Michael Brown

While the accomplishments of Black individuals throughout American history deserve recognition and celebration year-round, February provides a dedicated time to amplify and honor the inspiring contributions of Black people in America. I’ve long admired Google’s commitment to showcasing Black excellence as an integral part of American excellence, both through their products and during my three years working there.

Here are five ways Google is celebrating Black History Month across its platforms as posted on The Keyword:

1. Discover Black Creators on YouTube:

Explore rising stars and established voices in music, social media, television, and more. YouTube Music features playlists highlighting regional dance genres like Chicago House and NOLA Bounce. Enjoy vibrant artwork by Stonie Blue across YouTube throughout the month.

2. Explore Black History and Culture on Google Arts & Culture:

Dive into the “Black Creators” hub, which this year spotlights the life and work of artist Elizabeth Catlett. New stories from the Amistad Research Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, join hundreds of existing exhibits celebrating Black history and culture.

3. Stream Black Stories on Google TV:

A curated collection highlighting the brilliance of Black stories and experiences is available all month long on the For You page. Enjoy shows like Key & Peele and Power, the miniseries Roots, and films like Monster’s Ball, available through your subscriptions or free with ads.

4. Support Black Developers on Google Play:

Discover apps and games created by talented Black developers, including titles like Boddle, Treasure Party: Puzzle fun!, and BET+. Explore the special Black History Month collection for more.

5. Customize Chrome with the “Black Artists Series”:

Transform your browsing experience with stunning artwork by talented Black artists like Neka King, Olivia Fields, Derrick Ofosu Boateng, and others. Download these backgrounds from the Chrome Web Store.

One particularly product that I find myself using during Black History Month is the “Black History and Culture” collection in Google Arts & Culture app. It’s a great walkthrough of some of the amazing accomplishments from fashion, art, and History all collaborated with the Carnegie Hall, National Museum of African American History & Culture, and more.

Lashana Lynch has proven, time and time again, that she is deserving of an Emmy and an Oscar in my book. She’s had an amazing run of acting performances from The Woman King, Not Time to Die, and Bob Marley: One Love. In “The Day of The Jackal”, she’s an absolute star.

Apple, a key witness in the US government’s case against Google, is seeking a more active role in the remedies phase of the trial where solutions to Google’s search monopoly will be decided. They are concerned that the government’s proposed remedies, which include ending lucrative deals between Apple and Google, will negatively impact them. Despite the judge denying their request to participate directly, Apple is appealing the decision and asking for a stay in the proceedings to ensure their interests are adequately represented.

Although Apple understands that this Court intends to adhere to the “strict confines of the [C]ourt’s Scheduling Order,” Order Denying Limited Intervention at 16, Jan. 27, 2025, ECF No. 1153, Apple has no choice but to move for a stay of these proceedings to protect its rights pending appeal. Absent a stay, Apple will suffer irreparable harm: the deprivation of its right to participate as a party in the remedial phase of this case moving forward, including possibly at the trial itself, while its undisputed property rights are adjudicated. These harms are magnified by a position Plaintiffs revealed in a recent meet-and-confer with Apple. Specifically, Plaintiffs represented that they intend to challenge this Court’s decision permitting Apple to submit up to two affidavits during the trial. Courts have commonly granted stays pending appeal of orders denying intervention, and this Court should do the same here. In the alternative, the Court should at minimum afford Apple full access to the record as a nonparty until the D.C. Circuit rules.

Apple continues explaining how much the desired outcome will hurt them with “irreparable harm”:

Second, Apple will suffer clear and substantial irreparable harm if it is unable to participate in the remedies phase moving forward. Apple will be unable to participate in discovery and develop evidence in the targeted fashion it has proposed as this litigation progresses toward a final judgment. If Apple’s appeal is not resolved until during or after the remedies trial, Apple may well be forced to stand mute at trial, as a mere spectator, while the government pursues an extreme remedy that targets Apple by name and would prohibit any commercial arrangement between Apple and Google for a decade. This would leave Apple without the ability to defend its right to reach other arrangements with Google that could benefit millions of users and Apple’s entitlement to compensation for distributing Google search to its users.

I totally understand Apple’s argument here, but allow me to explain further in a fun analogy I came up with to explain it to my wife.

It’s like a playground where kids (users) love to use the swings (search engines). Google owns most of the swings and decides who gets to use them. Apple owns the playground and makes a deal with Google: Google pays Apple a lot of money to make sure their swings are the only ones easily available to the kids. Now, the playground teachers (the government) say Google isn’t playing fair and has too much control over the swings. They want to change the rules to give other swing makers a chance. Apple is worried because if the kids can use any swings they want, Google might not pay them anymore.

So, Apple wants to talk to the teachers and explain why they think their deal with Google is good for the playground. They also want to make sure the new rules don’t make the playground worse for everyone.

Analogies are hard, but she totally understood exactly what’s happening here and you want to know what her answer was? “Why doesn’t Apple just make their own swings? They are a trillion dollar company aren’t they?" 😏

As an #Android fan, I’m always eager to learn more about the ecosystem, and the “Android Developers Backstage” podcast is a fantastic resource.

They’ve been doing it for a while now, and in this episode, they take us back to the “before Android Studio” days. It’s fascinating to hear from some of the actual Android development team—Chet, Romain, and Tor, brought on special guests Xav, and Jamal to talk about their experiences and the journey of Android Studio. Even reaching back to when Eclipse was the IDE of choice and the transition and excitement to Android Studio.

It’s pretty cool to get this kind of insider knowledge from the people who actually build Android Studio. If you’re an Android enthusiast like me, you’ll definitely want to check out this episode of “Android Developers Backstage”!

OpenAI launches ChatGPT Gov for U.S. government agencies

OpenAI on Tuesday announced its biggest product launch since its enterprise rollout. It’s called ChatGPT Gov and was built specifically for U.S. government use.

The Microsoft-backed company bills the new platform as a step beyond ChatGPT Enterprise as far as security. It allows government agencies, as customers, to feed “non-public, sensitive information” into OpenAI’s models while operating within their own secure hosting environments, OpenAI CPO Kevin Weil told reporters during a briefing Monday.

I swear I’ve seen this before.

Good news it, it's as easy as following blog.michaelbtech.com. That's it, there's only good news. See ya there. 😁