Google Product Helping Blog

With its beautiful beaches and breathtaking landscape, Rio de Janeiro is a city that appears on every traveler's bucket list. Now, thanks to the wonders of technology, you can now explore the "Marvelous City" and its rich cultural heritage even if you can't make the trip. We partnered with eight of Rio's top cultural institutions to create an interactive online collection of some of the city�s most famous art exhibits and landmarks, including some inspiring real-life stories from the city's favelas, all available on Google Arts & Culture . Bem-vindos ao Rio! Arts, monuments and more The collection includes 360� panoramas with Street View technology, some 3,000 images from photo archives and art exhibits, virtual reality tours with Google Cardboard and videos showcasing a new generation of Cariocas making their mark in the city's cultural landscape. From iconic monuments and spectacular views , to the history of Guanabara Bay and the majestic Theatro...

Friday night is movie night at our home, and my wife and I look forward to our weekly ritual of putting the kids to bed, getting some takeout, and catching up on our movie wishlist. Whether it�s making the BLUE STEEL face from Zoolander , swapping tips on playing Monument Valley , or reading Dragons Love Tacos to the kids at bedtime, these shared moments bring us closer together. For families like mine, who bond over shared entertainment, we�re introducing Family Library , a way for up to six family members to share purchases on Google Play . When you buy an eligible app, game, movie, TV show, or book in the Play Store, you can now share it with your family�across devices�with no additional sign-up fee. Share across your family�s devices Today�s families have a lot of devices, and it should be easy to share content no matter where we are or what we�re doing. Everyone in my family loves the Star Wars movies and we all want to be able to watch them, on our phones, tablets, laptops, or ...

Warhol & Basquiat. Bu�uel & Dal�. Rauschenberg & Johns. There are countless examples of artists collaborating to bring a shared creative vision to life. So we wondered: Could technology help bring together two artists who might not otherwise meet? What would they create�if their canvas were a spreadsheet? And how could we celebrate and share their work of art with the world? In partnership with Refinery29 , a lifestyle digital media company, we linked up with renowned illustrators Marina Esmeraldo in Barcelona, and Mallory Heyer in NYC. We gave them a simple creative assignment�to �break the grid��which literally can mean pushing the �grid� of Google Sheets to its limits, but also taps into the idea of supporting and celebrating women globally who break free of confined roles and ways of thinking, which is core to Refinery29's mission. Marina and Mallory connected a handful of times on Google Hangouts to plan and sketch out ideas, and creatively �hack� Sheets in orde...

Just as the world�s precious artworks and monuments need a touch-up to look their best, the home we�ve built to host the world�s cultural treasures online needs a lick of paint every now and then. We�re ready to pull off the dust sheets and introduce the new Google Arts & Culture website and app, by the Google Cultural Institute. The app lets you explore anything from cats in art since 200 BCE to the color red in Abstract Expressionism , and everything in between. Our new tools will help you discover works and artifacts, allowing you to immerse yourself in cultural experiences across art, history and wonders of the world�from more than a thousand museums across 70 countries: � Search for anything, from shoes to all things gold � Scroll through art by time�see how Van Gogh�s works went from gloomy to vivid � Browse by color and learn about Monet�s 50 shades of gray � Find a new fascinating story to discover every day� today, it�s nine powerful men in heels With a virtual real...

Every election matters and every vote counts. The American democracy relies on everyone�s participation in the political process. This November, Americans all across the country will line up at the polls to cast their ballots for the President of the United States. With states� varied deadlines and methods, the voter registration process can be tricky. So starting on Monday, we're introducing a new tool in Search to simplify the voter registration process to make it easier for you to have your voice heard. Now when you search for �register to vote� or similar queries, Google will display a detailed state-by-state guide providing information on how to register, general requirements, and deadlines. No matter which state you�re in or how you plan to cast your ballot, you can find the step-by-step information you need to register correctly and on time�right at the top of your Search page and in the Google app. And for the kickoff of the Republican National Convention next week (and co...

More than 90 percent of the world's online population use emoji. But while there's a huge range of emoji, there aren't a lot that highlight the diversity of women's careers, or empower young girls. There are emoji like these for men: but with options like these for women: � the emoji representing women aren�t exactly, well, representative. So we've been working to make things better. In May, we proposed a set of new emoji to the Unicode Technical Committee that represent a wider range of professions for women (as well as men), and reflect the pivotal roles that women play in the world. Since then, we've worked closely with members of the Unicode Emoji Subcommittee to bring the proposal to life. Today, the Unicode Emoji Subcommittee has agreed to add 11 new professional emoji, in both male and female options and with all the skin tones. That�s more than 100 new emoji to choose from! Unicode is also adding male and female versions to 33 existing emoji. For exam...