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Google announces introduction of five more products

PHOTO: JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/GettyImages)

Google has announced introduction of five additional products that would enable internet users to access information with ease.


Mr Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, Google’s Communications and Public Affairs Manager, Anglophone West Africa, made this known in an interactive session with some internet users including journalists in Lagos on Friday.


Kola-Ogunlade listed the products to include Gboard, Health Knowledge Panel, Movie Showtime, entertainment Archive and Google Post.


He advised internet users to take advantage of the products for more relevance.


According to him, Google built its platforms and products to be globally relevant.


He said that Google introduced Gboard in July to enable sending of messages in dialects including Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa.


He described Gboard as a new keyboard from Google for Android or iPhone.


“If you are like most Nigerians, then you probably have a grandma, uncle or family member that prefers to read messages in Igbo, Yoruba or Hausa.


“The next time you need to type a message on SMS, Whatsapp or any other messaging app, simply click on the Google ‘G’ logo on your keyboard and click on translation and let Gboard do the translation for you.


“No more app switching; just search and send, right from your keyboard. If Gboard is not installed on your phone, you can download it from the Apple store or the Android play store,” he said.


According to the manager, Google introduced the health knowledge panel in the realisation that 20 per cent of searches on it are health-related.


He said that the panel covers up to 800 health conditions.


“You may be worried about a loved one down with malaria. By simply typing ‘Malaria’, Google will show you a health panel with information on malaria symptoms and treatments.


“Google’s health knowledge panels is now accessible to Nigerians and Google has partnered with the University of Ibadan to ensure that answers are reviewed by Nigerian doctors,” he said.


Kola-Ogunlade said that the Google Movie Showtime would enable an internet user to get a list and times for movies showing at a nearby cinema.


“Just type ‘whatmovies are showing at the Ikeja Mall’ into Google, and Google will give a list of movies showing at Ikeja Mall plus the time those movies are showing,” he said.


He added that Google was archiving and getting Nollywood films so that local contents would show on the Google search.


“Simply type the name of the ‘Nollywood movie into search and let Google give you all the information, including the actors,” he said.


According to the manager, Google Post will get more details of what a favourite musician, movie or sports star is up to.


“With Posts on Google, entertainers and businesses can share visible updates directly to Google.


“This means you get your favourite star’s live update alongside your search results when you Google them.


He said that Google announced the availability of Google Posts in Nigeria at Google for Nigeria on July 27, noting that Nigeria was the third country where the feature was made available.


“Some of the country’s popular musicians are already using it. Posts had been available for limited use since January 2016.


“Google Posts allow businesses and individuals to create posts that show up in the knowledge panel on Google Search and Google Maps.


“Posts expire after a week, unless they are event-based, in which case, they expire after the event date,” he said.

Honda to start mass recall in China over Takata airbags

Honda will recall more than 245,000 vehicles in China over concerns about airbags made by troubled Japanese giant Takata, Chinese authorities said Sunday, dealing another blow to Takata’s largest client.


The Japanese carmaker and its Chinese joint venture partner Guangqi Honda will start withdrawing vehicles fitted with the potentially faulty airbags beginning October 23 and will include Accord, Fit, City, Crosstour and Everus S1 models, China’s top consumer watchdog said.


They will replace the faulty airbags for free.


Takata has recalled some 100 million airbags produced for some of the world’s largest automakers, including about 70 million in the US, because of the risk that they could improperly inflate and rupture, potentially firing deadly shrapnel at the vehicle’s occupants.


The problem has been linked to a number of deaths and injuries worldwide. In China, the defect involves more than 20 million vehicles, most of which have already been recalled.


Last month, Honda reached a $605 million settlement in a lawsuit over defective airbags in millions of cars on American roads.


Honda joins Nissan, Toyota, BMW, Mazda and Subaru in agreeing a deal to settle a lawsuit, replace the defective airbags from now-bankrupt Takata, and to compensate car owners.


Multiple Honda models are affected by the case, including Civic, Accord and CR-V, dating back to 2001.


The airbag defect has been linked to 16 deaths and scores of injuries worldwide, as the safety devices can inflate with excessive force, sending shrapnel from the inflator canister hurtling towards driver and passengers.


The issue led to the biggest car recall in history of about 100 million vehicles worldwide.


Takata in February pleaded guilty to fraud for hiding the defect, and paid a $1 billion fine.
The company filed for bankruptcy in June.


The bankruptcy could mean the major automakers may find the airbag producer will not reimburse them for their costs, despite an $875 million fund created by Takata in January.

3,000 killed in Syria in deadliest month of 2017

Displaced Iraqis, who fled the northern city of Hawija due to the government forces military operation to capture the city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters, arrive in al-Dibis, some 44 kilometres northwest of Kirkuk on September 30, 2017. Iraqi forces launched an assault on the northern town of Hawija, one of the last bastions in the country still held by the Islamic State group, which is also under attack in neighbouring Syria.Marwan IBRAHIM / AFP

Syria’s war killed at least 3,000 people including 955 civilians in September, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said Sunday, in the deadliest month of the conflict this year.


“More than 70 percent of the civilians were killed in regime and Russian air strikes, or in air raids of the international coalition” fighting the Islamic State group, the Britain-based monitor’s head Rami Abdel Rahman said.


Backed by Russian air strikes, the forces of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad are pressing a battle to retake IS-controlled areas in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor.


A US-led international coalition has been providing air support to a Kurdish-Arab alliance, the Syrian Democratic Forces, also fighting the jihadists in its former northern bastion of Raqa city and Deir Ezzor.


The number of people killed in September was higher due to increased fighting and “intensified air raids of the international coalition and Russia against jihadist bastions in the north and east of Syria, but also due to increased Russian and regime strikes on rebel-held areas,” Abdel Rahman said.


Russian and regime warplanes have in the past two weeks increased their strikes on the northwestern province of Idlib, which is largely controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a group led by Al-Qaeda’s former Syria affiliate.


The 955 civilians killed in September included 207 children, said the Observatory, which relies on a wide network of sources inside Syria for its information.


It said the toll also included 790 regime troops and loyalists, 738 jihadists from IS and HTS, and 550 rebels and SDF members.


Syria’s conflict has killed more than 330,000 people and displaced millions since it broke out in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests before evolving into a complex war drawing in world powers.