We look forward to making Android’s Emergency Location Service available internationally, and are actively engaging with more countries and operators to make this widely available. If you are a mobile network operator or emergency infrastructure provider interested in supporting better emergency location from Android devices, get in touch with us.
What else? Well, the digital exhibitions on Google Arts & Culture will let you learn more about ancient sports traditions in the ancient colony of Agrigento. You can enjoy its cultural landscape and walk through the countryside, among the almond and, orange trees and flowers that adorn the entire area, evoking memories of ancient times.
Take a trip among the divine protectors of the earth, the most venerated of the Sicilian colony according to Cicero. Then, admire the Doric Temples, a symbol of the expansion of Akragas under the rule of the tyrant Terone in the 5th century BC. Lastly, enjoy a short walk back in time to discover the paleo-Christian side of the city, which dates back to the 4th century BC.
Your virtual trip is not over yet. Use Google Cardboard, a simple virtual reality viewer with the Google Arts and Culture app for iOS and Android, and you’ll find yourself in the midst of the ruins of the doric temples of Akragas, marvelling at their beauty and at the stunning landscapes of the iconic temples in the valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
A trip back in time and space to one of the iconic sites in human history is now accessible for everyone with just a click.
Posted by Luisella Mazza, Head of operations, Google Cultural Institute
Connecting fans to better legitimate alternatives: The best way to battle piracy is with better, more convenient, legitimate alternatives. And Google is all-in when it comes to partnering with the content industry to build and enable those alternatives. Through YouTube and Google Play, Google is in the business of helping users legitimately discover, purchase, and enjoy music, movies, books, magazines, and apps. Thanks to these platforms, Google Play has paid out more than $7 billion to developers while YouTube has paid out more than $3 billion to the music industry. Today, Google Play also makes music available in 62 countries, movies in 105 countries, and books in 75 countries.
Solving for Search: Thanks to the efforts of Google’s engineers, the vast majority of media-related queries that users submit every day return results that include only links to legitimate sites. For any problematic links that may appear for rarer “long-tail” queries, our systems for processing copyright removal notices handle millions URLs each day, in less than 6 hours on average. And when we get a large number of valid notices for a site, our search ranking algorithms demote that site in future search results.
Following the Money: Rogue sites that specialize in online piracy are commercial ventures, which means that one effective way to combat them is to cut off their money supply. As a global leader in online advertising, Google is committed to rooting out and ejecting rogue sites from our advertising services. Since 2012, Google has blacklisted more than 91,000 sites from AdSense for violating our policies against copyright infringement, the vast majority caught by AdSense’s own proactive screens. We have also been working with other advertising leaders to craft best practices aimed at raising standards across the entire online advertising industry, including in the US, UK, France, Italy, and Asia.
Protecting and fostering creativity online is a priority for Google. We remain committed to investing in efforts to address copyright infringement online, collaborating with rightsholders and protecting the interests of our users.
Posted by Katherine Oyama, Senior Policy Counsel, Google
Ilya (16) began exploring engineering and robotics at a young age in his home city of Moscow, Russia. When he saw a gap in affordable tools for people who are visually-impaired, he began creating a wearable 'radar' accessory that can identify nearby obstacles through vibration signals. After receiving feedback on his initial design from people who were blind or visually-impaired in his community, he created a second, lighter prototype that is even easier to wear. Embedded into a common baseball cap, this system alerts wearers to the specific direction of obstacles within 3.5m using gentle vibrations. This gives the wearer plenty of time to adjust their direction of movement, so they can safely reach their destination. Given its low production cost, Ilya hopes to see his device improve the quality of life for the visually-impaired in his community.
Tarik (17) and Amor (16), of Sarajevo, Bosnia, have seen first hand how massive floods throughout Bosnia in May 2014 caused harmful lead contamination in local soil and drinking water. Eager to find a cost-effective way to create clean water for growing crops using a cheaper material that's also close at hand, the pair discovered that the white mustard plant, which is native to Bosnia and Herzegovina, is especially talented at absorbing lead. The plant is also of course biodegradable, creating a simple and very accessible way for their community to make local water safe again.
A native of Istanbul, Turkey, Esra (13) was concerned about how difficult it can be for locals and visitors to access clean drinking water without worrying about lead contamination in highly industrialized areas. Most visitors are advised to drink bottled water, and to avoid getting tap water in their mouths when taking showers or brushing their teeth! Inspired to create a new filtering solution that can help people avoid this problem, Esra investigated the use of mussel shells as a filtering device. His work showed that mussel shells are ideally suited to absorbing lead from soil and water and plentiful. Luckily, they also cost very little. Esra hopes to introduce this filtering option to his local community to create clean water for everyone.
Alex (18) lives in Athens, Greece. Fascinated by the intersection between robotics, software design, and the internet, he wanted to create the ultimate solution to solving health problems "in the cloud." In thinking about who needs health care the most, he realized that many people can't afford to visit a hospital or are physically too far away to access quality health care. Particularly for critical situations where a patient needs surgical care urgently, Alex wondered: wouldn't the world be a better place if a surgeon could treat their patient safely from thousands of miles away? To solve this, Alex built a robot and manually coded software that could control the robot remotely from any internet-enabled device. Through software and mechanical engineerings, Alex has created a platform that enables medical professionals to help patients wherever they are in the world, at any time.
İlayda (15) and Ezgi (15) live in İzmir, Turkey. The 7.1 earthquake that hit Turkey in 2011 claimed over 600 lives, and local scientists predict that the next decade could bring even more damage as tension continues to build along the North Anatolian Fault line. Given that many of Turkey's buildings are older, scientists have appealed to officials to help the country retrofit its buildings and train city workers to handle a potential earthquake disaster that could claim thousands of lives. Inspired to help, İlayda and Ezgi sought an affordable way to retrofit local buildings in their community with an easily available material: aluminium cans. The pair designed a solution that can be used to fill traditional concrete walls, increasing their ability to absorb impact damage from 32% to 61%. The students look forward to helping their community stay safe should an earthquake happen in the future. Tune into the Google Science Fair website on July 18th to find out which five young scientists will win their regional Community Impact Award! With the generous support of our partners, winners will receive mentors and scholarships to help them further their education and inspiring projects. To keep an eye on the competition, visit the Google Science Fair site, and follow along on Google+ and Twitter.
Posted by: Andrea Cohan, product marketing manager Google Science Fair
The Google Cultural Institute collaborated with 18 organizations that work to preserve and share the Loire valley's heritage in order to bring the stories of the castles to life for everyone around the world. To capture the unique beauty of the valley's architecture, the Google Maps team helped out. They worked with airplanes equipped with special cameras that captured 3D aerial imagery from Sully sur Loire to Chenonceaux and beyond, offering a bird’s-eye view.
Over 500 years ago, as the Renaissance was making waves across Europe, with artists like Leonardo and Michelangelo at work, at a time when much of Europe was ruled by royal families, these castles scattered along the scenic valley of the Loire River were undergoing a transformation.
The buildings that had been originally built for war, found themselves entangled in a different kind of power play. While their owners - kings, queens and noble families - competed for power, influence and love, their rivalry made its mark on the buildings. They invited artists and architects, who turned the buildings and their surroundings into works of art. The nobility have left an indelible mark on the landscape – from vast chateaux to exquisite gardens and stunning landscaped surrounds.
You can explore these breathtaking sites like never before. If you're on a desktop computer, you can for example hover around Château de Chambord - just select the satellite layer in the menu bar, switch on 3D in the bottom right corner, hold down Ctrl and with a long left click of your mouse you can start exploring the castle. If you're on mobile, you can download the Google Earth app to see this imagery.
Once you explored from above, step on the grass at the Château du Rivau and stroll through the garden inspired by fairy tales. Walk through the Little Thumbling garden and get lost in the Alice Maze's labyrinth.
With the help of Street View you can enjoy the view from the towers of the Fortress of Chinon, where in 1429, the 16 year old Joan of Arc met Charles VII to convince him to be crowned King of France and fight the English army out of France, ending the Hundred Years' War. Indoor Street View imagery will allow you to look around inside Leonardo da Vinci’s bedroom in Château du Clos Lucé. And if you have an eye for detail, zoom in the 3,600 pieces of wood that make up the oriental ceiling of the Château de Villandry - it took a whole year’s work to put this giant puzzle together.
Come with us on a journey across the stunning Loire valley and back in time - take in the beauty of the castles from above, walk through it's hidden spaces and explore its secret stories. The exhibition is open for all at g.co/CastlesofLoire and through the Google Arts & Culture mobile app for iOS and Android.
Posted by Sixtine Fabre, program manager, Google Cultural Institute
Companies from across Europe are encouraged to apply before October 1st, 2016. A jury of leading figures in technology, business and academia will then shortlist the top 50, each of which will be invited to Slush 2016 in Helsinki where the final winners will be announced at an awards ceremony.
The winners will be invited to Google’s I/O event in California, receive valuable consulting and coaching sessions with McKinsey, as well as feedback and fundraising support from Rocket Internet. We will also award a cash prize of EUR 50,000 each for the winners of the Early Stage B2B, Early Stage B2C and Tech for Social Impact categories.
Google's products, tools and training - like Growth Engine - help entrepreneurs grow and provide economic opportunity and jobs locally and around the world. And with this new award, we are able to highlight more great examples of European entrepreneurs. If you would like to get involved, please apply here.
Posted by Torsten Schuppe, Senior Director Marketing, Google Europe, Middle East and Africa
