SpotHero is a startup designed to let drivers save closeby parking spots. Users will now be able to find parking spaces at their destination as well as reserve it. The user will first have to enable the ‘Book Online’ options on the two apps. Once this has been enabled, the users will then be directed to SpotHero’s website to confirm their booking. This can be done without leaving Google Maps or Search.

This integration has been under testing since April. So after a month-long wait of testing, Google has finally begun rolling out its feature for all users in Canada and the US. As of now, SpotHero covers over 8,000 spots across more than 300 cities in the two countries. Some of the more popular locations where users can use this feature for parking are SAP Centre and Madison Square Garden.

SpotHero Integration With Google Maps: More on this new feature

The SpotHero integration also provides options to find better locations that provide places with valet services, wheelchair accessibility, and EV charging. With no parking reservation feature of its own, Google’s collaboration with SpotHero comes at the right time. It has been noticed that Google has been adding more and more functionality features to ensure that people continue using Google Maps.

SpotHero is used worldwide by people and this integration will expand its customer base. The company has even claimed that more than 10 million drivers in the US, The startup has claimed to have gained around $1.5 billion from the total amount. This parking feature has already been introduced in Apple Maps back in 2023.

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Google has introduced three new features that will aid in the protection of user’s privacy and personal data. Theft Detection Lock Feature is among the new features introduced in this update. It uses Google AI to detect if someone has snatched and stolen the user’s phone. When the thief starts moving, either in a run or on foot, the user’s smartphone will lock itself to prevent valuable information from getting into the hands of the wrong people.

The Android protection update has also introduced Offline Device Lock. The Offline Device Lock feature has also started rolling out for Android smartphones. This feature automatically comes into effect when a thief attempts to disconnect a user’s smartphone for a long time. What this feature does is that it locks the user’s screen to prevent data breach and this feature is still effective when the phone is far away from the owner. It also recognises signs which may imply that the user’s smartphone has been stolen.

Android Protection Update: More features under this update

Another feature currently rolling out is the Remote Lock feature. Just like the other features in the new Android protection update, this feature is helpful for instances of smartphone theft. Users will be able to lock their phone screen by simply using their phone number as well as entering a quick security question or challenge from any other device, This will allow users valuable time to recover their account details. In addition, users will also be able to access helpful options in the Find My Device option. Users will then have the choice of enacting a factory reset to wipe out their entire device.

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The new documentation provides more details and information about site reputation abuse. This new version explains what ‘first-party oversight’ means. This term refers to when the first-party hosting site directly produces one-of-a-kind content. They also do not employ any third-party sites focused on content redistribution with the goal of search ranking manipulation.

Google has also added a new detail that explains the consequences when Google’s spam guidelines have been violated. Google states that it would remove sections of a site from search results so users may have to be wary. Additionally, Google has also modified the ‘Thin affiliate pages’ into ‘Thin affiliation’ with an updated definition.

Spam Policy Documentation: More changes from this update

The updated spam policy documentation has been upgraded and brought in a more suitable introductory sentence. The upgraded introduction now begins with the spam definitions and continues from the definition. A new change regarding the word consolidation is also available.

The new update also expanded how the word ‘abuse’ is being used. In terms of SEO, abuse is used to refer to activities deceiving users as well as search engines. The updated version now utilises the given word around seventeen times. This update also provides suggestions on how to update a user’s content with the addition of more details and clarifying information that already exists.

The tech giant has also upgraded topic communication and conciseness. Phrases have become more concise to properly get the main point of the message across.

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This feature is available within Gmail. Google says this new feature will provide users with a much more detailed response. These responses fully represent the intention of the user’s message. This is done by carefully considering all contents of an email thread. Thus this creates a more tailored reply to each email.

To use the Smart Replies feature, users will have to hover their cursor on each recommended smart reply to see a preview of the text. After this, users will have to choose the desired match. Users can select whichever reply that matches their style of writing or needs the most. The users can also edit the replies. Users can also send the replies directly without any editing.

Smart Replies: Who it’s for and why it exists

Smart Replies will save both time and improve the quality of an automated response. Most automated responses are usually just simple and prompt but with this new feature, users will have more variety for replies. Users will now be able to generate a fully tailored response. The AI will also take the content in the entire email thread into account. So the AI does not miss out on any important information or context that is needed to respond accordingly to the recipient.

This new feature by Google will be available for plans such as Google One AI Premium, Education Premium, Gemini Enterprise, and Enterprise. This new AI feature currently only supports English and Google has not revealed whether or not language support will be expanded. Smart Replies existed back in 2017 within Gmail so the tech giant built and polished this feature ever since then.

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The AI-powered feature will be rolled out as an early access feature to select customers in the US region. Google Photos will be expanding this feature globally later on. This feature is powered by Google’s AI model, Gemini AI. It allows users to search for specified photos through the AI. Users can simply give descriptive queries related to the content of their photos. The AI will then leverage the user’s data and retrieve the required photos. 

The AI-powered feature is particularly useful as photo libraries grow bigger and bigger. It becomes tedious to go through thousands of photos to get one specific picture. Therefore, this feature makes it much more easier and convenient for users to find what they are looking for. Users can describe the picture and the AI will fetch the picture closest to the user’s description. 

Ask Photos: More on this feature

Users can also narrow down the search results by relevance or date which fetches the pictures faster. This feature studies the context of a user’s photo gallery and keeps in mind the user’s hobbies, friends, favourite drinks and so on. This helps in studying relevant information needed to retrieve the photos. 

Furthermore, this feature also assists the users with getting tasks done with ease. For instance, users can ask the AI to show the best pictures taken from a certain event. Users can also ask the AI to summarise the activities a user did during a picnic or trip with family. 

Users interested in getting this feature can sign up for the waitlist for early access. However, it is only limited to users in the US as of now. 

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Custom Gems were first unveiled at the I/O Developer Conference in May earlier this year. Users who are subscribed to Gemini Advanced, Business and Enterprise plans can access this feature which will be rolled out in the coming days on both mobile and desktop. This is a paid feature and it currently supports over 30 languages. Gems is available in more than 150 countries worldwide.

Users can also opt out of creating custom gems and use the premade Gems provided by Google instead. There are different premade gems for various scenarios such as a coding partner which helps users level up their coding skills and build projects. Other premade gems include a writing editor, a learning coach, a career guide, and a brainstormer.

Custom Gems and new Imagen update from Gemini

Gems allow users to create personalised chatbots that assist them in various tasks. These gems can also be given characteristics to make them more personal. It is akin to making a custom AI bot tailored to the users’ needs. Gems can help users create an ensemble of experts for various purposes such as brainstorming for ideas, captions for an Instagram post, and even general assistance towards a tough challenge. A user’s Gem can retain information and maintain instructions which saves users’ time when doing tasks.

Google is also rolling out its new update in Imagen 3. This new update improves the image generation capabilities in Imagen 3. Gemini will now be able to produce photorealistic landscapes, paintings with texture and much more. The sky is truly the limit with this new upgrade.

Google has stated that it plans to bring out the generation of ‘people’ for users who are subscribed to Gemini Advanced, Business and Enterprise users. This feature will be available in English and it will use SynthID, the same watermarking tool that Google used for Imagen 3.

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Google, termed by Stoppelman as the ‘largest information gatekeeping’ has been accused of creating a monopoly in local search services and local search advertising markets. Google is said to have been participating in ant-competitive activities ultimately leading to the decrease in search result quality. Not only has Google’s monopoly affected the quality of the search results, it has also stomped over its rivals just to increase the company’s power in the market.

Yelp has also gone on record saying that it has tried long and hard to fight against Google’s anti-competitive antics. The company states that it wants to make a more equal playing field for all other search services in the market to foster healthy competition. Yelp’s main goals are to ensure healthy competition and the protection of consumer choices. Additionally, other goalposts include the recovery of damages and to curb Google; ‘s anti-competitiveness.

Yelp Sues Google: Google’s Monopoly In Local Search Services

It has been reported that Google has recently been caught obtaining its monopoly through illegal means. This includes exclusive deals with several manufacturers, cell carriers, and browser creators. This means that Google controls where and what content the consumers are exposed to. This has consequently led to the rising monopolistic dominance of Google over the local search markets.

Google has allegedly manipulated results to enhance its local search results over its rivals. The tech giant has been accused of promoting sub-par quality results since it does not want consumers to leave the site and seek other alternative search services.

Google’s monopolistic tendencies have also affected businesses in other vertical search services. Yelp, the search service that has filed the lawsuit is one of Google’s affected rivals. Due to Google’s abuse of its dominance, ad revenue and traffic have drastically decreased, despite the other services providing higher quality in terms of local search results.

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Essentials can be opened from the start menu and users can seamlessly switch between their laptop and phone. Google has not released any details regarding the app’s interface. Laptop brands such as Envy, Pavillion, Spectre, Victus, Spectre, and other HP and OmniBook models will receive the upcoming app first as confirmed by Google.

Essentials: Short rundown on the new app

The tech giant has said that its services such as Google Messages and Google Photos can be accessed through the app. This makes it more convenient for users when working between apps. For instance, users can switch between viewing their photos in their Google Photos and responding to texts from Google Messages.

Essentials also come in handy when users have to accomplish a task as the app contains shortcuts to Google’s other productivity tools. Some of these tools include Calendar, Google Drive, and Google Docs. In addition, select Google One subscribers are given a two-month free trial of Google One 100GB.

Google has also stated that users can uninstall the Essentials app or any other Google service for that matter anytime they want. The tech giant has also announced its plans to bring the upcoming app to even more desktops and laptops shortly.

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Gemini was recently integrated into Gmail earlier this year. The AI assistant helped users to draft and generate responses to an email. Furthermore, the Summarise This Email’ tool provided users with a summary or rundown of an email. Users could even ask Gemini questions related to the email and retrieve information from the other emails in the user’s inbox.

Gmail Polish: What the new feature can do

Google has stated that the new Polish feature enables users to draft and refine their emails. This feature takes the users’ drafts and the results are a more ‘polished’ version of the original draft. Users can turn their rough draft into a ‘formal’ draft all in one click.

Help Me Write is another feature that has been released alongside Polish. When users write a draft of twelve words or more, a shortcut called ‘Refine my Draft’ will appear. Once the shortcut has been selected, users are given options to improve their drafts. These options include Polish, Formalise, Elaborate, Shorten and Write a New Draft.

The new features are exclusive to Google Workspace subscribers that have either Gemini Business and Enterprise add-on, Google One AI Premium or Gemini Education and Education Premium add-on. It will be available for both admins as well as end users.

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The new core update has been developed to improve the search result quality by letting people view useful content. It also aims to show people content beyond those solely made to perform on the Search results.

John Mueller, a Google Search Advocate has stated that the recent core update considers the feedback from several creators from the past few months. Creators have been asked to make more meaningful content to make sure that the content published has quality. The March 2024 core update was the update before the Google August 2024 core update and it served to be the largest core update yet.

Google August 2024 Core Update: Ranking Bug Issues Resolved

Google confirmed that there was a ranking bug less than 24 hours after the update was released on 15 August. The company took over 4 days to resolve the issue. Mueller expressed that the team was not satisfied with the overall update so another update was rolled out to fix any inaccuracies.

The ranking bug affected a huge amount of search results. Users have been advised to wait a while to see where their site ranks. Moreover, the update stated that it would take a whole month to roll out thus rankings may also be affected.

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