Category Archives: Google

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You've probably interacted with Google Assistant before, especially if you have a Google Pixel or another Android phone. Maybe you've asked what the weather is going to be like or how to get directions to a restaurant for date night. But Google Assistant can do a lot more, including controlling your entire smart home.

Whether you're using Google's Pixel phone, Nest Audio or Nest Mini smart speakers, Nest Hub smart display or any of a slew of other Google Nest devices, you already have everything that you need in order to start controlling your house. All you need to do is connect your devices so you can control them through Google Assistant. Here are some of the best tips and tricks for how to get the most out of the Google Assistant smart home experience.

Before you can control your light bulbs or pull up the live feed of your Nest Video Doorbell, you'll need to connect them, and whatever smart speaker or display you'd like to use, to your Google Home account. Doing so is easy, and if you're using Nest brand devices, you'll almost certainly have already done it. If your smart speaker or display is connected to the same account, you'll be able to control the device with straightforward commands, like, "Hey, Google, turn off the kitchen lights."

If your devices are Google Home-compatible, but you haven't connected them to the Google Home app, doing so is easy. Open the app and tap the + (plus sign) in the top left corner. Then tap Set up device > Works with Google. Select the device maker from the list (Wyze, for instance), and follow the directions to connect your gadget.

Google Assistant plus a smart thermostat like this one from Nest can even help you save money by conserving energy.

Once you've got a device that uses Google Assistant, the sky is the limit for smart home control. You can improve your home security with everything from smart locks and security cameras to connecting with professionally installed security services like ADT. You can control your lights, thermostatandapplianceswith a voice command. But that's only scratching the surface. Here's how you can get even more out of these integrations.

Your day has a rhythm to it, and interruptions to that routine can seriously derail your plans. Your smart home can help to facilitate those patterns, accomplishing recurring tasks that you find yourself needing to tackle day in and day out. All you need to do is set up a Routine.

Setting up Routines with Google Assistant is easy. Open the Google Home app and tap on Routines. There you'll find a number of ready-made routines that can be tweaked to your own personal needs and triggered with a predetermined command.

If you want to wake up to a specific song or have certain lights and appliances turned on for you when your start your day, for example, set up the Good Morning routine. Once you've customized the Routine, hit save. Now any time you say, "Hey, Google, good morning," it will automatically run your Routine.

You can also build custom Routines. To do this, open the Google Home app, select Routines, and tap the + button to create a new Routine. From here, you can set your trigger -- a voice command, a particular time of day or a specific action -- and tell Google Assistant what you want to happen within the routine. Under "This Routine will," use the + button to add new actions to the Routine.

Hit save and Google Assistant will perform your new routine anytime that you trigger it.

Tile trackers can help you keep track of easy-to-misplace personal effects -- and Google Assistant can help you find them with a simple voice command.

We've all experienced that panicked feeling of not being able to find our keys, phone, wallet or other important item when we're already running late for an event. You don't have to give yourself the full pat-down to see if you have the item on you or start ripping up couch cushions trying to find it. Just ask Google Assistant for help.

There are two ways to keep track of those items that just always seem to get misplaced. First, use a Tile tracker -- a small fob that connects to your keyring, your phone or whatever else you want. Then, if you've misplaced your keys, just say, "OK, Google, ring my keys," and you'll get a little chirpy ringtone to help you find them.

If you don't have a Tile tracker, Google can still help you out: When you want to remember where you're stashing something, say, "OK, Google, remember that I put my keys in the top drawer," or wherever else you're putting it. Google Assistant will remember for you. Then, when you can't find that object, just say, "OK, Google, where are my keys?" and Google Assistant will remind you exactly where you left them.

You can think of the Google Assistant as the universal remote for your smart home -- but it can be your actual television remote, too. If you have a smart TV with Google TV built in -- or just a Chromecast connected to your regular TV -- you can play your favorite movies and shows with simple voice commands. Just say, "OK, Google, play Stranger Things on [your preferred TV]," and Google Assistant will queue up the show. You can change what you're watching, control the volume and even tell Google Assistant to switch to another TV if you're changing rooms.

As things slow down in the evening -- and the kids finally get to bed -- sounds that at other times seem normal can seem startlingly loud. That includes Google Assistant's voice. If you're finding the voice assistant is just louder than you want as you're starting to settle in for your nighttime routine, you can turn on Night Mode and have everything automatically made quieter.

Open the Google Home app, tap Settings >Notifications > Digital Wellbeing. From here, you can enable Night Mode. This will lower the volume of any smart device and dim the lights of any smart lighting that you have connected to your Google Assistant.

There is so much that you can do with your Google Nest devices and Google Assistant to control your Google smart home. We've just scratched the surface of all the capabilities that the smart assistant brings to controlling everything throughout your connected living space.

For more information about using a Google Home device, check out:

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Control Your Google Smart Home With These Easy Tips and Tricks - CNET

JAKARTA, INDONESIA - MAY 31: A boy plays with a makeshift flagpole on a beach covered in plastic ... [+] waste at a fishing village on the northern coast on May 31, 2018 in Jakarta, Indonesia. Indonesia has been ranked the second biggest marine polluter in the world behind only China with reports showing that the country produces 187.2 million tonnes of plastic waste each year. Like many developing countries Indonesia lacks the infrastructure to effectively manage their waste and the problem has become so severe that the nation's army has been called in to help clean-up when its rivers and canals were clogged with dense masses of bottles, bags and other plastic packaging. According to studies there could be more plastic in the sea than fish by 2050, while actual plastic particles might be in our seafood as fish consume bits of plastic which are coated in bacteria and algae, mimicking their natural food sources. (Photo by Ed Wray/Getty Images)

The Google-AFARA Plastic Circularity report on which I wrote a few months back has now been released in full. One of the key findings from the report is that investment is crucial to creating a circular economy for plastics and that there are significant opportunities for investors, particularly at the nexus of climate and plastics. With a recycling value chain that is under pressure like never before, the need for investor engagement has never been greater. But thanks in part to this study, one thing is now clearer than ever the current challenges facing the value chain present investors with a really unique opportunity to use their capital to steer the recycling industry back towards growth. The time to act and invest in solutions is now.

I recently sat down with Mike Werner, Googles Lead for Circular Economy, and Dan Zilnik, AFARA's President, to discuss their collaboration, insights, and recommendations to accelerate a circular economy for plastics and maximize investment opportunity. Below is an excerpt from our conversation.

RK: Mike, Google is known for being a data-driven organization. Why did you partner with AFARA to collect data on the plastic circularity gap, and what was the biggest surprise for you?

MW: At Google, we believe that realizing a sustainable world means that we all must accelerate the transition to a safe, equitable, and circular economy where people, the planet, and businesses thrive. However, reaching a circular economy for any resource, especially plastics, is a large and complex global challenge. Before conducting this study, what I saw in the public dialogue were data and reports on the 50 or 100 different things we all ought to do to end plastic waste, but there lacked a clear list of prioritized interventions that would have the greatest impact on creating a circular economy of plastics. Dan and his team at AFARA helped us dig into the economics and develop an intervention model that established a clear set of low-risk and no-risk interventions that would be economic under multiple future scenarios toward creating a circular economy for plastics. AFARA has been an ideal partner because of their deep expertise in the economics of oil, gas, and plastics value chains and the myriad of sustainability issues surrounding those resources.

Two big things stand out to me about the data. First, the data suggest that the circularity gap is likely going to grow significantly over the next two decades. Under a business as usual scenario, it is projected that 7.7 billion metric tons of plastics will be mismanagedlandfilled, incinerated or leaked into the environmentbetween now and 2040. That volume of plastic is equivalent to roughly 16x the weight of the entire human population on earth today! Second, while there needs to be a portfolio approach that includes plastic reduction efforts, the biggest intervention we need to capitalize on is building better recycling infrastructure. As the world transitions from linear to circular, supply chains need to be rewired and the requisite infrastructure needs to be put in place to ensure these resources are kept in the economy and out of the environment.

RK: This work takes on a big question that not many folks are paying attention to: How can we create irreversible momentum towards a circular economy for plastics and simultaneously end our reliance on fossil fuel feedstocks? Dan, how far did you get in answering this question and what solutions did the analysis reveal?

DZ: We got most of the way there; the data show that we can close the plastic circularity gap economically by 54-62%. Put another way, more than half of the worlds plastic waste can be part of profitable value chains if we invest in the right things. We can create significant impacts to Polyethylene (plastics 2 and 4), Polypropylene (plastic 5) and PET (plastic 1). While there needs to be a portfolio approach that includes plastics reduction efforts, the biggest intervention is to build better recycling infrastructure. This infrastructure will optimize the existing mechanical recycling technologies that are commercial today and unlock the potential of chemical recycling, which well need in tandem with mechanical recycling to close the plastic gap. But we need to turn this data into action quickly. By 2040, roughly $426-544 billion USD in net present value (NPV) must be redirected from linear supply chains to circular supply chains, and this capital needs to be patient since we are talking about infrastructure and hard-tech investment which are decade-based, not annual capital turnover cycles.

RK: These findings challenge some of the conventional wisdom that recycling doesnt work and isnt economical. How robust are the data and analyses behind these conclusions?

DZ: We grounded our analysis in the economics of plastics production and recycling, brought together 20 years of supply/demand forecasts for plastics, and developed an intervention model that quantified the impacts of various potential solutions (e.g., technology, investment, procurement, and policy). Finally, we prioritized potential solutions into strategic interventions that are either low-risk or no-risk under multiple future scenarios. For sustainability solutions to scale globally it has to attract capital and has to be economic. This is among the most robust economic models for plastics that I know of.

RK: I guess that explains why it took you guys 9 months to get these 117 pages published! The story coming out is a mix of hopeful (we can do a lot of things to close the gap), and bleak (if we do nothing we are going to have a lot of mismanaged plastic). What should we start doing today to make sure we maximize the opportunity?

MW: The entire ecosystem from investors and brands to policy makers needs to unlock and mobilize the requisite capital required to massively improve recycling infrastructure and new supply chains for recycled plastics around the world. In many ways, we are in a similar moment today as we were 20+ years ago with renewable energy. In other words, it was recognized that massive investment was needed in wind, solar, hydro and geothermal projects to increase the supply of green, low-carbon energy. Acceleration in new technologies, adoption of new policies, and leadership from the private sector was also critical. Similarly, it's time for all of us to act on the recognition that we cannot create a circular economy of plastics without massive investment in recycling, recovery, and reprocessing infrastructure. Some are touting that we cannot recycle our way out of the plastic waste problem and that sounds seductive; however, we cannot eliminate, reduce, or reuse our way out of this problem either. We actually need to do all of it.

The good news is that the tide is turning and both businesses and investors are starting to get a handle on how to better support the recycling value chain. They also recognize that the investment opportunities have real potential to simultaneously address plastic pollution, reduce business risk, improve the long-term economics of the recycled plastics value chains while also tackling climate change. And thats huge!

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The Time To Invest In The Circular Economy For Plastics Is Now, According To Google Study - Forbes

Telegrams experience illustrates the competing pressures. The app is popular in Russia and Ukraine for sharing images, videos and information about the war. But it has also become a gathering ground for war misinformation, such as unverified images from battlefields.

On Sunday, Pavel Durov, Telegrams founder, posted to his more than 600,000 followers on the platform that he was considering blocking some war-related channels inside Ukraine and Russia because they could aggravate the conflict and incite ethnic hatred.

Users responded with alarm, saying they relied on Telegram for independent information. Less than an hour later, Mr. Durov reversed course.

What is at the root of this invasion? Russia considers Ukraine within its natural sphere of influence, and it has grown unnerved at Ukraines closeness with the West and the prospect that the country might join NATO or the European Union. While Ukraine is part of neither, it receives financial and military aid from the United States and Europe.

Are these tensions just starting now? Antagonism between the two nations has been simmeringsince 2014, when the Russian military crossed into Ukrainian territory, after an uprising in Ukraine replaced their Russia-friendly president with a pro-Western government. Then, Russia annexed Crimeaand inspired a separatist movement in the east.A cease-fire was negotiated in 2015, but fighting has continued.

How has Ukraine responded? On Feb. 23, Ukraine declared a 30-day state of emergencyas cyberattacks knocked out government institutions. Following the beginning of the attacks, Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraines president, declared martial law. The foreign minister called the attacks a full-scale invasion and called on the world to stop Putin.

Many users asked us not to consider disabling Telegram channels for the period of the conflict, since we are the only source of information for them, he wrote. Telegram did not respond to a request for comment.

Inside Meta, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, the situation has been chaotic because of the volume of Russian disinformation on its apps, said two employees, who were not authorized to speak publicly. Russian experts on Metas security team, which identifies and removes state-sponsored disinformation from Facebook and Instagram, have been working around the clock and communicating regularly with Twitter, YouTube and other companies about their findings, the two employees said.

Metas security team has long debated whether to restrict Sputnik and Russia Today, two of Russias largest state-run media sites, on its platforms or label their posts so they clearly state their source. Russia Today and Sputnik are critical elements in Russias disinformation and propaganda ecosystem, according to a January report from the State Department.

Meta executives had resisted the moves, saying they would anger Russia, the employees said. But after war broke out, Nick Clegg, who heads global affairs for Meta, announced on Monday that the company would restrict access to Russia Today and Sputnik across the European Union.

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Ukraine War Tests the Power of Tech Giants - The New York Times

A few days ago, Sundar Pichaiannounceda $100 million Google Career Certificates fund. It's got nothing to do with college education, and instead, focuses on giving up-and-coming data analytics, IT, project management, and UX design students the tactical tools needed to start their careers with a bang.

It follows in a long line of similar efforts by coding bootcamps across the country and online educational portals like Udemy and Coursera.

To all of this I say: Thank goodness.

Now,I'm not advocating for the dissolution of higher ed and wholesale replacement by the programs noted above, but we need to take ahard look at theprice tag -- and inaccessibility --of a college degree.

According toU.S. News & World Report, the average cost of tuition and fees to attend a ranked public college in state during the 2021-22 school year comes to roughly $10k. Out-of-staters can expect to pay closer to $23k. Those enrolled at private schools are looking at around $38k.

Over four-and-a-half years -- theaverage amount of timeit takes to complete an undergraduate degree -- total tuition comes to between $45k and $171k. Meanwhile,starting salariesare mostly in the $50k range, much of which is eaten up by housing, life essentials, and student loan payments. That doesn't leave much room to get ahead financially.

Compare this toGoogle Professional Certificates, highly regarded in the tech field, which run around $230 or so per course. For many, the choice isa no-brainer.Whilesome sourcesargue these are best used to amplify an undergraduate degree -- not replace it --the low cost to entry and Google's connection to more than 140 companies make it easy to get your foot in the tech door.

So is it just a way to hone technical skillswhile you finish your undergrad degree? Not necessarily.Many big-name tech companiesaren't even requiring a bachelor's for hire. Why? As IBM's VP of Talent Joanna Daleytold CNBCa few years back, they were more interested in candidates with hands-on experience.

Daley isn't alone. ElonMusk has famously saidthat applicants don't need a college degree to work at Tesla -- he looks for ability and a track record of achievement.Others, like formerCEO Daniel Schwartzof Restaurant Brands International (parent company of Burger King) say he's most interested in people willing and able to learn.

Companies have two roles to play in education. The first is changing hiring strategy so the door is opento those with potential but who may not have the funds to subsidize their own degrees. Financial support for completing that degree after hire goes a long way, too.

But you can also shape the educational world yourself. If you have the expertise and resources within your company, you can offer training and development that allowunder-indexed talent to enter the workforce with key skills. If you give them that foundation, you also engender loyalty -- theywill more likely stick around to help build your company.

Lay the groundwork now. Start small with seminars, labs, field training. Begin to shape cohesive programs that demonstrate competency in important skills. As you do, keep the door open to those who are willing to learn, who have a record of achievement, and the desire to succeed.

Whatever the course of higher education, your efforts to upskill talent can only empower, uplift, and support those who want to advance their careers -- without forcing them to pile on debt.

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

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Google's Sundar Pichai Just Announced a $100 Million Educational Fund. It Might Mean the Beginning of the End for College. - Inc.

Customers at a number of banks in Russia can no longer use their bank cards with Google Pay and Apple Pay due to newly-imposed financial sanctions on the country, as reported by Insider. According to a press release from Russias Central Bank, affected financial institutions include VTB Group, Sovcombank, Novikombank, Promsvyazbank, and Otkritie FC Bank.

While customers can still use bank cards from these institutions within Russia, theyll no longer work abroad or when making online payments to stores and services belonging to countries that issued sanctions on Russia. This also includes card payments through Apple Pay and Google Pay, although the Central Bank says contactless payments will still be available with the bank cards themselves, given that they support it.

Google and Apple didnt immediately reply to The Verges request for comment.

Several countries have imposed financial sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. According to Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, sanctions issued by the European Union target 70 percent of Russias banking network. The US has put sanctions on Sberbank and VTB Bank, two of Russias biggest financial institutions, while the UK froze the assets of five Russian banks.

According to statistics recorded in 2020, Russias most popular online payment service was the Russia-owned Sberbank Online, followed by YooMoney (formerly Yandex Money) and QIWI, two other Russian payment service providers. At the time, 29 percent of Russians reported using Google Pay, while 20 percent used Apple Pay this doesnt account for their popularity as forms of contactless mobile payments, however.

Additionally, the US and Europe have blocked some Russian banks from SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication), the financial system used to communicate transactions across the globe, and are also moving to directly impose sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Correction February 27th 8:00AM ET: A previous version of the story stated that Sberbank Online and YooMoney are the two most popular mobile payment services in Russia, when they are actually the two most popular online payment services in Russia. We regret the error.

Update February 27th 8:00AM ET: Updated to add that some Russian banks are now blocked from SWIFT.

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Some Russian bank customers have been cut off from Apple Pay and Google Pay - The Verge

Aksesmu Collaborates with Google Cloud to Help Warung Owners Digitalize Their Businesses and Make a Comeback Amidst the Pandemic

Google Cloud accelerates the delivery of a feature-rich technology platform to drive digital inclusion and economic recovery, while Google Workspace is used to empower frontline workers

Jakarta, Indonesia, Feb. 23, 2022 Aksesmu, a retail distribution partner for small businesses that is managed by PT. Sumber Trijaya Lestari, is collaborating with Google Cloud to help local family-owned kiosks or stalls also known as warungs digitalize their operations and forge new revenue streams.

Warungs are the retailers of choice for low- and middle-income households across Indonesia because they sell food and daily necessities at affordable prices, made possible by rent savings from operating within self-owned premises. The main challenge faced by warungs, however, is limited cash flow and inventory space. These are exacerbated by the ongoing pandemic, which has adversely affected 87.5 percent of local micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), of which 93.2 percent have experienced a decline in sales, according to Indonesias central bank.

Aksesmu is a digital platform that supports warungs in 28 provinces and 3,071 districts. Built entirely on Google Clouds secure and scalable infrastructure and advanced relational database technology, it acts as a one-stop virtual hypermart that warung owners can access on their mobile phones. A warung owner can simply log in and choose from hundreds of competitively-priced groceries and fast-moving consumer goods before placing an order. Aksesmu then facilitates the same-day delivery of these supplies to the warung from a stock point located within a 10-kilometer radius, at no extra cost.

Aksesmu's mission is to create mutually beneficial partnerships and build an effective product distribution ecosystem for Indonesias micro and small businesses. When inventories are low, warung owners must sometimes close their stalls and travel to wholesalers or markets to buy fresh supplies. This process is time-consuming and results in lost sales. When pandemic movement restrictions made stock replenishments even harder, we felt the need to respond and help warung owners adopt new technologies to grow their livelihoods, said Hans Harischandra, Director, PT. Sumber Trijaya Lestari.

With Google Clouds best-in-class technologies and co-innovation, we have designed a digital platform that is easily accessible and addresses warung owners most urgent needs. We will continue collaborating with Google Cloud to enhance and scale our platform, so that we can accelerate digital inclusion for all 3.6 million warungs scattered across the Indonesian archipelago, said Yosef Risdianto, Commercial General Manager, Aksesmu.

Enabling Reliable and Secure Access Anywhere, on Any DeviceMany warung owners live in rural areas with intermittent internet connectivity. They also often use pay-as-you-go data plans or low-cost smartphones with less storage capacity. By leveraging Googles application development platform and load balancing and caching capabilities, Aksesmu is able to give warung owners a smooth and reliable user experience on any device whether they are accessing its digital platform as a web application or mobile application.

With Googles open and trusted cloud, Aksesmus developer teams can quickly create new features and integrate third-party innovations while ensuring dataflows are encrypted to reduce security risks. To strengthen warung owners cash flow management, for instance, Aksesmu incorporates bookkeeping and pay later services from local fintech players. To give warung owners new revenue streams, Aksesmu interoperates with providers of prepaid mobile top-up services and electricity tokens to allow warungs to sell e-vouchers to customers via its platform.

We continuously release new software updates to benefit warung owners from keeping information up to date to adding new features and helpful content like educational videos on financial management and visual merchandising. Google Clouds Content Delivery Network helps us ensure that warung owners can stream our videos anytime, anywhere. By implementing Google Kubernetes Engine to automate application deployment and upgrades with no downtime, our technical teams can avoid time-consuming manual IT configurations and fully dedicate themselves to product innovation, said Agus Priyanto, IT and Tech Product General Manager, Aksesmu.

To enable secure collaboration and productivity amongst all employees, Aksesmu is also using Google Workspace with solutions spanning Gmail, Google Calendar, Drive, Docs, Slides, Sheets, Chat, and Meet. This means that frontline Member Relations Officers can use their devices of choice to communicate with colleagues while on the move and provide assistance when meeting with warung owners to make their onboarding experiences easier and non-intimidating.

As part of the next phase of its collaboration with Google Cloud, Aksesmu is exploring the use of data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to better serve warung owners. Possible use cases include understanding the buying behavior of consumers to recommend new items that warung owners can add to their inventories or display more prominently to increase sales. Aksesmu also aims to help its users list their warung locations using Google My Business, so they can be discovered by nearby consumers using Google Search and Google Maps.

"Indonesia's MSMEs are the lifeblood of our communities, and Aksesmu contributes significantly to our countrys goal of integrating 30 million MSMEs into the digital ecosystem by 2024," said Megawaty Khie, Country Director, Indonesia, Google Cloud. By tapping the best of Google Clouds scalable, open source and secure infrastructure, as well as Google Workspace, Aksesmu has meticulously designed and delivered an accessible and feature-rich platform thats benefitting 100,000 early adopters ahead of its launch. The companys continuous innovation efforts will not only help to protect more warung owners livelihoods and improve their competitiveness, it will also create a robust retail distribution ecosystem to aid Indonesias economic recovery and long-term growth.

About Google CloudGoogle Cloud accelerates organizations ability to digitally transform their business. We deliver enterprise-grade solutions that leverage Googles cutting-edge technology all on the cleanest cloud in the industry. Customers in more than 200 countries and territories turn to Google Cloud as their trusted partner to enable growth and solve their most critical business problems.

About AksesmuThe name Aksesmu reflects our role in giving small and micro entrepreneurs open and easy access to technology, as well as convenient delivery services and business assistance, to facilitate their business development. Backed by PT. Sumber Trijaya Lestari and its experience in retail distribution, Aksesmu is the trusted partner for helpful services to small and micro entrepreneurs. We are here, ready to serve, assist and grow together. We provide easy access to meet the business needs of all our partners

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Aksesmu Collaborates with Google Cloud to Help Warung Owners Digitalize Their Businesses and Make a Comeback Amidst the Pandemic - Google Cloud

Fnac Darty Forms a New Partnership with Google on Data and Cloud to Accelerate its Digital Trajectory and the Execution of its Strategic Plan

Ivry and Sunnyvale, Calif, 23 February

Fnac Darty today announced a new partnership with Google that is intended to accelerate Fnac Dartys digital transformation, increase the Groups innovation capabilities through data, and offer customers enhanced products, services and experiences at a time when commerce is undergoing radical change.

The partnership introduces three new innovative streams:

These three innovation streams will be conducted in conjunction with the accelerated migration of Fnac Dartys data to Googles cloud infrastructure.

This partnership is the next step in Fnac Dartys successful and innovative relationship with Google. The two companies have shared values and are pooling their expertise in customized and differentiated services, cutting-edge marketing and advertising technologies, and consumer technology, with a clear omnichannel approach.

Enrique Martinez, CEO of Fnac Darty, said: As a committed player, we care about our customers and want to help them make informed decisions. Through this collaboration on data and cloud with Google, which is the first-of-its-kind in the French retail sector, our customers will enjoy a more fluid, customized and distinctive online shopping experience. It will improve the performance of our websites through an AI-driven web experience that is ever more immersive and effective. As a result, the partnership will allow us to accelerate our digital transformation and continue to deliver on our Everyday plan.

Thomas Kurian, CEO at Google Cloud, said: "Fnac Darty is an iconic brand and an innovator in the retail market. Google and Fnac Darty are long-time partners, and we're proud today to expand our work together through new cloud innovations in data and analytics, artificial intelligence and machine-learning technologies, which will support new omnichannel strategies and customer experiences. Together, we can help define the retail industry of tomorrow."

About Fnac DartyOperating in twelve countries, Fnac Darty is a European leader in the retail of entertainment and leisure products, consumer electronics and household appliances. The Group, which has around 25,000 employees, had a multi-format network of 936 stores at the end of September 2021, including 769 in France, and is ranked as France's second most visited e-commerce site (more than 29 million unique visitors per month) with its 3 merchant sites, fnac.com, darty.com and natureetdecouvertes.com. A leading omnichannel player, Fnac Darty's revenue was nearly 7.5 billion in 2020, approximately 29% of which was realized online. For more information: http://www.fnacdarty.com

About GoogleGoogle's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Through products and platforms like Search, Maps, Gmail, Android, Google Play, Google Cloud, Chrome and YouTube, Google plays a meaningful role in the daily lives of billions of people and has become one of the most widely-known companies in the world. Google is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc.

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Fnac Darty Forms a New Partnership with Google on Data and Cloud to Accelerate its Digital Trajectory and the Execution of its Strategic Plan - Google...

A Philosophy of Games That Is Really a Philosophy of Life

When we play Monopoly or basketball, we know we are playing a game. The stakes are low. The rules are silly. The point system is arbitrary. But what if life is full of games ones with much higher stakes that we dont even realize were playing?According to the philosopher C. Thi Nguyen, games and gamified systems are everywhere in modern life. Social media applies the lure of a points-based scoring system to the complex act of communication. Fitness apps convert the joy and beauty of physical motion into a set of statistics you can monitor. The grades you received in school flatten the qualitative richness of education into a numerical competition. If youve ever consulted the U.S. News & World Report college rankings database, youve witnessed the leaderboard approach to university admissions.In Nguyens book, Games: Agency as Art, a core insight is that were not simply playing these games they are playing us, too. Our desires, motivations and behaviors are constantly being shaped and reshaped by incentives and systems that we arent even aware of. Whether on the internet or in the vast bureaucracies that structure our lives, we find ourselves stuck playing games over and over again that we may not even want to win and that we arent able to easily walk away from.This is one of those conversations that offers a new and surprising lens for understanding the world. We discuss the unique magic of activities like rock climbing and playing board games, how Twitters system of likes and retweets is polluting modern politics, why governments and bureaucracies love tidy packets of information, how echo chambers like QAnon bring comfort to their players, how to make sure we dont get stuck in a game without realizing it, why we should be a little suspicious of things that give us pleasure and how to safeguard our own values in a world that wants us to care about winning the most points.Mentioned:How Twitter Gamifies Communication by C. Thi NguyenTrust in Numbers by Theodore M. PorterSeeing Like a State by James C. ScottAgainst Rotten Tomatoes by Matt StrohlA Game Designers Analysis Of QAnon by Reed BerkowitzThe Great Endarkenment by Elijah MillgramGame recommendations:Modern ArtRootThe Quiet YearThoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of The Ezra Klein Show at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.The Ezra Klein Show is produced by Annie Galvin, Jeff Geld and Rog Karma; fact-checking by Michelle Harris; original music by Isaac Jones; mixing by Jeff Geld; audience strategy by Shannon Busta. Our executive producer is Irene Noguchi. Special thanks to Kristin Lin.

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Google Podcasts

An Android statue is displayed in front of a building on the Google campus on January 31, 2022 in Mountain View, California. Google parent company Alphabet will report fourth quarter earnings on Tuesday after the closing bell.

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Google is dropping some Covid-related mandates for employees and restoring perks back to its headquarters as it prepares to bring workers back to the office.

Google Real Estate and Workplace Services VP David Radcliffe wrote an email to San Francisco Bay Area employees this week explaining that the company is relaxing some rules around vaccines, testing, social distancing and masks. Separately, a Google spokesperson told CNBC that the company has reversed course and will not require vaccinations as a condition of employment for U.S. workers, but declined to offer further details.

Radcliffe's note also said that perks such as massages and access to informal spaces in the office will be returning. In the past, Google has been able to attract talent with fun office amenities, but many of those were suspended during the pandemic.

The moves come as the company prepares to require most employees to come into physical offices at least three days a week for a "hybrid" work model, while some other Bay Area tech companies are offering fully remote work options. Google has had to delay its office return several times amid various Covid-19 variant surges, and another surge could change these latest plans once again.

It has almost been two years since Google and other tech companies first sent their employees home at the start of the pandemic. Since then, the labor market has tightened, employees have grumbled about missing perks, and workers have voiced their desire to remain working remotely.

Radcliffe's note says Bay Area offices are lifting the testing requirement imposed in January, which applied even to vaccinated employees.

In addition, Google is dropping its social distancing requirement and masks for vaccinated employees in most areas, noting that the few cities still requiring masks are likely to drop them soon.

Google is also reversing course on requiring vaccination for employment for U.S. employees, according to Google spokesperson Lora Lee Erickson. In November, CNBC reported the company told employees that they must comply with vaccine policies or they'd face loss of pay and eventually loss of employment.

Erickson told CNBC the company dropped the requirement for employment last month after removing the Jan. 18 deadline it had set for employees to either get vaccinated or get exemption approval. She declined to provide further details on the policy or the reasons for the reversal, but noted that employees would still need to be vaccinated or have an exemption in order to come into the office.

"We're continuing to implement our vaccination policy requiring COVID-19 vaccinations or approved accommodations for any individuals accessing our sites, because it's one of the most important ways we can keep our workforce safe and keep our services running," Erickson noted.

Unvaccinated employees who are approved to enter offices will still need to follow additional protocols, including testing and wearing a mask, Radcliffe's note stated.

Radcliffe also wrote that the company is reopening amenities such as fitness centers without appointment and massages; restoring full shuttle service; adding more places to eat free breakfast and lunch; and opening "all informal spaces" such as lounges, game rooms, music rooms and massage chairs.

"We're at the beginning of a journey, so the office experience will feel pretty similar to what it was like pre-Covid," Radcliffe said. "We're designing and piloting options to support new ways of working together and we'll gather insights, data and feedback to help us learn as we go."

Radcliffe added that in-person business meetings and events are also "ramping back up."

"We're giving employees who welcome the chance to come into the office the option to do that wherever we safely can, while allowing those who aren't ready to keep working from home," Erickson told CNBC. "Based on current conditions in the Bay Area, we're pleased that our employees who choose to come in now have the ability to access more onsite spaces and services to work and connect with colleagues."

The San Francisco Bay Area has the highest concentration of Google offices, with dozens of buildings across several cities in the region, including its Mountain View headquarters.Radcliffe said 30% of Google employees in the area came into the office over the past week, but the return remains voluntary.

The company has still not determined a new date for the mandated return since it last pushed off its Jan. 10 expectation amid the omicron surge. But under a line titled "What Happens Next?" Radcliffe notes that it is preparing to begin its 30-day transition period to the hybrid work week if conditions continue to improve. He said his team is planning "celebrations" to welcome back employees.

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Google relaxes mandates, opens amenities as it prepares for workers to return - CNBC

Popular Google software engineer Anthony D. Mays leaves the search giant to pursue diversity and inclusion full-time.

Anthony D. Mays

The year after Anthony D. Mays joined Google as a software engineer in 2013, the company publicly released its diversity numbers for the first time. He knew the numbers were likely low, but he didn't realize just how low.

When he found out only 1% of technology roles included Black people, Mays made it his personal mission to help grow that number while working at Google. Now, after several years of seeing slow-moving progress within Google and the tech industry at large, Mays is branching out on his own, starting a consulting firm that aims to help both companies and employees reach more representation.

When Mays joined Google in 2013, he received a personal welcome call from the company's human resources chief at the time, Lazlo Bock. "That was pretty special," Mays told CNBC in an interview.

The following year, the company became the first of many to release their diversity numbers, which showed a dismal 2% of full-time Google employees were Black and only 1% of technical roles were filled by Black employees. Shocked by the statistics, Mays felt a personal obligation to help those numbers grow.

To do that, began sharing his story of coming from an abusive home in Compton, California.

"Having come from the world of Compton to the world of Google and Silicon Valley for several years, it allows me the unique opportunity to build bridges in the way that others may not be able to."

He first shared his story in a company email that ended up going viral. Then, in 2018, he shared his experiences in a Buzzfeed video called "My Unlikely Path To Becoming The 1% At Google," which has racked up 5.3 million views. He also wrote an article, with Google's public relations team, he said, for Huffington Post called "Google Would Never Hire a Person Like Me," explaining how his environment and self-doubt almost kept him from applying for a job at Google.

"I was getting emails from people in and outside of the company that I'd never met," Mays said, adding that he was humbled by the response.

Mays, a full-time engineer at Google, was a key voice for company diversity in tech. Now, he wants to use what he's learned to increase representation.

Anthony Mays

Many told Mays he inspired them and made them feel seen and heard, he said. Google recruiters told him his coaching work helped get diverse applicants in the door and succeed during interviews, he said.

But becoming a key voice for DEI also came with setbacks: He had to juggle DEI work with being a full-time software engineer and says he sacrificed promotions due to the time spent on those initiatives.

Mays said he also experienced imposter syndrome.

"People were telling me I'm doing well, but I'm also keenly aware that in some people's minds, I'm the diversity hire," he said of is feelings early on. "So, early on, there was this sneaking suspicion that I have that I'm being treated differently because I'm a Black man working in tech. "

Part of the motivation for continuing his work, he explained, was "survivors' guilt," Mays said.

"I had a number of friends who were shot and killed when they were 18 and 19 years old," he said. "When you see that kind of tragedy and be so close to it, you start asking what made me so different that I deserved to escape and they didn't?"

But most of the motivation, he said, came from his faith and hope for equity among underrepresented workers. He said he feels a responsibility and passion for giving people a chance at more opportunities.

Mays, whose authentic communication and candor draw people, says he tries to be honest when asked what it's like to be a Black man at Google.

"I talk about how I had a good experience, but there are no guarantees, and I want us to be honest about that," he said. "There are people who've had horrible experiences, and I want to remind people that as much as I've enjoyed being at Google, things might go differently for you."

He also acknowledges the challenges he sees companies face when trying to implement new programs dedicated to diversity and inclusion. At Google, he said, he saw impactful diversity and inclusion programs that were either put on hold or changed in different direction.

"I don't know many companies who are working harder than Google to effect change; however, one of the problems I've seen is the sustained commitment in any given direction," Mays said. "What tends to happen is you have a program that works well for a year or two and then inexplicably goes into another direction or there's a shuffle or a reorg and it can be hard to see things through for the sustained long term."

As the years went on, Mays found his personal brand deviating from Google's, he said.

"Google's an advertising company that organizes information of the world, and my focus during my time there was helping with that as a software engineer that's what I was hired to do," he said. "But, I began to find my interest more in organizing information for the underrepresented in tech who struggled to find resources and information on how to navigate tech as an industry."

In late 2021, Mays says he saw a window of opportunity to do DEI work full-time after watching the labor market tighten, record resignations and tech job-seekers looking for better financial security and work-life flexibility amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

"Seeing the need and the response to my own story over these past few years, it became well 'ok, now I want to do this more than just on my off-time," Mays said. "I came to the realization that now really is the time and as the pandemic begins to loosen its hold."

Mays' last day was in mid-February, and in less than a week, he used his savings to launch Morgan Latimer Consulting, which is named after African American inventors Garrett A. Morgan and Lewis H. Latimer.

Mays has two main goals: to help underrepresented people get jobs in tech if they want them and to help companies understand how to get and keep those workers.

An influential software engineer within Google, Anthony Mays left the company after eight years to pursue his own diversity and inclusion consulting firm.

Anthony Mays

Working with companies, Mays has had to explain the business importance of DEI, which studies have for years shown improves business outcomes and product development.

"There are people who see this as just a PR problem that these aren't real issues," Mays says.

Silicon Valley has been slow to progress in keeping employees of color, placing most of the focus on recruiting.

"They can attract people all day long, but they're still not supporting them enough to stay, as you can see in the numbers and in people's experiences," Mays said.

Mays says part of his conversations involves getting real with companies about how minority talent views them. In particular, there's a sizable lack of trust.

"Most companies either don't know or don't understand why there is a lack of trust, they usually just see the side effects like lack of participation," he said. "We have this expectation that if we throw money at this, we'll have progress, but it's more complicated than that."

He says firms sometimes overlook existing mechanisms that could help the problem, such as organization, support systems, and mentorship.

"It's important for me to help these companies understand why those things are happening and to provide some guidance on how to resolve them," he says. "The FAANG companies in particular oftentimes often feel like they want to reinvent the wheel but oftentimes, they shouldn't."

Mays gave an example of Inroads,a nonprofit organization that creates pathways to careers for underrepresented students. It helped him secure his job in tech, but still doesn't get support or recognition.

He also plans to help companies think about how their performance reviews are inclusive, he said. Expectations and action items need to be clear for workers, he added.

"It's not enough for a company leader to have an initiative with DEI focus," said Jason King, senior associate director of corporate relations at the University of California, Irvine. "It takes solid structure and game plan because once you take foot off gas, it's up to you to implement it and that's just one thing Mays is great at."

For those just getting in the door, Mays says he's dedicating part of Morgan Latimer Consulting to entryways like interviews, which candidates have found difficult.

Before being hired by Google, Mays failed his first Google interview in 2011 despite getting pointers from a company recruiter, he said. Historically black college students training on Google's own campus program told CNBC about challenges and failures during their own processes. Failing interviews left them feeling discouraged and unlikely to try again.

Portia Kibble-Smith, a diversity and inclusion lead at technical interviewing platform start-up Karat, said Mays' services fit in well because of his ability to relate to students and share tips a break from tech companies' often standard practice of refusing to share interview feedback.

An influential software engineer within Google, Anthony Mays left the company after eight years to pursue his own diversity and inclusion consulting firm.

Antony Mays

"One of our biggest challenges we found is that most engineers have less information about the hiring process and interviews, specifically, and that's exacerbated if they're coming from outside the industry" Kibble-Smith said. "It's even harder to get information from peers if you don't have a network."

Mays offers three different packages. The "basic" package, listed at $199, helps candidates "Find out whether you're ready with a realistic coding interview," while the "Pro" package, listed at $549, tracks progress and growth while helping with algorithms and data structures. Last, a $899 package offers all of those benefits plus "advanced topics and behavioral interviews."

The two higher-priced ones can be broken up in monthly payments, and most come with one-on-one time with Mays.

Mays says he hopes to give "high-quality" learning courses to people at an affordable price and regularly shares free tips and advice across his social networks including Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.

"There are so many predatory services just repackaging information freely available and charging a fee," Mays said. "I get that this is a capitalistic society, but I have a heart to put together information in the hands of folks who often don't have the access or the funds to pay for those."

An influential software engineer within Google, Anthony Mays left the company after eight years to pursue his own diversity and inclusion consulting firm.

Anthony Mays

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Anthony Mays is using his experience as a Black tech employee to help others through the door - CNBC