Project Green Light by Google: transforming urban traffic for a cleaner commute
Google's Maps app tapped into a rich mine of everyday traffic data, which holds the key to changing urban mobility. This information, gathered from a wide network of Android devices and in-car navigation systems, offers cities a game-changing possibility to optimize traffic signal timings. Google's Read More...
April is Earth Month! 5 effective Earth Day campaigns and the holiday's history
April is Earth Month, a time to celebrate and protect our world. The annual Earth Day celebration on April 22 draws more than a billion people, making it the greatest civic event in the world. Earth Month is an expansion of the Earth Day movement, which originated in the early 1970s in the Read More...
Google puts data privacy back into users hands
Due to various political and healthcare data breaches setting off alarm bells, the general public is slowly realizing that their data is at risk of being used against them in potentially harmful ways. At issue as well, "big data" collection is such a new technology that there are few laws in place Read More...
How to use a reverse image search to spot fake news
If the past few years have taught us anything, it’s that “fake news” has found its home on social media. While fake posts are often news stories, they can also be images that people share, sometimes without the knowledge that what they’re sharing isn’t factual. As we have previously Read More...
New policy reduces climate misinformation on popular video platform
A 2020 report by Avaaz, a US not-for-profit organization focused on issues such as climate change, blamed YouTube for “incentivizing this climate misinformation content via its monetization program.” In response, Google is finally banning ads, YouTube videos, and other content that preaches Read More...
Google Maps launches feature showing which subway cars are least crowded
If you live in New York or Sydney, you will soon be able to use Google Maps to see how busy each transit car is before stepping aboard a train or subway. The new feature is part of a product update announced by Google last week, which will allow users to observe live crowd data on individual Read More...
AI mapping tool shows cities exactly where they need to plant more trees
From boosting air quality to providing shade, there are many benefits that come with planting trees in urban neighborhoods. The only problem is that in many cities, trees are not equitably distributed amongst neighborhoods. To help ensure a more equal spread of the greens in cities, Google has Read More...
AI guiding system allows blind runners to race independently
When blind or vision-impaired people compete in races, they usually have to be tethered to a human guide or a guide dog to help them run the course. In the near future, however, these same runners could compete independently thanks to a new artificial intelligence system from Google called Project Read More...
Internet balloon breaks record by spending 312 days in the stratosphere
Loon, a project developed by Google’s parent company Alphabet, has recently revealed that one of its internet-beaming balloons has broken a flight record, floating in the stratosphere for 312 days straight. The idea behind Loon is to launch a fleet of large communications balloons into the Read More...
Waymo is now offering the Phoenix public rides in its driverless cars
The Google self-driving project Waymo started testing its driverless technology in the city of Phoenix back in 2017. Now, three years later, Waymo has announced plans to open its fully autonomous cars to the city’s wider population. In a similar style to Uber or Lyft, people can now book a trip Read More...