Enabling A Safe Digital Advertising Ecosystem

Google has a crucial stake in a healthy and sustainable digital advertising ecosystem—something we’ve worked to enable for nearly 20 years. Every day, we invest significant team hours and technological resources in protecting the users, advertisers, and publishers that make the internet so useful. And every year, we share key actions and data about our efforts to keep the ecosystem safe by enforcing our policies across platforms.

Dozens of new ads policies to take down billions of bad ads

In 2018, we faced new challenges in areas where online advertising could be used to scam or defraud users offline. For example, we created a new policy banning ads from for-profit bail bond providers because we saw evidence that this sector was taking advantage of vulnerable communities. Similarly, when we saw a rise in ads promoting deceptive experiences to users seeking addiction treatment services, we consulted with experts and restricted advertising to certified organizations. In all, we introduced 31 new ads policies in 2018 to address abuses in areas including third-party tech support, ticket resellers, cryptocurrency and local services such as garage door repairmen, bail bonds and addiction treatment facilities.

We took down 2.3 billion bad ads in 2018 for violations of both new and existing policies, including nearly 207,000 ads for ticket resellers, over 531,000 ads for bail bonds, and approximately 58.8 million phishing ads. Overall, that’s more than six million bad ads, every day.

As we continue to protect users from bad ads, we’re also working to make it easier for advertisers to ensure their creatives are policy compliant. Similar to our AdSense Policy Center, next month we’ll launch a new Policy manager in Google Ads that will give tips on common policy mistakes to help well-meaning advertisers and make it easier to create and launch compliant ads.

Taking on bad actors with improved technology

Last year, we also made a concerted effort to go after the bad actors behind numerous bad ads, not just the ads themselves. Using improved machine learning technology, we were able to identify and terminate almost one million bad advertiser accounts, nearly double the amount we terminated in 2017. When we take action at the account level, it helps to address the root cause of bad ads and better protect our users.

In 2017, we launched new technology that allows for more granular removal of ads from websites when only a small number of pages on a site are violating our policies. In 2018, we launched 330 detection classifiers to help us better detect “badness” at the page level—that’s nearly three times the number of classifiers we launched in 2017. So while we terminated nearly 734,000 publishers and app developers from our ad network, and removed ads completely from nearly 1.5 million apps, we were also able to take more granular action by taking ads off of nearly 28 million pages that violated our publisher policies. We use a combination of manual reviews and machine learning to catch these kinds of violations.

Addressing key challenges within the digital ads ecosystem

From reports of “fake news” sites, to questions about who is purchasing political ads, to massive ad fraud operations, there are fundamental concerns about the role of online advertising in society. Last year, we launched a new policy for election ads in the U.S. ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. We verified nearly 143,000 election ads in the U.S. and launched a new political ads transparency report that gives more information about who bought election ads. And in 2019, we’re launching similar tools ahead of elections in the EU and India.

We also continued to tackle the challenge of misinformation and low-quality sites, using several different policies to ensure our ads are supporting legitimate, high-quality publishers. In 2018, we removed ads from approximately 1.2 million pages, more than 22,000 apps, and nearly 15,000 sites across our ad network for violations of policies directed at misrepresentative, hateful, or other low-quality content. More specifically, we removed ads from almost 74,000 pages for violating our “dangerous or derogatory” content policy and took down approximately 190,000 ads for violating this policy. This policy includes a prohibition on hate speech and protects our users, advertisers, and publishers from hateful content across platforms.  

Source: Official Google Webmasters Blog

I Bought a Heat Press For T-Shirts

I Bought a Heat Press For T-Shirts

Do you like making personalized gifts for family and friends? Do you ever think about going into business for yourself? If you are creative person and enjoy making gifts for loved ones, read on.

I recently purchased a heat press to gift the people in my life with something they could treasure for a long time. A handmade gift always tugs at the heartstrings. It makes the statement that the receiver is important enough to the giver to spend valuable time making a gift they hope will be loved.

What types of gifts can be made using a heat press?

Is someone you know having a baby soon? Will a birthday or anniversary celebration be coming up?

Consider these ideas.

  • Baby bags, tote bags, cosmetic bags, handbags
  • Wooden plaques or farmhouse-type signs
  • Pillowcases — either for the bedroom or a throw pillow for the living room
  • Mugs and cups
  • Clothing items — T-shirts, sweatshirts, children’s and baby clothes
  • And much more….

Custom-made Baby Onesies

I have started a tradition. Whenever someone I know has a baby, they get a custom baby onesie. I just purchase plain baby onesies in bulk and have them on hand for when they are needed.

DIY Cushions, Throw Pillows and Pillowcases

Create your own cushions and throw pillows. No longer are you limited by what you can find in the stores or online. If you enjoy theme decorating and have difficulty locating just the right pillow or cushion, make your own with a heat press.

Decorating a nursery becomes much easier when using a heat press. Anyone would love to get a handmade baby gift like this. Who knows, it could become an heirloom to be handed down to future generations.

It is very easy to find blank pillowcases in all sizes, shapes, and colors.

Personalized Tank Tops and T-Shirts

I have made dozens of t-shirts with my heat press for gifts for friends and family. They look terrific when done and are very easy to make. It can be more complicated when working with different colors, but the finished product is worth the effort.

Custom Coasters

These would make a great shower or wedding gift. Using sublimation transfer and heat, they can be applied to ceramic coasters. It is a great way to give a personalized gift to a bride and groom.

Slice Tool Project

You can use different tools and features available with your cutting machine, which is a separate purchase from the heat press. A slice tool means you can cut one design element out of another. For example, cut a name into a heart design.

Layered Heat Transfer Vinyl

This is a terrific way to make a unique t-shirt. Layering vinyl adds more dimension and complexity to a design, making it look so much neater. It will impress the person who receives it.

Tote Bags

Totes are a great gift idea you can make with a press. Another idea for a baby or wedding shower, personalize the tote and fill it with appropriate things for a baby or a new bride. I guarantee it will be a hit.

Banners

You can press on all different sorts of materials, including cork. Heat transfer vinyl allows the vinyl to adhere better to the material. Adhesive vinyl works too, but heat transfer vinyl lasts longer and won’t curl around the edges.

Personalized Mugs

You cannot go wrong when gifting a personalized mug. They make the perfect Christmas, birthday, or any occasion gift. A mug would also be a terrific gift for a bride and groom.

Now that you have ideas of what to make with a heat press, let’s discuss the machine itself.

The MPress Heat Press Transfer Machine 15″ x 15″

It is durable, easy to use, and makes it simple for you to create the perfect gift or start a new business!

It is an entry-level machine allowing you to transfer your own printed images with heat transfer paper, your own vinyl heat transfer, and your rhinestone transfer. With this press, you can customize anything — mousepads, ceramic tiles, coasters, linens, clothing, anything you want.

The heat press works great in commercial and domestic settings both and can perform any size job with durability. The “strong handle” design allows for sturdy and easy operation. When pressed down, it has industrial strength, pressure, and even temperature to the surface, which guarantees the transfer to remain on the garment for a long time.

It not only is easy to operate but offers professional results. Any gift you make using the press will make a lasting impression.

Here are some features of the heat press.

  • Heat plate with non-stick coating prevents scorching or burn marks and offers even pressure.
  • Consistent temperature guaranteed with a sturdy heating board equipped with a range of heat coils.
  • Easy to operate, with an open and close “strong handle” with a spring-loaded assist.
  • Adjustable pressure knob, full range.
  • Time control and digital temperature.
  • Heat-resistant silicone pad, able to handle high temperatures.

Specifications of the heat press:

  • Heat Platen Size: 15″ X 15″ with a Non-Stick Coated Heat Platen
  • Heat Press Style: Clamshell shape
  • Temperature Range: From 0 to 400 °F
  • Time Control: From 0-999 Second
  • Power: 1400 Watts
  • Voltage: 110V, standard US and Canada
  • Shipping Weight: 64 pounds

Forever Digital Transfer Applications Technology

You can now produce self-weeding transfers in metallic, white, or neon colors without a special toner or cutting and weeding. With the new and innovative material, weeding of the flex foils is no longer needed. This system offers the chance of fast production cost-effectively without the need for an expensive plotter or printing system.

Features:

  • No weeding or cutting
  • Low substrate application temperatures of 212 °F-320 °F or 100-160 °C
  • Allows printing on almost all fabrics & hard surfaces, such as nylon, polyester, cotton, blended fabrics, paper, wood, polypropylene.
  • Not compatible with Samsung/Xerox laser printers, but perfect for desktop black/white or CMYK, Laser/LED Printers.
  • Washable up to 40 °C or 104 °F
  • Complex graphics and fine details transferable without problems
  • Beneficial time savings
  • Impressive design and motive possibilities, such as vintage, used look, fashion, vectors, etc.
  • It is available in two sizes, 11” x 17” and 8.5″x 11″

If you enjoy the creative arts and love giving thoughtful and imaginative gifts, perhaps a heat press is an item for you to try. This would also be an excellent idea for families to create gifts for grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other important people in their lives.

Grow Your Games Business With Ads

There’s so much that goes into building a great mobile game. Building a thriving business on top of it? That’s next level. Today, we’re announcing new solutions to increase the lifetime value of your players. Now, it’s easier than ever to re-engage your audience and take advantage of a new, smarter approach to monetization.

Help inactive players rediscover your game

Let’s face it, the majority of players you acquire aren’t going to continue engaging with your game after just a handful of days. One of the biggest opportunities you have to grow your business is to get those inactive players to come back and play again.

We’re introducing App campaigns for engagement in Google Ads to help players rediscover your game by engaging them with relevant ads across Google’s properties. With App campaigns for engagement, you can reconnect with players in many different ways, such as encouraging lapsed players to complete the tutorial, introducing new features that have been added since a player’s last session, or getting someone to open the game for the first time on Android (which only Google can help with).

Learn more about it here or talk to your Google account representative if you’re interested in trying it out.

Generate revenue from non-spending players

Acquiring and retaining users is important, but retention alone doesn’t generate revenue.  Our internal data shows that, on average, less than four percent of players will ever spend on in-app items. One way to increase overall revenue is through ads. However, some developers worry that ads might hurt in-app purchase revenue by disrupting gameplay for players who do spend. What if you could just show ads to the players who aren’t going to spend in your app? Good news—now you can.

We’re bringing a new approach to monetization that combines ads and in-app purchases in one automated solution. Available today, new smart segmentation features in Google AdMob use machine learning to segment your players based on their likelihood to spend on in-app purchases.

Ad units with smart segmentation will show ads only to users who are predicted not to spend on in-app purchases. Players who are predicted to spend will see no ads, and can simply continue playing.  Check it out by creating an interstitial ad unit with smart segmentation enabled.

Source: Official Google Webmasters Blog