Google brings AppSheet automations to Gmail, Jira support to Chat and Spaces

Google today announced a new feature for its AppSheet automation service that will allow developers on its no-code platform to create custom apps and automation that can interact directly with Gmail. By leveraging dynamic email, developers can now build applications that users can trigger and execute right from inside their Gmail inbox — and while […]

Google Search update will provide more context about websites, including descriptions and what others say

Google is making a change to its search results with the goal of improving the media literacy of online users. The company is expanding the capabilities of its “About this Result” feature, launched earlier this year, to also now include information about the source itself, including its description from Wikipedia and what the site says […]

Google is redesigning Search using AI technologies and new features

Google announced today it will be applying AI advancements, including a new technology called Multitask Unified Model (MUM) to improve Google Search. At the company’s Search On event, the company demonstrated new features, including those that leverage MUM, to better connect web searchers to the content they’re looking for, while also making web search feel […]

Privacy-oriented search app Xayn raises $12M from Japanese backers to go into devices

Back in December 2020 we covered the launch of a new kind of smartphone app-based search engine, Xayn. “A search engine?!” I hear you say? Well, yes, because despite the convenience of modern search engines’ ability to tailor their search results to the individual, this user-tracking comes at the expense of privacy. This mass surveillance […]

Creators can now monetize their expertise on Quora

In May, Yahoo! Answers shut down after helping the internet answer its most burning questions since 2005. But now, Quora, which began as a question-and-answer site but expanded to incorporate blogging, is making its platform more appealing to creators. Quora says it’s “on track to be cash flow positive from ads alone,” implying that the platform […]

Norby raises $3.8M for an all-in-one creator marketing platform

Early in the pandemic, Nick Gerard, Steven Layne, and Samantha Safer Valentine had a hit on their hands. In the era before Zoom fatigue set in, the trio launched Mainstream Live, a website and newsletter that curated live virtual events across platforms and gave people text-based reminders to check them out.  “We started with the […]