assistant

Source: The Official Google Blog

All the ways to stay up to date on the FIFA World Cup™

The World Cup kick-off countdown is on! To make sure you don’t miss any major moments, here are new features that will help you stay up to date as 32 nations compete to win it all.

Get in on the action with Search

Find exciting content from the FIFA World Cup™ 2022 on YouTube

Catch the matches and highlights with Google TV

Discover new places to see the action

Grow your knowledge about the World Cup with Assistant

Source: The Official Google Blog

Supporting U.S. food banks to deliver 50 million meals

This week, we kicked off our annual holiday giving campaign. I always look forward to this time of year because it gives Googlers — our employees — a chance to amplify their generosity by directing some of the company’s funds to causes that are important to them and can make an impact in their communities. Every year, food banks, along with schools, are among the most popular recipients for giving back. Our employees have given more than $43 million to U.S. food relief organizations with Google.org’s gift match, as part of our $2 billion in giving since 2017.

This year, food insecurity remains a big challenge for many families across the United States. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 10% of Americans were food-insecure at some time in 2021 — meaning they couldn’t be sure that they would have enough food for their family to eat.

One of the best ways to support families is to equip food banks, especially as increasing food prices and global supply chain issues stretch them thin. That’s why today we’re launching a new partnership with Feeding America and its network of local food banks and pantries. Our goal is to deliver 50 million meals, while strengthening food banks’ technical infrastructure for the longer term. We’re also launching new features in Search and Maps that make finding food support easier.

Helping Feeding America

Google.org will contribute $10 million to Feeding America and 32 of its member food banks to help deliver 50 million meals to communities most in need. We’ll partner with these food banks throughout the month to host more than 20 volunteering events in communities across the country, to raise awareness and encourage those who can to give back. In one of those communities, Mesa, Arizona, Google.org has joined forces with Waymo to expand their food rescue program, and Googlers will help load a Waymo Via semi truck full of food to deliver to local food banks. Since May, Waymo Vias have helped transport more than 44,000 pounds of bread on behalf of nonprofits' food rescue efforts.

Eight volunteers are pictured taking food from a truck and carrying it towards the camera. A man with white hair and glasses is carrying three cardboard boxes in the foreground, while other volunteers pass boxes along a line in the background.

Volunteers at the local food bank in Fort Myers, Florida, help to unload fresh produce from a truck.

Google.org is also donating Search advertising to Feeding America and local food banks and pantries across the U.S. in order to connect them with people searching for resources or ways to give back.

Over the longer term, we'll continue to partner with Feeding America on its food bank network's technology infrastructure. This work will help improve things like inventory management tools — projects that are often deprioritized so food banks can meet immediate needs, yet are vital to ensuring that the right food gets to the right households at the right time. We’ll be lending our expertise to help close these gaps, creating volunteer opportunities for Googlers to put their skills to work.

Providing information through our products

One of the biggest ways we can make a difference is by helping people find information about food support in their communities. Last year, we launched Search and Maps features that make it easier to locate verified local food banks. These features also enabled people to find out more about Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. And now if you search for "how to apply for SNAP" you can find information about milestones in the application process, including important details on eligibility and documents required.

Once approved for SNAP, many people use Electronic Benefit Transfers (EBT) as a payment method, and you can now search for "EBT" to find your local program's website, check your balance and find contact information to get support. Searching on Google Maps for "grocery stores that accept EBT" surfaces more than 180,000 USDA-approved grocery stores, convenience stores, farmers’ markets and other nearby retailers that accept this payment method.

It will take a sustained and coordinated effort to address the challenge of food insecurity. Working with Feeding America and its partners, we’re committed to raising awareness of this ongoing crisis, and encourage others to help, this holiday season and all year round.

Source: The Official Google Blog

Multi-layered Mapping of Brain Tissue via Segmentation Guided Contrastive Learning

Source: Google AI Blog

SwiftUI Case Study: Presenting from View Controllers

We are happy to announce the release of an iOS sample application that demonstrates how to integrate the Google Mobile Ads SDK into a SwiftUI-based app. This post covers how we implemented full screen ad formats (interstitial, rewarded, rewarded interstitial) in SwiftUI.

The Google Mobile Ads SDK relies heavily on the UIKit Framework, depending on UIView or UIViewController for each ad format. For example, the SDK currently presents full screen ads using the following method:

present(fromRootViewController rootViewController: UIViewController)

In UIKit, ads are typically implemented in a UIViewController, so it is rather trivial to pass in a rootViewController value by simply invoking self. SwiftUI requires us to diverge from this approach, however, because UIViewController cannot be directly referenced in SwiftUI. Since we can’t just pass in self as the root view controller, we needed to achieve a similar result using a SwiftUI-native approach.

Our solution

We created an implementation of the UIViewControllerRepresentable protocol with a UIViewController property. Its one job is to provide access to the UIViewController reference in SwiftUI.

private struct AdViewControllerRepresentable: UIViewControllerRepresentable {
  let viewController = UIViewController()

  func makeUIViewController(context: Context) -> some UIViewController {
    return viewController
  }

  func updateUIViewController(_ uiViewController: UIViewControllerType, context: Context) {}
}

AdViewControllerRepresentable needs to be included as part of the view hierarchy even though it holds no significance to the content on screen. This is because canPresent(fromRootViewController:) requires the presenting view controller’s window value to not be nil.

private let adViewControllerRepresentable = AdViewControllerRepresentable()

var body: some View {
  Text("hello, friend.")
      .font(.largeTitle)
      // Add the adViewControllerRepresentable to the background so it
      // does not influence the placement of other views in the view hierarchy.
      .background {
        adViewControllerRepresentable
          .frame(width: .zero, height: .zero)
      }
}

To present the full screen ads in our sample app, we leveraged action events in SwiftUI.

Button("Watch an ad!") {
  coordinator.presentAd(from: adViewControllerRepresentable.viewController) 
}

And our AdCoordinator class does the honor of presenting it from our view controller.

private class AdCoordinator: NSObject {
  private var ad: GADInterstitialAd?

  ...

  func presentAd(from viewController: UIViewController) {
    guard let ad = ad else {
      return print("Ad wasn't ready")
    }

    ad.present(fromRootViewController: viewController)
  }
}

And voila!

An alternative option

Instead of creating a UIViewControllerRepresentable, there was always the option to query the rootViewController property from UIWindow.

UIApplication.shared.windows.first?.rootViewController

We decided against this option for the following reasons:

There is the inherent nullability risk to querying an optional array index.
The default value of rootViewController is nil.
If your app utilizes more than one window, the windows array will have multiple elements and therefore, makes querying the “first” window object unreliable.
windows on the UIApplication object is deprecated in iOS 15 and UIWindowScene now holds the reference to this property.

Conclusion

We know there is more than one way to cook an egg when it comes to writing code in SwiftUI. For our use case, we chose the most low-code friendly option. If you have any questions, reach out to our developer forum.

Try it out!

- Justin Malandruccolo, Mobile Ads Developer Relations

Source: Google Ads Developer Blog

Chrome Beta for Android Update

Hi everyone! We've just released Chrome Beta 108 (108.0.5359.38) for Android. It's now available on Google Play.

You can see a partial list of the changes in the Git log. For details on new features, check out the Chromium blog, and for details on web platform updates, check here.

If you find a new issue, please let us know by filing a bug.

Krishna Govind
Google Chrome

Source: Google Chrome Releases

Beta Channel Update for Desktop

The Beta channel has been updated to 108.0.5359.40 for Windows, Mac and Linux .

A full list of changes in this build is available in the log. Interested in switching release channels? Find out how here. If you find a new issues, please let us know by filing a bug. The community help forum is also a great place to reach out for help or learn about common issues.

Srinivas Sista

Google Chrome