New Magazin Saleb Opinion

[ cross-posted to Infidel Bloggers Alliance ] Ramadan 2020 began at sunset on or about April 23 and will end on or about May 23. Muslims, ever contentious about nearly every matter, even disagree among themselves as to when Ramadan should begin . What does Ramadan really celebrate, particularly Eid ul-Fitr , which marks the end of Ramadan? If one understands the history of Islam and, especially, that of Ramadan, one will come to understand that such a commemoration, including iftar dinners at the White House, should be unacceptable to all those who oppose Islamic supremacism. Ramadan involves more than prayers, fasting, and the giving of alms — all of which are part of the month long observance but which are also the outward signs of another message. By literal definition, of course, Ramadan commemorates Allah's "revealing" the Qur'an to Muhammad. But history clearly indicates that the "revelations" from Allah to Muhammad began around 610, some fourte...

We're back with another update in our Stadia Savepoint series—here's what happened in April. This month we welcomed everyone within our 14 launch countries to Stadia and gave gamers two months of free games with Stadia Pro. Stadia is now free and open to anyone who wants to create an account. Our most recent Stadia Connect revealed that you can click here to play PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS on Stadia, plus new info on First on Stadia titles Wave Break , Crayta , and Get Packed .  Stadia’s Phil Harrison also revealed: “We are bringing five games from Electronic Arts to Stadia as part of our partnership. It all starts with Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order™ coming this fall followed by EA SPORTS™ Madden NFL and FIFA. We are excited to bring these hugely popular franchises to our players on Stadia in 2020 and beyond. We’ll have more news to share about EA games on Stadia later this year. Stadia Pro updates Get new games for free as part of Stadia Pro in Ma...

Social distancing, by definition, makes it hard to get a healthy dose of human contact. Fortunately, there are lots of ways to keep in touch with friends and family that go beyond the standard phone call. We asked Googlers to share how they’re keeping family and friends close, while staying a safe distance apart. We hope their ideas might inspire you, too. Give your family a surprise hello through the Google Home app To feel closer when we’re far away, I broadcast messages through the Google Home app to my family in London (I’m in California). Usually I’ll say hi and give them a few updates on my day. I get a kick out of knowing I might give them a little surprise of suddenly hearing my voice in the hallway.  - Robin Bhaduri, Google Podcasts team Breakfast talk on Duo I have a Nest Hub Max in my kitchen. I use it most often while I’m cooking, but lately I've been using it to video chat with family over Google Duo . I can do things like have breakfast with my five year ol...

Media consumption habits are rapidly changing. Planning tools that are tightly connected to your media buying platform can help you reassess your media plans and quickly adjust your ad strategy to reach people where they are now. We’re expanding the reach forecasting capabilities in Display & Video 360 to offer a deduplicated view of expected campaign reach across open auction display, video and YouTube so that media planners can have a comprehensive and accurate view of their potential audience. And to better support collaboration between planning and buying teams, the planning workspace is now more easily accessible to media planners, thanks to a new dedicated user role. A deduplicated view of your Display & Video 360 reach  Media planners aim to get the most comprehensive view of all the media available so they can design relevant and effective plans. In Display & Video 360, you could already forecast the reach of your video campaigns in the plan workspa...

People trust Google when they’re looking for information, and we’re committed to ensuring they can trust the ads they see on our platforms, too. This commitment is especially important in times of uncertainty, such as the past few months as the world has confronted COVID-19.  Responding to COVID-19 Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, we’ve closely monitored advertiser behavior to protect users from ads looking to take advantage of the crisis. These often come from sophisticated actors attempting to evade our enforcement systems with advanced tactics. For example, as the situation evolved, we saw a sharp spike in fraudulent ads for in-demand products like face masks. These ads promoted products listed significantly above market price, misrepresented the product quality to trick people into making a purchase or were placed by merchants who never fulfilled the orders.  We have a dedicated COVID-19 task force that’s been working around the clock. They have built ne...

Last October, we invited  applications  to the second round of the Google News Initiative Innovation Challenge in Asia Pacific: a call for new ideas to help journalism thrive in the digital age. Since then, the COVID-19 outbreak has affected publishers across the region and, after discussions with media organizations, we made the decision to go ahead with the Challenge—alongside our broader support for journalism in this challenging time.  The first round of the Challenge focused on diversifying revenue and saw dozens of examples of creative new approaches. Iwate Nippo, a local publisher in Japan, developed a news and lifestyle app targeting elderly subscribers, while Australia’s Crikey created a new group subscription model—steps to strengthen their business and ensure they can continue to provide vital news, analysis and information. This time around, applicants were asked for proposals to increase reader engagement, which ultimately leads to greater loyalty and ...

With free measurement tools from Google, you can get insights into how customer behavior has changed due to COVID-19 and then take action to update your marketing strategy. Read more to learn about how to get started, and for specific tips to help your business navigate the coming months. Understand the impact of your Google media  If you’re running marketing campaigns to drive visits to your website or app, it’s important for these visits to turn into sales. Attribution in Google Ads helps you understand the paths people take to complete a conversion , and then award credit for that conversion to different ads, clicks, and factors along the way. We recently launched a new look for attribution reports in Google Ads that helps you quickly see how customers interact with your marketing throughout the purchase cycle. This makes it easier for you to then take action in the areas that are driving results. Revamped overview page that displays simplified and intuiti...

Editor’s note: What impact can AI and machine learning have on journalism? That is a question the Google News Initiative is exploring through a partnership with Polis, the international journalism think tank at the London School of Economics and Political Science . The following post is written by Mattia Peretti, who manages the program, called JournalismAI. In the global survey we conducted last year about the use of artificial intelligence (AI) by news organizations, most respondents highlighted the urgent need to educate and train their newsroom on the potential offered by machine learning and other AI-powered technologies. Improving AI literacy was seen as vital to change culture and improve understanding of new tools and systems: AI literacy is crucial. We are looking at how to better educate our journalists on everything from rudimentary coding through to data science. The more the newsroom at large embraces the technology... for AI projects, the better the outcome. ...

With much of the world physically apart right now, people are finding creative ways to use custom-built maps to maintain a shared sense of community, albeit virtually. In 2007, we launched a tool called My Maps to help people create their own custom maps on top of Google Maps. With a simple drag-and-drop interface you can add placemarks, draw lines and shapes, and embed text, photos and videos. You can share your map via public URL, embed it on websites or publish your map for others to see. Over the past four months, we’ve seen a surge in the number of people creating and viewing My Maps. From December 2019 to April 2020, we saw nearly a billion more My Maps creations, edits and views compared to the same time period last year, growing from 2 billion to nearly 3 billion. With My Maps, communities have been sharing helpful, local information in rapidly changing situations—from COVID-19 testing sites and food banks to where first responders can access childcare facilities . Map...

Technology that connects us while we're apart helps keep us safe and productive. Over the past few months, we’ve seen the power of video meetings bring us together—whether we’re working with teammates, talking to healthcare professionals, sharing with loved ones, or learning from home.  Today, we’re making Google Meet, our premium video conferencing product, free for everyone, with availability rolling out over the coming weeks. We’ve invested years in making Meet a secure and reliable video conferencing solution that’s trusted by schools, governments and enterprises around the world, and in recent months we’ve accelerated the release of top-requested features to make it even more helpful. Starting in early May, anyone with an email address can sign up for Meet and enjoy many of the same features available to our business and education users, such as simple scheduling and screen sharing, real-time captions, and layouts that adapt to your preference, including an expanded tiled ...

(cross-posted last week to Infidel Bloggers Alliance , where you might find some comments of interest) This matter should concern all of us.  From The Federalist , dated April 23, 2020.... Instead Of ‘Flattening The Curve,’ We Flattened Hospitals, Doctors, And The U.S. Health Care System: Across the country, hospitals shut down 'non-essential' procedures in preparation for a surge of coronavirus patients that never appeared When the lockdowns began last month, we were told that if we didn’t stay home our hospitals would be overwhelmed with coronavirus patients, intensive care wards would be overrun, there wouldn’t be enough ventilators, and some people would probably die in their homes for lack of care. To maintain capacity in the health-care system, we all had to go on lockdown—not just the big cities, but everywhere. So we stayed home, businesses closed, and tens of millions of Americans lost their jobs. But with the exception of New York City, the overwhelming surge...

Note: These are Sundar Pichai's full remarks from today's Alphabet Q1 2020 earnings call. See below for an email to employees Sundar sent following the call.  When I last spoke with you in early February, no one could have imagined how much the world would change, and how suddenly. Our thoughts are with everyone who has been impacted by COVID-19, especially those who’ve lost loved ones or their livelihoods. It’s a challenging moment for the world.  Through it all, we’re incredibly grateful for all of the essential workers on the front lines of this crisis... from health care workers and first responders... to the grocery store clerks and delivery workers...to teachers grappling with new technology to help children learn remotely...to all of the scientists and researchers working hard to develop vaccines and treatments...and many others who are leading through these difficult times. Thank you. These people fill us with hope and show us the power of human resilience. We’ll...

Bluetooth headphones help us take calls, listen to music while working out, and use our phones anywhere without getting tangled up in wires. And though pairing Bluetooth accessories is an increasingly common activity, it can be a frustrating process for many people. Fast Pair makes Bluetooth pairing easier on Android 6.0+ phones (learn how to  check your Android version ). When you turn on your Fast Pair-enabled accessory, it automatically detects and pairs with your Android phone in a single tap. So far, there have been over three million Fast pairings between Bluetooth accessories, like speakers and earbuds, and Android phones. Here are some new capabilities to make Fast Pair experience even easier. Easily find your lost accessory It can be frustrating when you put your Bluetooth headphones down and immediately forget where you placed them. If they’re connected to your phone, you can locate your headphones by ringing them. If you have true wireless earbuds (earbuds t...