The IT Nerd

Today, Google released the 2023 edition of their annual Ads Safety Report, which takes a deeper look at how Google created a safer experience for users in the ad ecosystem in the past year. Google also launched a brand new transparency tool called the Ads Transparency Center, which will be a fully searchable repository of global ads we serve from verified advertisers. 

Here’s a link to the full report, as well as blog posts about the Ads Safety Report and new Ads Transparency Center for more information, along with some highlights below:

Key Insights from the 2023 Ads Safety Report:

• Google blocked or removed over 5.2 billion ads for violating Google’s policies. That’s more than 9,000 ads per minute.
• Google restricted over 4.3 billion ads. 
• Google blocked over 17 million ads related to the war in Ukraine under our sensitive event policy.
• Google suspended more than 6.7 million advertiser accounts for egregious  policy violations.
• Google removed ads from over 1.5 billion pages last year. 
• Google added or updated 29 policies for both advertisers and publishers in 2022. 

New fact-checking tools on Google Search

With International Fact Checking Day (April 2) approaching, it’s an important time to consider information literacy and misinformation online. Everyone should be empowered with the tools they need to find information they can trust, that’s why we’re highlighting tools and features available on Search to help people evaluate the information they come across online. You can read more details about the new Search features in this blog post.

• About this page, is a new Search results page experience. Now when you search for a URL on Google.ca, About this page will appear below the top navigational results on the Search page. It provides quick, important context about the webpage you searched for, to help you evaluate the credibility of the page.
• About this result will now be available for all Canadians. Through the feature, you can quickly find more context about the sources and topics you’re searching for. This includes information like a description of the source (if available), when the site was first indexed, and whether your connection to a site is secure. You’ll see Information about some of the factors used to connect a result to the query, and whether a result is personalized for you. 
• Fact Checking Fund (GNI), back in November, Google and YouTube announced a $13.2M grant to the International Fact Checking Network to provide indirect funds to 135 fact-checking organizations across 65 countries covering 80 languages. The fund will be opening very soon, building on our previous work to address misinformation, and is Google and YouTube’s single largest grant in fact-checking.

Today Google Cloud announced the next step in their AI journey, bringing generative AI benefits to individuals, businesses, and communities. 

Among the updates comes new Google Workspace features, with AI supporting everyday tasks like: 

• draft, reply, summarize, and prioritize your Gmail
• brainstorm, proofread, write, and rewrite in Docs
• bring your creative vision to life with auto-generated images, audio, and video in Slides

Other highlights in Google’s new generative AI capabilities include:

• Empowering all developers through PaLM API, a new developer offering that makes it easy and safe to experiment with Google’s large language models. Alongside the API, Google Cloud is releasing MakerSuite, a tool that lets developers start prototyping quickly and easily. 
• Generative AI support in Vertex AI to offer a simple way for data science teams to take advantage of foundation models like PaLM. This includes the ability for businesses to address use cases such as content generation and chat summarization all with enterprise-level safety, security, and privacy.
• Generative AI App Builder which allows organizations to build their own AI-powered chat interfaces and digital assistants.
• As part of Google’s commitment to openness, they’re unveiling new partnerships, programs, and resources for each segment of theAI Ecosystem. 

For an overview of the news, check out the blog post from Google Cloud CEO Thomas.

A total of 12 startups from across Canada will be participating in our 2023 Google for Startups Accelerator Canada program. Supporting the next generation of Canadian founders and kicking-off our first accelerator cohort of the year, the 10-week, equity-free program is designed to bring the best of Google’s programs, products, people and technology to Canadian startups – at a time when AI continues to advance.

Now in its fourth year, the Google for Startups Accelerator builds on Google’s continued support for Canada’s startup ecosystem. The program is one of five accelerators developed specifically for Canadian companies, others include the Cloud Accelerator,Women Founders Accelerator, Black Founders Accelerator, and the Climate Change Accelerator. 

The participating startups are:

• Bidmii (Toronto) is an online marketplace that quickly connects homeowners and contractors for home improvement projects, guaranteeing payment security for each party by holding payments in trust.
• Chimoney (Toronto) enables businesses to send payments to phones, emails and Twitter, regardless of scale, currency, country and other factors.
• Clavis Studio (Edmonton) is an AI and /machine learning (ML)-driven design, visualization, and sourcing platform that provides a marketplace for designers and decorators to source new clients and use supporting tools to deliver their projects.
• Foqus Technologies (Toronto) is an AI and quantitative imaging technology company that designs and develops software solutions to enhance the speed and quality of MRI scans.
• Gryd Digital Media (Winnipeg) is a PropTech company that has developed a suite of products and services designed to deliver increased efficiencies, increased asset value, and reduced costs to property owners, managers, and REITs nationwide.
• Morpheus.Network (Burlington) focuses on helping companies and government organizations eliminate inefficiencies and remove barriers to optimize and automate their supply chain operations.
• Moves (Toronto) is building the collective of the gig economy, solving financial challenges associated with being a gig worker, and the lack of representation and ownership gig workers experience.
• My Choice (Toronto) is an insurance aggregator that partners with insurance companies and brokerages to bring customers the power of choice and transparency through seamless, personalized user experiences and automation.
• SalonScale Technology Inc. (Saskatoon) is the salon industry’s leading B2B SAAS provider in professional goods management, providing solutions that address the rising cost of salon supplies.
• ShareWares (Vancouver) Has developed a platform that pairs technology with current city infrastructure to allow reusable cups and food containers to be bought, returned, tracked, and processed for resale. Stay tuned as food packaging is just the beginning.
• Tablz (Ottawa) is a 3D bookings platform that lets diners upgrade to the seat of their preference, while generating net new profit for restaurants.
• TrojAI (Saint John) helps enterprises manage AI risk through stress testing and audit of AI/ML models.

You can read the blog post here.

Via a blog post today, Google announced that their Privacy Sandbox Beta is coming to Android. Specifically, Android 13 devices at first and expanding over time. If you’re one of the users selected for the beta, you’ll receive an Android notification letting you know that you’ve been selected.

Here’s what this means for you via the blog post:

The Privacy Sandbox Beta provides new APIs that are designed with privacy at the core, and don’t use identifiers that can track your activity across apps and websites. Apps that choose to participate in the Beta can use these APIs to show you relevant ads and measure their effectiveness.

You’ll be able to control your Beta participation by going to the Privacy Sandbox section of Settings. From this screen you’ll be able to see and manage the interests that apps can use to show you relevant ads. For example, you could see that Android has estimated that you’re interested in topics like Movies or Outdoors, and you can block any topics if they don’t fit your interests. And if you change your mind about participating in the Beta, you can turn it off or back on in Settings.

If you’re an Android user, I’d keep an eye out for that notification as from my perspective, Google appears to be starting to take privacy seriously.

News has just dropped that Google has been hit with an antitrust lawsuit. Actually, it’s the second one in two years that has Google has been served up with. CNBC has the details:

This lawsuit, which is focused on Google’s online advertising business and seeks to make Google divest parts of the business, is the first against the company filed under the Biden administration. The department’s earlier lawsuit, filed in October 2020 under the Trump administration, accused Google of using its alleged monopoly power to cut off competition for internet search through exclusionary agreements. That case is expected to go to trial in September.

Google’s advertising business generated $54.5 billion in the quarter ended Sept. 30 from Search, YouTube, Google Network ads and other advertising.

Google also faces three other antitrust lawsuits from large groups of state attorneys general, including one focused on its advertising business led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

The states of California, Colorado, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Virginia joined the DOJ in the latest lawsuit.

This is likely a sign of things to come as big tech is in the crosshairs of the US Government. Companies like Microsoft and Apple are likely to get served with similar lawsuits at some point. But in the here and now, execs at Google must be not be very happy about this.

Following on the heels of Microsoft, Google has announced via a blog post that was based on an email sent by CEO Sundar Pichai that the company will be slashing 12000 jobs:

Over the past two years we’ve seen periods of dramatic growth. To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today.

The email also reads like Google is really trying hard not to be perceived as handling this the way that Elon Musk’s handling Twitter layoffs. But other than that, the email is a bit of a rallying cry to those who remain as I am sure that some of them will be heading to exits as well.

Expect more stories like this to come in the days and weeks ahead.

With 2023 around the corner, there is no better time to reset and look at ways to be more productive and efficient at home and at the office so that people can spend more time on the things that they love. 

Laura Mae Martin, Executive Productivity Advisor at Google, suggests that if Canadians are looking to boost their productivity in the new year – the best place to start is their email inboxes, a place where many of us spend too many hours each day. Her tips include:

• How to use filters and AI to stay clear of spam as a way to avoid scams and annoying emails flooding your inbox
• Smart archiving in bulk techniques to keep yourself from getting overwhelmed by a crowded post-holiday inbox
• Muting email threads so you don’t have to see every update on less-urgent conversations pop into your inbox, giving you the opportunity to catch up when it’s convenient for you
• Creating multiple email addresses with a plus sign to streamline and categorize your email. Sign up for different things like “online shopping” or “gym memberships” things using different forms of your email address with a simple plus sign – youremailaddress+gym@gmail.com
• Looking at privacy as well as clutter by taking advantage of free tools and resources like Security Checkup and a Privacy Checkup to kick off your new productive inboxes in a safe way

If you are interested in learning more, check out Google’s latest blog post on the topic.