YouTube promises to increase content moderation and other enforcement staff to 10K in 2018

Now that its bottom line is being affected, YouTube says it will begin to take additional steps to protect its advertisers and creators from inappropriate content on its network. In a blog post authored by YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki on Monday, the company said it will increase its staff to 10,000 in 2018 to help better moderate video content, and perform other related tasks.* The news follows a series of scandals on the video-sharing site related to its lack of policing around content aimed at children, obscene comments on videos of children, horrifying search suggestions, and more.

* Update: YouTube reached out to clarify its hiring numbers. Its teams include a mix of different specialists working on these issues, the majority who are content reviewers. But the number also includes other policy specialists who review and take action on content, engineers building and refining the machine learning technology, and policy specialists training our machine learning algorithms. The 10K ‘content reviewers’ headline was not accurate, and we’ve corrected.  

The company has been suffering from the fallout of accusations that it has for too long allowed bad actors to game its recommendation algorithms to reach children with videos that aren’t meant for younger viewers. At the same time, it has seemingly fostered a community of creators making videos that involve putting kids in concerning, and even exploitive, situations.

One example, the channel ToyFreaks, was recently terminated after concerns were raised about its videos, where a fathers’ young daughters were filmed in odd, upsetting and inappropriate situations, at times.

YouTube had said then the channel’s removal was part of a new tightening of its child endangerment policies. It also last month implemented new policies to flag videos where inappropriate content was aimed at children.

It has since pulled down thousands of videos of children as a result, and removed the advertising from nearly 2 million videos and over 50,000 channels.

Having policies is one thing, but having staff on hand to actually enforce them is another.

That’s why YouTube says it’s now planning to increase its workforce focused on this task. While the blog post from Wojcicki only offered the number of total hires it planned to have on staff by next year, a report from BuzzFeed notes this “over 10,000” figure represents a 25 percent increase from the current staffing levels.

However, YouTube still relies heavily on algorithms to help police its content. As Wojcicki noted in a blog post, YouTube plans to use machine learning technology to help it “quickly and efficiently remove content that violates our guidelines.”

This same technology has aided YouTube in flagging violent extremist content on the site, leading to the removal of over 150,000 videos since June.

“Today, 98 percent of the videos we remove for violent extremism are flagged by our machine-learning algorithms,” Wojcicki wrote. “Our advances in machine learning let us now take down nearly 70 percent of violent extremist content within eight hours of upload and nearly half of it in two hours and we continue to accelerate that speed,” she added.

The goal is now turn those technologies to a more difficult (and sometimes less obvious) area to police.

While some content is easier to spot – like videos where kids seem to be in pain, or being ‘pranked’ by parents in a cruel fashion – other videos exist in a much grayer area.

There are so many parents who have roped their kids into their quest for YouTube stardom, it’s hard to draw a fine line between what’s appropriate and what’s not.

One question that needs to be raised is to what extent can a preschooler or schoolager really consent to participating in mom or dad’s daily videos? Shouldn’t they be free to play instead of constantly instructed to act out various skits, or have the camera trained on them nonstop? These channels, after all, aren’t just the occasional fun video – they are often full-time jobs for parents. There are laws in the U.S. around child labor, and child actors in particular, but YouTube has continually danced around that line, as it’s “not really TV” – and that means it doesn’t have to play by TV’s rules regarding deceptive ads, junk food ads, and more.

In addition to the new policies and promises of increased staffing, YouTube also says it will create regular reports where it’s transparent about the aggregate data regarding the flags it receives, and the actions it takes to remove videos and comments that violate its content policies.

And most importantly, in terms of its business, YouTube says it will more carefully consider which channels and videos are eligible for advertising using a set of stricter criteria, combined with more manual curation.

“We are taking these actions because it’s the right thing to do,” wrote Wojcicki. “Creators make incredible content that builds global fan bases. Fans come to YouTube to watch, share, and engage with this content. Advertisers, who want to reach those people, fund this creator economy. Each of these groups is essential to YouTube’s creative ecosystem—none can thrive on YouTube without the other—and all three deserve our best efforts.”

Personally, I’d love it if YouTube cut off the ability for creators to make money from videos featuring children, period. Maybe the too-young stars could finally get a break and just be allowed to just go be kids again. But I won’t hold my breath.

Easily add a site-wide footer in the new Google Sites

Many websites, especially those created for business purposes, require a consistent footer across all of their pages. These footers often house crucial information, like an organization’s contact information, privacy policy, and more. With this launch, we’re making it easy to create and manage these site-wide footers in a single place in the new Google Sites.

To add a footer, simply scroll to the bottom of your page and click “Add Footer.” This same footer will then appear across all of the pages on your site. To hide the footer on a single page, click the eye icon in the bottom left corner of the text box. If you then want to create a custom footer for that page only, you can create a new section (not using the “Add Footer” functionality) at the bottom of the page.

World's security agencies must collaborate to fight cyber threats: Doval

Security agencies across the world must forge greater collaboration to ward off cyber threats and to counter cyber criminals, including terrorists, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval said in New Delhi on Friday.

Speaking at the ministerial forum of countries participating in the fifth Global Conference on Cyber Space (GCCS), Doval said that cyber challenges of present times were unique as terror groups were using Internet at a far greater level than before.

The problem was set to get compounded manifold as Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, and robotics gained more currency in the coming years, Doval said.

“The cyberspace provides opportunities and challenges at the same time. While it provides global connectivity, it also provides connectivity to terrorists, which is worrisome,” he added.

According to Doval, an orderly management of cyberspace was very important as it was expanding very fast.

“Timely and swift response to threats posed by cyber criminals is the key,” Doval stressed.

The cyber world had changed the way we lived, he said, adding that never before had there been such a change that held such wide ramifications affecting all of us.

“The world needs a new jurisprudence to deal with the growing challenges. We need a specific regime to deal with the cyber threats,” he added.

“The private sector will have a very important role in that regime along with the State, and there is a need to evolve a consensus among various stakeholders which should also ensure due representation to all people and geographies.”

According to Union Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, India’s would be a voice of reason and moderation when it comes to digital equality.

“India’s will also be the voice of assertion for the digitally-deprived in a global platform. We need an egalitarian global cyberspace,” Prasad said.

“If we are to use cyberspace for inclusive growth, we cannot have islands of digital deprivation or preferential lanes on the digital highway. Access to the Internet cannot be discriminatory through preferential gateways. We believe in Internet access for all,” Prasad, who heaped praise on Doval for being a “great doer”.

The Minister said India’s story of developing an egalitarian digital ecosystem had delivered dividends.

“India’s digital drive has been based on three D’s — digital inclusion, digital access, and digital security,” Prasad said.

Earlier in the day, National Cyber Security Coordinator Gulshan Rai said that in the wake of growing threats in cyberspace, lack of an international law has become a hindrance and countries must vouch for a common law to effectively deal with hackers.

Top 10 programming languages used by developers

Coding is a skill that has been in demand for last two decades. A thorough knowledge of programming languages boosts your chances of getting hired for a particular job. IT professionals with skill like analyzation, algorithm understanding, writing a set of instructions can get started with any programming language. 

Each programming language has a learning curve of its own. If you are thinking to learn a programming language, selection process itself is the biggest hurdle. It all depends on what you want the program to accomplish. Right from coding a mobile app to developing a self-learning algorithm, everything has different requirements. Today we have listed top 10 programming languages based on the market demands and popularity. 

1. JavaScript 


With the high usage of web apps, JavaScript and JavaScript libraries have become highly popular. The language allows developers to add interactive elements to the website and web apps. JavaScript developers have great demand in the job market.

2. Python 

The framework is pretty easy to understand. The knowledge of Python can help you create scalable applications. The main reason behind Python’s popularity is its straightforward and simple syntax. Google has heavily invested in the development of this open source language.

3. Java

Java is often referred as a backbone of all modern applications. The language is used for building server-side applications as well as user-facing mobile applications. Java is highly portable and apps written in Java can run across multiple platforms.

4. Ruby

Ruby on rails aka Ruby, is a major supplier of web apps. The language is popular due to its comparatively easier learning curve. Ruby developers are in high demand these days.

5. PHP

The acronym stands for Hypertext Preprocessor, the language is popularly used for front-end development. It is used in conjunction with dynamic data-heavy website and app development. The language is used as the backbone of the popular platforms like Wordpress and Facebook.

6. C++

The general purpose object-oriented programming langue is an extension of C language. The language is sued for competitive programming. C++ is used for writing efficient and flexible features.

7. CSS

CSS describes the style of an HTML document. The language describes how HTML elements should be displayed. CSS is an acronym for ‘Cascading Style Sheet’.

8. C#

The language is primarily developed for writing apps for Microsoft technologies. The language is identical to Java. If you are good at Java, you can easily learn to programme in C#. The advance knowledge of C# opens career options in Microsoft technologies.

9. Go

The open-source programming language was developed by Google in 2009. The language is popular due to the easy maintenance of the codebase. The scalable codebase can be accessed and used by hundreds of developers at the same time. Go features many features of modern OOP languages. 

10. C

This is the predecessor language used for writing low-level applications. C is commonly used for embedded systems like firmwares that power televisions, music system, computer system kernels etc. 

Microsoft's security infrastructure to drive India on digital path: Top executive

As India gets on the path towards digitisation, Microsoft with its impeccable threat intelligence capabilities to detect vulnerabilities across devices, Internet of Things (IoT) and Cloud infrastructure is ready to help the country, a top global Microsoft executive said on Friday.

"India serves as a large talent base for Microsoft. A lot of significant components of Microsoft products are manufactured here and the tech giant is committed to the digitisation drive in the country by integrating security at every step of its product development," said Jan Neutze, Director of Cybersecurity Policy for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Neutze was speaking at one of the sessions during the fifth edition of the Global Conference on Cyber Space (GCCS) here.

According to him, in its push to advance digitisation, India has the opportunity to avoid some of the challenges and mistakes made by others and ensure that security is built into its framework right from the start, rather than sort of bolt it on at the end,

The Cyber Surakshit Bharat initiative, for instance, for which Microsoft is a partner, seeks to build the cybersecurity capacity of the Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) across the government, by training 1,200 government CISOs.

"We think this initiative has great potential, and we will see if we can replicate it elsewhere in the world," Neutze said on the sidelines of GCCS.

Microsoft has over 3,500 internal security professionals that work on cybersecurity and Cloud security at Microsoft and invest over $1 billion on cybersecurity every year.

"We have a methodology for developing our software securely - what is called our security development lifecycle (SDL)- which is something we established as a mandatory policy in 2004 and have since continued to evolve to a point where it has become an industry-leading standard on how to actually develop software securely.

"We have also taken the learnings from SDL and applied it to how we securely develop our cloud services - a process we call Operational Security Assurance (OSA). Both SDL and OSA have become critical foundations for how we build security into our products and services right from the start," Neutze noted.

According to him, Microsoft has developed several capabilities, including its Digital Crimes Unit (DCU).

"Launched almost a decade ago, DCU opened a global Cybercrime Centre in 2013 and has since established a network of satellite centres, the latest one being our Cyber Security Engagement Centre (CSEC) here in India. These investments are helping us combating cybercrime and advancing cybersecurity in a holistic way," Neutze said.

Microsoft President Brad Smith has called for the Digital Geneva Convention.

"We are talking about three things: Governments need to do more; industry needs to do more; and potentially, together, we can do more on this question of cyber-attack attribution," Neutze added.

Microsoft India this week said its "Cybersecurity Engagement Centre" in New Delhi has reached out to 126 organisations in a year, empowering them with information and techniques to secure critical information infrastructure and help reduce malware and digital risk in the country.

The centre, set up in New Delhi a year ago, is part of a global network of eight such centres.

Google’s Files Go is now available in beta from the Play Store

Looks like some of you found our Files Go Beta :-) We thought we’d make it available for a few more of you on the Play Store. Feedback welcome! https://g.co/filesgo/beta

WhatsApp recall message aka delete for everyone now available in India, here is how it works

The recall message, officially called Delete For Everyone, is now available to most WhatsApp users in India. The feature that started rolling out on Friday morning is now seemingly reaching almost everyone. And the best bit about it is that you don't have to necessarily update WhatsApp to get it.

Over here at India Today Tech we tested the feature on Version 2.17.395, which is new but not as fresh as beta version 2.17.399 or 2.17.400, and Delete For Everyone works fine. It seems that the feature has been enabled by WhatsApp on server and it doesn't matter even if you are running an older -- but hopefully not years old -- version of the chat app.

The feature, as its name suggests, enables a user to "recall a message" by deleting it. In other words, as soon as you delete a message in a chat window, it also gets deleted from the phone of the person who had received. However, there is a limit to it. You can only delete the message within 7 minutes of sending it. If you try to delete a message after 7 minutes, you won't be offered option to delete form everyone's phone. Here is how the feature works.

-- In a chat window select the message or messages that you want to delete. It is important that the messages must have been sent in the last seven minutes.

-- After selecting the message, tap on the recycle bin (the round bin) on the top of the chat window.

-- You will be presented with three options: cancel will send you back to the chat window, delete for me will delete the message from your phone, delete for everyone will delete the message from everyone's phone.

-- Once a message is deleted, instead of the message you will get to see "This message was deleted" in grey text. If you have deleted the message, then you will see "You deleted the message".

The feature is pretty cool. But do understand that it has some limitations. It will allow users to delete a message that they wrongly sent to some chat window or something that they sent but immediately regretted. It won't allow you to delete a message that the drunk you sent in the night in morning when you are sober and realised your mistake after the re-reading the message. As noted earlier, WhatsApp users will only have a window of 7 minutes to recall or delete a message.

It is also worth noting that you won't be able to delete any message that you forwarded, or in other words a message that is in quotes. It is also important to realise that even if you deleted a message that doesn't mean it wasn't read. It is possible that before you deleted a message, it was read, and it is also possible that it was screenshoted.

Too many WhatsApp images, videos making your phone slow and full? Here is a fix

WhatsApp has over 1 billion daily active users today. The increasing popularity of the chat app has made it synonymous to the messaging. SMS sounds old and obsolete now. These days SMS box is opened only to view OTPs, telecom's promotional messages and your bank transaction details. WhatsApp has become an indispensible part of our lives. The app has made it fast and easier to stay connected with our friends.

However, it can be little annoying at times when the chat app automatically download all those stupid memes, audio files, videos and photos. This not just makes the phone's gallery look like a complete mess, it also eats up you mobile data. Here is a fix to this to this problem.

For Android phones:

If you are an Android user, open your WhatsApp, go to Settings>Data and storage usage>Media auto download. Now uncheck all the three boxes under the Media auto download- when using mobile data, when connected on Wifi and when roaming.

For iPhones:

iPhone users can also de-clutter their phone from annoying audio file, videos and photos.  Open WhatsApp>Settings>Data and storage usage.

Now check the Never box for photos, videos, audio and documents.

Low data usage for WhatsApp calls

WhatsApp also has an option to lower the amount of data it uses during WhatsApp voice calls. Open WhatsApp>Settings>Data and storage usage> Low data usage.

Few quick points to  save mobile data and phone storage when using the WhatsApp:

-- Stop auto-download of heavy files. Videos are entertaining but hog a lot of space on your phone. You can always set the auto-download for such videos when on WiFi.

Also Read: Miss old status in WhatsApp? Here's how to set it up in new WhatsApp

-- Allow chat back up but only on WiFi. WhatsApp stores all your text chats and images. While this is an important feature as it allows you to retrieve your photos later from Cloud, backing up on mobile data can eat up your mobile data. So try doing it only on WiFi.

-- WhatsApp has an option where you can view your contacts and how much space each is taking. Go to WhatsApp> Storage and data usage>Storage usage.

Now you will see all your recent chats along with the space each is consuming on your phone. Select the chat>Manage messages>Clear messages.

Intel moves towards production quantum computing with new 17-qubit chip

Intel’s quantum computing efforts have yielded a new 17-qubit chip, which the company has just delivered to its partner in that field, QuTech in the Netherlands. It’s not a major advance in the actual computing power or applications — those are still in very early days — but it’s a step toward production systems that can be ordered and delivered to spec rather than experimental ones that live in a physics lab somewhere.

Intel’s celebration of this particular chip is a bit arbitrary; 17 isn’t some magic number in the quantum world, nor does this chip do any special tricks other quantum computer systems can’t. Intel is just happy that its history and undeniable expertise in designing and fabricating chips and architectures is paying off in a new phase of computing.

I chatted with Intel’s director of quantum hardware, Jim Clarke, about the new system.

The test chip itself (the gold ports aren’t the qubits themselves, obviously)

“We’re relying on our expertise in hardcore engineering,” he said. “We’re working on all parts of the compute stack: the chip, the control electronics, the system architecture, the algorithm.”

It’s not quite like popping out a new Core processor every year, but there’s plenty of overlap.

“Our infrastructure allows us to adapt the materials and the package,” Clarke said. “If you think of a material that might be good for a qubit chip, Intel likely already has a mature process for that material or at least experience with it.”

That isn’t easy when the field of computing they’re attempting to enter is largely theoretical. That’s why partners like QuTech, a research institute under TU Delft, are essential. Intel isn’t short on big brains, but a dedicated facility under a major technical university is likely more fertile ground for this kind of bleeding-edge work.

The basic relationship is that Intel makes the chips, and QuTech tests them with the latest algorithms, models, and instruments. They turn around and say something like “that was great, but we’ll need at least 14 qubits to do this next thing, and we saw a lot of interference under such and such conditions.” Intel jots it down and a few months later (there’s no set timeline), out comes a new one, and the cycle repeats.

I’m simplifying, of course, because I don’t know the details of all this quantum tomfoolery (who can, really?), but that’s a powerful cycle to nurture.

The results so far let Intel boast of a chip that, thanks to the company’s manufacturing prowess and the work by QuTech, has considerably improved in reliability and performance over the last two years, while the architecture, system infrastructure (such as interconnects and testing methods) and so on have evolved alongside.

Of course, these amazing quantum computers still don’t really do anything yet — and they have to operate at around 20 thousandths of a degree above absolute zero. But the first problem is more exciting than limiting (the potential of these machines, theoretically, is enormous), and the second one, to my surprise, isn’t really a big deal any more.

Turns out (perhaps you knew, but I didn’t) that you can package a multi-qubit quantum computing system, cooled to the millikelvin level, in an enclosure the size of an oil drum.

There’s a long way to go in the quantum computing world, but it’s a no-brainer for companies like Intel to bet on the concept; its billions of dollars in infrastructure serve excellently for collateral.

UNDERSTANDING SOFTWARE-DEFINED NETWORKING IN WINDOWS SERVER 2016

It’s official: software-defined networking (SDN) is here to stay. Who wouldn’t want physical and virtual network devices able to be centrally configured and managed? Here, we explain the new SDN features in Windows Server 2016 and how to understand and use these virtualization technologies.

What is software-defined networking?

To understand the benefits of software-defined networking in Windows Server 2016, it’s first important to know what it actually is.

Software-defined networking allows you to access switches and routers that would usually use closed, proprietary firmware by applying globally aware software control. Essentially, both physical and virtual network devices in your datacenter, like routers and gateways, can be configured and managed centrally.

SDN infrastructure includes virtual network elements such as Hyper-V Virtual Switch, network virtualization, and RAS Gateway. Of course, you can still use physical devices, but as long as they have SDN compatibility, there can be a deeper integration between the virtual and physical networks.

This is possible because “the network planes — the management, control, and data planes — are no longer bound to the network devices themselves, but are abstracted for use by other entities, such as datacenter management software like System Center 2016.”

Software-defined networking lets you automate and centralize the management of your datacenter network. So, the main benefits of SDN are:

Abstracting applications and workloads, providing virtual abstractions for physical network elements like IP addresses, and load balancers. This is accomplished by virtualizing the network and is non-disruptive.

The possibility of centrally defining and managing both physical and virtual networks and the traffic flow between them.

Move workloads across virtual or physical networks and deploy new workloads while implementing consistent network policies.

SDN technologies in Windows Server 2016

Network Controller

This “centralized, programmable pointof automation to manage, configure, monitor, and troubleshoot both virtual and physical network infrastructure in your datacenter” is new in Windows Server 2016.

This scalable service allows users to make network infrastructure configurations automatic instead of manual setting devices and services on your network. It provides you with two application programming interfaces (API): the Southbound API and the Northbound API.

The Southbound API lets Network Controller communicate with the network, while the Northbound API lets you communicate with Network Controller.

Windows Server 2016 allows you to use a management application, Windows PowerShell, or the Representational State Transfer (REST) API to use Network Controller.

From there, according to Microsoft, you can manage Hyper-V VMs and virtual switches, physical network switches and routers, firewall software, VPN gateways including Remote Access Service (RAS) multitenant gateways, and load balancers with Network Controller.

Hyper-V Network Virtualization

As evidenced by its name, Hyper-V Network Virtualization uses virtual networks to help you abstract your applications and workloads from the physical network. This was introduced in Windows Server 2012.

Virtual networks are very popular today and are compatible with virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs). Additionally, they give users the ability to have isolation even while running on a shared physical network infrastructure, utilizing the available resources.

You have the possibility of setting up virtual networks on existing networking gear, as well as deploying and migrating tenant workloads across three clouds — the service-provider cloud, the private cloud, or the Microsoft Azure public cloud.

Hyper-V Virtual Switch

Hyper-V Virtual Switch is available in Hyper-V Manager after you install the Hyper-V server role. It’s a software-based layer-2 Ethernet network switch that allows you to connect virtual machines to both virtual networks and the physical network. Additionally, it “provides policy enforcement for security, isolation, and service levels.”

In Windows Server 2016, you’re also able to deploy Switch Embedded Teaming (SET) and Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA).

Internal DNS Service (iDNS)

As you may know, hosted VMs and applications need DNS to communicate among their networks and external resources on the Internet. Using iDNS on Windows Server 2016 allows you to “provide tenants with DNS name resolution services for their isolated, local name space, and for Internet resources.”

This helps protect the server from malicious activities on tenant networks because there is no way to access the iDNS service without the iDNS proxy.

Network Function Virtualization

Many functions that were previously performed by hardware appliances are quickly becoming virtualized. Microsoft offers many Network Function Virtualization technologies in Windows Server 2016, including:

Software Load Balancer (SLB) and Network Address Translation (NAT) to help distribute network traffic equally among virtual network resources.

Datacenter Firewall allows you to apply firewall policies at the VM interface level or at the subnet level by providing granular access control lists (ACLs).

RAS Gateway to bridge traffic between virtual networks and nonvirtualized networks.

Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) and Switch Embedded Teaming (SET)

Windows Server 2016 gives you the possibility of using fewer network adapters when using RDMA and SET simultaneously by enabling RDMA on network adapters that are bound to a Hyper-V Virtual Switch with or without SET.

SET, an alternative NIC Teamingsolution that integrates some of its functionality into the Hyper-V Virtual Switch, lets you group one to eight physical Ethernet network adapters into one of more software-based virtual network adapters.

All of the SET member network adapters have to be in the same physical Hyper-V host to be placed in a team. “These virtual network adapters,” according to Microsoft, “provide fast performance and fault tolerance in the event of a network adapter failure.”

RAS Gateway for SDN

Using RAS Gateway in Windows Server 2016, you can route network trafficbetween the physical network and VM network resources, not worrying about where the resources are located. It is possible to route the network traffic at numerous physical locations over the Internet and virtual networks.

In Microsoft’s own words, it’s “a software-based, multitenant, Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) capable router in Windows Server 2016 that is designed for Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) and Enterprises that host multiple tenant virtual networks using Hyper-V Network Virtualization” meant to give you many choices of gateway infrastructure.

Software Load Balancing (SLB)

As stated in the “Network Function Virtualization” section, SLBs help distribute network traffic equally among virtual network resources. The Windows Server SLB, specifically, uses multiple servers for hosting the same workload to help give high availability and scalability.

Windows Server Containers

Containers are a popular operating system virtualization method that separates applications or services from other services that are running on the same container host. They function in a way that is similar to virtual machines when speaking of networking.

Every container has a “virtual network adapter which is connected to a virtual switch” where inbound and outbound traffic can go. Isolation is guaranteed through the network compartment that is created for the container when it’s installed.

The containers on Windows Server are able to be isolated because they each have their own view of the operating system, processes, file system, registry, and IP addresses. Windows Server 2016 now allows users to connect Windows Server containers to virtual networks.

New features in Google’s Contacts app on Android

Changes to the Contact view

• Large photos are back: A popular request from G Suite users, we’ll now display a larger, more vibrant contact photo.
• Action buttons under the photo make it easier to connect: Under the contact’s name, you’ll now see new buttons to call, text, video chat or email that contact. Additionally, if there’s at least one street address in the contact’s info, a Directions button will appear.
• Directory card shows directory profile information: In this card, you’ll see things like the contact’s job title, work phone number, manager name, and office location.

Changes to Suggestions

• Suggested contacts to add: New in this release, you’ll see suggestions to add contacts you frequently communicate with across Google’s products. These appear under the “Add people you contact often” summary card.

• Merge all duplicates: The duplicates suggestion view now has a “MERGE ALL” button which allows you to accept all duplicates suggestions at once.

Customized “Contacts” view

Lastly, you can now customize the “Contacts” list view to show just the labels you want. This is accessed via a new menu item in the main list screen called “Customize view.” This feature was available in previous releases for the “All contacts” list view, but it has now been made available for individual accounts as well.