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News and notes from Google Canada
Making it easier to control your data, directly in Google products
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
We’re always working on making it easier for you to understand and control your data so you can make privacy choices that are right for you. Earlier this year, we launched a new Google Account experience that puts your privacy and security front and center, and we updated our Privacy Policy with videos and clearer language to better describe the information we collect, why we collect it, and how you can control it.
Today, we’re making it easier for you to make decisions about your data directly within the Google products you use every day, starting with Search. Without ever leaving Search, you can now review and delete your recent Search activity, get quick access to the most relevant privacy controls in your Google Account, and learn more about how Search works with your data.
Control your data, directly in the Google products you use every day
When you use Google products, you generate data about your activity. For Search, this data includes the terms you search for, links you interact with and other information like your current location when you search.
Before today, if you were searching on Google and wanted to review or manage this data, the best way for you to do that would have been to visit your
Google Account
. Now, we’re bringing these controls to you – from directly within Search, you can review or delete your Search activity and quickly get back to finding what you were searching for.
We’re also providing quick access to the privacy controls in your Google Account that are most relevant as you use Search. For example, to control the ads you see when you search, we give you access to your Ad Settings. Additionally, you can access your Activity Controls to decide what information Google saves to your account and uses to make Search and other Google services faster, smarter and more useful.
If you want to learn more about what data is being generated as you use Google services and how we use data to improve your experience, you can now find a short video that helps explain this information.
We’re launching
this improvement
in Google Search on desktop and mobile web today, and in the Google app for iOS and Android in the coming weeks. Next year, we’ll expand this to Maps, followed by many other Google products. Having access to relevant and actionable privacy controls directly from the Google products you use every day is just one way that we are continuously working to build privacy that works for everyone.
Posted by Eric Miraglia, Director of Product Management, Privacy and Data Protection Office
Google Pixel 3. Make every day more extraordinary.
Tuesday, October 9, 2018
Today we’re introducing
Pixel 3 and Pixel 3XL
, the new smartphones from Google. Pixel brings you the best of Google in a phone, powered by AI to deliver more helpful, thoughtful, and enjoyable experiences. That means a camera that uses AI to help make sure you never miss the shot and a more helpful visual and audio experience while charging, powered by the Google Assistant.
Brilliant photos every time and super-charged selfies
We’re taking more photos on our phones than ever before, but we still often miss the perfect moment. Pixel 3 helps you get that perfect shot on the first try.
Here’s how the best camera gets even better with Pixel 3:
Capture smiles, not blinks:
A feature we call Top Shot uses AI to help you capture the perfect photo every time. When you take a motion photo, it captures alternate shots in HDR+, then recommends the best one—even if it’s not exactly when you hit the shutter, looking for those where everyone is smiling, with eyes open, and facing the camera. Top Shot automatically captures alternate shots in HDR+. If your timing wasn’t perfect, the camera will suggest a better one and give you the option to save it.
Get better zoom:
When you zoom in on a phone camera, the image looks grainy. Super Res Zoom is a computational photography technique, traditionally used for astronomy and scientific imaging, that produces sharp details when you zoom.
No light; no problem:
Pixel 3 lets you take natural-looking photos in dark surroundings, all without a flash. With Night Sight, coming soon to Pixel 3, you can take bright, detailed, colorful shots around the campfire, in a moonlit forest, or a selfie after you close out the bar.
No selfie stick required:
Get everyone in the picture with Group Selfie, which gives you 184% more room in your photo for friends and scenery.
Look … no hands!
Photobooth mode uses AI to recognize that when you’re smiling or making a funny expression, you’re ready for a selfie. It snaps the photo on its own so that you don’t need to reach for the shutter button—a good option for candids.
Even more stunning portraits, front and back:
When you take photos in Portrait Mode, you can change the blurriness of the background, or change the part of the picture in focus, after the fact. Google Photos can also make the subject of your photo pop by leaving them in color, while changing the background to black and white.
Create and play:
In Playground, you can make photos, selfies and videos come to life by adding your favorite superheroes, animated stickers and fun captions. In celebration of Marvel Studios’ 10 Year Anniversary, you’ll enjoy seeing the characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (exclusively on Pixel) react to each other and to you.
Super smooth video:
When you want to capture something that won’t stop moving—think an adorable toddler or your new puppy—Motion Auto Focus will make sure your Pixel 3 camera stays in sharp focus automatically, as you record. And if you happen to be taking a selfie video while walking or moving around, Pixel 3 brings you front-facing video stabilization.
Unlimited storage for all of your photos and videos
With Pixel 3, you can save all your favourite moments with free, unlimited photo and video storage in original resolution.
1
It’s hassle-free, you don’t have to think about back-ups. Come back to Google Photos later and search for the beach photos you took on your Pixel 3, and they’ll pop right up.
Your AI-powered sidekick
The AI in Pixel 3 enables new features that make your day-to-day actions simpler and easier.
If you want to know more about something you’re looking at, use Google Lens, built right into the Pixel 3 camera.
2
To scan and translate text, find similar styles of clothing, or identify popular plants and animals, you can now long press in the Pixel 3 camera to easily open Lens. When you point your camera at information you want to remember or don’t feel like typing in—like a URL or QR code on a flyer or an email address on a business card—Google Lens suggests what to do next, like creating a new contact.
You can count on even more help across other apps too, including Gmail’s Smart Compose, now available for mobile on Pixel 3. Smart Compose suggests phrases in your emails so that you can draft them faster, on the go. Gboard, the keyboard built into your Pixel 3, will recommend GIFs, stickers, and more, to make your conversations fun and engaging. Both are available first in English.
Digital Wellbeing
Our phones, while probably the most important tech in our lives, shouldn’t control our lives. So
Digital Wellbeing
, a suite of tools to help you find your own balance with technology, is built into Pixel 3. It includes a dashboard to help you understand how you spend time on your phone, the ability to set time limits on specific apps, and a new Wind Down mode to help you get to sleep at night by gently transitioning your display to a grayscale screen. When you don’t want to be bothered by rings or notifications, just flip to Shhh— an easy gesture that turns on Do Not Disturb and minimizes distractions.
Fast and wireless charging
Pixel 3 comes with an 18 Watt fast charger in the box, which can give you up to 7 hours of use in 15 minutes of charging.
3
With our AI-powered Adaptive Battery technique, Pixel 3 prioritizes battery power for your most important apps to make your phone last all day.
Alongside Pixel 3, we’re also introducing Pixel Stand, our new, Qi compliant wireless charger (sold separately). While charging in the
Pixel Stand
, your phone turns into a smart visual and audio experience powered by the Google Assistant. It answers your questions, plays music, helps you control smart home devices, transitions into a photo frame when idle, and much more. If you set an alarm, your screen will gently brighten over 15 minutes before your alarm goes off, mimicking the sunrise and helping you wake up naturally.
Pixel 3 is IP68 water and dust resistant and has a security chip custom-designed by Google called Titan M, making it the most secure phone we've built yet. Titan M enhances mobile security by protecting your unlock credentials, disk encryption, app data, and the integrity of the operating system code itself. Powered by Android 9 Pie, Pixel 3 comes with the latest Android operating system.
You can choose from two sizes - the 5.5” Pixel 3 and the 6.3” Pixel 3 XL - and three colours - Just Black, Clearly White, and Not Pink. Both have the exact same feature set and include high quality Pixel USB-C earbuds and a USB-C Digital to 3.5 mm headphone adapter in the box. Pixel 3 comes with dual front-firing speakers tuned by a GRAMMY-winning music producer to turn your phone into a powerful speaker. Customers who activate a Pixel 3 or Pixel 3 XL by December 31, 2018 can get 6-months of free YouTube Music Premium.
Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL will be available for pre-order on the Google Store starting today and for sale at Best Buy, Bell, Costco, Fido, Freedom, Koodo, Rogers, Telus, T-Booth, Videotron, Virgin Mobile, WirelessWave, Walmart, WoW Mobile in the coming weeks. The Pixel 5.5” 64GB will start at $999 (plus tax) and the Pixel 6.3” 64GB will start at $1129 (plus tax). The Pixel Stand will be available in November via the Google Store and select retail and carrier partners for $109 (plus tax).
1. Free, unlimited online original-quality storage for photos / videos uploaded from Pixel 3 to Google Photos through 1/31/2022, and those photos / videos will remain free at original quality.
g.co/help/photostorage
2. For available Google Lens languages go to
g.co/help/lens
. Some Lens features require an internet connection.
3. Approximate battery life based on a mix of talk, data, standby, and use of other features, with always on display off and mobile hotspot off, according to a user profile as defined by Google. An active display or data usage will decrease battery life. Charging rates are based on use of the included charger. Charging time performance statistics are approximate. Actual results may vary.
Posted by Mario Queiroz, GM & VP, Pixel
Google Pixel Slate: Perfect for Work and Play
Tuesday, October 9, 2018
Our devices should be as versatile as we are—keeping up with quick transitions between work and play. That means devices should boot up fast, last all day and get better the more you use them. And it’s why a truly versatile operating system, matched with high performance hardware, is so important.
Last year, Chrome OS took a big step forward to become even more versatile for all your computing needs, adding apps from the Google Play Store as well as the Google Assistant. We tied it all together with
Pixelbook
, our high-performance Chromebook. And today we’re excited to share a new addition to the hardware family:
Google Pixel Slate
.
Google Pixel Slate is designed to entertain and help you do more in a fresh, mobile form. We combined a touch-first user interface, optimized Android apps and powerful desktop-style features in Chrome OS to deliver a truly no-compromise device.
V
ersatile hardware design
Pixel Slate feels great in your hands thanks to its evenly balanced centre-of-gravity, rounded edges and curved 2.5D glass. At just 7mm thin and 1.6 lbs with a display that covers nearly the entire front of the device, Pixel Slate was designed to maximize what matters most to you.
Movies, photos and games come to life in brilliant resolution with Pixel Slate. We engineered the device with a stunning, detailed display so sitting back to enjoy a movie is better than ever. The all-new Molecular Display™ packs 293 pixels per inch—that’s 6 million pixels—for the sharpest picture.
Your music sounds great too. Pixel Slate has dual front-firing speakers that were algorithmically tuned to perfection for crisp highs and clear lows.
You can also be able to connect with the people you care most about. It includes 8MP cameras on both the rear and front, and the front-facing Duo Cam provides an extra wide field of view with exceptional low light performance. You can even take great photos using portrait mode, which uses on-device machine learning to keep a single point in focus.
Lastly, Pixel Slate comes with up to 12 hours of battery life with typical mixed usage, so you can use it for a day of work or class, then watch movies on your train ride home.
Reimagining Chrome OS for a touch screen
Pixel Slate is powered by a reimagined Chrome OS that enables easy navigation on a touchscreen. It’s designed to be held in your hands, while giving you a full desktop experience where you can even run Linux if you’re a developer. It makes getting things done easy, with the Google Assistant built in, a new launcher, machine learning-generated suggestions for the apps you use most, and multitasking tools like split screen. It's also got a full desktop Chrome browser—with all your favorite extensions—so you won’t be limited by the mobile version of a website on Pixel Slate.
And what would modern computing be without apps? G Suite apps, which are used by more than a billion people worldwide to collaborate better, work great on Pixel Slate. Google Play gives you access to millions of apps from notetaking to gaming, entertainment, fitness and much more, both online and offline. When you’re done interacting with all this content, we’ve built in digital wellness features like Night Light and Do Not Disturb to ensure you can disconnect when needed. You’ll even be able to set digital ground rules for your family with Family Link, which gives you control over how your children’s device is used.
As with every Chrome OS device, Pixel Slate boots up in seconds and, when online, updates in the background so you always have the latest security and features without any of those annoying update notifications and interruptions. Pixel Slate adds an extra layer of protection with the Titan security chip so your information, device passwords and OS are protected on your device.
Pixel Slate is easy to unlock too. With Pixel Imprint™, the power button doubles as a fingerprint sensor, so you can unlock it just as quickly and securely as you do on your Pixel phone.
Pixel Slate Keyboard and Pixelbook Pen
If you want to be seriously productive, you need a great keyboard. The Pixel Slate Keyboard, which pairs perfectly with Pixel Slate, includes a full-size, backlit keyboard, with round Hush Keys™ that let you type quietly, a dedicated Google Assistant key and an extra large trackpad. The folio is adjustable so you can comfortably work at any angle, then it turns into a slim protective case when you’re on the go.
Pixel Slate also works with Pixelbook Pen, which launched last year and had the lowest latency of any digital pen out there. This year it’s even better and comes in a new Midnight Blue colour.
Get yours soon. Starting at $849 (plus tax), Pixel Slate comes in several configurations. Pixel Slate Keyboard is $259 (plus tax) and Pixelbook Pen is $129 (plus tax). All three will be available later this year** on the Google Store, Best Buy Canada and at other select retailers.
**This device has not been authorized as required by the rules of the FCC, Industry Canada or CE. This device is not, and may not be, offered for sale or lease, or sold or leased, until authorization is obtained.
Matt Vokoun, Director, Product Management, Hardware, Google
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