Google For Brazil: How Google wants to bring technology closer to Brazilians

Brazil is the second country that spends more time online, the third in average hours of internet consumption on cell phones and more than 50% of online searches are done on smartphones. Taking this information into consideration, the Google held the third edition of Google for Brazil to announce some of the company's initiatives to make life easier for Brazilians, at an event held at the Memorial da América Latina, in São Paulo.

O showmetech was present at the event and we will tell you all the tools and projects that the North American company intends to implement in Brazil. The news ranges from Free Wi-Fi even incentives for women to develop games.

“The internet on mobile is increasingly important for the growth and development of our economy and the well-being of our citizens. Our role is to change people and companies to take advantage of all these opportunities when we connect the world on and the world off”

Fábio Coelho, president of Google in Brazil

Google Station: Fast and Free Wi-Fi in Brazil

Brazil is the eighth country in the world to receive the Google Station, the announcement was made today in Google For Brazil. The platform aims to offer free, high-quality Wi-Fi hotspots to expand access and connectivity in emerging countries. São Paulo was the first city where the technology was implemented. There are access points in public spaces and parks (Ibirapuera and Chico Mendes), squares (Largo da Concórdia and Praça Silva Teles) and CPTM subway and train stations (such as Barra Funda and Pinheiros).

“I am delighted to announce Google Station, which makes internet available in public places. To give you an idea of ​​the platform's connection speed, it allows users to watch movies in high resolution. Here in Brazil we have 80 points that are already active here in São Paulo”

Fábio Coelho, president of Google Brazil

Google Assistant becomes more accessible to Brazilians

Virtual assistants have become popular among Brazilians. Today, the country is among the three markets that most use the voice device in the world. During Google For Brazil, a recent survey showed that more than 90% of Brazilians have already sent a voice message through their cell phone and more than 60% have already used their voice to control their smartphones.

“Voice has been a key factor in changing Google from a company that helps find answers to a company that also helps people get things done. And for Google, there is no better application for this than Google Assistant, which is the easiest way to get things done throughout the day.”

Marvin Chow, Vice President of Marketing at Google.

Smart Feature Phone with Google Assistant Button

Google aims to make Google technology Google Assistant available to as many people as possible. During Google for Brazil, the first KaiOS smart feature phone in Brazil was announced, manufactured by the Brazilian company Impact, which has a dedicated Assistant button. Users can quickly access information, launch applications and control the phone using just their voice. The device will be on sale until the end of June for R$ 279.

As the proposal of the cell phone is the consumer who does not spend too much, it includes a quad-core 1.3Ghz processor, 512 MB of RAM and 4 GB of internal space. On the rear camera, there is a sensor with VGA quality and battery has 1.350mAh. Positivo's smart feature phone runs applications such as WhatsApp, Facebook and has dedicated access to Google Assistant.

Smart Home with Positivo

A Impact kicks off the launch of its first set of products for the Smart home with voice command through Google Assistant. With a new range of products that includes a lamp, socket plug, cameras, sensors and an alarm, the aim is to make Casa Inteligente even more accessible, with prices starting at R$99,00. These items will be available in Brazil until the end of the month.

Painted Chicken

Last year, Google saw a 4-fold increase in the number of projects created on the Actions on Google in Brazil. Among the cases chosen to show the success of the platform, the highlight was the Galinha Pintadinha franchise. Today, with the aim of bringing an interactive experience to kids and the whole family using Google Assistant, three new activities were announced. One of the novelties is to relive our childhood games like playing Statue. It is also possible to chat with Galinha Pintadinha, or play Galinha Sabidinha, a game that promotes the development of children's learning skills, such as identifying colors, objects and quantities.

“The success of Galinha Pintadinha was based on reviving songs from our childhood such as Sapo Não Lava o Pé, Sambalelê, among others. And one of the most interesting things about this Google Assistant integration also came from this idea: reliving our childhood memories and experiences, like playing Statue. This and other games are available on Google Assistant, enabling children and families to learn and play through voice.”

Lauren Pachaly,Head of Marketing for Google Assistant in Brazil.

Waze for Cities Data partners will access Google Cloud Storage for free

Today the Waze announces that all partners in the Waze for Cities Data can now store data for free on Google Cloud, and access the BigQuery and data studio. This will allow partners to access historical data, perform analysis and create data visualizations – making it even easier to identify patterns of mobility, and measure the effects before and after interventions.

O Waze For Cities Data (formerly known as Connected Citizens) debuted in October 2014 with ten partner cities and has grown to over 1.000 partners worldwide. Free, this program is a two-way street for exchanging publicly available data, and takes advantage of mobile technology and data traffic. crowdsourcing to strengthen municipalities and first responders to improve existing urban infrastructure. Currently, there are 190 partners throughout Latin America, 70 of which in Brazil, including the cities of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Joinville and Vitória, in addition to bodies such as the DNIT (National Department of Transport Infrastructure), and many others.

O Waze For Cities Data is a prime example of the “Waze way” and our commitment to working with communities and governments to help reduce traffic and improve urban mobility. The free two-way data sharing program gives city leaders a better way to see and understand intelligent data, empowering them to make more informed decisions that will help citizens move more freely around the world.

New Google My Business Tools Connect Followers and Businesses

Google introduced new features of the Google My Business, a free tool that facilitates connections between consumers and small and medium-sized businesses, such as stores and restaurants, on Search and Google Maps. Today, there are already more than 10 million locations on Maps in Brazil and the number of verified businesses grew by 50% in 2018.

Among the novelties presented at Google For Brazil, consumers can now follow companies they are interested in. They will be able to reach out to their followers to send them first-hand offers and updates. Each person can follow as many establishments as they wish within the Search e Google Maps, which will send notifications about the news.

Another novelty is the welcome offer, which merchants will be able to send to their new followers, establishing a bond with new customers. O Google My Business also offers the option for entrepreneurs to create shortened links to their establishments. In this way, it will be possible to have a domain g.page/businessname.

With the shortened link, companies will be able to send the company page on Google Maps as a source of information about the business for potential consumers or even include the link in your promotional materials.

Model of how the “Follow” button will appear in Search

the event of Google in Brazil was full of research, among them, an interesting one regarding small businessmen was highlighted. According to the survey, only 40% of small businesses have a website. Taking this information into account, the new tools presented in the Google For Brazil are part of the company's effort to help entrepreneurs secure an online presence to attract new customers and build connections. These features complement other features that have been released in the past and that have helped more than 600 small businesses create and publish a website using a profile on Google My Business.

Since 96% of Brazilians use the web to research SME products and services, according to a Google survey with the Provokers held in November, it is essential that entrepreneurs provide information about the trade, whether in a physical store or online, to be found by potential consumers and increase sales.

The news will be available to all users later this month. Entrepreneurs can access Google My Business in the browser version or download the application on Google Play ou na App Store.

Google presents Professional IT Support Certificate

O Google also announced today the Professional IT Support Certificate, a course developed by the company and hosted at Coursera, online teaching platform. This program is part of Grow with Google, an initiative to help Brazilians gain the digital skills they need to find a job. To guarantee access to the program for Brazilians of all origins, the Google worked How Coursera to make the course available at a reduced price of $39 per month. It has been translated into Portuguese and will be available in Brazil from September 16th.

Scholarship for Brazilian Students

As part of this release, the Google will allow the offer of scholarships to more than 2 thousand people in Brazil thanks to a donation of R$ 4,5 million from Google.org, Google's philanthropy arm, to Junior Achievement Brazil (JA Brazil) to help needy communities gain free access to the program.

JA Brasil will join other civil society organizations and government entities with the aim of identifying people in priority groups, including youth, unemployed people, women and blacks, in several states in Brazil, and providing them with a scholarship. Those selected by JA Brasil will also receive training in complementary skills to be more prepared for the job market.

It is worth mentioning that, according to the digital skills index presented at the beginning of the year by the Google in collaborative research with McKinsey, investment in training and developing these skills could lead to an increase of R$70 billion in Brazil's GDP in 2025, corresponding to a 40% growth in income.

“It is in the Adecco Group's genetics to transform the future of work and how people work by making it possible for everyone. The partnership with Google came together to continue building the future of work through a program that, in addition to offering a solid future for young people and adults, allows inclusion in such a competitive job market.”

Ariel Gustavo Acosta, Marketing coordinator.

Google News Initiative Innovation Challenge arrives in Latin America

In March of last year, the Google News Initiative, the company's effort to help journalism thrive in the digital age. At the time, a global commitment of $300 million over three years was announced. To date, the GNI (Google News Initiative) has invested 120 million in Google initiatives and with more than 350 organizations in 70 countries. In Brazil, this investment reached 36 million reais in the same period.

During the Google for Brazil, several actions of the Google News Initiative were announced that continue the company's commitment to journalism. The first of them, the Google News Initiative Latin America Innovation Challenge, will benefit initiatives aimed at ensuring the sustainability of journalistic companies on the continent, thanks to the development of new business models and journalistic products. Each selected project may receive up to R$ 1 million in support from GNI.

Applications are open to any journalistic company: digital natives, startups, NGOs, traditional vehicles, television channels and freelancers. For Google, it is important that projects bring positive results not only for the vehicle itself, but also consider the press ecosystem as a whole, as collaborative projects presented by two or more press organizations.

To ensure that the entire Latin American press takes advantage of the results, Google will produce case studies and share the insights generated from each project with the entire industry. In the website g.co/desafioGNI, interested parties can obtain more information. The deadline for submitting projects is July 23, 2019, at 01:59 am (Brasilia time).

Google Shopping launches new shopping search experience

O Google Shopping, a platform that connects consumers and retailers, gained new features during Google for Brazil. As of July, when accessing the google.com/shopping, users will be able to browse by clicking directly on product images, in addition to being able to view a personalized showcase based on their interests online.

This new immersive experience aims to make the consumer journey more intuitive and personalized and was thought of as a search function and other platforms during the Brazilian shopping journey, as the country was chosen to be the second market in the world to receive this novelty, after being introduced in India in December 2018.

To improve users' online experience, the platform now has smart features, including a price drop indicator and a collection of the most popular products. In addition, it will be possible to access the “Shopping” tab during a Google search to find a list of products related to the search. Users will be able to see all product details and check out retailers that have them in stock.

privacy for everyone

O Google for Brazil, Kent Walker, SVP of Global Affairs, announced several tools and actions that demonstrate the company's commitment to the security and privacy of its users. The product and platform update package is now available in Portuguese for all users in Brazil to use on their Android phone to perform two-step verification on their Google account.

Use Android phone to do XNUMX-step verification on Google account

Security keys provide the most robust and secure two-step verification against phishing attacks. They are now built into Android phones, making them available to over a billion compatible devices. This makes it easier and more convenient for users to unlock this protection without having to carry additional security keys. To activate the phone's built-in security key, users need an Android 7.0 phone and a computer with Chrome OS, MacOS X, or Windows 10 enabled for Bluetooth connection with a Chrome browser.

“Your Data” in Search, Maps, Assistant and coming soon to YouTube

Last year, Google announced access to the “Your Data” page directly in Search, allowing any user to easily access the data and make informed decisions without leaving the search page. In a single tap, you can review and delete recent Search history, get quick access to the most relevant privacy controls in your Google Account, and learn more about how Search uses your data. Starting today, the same functionality is available in Portuguese for Maps, Assistant and, soon, on YouTube.

auto-delete

No Google I/O, a Google developer conference, a new control has been introduced that allows you to choose a time limit between 3 and 18 months for how long your Location History and Web Activity and App Activity data will be saved. Any older data may be continuously deleted from the account. This new control is available worldwide today for Web Activity and App Activity.

Incognito mode for Google apps

Since it was released over a decade ago, Chrome's Incognito Browsing has given you the option to browse the internet without your activity being saved to your browser or device. Soon this option will be on Google Maps. When incognito mode is enabled in the tool, activities such as places searched or routes traced will not be saved to Google Account.

Change the Game Challenge: Google rewards young game creators

Google opened today on Google For Brazill the inscriptions for the Change the Game Challenge, which will award the best game ideas that young women, aged 15 to 21, want to come true. Two winners will be selected, who will have their games produced and released in Google Play in early 2020. Another 500 girls will take 16 courses, totaling 144 hours of online programming classes.

The main objective of the program is to train the next generation of game creators and promote diversity in the area. According to data from the Game Brazil Survey (PGB), in 2018, 75,5% of Brazilians play electronic games. Of them, more than half (58,9%) are women. However, they represent only 15% of students enrolled in Computer Science and Engineering courses, according to data from the Brazilian Computer Society (SBC).

“We want the Change the Game Challenge to show women that they can also choose careers in exact science, programming or IT. Since they are immersed, as much as men, in this world of games, they can also pursue those careers where they are now a minority.”

Maia Mau, Head of Google Play Marketing for Latin America

Young people from all over Brazil, students from public and private schools, can participate in the challenge through the website g.co/challengechangethegame. No experience in game design or programming is required.

Brazil registers great adhesion of Google Go and Gboard

Launched last year, the Google Go had great support from the Brazilian public. The application created to help new smartphone users access the web was received by Brazilians with great enthusiasm, placing the country as the second largest in use of the tool, behind only India.

The tool indicates content of interest through shortcuts to the most searched applications and terms, in addition to helping a percentage of the population with a low level of literacy or people with visual impairments. A function made available in August of last year reinforces the concern to integrate people who have difficulty accessing content in text format, when reading the accessed pages aloud.

Having only 5 MB, the Google Go provides fast access even in slow connection zones and saves up to 40% of internet data. Such benefits are guaranteeing a consistent growth in the use of the tool in Brazil since its launch, which shows that, once the navigation barriers are reduced, Brazilians make the most of the opportunity to explore the web.

Furthermore, the Gboard, Google's virtual keyboard for Android, also allows everyone to use smartphones. Since the Germanic dialect, Hunsrik – spoken by thousands of people in Rio de Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina – was made available, native Brazilians write the equivalent of several books in the language per day in the tool.

Google Arts & Culture launches a never-before-seen retrospective of Portinari on Google For Brazil

In partnership with six cultural institutions, the Google Arts & Culture launches today an unprecedented retrospective of one of the most acclaimed Brazilian artists in the world: Candido Portinari. For the first time, it is possible to check in one place more than 5.000 digitized works of art, in addition to 15.000 letters and documents from the artist's personal archive, distributed in twenty virtual exhibitions.

The collection "Portinari: The People's Painter” is the first retrospective dedicated to a Brazilian artist on Google Arts & Culture. It is the result of a great collaboration between museums and cultural institutions led by Projeto Portinari, an institution founded by Portinari's son, João Candido Portinari, and the Google platform that joined their efforts to make all the painter's works available online, including documents and photographs, historical letters, a 360° virtual reality tour of the artist's home and various details of his paintings and sketches. The twenty virtual exhibitions highlight the main phases of the artist's trajectory and the major social issues raised by him in his work.

The collection includes 10 images captured in very high resolution (gigapixel) by the Art Camera, including “Mestiço” (1934), “Mestiço” (XNUMX), “coffee farmer"(1934) and"Coffee” (1935). Also available in the virtual collection are images of the works “Guerra” and “Paz”, both on display at the United Nations building in New York.

From now on, it is also possible to browse the symbolic places that impacted Portinari's career. For this, Google Arts & Culture created a Street View tour of the artist's house in Brodowski, São Paulo, which shows the spaces and examples of the routine he lived at the time he created several of his famous paintings. This is also where he conducted his experiments with wall painting, a technique he has delved into over the years.

In addition to details of the artworks, around 15.000 historical documents are available on the Google platform, including letters such as the letter-manifesto to Rosalita, his friend at the time, in which he describes the colors and realities of his country, and photographs that explain the artist's life and its importance to the whole world.

Google improves real-time soccer tools in Search

Millions of Brazilians search for “football”, in fact, they search more than any country in the world. That's why our team works constantly to create a better experience every day for sports lovers who want to follow their favorite championship in real time. This year, for the first time, we are launching an experience dedicated to the FIFA Women's World Cup, which kicks off this Friday (7th June) in France.

As was the case at the Men's World Cup, users will be able to experience features that help to monitor the matches in real time, in addition to checking a timeline with photos, comments, lineups, minute by minute of each game, news, among others. There are also new features such as the possibility to follow three scores at the same time from the mobile screen, subscribe to the games of your favorite team and check the live ranking of the tournament. These features were also recently launched for the Brazilian championship.

Check out more details of the features launched in 2019. Most of them were developed from the Google Engineering Office in Latin America, located in Belo Horizonte, and announced today during Google for Brazil by the Director of Engineering of Google Brazil, Berthier-Ribeiro Grandchild.

Live Ranking in Search: the functionality shows, in real time, the leaderboard in the championship, according to the scores of the games that are happening at that moment. In addition, users can track the results of each team's last five matches;

Subscribe to your team's games: You can also subscribe to receive notifications and updates about your favorite team by searching Google Search and tapping “Follow”;

Three scoreboards at the same time on the mobile screen

Newly launched, the tool makes it possible to follow up to three scores in real time directly on the screen of the Android phone. To do this, you need to search the match, click and drag to fix the score anywhere on the screen.

]Watch the best moments straight from Search: check out highlights in near real-time videos (goals, best moments, etc.) and link to the broadcaster's website that will show the games. The action will be available in Brazil.