Google Product Helping Blog

Now anyone can try their hand at magic with a little help from Google and the new Warner Bros. Pictures film set in J.K. Rowling�s Wizarding World, �Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.� Taking place decades before Harry Potter first arrives at Hogwarts, �Fantastic Beasts� follows the adventures of magizoologist Newt Scamander in a whole new era of the wizarding world � New York in 1926. If you want to try being a wizard, try casting spells on your Android phone: Just say �Ok Google� followed by �Lumos� or �Nox� to turn your flashlight on and off. Try �Silencio� to silence the ringer and notifications. You can also explore the world of �Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them� with Google Street View. Visit New York in 1926 as brought to life in the film, as well as the real locations today. Fans can visit MACUSA (Magical Congress of the USA); Steen National Bank, where Newt first meets Jacob Kowalski; the underground speakeasy The Blind Pig; and the magical apartment of Tina and ...

Hi, I�m Momo, a student at the illustrious Magic Cat Academy. Heading to class this morning, I thought it would be just like any other day: learn a few new spells, drink some milk, and hang out with my awesome animal and vegetable pals. To my Halloween horror, hundreds of angry ghosts have invaded the halls of my beloved school � fur real! And now, I ask you to join me to try your hand (or paw!) at fending off these ghastly ghosts with today�s Halloween Google Doodle. With a swipe of your paw (or should I say wave of your wand), you can help turn these Halloween tricks into a real treat. But be warned, your spell casting must be quick and precise. To send these ghouls into a tailspin, you must draw the symbols that appear above the ghosts� heads on your screen. Wow! Meow! That�s not all: show your friends who�s the real expurrrrrt at casting spells by sharing your score after your sorcery is complete. After all, Halloween festivities are always more fun with your full litter! Posted b...

Mind Control . Demogorgons . Barb . This Halloween, there�s no question we�ll see people out in costume as characters from this summer�s addictive Netflix original series, � Stranger Things .� To help bring you back into the �80s supernatural mindset, we�re partnering with Netflix to bring the Upside Down right to your chats in Google Allo , our smart messaging app for Android and iOS . A new �Stranger Things� sticker pack is now available for download in Google Allo, featuring exclusive artwork inspired by the show. So whether you�re researching how to create a DIY Eleven costume with friends or debating whether Barb will reappear in season two, we got you covered. These stickers aren�t the only new thing in Google Allo this week. You can now reply to messages directly from your notifications on Android and iOS. So if you�re cooking up a French Onion Barb , you don�t have to stop what you�re doing to reply back to friends. We�ve also added support for Android N so you can take adva...

Mexican poet Octavio Paz once wrote, "Our cult of death is also our cult of life." Those words capture the spirit with which Mexicans celebrate D�a de Muertos. On November 1 and 2, families in Mexico honor those who have departed, setting up colorful altars at home and in public places with the images of loved ones. These ancestors are greeted with their favorite foods, drinks, sugar skulls, colored paper, marigold flowers, candles and incense. It�s a true celebration of culture and family � and has even been declared �Intangible Cultural Heritage� by UNESCO . Today, we want to invite everyone to experience Mexico�s tradition of paying tribute to life, through the Day of the Dead exhibition on Google Arts & Culture. The content is curated by 10 cultural organizations from Mexico, Peru and the United States and explores the Pre-Columbian roots of this festivity, its many transformations through history and its contemporary manifestations as told by pieces of archaeology, f...

The 2016 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (GHC) begins today, and we�re thrilled to join the 15,000 women and allies convening in Houston for three days of learning, inspiration and community building. Thousands of women at Google are building tools and products that organize the world�s information, help businesses get online and prosper, and forge connections across a growing digital community of 3.5 billion people. So it only makes sense that Google would be part of the world's largest gathering of women technologists. We see GHC as a critical way to connect women in tech and help clear hurdles to their professional development. We know that there�s much more work to do to help level the playing field � and that�s why the mission of the Grace Hopper Celebration is so important. Just yesterday we reported new U.S. research from Gallup and Google that suggests girls are less likely than boys to be told by parents and teachers that they would be good at computer scien...

Whether you�re heading home for the holidays or escaping to some exotic destination, one of the most time-consuming and stressful parts of travel planning is finding the right flight and hotel. Sixty-nine percent of U.S. leisure travelers worry that they're not finding the best price or making the best decision while booking a trip � making this kind of purchase more worrisome than financial investments, home improvements or electronics purchases.* This holiday season we�re making travel planning less stressful by updating you when flights are likely to increase in price, helping you find good hotel deals, and making travel planning easier on mobile. Making it easier than ever to choose the right flight Google Flights can now help you be more confident that you�re booking your flight at the right time to get the best price. We now show you when prices are expected to increase for some specific flights and routes you�re interested in. After selecting a specific flight, a notificati...