Tag Archives: families

Your family on Google

Popcorn. Snuggles. Sniffles. Families share a lot of stuff—and now we’re making it even easier to share and stay connected with each other by giving you more to do with your family group on Google. You can already share music and other entertainment with the Google Play Music family plan and Google Play Family Library. Now whether it's a new TV show on your DVR, the soccer practice schedule, this week’s to-do list, or family photos from over the weekend, here’s a look at how families can do more with YouTube TV, Google Calendar, Keep and Photos.

YouTube TV: Up to six household members get their own cloud DVR that never runs out of storage space, all for $35 a month. Stream live TV from ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, and popular cable networks. Learn more.

YTTV2

Google Calendar: A shared family calendar makes it easy for your whole family to keep track of group activities like picnics, movie nights and reunions—all in one place. Learn more.

Calendar2

Google Keep:  Capture and share ideas with features like reminders, shared lists, and notes in Keep that help your whole family stay in the loop. Learn more.

keep2

Google Photos: Send photos and videos to your family group in a few taps, whether you're on a weekend adventure or spending the afternoon at home. Learn more.

Photos2

YouTube TV is available today in select markets. Family offerings for Google Calendar, Google Keep, and Google Photos will begin rolling out today.* You can get started by creating a family group with up to six members of your household. Now your family can share some of your favorite Google products, together.

*Family features for Google Calendar, Google Keep and Google Photos are available in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia, Spain, United Kingdom, and the United States.

Your family on Google

Popcorn. Snuggles. Sniffles. Families share a lot of stuff—and now we’re making it even easier to share and stay connected with each other by giving you more to do with your family group on Google. You can already share music and other entertainment with the Google Play Music family plan and Google Play Family Library. Now whether it's a new TV show on your DVR, the soccer practice schedule, this week’s to-do list, or family photos from over the weekend, here’s a look at how families can do more with YouTube TV, Google Calendar, Keep and Photos.

YouTube TV: Up to six household members get their own cloud DVR that never runs out of storage space, all for $35 a month. Stream live TV from ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, and popular cable networks. Learn more.

YTTV2

Google Calendar: A shared family calendar makes it easy for your whole family to keep track of group activities like picnics, movie nights and reunions—all in one place. Learn more.

Calendar2

Google Keep:  Capture and share ideas with features like reminders, shared lists, and notes in Keep that help your whole family stay in the loop. Learn more.

keep2

Google Photos: Send photos and videos to your family group in a few taps, whether you're on a weekend adventure or spending the afternoon at home. Learn more.

Photos2

YouTube TV is available today in select markets. Family offerings for Google Calendar, Google Keep, and Google Photos will begin rolling out today.* You can get started by creating a family group with up to six members of your household. Now your family can share some of your favorite Google products, together.

*Family features for Google Calendar, Google Keep and Google Photos are available in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia, Spain, United Kingdom, and the United States.

Inspiring the creative problem-solvers of the future

What's coming next in technology will shape our future. And because we can't predict what challenges the future will bring, we need to cultivate a new generation of problem-solvers, storytellers, and creative minds to tackle our next problems at scale. It’s not just about coding and programming computers, it’s about helping students learn skills they’ll need to approach problems in a fundamentally different way across every discipline from business to engineering to the arts.

Today, we hosted our fourth annual I/O Youth, part of a longstanding effort to get more students excited about where technology can take them. Nearly 150 5th-7th graders from schools around the Bay Area descended on Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, CA to explore activities focused on digital storytelling, inventing, science, and coding.

Ryan Germick, who leads our Doodle team, along with Krysia Olszewska of Technovation, emceed the day as kids delved into four activities:

  • Animating their very own cartoon with Toontastic
  • Building a wind spinner from craft supplies and analyzing its speed with the Science Journal app
  • Creating and programming a hot potato game using littleBits Code Kit, which uses drag-and-drop programming based on Google’s Blockly to help kids code
  • Coding an adventure on the high seas, programming the type of ship, height of waves, characters and dialogue, using Scratch with Google’s CS First curriculum

It wouldn’t be I/O without a Sandbox, so through “Toy Taxidermy,” an activity developed by Wonderful Idea Co, kids tinkered with mechanical toys to see how they work. The MIT Media Lab showed kids how to make their own game controllers with Play-Doh and tinfoil to control the games they created in Scratch. Kids also got to check out a virtual journey with Expeditions, learn about the Google Assistant and its sense of humor, and see examples of artificial intelligence through Google’s Quick, Draw! and Giorgio Cam AI Experiments.

Today was about opening a door to let kids see what’s possible. Mentors from littleBits, Scratch, and Technovation encouraged kids to get involved in local clubs and activities so that anyone who has a passion for technology has an outlet to keep going. And everyone went home with a littleBits Rule Your Room Kit, so they can continue creating and programming at home. We hope kids discover that a bright future isn’t some distant goal—it's something they have the power and skills to create right now.

Source: Education


Inspiring the creative problem-solvers of the future

What's coming next in technology will shape our future. And because we can't predict what challenges the future will bring, we need to cultivate a new generation of problem-solvers, storytellers, and creative minds to tackle our next problems at scale. It’s not just about coding and programming computers, it’s about helping students learn skills they’ll need to approach problems in a fundamentally different way across every discipline from business to engineering to the arts.

Today, we hosted our fourth annual I/O Youth, part of a longstanding effort to get more students excited about where technology can take them. Nearly 150 5th-7th graders from schools around the Bay Area descended on Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, CA to explore activities focused on digital storytelling, inventing, science, and coding.

Ryan Germick, who leads our Doodle team, along with Krysia Olszewska of Technovation, emceed the day as kids delved into four activities:

  • Animating their very own cartoon with Toontastic
  • Building a wind spinner from craft supplies and analyzing its speed with the Science Journal app
  • Creating and programming a hot potato game using littleBits Code Kit, which uses drag-and-drop programming based on Google’s Blockly to help kids code
  • Coding an adventure on the high seas, programming the type of ship, height of waves, characters and dialogue, using Scratch with Google’s CS First curriculum

It wouldn’t be I/O without a Sandbox, so through “Toy Taxidermy,” an activity developed by Wonderful Idea Co, kids tinkered with mechanical toys to see how they work. The MIT Media Lab showed kids how to make their own game controllers with Play-Doh and tinfoil to control the games they created in Scratch. Kids also got to check out a virtual journey with Expeditions, learn about the Google Assistant and its sense of humor, and see examples of artificial intelligence through Google’s Quick, Draw! and Giorgio Cam AI Experiments.

Today was about opening a door to let kids see what’s possible. Mentors from littleBits, Scratch, and Technovation encouraged kids to get involved in local clubs and activities so that anyone who has a passion for technology has an outlet to keep going. And everyone went home with a littleBits Rule Your Room Kit, so they can continue creating and programming at home. We hope kids discover that a bright future isn’t some distant goal—it's something they have the power and skills to create right now.

Source: Education


Inspiring the creative problem-solvers of the future

What's coming next in technology will shape our future. And because we can't predict what challenges the future will bring, we need to cultivate a new generation of problem-solvers, storytellers, and creative minds to tackle our next problems at scale. It’s not just about coding and programming computers, it’s about helping students learn skills they’ll need to approach problems in a fundamentally different way across every discipline from business to engineering to the arts.

Today, we hosted our fourth annual I/O Youth, part of a longstanding effort to get more students excited about where technology can take them. Nearly 150 5th-7th graders from schools around the Bay Area descended on Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, CA to explore activities focused on digital storytelling, inventing, science, and coding.

Ryan Germick, who leads our Doodle team, along with Krysia Olszewska of Technovation, emceed the day as kids delved into four activities:

  • Animating their very own cartoon with Toontastic
  • Building a wind spinner from craft supplies and analyzing its speed with the Science Journal app
  • Creating and programming a hot potato game using littleBits Code Kit, which uses drag-and-drop programming based on Google’s Blockly to help kids code
  • Coding an adventure on the high seas, programming the type of ship, height of waves, characters and dialogue, using Scratch with Google’s CS First curriculum

It wouldn’t be I/O without a Sandbox, so through “Toy Taxidermy,” an activity developed by Wonderful Idea Co, kids tinkered with mechanical toys to see how they work. The MIT Media Lab showed kids how to make their own game controllers with Play-Doh and tinfoil to control the games they created in Scratch. Kids also got to check out a virtual journey with Expeditions, learn about the Google Assistant and its sense of humor, and see examples of artificial intelligence through Google’s Quick, Draw! and Giorgio Cam AI Experiments.

Today was about opening a door to let kids see what’s possible. Mentors from littleBits, Scratch, and Technovation encouraged kids to get involved in local clubs and activities so that anyone who has a passion for technology has an outlet to keep going. And everyone went home with a littleBits Rule Your Room Kit, so they can continue creating and programming at home. We hope kids discover that a bright future isn’t some distant goal—it's something they have the power and skills to create right now.

Google Home and Wifi arrive in the UK

The time we spend at home with our family and friends is special. What if technology could help us make the most of those moments?

Google Home is a hands-free smart speaker powered by the Google Assistant that does just that. Whether you want to get answers from Google, turn up the music, sort out some everyday tasks or control compatible smart devices in your home, all you have to do is say “Ok Google.”

And now, Google Home is coming to the UK.

Get answers from the Google Assistant

Ask Google Home a question, and it will give you the answer by tapping into the power of Google—Search, Maps, Translate and more. A combination of our natural language processing, machine learning and voice recognition expertise allow users to interact naturally with the Assistant on Google Home.

It can also help you with translations and calculations, or deliver a news briefing from publications such as the BBC, The Guardian, The Financial Times, The Sun, The Telegraph, Huffington Post, Sky News, Sky Sports and others. 

Using the Google Assistant, Google Home can answer questions about your interests, the weather, traffic, sports, finance, local businesses and more. You could ask “Where is the nearest petrol station?” and then follow up with,“When does it close?” The Assistant can also have fun—it can tell you jokes, play trivia or make animal sounds. 

Enjoy your music

Google Home helps you listen to your favorite things, whether you're in the mood to listen to a podcast or dance around the living room with your little ones. With a simple voice command, you can play songs, playlists, artists and albums from Google Play Music, Spotify, TuneIn, live radio from the BBC and more.*

If you have multiple Google Home devices, Chromecast Audio or Chromecast-enabled speakers, you can blast the same tune around the house or group them by room with the multi-room feature.

Your everyday tasks and your connected home

There’s never a shortage of things to do in the home, and sometimes it’d be good to have a bit of help with them. Google Home is there for those times—like setting alarms, starting timers, or adding items to your shopping list—and, if you choose, it can even tell you about your schedule.  

Plus, if you have smart devices in your home, you can control your lights and switches from brands including Nest, Philips or Samsung SmartThings. If you have a Chromecast, you can also use voice commands to play Netflix and YouTube on your TV or binge watch your favorite show.** Simply say, “Ok Google, Play ‘The Crown.’”

Your home, your rules

With your permission, Google Home can assist you in planning your day, based on information like your calendar entries or flight information from your Google account. But if you'd rather keep things to yourself, you can turn off personal results any time in the Google Home app with a single swipe.

We know the UK has been patiently waiting for Google Home to arrive and we’ve been working with our favorite partners to give you the best possible experience. We’ll partner with more of your favorite apps and services to help you do more with Google Home over time. And of course, we’ve hidden a few British treats for you to discover. Just try asking Google Home about its hobbies or favorite foods.

Google Home will be available in stores on April 6th for £129 from the Google Store and is also available from Argos, Dixons, John Lewis and Maplin and coming soon to EE. Colored bases will be available for £18 for fabric and £36 for metal on the Google store helping you customise to fit your home

That’s not all...

Introducing Google Wifi

We all know how frustrating it can be when wireless connectivity fails at home, especially if you're streaming your favorite TV show. Today we’re also introducing Google Wifi to the UK. Google Wifi is a home Wi-Fi solution that works with your modem and internet provider to bring you reliable coverage.

Traditionally Wi-Fi routers haven’t always been built to support the increasing number of devices we use or high bandwidth activities like gaming or watching videos. Google Wifi is a connected system that replaces your current router to bring smarts, security and simplicity to home Wi-Fi to give you consistently strong coverage in your home.

Google Wifi uses a technology called mesh Wi-Fi (something usually only seen in expensive commercial installations). 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.***

To make sure you’re always in control, Google Wifi comes with an app that lets you do things like pause Wi-Fi on kids’ devices (when it’s time to come to the dinner table) and is built to help keep your data safe and secure.

Google Wifi will be available online on April 6th for £129 in a 1-pack and £229 in a 2-pack from the Google Store. It is also available from Dixons, Argos, Maplin and John Lewis and coming soon to Amazon.

Find out more about Google Home and Google Wifi here.


*Google Home is optimised for selected music services only. Subscriptions/payments may be required.
**Netflix subscription may be required.
****Home materials and layout can affect how Wi-Fi signals travel. Homes with thicker walls or long, narrow layouts may need extra Wifi points for additional coverage.

Google Home requires a Wi-Fi network, a nearby electrical outlet, and a compatible (Android, iOS) mobile device. Minimum OS requirements are available at g.co/home/req. 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.

Google Home and Wifi arrive in the UK

The time we spend at home with our family and friends is special. What if technology could help us make the most of those moments?

Google Home is a hands-free smart speaker powered by the Google Assistant that does just that. Whether you want to get answers from Google, turn up the music, sort out some everyday tasks or control compatible smart devices in your home, all you have to do is say “Ok Google.”

And now, Google Home is coming to the UK.

Get answers from the Google Assistant

Ask Google Home a question, and it will give you the answer by tapping into the power of Google—Search, Maps, Translate and more. A combination of our natural language processing, machine learning and voice recognition expertise allow users to interact naturally with the Assistant on Google Home.

It can also help you with translations and calculations, or deliver a news briefing from publications such as the BBC, The Guardian, The Financial Times, The Sun, The Telegraph, Huffington Post, Sky News, Sky Sports and others. 

Using the Google Assistant, Google Home can answer questions about your interests, the weather, traffic, sports, finance, local businesses and more. You could ask “Where is the nearest petrol station?” and then follow up with,“When does it close?” The Assistant can also have fun—it can tell you jokes, play trivia or make animal sounds. 

Enjoy your music

Google Home helps you listen to your favorite things, whether you're in the mood to listen to a podcast or dance around the living room with your little ones. With a simple voice command, you can play songs, playlists, artists and albums from Google Play Music, Spotify, TuneIn, live radio from the BBC and more.*

If you have multiple Google Home devices, Chromecast Audio or Chromecast-enabled speakers, you can blast the same tune around the house or group them by room with the multi-room feature.

Your everyday tasks and your connected home

There’s never a shortage of things to do in the home, and sometimes it’d be good to have a bit of help with them. Google Home is there for those times—like setting alarms, starting timers, or adding items to your shopping list—and, if you choose, it can even tell you about your schedule.  

Plus, if you have smart devices in your home, you can control your lights and switches from brands including Nest, Philips or Samsung SmartThings. If you have a Chromecast, you can also use voice commands to play Netflix and YouTube on your TV or binge watch your favorite show.** Simply say, “Ok Google, Play ‘The Crown.’”

Your home, your rules

With your permission, Google Home can assist you in planning your day, based on information like your calendar entries or flight information from your Google account. But if you'd rather keep things to yourself, you can turn off personal results any time in the Google Home app with a single swipe.

We know the UK has been patiently waiting for Google Home to arrive and we’ve been working with our favorite partners to give you the best possible experience. We’ll partner with more of your favorite apps and services to help you do more with Google Home over time. And of course, we’ve hidden a few British treats for you to discover. Just try asking Google Home about its hobbies or favorite foods.

Google Home will be available in stores on April 6th for £129 from the Google Store and is also available from Argos, Currys and PC World, John Lewis and Maplin and coming soon to EE. Colored bases will be available for £18 for fabric and £36 for metal on the Google store helping you customize to fit your home. 

That’s not all...

Introducing Google Wifi

We all know how frustrating it can be when wireless connectivity fails at home, especially if you're streaming your favorite TV show. Today we’re also introducing Google Wifi to the UK. Google Wifi is a home Wi-Fi solution that works with your modem and internet provider to bring you reliable coverage.

Traditionally Wi-Fi routers haven’t always been built to support the increasing number of devices we use or high bandwidth activities like gaming or watching videos. Google Wifi is a connected system that replaces your current router to bring smarts, security and simplicity to home Wi-Fi to give you consistently strong coverage in your home.

Google Wifi uses a technology called mesh Wi-Fi (something usually only seen in expensive commercial installations). 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.***

To make sure you’re always in control, Google Wifi comes with an app that lets you do things like pause Wi-Fi on kids’ devices (when it’s time to come to the dinner table) and is built to help keep your data safe and secure.

Google Wifi will be available online on April 6th for £129 in a 1-pack and £229 in a 2-pack from the Google Store. It is also available from Currys and PC World, Argos, Maplin and John Lewis and coming soon to Amazon.

Find out more about Google Home and Google Wifi here.


*Google Home is optimized for selected music services only. Subscriptions/payments may be required.
**Netflix subscription may be required.
****Home materials and layout can affect how Wi-Fi signals travel. Homes with thicker walls or long, narrow layouts may need extra Wifi points for additional coverage.

Google Home requires a Wi-Fi network, a nearby electrical outlet, and a compatible (Android, iOS) mobile device. Minimum OS requirements are available at g.co/home/req. 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.

Introducing the Family Link app: Helping families navigate technology together

The devices we carry every day open up a world of information for us to explore, sparking our curiosity and creativity. But when it comes to our kids using those same devices, it’s tricky. We want them to explore and be inspired as they embark on their digital adventure, but every family feels differently about what their kids should and shouldn't be able to do on their device. That’s why we developed the Family Link app. When your child is ready for their first Android device, Family Link lets you create a Google Account for them, which is like your own account, and also helps you set certain digital ground rules that work for your family - like managing the apps your kid can use, keeping an eye on screen time, and setting a bedtime on your kid’s device.

Here’s how it works: First, your kid will need a new device that runs Android Nougat (7.0) or higher. Then, download Family Link onto your device and create a Google Account for them through the app. Finally, sign them into their new device, and you can then use Family Link to:

Manage the apps your kid can use

Approve or block the apps your kid wants to download from the Google Play Store.

Manage the apps_Families.png


Keep an eye on screen time

See how much time your kid spends on their favorite apps with weekly or monthly activity reports, and set daily screen time limits for their device.

Keep an eye on screentime_Families.png

Set device bedtime

Remotely lock your kid’s device when it’s time to play, study, or sleep.

Set a bedtime_Families.png

Starting today, parents across the U.S. can request an invite to the Family Link early access program. After receiving an invite, parents with kids under 13 years old can download and try the Family Link app. We’re just getting started, and we’ll be asking parents using Family Link for feedback about how to improve the experience before we make the app broadly available.

While Family Link can help you set certain ground rules around how your child uses their device, it can't make the apps or services on their phone that were designed for adults kid-safe; it's up to parents to choose what's right for their kid. When you make the decision to give your child their own device, Family Link can serve as a tool that keeps you in the loop as they begin to explore.

To learn more about the Family Link early access program and request an invitation, visit our Family Link website.

Introducing the Family Link app: Helping families navigate technology together

The devices we carry every day open up a world of information for us to explore, sparking our curiosity and creativity. But when it comes to our kids using those same devices, it’s tricky. We want them to explore and be inspired as they embark on their digital adventure, but every family feels differently about what their kids should and shouldn't be able to do on their device. That’s why we developed the Family Link app. When your child is ready for their first Android device, Family Link lets you create a Google Account for them, which is like your own account, and also helps you set certain digital ground rules that work for your family - like managing the apps your kid can use, keeping an eye on screen time, and setting a bedtime on your kid’s device.

Here’s how it works: First, your kid will need a new device that runs Android Nougat (7.0)* or higher. Then, download Family Link onto your device and create a Google Account for them through the app. Finally, sign them into their new device, and you can then use Family Link to:

Manage the apps your kid can use

Approve or block the apps your kid wants to download from the Google Play Store.

Screenshot: Manage the apps your kid can use


Keep an eye on screen time

See how much time your kid spends on their favorite apps with weekly or monthly activity reports, and set daily screen time limits for their device.

Screenshot: Keep an eye on screentime

Set device bedtime

Remotely lock your kid’s device when it’s time to play, study, or sleep.

Screenshot: Set a bedtime

Starting today, parents across the U.S. can request an invite to the Family Link early access program. After receiving an invite, parents with kids under 13 years old can download and try the Family Link app. We’re just getting started, and we’ll be asking parents using Family Link for feedback about how to improve the experience before we make the app broadly available.

While Family Link can help you set certain ground rules around how your child uses their device, it can't make the apps or services on their phone that were designed for adults kid-safe; it's up to parents to choose what's right for their kid. When you make the decision to give your child their own device, Family Link can serve as a tool that keeps you in the loop as they begin to explore.

To learn more about the Family Link early access program and request an invitation, visit our Family Link website.

*Kids can use Family Link with certain Android Marshmallow devices. Visit our FAQ to learn more.

Android Developer Story: StoryToys finds success in the ‘Family’ section on Google Play

Posted by Lily Sheringham, Google Play team

Based in Dublin, Ireland, StoryToys is a leading publisher of interactive books and games for children. Like most kids’ app developers, they faced the challenges of engaging with the right audiences to get their content discovered. Since the launch of the Family section on Google Play, StoryToys has experienced an uplift of 270% in revenue and an increase of 1300% in downloads.

Hear Emmet O’Neill, Chief Product Officer, and Gavin Barrett, Commercial Director, discuss how the Family section creates a trusted and creative space for families to find new content. Also hear how beta testing, localized pricing and more, has allowed StoryToy’s flagship app, My Very Hungry Caterpillar, to significantly increase engagement and revenue.

Learn more about Google Play for Families and get the Playbook for Developers app to stay up-to-date with more features and best practices that will help you grow a successful business on Google Play.