Awesome Google

Google employees Nat and Lo spoke with their colleagues and visited a ship that lays new Internet cables to give us a comprehensive yet still digestible explanation of how these critical communication links are made and deployed. More here.

Adam Ruins Everything digs a little deeper into the obvious – that free online services sell our data to advertisers. On one hand, targeted ads sustain the free stuff we enjoy (like this website). On the other hand, we don’t know just how much of our data is kept and by whom.

Los Angeles Clippers’ DeAndre Jordan caught teammate Blake Griffin flaking out on him in this silly commercial for Google’s video calling app. Also for some reason they have living condiments with them.

A mobile app that helps archive all of those old printed photos you’ve got lying in boxes and albums, storing your printed memories right alongside your digital ones. It automatically eliminates glare, crops, straightens and enhances. Available on iOS and Android.

Voice assistants like Siri and Alexa have a handful of funny Easter eggs, but Google Home’s assistant has a seemingly endless repertoire of comedy in her bag of tricks. David Chen shares a bunch of her cringeworthy one-liners. It takes nearly 8 min before it repeats.

The Pixel and the Pixel XL have a 5″/5.5″ AMOLED display, a 12MP f/2.0 rear camera, 2.1Ghz quad-core CPU, 4GB RAM, 32GB/128GB storage and a USB-C port. It also comes with a VR headset accessory and unlimited full resolution backups to Google Photos.

Vizio’s speakers let you create a multi-room audio system with ease. In addition to Bluetooth, they offer Google Cast streaming from apps via Wi-Fi. The 2.1 Crave Pro is ideal on a bookshelf, while the rechargeable Crave 360 is perfect for parties, with 360º sound.

Google employees Nat and Lo spoke with some of their co-workers who handle YouTube to give us an overview of how it compresses and stores the videos we upload and how it distributes those copies around the world.

Google employees Nat and Lo visited the Google Doodle design team to find out how they make the interactive Google logos. In particular, Nat and Lo spoke to the members who came up with the Olympic-themed Doodle, the Fruit Games.

Google’s Project Bloks uses simple, modular blocks to help teach kids the principles of programming – letting them create logic using tangible controls, rather than having to write code. As an open hardware platform, developers can create their own variants.

Despite its cluttered interface, Waze is a shining example of crowdsourcing – it turns parts of a problem into parts of a solution. Google employees Nat and Lo visited their co-workers to learn more about the community-based interactive map app.

Google takes over your smartphone’s keyboard with its latest app. The simple, yet effective tool adds quick and easy access to Google search without leaving your keyboard. Also includes a swipe keyboard, GIF and emoji search built in. Surprisingly, it’s not out for Android.

While Google wowed us with Cardboard Plastic earlier today, their best April Fools prank might just be this one out of Google Nederland – a play on their autonomous car tech, but made for the bicycle-filled streets of Amsterdam.

“What’s realer than real? Probably nothing.” Google unveils the evolution of its affordable virtual reality headset. Cardboard Plastic lets you tap into reality itself, thanks to the magic of holes. Oh, how we wish that Apple did this joke instead.

YouTube’s April Foo – er, April Fizools’ Day prank combines its new 360º video feature with everyone’s dream couch buddy Snoop Dogg. The SnoopaVision button lets you watch Snoop Dogg watch a YouTube video. Videos here and here.

That funky mix of letters and numbers at the end of a YouTube URL is the unique pointer to any of the millions of videos on the site. Tom Scott ponders if and when they’ll run out of video IDs, and the rationale behind the current numbering scheme.

The Chrome Music Lab Experiments are easy to use web-based apps that let you create music or play with sound right on your desktop or mobile browser. Just a few years ago stuff like this was available only on professional software.

Funk bassist Davie504 visited Google Translate and nabbed a couple of its mechanical sounding voice samples, then turned them into the backbeat for one of his impressive slap bass solos. Sing along! “bschk z pv! zk pv zk!”

Santa Claus tries to stay one step ahead of an apartment complex’s spooked but determined caretaker. This Pink Panther-esque 360º animated short film from Aardman is best viewed on a mobile device via the YouTube app, although Firefox or Chrome will do.

Watch some of the world’s best musicians, actors, dancers and performance artists up close and for free with Google Cultural Institute’s Performing Arts collection. Each episode consists of multiple 360º videos taken from different angles.

The LG Nexus 5X has a 5.2″ 1080p screen, 2GB RAM and 16GB-32GB storage. The Huawei Nexus 6P on the other hand has a 5.7″ 1440p screen, 3GB RAM and 32GB-128GB storage. Both have a 12MP camera, USB Type-C charging port and Android 6 Marshmallow.

YouTuber Pouff turns an otherwise mundane footage of a grocery run into a mind-melting collage of animals. He used samim23’s Deep Dream Animator, which applies Google’s photo manipulating software to videos.

Like Apple’s AirPort routers, OnHub is designed to make it easy to setup and manage your Internet connection. It has a user-friendly iOS/Android app and 13 antennas mounted in a circular pattern to maximize coverage.