In January every year, there is a trade fair that takes place in Las Vegas where manufacturers from across the world display their latest consumer technology products.

The exhibition is called the Consumer Electronic Show, or CES.&quot;Good Morning and welcome to CES 2018, the largest tech event, actually the largest business event in the world.

This weekend, Las Vegas is preparing to be Whoa! Over the next four days, tens of thousands of the brightest and most innovative minds will gather to connect and do business in order to advance the tech industry,&quot; Gary Shapiro of Consumer Technology Association said.

This year, approximately 4,000 companies took part in the event.

Manufacturers of cameras, virtual reality (VR) games, robot and automotive tech, also showcased their new technologies.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.wionews.com/business-economy/the-international-consumer-electronics-show-2018-wireless-charging-autonomous-vehicles-virtual-reality-and-other-top-takeaways-29500">CES 2018: Wireless charging, autonomous vehicles, virtual reality and other top takeaways</a>

&quot;Galaxy experience on CES 2018 is introduced with a whole bunch of different VR experiences. Interactive experiences so you can feel the products in real life from an alpine skiing experience where we are having a competition running. Or someone can walk home with a gear that fits like a pro,&quot; Paul Boris of Vuzix Corporation said.

Health-related products were displayed such as monitoring and wearable diagnostic devices, and with these new inventions, the healthcare industry is embracing new technologies to enhance the patient experience.

&quot;We designed and manufactured electronic two sensors. These are skin software sensors that can be used to mark your electrocardiogram, electronic safer-gram, and electronic mark-gram. Basically, all the sensors that are metrics coming from your body, Dr. Pulin Wang of Rotex Inc. said.

The products of &quot;IoT- Internet of Things&quot; with their AI technology which is attracting attention have shown an exhibit whereby the furniture and the system of the entire house are highly interactive and in close contact with life.

The 5G network is used in building a lot of technology. 5G means greater data through capacity, faster speed, and lower latency.

Automatic driving systems and a smart speaker supported &quot;Google assistant&quot; are well-known examples.

&quot;This is a Google assistant enabled smart home speaker, and it&#39;s the very first smart home speaker with built-in Z-wave Zigbee Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, it&#39;s going to be launched in the marketplace within the first quarter of 2018 and all for the retail price of $149,&quot; Avi Rosenthal of Z-Wave Alliance said.

The latest technologies and products presented at &quot;CES&quot; are a glimpse into what the future lives of people around the world will be.

 
&nbsp;

This year, approximately 4,000 companies took part in the event

In January every year, there is a trade fair that takes place in Las Vegas where manufacturers from across the world display their latest consumer technology products. The exhibition is called the Consumer Electronic Show, or CES."Good Morning and welcome to CES 2018, the largest tech event, actually the largest business event in the world. This weekend, Las Vegas is preparing to be Whoa! Over the next four days, tens of thousands of the brightest and most innovative minds will gather to connect and do business in order to advance the tech industry," Gary Shapiro of Consumer Technology Association said. This year, approximately 4,000 companies took part in the event. Manufacturers of cameras, virtual reality (VR) games, robot and automotive tech, also showcased their new technologies. Also read: CES 2018: Wireless charging, autonomous vehicles, virtual reality and other top takeaways "Galaxy experience on CES 2018 is introduced with a whole bunch of different VR experiences. Interactive experiences so you can feel the products in real life from an alpine skiing experience where we are having a competition running. Or someone can walk home with a gear that fits like a pro," Paul Boris of Vuzix Corporation said. Health-related products were displayed such as monitoring and wearable diagnostic devices, and with these new inventions, the healthcare industry is embracing new technologies to enhance the patient experience. "We designed and manufactured electronic two sensors. These are skin software sensors that can be used to mark your electrocardiogram, electronic safer-gram, and electronic mark-gram. Basically, all the sensors that are metrics coming from your body, Dr. Pulin Wang of Rotex Inc. said. The products of "IoT- Internet of Things" with their AI technology which is attracting attention have shown an exhibit whereby the furniture and the system of the entire house are highly interactive and in close contact with life. The 5G network is used in building a lot of technology. 5G means greater data through capacity, faster speed, and lower latency. Automatic driving systems and a smart speaker supported "Google assistant" are well-known examples. "This is a Google assistant enabled smart home speaker, and it's the very first smart home speaker with built-in Z-wave Zigbee Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, it's going to be launched in the marketplace within the first quarter of 2018 and all for the retail price of $149," Avi Rosenthal of Z-Wave Alliance said. The latest technologies and products presented at "CES" are a glimpse into what the future lives of people around the world will be.

CES introduces world's best technologies

In the wake of Apple&#39;s shuttle buses being repeatedly attacked in San Francisco, the tech giant has decided to reroute its shuttle bus service.

Google is also reported to have joined the move.&nbsp;

According to reports, Apple&#39;s employee-transit buses were being repeatedly attacked -- with an unidentifiable object, possibly pellet guns -- after which the company, in a mail marked to its employees, decided to reroute the bus service.&nbsp;

The responsibility of the attacks has not been claimed so far.&nbsp;

According to the official email obtained by Mashable, Apple&#39;s buses were being attacked near highway 280 in California.

The mail mentioned that the officials are currently investigating the matter with an aim to zero down on the person or the party responsible for the attacks.&nbsp;

Apple also noted that the safety of its employees is of the utmost concern and while rerouting may translate into extra commute of around 30-40 minutes for the employees, it is being done only in the interest of the employees.

At least five Apple buses have been reported damaged with no person injured so far.&nbsp;

The Silicon Valley is subject to witnessing protests by the locals over skyrocketing property prices.

Many people attribute Apple&#39;s bus damage incidents to similar protests against tech giants in the Silicon Valley. 
&nbsp;

The responsibility of the attacks has not been claimed so far

In the wake of Apple's shuttle buses being repeatedly attacked in San Francisco, the tech giant has decided to reroute its shuttle bus service. Google is also reported to have joined the move. According to reports, Apple's employee-transit buses were being repeatedly attacked -- with an unidentifiable object, possibly pellet guns -- after which the company, in a mail marked to its employees, decided to reroute the bus service. The responsibility of the attacks has not been claimed so far. According to the official email obtained by Mashable, Apple's buses were being attacked near highway 280 in California. The mail mentioned that the officials are currently investigating the matter with an aim to zero down on the person or the party responsible for the attacks. Apple also noted that the safety of its employees is of the utmost concern and while rerouting may translate into extra commute of around 30-40 minutes for the employees, it is being done only in the interest of the employees. At least five Apple buses have been reported damaged with no person injured so far. The Silicon Valley is subject to witnessing protests by the locals over skyrocketing property prices. Many people attribute Apple's bus damage incidents to similar protests against tech giants in the Silicon Valley.

Apple buses repeatedly attacked in San Francisco

Alphabet&nbsp;Google is making its second attempt in less than a year to protect advertisers on its YouTube user channels from being associated with videos featuring violence, gore or bad language.

Under the new standards, Google will remove advertising from a &quot;significant&quot; number of YouTube channels, 99 per cent of which generated less than $100 from ads in the last year, the company announced Tuesday in response to advertisers that felt they have been underwriting inappropriate material.

Google is vowing to have people review every second of the most popular videos eligible for advertising by the end of March worldwide, and it is modifying the prerequisites for having a commercial channel.

&quot;While we took several steps last year to protect advertisers from inappropriate content, we know we need to do more to ensure that their ads run alongside content that reflects their values,&quot; Paul Muret, Google vice president of display, video and analytics, wrote in a blog post Tuesday.

The previous round of policy-tightening came after more than 250 advertisers cut back on YouTube ad-buying last spring following news reports that found their ads displayed alongside extremist propaganda.

Many brands returned within weeks or months, only to again suspend dealings with YouTube in the autumn because of headlines that linked them to videos in which children appeared endangered or popular cartoons that had been disturbingly altered. Mondelez International, whose brands include Oreo cookies and Ritz crackers, and computer and printer maker HP&nbsp;were among dropouts.

The issues have not affected YouTube&#39;s revenue, which represents a crucial growth area for Google, according to financial analysts.

Starting Feb. 20, videomakers will need to attract users watching a total of at least 4,000 hours of their clips within the preceding 12 months and notch 1,000 followers before being able to host ads and share in revenue from them. The requirement introduced last April had been 10,000 followers with no viewing time standard.

Booting small channels from advertising eligibility will not fully address concerns raised by advertisers about videomakers going too far, YouTube acknowledged in the blog post.

Celebrity video blogger Logan Paul has 15 million followers, but YouTube last week pared back its commercial relationship with him after he drew public outrage for showing a suicide victim in a clip.

YouTube executives said they would &quot;schedule conversations with our creators in the months ahead&quot; to see &quot;what more we can do to tackle that challenge.&quot;

Alphabet Google is making its second attempt in less than a year to protect advertisers on its YouTube user channels from being associated with videos featuring violence, gore or bad language

Alphabet Google is making its second attempt in less than a year to protect advertisers on its YouTube user channels from being associated with videos featuring violence, gore or bad language. Under the new standards, Google will remove advertising from a "significant" number of YouTube channels, 99 per cent of which generated less than $100 from ads in the last year, the company announced Tuesday in response to advertisers that felt they have been underwriting inappropriate material. Google is vowing to have people review every second of the most popular videos eligible for advertising by the end of March worldwide, and it is modifying the prerequisites for having a commercial channel. "While we took several steps last year to protect advertisers from inappropriate content, we know we need to do more to ensure that their ads run alongside content that reflects their values," Paul Muret, Google vice president of display, video and analytics, wrote in a blog post Tuesday. The previous round of policy-tightening came after more than 250 advertisers cut back on YouTube ad-buying last spring following news reports that found their ads displayed alongside extremist propaganda. Many brands returned within weeks or months, only to again suspend dealings with YouTube in the autumn because of headlines that linked them to videos in which children appeared endangered or popular cartoons that had been disturbingly altered. Mondelez International, whose brands include Oreo cookies and Ritz crackers, and computer and printer maker HP were among dropouts. The issues have not affected YouTube's revenue, which represents a crucial growth area for Google, according to financial analysts. Starting Feb. 20, videomakers will need to attract users watching a total of at least 4,000 hours of their clips within the preceding 12 months and notch 1,000 followers before being able to host ads and share in revenue from them. The requirement introduced last April had been 10,000 followers with no viewing time standard. Booting small channels from advertising eligibility will not fully address concerns raised by advertisers about videomakers going too far, YouTube acknowledged in the blog post. Celebrity video blogger Logan Paul has 15 million followers, but YouTube last week pared back its commercial relationship with him after he drew public outrage for showing a suicide victim in a clip. YouTube executives said they would "schedule conversations with our creators in the months ahead" to see "what more we can do to tackle that challenge."

YouTube again revises rules to protect advertisers from offensive content

Google&#39;s &#39;Arts &amp; Culture&#39;&nbsp;application gets a brand new feature.

The app now comes with an option wherein users can match their selfies with some of the world&#39;s most celebrated portraits.

The app lets a user know the percentage match of each image with its corresponding piece of art.

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Thanks everyone for sharing your awesome <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoogleArts?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GoogleArts</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/selfie?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#selfie</a> matches!???? This mobile experiment (accessible at <a href="https://t.co/DUuzxlMKCd">https://t.co/DUuzxlMKCd</a>) is currently available in parts of the US. Stay tuned as we try to improve and expand! <a href="https://t.co/FCUbYG6No8">pic.twitter.com/FCUbYG6No8</a>
&mdash; Google Arts&amp;Culture (@googlearts) <a href="https://twitter.com/googlearts/status/952957246106951682?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 15, 2018</a></blockquote>
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It displays the name and the location of the matched portrait.&nbsp;

The Google Arts &amp; Culture app works by recognising facial features of a person and patterns of properties/accessories around the face -- like spectacles, beard, et cetera.

It then accumulates the pattern and features displayed on the image and matches them with its existing database of portraits.

The feature is currently restricted to users in the United States, however, people elsewhere can also access the application and its brand new feature by simply downloading a VPN app.&nbsp;

A user will require to install a VPN app and switch the &#39;location&#39; to &#39;United States&#39;. Once done, Google Arts &amp; Culture app can be downloaded and used with the new feature.&nbsp;

The app now comes with an option wherein users can match their selfies with famous portraits of the world

Google's 'Arts & Culture' application gets a brand new feature. The app now comes with an option wherein users can match their selfies with some of the world's most celebrated portraits. The app lets a user know the percentage match of each image with its corresponding piece of art. Thanks everyone for sharing your awesome #GoogleArts #selfie matches!???? This mobile experiment (accessible at https://t.co/DUuzxlMKCd) is currently available in parts of the US. Stay tuned as we try to improve and expand! pic.twitter.com/FCUbYG6No8 — Google Arts&Culture (@googlearts) January 15, 2018 × It displays the name and the location of the matched portrait. The Google Arts & Culture app works by recognising facial features of a person and patterns of properties/accessories around the face -- like spectacles, beard, et cetera. It then accumulates the pattern and features displayed on the image and matches them with its existing database of portraits. The feature is currently restricted to users in the United States, however, people elsewhere can also access the application and its brand new feature by simply downloading a VPN app. A user will require to install a VPN app and switch the 'location' to 'United States'. Once done, Google Arts & Culture app can be downloaded and used with the new feature.

Google app matches your face to famous portraits, goes viral

Youtube announced on Wednesday that they will be removing famous US vlogger Logan Paul from Google Preferred platform and also putting future projects on hold following a video he posted of a suicide victim in Japan.

&ldquo;In light of recent events, we have decided to remove Logan Paul&rsquo;s channels from Google Preferred. Additionally, we will not feature Logan in season 4 of &lsquo;Foursome&rsquo; and his new Originals are on hold,&rdquo; Alphabet Inc.&rsquo;s YouTube, said in a statement.&#39;&#39;

Paul posted a video on his Youtube channel on December 31 which showed him and his friends laughing and making jokes at a man&#39;s body hanging from a tree at the Aokigahara forest at the base of Mount Fuji, known to be a frequent site of suicides.

Paul later took down the video, titled &quot;So Sorry&quot;, after he got major backlash from the audience.&nbsp;

He also issued an apology and posted a tweet on January 2 saying that he made a &quot;huge mistake.&quot;

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Dear Internet, <a href="https://t.co/42OCDBhiWg">pic.twitter.com/42OCDBhiWg</a>
&mdash; Logan Paul (@LoganPaul) <a href="https://twitter.com/LoganPaul/status/948026294066864128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 2, 2018</a></blockquote>
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He also uploaded a video where he apologised again and said: &quot;I should have never posted the video. I should have put the cameras down and stopped recording what we were going through.&quot;

&quot;I&#39;m ashamed of myself,&quot; he added. &quot;I&#39;m disappointed in myself.&quot;

Google Preferred features YouTube&rsquo;s most popular content in packages for sale to advertisers.

Paul, 22, is one of YouTube&rsquo;s top content creators, regularly drawing millions of views from his mainly youth-orientated audience.

Paul&rsquo;s channel, Logan Paul Vlogs, which has more than 15 million subscribers, is still active on YouTube and advertisers can still choose to advertise on his videos, or they can opt out.

Paul also had projects in the works with YouTube&rsquo;s premium subscription service, YouTube Red, and appeared on the platform&rsquo;s web series &ldquo;Foursome,&rdquo; which have now been put on hold.

YouTube in an open letter on Tuesday said it was &ldquo;upset by the video that was shared last week,&rdquo; saying that &ldquo;suicide is not a joke, nor should it ever be a driving force for views.&rdquo;

The company said Paul&rsquo;s video violated its guidelines and it was &ldquo;looking at further consequences.&rdquo;

Paul posted a video on his Youtube channel on December 31 which showed him and his friends laughing and making jokes at a man's body hanging from a tree at the Aokigahara forest at the base of Mount Fuji, known to be a frequent site of suicides

Youtube announced on Wednesday that they will be removing famous US vlogger Logan Paul from Google Preferred platform and also putting future projects on hold following a video he posted of a suicide victim in Japan. “In light of recent events, we have decided to remove Logan Paul’s channels from Google Preferred. Additionally, we will not feature Logan in season 4 of ‘Foursome’ and his new Originals are on hold,” Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube, said in a statement.'' Paul posted a video on his Youtube channel on December 31 which showed him and his friends laughing and making jokes at a man's body hanging from a tree at the Aokigahara forest at the base of Mount Fuji, known to be a frequent site of suicides. Paul later took down the video, titled "So Sorry", after he got major backlash from the audience. He also issued an apology and posted a tweet on January 2 saying that he made a "huge mistake." Dear Internet, pic.twitter.com/42OCDBhiWg — Logan Paul (@LoganPaul) January 2, 2018 × He also uploaded a video where he apologised again and said: "I should have never posted the video. I should have put the cameras down and stopped recording what we were going through." "I'm ashamed of myself," he added. "I'm disappointed in myself." Google Preferred features YouTube’s most popular content in packages for sale to advertisers. Paul, 22, is one of YouTube’s top content creators, regularly drawing millions of views from his mainly youth-orientated audience. Paul’s channel, Logan Paul Vlogs, which has more than 15 million subscribers, is still active on YouTube and advertisers can still choose to advertise on his videos, or they can opt out. Paul also had projects in the works with YouTube’s premium subscription service, YouTube Red, and appeared on the platform’s web series “Foursome,” which have now been put on hold. YouTube in an open letter on Tuesday said it was “upset by the video that was shared last week,” saying that “suicide is not a joke, nor should it ever be a driving force for views.” The company said Paul’s video violated its guidelines and it was “looking at further consequences.”

Youtube star Logan Paul removed from Google Preferred after Japan suicide video

A former Google engineer fired after he asserted in a memo that biological causes were behind tech industry gender inequality sued his former employer on Monday, saying he was discriminated against as a white man with conservative political views.&nbsp;

James Damore last year caused an uproar in Silicon Valley and beyond when he wrote the internal memo, which later became public. Google said he had perpetuated gender stereotypes and fired him in August.&nbsp;

In the months since his firing has become a popular cause among right-leaning US&nbsp;bloggers, and Damore hired a Republican Party official as his attorney.&nbsp;

Damore and another white male former Google engineer, David Gudeman, filed the lawsuit as a proposed class action in Santa Clara County Superior Court in California. The lawsuit alleges workplace discrimination and retaliation.&nbsp;

Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc based in Mountain View, California, said in a statement: &quot;We look forward to defending against Mr Damore`s lawsuit in court.&quot;&nbsp;

According to the lawsuit, the company has failed to protect employees, especially white men, from workplace harassment related to their support of US&nbsp;President Donald Trump or conservative political views.&nbsp;

&quot;Damore, Gudeman, and other class members were ostracized, belittled, and punished for their heterodox political views, and for the added sin of their birth circumstances of being Caucasians and/or males,&quot; the lawsuit said.&nbsp;

The lawsuit also accused Google of maintaining a secret blacklist of conservative media personalities who are not allowed inside the company&#39;s offices.&nbsp;

The lawsuit requested an injunction barring Google from discriminating against individuals with conservative political views, as well as for unspecified compensation.&nbsp;

Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai said when Damore was fired that portions of his memo &quot;violate our Code of Conduct and cross the line by advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace.&quot;

Gudeman was fired in December 2016 after a confrontation with a Muslim coworker on an internal Google forum, according to the lawsuit.&nbsp;

The co-worker said on the forum that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had targeted him for being a Muslim, and he expressed worry about his personal safety, the lawsuit said. Gudeman responded with scepticism, saying the coworker had provided &quot;zero evidence&quot; for the claim and suggesting the FBI may have had justification.&nbsp;

A human resources employee later told Gudeman he had accused his coworker of terrorism based on religion, and that he was being fired as a result, the lawsuit said.

Google said James Damore had perpetuated gender stereotypes and fired him in August

A former Google engineer fired after he asserted in a memo that biological causes were behind tech industry gender inequality sued his former employer on Monday, saying he was discriminated against as a white man with conservative political views. James Damore last year caused an uproar in Silicon Valley and beyond when he wrote the internal memo, which later became public. Google said he had perpetuated gender stereotypes and fired him in August. In the months since his firing has become a popular cause among right-leaning US bloggers, and Damore hired a Republican Party official as his attorney. Damore and another white male former Google engineer, David Gudeman, filed the lawsuit as a proposed class action in Santa Clara County Superior Court in California. The lawsuit alleges workplace discrimination and retaliation. Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc based in Mountain View, California, said in a statement: "We look forward to defending against Mr Damore`s lawsuit in court." According to the lawsuit, the company has failed to protect employees, especially white men, from workplace harassment related to their support of US President Donald Trump or conservative political views. "Damore, Gudeman, and other class members were ostracized, belittled, and punished for their heterodox political views, and for the added sin of their birth circumstances of being Caucasians and/or males," the lawsuit said. The lawsuit also accused Google of maintaining a secret blacklist of conservative media personalities who are not allowed inside the company's offices. The lawsuit requested an injunction barring Google from discriminating against individuals with conservative political views, as well as for unspecified compensation. Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai said when Damore was fired that portions of his memo "violate our Code of Conduct and cross the line by advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace." Gudeman was fired in December 2016 after a confrontation with a Muslim coworker on an internal Google forum, according to the lawsuit. The co-worker said on the forum that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had targeted him for being a Muslim, and he expressed worry about his personal safety, the lawsuit said. Gudeman responded with scepticism, saying the coworker had provided "zero evidence" for the claim and suggesting the FBI may have had justification. A human resources employee later told Gudeman he had accused his coworker of terrorism based on religion, and that he was being fired as a result, the lawsuit said.

Ex-Google engineer fired over gender memo sues for discrimination

Alphabet Inc&#39;s Google said on Monday its voice-controlled virtual assistant will show up this year in new tablet-like devices designed by LG Electronics Inc and Sony Corp as the technology company seeks to challenge Amazon.com Inc&#39;s dominance in a fledgeling market.

Dubbed smart displays by Google, the new devices introduce tablet-like screens to speakers that can obey oral commands to perform tasks like playing music, dimming lights, locking doors and setting alarms.

JBL and Lenovo Group Ltd also are developing smart displays, Google said.

Amazon kick-started the market for smart speakers in 2014 with its Echo device, which included the Alexa virtual assistant. The company added a screen for the first time in June, calling the device the Echo Show.

Neither Apple Inc&#39;s assistant Siri nor Microsoft Corp&#39;s Cortana is currently available on a speaker with a tablet-like display.

The new Google Assistant gadgets unveiled Monday at the CES trade show in Las Vegas marked the first challenge to Amazon&#39;s Echo Show and the smaller Echo Spot, which also has a display. The Show went on sale in June for $230 and the Spot in December for $130.

Users of the smart displays being unveiled by Google cannot browse the Web or install apps as they would on a tablet, but the new gadgets are optimized for sound quality and listening to voice commands. Information related to the commands is brought up on the touchscreen.

Lenovo&#39;s version of the smart display will come with an 8-inch screen for $200 or a 10.1-inch screen for $250. The device will go on sale &quot;early this summer&quot; and includes a camera that shoots in 720p high definition, Lenovo said.

JBL, part of Samsung Electronics&#39;&nbsp;Harman Kardon subsidiary, LG and Sony did not announce pricing and release dates.

The partnerships are important for Google as it tries to catch up with Amazon in the new category of smart speakers that both play music and function as voice-controlled electronic assistants.

About 45 million people in the United States will use smart speakers in 2018, research firm EMarketer estimates, and Amazon has about two-thirds of the U.S. market.

Amazon did not immediately respond to a request to comment.

Steep discounts during the holidays on the most affordable models of Google&#39;s Home smart speakers and the Amazon Echo likely meant both companies were taking losses to get them into millions of homes, analysts told Reuters.

In a sign of the stakes involved, Google last year cut off the Echo Show&#39;s access to YouTube and took the rare step of explicitly saying it was acting in retaliation for Amazon refusing to sell Google products.

Displaying YouTube videos and showing recipes are top selling points for smart displays, said Gummi Hafsteinsson, the Google product director overseeing Assistant.

The devices can show details about restaurants, launch a video chat over Google Duo and pull up images hosted on Google Photos. 
Google did not announce its own hardware plans on Monday.&nbsp;

The company has experimented with developing a version of Google Home with a screen, Rishi Chandra, vice president of the division, told Reuters in August.&nbsp;

Neither Apple Inc's assistant Siri nor Microsoft Corp's Cortana is currently available on a speaker with a tablet-like display

Alphabet Inc's Google said on Monday its voice-controlled virtual assistant will show up this year in new tablet-like devices designed by LG Electronics Inc and Sony Corp as the technology company seeks to challenge Amazon.com Inc's dominance in a fledgeling market. Dubbed smart displays by Google, the new devices introduce tablet-like screens to speakers that can obey oral commands to perform tasks like playing music, dimming lights, locking doors and setting alarms. JBL and Lenovo Group Ltd also are developing smart displays, Google said. Amazon kick-started the market for smart speakers in 2014 with its Echo device, which included the Alexa virtual assistant. The company added a screen for the first time in June, calling the device the Echo Show. Neither Apple Inc's assistant Siri nor Microsoft Corp's Cortana is currently available on a speaker with a tablet-like display. The new Google Assistant gadgets unveiled Monday at the CES trade show in Las Vegas marked the first challenge to Amazon's Echo Show and the smaller Echo Spot, which also has a display. The Show went on sale in June for $230 and the Spot in December for $130. Users of the smart displays being unveiled by Google cannot browse the Web or install apps as they would on a tablet, but the new gadgets are optimized for sound quality and listening to voice commands. Information related to the commands is brought up on the touchscreen. Lenovo's version of the smart display will come with an 8-inch screen for $200 or a 10.1-inch screen for $250. The device will go on sale "early this summer" and includes a camera that shoots in 720p high definition, Lenovo said. JBL, part of Samsung Electronics' Harman Kardon subsidiary, LG and Sony did not announce pricing and release dates. The partnerships are important for Google as it tries to catch up with Amazon in the new category of smart speakers that both play music and function as voice-controlled electronic assistants. About 45 million people in the United States will use smart speakers in 2018, research firm EMarketer estimates, and Amazon has about two-thirds of the U.S. market. Amazon did not immediately respond to a request to comment. Steep discounts during the holidays on the most affordable models of Google's Home smart speakers and the Amazon Echo likely meant both companies were taking losses to get them into millions of homes, analysts told Reuters. In a sign of the stakes involved, Google last year cut off the Echo Show's access to YouTube and took the rare step of explicitly saying it was acting in retaliation for Amazon refusing to sell Google products. Displaying YouTube videos and showing recipes are top selling points for smart displays, said Gummi Hafsteinsson, the Google product director overseeing Assistant. The devices can show details about restaurants, launch a video chat over Google Duo and pull up images hosted on Google Photos. Google did not announce its own hardware plans on Monday. The company has experimented with developing a version of Google Home with a screen, Rishi Chandra, vice president of the division, told Reuters in August.

Google teams with Sony, Lenovo for smart speakers with touchscreens

Britain may impose new taxes on tech giants like Google and Facebook unless they do more to combat online extremism by taking down material aimed at radicalising people or helping them to prepare attacks, the country&#39;s security minister said.

Ben Wallace accused tech firms of being happy to sell people&#39;s data but not to give it to the government which was being forced to spend vast sums on de-radicalisation programmes, surveillance and other counter-terrorism measures.

&quot;If they continue to be less than co-operative, we should look at things like tax as a way of incentivising them or compensating for their inaction,&quot; Wallace told the Sunday Times newspaper in an interview.

His quotes did not give further details on tax plans. The newspaper said that any demand would take the form of a windfall tax similar to that imposed on privatised utilities by former Prime Minister Tony Blair&#39;s government in 1997.

Wallace accused the tech giants of putting private profit before public safety.

&quot;We should stop pretending that because they sit on beanbags in T-shirts they are not ruthless profiteers,&quot; he said. &quot;They will ruthlessly sell our details to loans and soft-porn companies but not give it to our democratically elected government.&quot;

Facebook executive Simon Milner rejected the criticisms.

&quot;Mr Wallace is wrong to say that we put profit before safety, especially in the fight against terrorism,&quot; he said in an emailed statement. &quot;We&#39;ve invested millions of pounds in people and technology to identify and remove terrorist content.&quot;

&nbsp;YouTube, which is owned by Google, said it was doing more every day to tackle violent extremism.

&quot;Over the course of 2017 we have made significant progress through investing in machine learning technology, recruiting more reviewers, building partnerships with experts and collaboration with other companies,&quot; a YouTube spokeswoman said.

Deadly attacks

Britain suffered a series of attacks by Islamic extremists between March and June last year that killed a total of 36 people, excluding the attackers.

Two involved vehicles ramming people on bridges in London, followed by attackers stabbing people. The deadliest, a bombing at a concert in the northern city of Manchester, killed 22 people.

Following the second bridge attack, Prime Minister Theresa May proposed beefing up regulations on cyberspace, and weeks later interior minister Amber Rudd travelled to California to ask Silicon Valley to step up efforts against extremism.

&quot;We are more vulnerable than at any point in the last 100 years,&quot; said Wallace, citing extremist material on social media and encrypted messaging services like WhatsApp as tools that made life too easy for attackers.

&quot;Because content is not being taken down as quickly as they could do, we&#39;re having to de-radicalise people who have been radicalised. That&#39;s costing millions. They can&#39;t get away with that and we should look at all the options, including tax.&quot;

Facebook said it removed 83 percent of uploaded copies of terrorist content within one hour of its being found on the social media network.

&nbsp;It also highlighted plans to double the number of people working in its safety and security teams to 20,000 by the end of 2018.

&nbsp;YouTube said that progress in machine learning meant that 83 percent of violent extremist content was removed without the need for users to flag it. 
&nbsp;

The country's security minister accused the tech firms of being happy to sell people's data but not to give it to the government

Britain may impose new taxes on tech giants like Google and Facebook unless they do more to combat online extremism by taking down material aimed at radicalising people or helping them to prepare attacks, the country's security minister said. Ben Wallace accused tech firms of being happy to sell people's data but not to give it to the government which was being forced to spend vast sums on de-radicalisation programmes, surveillance and other counter-terrorism measures. "If they continue to be less than co-operative, we should look at things like tax as a way of incentivising them or compensating for their inaction," Wallace told the Sunday Times newspaper in an interview. His quotes did not give further details on tax plans. The newspaper said that any demand would take the form of a windfall tax similar to that imposed on privatised utilities by former Prime Minister Tony Blair's government in 1997. Wallace accused the tech giants of putting private profit before public safety. "We should stop pretending that because they sit on beanbags in T-shirts they are not ruthless profiteers," he said. "They will ruthlessly sell our details to loans and soft-porn companies but not give it to our democratically elected government." Facebook executive Simon Milner rejected the criticisms. "Mr Wallace is wrong to say that we put profit before safety, especially in the fight against terrorism," he said in an emailed statement. "We've invested millions of pounds in people and technology to identify and remove terrorist content." YouTube, which is owned by Google, said it was doing more every day to tackle violent extremism. "Over the course of 2017 we have made significant progress through investing in machine learning technology, recruiting more reviewers, building partnerships with experts and collaboration with other companies," a YouTube spokeswoman said. Deadly attacks Britain suffered a series of attacks by Islamic extremists between March and June last year that killed a total of 36 people, excluding the attackers. Two involved vehicles ramming people on bridges in London, followed by attackers stabbing people. The deadliest, a bombing at a concert in the northern city of Manchester, killed 22 people. Following the second bridge attack, Prime Minister Theresa May proposed beefing up regulations on cyberspace, and weeks later interior minister Amber Rudd travelled to California to ask Silicon Valley to step up efforts against extremism. "We are more vulnerable than at any point in the last 100 years," said Wallace, citing extremist material on social media and encrypted messaging services like WhatsApp as tools that made life too easy for attackers. "Because content is not being taken down as quickly as they could do, we're having to de-radicalise people who have been radicalised. That's costing millions. They can't get away with that and we should look at all the options, including tax." Facebook said it removed 83 percent of uploaded copies of terrorist content within one hour of its being found on the social media network. It also highlighted plans to double the number of people working in its safety and security teams to 20,000 by the end of 2018. YouTube said that progress in machine learning meant that 83 percent of violent extremist content was removed without the need for users to flag it.

Do more to curb online extremism, or face taxes: UK to Google, Facebook

Haven&#39;t had enough of the yearenders that web portals are throwing your way? We bet you can make some room for another one, this one is downright hilarious and officially by Google.

Google blog has an entry titled &#39;Year in Search: The most fantastic fads of 2017&#39; and what followed was pure gold.&nbsp;

&quot;Here today, gone tomorrow. Our annual &#39;Year in Search&#39; is always a fun look back at the fads that captured our fancy and then fizzled out fast,&quot; noted the blog post.&nbsp;

Ahead, a look at this year&rsquo;s biggest crazes, &quot;through the lens of Google Search.&quot;

<iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" gesture="media" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ngFwmMlh3bs" width="560"></iframe>

Where is the unicorn?

According to Google, the netizens developed some bizarre obsession for the unicorns trend this year.&nbsp;

&quot;People gave a unicorn twist to all kinds of foods and searched for unicorn cake, unicorn hot chocolate, unicorn cheesecake and unicorn lemonade,&quot; noted Google.

Ans how can we get away with not giving a mention to Unicorn hair? Those rainbow-coloured highlights that crazed thousands of women this year.&nbsp;

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<p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BTk3obSFzeB/" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none;" target="_blank">A post shared by Kaylin Pound (@kaylinpound)</a> on <time datetime="2017-05-02T04:11:31+00:00" style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;">May 1, 2017 at 9:11pm PDT</time>
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Slime was a hit!

Yes! Quite a lot of people searched &#39;How to remove slime out of carpet?&#39; which also made to the top 100 &#39;How to&#39; queries of the year.

&quot;Slime had a very big year; &ldquo;How to make slime?&rdquo; was the number one globally trending &ldquo;how to make&rdquo; question of 2017,&quot; read Google&#39;s blog post.

Cuteness overload

The search engine saw major traffic for cute little creatures who made to the list of &#39;celebrity animals&#39;.

April, the mama giraffe; Fiona, the premature baby hippo and Marnie, the Instagram-famous senior rescue dog topped the list.&nbsp;

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<p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BdIbDGQjuL9/" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none;" target="_blank">A post shared by Austin Carter ? (@a.carter2013)</a> on <time datetime="2017-12-25T16:16:57+00:00" style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;">Dec 25, 2017 at 8:16am PST</time>
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Memes, forever!

Memes are multipurpose, they provide comic relief, crack us up and are crucial weapons in the arsenal of a sarcasm-loving person.

According to Google&#39;s&nbsp;search data, &#39;Cash Me Outside,&#39; &#39;United Airlines,&#39; &#39;Elf on the Shelf,&#39; &#39;What in Tarnation?&#39;&nbsp;and &#39;Mocking SpongeBob&#39;&nbsp;were the most trending memes of 2017.

People love slangs

And when we come across the latest one that we hadn&#39;t head before, we turn to our dear friend -- Google.

Trending acronyms this year included WCW (woman crush Wednesday), TFW (that feeling when), STG (swear to God), GOAT (greatest of all time), and OFC (of course).&nbsp;

Not only this, Google also searched for the meanings of some of our favourite songs this year.

People actually searched for &ldquo;what does despacito mean?&rdquo; to &ldquo;What does bibia be ye ye mean?&rdquo;, seriously!&nbsp;

Here&#39;s hoping the upcoming year to usher in crazier, wackier list of searches.&nbsp;

Happy New Year!&nbsp;

 
&nbsp;

Quite a lot of people searched 'How to remove slime out of carpet?' this year

Haven't had enough of the yearenders that web portals are throwing your way? We bet you can make some room for another one, this one is downright hilarious and officially by Google. Google blog has an entry titled 'Year in Search: The most fantastic fads of 2017' and what followed was pure gold. "Here today, gone tomorrow. Our annual 'Year in Search' is always a fun look back at the fads that captured our fancy and then fizzled out fast," noted the blog post. Ahead, a look at this year’s biggest crazes, "through the lens of Google Search." Where is the unicorn? According to Google, the netizens developed some bizarre obsession for the unicorns trend this year. "People gave a unicorn twist to all kinds of foods and searched for unicorn cake, unicorn hot chocolate, unicorn cheesecake and unicorn lemonade," noted Google. Ans how can we get away with not giving a mention to Unicorn hair? Those rainbow-coloured highlights that crazed thousands of women this year. A post shared by Kaylin Pound (@kaylinpound) on May 1, 2017 at 9:11pm PDT × Slime was a hit! Yes! Quite a lot of people searched 'How to remove slime out of carpet?' which also made to the top 100 'How to' queries of the year. "Slime had a very big year; “How to make slime?” was the number one globally trending “how to make” question of 2017," read Google's blog post. Cuteness overload The search engine saw major traffic for cute little creatures who made to the list of 'celebrity animals'. April, the mama giraffe; Fiona, the premature baby hippo and Marnie, the Instagram-famous senior rescue dog topped the list. A post shared by Austin Carter ? (@a.carter2013) on Dec 25, 2017 at 8:16am PST × Memes, forever! Memes are multipurpose, they provide comic relief, crack us up and are crucial weapons in the arsenal of a sarcasm-loving person. According to Google's search data, 'Cash Me Outside,' 'United Airlines,' 'Elf on the Shelf,' 'What in Tarnation?' and 'Mocking SpongeBob' were the most trending memes of 2017. People love slangs And when we come across the latest one that we hadn't head before, we turn to our dear friend -- Google. Trending acronyms this year included WCW (woman crush Wednesday), TFW (that feeling when), STG (swear to God), GOAT (greatest of all time), and OFC (of course). Not only this, Google also searched for the meanings of some of our favourite songs this year. People actually searched for “what does despacito mean?” to “What does bibia be ye ye mean?”, seriously! Here's hoping the upcoming year to usher in crazier, wackier list of searches. Happy New Year!

Year in search: A look at Google's 'fantastic fads' of 2017

Google has today dedicated the google doodle to Kuppali Venkatappa Puttappa on his 113th birth anniversary.&nbsp;

Kuppali Venkatappa Puttappa was the greatest Kannada medium writer of the 20th Century.

The great poet, playwright, Critic and thinker had immense love for his mother tongue.&nbsp;

He studied at the Mysore University in the 1920s, taught there for about three decades and then took over as the Vice-Chancellor of the University. He taught in the University in Kannada.

His contributions to Kannada literature earned him the prestigious Jnanpith Award and Karnataka Ratna. He was also honoured with the Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan by the Indian government.&nbsp;

He has written the Karnataka State Anthem Jaya Bharata Jananiya Tanujate.&nbsp;

Puttappa was born on 29 December 1904 and died in Mysore on 11 November 1994 at the age 89.&nbsp;

On his 113th birth anniversary, Google has dedicated the doodle for the Kannada writer

Google has today dedicated the google doodle to Kuppali Venkatappa Puttappa on his 113th birth anniversary. Kuppali Venkatappa Puttappa was the greatest Kannada medium writer of the 20th Century. The great poet, playwright, Critic and thinker had immense love for his mother tongue. He studied at the Mysore University in the 1920s, taught there for about three decades and then took over as the Vice-Chancellor of the University. He taught in the University in Kannada. His contributions to Kannada literature earned him the prestigious Jnanpith Award and Karnataka Ratna. He was also honoured with the Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan by the Indian government. He has written the Karnataka State Anthem Jaya Bharata Jananiya Tanujate. Puttappa was born on 29 December 1904 and died in Mysore on 11 November 1994 at the age 89.

Google Doodle celebrates great Kannanda writer Kuppali Venkatappa Puttappa

In a bid to boost sales of its Pixel smartphones, Google may soon open stores in India.

After receiving a positive response on its Pixel pop-up stores stationed in malls across the country, the company is now giving thought to open offline stores for selling Pixel devices.&nbsp;

India is home to world&#39;s second-biggest wireless market with 1.2 billion mobile subscribers.

The Indian wireless market is currently dominated by South Korea&#39;s Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, and Chinese players such as Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo, noted a Reuters report.&nbsp;

Google Pixel, as a brand, may use measures to improve brand visibility and reach among consumers.&nbsp;

In such circumstances, Google&#39;s move to promote &#39;brand Pixel&#39; via offline stores seems like a viable option.&nbsp;

In a bid to boost sales of its Pixel smartphones, Google may open stores in India

In a bid to boost sales of its Pixel smartphones, Google may soon open stores in India. After receiving a positive response on its Pixel pop-up stores stationed in malls across the country, the company is now giving thought to open offline stores for selling Pixel devices. India is home to world's second-biggest wireless market with 1.2 billion mobile subscribers. The Indian wireless market is currently dominated by South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, and Chinese players such as Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo, noted a Reuters report. Google Pixel, as a brand, may use measures to improve brand visibility and reach among consumers. In such circumstances, Google's move to promote 'brand Pixel' via offline stores seems like a viable option.

Google likely to open stores in India to sell Pixel devices

Google has released its list of top 10 trending people of 2017 globally, which is topped by former Today show host Matt Lauer who quit over allegations of sexual misconduct.

The list mostly includes people who have been accused of inappropriate sexual behaviour like Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and actor Kevin Spacey.

Others in the list include American actress Meghan Markel, who started appearing in searches in the wake of her engagement to Britain&#39;s Prince Harry, Italian TV personality Nadia Toffa, &#39;Wonder Woman&#39; Gal Gadot and US First Lady Melania Trump.

One of the key figures of Trump administration, former national security advisor Michael Flynn has also made it to the list.

Read the full list below:

<ol>
	<li>Matt Lauer</li>
	<li>Meghan Markle</li>
	<li>Nadia Toffa</li>
	<li>Harvey Weinstein</li>
	<li>Kevin Spacey</li>
	<li>Gal Gadot</li>
	<li>Melania Trump</li>
	<li>Floyd Mayweather</li>
	<li>Michael Flynn</li>
	<li>Philippe Coutinho</li>
</ol>

The list mostly includes people who have been accused of inappropriate sexual behaviour like Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and actor Kevin Spacey

Google has released its list of top 10 trending people of 2017 globally, which is topped by former Today show host Matt Lauer who quit over allegations of sexual misconduct. The list mostly includes people who have been accused of inappropriate sexual behaviour like Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and actor Kevin Spacey. Others in the list include American actress Meghan Markel, who started appearing in searches in the wake of her engagement to Britain's Prince Harry, Italian TV personality Nadia Toffa, 'Wonder Woman' Gal Gadot and US First Lady Melania Trump. One of the key figures of Trump administration, former national security advisor Michael Flynn has also made it to the list. Read the full list below: Matt Lauer Meghan Markle Nadia Toffa Harvey Weinstein Kevin Spacey Gal Gadot Melania Trump Floyd Mayweather Michael Flynn Philippe Coutinho

The most-googled people of 2017

Shortly after Apple came out with its top games, apps of the year 2017, the global search engine, Google has also revealed its top trends of the passing year.&nbsp;

Google&#39;s &#39;year in review&#39; -- global search trends -- seems to be dominated by Hurricane Irma which ranked among top global search&nbsp;and global news search.

iPhone 8 and iPhone X were also among the most googled topics of 2017 across the globe.

Ahead, we share some of the popular categories and top searches featuring under each section.

Top global searches 2017

Hurricane Irma

iPhone 8

iPhone X

Matt Lauer

Meghan Markle

&nbsp;

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Meghan Markle in a still from suits (Others)
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Most searched&nbsp;people 2017

Matt Lauer

Meghan Markle

Nadia Toffa

Harvey Weinstein

Kevin Spacey

&nbsp;

Global news searches 2017

Hurricane Irma

Bitcoin

Las Vegas shooting

North Korea

Solar Eclipse

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false"><img alt="" draggable="false" src="http://s.wionews.com/photos/untitled%20design%20(28)-20171208073814.jpg" />
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A Bitcoin and Dollar note is seen in this illustration picture taken September 27, 2017. (Reuters)
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Most searched&nbsp;actors 2017

Meghan Markle

Kevin Spacey

Gal Gadot

Louis C.K

Bill Skarsgard

&nbsp;

Consumer tech searches 2017

iPhone 8

iPhone X

Nintendo Switch

Samsung Galaxy S8

Xbox One X&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Most searched movies 2017

IT

Wonder Woman

Beauty and the Beast

Logan&nbsp;

Justice League

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A still from the film. (Others)
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Most searched&nbsp;songs 2017

Despacito

Shape of You

Perfect

Havana

Look What You Made Me Do

&nbsp;

Most searched&nbsp;artists 2017

Ariana Grande

Linkin Park

Lady Gaga

Mariah Carey

Ed Sheeran

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Ed Sheeran poses with his MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) medal that was presented to him by Britain&#39;s Prince Charles during an Investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace, London (Reuters)
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Most searched&nbsp;TV shows

Stranger Things

13 Reasons Why

Big Brother Brasil

Game of Thrones

Iron Fist

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Google's 'year in review' seems to be dominated by Hurricane Irma which ranked among the top global search and global news search.

Shortly after Apple came out with its top games, apps of the year 2017, the global search engine, Google has also revealed its top trends of the passing year. Google's 'year in review' -- global search trends -- seems to be dominated by Hurricane Irma which ranked among top global search and global news search. iPhone 8 and iPhone X were also among the most googled topics of 2017 across the globe. Ahead, we share some of the popular categories and top searches featuring under each section. Top global searches 2017 Hurricane Irma iPhone 8 iPhone X Matt Lauer Meghan Markle Meghan Markle in a still from suits (Others) × Most searched people 2017 Matt Lauer Meghan Markle Nadia Toffa Harvey Weinstein Kevin Spacey Global news searches 2017 Hurricane Irma Bitcoin Las Vegas shooting North Korea Solar Eclipse A Bitcoin and Dollar note is seen in this illustration picture taken September 27, 2017. (Reuters) × Most searched actors 2017 Meghan Markle Kevin Spacey Gal Gadot Louis C.K Bill Skarsgard Consumer tech searches 2017 iPhone 8 iPhone X Nintendo Switch Samsung Galaxy S8 Xbox One X Most searched movies 2017 IT Wonder Woman Beauty and the Beast Logan Justice League A still from the film. (Others) × Most searched songs 2017 Despacito Shape of You Perfect Havana Look What You Made Me Do Most searched artists 2017 Ariana Grande Linkin Park Lady Gaga Mariah Carey Ed Sheeran Ed Sheeran poses with his MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) medal that was presented to him by Britain's Prince Charles during an Investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace, London (Reuters) × Most searched TV shows Stranger Things 13 Reasons Why Big Brother Brasil Game of Thrones Iron Fist

Google releases list of top searches in 2017: Hurricane Irma, iPhone X feature on top

YouTube is planning to introduce a paid music streaming service in March.

Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Merlin, a consortium of independent labels, &nbsp;are in talks with the website.

Record Label Warner Music Group has already signed with the service.

The streaming service will&nbsp;call&nbsp;&quot;Remix&quot; and it will be competing with Spotify and Apple.

Music streaming website like Spotify and Apply music have become hugely popular in recent times and launching &quot;Remix&quot; is going to the parent company Alphabet&#39;s third attempt to compete with these giants.

YouTube Red launched a subscription-based service for exclusive content from popular creators like Lily Singh, Michael Stevens, Liza Koshy, in 2016.

Google has also launched its streaming app called Google Play Music in 2011.

(With inputs from news agency)

Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Merlin, a consortium of independent labels, are in talks with the website

YouTube is planning to introduce a paid music streaming service in March. Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Merlin, a consortium of independent labels, are in talks with the website. Record Label Warner Music Group has already signed with the service. The streaming service will call "Remix" and it will be competing with Spotify and Apple. Music streaming website like Spotify and Apply music have become hugely popular in recent times and launching "Remix" is going to the parent company Alphabet's third attempt to compete with these giants. YouTube Red launched a subscription-based service for exclusive content from popular creators like Lily Singh, Michael Stevens, Liza Koshy, in 2016. Google has also launched its streaming app called Google Play Music in 2011. (With inputs from news agency)

YouTube to launch music subscription service 'Remix' next year

The leader of Germany&#39;s Social Democrats (SPD) took aim at US&nbsp;technology firms Apple, Facebook and Google on Thursday, saying a strong Europe was needed to make sure they stick to the rules.

Martin Schulz, who hopes to persuade his party to approve talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel on forming a new coalition, told a congress of his SPD party that Ireland was complicit in allowing companies like Apple to avoid billions of euros in tax.

He also called for the creation of a European finance minister, who should fight tax evasion by reining in the race to the bottom in tax policy among member states.

&quot;Only a strong Europe can force platform giants like Facebook and Google to respect our rules and basic rights,&quot; he said.

The leader of Germany's Social Democrats (SPD) took aim at US?technology firms Apple, Facebook and Google on Thursday, saying a strong Europe was needed to make sure they stick to the rules

The leader of Germany's Social Democrats (SPD) took aim at US technology firms Apple, Facebook and Google on Thursday, saying a strong Europe was needed to make sure they stick to the rules. Martin Schulz, who hopes to persuade his party to approve talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel on forming a new coalition, told a congress of his SPD party that Ireland was complicit in allowing companies like Apple to avoid billions of euros in tax. He also called for the creation of a European finance minister, who should fight tax evasion by reining in the race to the bottom in tax policy among member states. "Only a strong Europe can force platform giants like Facebook and Google to respect our rules and basic rights," he said.

German SPD leader takes aim at US tech giants

Google has announced that it will no longer support YouTube on Echo Show and Amazon&rsquo;s Fire TV devices. The announcement comes just months after the company decided to withdraw support for YouTube on Echo Show.

Google&rsquo;s move irked a lot of Echo Show users in the US and Amazon had to resort to a workaround by redirecting users to the web version. Google now says even the web version of YouTube will stop working on&nbsp;Echo Show. The service will also become unavailable on Fire TV, where YouTube is a central part of the entire device experience.

YouTube will stop working on Echo Show starting today while Fire TV users will start a seeing a notification warning them that the service will become unavailable starting January 1.

Three months ago, Google decided to stop allowing Echo Show to access YouTube citing violation of terms of service. Google claimed Amazon&rsquo;s implementation of YouTube on Echo Show offers a broken experience and violates its design guidelines. Amazon said there is no technical reason for this move and stopped selling Google-owned Nest&rsquo;s Thermostat, Camera IQ and Secure alarm system.

&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been trying to reach agreement with Amazon to give consumers access to each other&rsquo;s products and services. But Amazon doesn&rsquo;t carry Google products like Chromecast and Google Home, doesn&rsquo;t make Prime Video available for Google Cast users, and last month stopped selling some of Nest&rsquo;s latest products. Given this lack of reciprocity, we are no longer supporting YouTube on Echo Show and FireTV. We hope we can reach an agreement to resolve these issues soon,&rdquo; a YouTube spokesperson said announcing the end of support.

Google wants Amazon to customise YouTube to show options like autoplay, video recommendation and subscription on Echo Show and by dropping support for Fire TV, the search giant hopes Amazon will adhere to its design guidelines. Google is also&nbsp;rumoured&nbsp;to be working on its own Echo Show competitor offering better integration with YouTube. Amazon has not commented on YouTube&rsquo;s end of support for Echo Show and Fire TV yet but it is likely to affect consumers more than these tech giants.

Google?s move irked a lot of Echo Show users in the US and Amazon had to resort to a workaround by redirecting users to the web version.

Google has announced that it will no longer support YouTube on Echo Show and Amazon’s Fire TV devices. The announcement comes just months after the company decided to withdraw support for YouTube on Echo Show. Google’s move irked a lot of Echo Show users in the US and Amazon had to resort to a workaround by redirecting users to the web version. Google now says even the web version of YouTube will stop working on Echo Show. The service will also become unavailable on Fire TV, where YouTube is a central part of the entire device experience. YouTube will stop working on Echo Show starting today while Fire TV users will start a seeing a notification warning them that the service will become unavailable starting January 1. Three months ago, Google decided to stop allowing Echo Show to access YouTube citing violation of terms of service. Google claimed Amazon’s implementation of YouTube on Echo Show offers a broken experience and violates its design guidelines. Amazon said there is no technical reason for this move and stopped selling Google-owned Nest’s Thermostat, Camera IQ and Secure alarm system. “We’ve been trying to reach agreement with Amazon to give consumers access to each other’s products and services. But Amazon doesn’t carry Google products like Chromecast and Google Home, doesn’t make Prime Video available for Google Cast users, and last month stopped selling some of Nest’s latest products. Given this lack of reciprocity, we are no longer supporting YouTube on Echo Show and FireTV. We hope we can reach an agreement to resolve these issues soon,” a YouTube spokesperson said announcing the end of support. Google wants Amazon to customise YouTube to show options like autoplay, video recommendation and subscription on Echo Show and by dropping support for Fire TV, the search giant hopes Amazon will adhere to its design guidelines. Google is also rumoured to be working on its own Echo Show competitor offering better integration with YouTube. Amazon has not commented on YouTube’s end of support for Echo Show and Fire TV yet but it is likely to affect consumers more than these tech giants.

Google withdraws support for YouTube on Amazon Fire TV and Echo Show

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/10000-google-staff-set-to-police-youtube-content-chief-executive-susan-wojcicki-25873" target="_blank">Google</a> is holding its third &#39;Google for India&#39; event in New Delhi today, an annual event that started in the year 2015 and was first hosted by Google&#39;s CEO Sundar Pichai.

The tagline for this year&#39;s event is &#39;Building for the next billion&#39; with an aim to enable its customers and users to understand Google as &quot;the growth engine for the country&rdquo;.

The event brings together global product and business leaders from Google to create interactive opportunities, educate and spread awareness about some of the newest Google-led innovations, products as well the company&#39;s prospective plan, tailormade for the country.

The event started off with enumerating Google&#39;s achievement in the country and went on to make announcements that took some of us by surprise, here&#39;s sharing some of them that really left a mark on us.

Quick facts at &#39;Google for India&#39;

- Google Tez app is used by close to 12 million users; 140 million transactions so far.

- Close to 1 billion apps are downloaded from the Google Play store each month in India.

- 106 million Indians consume news online

- Voice search has great potential, accounts for roughly 28% of all online searches made in India.&nbsp;

- Over 400 million internet users in India; 330 million connected smartphone users.

- Video content consumption in India is increasing.

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ICYMI, here&#39;s a gist of the top announcements and their features at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoogleForIndia?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GoogleForIndia</a>. <a href="https://t.co/5dMgRicPiy">https://t.co/5dMgRicPiy</a> <a href="https://t.co/ax3P8uqmAo">pic.twitter.com/ax3P8uqmAo</a>
&mdash; Google India (@GoogleIndia) <a href="https://twitter.com/GoogleIndia/status/937955218846752768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 5, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Top event highlights

1. Android Oreo (Go Edition) operating system was launched today, designed especially for smartphones running with 1GB or 512MB RAM and entry-level smartphones.

2. The company also announced to come up with another version of the Google Play Store that will make downloading apps easier and will also notify apps that are best suited and compatible with your device.&nbsp;

3. The &#39;Go&#39; versions of Google products like the Google Search, &nbsp;Google Assistant, YouTube Google Maps among others have also been introduced.&nbsp;

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India now has over 400M internet users: excited for <a href="https://twitter.com/Android?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Android</a> Oreo (Go Edition) &amp; the new Go apps announced today, built for the next billion users in India and beyond. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoogleForIndia?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GoogleForIndia</a> <a href="https://t.co/hmS7jUcghX">https://t.co/hmS7jUcghX</a>
&mdash; Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) <a href="https://twitter.com/sundarpichai/status/937958647161745408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 5, 2017</a></blockquote>
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4. &#39;&Iacute;nternet to every India&#39; remained at the core of the event with eminent personalities discussing ways to provide solutions to most problems with the help of technology and internet and Google-powered products and services.&nbsp;

5. Google Go, a search app for low-budget phones was announced.&nbsp;

6. Expansion of Internet Saathi program was announced - a programme that promotes digital literacy in Indian women and empowering them.&nbsp;

7. A new two-wheeler mode of Google Maps rolled out.

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<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LookBeforeYouLeave?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LookBeforeYouLeave</a> to get where you need to, faster with directions and voice navigation mode for two-wheeler riders in <a href="https://twitter.com/googlemaps?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@googlemaps</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoogleForIndia?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GoogleForIndia</a> <a href="https://t.co/TkktD4T9s0">pic.twitter.com/TkktD4T9s0</a>
&mdash; Google India (@GoogleIndia) <a href="https://twitter.com/GoogleIndia/status/937954004943880192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 5, 2017</a></blockquote>
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8. Reliance JioPhone to offer Google Assistant.

Android Oreo (Go Edition) operating system was launched today, designed especially for entry-level smartphones

Google is holding its third 'Google for India' event in New Delhi today, an annual event that started in the year 2015 and was first hosted by Google's CEO Sundar Pichai. The tagline for this year's event is 'Building for the next billion' with an aim to enable its customers and users to understand Google as "the growth engine for the country”. The event brings together global product and business leaders from Google to create interactive opportunities, educate and spread awareness about some of the newest Google-led innovations, products as well the company's prospective plan, tailormade for the country. The event started off with enumerating Google's achievement in the country and went on to make announcements that took some of us by surprise, here's sharing some of them that really left a mark on us. Quick facts at 'Google for India' - Google Tez app is used by close to 12 million users; 140 million transactions so far. - Close to 1 billion apps are downloaded from the Google Play store each month in India. - 106 million Indians consume news online - Voice search has great potential, accounts for roughly 28% of all online searches made in India. - Over 400 million internet users in India; 330 million connected smartphone users. - Video content consumption in India is increasing. ICYMI, here's a gist of the top announcements and their features at #GoogleForIndia. https://t.co/5dMgRicPiy pic.twitter.com/ax3P8uqmAo — Google India (@GoogleIndia) December 5, 2017 × Top event highlights 1. Android Oreo (Go Edition) operating system was launched today, designed especially for smartphones running with 1GB or 512MB RAM and entry-level smartphones. 2. The company also announced to come up with another version of the Google Play Store that will make downloading apps easier and will also notify apps that are best suited and compatible with your device. 3. The 'Go' versions of Google products like the Google Search, Google Assistant, YouTube Google Maps among others have also been introduced. India now has over 400M internet users: excited for @Android Oreo (Go Edition) & the new Go apps announced today, built for the next billion users in India and beyond. #GoogleForIndia https://t.co/hmS7jUcghX — Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) December 5, 2017 × 4. 'Ínternet to every India' remained at the core of the event with eminent personalities discussing ways to provide solutions to most problems with the help of technology and internet and Google-powered products and services. 5. Google Go, a search app for low-budget phones was announced. 6. Expansion of Internet Saathi program was announced - a programme that promotes digital literacy in Indian women and empowering them. 7. A new two-wheeler mode of Google Maps rolled out. #LookBeforeYouLeave to get where you need to, faster with directions and voice navigation mode for two-wheeler riders in @googlemaps#GoogleForIndia pic.twitter.com/TkktD4T9s0 — Google India (@GoogleIndia) December 5, 2017 × 8. Reliance JioPhone to offer Google Assistant.

'Google for India' 2017: Android Oreo Go edition operating system launched

Google has said it will deploy, by 2018, a total of 10,000 people to hunt down content on YouTube that is extremist or could endanger children, media reports said.&nbsp;&nbsp;

YouTube CEO&nbsp;Susan Wojcicki admitted to Britain&#39;s Daily Telegraph that &ldquo;bad actors are exploiting&rdquo; the video-sharing site to &ldquo;mislead, manipulate, harass or even harm&rdquo;.

YouTube, which is owned by Google, is the world&#39;s second-most popular site.&nbsp;

The reports said British Prime Minister Theresa May, after a spate of terror attacks in the UK, has put pressure on internet giants to root out extremist content online.&nbsp;

The reports&nbsp;added that YouTube pulled down 150,000 videos of children last week after viewers posted lewd comments about them.&nbsp;

The move came after media reports that&nbsp;ads for big brands were displayed alongside videos of children.

By themselves, they were innocent, but taken together they attracted viewer comments that seemed paedophilic in nature.&nbsp;

News reports said the situation made advertisers nervous, with some stopping YouTube advertising.

Wojcicki added that her company had developed &quot;computer-learning&quot; technology to identify videos that were extremist. And that the same technology could be used to identify content that endangers children.&nbsp;

&quot;We will continue the growth of our teams, with the goal of bringing the total number of people across Google working to address content that might violate our policies to over 10,000 in 2018,&quot; she said.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

YouTube, the world's second-most popular website, will be policed for content that is extremist or could endanger children

Google has said it will deploy, by 2018, a total of 10,000 people to hunt down content on YouTube that is extremist or could endanger children, media reports said. YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki admitted to Britain's Daily Telegraph that “bad actors are exploiting” the video-sharing site to “mislead, manipulate, harass or even harm”. YouTube, which is owned by Google, is the world's second-most popular site. The reports said British Prime Minister Theresa May, after a spate of terror attacks in the UK, has put pressure on internet giants to root out extremist content online. The reports added that YouTube pulled down 150,000 videos of children last week after viewers posted lewd comments about them. The move came after media reports that ads for big brands were displayed alongside videos of children. By themselves, they were innocent, but taken together they attracted viewer comments that seemed paedophilic in nature. News reports said the situation made advertisers nervous, with some stopping YouTube advertising. Wojcicki added that her company had developed "computer-learning" technology to identify videos that were extremist. And that the same technology could be used to identify content that endangers children. "We will continue the growth of our teams, with the goal of bringing the total number of people across Google working to address content that might violate our policies to over 10,000 in 2018," she said.

10,000 Google staff to police YouTube content

A new feature of voice assistance for the navigation of two-wheelers was introduced in India by Google in its maps application on December 5, 2017. India, being the largest two-wheeler market, is the first country to have this feature.&nbsp;

The feature will suggest shortcuts to users which are normally not shown because of being inaccessible by cars and larger vehicles. Traffic conditions and estimated arrival time (ETA) will be adjusted according to the maneuverability of two-wheelers.&nbsp;

Caesar Sengupta, Vice President, Next Billion Users Team at Google said, &quot;The India-first feature is the new &#39;two-wheeler mode&#39; in Google Maps. India is the largest two-wheeler market in the world, and the millions of motorcycle and scooter riders have different navigation needs than drivers of automobiles.&quot;

Sengupta further added that the two-wheeler mode will show and announce major landmarks on the route as many Indians rely on local landmarks for navigation. It will help riders to focus on the&nbsp;road with the help of voice instructions instead of checking their phones to keep a track of their journey, repeatedly.

The feature will appear in Google Maps alongside Walk, Drive, Train, and Bus modes. Plans are there to introduce this feature to other two-wheelers dominated countries as well.

Google has introduced 'two-wheelers' mode on Google Maps to help bikers navigate in an easier manner in India. With voice assistance, major landmarks' markings, and shortcut routes, the new travel mode is first in the world.

A new feature of voice assistance for the navigation of two-wheelers was introduced in India by Google in its maps application on December 5, 2017. India, being the largest two-wheeler market, is the first country to have this feature. The feature will suggest shortcuts to users which are normally not shown because of being inaccessible by cars and larger vehicles. Traffic conditions and estimated arrival time (ETA) will be adjusted according to the maneuverability of two-wheelers. Caesar Sengupta, Vice President, Next Billion Users Team at Google said, "The India-first feature is the new 'two-wheeler mode' in Google Maps. India is the largest two-wheeler market in the world, and the millions of motorcycle and scooter riders have different navigation needs than drivers of automobiles." Sengupta further added that the two-wheeler mode will show and announce major landmarks on the route as many Indians rely on local landmarks for navigation. It will help riders to focus on the road with the help of voice instructions instead of checking their phones to keep a track of their journey, repeatedly. The feature will appear in Google Maps alongside Walk, Drive, Train, and Bus modes. Plans are there to introduce this feature to other two-wheelers dominated countries as well.

Google Maps adds navigation mode for two-wheelers in India

Once known to dominate the internet with their online news, videos and social networks - Buzzfeed, founded in 2006, and Mashable, founded in 2005 are now going through a rough phase.&nbsp;

Buzzfeed&#39;s revenue has fallen down by 15-20% - from its earlier target of $350 million dollars and has decided to lay off 100 of its 1,700 employees, reports said.&nbsp;

Mashable, once valued at $250million is apparently being sold to Ziff Davis, a print-turned-digital publisher, for $50 million after its value dropped by 80%.&nbsp;

BuzzFeed&nbsp;and Mashable were the big kids on the block, who were slowly capturing the younger audience with their viral videos and articles, became massive &#39;SEO&#39; ninjas generating large web traffic as well as ad-revenues.&nbsp;

Their investors included Comcast, Disney and General Atlantic whom they promised huge growth driven by advertising, however, they failed to deliver - all thanks to Facebook and Google.&nbsp;

Facebook and Google are taking a massive toll on digital media companies with their rapid growth and are now ruling digital advertising - their strategies for targeting users strike advertisers as a more efficient, scalable way to reach specific audiences.

In 2017, the two internet giants have snapped up 63 pe rcent of advertising revenue, compared to 58 per cent last year, according to market researcher eMarketer. Next year, they are projected to rake in a 67 percent share.&nbsp;

&ldquo;Advertisers are increasingly demanding more granularity in targeting capabilities to reach consumers. Google and Facebook have positioned themselves at the front of this demand curve,&rdquo; Monica Peart, eMarketer&rsquo;s senior director of forecasting, said in late September.

BuzzFeed&rsquo;s investors include Comcast Corp.&rsquo;s NBCUniversal, which has invested $400 million, Andreessen Horowitz, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, RRE Venturesand Hearst Ventures. NBCU&rsquo;s latest infusion was about a year ago and valued the company at about $1.7 billion.

Facebook and Google are taking a massive toll on digital media companies with their rapid growth and are now ruling digital advertising

Once known to dominate the internet with their online news, videos and social networks - Buzzfeed, founded in 2006, and Mashable, founded in 2005 are now going through a rough phase. Buzzfeed's revenue has fallen down by 15-20% - from its earlier target of $350 million dollars and has decided to lay off 100 of its 1,700 employees, reports said. Mashable, once valued at $250million is apparently being sold to Ziff Davis, a print-turned-digital publisher, for $50 million after its value dropped by 80%. BuzzFeed and Mashable were the big kids on the block, who were slowly capturing the younger audience with their viral videos and articles, became massive 'SEO' ninjas generating large web traffic as well as ad-revenues. Their investors included Comcast, Disney and General Atlantic whom they promised huge growth driven by advertising, however, they failed to deliver - all thanks to Facebook and Google. Facebook and Google are taking a massive toll on digital media companies with their rapid growth and are now ruling digital advertising - their strategies for targeting users strike advertisers as a more efficient, scalable way to reach specific audiences. In 2017, the two internet giants have snapped up 63 pe rcent of advertising revenue, compared to 58 per cent last year, according to market researcher eMarketer. Next year, they are projected to rake in a 67 percent share. “Advertisers are increasingly demanding more granularity in targeting capabilities to reach consumers. Google and Facebook have positioned themselves at the front of this demand curve,” Monica Peart, eMarketer’s senior director of forecasting, said in late September. BuzzFeed’s investors include Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal, which has invested $400 million, Andreessen Horowitz, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, RRE Venturesand Hearst Ventures. NBCU’s latest infusion was about a year ago and valued the company at about $1.7 billion.

BuzzFeed, Mashable struggle as Facebook, Google dominate Net race

The Google Doodle is celebrating 50 years of Children&#39;s programming language by introducing the first ever coding doodle, &quot; Coding for Carrots&quot;.

The Interactive doodle shows how users can program by helping a white rabbit to pass through six levels and reach carrot.&nbsp;

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Celebrate <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CSEdWeek?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CSEdWeek</a> &amp; 50 yrs of kids coding languages by checking out our VERY FIRST coding <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoogleDoodle?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GoogleDoodle</a>! ??????&rarr; <a href="https://t.co/Kr7pjrLXOr">https://t.co/Kr7pjrLXOr</a> <a href="https://t.co/V0aJFBBAM2">pic.twitter.com/V0aJFBBAM2</a>
&mdash; Google Doodles (@GoogleDoodles) <a href="https://twitter.com/GoogleDoodles/status/937550459195203584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 4, 2017</a></blockquote>
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The users can reach the carrot by putting together coding blocks based on a Scratch programming for kids.&nbsp;

The Scratch programming was developed by Lifelong Kindergarten Group at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).&nbsp;

In 1967, the first coding language, Logo, was designed for&nbsp;kids.

The programming involved a green turtle that moved around and drew lines on a black screen.&nbsp;

The Google Doodle is the outcome of the collective efforts of three teams- Google Doodle team, Google Blocky team and researchers from MIT Scratch.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

The Interactive doodle created by Google shows how users can program by helping a white rabbit to pass through six levels and reach carrot

The Google Doodle is celebrating 50 years of Children's programming language by introducing the first ever coding doodle, " Coding for Carrots". The Interactive doodle shows how users can program by helping a white rabbit to pass through six levels and reach carrot. Celebrate #CSEdWeek & 50 yrs of kids coding languages by checking out our VERY FIRST coding #GoogleDoodle! ??????→ https://t.co/Kr7pjrLXOr pic.twitter.com/V0aJFBBAM2 — Google Doodles (@GoogleDoodles) December 4, 2017 × The users can reach the carrot by putting together coding blocks based on a Scratch programming for kids. The Scratch programming was developed by Lifelong Kindergarten Group at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 1967, the first coding language, Logo, was designed for kids. The programming involved a green turtle that moved around and drew lines on a black screen. The Google Doodle is the outcome of the collective efforts of three teams- Google Doodle team, Google Blocky team and researchers from MIT Scratch.

Google Doodle celebrates 50 years of kids programming language

Google is celebrating the birthday of Dr. Rukhmabai Raut&nbsp;on Wednesday, dedicating a doodle on their page.&nbsp;

Dr. Rukhmabai Raut who was born in Mumbai on November 22, 1864, was one of British India&#39;s first practising women doctors when women&#39;s rights had almost no consideration.&nbsp;

She also brought the Age of Consent Act, 1891 into existence, as she fought for&nbsp;her right to continue her education instead of staying married.&nbsp;

The story goes back to 1880 when she was married at an early age of just 11 years to Dadaji Bhikaji who was 19. At the time, getting married at that age was rather common amongst the nation. Her mother, too, was married at the age of 14 and gave birth to Raut at 15 eventually losing her husband at the age of 17.&nbsp;

Even though she was married to Dadaji she never lived with him - instead, she continued to study and lived with her step-father for many years, against societal norms.&nbsp;

In March 1887, she was ordered by the court to live with her husband or she would be subject to imprisonment for six months. However, after a number of hearings, Rukhmabai went against all odds and took help from Queen Victoria - eventually leading to a dissolve in the marriage for which Dadaji took monetary compensation.&nbsp;

Further, she went on to study medicine at the London School of Medicine to complete her education. After graduating, she worked at a women&#39;s hospital in Surat, becoming the first women doctor in India, and continued her practice for 35 years.&nbsp;

Rukhmabai was also a prominent social reformer and died at the age of 91, on September 25, 1991

She also brought the Age of Consent Act, 1891 into existence, fighting for her right to continue her education instead of staying married

Google is celebrating the birthday of Dr. Rukhmabai Raut on Wednesday, dedicating a doodle on their page. Dr. Rukhmabai Raut who was born in Mumbai on November 22, 1864, was one of British India's first practising women doctors when women's rights had almost no consideration. She also brought the Age of Consent Act, 1891 into existence, as she fought for her right to continue her education instead of staying married. The story goes back to 1880 when she was married at an early age of just 11 years to Dadaji Bhikaji who was 19. At the time, getting married at that age was rather common amongst the nation. Her mother, too, was married at the age of 14 and gave birth to Raut at 15 eventually losing her husband at the age of 17. Even though she was married to Dadaji she never lived with him - instead, she continued to study and lived with her step-father for many years, against societal norms. In March 1887, she was ordered by the court to live with her husband or she would be subject to imprisonment for six months. However, after a number of hearings, Rukhmabai went against all odds and took help from Queen Victoria - eventually leading to a dissolve in the marriage for which Dadaji took monetary compensation. Further, she went on to study medicine at the London School of Medicine to complete her education. After graduating, she worked at a women's hospital in Surat, becoming the first women doctor in India, and continued her practice for 35 years. Rukhmabai was also a prominent social reformer and died at the age of 91, on September 25, 1991

Google Doodle celebrates Dr Rukhmabai Raut's birthday

In the past week, Silicon Valley has faced renewed calls for greater regulation of social media platforms amid the growing scandal of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election.

Given rising awareness of the serious problems inherent within U.S. internet giants&rsquo; business models, it&rsquo;s an opportune time to discuss how best to regulate these companies.

I&rsquo;m a researcher who studies regulation on the internet. For my book, Chokepoints: Global Private Regulation on the Internet, I&rsquo;ve interviewed representatives from internet firms and their trade associations, along with policymakers in Canada and the U.S. in regards to what responsibility intermediaries should have for content on their platforms.

Internet intermediaries typically frame their opposition to legislation as protecting freedom of expression, but no right of speech is absolute. This debate is a battle over the control over information: What data should be collected and sold, what content should be permitted online, and who should decide?

Last week the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee grilled senior legal counsel for Facebook, Google and Twitter about their roles in Russian efforts to influence the U.S. election.

In a startling development, after months of denying and downplaying their responsibility, executives from each of the three companies grudgingly admitted that they had not yet determined the full extent of Russian activities on their platforms.

The executives&rsquo; testimony starkly reveals that the companies have few controls on the advertisements and so-called &ldquo;fake news&rdquo; that they accept on their platforms.

These candid admissions from the social media giants focus much-needed attention on the serious problems inherent in big intermediaries&rsquo; data-intensive business models.

Few safeguards, financial interest in status quo

As the U.S. election scandal shows, big social media platforms not only have few safeguards to prevent the deliberate manipulation of information, but they also have financial interests in maintaining the status quo. Unfettered flows of information and unconstrained advertising revenue are key to their business models. And this model is tremendously profitable.

Facebook&rsquo;s third-quarter profit was an astounding US$4.7 billion, the vast majority coming from advertisements relating to its 1.3 billion average daily users. Viral stories, whether factual or false, attract clicks and advertising revenue.

Given the seemingly intractable challenges of regulating social media platforms, what can be done? In the United States, three members of Congress have proposed a bipartisan response, the Honest Ads Act, that would require platforms to publish information about their advertisers and maintain a public archive of political advertisements.

This is a step in the right direction, and the Canadian government should consider similar measures in advance of the 2019 federal election. Facebook has already announced a program, the Canadian Election Integrity Initiative, to counter the spread of misinformation that focuses on media literacy and training.

Deliberate misinformation

While these projects appear useful, they likely will do little to address the underlying problem: The bad-faith spread of online misinformation. That&rsquo;s because the fundamental problem lies with Facebook&rsquo;s business model. Efforts to constrain the flow of information, especially information that generates advertising revenue, are contrary to their business model.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who initially dismissed claims of Russian interference as &ldquo;crazy&rdquo; just after the 2016 U.S. election, said on Nov. 1 that Facebook&rsquo;s new security features to counter so-called fake news will have a &ldquo;significant impact our profitability.&rdquo;

While the big platforms can afford to take a financial hit to restore their reputations and work to get rid of the worst offenders, they can&rsquo;t fully solve the problem without fundamentally changing how &mdash; and with whom &mdash; they do business.

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Facebook ads linked to a Russian effort to stir tensions on divisive social issues during the U.S. election campaign. (AP)
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In response to what has become a fundamental challenge to the survival of liberal democracy, Facebook, Twitter and Google have all committed to voluntarily implementing measures to address the spread of misinformation and targeting accounts that troll other users with often bigoted, racist content.

Google, for example, is creating a public database of election advertising content that appears on its services. These companies prefer self-regulation to legislation and they&rsquo;ve lobbied the U.S Federal Election Commission in the past to have online political advertising exempt from disclosure. It&rsquo;s only the political pressure from the Senate inquiry that is forcing these platforms into action.

Internet companies, algorithms are black boxes

While these developments may seem like attempts by these major companies to be responsible, they amount to Google et al saying: &ldquo;Trust us to fix the problem we created.&rdquo;

However, while Google, Facebook and Twitter are all creating algorithms to, in the words of Zuckerberg, &ldquo;detect bad content and bad actors,&rdquo; these algorithms operate as so-called &ldquo;black boxes.&rdquo; This means that the criteria the algorithms use to make decisions are off-limits to public scrutiny.

Is &ldquo;trust us&rdquo; a good enough response, given the problem? With so much at stake, it may be time for a fundamental rethink of how these indispensable 21st-century companies are regulated and what they&rsquo;re allowed to do.

At the very minimum, governments and citizens should reconsider whether the lack of oversight into how these companies shape our speech rights is really in the public interest.

Social media platforms &ldquo;are an enabler of democracy,&rdquo; says Margrethe Vestager, the European Union&rsquo;s Commissioner for Competition, but we&rsquo;re seeing that &ldquo;they can also be used against our very basic beliefs in democracy.&rdquo;

It&rsquo;s time to start taking that threat to democracy seriously.

This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com" rel="nofollow" target="blank">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/regulate-social-media-platforms-before-its-too-late-86984" rel="nofollow" target="blank">original article</a>.

In a fight for the global flow of information, social media firms must be regulated. Their billions of dollars in revenue put their financial interests in conflict with truth and democracy

In the past week, Silicon Valley has faced renewed calls for greater regulation of social media platforms amid the growing scandal of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. Given rising awareness of the serious problems inherent within U.S. internet giants’ business models, it’s an opportune time to discuss how best to regulate these companies. I’m a researcher who studies regulation on the internet. For my book, Chokepoints: Global Private Regulation on the Internet, I’ve interviewed representatives from internet firms and their trade associations, along with policymakers in Canada and the U.S. in regards to what responsibility intermediaries should have for content on their platforms. Internet intermediaries typically frame their opposition to legislation as protecting freedom of expression, but no right of speech is absolute. This debate is a battle over the control over information: What data should be collected and sold, what content should be permitted online, and who should decide? Last week the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee grilled senior legal counsel for Facebook, Google and Twitter about their roles in Russian efforts to influence the U.S. election. In a startling development, after months of denying and downplaying their responsibility, executives from each of the three companies grudgingly admitted that they had not yet determined the full extent of Russian activities on their platforms. The executives’ testimony starkly reveals that the companies have few controls on the advertisements and so-called “fake news” that they accept on their platforms. These candid admissions from the social media giants focus much-needed attention on the serious problems inherent in big intermediaries’ data-intensive business models. Few safeguards, financial interest in status quo As the U.S. election scandal shows, big social media platforms not only have few safeguards to prevent the deliberate manipulation of information, but they also have financial interests in maintaining the status quo. Unfettered flows of information and unconstrained advertising revenue are key to their business models. And this model is tremendously profitable. Facebook’s third-quarter profit was an astounding US$4.7 billion, the vast majority coming from advertisements relating to its 1.3 billion average daily users. Viral stories, whether factual or false, attract clicks and advertising revenue. Given the seemingly intractable challenges of regulating social media platforms, what can be done? In the United States, three members of Congress have proposed a bipartisan response, the Honest Ads Act, that would require platforms to publish information about their advertisers and maintain a public archive of political advertisements. This is a step in the right direction, and the Canadian government should consider similar measures in advance of the 2019 federal election. Facebook has already announced a program, the Canadian Election Integrity Initiative, to counter the spread of misinformation that focuses on media literacy and training. Deliberate misinformation While these projects appear useful, they likely will do little to address the underlying problem: The bad-faith spread of online misinformation. That’s because the fundamental problem lies with Facebook’s business model. Efforts to constrain the flow of information, especially information that generates advertising revenue, are contrary to their business model. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who initially dismissed claims of Russian interference as “crazy” just after the 2016 U.S. election, said on Nov. 1 that Facebook’s new security features to counter so-called fake news will have a “significant impact our profitability.” While the big platforms can afford to take a financial hit to restore their reputations and work to get rid of the worst offenders, they can’t fully solve the problem without fundamentally changing how — and with whom — they do business. Facebook ads linked to a Russian effort to stir tensions on divisive social issues during the U.S. election campaign. (AP) × In response to what has become a fundamental challenge to the survival of liberal democracy, Facebook, Twitter and Google have all committed to voluntarily implementing measures to address the spread of misinformation and targeting accounts that troll other users with often bigoted, racist content. Google, for example, is creating a public database of election advertising content that appears on its services. These companies prefer self-regulation to legislation and they’ve lobbied the U.S Federal Election Commission in the past to have online political advertising exempt from disclosure. It’s only the political pressure from the Senate inquiry that is forcing these platforms into action. Internet companies, algorithms are black boxes While these developments may seem like attempts by these major companies to be responsible, they amount to Google et al saying: “Trust us to fix the problem we created.” However, while Google, Facebook and Twitter are all creating algorithms to, in the words of Zuckerberg, “detect bad content and bad actors,” these algorithms operate as so-called “black boxes.” This means that the criteria the algorithms use to make decisions are off-limits to public scrutiny. Is “trust us” a good enough response, given the problem? With so much at stake, it may be time for a fundamental rethink of how these indispensable 21st-century companies are regulated and what they’re allowed to do. At the very minimum, governments and citizens should reconsider whether the lack of oversight into how these companies shape our speech rights is really in the public interest. Social media platforms “are an enabler of democracy,” says Margrethe Vestager, the European Union’s Commissioner for Competition, but we’re seeing that “they can also be used against our very basic beliefs in democracy.” It’s time to start taking that threat to democracy seriously. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Why social media needs to be regulated urgently

In the past few months, Google has been actively keeping a check on YouTube content.&nbsp;The video sharing website had removed several extremist videos from the site.

As part of its new policy, Google aims to keep a check on videos featuring people and groups that have been designated as &quot;terrorists&quot;&nbsp;by the US or British government.&nbsp;

The move comes&nbsp;after the company faced increasing pressure from governments.&nbsp;The new policy will restrict terrorist groups based on the government&#39;s list.

However, the policy will not affect news clips or educational videos about terrorism.&nbsp;

Citing that such content in the website radicalises viewers and results in deadly terror attacks, governments and human right groups have been forcing YouTube to crackdown on extremist videos for a long time.&nbsp;

Earlier the company had announced that &ldquo;inflammatory religious or supremacist content&rdquo; that does not violates its policies would be allowed with warning labels.

Such videos were restricted to any advertisement revenue.&nbsp;

Google General counsel Kent Walker had said in a blog post&nbsp;then calling for a &quot;right balance&quot;&nbsp;between &quot;free expression&quot;&nbsp;and &quot;access to information without promoting extremely offensive viewpoints.&quot;

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As part of its new policy, Google aims to keep a check on videos featuring people and groups that have been designated as terrorists by the US or British government

In the past few months, Google has been actively keeping a check on YouTube content. The video sharing website had removed several extremist videos from the site. As part of its new policy, Google aims to keep a check on videos featuring people and groups that have been designated as "terrorists" by the US or British government. The move comes after the company faced increasing pressure from governments. The new policy will restrict terrorist groups based on the government's list. However, the policy will not affect news clips or educational videos about terrorism. Citing that such content in the website radicalises viewers and results in deadly terror attacks, governments and human right groups have been forcing YouTube to crackdown on extremist videos for a long time. Earlier the company had announced that “inflammatory religious or supremacist content” that does not violates its policies would be allowed with warning labels. Such videos were restricted to any advertisement revenue. Google General counsel Kent Walker had said in a blog post then calling for a "right balance" between "free expression" and "access to information without promoting extremely offensive viewpoints."

Google's new policy to widen control on 'extremist' videos on YouTube

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