A simple global currency and financial infrastructure that empowers billions of people.

Facebook is parenting with 27 organizations around the world to start the non-profit Libra Association and going to launch Libra Cryptocurrency and Calibra Digital Wallet, a new subsidiary that will build for Messenger, WhatsApp, and apps on iOS and Android. The Founder and CEO at Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg said that “our mission is to create a simple global financial infrastructure that empowers billions of people around the world”. Libra is powered by block-chain technology and will be launch in 2020.

After the launch of this new currency, it will create positive impact on people’s lives because many of them don’t want to carry cash, which can be insecure, or pay extra fees for transfers. It is also important for those people who don’t have access to banks or financial services. Right now, there are around a billion people who don’t have a bank account but do have a mobile phone.

Facebook and Libra are trying to make it easy for everyone to send and receive money just like you use mobile apps to instantly share messages and photos. To enable this, Facebook is also launching an independent subsidiary called ‘Calibra’ that will build services that let you send, spend and save Libra – starting with a digital wallet that will be available in WhatsApp and Messenger and as a standalone app next year.

What is Calibra Digital Wallet?

Calibra will be regulated like other payment service providers. Any information you share with Calibra will be kept separate from information you share on Facebook. From the beginning, Calibra will let you send Libra to almost anyone with a smartphone at low to no cost. Over time, facebook will offer more services for people and businesses – like paying bills with the push of a button, buying coffee with the scan of a code, or riding local public transit without needing to carry cash or a metro pass.

In addition to facebook efforts, many other companies will build their own services using Libra – from payment companies like Mastercard, PayPal, PayU, Stripe and Visa, to popular services like Booking, eBay, Farfetch, Lyft, Spotify and Uber, to non-profits doing important work around financial inclusion like Kiva, Mercy Corps and Women’s World Banking, to companies in the crypto space like Anchorage, Coinbase, Xapo, and Bison Trails. A number of leading Venture firms are also joining to help drive innovation on the Libra network.

It’s decentralized – meaning it’s run by many different organizations instead of just one, making the system fairer overall. It’s available to anyone with an internet connection and has low fees and costs. And it’s secured by cryptography which helps keep your money safe.

Is Using Libra Safe?

Privacy and safety will be built into every step. For example, Calibra will have a dedicated team of experts in risk management focused on preventing people from using Calibra for fraudulent purposes. The company will provide fraud protection so if you lose your Libra coins, you’ll get refunds.

There’s still a lot more to learn and do before Libra will be ready to officially launch. According to Facebook, “We know it’s a major undertaking and responsibility – and we’re committed to getting this right. We’ve been working with policymakers and experts in areas like financial inclusion, economics, security, privacy and blockchain. We’ll continue listening to their feedback as we figure out the best way to move forward.”

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Google Launching New Search Menu Bar Interface

After the few months of testing, Google is now rolling out a new search menu bar with icons. Rather than showing the text to various search categories like news, video, images, maps, shopping and so on. After added favicon to Mobile search results, Google is now able to show the new search bar with icons that represent those categories. Here I like share the screenshot:

Moreover, I tested this update on various browsers including Chrome and Firefox, both signed in and signed out of Google. So, I am able to mirror this in every single test that I’ve tried. Here is the screenshot of the search bar before test:

Google has confirmed that this new search bar is now rolling out to searchers today. Throughout the day I have seen different reports from users, that they are seeing the new Google search menu bar. So you can also to see this normally on all browsers and test it.

Over the years, the search engine has made several changes to their top bar. In 2010, Google used these icons next to search filters for desktop and in 2011 for mobile user. But in 2011, these icons has been removed for desktop version.

Personally, I don’t think so that this new change will impact for SEOs and search marketers, but any changes comes to user interface by mostly visited search engine like Google will be notice. I think it will user a new fresh look to the Google search result page.

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Google Adding Favicons to Mobile Search Results

After the announcement of New OS Hongmeng from The Huawei, Google has informed to US administration that if the ban continues on Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, it will risks compromising national security, based on Financial Times report.

Google’s move comes after the decision of Trump administration, when they included Huawei, a Chinese smartphone maker, put into “Entity List”. While the authorities are expected to damage Huawei in the short term, but industry experts say it could force the Huawei to become self-sufficient by developing its own operating systems, that can hurt the control of American companies such as Google in the longer term.

Why Huawei Ban Risk National Security?

According to FT report, Google is concerned that if they do not update its Android operating system on Huawei smartphones, the Chinese company will develop its own version of the software. The search giant argued about the New OS Hongmeng, which is faster than Android OS, susceptible to being hacked due to safe and sustainable software ecosystem.

The US administration in May added Huawei to a trade blacklist. The move put Huawei and 68 affiliates in more than two dozen countries on the Commerce Department’s so-called Entity List. Google and the US Department of Commerce did not available for comments on the FT report.

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Huawei New OS Hongmeng Rolling Out Which Is 60% Faster Than Android

Good news for restaurant owners and food lovers. After allow users to order food from search, map and assistant, now Google added popular dishes feature to Google Maps. Whether you’re appetite a tea cocktail in Brooklyn or want to experience Pacific Rim Cuisine in New York, Google Maps will highlights the restaurant’s most popular dishes in the menu, so you can simply place your order.

Ronnie Falcon, Product Manager at Google Maps, wrote that “The popular dishes feature is powered by a machine learning algorithm that matches dish names, provided by Google Maps users, with relevant photos and reviews. This creates a handy arrangement of a restaurant’s most popular meals right at your fingertips in Google Maps.”

Google Maps Popular Dishes Feature

Now food lovers can easily find a restaurant on Google Maps to discover its popular dishes in the overview tab. If you’re feeling hungry, just scroll down the menu tab and explore the most famous dishes. Just tap on the most-talked about dishes to get reviews and photos. If you’re in a different country or can’t read the language, Google Maps will translate those reviews for you.

Popular dishes for restaurants can be viewed in the Business Profiles on Google Maps. Business owners, managers, and customers can add and name dishes on the Business Profile through Google Maps. Restaurant Owners can add dishes name to get lead over dish names that was added by the customers, but users feel a dish is incorrect so they can also suggest edits for that.

Starting today, Google is rolling out this new feature globally on Google Maps for all Android devices and will be coming soon for iOS users in couple of months. So what are you waiting for, let’s start your dinning journey with Google Maps.

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The War of 5G and 6G Technologies

The war of 5G has begun between Huawei and Google. According to BBC Report, Google has banned the world’s second largest smartphone company, Huawei. The new designs of Huawei smartphones are restrict to some Google apps. But Huawei is going to launch their plan B, a new OS called “Hongmeng” will be rolling out to replace Android. The Huawei New OS Hongmeng is 60% Faster Than Android.

The decision comes after the Trump administration, when they included Huawei, a Chinese smartphone maker, put into “Entity List”, so American tech companies will not trade with unless they have a license. According to Google “it was complying with the order and reviewing the implications”. At other side, Huawei said “it would continue to provide security updates and after-sales services to all existing Huawei and Honor smartphone and tablet products, covering those that have been sold or are still in stock worldwide.” Here is a tweet from Global Times.

The Chinese Company added that “We will continue to build a safe and sustainable software ecosystem, in order to provide the best experience for all users globally.” Keep in mind that Huawei is largest smartphone maker if compare to Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo, Nokia and other.

Smartphone Markers Market Shares:

Google Restrict Huawei To Use Android

Google confirmed a ban, but they reversed their decision and didn’t ban immediately, because the US Commerce Department has provided a temporary licence for 90 days to Huawei. The licence will be valid for next three months, until 19 August 2019, so it’s possible that many things will change in coming 90 days.

What You Need To Know About Huawei Incident?

After the launch of Google’s next version of Android later this year, Android OS will not be available for Huawei devices. Huawei chief executive Ren Zhengfei, talk to media and said “We have already been preparing for this – that’s our ‘Plan B’, which include to developed chipset and operating system. The Huawei New OS Hongmeng will be coming soon which will be 60% faster than Android.”

The War of 5G and 6G Technologies Between China and US:

Huawei is facing a backlash from Western countries, led by the USA, over possible risks posed by using its products in next-generation 5G mobile networks. Many countries have raised issues that Huawei is using surveillance equipment in their devices, and that is why they have restricted telecom companies that do not using Huawei products in 5G mobile networks.

This sudden move came after the Trump administration aggressively lobbied with other western countries that not to use Huawei devices in next-generation 5G networks. After few days, Trump administration introduced a new tariffs on Chinese products that amid an escalating trade war. Here a tweet from Real J Donald Trump 5G and 6G Technologies.

Huawei New OS HongMeng Will Be 60% Faster Than Android

Huawei is working very hard on developing its own OS, App Arcade and other softwares that can work in the same manner for chipset solutions. The move to the Huawei’s new operating system called “HongMeng” which is easy to use for all customers. The Huawei New OS HongMeng would support existing Android apps and works well with all devices including phones, computers and even cars.

Huawei is the best in AI and 5G, so it won’t be surprising that they can develop alternate softwares to control Google Android Apps. Based on statement from the CEO of Huawei’s consumer business, “Today, Huawei, we are still committed to Microsoft Windows and Google Android. But if we cannot use that, soon Huawei New OS HongMeng will be available in the market.”

The Huawei New OS Hongmeng is an open platform, which is a “comprehensive system” that developers can jointly participate in, and adopt new features. It would be used for all Huawei’s products including smartphones, PCs, tablets, TV, automobile, wearable device and also compatible with all Android apps.

If compare, Google use Chrome OS for Chromebook and Android for mobile, Apple has iOS for phones, MacOS for computers, and Microsoft use Windows Phone and Windows for PCs. Now Huawei has also created its own OS, which is a clever move from the company, help to stay ahead of potentially devastating effects of the ban. There are many unconfirmed rumor about the new operating system, but as per company media talks, it seems like the new OS has been tested in China.

According to Huawei’s Consumer Business Head, Richard Yu, said “the new operating system will arrive by fall of 2019 or spring of 2020”.

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Google Allow Users To Order Food From Search, Map and Assistant

What are you ordering tonight? Let’s order food with Google

Google is adding a new feature that allow users to order food directly from Search Results, Map and Assistant to a local restaurants. On May 23, 2019, Anantica Singh, Senior Product Manager, Food Ordering, wrote in a blog post, that “Google is making easier for millions of people who regularly order food for home delivery.”

Order Food with Google Search, Map

With the help of Google Search Results, Map, and the Assistant, you can order food from DoorDash, Postmates, Delivery.com, Slice, ChowNow, and more services are coming soon. If you search for a particular restaurant or find your favorite dish, you will see “Order Online” button in the search results. You can make your selections, view delivery or pickup times, and pay with Google Pay. These service providers have associated with Google so your orders will complete without leaving the search results.

Order Food with Google Assistant

If you’re using Assistant on your phone to get your food, just say, “Hey Google, order food from [restaurant].” You can also place reorder the same meal next time, from some recommended delivery services by using the command “Hey Google, reorder food from [restaurant].”

The Google Assistant will bring up your past orders in few seconds, so you can select your everyday cuisine. Previously, Google’s search results would display links to food services provider when users searched for a restaurant or type particular meal. After click one of those links, users can open or download another app. Now, users can search their favorite foodstuff and finish all orders from the same delivery service.

This new Google update is coming out to Search, Maps, and Assistant starting today. So what are you waiting for? Let’s Google help to serve your cravings through Search, Map and Assistant.

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On May 21, Bing published a blog post and explained how to submit URLs through API. It’s a good news for SEOs and Webmasters that you don’t need to wait for BingBot to crawl your website and index pages.

You can just submit those links to Bing to get your content immediately indexed as soon as your content is published! They  also published a step by step by guide for how to set-up the adaptive URL submission API.

Bing said that “In the last few months we have seen rapid adoption of this capability with thousands of websites submitting millions of URLs and getting them indexed on Bing instantly.“

Step 1: Generate an API Key

Webmasters need an API key to be able to access and use Bing Webmaster APIs. This API key can be generated from Bing Webmaster Tools by following these steps: 

• Sign in to your account on Bing Webmaster Tools. In case you do not already have a Bing Webmaster account, sign up today using any Microsoft, Google or Facebook ID.
• Add & verify the site that you want to submit URL for through the API, if not already done.
• Select and open any verified site through the My Sites page on Bing Webmaster Tools and click on Webmaster API on the left-hand side navigation menu.

• If you are generating the API key for the first time, please click Generate to create an API Key. Else you will see the key previously generated.

Note: Only one API key can be generated per user. You can change your API key anytime; change is taken by the system within 30 minutes.

Step 2: Integrate with your website

 You can any of the below protocols to easily integrate the Submit URL API into your system. 

JSON Request Sample

POST /webmaster/api.svc/json/SubmitUrl?

apikey=sampleapikeyEDECC1EA4AE341CC8B6 HTTP/1.1

Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8

Host: ssl.bing.com

 {

“siteUrl”:”http:\/\/example.com”,

“url”:”http:\/\/example.com\/url1.html”

}

XML Request Sample

POST /webmaster/api.svc/pox/SubmitUrl?apikey=sampleapikey341CC57365E075EBC8B6 HTTP/1.1

Content-Type: application/xml; charset=utf-8

Host: ssl.bing.com 

 <SubmitUrl xmlns=”http://schemas.datacontract.org/2004/07/Microsoft.Bing.Webmaster.Api”>

<siteUrl>http://example.com</siteUrl>

<url>http://example.com/url1.html</url>

</SubmitUrl>

If the URL submission is successful then you will receive an http 200 response. This ensures that your pages will be discovered for indexing. If Bing webmaster guidelines are met then the pages will be crawled and indexed in real time.

If you have any trouble during the integration, you can reach out bwtsupport@microsoft.com to raise a service ticket.

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Bing Ads Launched New Extension for Desktop and Mobile Devices

Sooner or later, Google is rolling out a new look for mobile search results that includes adding favicons in SERPs. The website name plus its favicon will display at the top of the results page, as shown in the image below.

Google said “We’re bringing a fresh new design to Search, helping you more easily find the information you’re looking for.”

If you search for a product or service on mobile, you will see a website’s icon and name above the title, the bolded black ‘Ad’ label that will replace by ‘Green’ label, would appear at the top of the card along with URL.

Lastly, with this new design, a website’s branding can be front and center, helping you better understand where the information is coming from and what pages have what you’re looking for. 

According to Google:

 “As we continue to make new content formats and useful actions available—from buying movie tickets to playing podcasts—this new design allows us to add more action buttons and helpful previews to search results cards, all while giving you a better sense of the web page’s content with clear attribution back to the source.”

This new look is coming first to mobile and will be coming out in the next few days. If you want to learn more about how to implement their preferred icon for organic listings click here.

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Google Trips: Hotels, Flights, Weather, Places, Things To Do & More

Whether you’re planning a trip on desktop or mobile, use Google Trips to quickly find all the information you need.  Richard Holden, Vice President, at Google Travel, wrote that “Last year, we simplified trip planning by making navigation between Google Flights, Hotels, and Trips easier on smartphones. We’re now rolling this out on desktop as well.”

Now you can visit at google.com/travel and plan your trips or find anything like “hotels in Canada” or “Vancouver”. Search Engine Google will show all the travel information like hotels, flights, things to do, places to eat, weather, packages and more in one single place.

They said “they are making this information more accessible at google.com/travel, and in Google Search and Google Maps.” Google is also adding some new features to make plans and organize your trips easier.

Google Trips Features:

• You can now make edits directly to your trips timeline, and in a few weeks you’ll be able to manually add new reservations as well.
• Recent searches, saved places and flights you’re tracking are added automatically to your trips when you’re signed into your Google Account. Plus soon you will see viewed things to do and saved and viewed hotels to your trips.
• Google will show you when you’re traveling by pointing out popular neighborhoods nearby and what they’re known for.
• In the next few months, your trips—including reservations for things like hotels and restaurants—will be accessible in Google Maps too.

Google is simplifying the planning for travel, so they are making big changes in Trips to find the most useful information and make your trips easier. Enjoy the world tour with the help of Google Maps, Google Search and google.com/travel

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Google Marketing Live: Shop Directly From Search, Images, and YouTube

On May 14, 2019, Surojit Chattarjee, Vice President of Product Management at Google Shopping, announced that Google making it easier for users to shop directly from Search, Images, and YouTube. This significant announcement was made at Google Marketing Live on Tuesday, after the replacements of Google Express to the new Google Shopping.

The New Google Shopping Experience

Google is creating a new shopping experience, which help users to add items to a universal shopping cart from several of its platforms like Images, Search, and YouTube.

According to Google:

“This year we’re unveiling a redesigned Google Shopping experience with new, immersive ways for shoppers to discover and compare millions of products from thousands of stores. When they’re ready to buy, they can choose to purchase online, in a nearby store and now directly on Google.”

Buyers will have a personalized homepage on the Shopping tab where they can use filters based on features, read reviews and also watch videos. For example, if you’re using Google Search to buy a headphone, you can use filter for wireless, and the brand you’re looking for.

When viewing a product page in search results there could be a blue “Add to cart” button which would allow you to buy the item on the spot. The “Add to cart” button could also appear when viewing a YouTube video about a product, or when viewing photos of a product in Google Images.

When you seeing a product page in the search results, the blue ‘Add to Cart’ button allow users to buy that product on the spot with confidence because the product is backed by a Google guarantee. Shoppers will be confident by knowing that Google is behind the scene, if the order is delayed, didn’t get received which they were looking or the issue for refund.  The “Add to cart” button will also appear when watching a video about that product on YouTube, or when viewing that product photos in Google Images.

If you’re a Merchant, so your products will be automatically add to this new shopping experience on Google Shopping, Google Search and Google Assistant.

Get Discovered on Google Shopping

According to Google, “Discovery Ads are a new way to reach people across Google properties in the moments when they’re open to discovering your products and services. They will also appear on YouTube’s home feed and in the Gmail promotions tab.”

So, now shoppers can view swipeable and visual ads on Google Images, means that you are able to highlight multiple products within the same sponsored ad. Google also introducing Showcase Shopping Ads – a new visual ad format that integrates with rich lifestyle imagery. According to survey, more than 80% of traffic come on retailer websites from new visitors just to discover new ideas and brands.

If you want to join New Google Shopping Experience and start campaigns, then fill out this form.

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Google Marketing Live: Discovery Ads for Mobile Browsers