Google brings Smart Replies to Gmail on iOS and Android

When Google launched Inbox, its more experimental next-gen email client for Gmail, one of its flagship features was Smart Reply. With Smart Reply, Google’s machine learning algorithms look at your incoming emails and then suggest short, three- or four-word replies (think “Sure” or “Yes, thank you”). Until now, this feature was only available in Inbox and the Allo messenger, but as the company announced today, it’s now also coming to Gmail for iOS and Android. Unsurprisingly, this feature works exactly like you would expect it. Just like in Inbox, when you reply to an email, Smart Reply now appears at the bottom of the screen and offers you up to three potential replies. You can also start your reply with the Smart Reply option and then edit it or add more context. In my experience, Smart Reply often works quite well and has only improved since launch. When it goes wrong, it’s often pretty comical, but given that you never have to rely on it, that doesn’t really matter. This feature is now rolling out globally in English, with support for Spanish coming in the next few weeks.

Google Hire is the new LinkedIn you might actually use

Let's be honest: job hunting is tough, even if it's done online. Thankfully, the newest face to join the job application game is a familiar one.

Google is working on a tool for posting job openings and managing applicants, allowing the internet search giant to take a stab at sites like LinkedIn and Indeed, as spotted by Axios.

Though Google Hire's login page can be accessed, signing-in doesn't seem to actually work for the public just yet.

Despite not being in operation, Google Hire looks to have already stirred a pot of controversy. Not long after it was spotted, outlets reported that Google Hire's process could allow employers access to an applicant's search history. 

Don't attach your YouTube subs to your CV

While users can sign-in to Google Hire with a personal Google account – which does have ample amounts of sensitive information tied to it – the service won't hand that data over to prospective employers.

A Google representative has since debunked these claims of potential employer snooping, telling TechRadar that private information won't be shared with your potential new boss. 

"[Google Hire] will allow employers to collect candidate applications online," the spokesperson clarified. "Only information that a candidate voluntarily provides would be passed to a prospective employer as part of their online application."

Google isn't the only one putting its spin on the job application process. Facebook has also played around with tools for finding people work, while popular-with-the-youth app Snapchat was recently used as part of the McDonald's hiring process in Australia.

Google Promises Closer Policing of Websites After YouTube Ad Flap in Britain

Google vowed on Tuesday to police its websites better by ramping up staff numbers and overhauling its policies after several companies deserted the Internet giant for failing to keep their adverts off hate-filled videos.

Google has found itself at the center of a British storm in recent days after major companies from supermarkets to banks and consumer groups pulled their adverts from its YouTube site after they appeared alongside videos carrying homophobic and anti-Semitic messages.

Alphabet's Google launched a review of the problem on Friday, apologized on Monday and said on Tuesday it had revamped its policies to give advertisers more control.

The company, which had said it struggled to monitor the 400 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute, said it would hire significantly more staff and speed up the process of removing ads from hateful and offensive content that attacks people based on their race, religion or gender.

"We believe the combination of these new policies and controls will significantly strengthen our ability to help advertisers reach audiences at scale, while respecting their values," Philipp Schindler, Google's chief business officer, said in a blog.

Britain is Google's largest market outside the United States, generating $7.8 billion mainly from advertising in 2016, or nearly 9% of the U.S. giant's global revenue.

Besides well-known British brands pulling the plug, some of the world's biggest advertising companies responsible for placing vast amounts of marketing material for clients, said they were reviewing how they worked with Google.

Google said the YouTube team was looking at changing its existing guidelines on what content should be allowed on the platform and giving more visibility to advertisers and agencies so they can see where adverts are appearing.

"We'll be hiring significant numbers of people and developing new tools powered by our latest advancements in Artificial Intelligence and machine learning to increase our capacity to review questionable content for advertising," Schindler said.

Where adverts were found next to videos advocating extremism, YouTube will seek to resolve the case in less than a few hours.

The boycott is the latest clash between advertising companies, media publishers and the Internet giants that have built up dominant positions in digital advertising by offering not only huge audiences but also the ability to apply their user data to make ads more targeted and relevant.

Analysts have said the scandal could benefit traditional media publishers such as newspapers and broadcasters, which can promote their services as a trusted and safe online platform.

OK, Google: Don't put ads in the Google Assistant

Given how genuinely useful so many of its products are, I sometimes forget that Google is, above all else, an advertising company. The vast majority of Google's money comes from ads, and it has made a business out of finding ways to integrate them into its services. Search, Maps and Gmail are just a few Google services that integrate ads without compromising their utility. However, Google outdid itself yesterday when it dropped an advertisementfor the new Beauty and the Beast film into Google Home and the Google Assistant. The device has a feature that allows you to ask it to tell you about your day, and it responds with weather, traffic, your agenda and news. In the middle of that, Google Home informed users that Beauty and the Beast arrived in theaters and made a cutesy joke about the film. The whole thing lasted about 15 seconds, but it was nonetheless an unexpected intrusion that made users remember how often they are the product that Google is selling. Even worse was Google's first attempt at responding to press inquiries. The company had the audacity to say: "This isn't an ad; the beauty in the Assistant is that it invites our partners to be our guest and share their tales." To me, this means that any partner that wants to work with Google can show up in my living room. Being hassled by advertisers while using Home isn't a "feature" that Google has ever talked about before. The backlash was swift; Google responded quickly. Within a few hours, Google had removed the ad from Home and issues a mild apology. Even then, though, it refused to call the message an ad. And lots of Home users are likely going to be suspicious that their device will start shilling products at any time, without warning. The problem comes down to breaking user expectations. Google advertised a set of features and services for Home in exchange for your $130; integrated ads was not among them. It's different with a product like Amazon's Kindle readers, which display ads on the screen when the device is locked. Though Amazon uses the tricky phase "with special offers" to describe Kindles with ads, the product description is clear enough. And you can always pay a little more to get rid of those ads entirely. Google Home is different. The company has an email address for every single Home user -- if it wanted, it could have contacted them about a new "partner messages" program coming to the device. Even if you couldn't opt out, getting a heads up is the bare minimum I'd expect; that email wouldn't keep me from getting ticked off about the change, but at least I'd be aware of what was happening. To some extent, I believe Google wants to find ways to extend the "my day" feature by including some timely info. Home has already given some info about the Oscars ahead of the show, and it also had a special Black History Month story in February. But those experiences are a lot different from a message that simply sounded like an ad, as much as Google claims that wasn't the intent. Even if we accept Google's line that it's just trying to find ways to enhance the "my day" feature, it should be a strictly opt-in feature. The Google Home app lets you customize exactly what you'll hear when you ask the device to tell you about your day. The lack of a checkbox or any other information for these "partner messages" makes Google's explanation ring hollow. Google's apology and quick action around the Beauty and the Beast ad at least kept me from giving up on Home entirely. But given how Google makes money, we should be prepared for something like this to happen again. Hopefully, Google has learned its lesson and won't invade Home users' ... homes without express permission. Personally, the only ads I'll tolerate on Google Home are from ad-supported services I might use with it -- not from the Google Assistant itself.