Australia Blog
News and notes from Google Down Under
Give a little warmth this winter
Monday, August 7, 2017
Most of us take the benefits of the web entirely for granted.
But for people in need it's a place to find help. It provides crucial assistance when it’s needed most - whether it’s counselling or legal advice, or even just to a meal and shelter for the night.
Almost 80 per cent of people who are homeless own a smartphone, it’s their lifeline. But they rarely have anywhere to charge it. For those living on the street, or in a refuge, shelter or someone’s couch, charging their mobile phone is not easy.
Ask Izzy
is a mobile website that connects people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness with essential support services. It provides help for people in need, right now and nearby. It is completely anonymous and has more than 350,000 services listed, including housing, meals, healthcare, counselling, legal advice, addiction treatment and a whole lot more.
Almost 80 percent of people who are homeless own a smartphone.
Our mission at Google is to help people gain access to useful information and it’s been our privilege to support Infoxchange in the creation of Ask Izzy and the expansion of its services, alongside News Corp Australia and REA Group.
Since Ask Izzy
launched early last year
it has helped people find essential services more than 500,000 times; the largest group of people looking for housing were women and children fleeing family violence.
One in every 200 people in Australia are homeless or at risk of homelessness. The Ask Izzy power card is the solution to help them to charge their phone and stay connected.
Ask Izzy
connects people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness with essential support services
As winter sets in, we ask that you join us in supporting the 100,000 people across Australia who are homeless each night.
For $15 you can give an Ask Izzy power card to someone in need, which will allow them to charge their phone for up to four hours — just enough to find a meal, health services, a blanket or even a bed for the night.
With the help of Westpac, we’re raising awareness of Ask Izzy and driving donations for charge cards, to connect more people with the services they need.
Donate here
and help someone who is homeless get the help they need.
Posted by Jason Pellegrino, managing director, Google Australia
Google Doodle: A tribute to Albert (Elea) Namatjira
Friday, July 28, 2017
Today is the 115th birthday of renowned Aboriginal Australian artist Albert (Elea) Namatjira.
Namatjira was
born in 1902 in the Western Aranda (Arrernte) community of Ntaria (Hermannsburg) near
Alice Springs
.
He began sketching as a young boy, and quickly took to painting the natural beauty around him in the bush.
Namatjira’s
family and community elders shared creation stories which further inspired his love of the sublime landscapes and vibrant hues in the Central Australian outback.
Namatjira’s watercolour landscapes earned recognition in Australia and around the world. He was awarded the Queen's Coronation Medal, honoured with an Australian postage stamp – and his portrait by William Dargie became the first of an Aboriginal person to win the Archibald Prize. Namatjira also inspired the Hermannsburg School in Alice Springs, teaching aspiring young artists to appreciate the Australian landscape.
Today’s Doodle is a tribute to
Namatjira
, created by his granddaughter,
Gloria Pannka
. The piece celebrates
Namatjira’s
iconic colour palette of gumtree green, ochre and plum. It is also a testament to his reverence for the land – depicting the desert, hardy foliage and the rolling hills between Hamilton Downs and the West MacDonnell Ranges in central Australia, close to
Namatjira’s
homeland.
“I
am connected to that country,” says Gloria Pannka. “When I travel there I am connected through both my grandparents…. I feel moved when I am there. “
Namatjira story is the beginning of a watercolour legacy. His influence has lived for 80 years and has been passed down through six generations. Pannka’s father and uncles took the time to teach her skills, style and the Aranda (Arrernte) values that characterise her work.
“They taught us how to look at the country, and look after the country,” reflects Pannka.
Gloria Pannka is a founding Director of
Iltja Ntjarra Many Hands Art Centre
,
an Aboriginal Corporation based in Alice Springs that supports the legacy of her grandfather Albert Namatjira. The Art Centre provides a studio space for contemporary members of the Hermannsburg School watercolour movement to explore their art-making practice, thereby maintaining the culture of these Western Aranda artists and promoting the ethical production and sales of Aboriginal art.
Today we thank and celebrate Albert
Namatjira’s substantial contributions
to the art and culture of Australia. Happy birthday, Albert!
Posted by Maura Halpin, Brand Marketing Manager, Google Australia & New Zealand
Google Home says G'day!
Tuesday, July 18, 2017
There’s never a dull moment at home – from getting the family ready in the morning to unwinding after a long day, and everything in between. Wouldn’t it be great to get some extra help?
Starting July 20, Aussies can enjoy
Google Home
, our voice-activated speaker powered by the Google Assistant. With a simple “Ok Google”, you can get answers, turn up the music, manage your everyday tasks or even turn on or adjust your compatible smart lights. And we’re also launching Google Wifi, giving you seamless internet coverage for homes of any shape or size.
Tap into the power of Google with your Assistant
Need to solve a problem? Ask questions, translate phrases, run simple maths calculations and get definitions. Too busy to stay on top of the news? Ask and you shall receive the latest stories from sources such as Fox Sports, ABC NEWS, The Australian, Huffington Post, TechCrunch and SKY NEWS. Need a helping hand in the kitchen? Get substitutes, nutritional information and unit conversions without having to wash your flour covered fingers.
Google Home speaks ‘Strayan
With a distinctly Aussie voice, your Assistant on Google Home speaks and understands your language. Ask it for brekkie ideas or where the nearest servo is. You can also ask it what sound a Kookaburra makes, and it’ll cue the laughter we all know and love. And of course, we’ve hidden a few Aussie treats for you to discover along the way. Why not try asking your Assistant on Google Home “Are you going to Bonnie Doon?”
Get personalised help for your everyday tasks
Whether you’re stirring pots, matching socks or brushing hair, we know Aussie homes are busy ones. That’s why your Assistant on Google Home has been designed to help you get more stuff done when you have your hands full. With your permission, it will help with things like your commute, your daily schedule and more. And the best part? Up to six people can connect their account to one Google Home, so if you ask your Assistant to tell you about your day, it can distinguish your voice from other people in your family, and give you personalised answers. Just ask “Ok Google, tell me about my day” or say, “Hey Google, how long will it take to get to work?” and you’ll get up to speed on everything you need to know. It can wake you up in the morning (or let you snooze), set a timer while you’re baking, and more.
Turn up your tunes
Find the right beat for every occasion, whether you’re doing sunrise yoga, hosting a dinner party or having a dance-a-thon with your little ones. You can play songs, playlists, artists, and albums from your favourite music subscription services like YouTube Music, Google Play Music and Spotify.* With Google Home, we’re offering 6 months of YouTube Red for free to customers who are new to Google Play Music and YouTube Red**, so you can enjoy a premium YouTube experience, allowing you to listen to official tracks, albums, remixes and more - all completely ad-free.
Control your smart home Google
Home can help you keep track of everything going on in your home--you can control your lights, switches and more, using compatible smart devices from brands like Philips Hue and IFTTT. Just ask, and your Assistant will turn off the kitchen light. If you have a Chromecast, you can also use voice commands to play Netflix, Stan and YouTube on your TV or binge watch your favourite show. Enjoy Multi-room by grouping Google Home devices together (with Chromecast Audio or Chromecast built-in speakers too) to listen to the same song in every room.
A speaker designed for any room
Whether you’re hosting a dinner or a solo dance party, Google Home delivers crystal-clear sound and creates an enjoyable listening experience. Plus, we designed Google Home to fit stylishly into any room. And you have the option to customize the base with different colors to reflect your home’s style.
It’s just the beginning...
Your Assistant on Google Home will continue to get better over time, as we add more features. And soon, Google Home will be open to third party apps for the Assistant, giving you access to even more of your favourite services and content.
And there’s more...
We’re also launching Google Wifi, giving you seamless internet coverage for homes of any shape or size. Some Wi-Fi routers haven’t always been built to support the increasing number of devices we use or high bandwidth activities like gaming or watching videos. Google Wifi is a connected system that replaces your current router to bring smarts, security and simplicity to home Wi-Fi to give you consistently strong coverage in your home.
Google Wifi uses a technology called mesh Wi-Fi (something usually only seen in expensive commercial installations). Within our mesh network, each Google Wifi point creates a high-powered connection, and the different Wifi points work together to determine the best path for your data. The result is Wi-Fi coverage even in hard-to reach areas, not just right next to the router.
Google Home
is available for $199 starting on 20 July from The Google Store, JB Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman, Officeworks, The Good Guys, Telstra, Optus and Qantas Store. Google Wifi is also available on 20 July for $199 for a single-pack and $499 for a three-pack from The Google Store, JB Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman, The Good Guys, and Officeworks.
Posted by Raunaq Shah, Product Manager, Google Home
*Subscription may be required
**See
http://Yt.be/red/home
for terms. Offer ends 15/1/18.
Hop aboard! Real time information for public transport in New South Wales is now available on Google Maps
Thursday, June 29, 2017
Since 2005
, we’ve collaborated with transit authorities around the world to make a comprehensive resource for millions of riders to find out which bus, train, tram or ferry can take them to their next destination.
Starting today, commuters in New South Wales will be able to get real time bus, train and ferry information in Google Maps. Google has teamed up with Transport New South Wales to add real-time information about
routes and schedules across the region
on Google Maps – for the first time in Australia.
Whether you are taking the train from Kings Cross to Killara, or boarding the ferries Fishburn or Friendship, you now have all the information you need to plan and adjust your journey at a glance, in one place.
If you're planning a trip between, say Bondi Junction and Circular Quay, you can simply type the two locations into Google Maps to get the latest information about which bus, train or ferry to catch. In addition to bus routes, you’ll be able to see when the next bus is arriving at your stop and an estimation of how long your trip is going to take. If your bus is delayed, Google Transit will automatically update the times in line with the new conditions. Routes that have real-time information available are marked in Google Maps in green.
Know when your bus or train actually arrives with real time information in Google Maps
Google Transit is a feature of Google Maps designed to help you plan your public transport trips quickly and easily. Just search for where you want go and Google Maps will show you how to get there using public transport from your current location. Google Transit is available on Google Maps for Android and iPhone as well as the Web. If you’re using the latest version of Google Maps, you can also compare public transport options to work out when you need to leave to arrive at your destination on time.
Residents of New South Wales who would like to find out when
the next bus, train or ferry is arriving or directions to somewhere using public transport using Google Maps should follow these three
simple steps:
Open Google Maps apps on your Android device or iPhone
Enter your destination and click the "get directions" icon. If it’s not already selected, tap the "transit" icon (the little tram) to view times, bus/train numbers, routes and more
You can change the destination by selecting a different end point at the top of the screen
Google Maps globally provides over one billion km worth of transit results every day and
has schedules for more than three
million public transit stops worldwide.
Google Transit is now available for hundreds of cities across dozens of countries, with new partners joining all the time.
Posted by Cayden Meyer, Google Transit Product Lead
The butcher, the baker and the website maker... regional businesses gain new skills at the Digital Garage
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
The butcher, the baker and the website maker... Businesses of all shapes and sizes across regional New South Wales took part in
Digital Garage
workshops this month to gain new digital skills and learn how they can use the web to grow their business.
Google joined forces with the
NSW Business Chamber
and the local chambers of commerce and councils to host events in
Wollongong
,
Wagga Wagga
and
West Wyalong
designed to help local businesses make the most of the web.
The Minister for Small Business and Member for Riverina, Hon Michael McCormack MP spoke at this week's Digital Garage events in Wagga Wagga and West Wyalong and urged local businesses to get online.
Minister McCormack said digital platforms present huge opportunities for Australian businesses to reach new customers and grow their operations.
Minister McCormack with West Wyalong business owner
In Wagga Wagga and West Wyalong, more than 160 local businesses took part in the workshop and heard from local business champions, including Matt Beaver from
Carry Them Close
, who started a baby carrier business after having his first child and now ships across Australia from their home in Wagga Wagga.
Google’s Duncan McGrath and Richard Flanagan with Wagga Wagga business owners Jill Tucker and Matt Beaver
Another local business leader, Jill Tucker spoke about how the internet has enabled her to reach new customers. Jill started
Erilan
after identifying a gap in the market to provide quality products and understanding for women who have undergone a mastectomy. Jill now has customers across Australia with 90 per cent of sales through the e-commerce site.
Local businesses at The Digital Garage in West Wyalong
Earlier this month, we worked with the NSW Business Chamber and
Illawarra Business Chamber
to host a Digital Garage event at the University of Wollongong’s
Innovation Campus
.
Parliamentarians Senator Katy Gallagher, Shadow Minister for Small Business and Financial Services; Stephen Jones MP, Shadow Minister for Regional Communications; and Sharon Bird MP, Member for Cunningham joined small businesses from the South Coast and Illawarra to hear more about getting online.
Google's Richard Flanagan, Stephen Jones MP, Senator Katy Gallagher and Sharon Bird MP
Local business,
Jamberoo Action Park
spoke about how they used digital tools to promote their offering and reach new customers, resulting in increased ticket sales and ongoing growth.
These stories from local businesses across NSW are consistent with research from
Deloitte
which shows highly digitally engaged small businesses are more likely to be growing revenue, creating jobs and exporting.
However, more than 90% of businesses are not taking full advantage of digital tools. At Google, we believe everyone should have the opportunity to learn the skills necessary to succeed online, that’s why we launched
The Digital Garage
to help close the gap in digital skills and help small business make the most of the web.
The final stop for The Digital Garage this month is
Tamworth
on Thursday 29 June - register now to attend or check out
The Digital Garage
in your own time!
Posted by Richard Flanagan, Head of Business Marketing, Google Australia
GCP expands to Australia with new Sydney region - open now
Wednesday, June 21, 2017
Starting today, developers can choose to run applications and store data in Australia using the new
Google Cloud Platform
(GCP) region in Sydney. This is our first GCP region in Australia and the fourth in Asia Pacific, joining Taiwan, Tokyo and the
recently launched Singapore
.
GCP customers Down Under will see significant reductions in latency when they run their applications in Sydney. Our performance testing shows 80% to 95% reductions in round-trip time (RTT) latency when serving customers from cities in New Zealand and Australia, such as Sydney, Auckland, Wellington, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, compared to using regions in Singapore or Taiwan.
The
Sydney GCP region
is launching with three zones and several GCP services, and App Engine and Datastore will be available shortly:
Google Cloud
customers benefit from our commitment to large-scale infrastructure investments. With the addition of each new region, developers have more choice on how to run applications closest to their customers. Google’s networking backbone, meanwhile, transforms compute and storage infrastructure into a global-scale computer, giving developers around the world access to the same cloud infrastructure that Google engineers use every day.
In Asia-Pacific, we’re already building another region in
Mumbai
, as well as new network infrastructure to tie them all together, including the SJC cable and
Indigo cable
fiber optic systems.
What customers are saying
Here’s what the new regions means to a few of our customers and partners.
"The regional expansion of Google Cloud Platform to Australia will help enable PwC's rapidly growing need to experiment and innovate and will further extend our work with Google Cloud. It not only provides a reliable and resilient platform that can support our firm's core technology needs, it also makes available to us, GCP's market leading technologies and capabilities to support the unprecedented demand of our diverse and evolving business."
Hilda Clune, Chief Information Officer - PwC Australia
"Monash University has one of the most ambitious digital transformation agendas in tertiary education. We're executing our strategy at pace and needed a platform which would give us the scale, flexibility and functionality to respond rapidly to our development and processing needs. Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and in particular App Engine have been a great combination for us and we're very excited at the results we're getting. Having Google Cloud Platform hosted now in Australia is a big bonus."
Trevor Woods, Chief Information Officer, Monash University
"Modern geophysical technologies place a huge demand on supercomputing resources. Woodside utilises Google Cloud as an on-demand solution for our large computing requirements. This has allowed us to push technological boundaries and dramatically reduce turnaround time."
Sean Salter, VP Technology - Woodside Energy Ltd
Next Steps
We want to help you build what’s next for you. If you’re looking for help to understand how to deploy GCP, please contact local partners:
Shine Solutions
,
Servian
,
3WKS
,
Axalon
,
Onigroup
,
PwC
,
Deloitte
,
Glintech
,
Fronde
,
Dialog
or
Megaport
.
For more details on Australia’s first region, please visit our
Sydney region page
where you’ll get access to free resources, whitepapers, an on-demand training video series called ‘Cloud On-Air’ and more. These will help you get started on GCP. Give us a
shout
to request early access to new regions and help us prioritize what we build next.
Posted by Dave Stiver, Product Manager, Google Cloud Platform
Four steps we’re taking today to fight online terror
Monday, June 19, 2017
Editor’s Note: This post appeared as an op-ed in the
Financial Times
earlier today.
Terrorism is an attack on open societies, and addressing the threat posed by violence and hate is a critical challenge for us all. Google and YouTube are committed to being part of the solution. We are working with government, law enforcement and civil society groups to tackle the problem of violent extremism online. There should be no place for terrorist content on our services.
While we and others have worked for years to identify and remove content that violates our policies, the uncomfortable truth is that we, as an industry, must acknowledge that more needs to be done. Now.
We have thousands of people around the world who review and counter abuse of our platforms. Our engineers have developed technology to prevent re-uploads of known terrorist content using image-matching technology. We have invested in systems that use content-based signals to help identify new videos for removal. And we have developed partnerships with expert groups, counter-extremism agencies, and the other technology companies to help inform and strengthen our efforts.
Today, we are pledging to take four additional steps.
First, we are increasing our use of technology to help identify extremist and terrorism-related videos. This can be challenging: a video of a terrorist attack may be informative news reporting if broadcast by the BBC, or glorification of violence if uploaded in a different context by a different user. We have used video analysis models to find and assess more than 50 per cent of the terrorism-related content we have removed over the past six months. We will now devote more engineering resources to apply our most advanced machine learning research to train new “content classifiers” to help us more quickly identify and remove extremist and terrorism-related content.
Second, because technology alone is not a silver bullet, we will greatly increase the number of independent experts in YouTube’s Trusted Flagger programme. Machines can help identify problematic videos, but human experts still play a role in nuanced decisions about the line between violent propaganda and religious or newsworthy speech. While many user flags can be inaccurate, Trusted Flagger reports are accurate over 90 per cent of the time and help us scale our efforts and identify emerging areas of concern. We will expand this programme by adding 50 expert NGOs to the 63 organisations who are already part of the programme, and we will support them with operational grants. This allows us to benefit from the expertise of specialised organisations working on issues like hate speech, self-harm, and terrorism. We will also expand our work with counter-extremist groups to help identify content that may be being used to radicalise and recruit extremists.
Third, we will be taking a tougher stance on videos that do not clearly violate our policies — for example, videos that contain inflammatory religious or supremacist content. In future these will appear behind an interstitial warning and they will not be monetised, recommended or eligible for comments or user endorsements. That means these videos will have less engagement and be harder to find. We think this strikes the right balance between free expression and access to information without promoting extremely offensive viewpoints.
Finally, YouTube will expand its role in counter-radicalisation efforts. Building on our successful Creators for Change programme promoting YouTube voices against hate and radicalisation, we are working with Jigsaw to implement the “Redirect Method” more broadly across Europe. This promising approach harnesses the power of targeted online advertising to reach potential Isis recruits, and redirects them towards anti-terrorist videos that can change their minds about joining. In previous deployments of this system, potential recruits have clicked through on the ads at an unusually high rate, and watched over half a million minutes of video content that debunks terrorist recruiting messages.
We have also recently committed to working with industry colleagues—including Facebook, Microsoft, and Twitter—to establish an international forum to share and develop technology and support smaller companies and accelerate our joint efforts to tackle terrorism online. Collectively, these changes will make a difference. And we’ll keep working on the problem until we get the balance right. Extremists and terrorists seek to attack and erode not just our security, but also our values; the very things that make our societies open and free. We must not let them. Together, we can build lasting solutions that address the threats to our security and our freedoms. It is a sweeping and complex challenge. We are committed to playing our part.
Posted by Kent Walker, General Counsel, Google
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