Google to pay online publishers for high qua

Google has on Thursday announced a new licensing program that will allow publishers earn money on high-quality content published on their sites.

This program will help participating publishers monetize their content through an enhanced storytelling experience that will provide readers an in-depth and factual analysis of current news.

According to a post on the Google blog, this becomes necessary in the midst of a global pandemic and concerns over the spread of misinformation and curated contents.

The program will start later this year with publishers in a number of countries across the globe.

“Alongside other companies, governments and civic society organizations, we’re committed to playing our part to support news businesses. Today’s undertaking exemplifies that, and we look forward to what we can all achieve together,” the company said in its post.

The company has already signed partnerships with local and national publications in German, Australia and Brazil.

“We are always keen to explore innovative ways to attract readers to our high-quality content,” says Stephan Ottlitz, managing director of Germany’s SPIEGEL Group, one of the publishing partners said.

“This interesting new partnership with Google will allow us to curate an experience that will bring our award-winning editorial voice into play, broaden our outreach and provide trusted news in a compelling way across Google products.”

Where available, Google will also offer to pay for free access for users to read paywalled articles on a publisher’s site. This will let paywalled publishers grow their audiences and open an opportunity for people to read content they might not ordinarily see.

This is only the most recent move of Google to support the news media as the Google news initiative had provided funding to more than 5300 local publications globally via a journalism emergency fund relief coma and ad-serving fee waiver on Google ad manager, among others.

Google made a whooping $4.7 billion from news content in 2018June 16, 2019In "Around the World"

Facebook is considering paying media outlets for news tabApril 1, 2019In "Business News"

Nigerian brands on alert as Facebook revises news feed algorithmMarch 5, 2018In "Business"

Ruth Okwumbu

Ruth Okwumbu has a MSc. and BSc. in Mass Communication from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and Delta state university respectively. Prior to her role as analyst at Nairametrics, she had a progressive six year writing career. As a Business Analyst with Narametrics, she focuses on profiles of top business executives, founders, startups and the drama surrounding their successes and challenges. You may contact her via ruth.okwumbu@nairametrics.ng

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TECH NEWS

Google to auto-delete your data, location history, others

It will boost public trust after hefty fines were levied against Facebook and Google for privacy violations.

Published

5 hours ago

June 25, 2020

Abiola Odutola

Macro weakness: Justification for cheap Nigerian stocks?, Google wants to start banking with you , Afreximbank bags $100 million credit facility The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has sealed an agreement with the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) to receive a $100 million credit facility in order to promote Arab-Africa trade and investments. The signing which took place in Egypt at the Africa 2019: Investment in Africa Forum had the President of Afreximbank, Prof. Benedict Oramah, and Chief Executive Officer of ITFC, Hani Sombol in attendance on behalf of the two organisations. How the facility will be deployed: According to the agreement document as reported by Daily Trust, the facility would help finance and de-risk trade flows between the Arab and Africa regions, thereby raising the level of trade, which currently stands at about $500m. Speaking on the deal, Afreximbank said the pact will help in leveraging other Arabian funds in support of Arab investments in Africa. The bank also said the facility was part of the Afreximbank/ITFC Arab-Africa Trade and Investment Promotion Programme launched two years ago to deepen the partnership between them. Also present at the signing of the agreement in Egypt was the Egypt Prime Minister, Mostafa Madbouly, and Egypt’s Minister of Investment and International Cooperation, Dr. Sahar Nasr. What you should know: Afreximbank also recently signed an agreement to partner with South Africa-based Railway company, Thelo DB Proprietary Limited as reported by Nairametrics. The agreement which will benefit Nigeria and other African countries is for the purpose of developing, financing and operating railway projects in Africa. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the two organisations on the sidelines of the ongoing Africa Investment Forum. The terms of the MoU, include Afreximbank and Thelo DB partnering to support the modernisation and renovation of Africa’s railways in different countries. By doing so, the organisations aim to promote trade, investment and economic skills development. Afreximbank bags $100 million credit facility The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has sealed an agreement with the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) to receive a $100 million credit facility in order to promote Arab-Africa trade and investments. The signing which took place in Egypt at the Africa 2019: Investment in Africa Forum had the President of Afreximbank, Prof. Benedict Oramah, and Chief Executive Officer of ITFC, Hani Sombol in attendance on behalf of the two organisations. How the facility will be deployed: According to the agreement document as reported by Daily Trust, the facility would help finance and de-risk trade flows between the Arab and Africa regions, thereby raising the level of trade, which currently stands at about $500m. Speaking on the deal, Afreximbank said the pact will help in leveraging other Arabian funds in support of Arab investments in Africa. The bank also said the facility was part of the Afreximbank/ITFC Arab-Africa Trade and Investment Promotion Programme launched two years ago to deepen the partnership between them. Also present at the signing of the agreement in Egypt was the Egypt Prime Minister, Mostafa Madbouly, and Egypt’s Minister of Investment and International Cooperation, Dr. Sahar Nasr. What you should know: Afreximbank also recently signed an agreement to partner with South Africa-based Railway company, Thelo DB Proprietary Limited as reported by Nairametrics. The agreement which will benefit Nigeria and other African countries is for the purpose of developing, financing and operating railway projects in Africa. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the two organisations on the sidelines of the ongoing Africa Investment Forum. The terms of the MoU, include Afreximbank and Thelo DB partnering to support the modernisation and renovation of Africa’s railways in different countries. By doing so, the organisations aim to promote trade, investment and economic skills development, Google is facing another probe for its $2.1 billion Fitbit acquisition

Google has begun auto-deleting new users’ search data and location history on a rolling 18-month basis to tighten privacy settings. This was disclosed by the Chief Executive Officer, Sundar Pichai, in a blog post published by the tech giant.

The initiative, which was introduced on Wednesday, is the latest attempt by a big online firm to boost public trust after hefty fines were levied against Facebook and Google for privacy violations in recent years.

Pichai said, “We believe that products should keep your information for only as long as it’s useful and helpful to you. The changes were designed to keep less data by default.

“When creating a new Google account, your activity data will be automatically and continuously deleted after 18 months, rather than kept until you choose to delete it.”

Current users can already opt in to auto-delete their data every three or 18 months — a setting that has not changed, although existing users will be reminded of the option to do so.

Smartphone location technology has been in the spotlight as governments study or implement app-based initiatives to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, despite concerns over privacy and civil liberties.

Pinchai, also head of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, asserted that “privacy is at the heart of everything we do” in his blog post.

He detailed other changes including easier access to privacy settings within apps and to the more secure “incognito” mode.

“New users of Google’s subsidiary YouTube will also have their search data auto-deleted after 36 months,” Pinchai added.

TECH NEWS

App developers can now challenge Apple store guidelines

Tim Cook stated that App developers can now challenge guidelines on the Apple store.

Published

1 day ago

June 24, 2020

Ruth Okwumbu

Apple iPhone 11, Tax battle: Apple challenges $14 billion court case , Apple to pay $500 million settlement in lawsuit over slow iPhones, Apple supplier Foxconn to reopen manufacturing base in China, Apple donates 10 million face masks to healthcare workers, App developers can now challenge Apple store guidelines

App developers can now challenge guidelines on the Apple store when their app is disapproved or flagged for violating a guideline.

Before this change, developers were only able to appeal guidelines whenever their app was disapproved for violating guidelines.

Going forward, however, they can now challenge the guideline itself.

Apple CEO Tim Cook stated this while delivering the keynote address during the 2020 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) at Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California on Monday.

These changes come shortly after developers raised dust over approval policies and rules which were causing hiccups for them.

Apple had threatened to remove the email app Hey after they submitted a bug fix update, on the grounds that their app violated Apple’s rules.

The app, they said, offered a subscription through the maker’s website and not the App store, thus depriving Apple the 30% cut that should be due to them when subscriptions are done via the store.

The makers of the Hey App made a public complaint which spurred other developers to voice theirs as well.

Apple eventually approved the Hey’s bug fix update over the weekend, but without the in-app purchases.

Developers can also address fix bug updates in their next major submissions without delays.

Cook stated in his address that all of the changes will be implemented this summer, after holding additional sessions about the app review process at its developer conference, and surveying developers for feedback.

This quick response marks a point in favour of Apple Inc, after its competitors, iPhone maker alleged that the company wields too much control over its platform.

TECH NEWS

Tech Roundup S02E24

Disruption in the Fintech space with the launch of Facebook Pay in Brazil, and Orange.

Published

2 days ago

June 23, 2020

Jenrade Lawal

Tech Weekly RoundUp, coronavirus, Week 8, wole

Disruption in the Fintech space with the launch of Facebook Pay in Brazil, and Orange, France’s biggest Telco plans to launch in Nigeria in months.

Google has on Thursday announced a new licensing program that will allow publishers earn money on high-quality content published on their sites.

According to a post on the Google blog, this becomes necessary in the midst of a global pandemic and concerns over the spread of misinformation and curated contents.

The program will start later this year with publishers in a number of countries across the globe.

The company has already signed partnerships with local and national publications in German, Australia and Brazil.