Google Product Helping Blog

I started working with Dr. Carl Mack when I took an engineering internship in my hometown of Seattle. But it wasn�t long before my internship took me in a completely different direction. The city was on high alert in the wake of racial discrimination and violence, and Dr. Mack was the VP of the city�s NAACP chapter. At his side, I was soon participating in protests and closed door meetings with city leaders�opening my eyes to non-technical solutions, and setting me off on a path that would eventually lead me to Google.org , where today I lead giving projects focused on the Bay Area and on racial justice. More recently, incidences of racial violence have again dominated our headlines, with the killing of young men like Tamir Rice and Jordan Davis, the deaths of Michael Brown and Sandra Bland, and countless other acts of injustice. And it isn�t just heartbreaking individual stories. The data is troubling: African Americans are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of whites. An esti...

The web is an increasingly critical tool for news organizations, allowing them to communicate faster, research more easily, and disseminate their work to a global audience. Often it's the primary distribution channel for critical, investigative work that shines a light into the darkest corners of society and the economy�the kind of reporting that exposes wrongdoing, causes upset and brings about change. Unfortunately there are some out there who want to prevent this kind of reporting�to silence journalism when it�s needed most. A simple, inexpensive distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack can be carried out by almost anyone with access to a computer�and take a site completely offline before its owners even know they�ve been attacked. These attacks threaten free expression and access to information�two of Google�s core values. So a few years ago we created Project Shield , an effort that uses Google�s security infrastructure to detect and filter attacks on news and human rights...

Posted by Yolanda Mangolini, Director, Global Diversity & Inclusion On February 1 we kicked off Black History Month with a Doodle recognizing the remarkable life of Frederick Douglass and a new collection of Black history archives on the Cultural Institute . Googlers around the world have joined in the celebrations, hosting film screenings, spoken word performances, speaker series, and participating in community service. These efforts have been driven by the Black Googler Network (BGN), one of Google�s largest employee resource groups with 12 branches worldwide. BGN focuses on empowering the Black community at Google and beyond. BGN Googlers work on many different teams, participating in BGN as volunteers or in their 20 percent time. They run service trips to communities in need, provide professional development and mentorship programs, convene dialogues on topics affecting the Black community, and help Googlers connect with each other and develop a sense of community. They�...

Access to information is at the heart of Google�s mission. Unfortunately, today, the mobile web isn't living up to the expectations people have for getting the information they need, particularly when it comes to speed. In fact, data shows that people abandon websites after just three seconds if the content doesn't load quickly�which is bad not just for people trying to get what they want online, but for the publishers who want those readers to enjoy the content they've created for them. That's why, last October, we joined others across the industry on the Accelerated Mobile Pages Project (AMP for short), an open source initiative to make the mobile web as fast as possible. In just over four months, AMP has come a long way, with hundreds of publishers, scores of technology companies and ad-tech businesses all taking part in this joint mission to improve the mobile web for everyone. And starting today, we�ll make it easy to find AMP webpages in relevant mobile search r...

The 2016 Google Science Fair  opens for submissions today. Together with LEGO Education, National Geographic, Scientific American and Virgin Galactic, we�re inviting all young explorers and innovators to make something better through science and engineering. To learn more about the competition, how to enter, prize details and more, visit the site , and follow along on Google+ and Twitter .  In this post,  2015 Grand Prize winner, Olivia Hallisey, joins us to reflect back on her own experience with Google Science Fair. -Ed. I remember the day I first heard about the Google Science Fair last year. I was sitting in my 10th grade science class when my teacher asked us: �What will you try?� I loved the invitation�and the challenge�that the Google Science Fair offered. It was a chance to use science to do something that could really make a difference in the world. I had always been curious and interested in science, and knew I wanted to submit a project, but didn�t really kn...

Today is Safer Internet Day , a moment for technology companies, nonprofit organizations, security firms, and people around the world to focus on online safety, together. To mark the occasion, we�re rolling out new tools, and some useful reminders, to help protect you from online dangers of all stripes�phishing, malware, and other threats to your personal information. 1. Keeping security settings simple The Security Checkup is a quick way to control the security settings for your Google Account. You can add a recovery phone number so we can help if you�re ever locked out of your account, strengthen your password settings, see which devices are connected to your account, and more. If you complete the Security Checkup by February 11, you�ll also get 2GB of extra Google Drive storage , which can be used across Google Drive, Gmail, and Photos. Safer Internet Day is a great time to do it, but you can�and should!�take a Security Checkup on a regular basis. Start your Security Checkup by vis...

Last October, we kicked off our annual Doodle 4 Google art competition, asking students to create a doodle to tell the world �What makes me�me.� This time around, we added a little twist: for the first time in eight years of Doodle 4 Google, there were no restrictions on the medium or materials kids could use to create a doodle. Kids took us up on the challenge. A quarter of all finalists used some non-traditional media�from clay and wood to origami, photographs and sheets of music�in their submission. Today, Googlers are hosting surprise assemblies at schools from Waterville, Maine to Waipahu, Hawaii to celebrate the winners of each state and thank the teachers and parents who have encouraged them along the way. And for the first time ever, we�re announcing winners for Washington, D.C., Guam and Puerto Rico. See all 53 State and Territory Winner s on our website. Now, our finalists need your votes for a shot at having their doodle make it onto the Google homepage. Starting today thro...

Growing up, my parents were daily reminders of the sacrifices made by earlier generations of Black Americans to give people like me the opportunities they were denied. To this day, their stories propel me to continue the fight for justice. I am far from alone�reflecting on a shared history inspires millions around the world to work toward equality. But without some record, those stories and the passion they ignite could get lost. Artworks, artifacts and archives have the power not only to give a story life, but to encourage action and incite change. That�s why the Google Cultural Institute is excited to add records from institutions like the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Studio Museum and Amistad Research Center and many more�bringing together important archives from Black history for anyone to access not only during Black History Month, but throughout the year. From the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra to the historical records of Frederick Dougla...