Category Archives: Google

Actor Jussie Smollett, aka "the gay Tupac," almost certainly lied about the assault he claims he experienced last year. A new order from a judge in Chicago will likely prove it once and for all.

Cook County Judge Michael Toomin, who appointed a special prosecutor to look into the case, is requiring Google to turn over a year's worth of Smollett's emails, location data, and messages. He's also ordered the same for Smollett's manager, a witness to the alleged hate crime, wherein Smollett says he was jumped early one morning by two men who confronted him with racist, anti-gay, and pro-Trump comments before beating him.

The Chicago Tribune reported last week that the court orders include that Google hand over "drafted and deleted messages; any files in their Google Drive cloud storage services; any Google Voice texts, calls and contacts; search and web browsing history."

That's a lot of data. A lot.

Chicago police last year already believed that they had nailed down a timeline proving Smollett was lying about the attack and that he had staged it himself in conjunction with two acquaintances. A grand jury agreed with the police, slapping Smollett with a dozen charges.

But if police were so confident by simply using Smollett's highly redacted phone records, surveillance footage, and the confessions of the two brothers, imagine what this new treasure trove of information will offer.

Google location data is alarmingly specific, and it's recorded minute by minute. That is, unless Smollett turned off location services on his mobile devices. And even then, there are times that Google is still monitoring and recording.

Even without that information, though, there's endless information to be learned from Google searches Smollett conducted, websites he visited, and any messages he might have sent around the time of the incident.

Smollett still says he's innocent. We'll see.

The only reason there's a special prosecutor looking into his case is because the Cook County prosecutor abruptly determined that it wasn't pursuing it, despite the overwhelming evidence that Smollett had faked a hate crime.

The special prosecutor appointment was bad news for Smollett. And this new court order is really bad news him. Google it.

More here:

Jussie Smollett is probably toast now that Google is handing his data to the special prosecutor - Washington Examiner

Assistant's features are far from consistent across platforms and have been like that since the service's launch. Some commands work on phones but not speakers, others vice-versa, not to mention smartwatches, TVs, cars, Bluetooth headsets, and other types of devices. Here's another example of this fragmentation: Routines aren't working on Auto. In fact they haven't been supported for over a year and there's no solution on the horizon.

More than a year ago, routines were perfectly functional on Android Auto. Whether you used them to trigger your Leaving home, Commuting home, Commuting to work, or any custom-made routine while you were driving, Assistant answered correctly and executed all commands. Then, around October 2018, it stopped working, seemingly on both phones and car head units. The feature had been buggy for a few users already, but it wasn't until October that reports of Assistant answering "Routines aren't currently supported on this device" started flowing in. And there have been many, many, many, really many complaints about this across various forums and support threads since.

Same routine asked on Assistant on the phone (with answer) and 4 times on Auto (no answer).

Even if your routine is something as benign as replacing a couple of words (i.e. no smart home gear, no sending messages or making calls), it doesn't work. In the example above, you can see me try it with a routine that replaces "what's the weather at work" with "what's the weather in Ballouneh, Lebanon" (to avoid confusion with balloons). It works on my Pixel 4 XL, on my smart speakers and displays, but when I try it from Android Auto on my Pixel 4 XL, I get told that routines aren't supported on this device. It's a weird limitation that doesn't make sense.

Bluetooth, Do Not Disturb, Digital Wellbeing, app updates, and other culprits have been theorized by users, but none of these seem to be responsible. Many "solutions" have been suggested too, but again, none really work at this point. It looks like a blanket "no routines in Auto" rule has been set up by the Assistant and/or Auto teams and you can't circumvent it.

This isn't the first bug we've pointed outin Assistant on Android Auto the platform seems to have drawn the short stick of Assistant's mess-ups but it's certainly one of the oldest ones. Google has also been mum about this with no explanation or timeline for a fix. We've reached out to the company and will let you if and when we hear back.

Good news and bad news: Google has responded to our inquiry, and has confirmed our findings that routines aren't supported on Android Auto right now so the company is at least aware of this limitation, and it's not some bug slipping by under the radar.

While that's something, Google also isn't giving us any indication that this is a problem we can expect to see fixed in the near future. At best, we're told that the company will share more details when it's ready, but we're not getting any specifics for now.

See the rest here:

Google Assistant routines haven't worked on Android Auto for over a year, still no fix in sight (Update: Google acknowledges) - Android Police

Google has posted an update informing us that the Google rich result testing tool can now report on unloadable embedded resources.

Google rich results test. This tool tests to see if your pages have the necessary markup to show rich results in Google search. It can also show you what those rich results may look like directly in the Google search results. The tool does not tell you if your rich results will display in search but that if they do, what they may look like. Google said Test your publicly accessible page to see which rich results can be generated by the structured data it contains.

What are rich results. Rich results are visual adaptions on Google surfaces, such as Search, that go beyond the standard blue link. Rich results can include carousels, images, videos, stars or other non-textual elements.

What changed. Google said the tool now reports unloadable embedded resources, such as external elements included by a page. So if you embed third-party code and resources in your code that is not hosted on your web site, this tool can now process it.

Screen shot. Here is a screen shot that Google shared of this in action:

Why we care. This update can help webmasters and SEOs better understand what Google can access for your page. If you are using third-party code for your rich results, this can now help you debug issues with that code and/or see what Google will display in the search results for your snippets.

Follow this link:

Google Rich Results testing tool now reports on unloadable embedded resources - Search Engine Land

Tech companies have a bad reputation, especially among those who pay attention to more than just the user interface of their favorite apps. That doesn't mean they are entirely bad--in fact they have created technologies that genuinely makeour lives better in plenty of meaningful ways. At the same time, there are many examples of tech companies doing stuff that most of us would probably rather they didn't do.

Which leads us to an article from Slate on Wednesday, that lists the 30 'most evil' tech companies, a ranking based on what experts think of the companies' behavior. Sure, some of the criticism is well deserved. As the article points out, tech companies have been no stranger to scandals, whether it bemassive data breaches,privacy violations, and even outrightfraud.

At the top of Slate's'evil' list arethe two most prominent companies in the lives of most Americans, Amazon and Facebook. For me, the only surprise was that Amazon actually outranked Facebook.

In the online retailer's case, Slate writes that Amazon's"shipping operation has led toburnout, injuries, and deaths, all connected to a warehouse operation that, while paying adecent minimum wage, is so efficient in part because ittreats its human workers like robots who sometimes get bathroom breaks."

Facebook, on the other hand, could probably fill a few articles with reasons why it has a troubled reputation. I know, I've written plenty. Slate highlights the social network's decisions to allow fake political advertisements, its effecton the 2016 election, numerous data and privacy breaches, and "most frighteningly of all, the corporation is controlled by a single unelected man who is determined to dodge any kind of ideological stance in the name of higher revenues."

Googlearguably has the greatest impact on the day to day lives of everyone with a smartphone or computer, and comes in third on the list. It knows far more about us than even Facebook, controls half of all internet traffic and 95 percent of online searches. It also recently shut down internal dissent and discussion at its all-company meeting, which it brought to an end this year.

Which leads us to an important lesson. I sometimes feel like I'm repeating myself, but your brand is ultimately the way people feel about you. That feeling is the sum of every interaction they have with your business, whether it's with a product, a customer service rep, a data breach,or a news article.

You can't control every one of those experiences, but it's worth considering whether or not the story you're telling people about your business matches the experience they are having with you, and the way they feel about it. If not, you have a serious problem. That's exactly the case with tech companies--especially those at the top of the list.

You can argue this list is mostly the opinion of people who spend too much time thinking about tech companies, and that's fine. You can also argue that the value they bring is far greater than the evil they may do (though you'll get a lot more pushback here). But, once you know, isn't it worth stopping to think about the amount of influence we allow companiesto wield over our lives?

Certainly millions--and in some cases, billions--of us continue to give them our money, and even more importantly, our personal information, every single day. It's more alarming when you think about the disconnect between how we actually behave, and what we say we think about big tech companies.

In fact, I'm not entirely sure that we don't get exactly the tech companies we deserve.

Published on: Jan 16, 2020

The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

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Amazon and Facebook Are the Most 'Evil' Tech Companies, According to Experts. Google Isn't Far Behind - Inc.

It all started when hell froze over at the 2010 Super Bowl.

It was just the frigid situation that Google founders had said would have to happen if theyd ever spend money on a TV ad. Then-CEO Eric Schmidt had even called the big game the last bastion of unaccountable spending in corporate America.

Yet, here they were.

The commercial itself was called Parisian Love, and true to Googles original intentions, it was not created with such crass commercial intentions. In a blog post on Super Bowl Sunday 2010, Schmidt wrote, We didnt set out to do a Super Bowl ad, or even a TV ad for search. Our goal was simply to create a series of short online videos about our products and our users, and how they interact. But we liked this video so much, and its had such a positive reaction on YouTube, that we decided to share it with a wider audience.

Google had long been the digital advertising platform of choice for everyone from the Fortune 500 to your local barber, but it was this spot a decade ago that signaled the companys shift to creative advertising to sell itself. As a first-ever TV ad, it was flawless. A love story told with just a search bar. Product demo as dramatic narrative device. And it was a hit, becoming one of the most memorable ads of that year.

Since then, Google has become one of the worlds biggest and best creative marketers, even winning Cannes Lions Marketer of the Year honors in 2018. This shift was a necessity over the past decade, as its product offerings expanded far beyond search into hardware like mobile phones and smart speakers, where Google was an underdog. Its also become more important as brand marketing as the overall scrutiny of Big Tech has intensified.Its likely a major reason why Google has escaped the same kind of brand black eyes that have tarnished Facebook, despite the company having plenty of its own issues when it comes to not just personal privacy but also toxic content, likeYouTube being manipulated by pedophiles. The company, like most major corporations, balances its darker practices or policies with a more family-friendly outward facing image. In Googles case, its used these past 10 years to master the art of selling us a humane tech utopia.

Parisian Love wasnt created by a hotshot ad agency but instead by a handful of students dubbed the Google 5, working within Google Creative Lab, which had launched in 2009 to find a bridge between technology and traditional creative expression. Their brief, according to Lab executive creative director Robert Wong, was to remind people what they love about Google search and highlight some features they might not know about.

A year later, to promote the companys Chrome browser, Google Creative Lab worked with agency BBH to expand on the emo-product demo genre with Dear Sophie, in which a new dad uses all of Googles tools to create a digital scrapbook chronicling his daughters life and his messages to her.

The 2011 ad won Google ad industry accoladesand further established the brand as an emerging creative power. Chief marketing officer Lorraine Twohill, who joined Google in 2009, told me in 2018 that this ad was a significant turning point. In the early days, we had a Chrome digital-only campaign, which was about three things: safety, simplicity, and speed. Very rational, Twohill said. That did get us so far, but no one gets out of bed in the morning and says, I need a new browser. What changed the game for us was to go out and create The web is what you make of it, which is essentially a brand campaign about people using the web to make their lives better, with stories like Dear Sophie. Its as big a milestone as Parisian Love, at least internally. It really paved the way for us to do more of that kind of work.

In 2013, the company mined its products many uses for incredibly emotional stories. Two of the most popular centered around India, a country in which the company just happened to be aggressively building its user base. In October of that year, we heard how Australia-raised Indian orphan Saroo Brierley found his birth family using Google Maps. His memoir of the experience eventually became the critically acclaimed film Lion, which nabbed star Dev Patel an Oscar nomination.

A month later, Google India posted Reunion, telling a heart-warming story of two best friends out of the horrors of partition.

A sure sign of creative ambition is branching out to commercial work to projects that arent immediately identifiable as ads but are still unmistakably marketing opportunities. The most ambitiousand still one of the best-ever examples of branded contentis probably when Google Creative Labs Aaron Koblin, now cofounder and president of VR/AR company Within, worked with Arcade Fire to create an interactive music video for Chrome. It won a 2014 Emmy for Interactive Media.

To launch the new Pixel phone in 2016, agency Droga5 tried to leverage all the goodwill that Google had built up over the years. Executive creative director Kevin Brady told me that given how competitive the phone market was, Google was its own best differentiator. Our biggest creative challenge was to introduce people to the Google they know and love in a new format, a phone, Brady said. And around the globe, the most recognized connection to Google is the search bar. Sure, they have done so many other amazing things, but this one shape is the clearest and simplest symbol of all the smarts of Google. Once we realized that, and of course noticed that the shape of our phone was also a rectangle, but a very different shape, we had our campaign. It was building on a truly ownable and iconic equity that everyone could relate to and understand.

This vibe continued a year later with the Pixel 2 spot Ask More, which was essentially the brand anticipating all the questions wed have about the new phone.

Rounding out the decade, Google has wandered away from the everyday user, joining its rivals Apple and Amazon in recruiting celebrity talent to be just like the rest of us with technology.

This began in earnest in 2014 when the brand enlisted FKA Twigs to promote Google Glass. However cool she made the early augmented reality wearables seem, she alone couldnt save them.

Last Christmas, the company imagined a present-day Home Alone, complete with the real Kevin McCallister. In May, Awkwafina and 2 Chainz complained about the limitations of other devices at a nail salon.

Although these spots are undeniably conventionalalbeit grand in their own wayGoogle hasnt wholly abandoned its tech-tinkering roots. Look no further than its recent partnership with Dominos that delivered Cyber Monday Pixel 4 orders with pizza.

That first Super Bowl ad, Parisian Love, aired on February 7, 2010. Three days later, the company announced Google Fiber, which would build gigabit internet in municipalities. It would be a harbinger of perhaps the most surprising attempt at R&D as marketing since the heyday of company pavilions at the Worlds Fair.

Years before Amazon and its protracted (and seemingly cynical) search for a second headquarters, Google had a legitimate phenomenon on its hands, with consumers begging for the possibility of Google bringing ultrafast internet to their hometowns. In fewer than two months, 194,000 people wrote Google on behalf of their cities and 1,100 localities applied.

When Kansas City got the nod for the first installation, it genuinely transformed the city, at least for a time.

Soon after, people would learn that Google had its own R&D lab, mysteriously dubbed Google X (and later just X), and as word of the wild projects being tried within dribbled into the publicself-driving cars! hoverboards! space elevators! internet balloons!they served to burnish Google in a way that no 30-second spot or branded campaign ever could. This was the place where the future was being created. This was the Bell Labs of the 21st century.

The company embraced and co-opted the word moonshot to signify its ambitions, and it worked.Although the disparate projects that burbled out of the X lab were genuine in their intent, they undeniably served this double purpose for Google. They were great marketing, particularly in the fight for talent in Silicon Valley, and for the public they helped blunt any bad news about Google that came to light, from NSA whistleblowerEdward Snowdens revelations to Google Photos algorithmsracist labeling pictures of black people.

The company spent $4.4 billion on these Other Bets in 2016, which was less than 10% of its total operating costsin other words, not too bad as marketing budgets go, though pressure from investors as well as internal concerns about this kind of spending on long-term projects ultimately started to rein this in. When cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin decided to step away from any operational role in December 2019, it seemed to symbolize an end to this era of moonshot marketing.

But the halo from this decade of investments is likely to shine for a long time to come.

Googles met its biggest challenges over the last decade with marketing that managed to entertain, inspire, and yeah, sell a lot of products and add a lot of users.

The companys going to need every ounce of skill its built over that time to face perhaps the most significant challenge of the next decade. Thanks to the proliferation of smart devices, such as AI-enabled virtual assistants like Google Assistant, this next decade isnt about convincing people to buy its products over a competitors but rather assuring them that these very products arent a security threat, an existential oneor both.

Googles 2019 Super Bowl ad hinted at that, framing the always-on assistant as a bridge between cultures. One hundred billion words is a lot of listening.

Beyond selling a product, Googles marketing is now selling a version of society that more and more people are wary of buying into.

Its going to take a lot more than a twee version of Country Roads to win them over.

Excerpt from:

Why Google was the most important brand marketer of the 2010s - Fast Company

As he has in years past, the 44th President of the United States just released a list of his favorite music, movies, TV shows and books of 2019. And as in years past, the main thing about Obamas favorites are that he has pretty good taste. His movie list, for example, is full of solid choices, and he's careful to point out the one case where's he's biased:

More intriguing for those reading the Obama tea leaves, however, is his list of favorite books. Note the first choice on his list: The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power, by Shoshana Zuboff.

Zuboff's book examines capitalism in the modern era, and how tech companies like Google and Facebook want to control what human beings do in the name of profit. And Obama's own administration comes in for its fair share of criticism.

Super interesting that Obama lists Zuboff's Surveillance Capitalism," journalism researcher Avi Asher-Schapiro tweeted. She argues that the "revolving door of personnel who migrated between Google & the Obama admin helped "fortify" the surveillance capitalism business model.

Of course, Obama could have enjoyed this book despite the criticism of his administration. Or it may have led him to reflect on mistakes made in office. Either way, many observers noted just how surveillance capitalism (not to mention the surveillance state in general) grew under his 8 years in office.

You could dismiss Zuboff's critique as Monday morning quarterbacking except that much of the same critique was leveled at the Obama administration during his time as President. For example, there was this early 2016 Intercept report on the Obama administrations closeness with Google.

In fact, one of the major criticisms leveled at those who helped elect Obama in 2008 and 2012 is how many of them went to work for tech companies in the private sector instead of helping Democratic candidates down-ballot in the 2010 and 2014 midterms, when the party lost a substantial number of seats in the House of Representatives.

At the very least, Obamas recommendation should encourage more readers to check out The Age of Surveillance Capitalism especially, we would hope, his fellow Democrats running for the presidency in 2020.

Read the original here:

Obama praises book that slams his White House for its Google relationship - Mashable

As head of product inclusion at Google, Annie Jean-Baptiste works to ensure that the products and services Google offers are inclusive and reflective of the diverse audience the company serves.

Since starting at Google nine years ago, the 31-year-old has served as an account manager and a diversity programs manager before stepping into her current role two years ago. When reflecting on the books that have influenced her the career the most, Jean-Baptiste tells CNBC Make It Adam Grant's "Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World," comes to mind.

"Just given that sometimes you're in a space that's new and a little bit uncharted, I think that reading about people who have started something from scratch or started something that people didn't totally get at first is interesting," she says. "It's just really interesting to see how they build that consensus up from the ground floor."

In Grant's bestselling book, the Wharton School professor uses data and research to show readers what it takes to bring an original idea to life. He also challenges the belief that you have to take a crazy amount of risk in order to birth a great idea.

"You don't have to be a round peg in a square hole to be original," Grant said on CNBC's "On the Money" in 2016. "In fact, many originals hate taking risks."

For example, he says, "If you look at the data, entrepreneurs who avoid risk by saying, 'You know what, I'm going to keep my day job before I go all in' are 33% less likely to fail."

Though Grant's book may be perceived as a read that focuses on entrepreneurship, Jean-Baptiste can relate to the idea of building something from the ground up, considering her current role at Google was non-existent a few years ago.

"Product inclusion" includes elements of business, product and diversity, and Jean-Baptiste had worked in all of those areas, she says. But that doesn't mean the transition was easy. "It's a culmination of a lot of the work that I've been lucky enough to do and learn at Google," she says. "So seeing there was an opportunity and an opening to do that and to build that out, even though it hadn't been something that was happening before, can sometimes be scary."

In her two years as head of product inclusion, Jean-Baptiste and her team have launched several products including Google Assistant, Gmail's Smart Compose feature and Google's Pixel Camera. When developing the Google Assistant, which is an artificial intelligence-powered virtual assistant that can hold a two-way conversation with its user, Jean-Baptiste and her team worked tirelessly to test the product for racially and gender-insensitive language before its launch.

"Google has always said focus on the user and all else will follow," the tech executive says in a video about the product launch of Google Assistant. "If you're thinking about a challenge or product, you need to make sure that you're intentional about expanding who your users could and should be."

Similarly with Gmail's Smart Compose, Jean-Baptiste and her team tested the product before its launch to ensure that the predictive text feature wouldn't create any negative or offensive messages. They also tested Google's Pixel Camera before its launch to ensure that the lens accurately reflected all skin tones.

"I think, you know, the crux of this work is to really ensure that everyone feels seen and valued for their differences and feel like they were thought of," she says. "We know that we have work to do and that we're on a journey, but we're really excited and committed to making sure that we're building for everyone and with everyone."

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Don't miss: Stacey Abrams on the books that have impacted her career the most

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31-year-old Google executive says reading this one book has had a huge influence on her career - CNBC

If it's something you can watch on YouTube, the card would include a "Watch now" button with its price and a link that goes straight to its page on the platform. Meanwhile, if it's something you can catch in the theaters, that option is replaced with a "Get tickets" button that takes you to the Showtimes tab. Also when you put titles to your Watchlist, it gets added to a Collection featuring their cover art, so you can browse through them whenever you're looking for something to play.

9to5Google says the feature has been rolling out these past few days. We don't have access to it yet, but social media posts show people have been getting the feature. It seems to be only available on the web via mobile, though, and on the Google app for Android and iOS.

Image: 9to5Google

Read more:

Google Search now lets you add movies and shows to a 'Watchlist' - Engadget

Attendees visit the Disney+ streaming service booth at the D23 Expo, billed as the "largest ... [+] Disney fan event in the world," August 23, 2019 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. - Disney Plus will launch on November 12 and will compete with out streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon, HBO Now and soon Apple TV Plus. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP) (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images)

2019 was a big year for Baby Yoda - and Disney Plus.

Disney Plus was the top searched term on Google in the United States for 2019. Globally, the top searched term was India vs South Africa referencing a cricket match that occurred in September, also demonstrating the power of one of the largest, emerging markets for Google.

Following Disney Plus as top searched terms in the U.S. were Cameron Boyce, the 20-year-old actor who died on July 6, 2019, rapper Nipsey Hussle, who died on March 31, 2019 and Hurricane Dorian, the most intense tropical cyclone to have hit the Bahamas.

Globally, India vs. South Africa was followed by Cameron Boyce, soccer championship Copa America, cricket series Bangladesh vs India and the iPhone 11.

Among top searched babies of 2019 - in the U.S. - Baby Yoda ranked highest, followed by Baby Shark, Royal baby, Kim Kardashian and Kanye Wests baby and Cardi Bs baby.

FOXBOROUGH, MA - SEPTEMBER 18: New England Patriots wide receiver Antonio Brown runs onto the ... [+] practice field during New England Patriots practice at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, MA on Sep. 18, 2019. (Photo by John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

In the U.S. and globally, controversial, former NFL player Antonio Brown was the most searched athlete for 2019.

Globally, Brown was followed by Brazilian soccer player Neymar, Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Bryce Harper, who signed a giant free agent contract in February 2019, and former Boston Red Sox Slugger David Ortiz, who was shot in the Dominican Republic in June 2019. In the U.S., Harper ranked as the second most searched athlete, Ortiz as the third and now retired-quarterback Andrew Luck as the forth.

The top searched songs of 2019 in the U.S. and globally include Old Town Road by Lil Nas X, 7 Rings by Ariana Grande, Shallow by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper.

You can see the full list of top searches and trends here.

Originally posted here:

These Were The Top Google Searches And Trends Of 2019 - Forbes

The phrase "Hey Google" was everywhere in Las Vegas at last year's CES.

You won't have to search hard for Google at the Consumer Electronics Show next month. You never do.

A year ago at CES, the world's largest tech conference, Google went big. The search giant built an elaborate fun house dedicated to Google Assistant, its digital helper that competes with Amazon's Alexa and Apple's Siri. The two-story pop-up included a theme park ride a la "It's a Small World" that had riders use Google's software to help a frenzied dad get through a day of errands.

The search giant plastered the words "Hey Google" -- the trigger phrase for Assistant -- all over Las Vegas, where the trade show takes place. The phrase appeared above one of the main entrances of the city's convention center, as if Google had the naming rights to the building. (It didn't.) The company also turned the city's monorail into moving billboards and hired an army of human "Google Assistants," dressed in all-white, to roam the show floor.

Google is likely to take over Sin City again when CES 2020 kicks off in the second week of January, a pretty remarkable feat when you consider it's arguably the world capital of sensory overload. The tech show has grown in importance to Google, which is trying to sell more consumer devices that compete against the likes of Amazon, Apple and Samsung. As it tries to reach those consumers, the search giant is pouring marketing dollars into its promotions, just like every other tech company.

"We've spent a lot of energy over the last couple of years really getting the Assistant out," Scott Huffman, who leads engineering for Google Assistant, told me at CES 2019. A digital assistant, he noted, isn't very helpful if you don't know it's there.

Now playing: Watch this: Google buys Fitbit, because knowing everything you do...

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Google is taking on all comers in the digital assistant space. But the grudge match that's developed between Google and Amazon has become a focal point of CES. Amazon takes a low-key approach compared to Google. But look around the massive show and you'll be hard-pressed to find a device that doesn't have a "Works with Alexa" label every few feet.

The stakes are higher than ever for Google. It had been slowly catching up to Amazon in the smart speaker market until this year, when Google's growth bombed. The company's share of the market shrank to 12% from roughly 30%, while Amazon grew to 37% from about 32%, according to Canalys. Chinese companies Alibaba and Baidu emerged as new threats, with each overtaking Google.

"Amazon had a head start and hasn't let up," said Avi Greengart, lead analyst at Techsponential. "Google needs to show its own momentum."

The search giant made a good case for why its software could outsmart rivals at the last CES. The company announced a new interpreter mode that could translate conversations in real time, a feature that leans into Google's formidable machine learning and engineering chops. Earlier this month, Google brought the feature to smartphones. None of the competing digital assistants have features that are as ambitious.

Scott Huffman

Google has made huge investments in consumer devices. At an event in October, Google released the fourth generation of its flagship Pixel phone that comes with a top-of-the-line camera and radar tech for gesture controls. The company also debuted new mesh routers and smart speakers. And last month, Google announced the $2.1 billion acquisition of Fitbit, the fitness tracker pioneer.

For the most part, Google has made that hardware push to serve one end: Spread Assistant far and wide. At the October event, executives talked up the idea of "ambient computing," an always-on, always-connected vision of the future that puts Google's services all around you. Assistant is the centerpiece of that strategy, an extension of Google's iconic search engine.

"Whether it's on computers, phones or smart speakers," Greengart said, "wherever a search starts, Google wants to be a part of it."

Read more here:

Google is poised to make another blitz at CES 2020 - CNET