Google Data Studio: quicker and broader access to data – Google wants to make it easy to access data within Data Studio. They are launching a new Data Studio “Community Connectors” developer program allowing users to visualize data from any source.
A better world for wheels on Google Maps – Google Maps now offers answers that allow those on wheels to find accessible places. They are calling on Local Guides, a community of people who contribute their expertise about places on Google Maps, to add more wheelchair accessibility attributes to the map.
Variable speed playback on mobile – Variable speed playback was launched on the web several years ago and is one of our most highly requested features on mobile
Optimize your Android apps for Chromebooks – While most apps and games already work fairly well on Chromebooks without any changes, Google is still pushing for a developer to consider the various options associated with a laptop device.
Embed websites as iframes in the new Google Sites – Going forward, you can embed an entire web page as an iframe in a new Google site. This will allow you to pull in content from other websites and Google tools like Apps Script, Data Studio, and App Maker, saving you the trouble of duplicating and updating that information on your page.
Export data from Google Vault in PST format – To save those businesses time and to make the process of producing and importing data easier, we’re now giving Vault admins the ability to export Gmail, Google Groups, and on-the-record Google Hangouts chat data in Microsoft Personal Storage Table (PST) format.
Introducing limits on file access requests in Team Drives – Request Access notification will be sent to the creator of the file, or a limited group of individuals who had relevant interaction with the Team Drive. We will no longer always send it to all members of the Team Drive.
Search in the new Google Sites – Users can now click the magnifying glass in the top right corner of their screen and search across an entire site.
Even more reasons for creators to love the YouTube Studio app – Creator Studio app is being rebranded YouTube Studio. They are releasing many new features as well, including the ability to schedule posts, a summary of subscribers and custom thumbnails.
Better ways of getting around – Settings, advanced search, case law, and “my library” moved into the side drawer, which is now present on all screen sizes and all devices.
3 Google Drive Shortcuts – Alice Keeler provides three simple shortcuts to rename files, open the sharing dialogue and exploring file details.
CHROME & BOOKS
Loom – Screencast on Chromebooks, Macs, and PCs – Richard Byrne shows how to use Loom, a Chrome extension, to record short screencasts (ten minutes) involving either the desktop, an individual tab, and or your webcam.
Chrome’s Plan to Distrust Symantec Certificates – Devon O’Brien, Ryan Sleevi, and Andrew Whalley explain how at the end of July 2018, the Chrome team and the PKI community converged upon a plan to reduce, and ultimately remove, trust in Symantec’s infrastructure in order to uphold users’ security and privacy when browsing the web.
Stop Calling Google’s Chromebooks Toy Computers – John Patrick Pullen discusses the rise of Chrome OS and the Chromebook and reflects on his experiences in using a Pixel, compared with something like a Macbook Air.
Hipster Google: Library Edition – Eric Curts look at a dozen Google research tools that are lesser known, or maybe you have not had a chance to use much.
The Gmail survival guide for busy teachers – Matt Miller provides a series of tips and tricks to get on top of email, such as scheduling, filtering and setting boundaries.
3 Things to Know in Google Forms – Alice Keeler documents some lesser known features of Forms, including the ability to change preferences, validate responses and choose the sheet where responses go to.
Amazing Mobile Features of Google Classroom – Eric Curts unpacks the various features associated with Google Classroom mobile app, including the ability to add digital handwriting, recording media, inserting content from other apps and receiving notifications.
Google Classroom: Post to Multiple Classes – Alice Keeler explains how to assign work and posts to multiple classes, useful if several classes require the same information. This, however, does not work with scheduling.
5 Tutorials on Mapping Stories – Richard Byrne provides some advice on how to have students create maps based on stories that students read.
View the world through someone else’s lens in Google Earth – Whether you’re looking for travel inspiration, preparing a geography report for school, or simply taking flight from the comfort of your couch, Stafford Marquardt shows how the new Photos layer in Google Earth gives you the ability to look at far off places up close.
Step inside of music – Alexander Chen discusses the new collaboration between Google and the Song Exploder podcast which allows viewers to interact with music but turns parts on and off.
Something’s coming … “West Side Story” on Google Arts & Culture – Google Arts & Culture is launching a new collection honoring “West Side Story,” bringing together artifacts and mementos from the making of the musical and movie, behind-the-scenes photographs, and a peek into the modern-day representation of the musical, this collection explores the history, artistic value and social relevance of “West Side Story.”
5 Simple Things That Can Improve Your Videos – Richard Byrne provides some suggestions when working with video, including making it short, recording mobile content in landscape and filtering the audio.
What’s New With Youtube? – GTT022 – Matt Miller and Kasey Bell explore all the updates associated with YouTube, including new embed code and darker theme option.
A Blogger Privacy Setting You Might Want to Use – Richard Byrne discusses some privacy settings to consider when using Blogger, such as the request that your blog doesn’t appear in Blogger’s list of published blogs, restrict viewing to those who have been invited by email and turn on moderation for comments.
Drag Downloaded Images to Google – Alice Keeler explains how images that are listed as downloaded at the bottom of the screen can simply be dragged into a document or presentation
