Google bolsters New York's overburdened unemployment website

It hasn't been easy for newly unemployed New Yorkers to apply for benefits in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, so Google tried to make the website better.

The New York state government announced a partnership with a handful of tech companies in a press release on Thursday. Most notably, Google Cloud infrastructure has been used to improve and reinforce the state's online unemployment benefits application page. It had to go offline for a couple hours on Thursday evening, but should now theoretically be able to handle a higher load than before.

Performance wasn't the only thing that got enhanced. The unemployment website also got the ability to save incomplete applications, in case a user needs to step away and come back later. It should also work better on a variety of devices like smartphones and tablets. Finally, the press release promised a streamlined experience with fewer questions to answer. Read more...