Google is making a change to its search results with the goal of improving the media literacy of online users. The company is expanding the capabilities of its “About this Result” feature, launched earlier this year, to also now include information about the source itself, including its description from Wikipedia and what the site says about itself, as well as news, reviews, and other context that can help people better evaluate unfamiliar or new sources. It will also point users to… Source link

At its Search On event today, Google introduced several new features that, taken together, are its strongest attempts yet to get people to do more than type a few words into a search box. By leveraging its new Multitask Unified Model (MUM) machine learning technology in small ways, the company hopes to kick off a virtuous cycle: it will provide more detail and context-rich answers, and in return it hopes users will ask more detailed and context-rich questions. The end result, the company… Source link

Google has updates for a handful of tools aimed at helping people use Maps for more, or get on them in the first place. The company is improving wildfire tracking, expanding a tool for calculating tree canopy cover in cities, and further automating virtual address creation with Plus Codes. The wildfires will be of the most immediate use to most users, since the once rare disaster has evolved into its own recurring season. Google put out a wildfire tracking tool last year for people… Source link

Google Maps has new features that should make it easier for users to see wildfires, tree canopy, and locations without formal addresses. It’s all aimed at helping communities be “safer, more sustainable, and discoverable,” according to the company. A new wildfire layer on Maps will begin rolling out globally this week, Google announced today. It’ll show most major fires, those prompting evacuations, across the world. Red splotches and pins on the layer will indicate where blazes… Source link

Google, an unlikely underdog, is struggling to keep pace with Amazon . com Inc. in the battle for billions in e-commerce ad dollars. In its latest strategy shift, the Alphabet Inc. unit said Wednesday that it is updating the look and format of product search pages to feature images of apparel, accessories and other items to better resemble a digital store rather than a long list of links and text. Source link

Warby Parker (WRBY) shares began trading at $54.05 each on Wednesday, giving the direct-to-consumer eyewear company a valuation of about $6 billion. The company went public via a direct listing with a reference price of $40 per share set by the New York Stock Exchange. The stock soared more than 30% from its reference price in the first minutes of trading.  Warby Parker is seen as a disruptor within the eyewear industry.  “What a lot of people don’t realize is how big the optical business… Source link

“Can you get medicine for someone at the pharmacy?” It’s a simple enough question for humans to understand, says Pandu Nayak, vice president of search at Google, but such a query represents the cutting-edge of machine comprehension. You and I can see that the questioner is asking if they can fill out a subscription for another person, Nayak tells The Verge. But until recently, if you typed this question into Google, it would direct you to websites explaining how to fill out your… Source link

Iowa State University paid $35,000 for Edward Snowden to make a digital appearance earlier this year, Yahoo Finance has learned, and the exiled leaker started a newsletter despite a court ruling that placed a permanent injunction on similar paid speeches and writings without authorization from his former government employers. The situation creates a dilemma for the U.S. government: Move to enforce the terms of the Sept. 29, 2020 court ruling, which would raise complicated legal issues, or… Source link

Wasting no time, crypto bulls already see last week’s banishment of crypto trading by the Chinese government as a boon to the emerging sector. Speaking at Yahoo Finance’s Crypto Investing Summit this week, the investor and podcaster, Anthony Pompliano, echoed the sentiment of many longtime investors of the asset class.  The Chinese government banned cryptocurrency activities at least 5 different times before last week, with this most recent action making crypto trading or offering any… Source link

Google app is seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken, July 13, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration//File Photo MOSCOW, Sept 29 (Reuters) – A Moscow court on Wednesday fined Alphabet Inc.’s (GOOGL.O) Google 6.5 million roubles ($89,535) for not deleting content that Russia deems illegal, part of a wider dispute between Moscow and the U.S. tech giant. Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Russia threatened to block YouTube earlier on Wednesday after Russian… Source link