Official Google Australia Blog: juli 2012

Make your mark on Google with Handwrite for Mobile and Tablet Search

vrijdag 27 juli 2012

Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog
Unlike searching on a desktop or laptop computer, when you're searching on a touch-screen mobile device it’s often inconvenient to type. So we strive to give you a variety of ways to interact with Google, be it by speaking your queries,getting results before you finish typing, or searching by image. Now there’s a new way for you to interact with Google: Handwrite for web search on mobile phones and tablets.
Say you’re standing on a busy street corner, in a bumpy taxi ride, talking with a friend, or sitting on the couch with your tablet. Handwrite enables you to search by just writing letters with your finger most anywhere on your device’s screen—there’s no keyboard that covers half of the screen and no need for hunt-and-peck typing.

Getting started is easy: go to Google.com in your mobile browser, tap on “Settings” at the bottom of the screen and enable “Handwrite.” Note that after you've saved the setting, you may need to refresh the homepage to see the feature.

On tablets, the Search settings are available as an option behind the gear icon.

Once the feature is enabled, tap the Handwrite icon on the bottom right corner of your screen to activate the writing surface. Write a few letters and you’ll see autocomplete options appear below the search box. If one of the options is what you’re looking for, just tap it to search. For longer queries, you can continue writing and use the arrows next to the autocompletions to move the right one into the search box. Since you can write anywhere, you don’t have to look back and forth repeatedly from the keyboard to the search box.

For more tips and tricks on how to use Handwrite, see our Help Center article. To make accessing Google.com faster, be sure to bookmark it and add it to your home screen.

We designed Handwrite to complement rather than replace typing: with the feature enabled, you can still use the keyboard at any time by tapping on the search box. Handwrite is experimental, and works better in some browsers than others—on Android devices, it works best in Chrome. For now, we’ve enabled Handwrite for iOS5+ devices, Android 2.3+ phones and Android 4.0+ tablets—in 27 languages.

Have fun with this new way of searching!

Posted by Rui Ueyama, Software Engineer

The A-Z of LEGO Build with Chrome

donderdag 26 juli 2012

Less than a month ago, we launched our latest Chrome experiment, Build with Chrome, which uses the latest WebGL 3D technology to bring the delight of building LEGO creations together online.

More than one million builders have explored the new world of LEGO creations downunder and published 66,000 builds, demonstrating the possibilities of the web as a creative canvas. These builds are so creative and inspiring we wanted to call out a few from A to Z:

A) All Blacks flag

B) beachfront

C) Canada

D) dog

E) Esher

F) Fort Denison

G) garden

H) helicopter

I) igloo

J) jetty

K) kiwi

L) Loch Ness monster

M) mario

N) nyan cat

O) octopus

P) port

Q) question

R) Rocket

S) space invaders

T) transformer

U) university

V) Vietnam

W) whale

X) x-ray cubes

Y) youw!

Z) zelda

These are all absolutely beautiful and there are thousands and thousands more.

But this extraordinary piece of design and construction takes the cake... a intricate cityscape, posted by a genius builder on Google+. The location is a mystery... but the hunt is on - if you can find the mystery builds, please share with +Google Australia.

And happy building!

Posted by Lucinda Barlow, Head of Marketing, Google Australia & New Zealand

Get directions around NSW on Trains, Ferries, Light Rail, and Buses in Google Maps

woensdag 25 juli 2012

500 million times per yearcycling Public transport directions are also available on Google Maps on mobile phones, so you will always have access to a trip planner. Using public transport navigation from a mobile has the added convenience of automatically putting your current location as the starting point to determine the best trip to your destination. Simply search for a place to go and click “Directions.” Navigation
Public transport directions will be helpful to get around Sydney, but with 57 bus, train and ferry companies included, people living across the state, in towns large or small, will be able to take advantage of this new feature. Whether you use public transport every day or just occasionally, whether you use it as a commuter or as a tourist, we hope that public transport directions for NSW give you more choices in planning your trips.
Posted by Nabil Naghdy, Product Manager, Google Maps

We’ve hung out with the PM... who’s next?

dinsdag 24 juli 2012

On Saturday morning, we woke up, made a cup of tea, turned on the Internet, and tuned in to...Prime Minister Julia Gillard? The Prime Minister was grilled by ordinary Australians on hot topics like gay marriage, obesity, the digital economy, carbon tax and education. She joins Barack Obama, Ban Ki-Moon, Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama on the list of world leaders who have participated in Google+ Hangouts, perhaps marking the next chapter in how technology is going to change our expectations for interacting with our leaders.

If you missed it, you can watch the recording here:

We hope this Hangout has you thinking about all the other people, places, experiences, ideas, and issues that might be fun to explore via Google+ Hangouts. Particularly since we launched Hangouts On Air (a feature that lets anyone watch your Hangout via video stream as it’s happening, and then records it for later viewing on YouTube), we’ve seen some pretty creative Aussies using Hangouts to feed their passions and:

Raise awareness of a cause. The +Catlin Seaview Survey based in Queensland has been holding underwater hangouts in the Great Barrier Reef as a way to raise awareness of their study on the effects of warming sea temperatures. Watch here.

Teach. +Chef Hangouts offers cooking classes with dozens of chefs via Hangouts, in the comfort of your own kitchen. Keep an eye out for classes from Sydney’s +Jackie M and you can learn Malaysian cooking.

Meet their fans. +Carlton Football Club’s Chris Judd is hanging out with his fans today at 1pm AEST. Radio station +Nova FM launched the Digital Red Room, which connects stars like Carly Rae Jepsen with fans across the country via Hangouts, +Take40 Australia have been holding competitions to hangout with uberstars such as David Guetta. And TV viewers have been connecting face-to-face-to-face after the show with their favourite stars in TV’s Bondi Rescue and The Voice Australia.

These are just a few examples -- it’s been amazing what people have been dreaming up. When we built Hangouts, we certainly didn’t expect to see Perth’s +Paul Pichugin using it for +Virtual Photowalks down a West Australian beach, helping people with limited mobility to experience, from halfway around the world, an Australian sunrise and real Aussie surfers catching some waves.

Tell us on +Google Australia what types of Hangouts you’d like to see more of -- and tell us who’s been hosting great ones!
Posted by Lucinda Barlow, Head of Marketing, Google Australia & New Zealand

Next Google Start-Up “Do” - July 31

maandag 23 juli 2012

This blog post was updated with additional panelists on 24 July 2012.Google Sudo eventhereShoes of PreyVivian StewartBill Bartee

Mike Cannon-Brookes, CEO and co-founder of Atlassian

Paul Gray, CMO and Community Director, Bubble Gum Interactive

Stuart McLean, Head of Google Enterprise, AU & NZ

Lisa Frazier, Chief Innovation Officer, Equities and Margin Lending at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, and Founder and former President & CEO of The Bay Citizen

hereWe will email you an invitation if your registration is successful. Due to limited space we won’t be able to accommodate everyone, but we are hoping to stream the event over Google+ Hangout again -- stay tuned!Posted by Alan Noble, Engineering Director, Google Australia and New Zealand

The Internet means a faster future for Australia

maandag 23 juli 2012

This blog post was first published by The Age.Google+ HangoutAustralian election coveragePosted by Nick Leeder, Managing Director, Google Australia & New Zealand

Become an Antarctic explorer with panoramic imagery

woensdag 18 juli 2012

Cross posted from the Official Google Blogan advertisementStreet View imagery of the AntarcticWorld Wonders sitePolar Geospatial Center at the University of Minnesota New Zealand Antarctic Heritage TrustSouth Pole TelescopeShackleton's hutScott’s hutCape Royds Adélie Penguin RookeryCeremonial South Pole The ceremonial South Pole (View Larger Map) The interior of Shackleton’s Hut demonstrates the host of supplies used in early 20th Century Antarctic Expeditions—everything from medicine and food to candles and cargo sleds can be found neatly stored inside. (View Larger Map) The landscape outside of Robert Falcon Scott’s supply hut conveys just how desolate the area is. For these early explorers, the supply huts were an oasis of warmth and comfort in a cold and inhospitable landscape. (View Larger Map)Business Photos programStreet View trikesPosted by Alex Starns, Technical Program Manager, Street View

Change is the only constant in the media industry... it’s just getting faster

vrijdag 13 juli 2012

Yesterday Google Australia hosted around 150 members of young media professionals networking community NGEN for a panel discussion called “Industry in 2017” with an illustrious group of Australian media industry executives and CEOs.

Sharing their thoughts on how the industry will evolve over the next 5 years were heavyweights like Sophie Madden, Marketing Services Head, Kraft Foods; Mark Buckman, Chief Marketing Officer, Telstra; Kerry Field, General Manager, Mindshare; Mat Baxter, Chief Executive Officer, UM; Matt James, Managing Director, mi9; James Warburton, Chief Executive, Ten Network as well as Nick Leeder, Managing Director, Google Australia & New Zealand. Henry Tajer, President of the MFA and Executive Chairman of MediaBrands Australia, hosted the session.

The panel agreed that big data, social media, video and liquid media planning are abuzz for good reason. For all panelists the future of the media industry will be centred around data and measurement. Advertisers demand real return on investment (ROI) and agencies who can service this more than ever before. Hence media plans need to be “liquid” to react to changing audiences, opportunities and media. The panelists were split on the need to return to a full service agency model and on the question of Price vs Value.

James Warburton said that people will consume more content than ever before with the major difference being that it will just be across many more screen sizes--whether it is TV, catchup TV, smartphones, tablets or desktop doesn’t really matter. This was reiterated by Sophie Madden from Kraft Foods, who when asked about the future of TV, said “I have great optimism for the future of video.”

Telstra’s Mark Buckman made the point that digital cannot be a separate team, “We’ve all got to be digital people”. On social media, he remarked that it isn’t just an advertising channel but about “having deeper and longer conversations with our customers.”

But nothing grabbed the audience’s attention more than the panel’s thoughts on their own careers and what made them successful. Curiosity was a trait echoed by many of the panelists as critical to success but they also urged the crowd to be adaptable and to seize every opportunity to grow and to get out of their ‘comfort zone.’

While “Chief MO” - that’s what his team at Telstra calls him - Buckman and Ten’s Warburton said old-fashioned hard work and true passion for the industry are key for a career, Google’s Nick Leeder reminded the audience that only one thing can be guaranteed: “This industry will keep changing constantly and it’s only becoming faster. So if you want to stay in this industry, make sure you’re always open to the next big thing.”

Posted by Noelle Kim, Senior Industry Analyst CPG and NGEN member, Google Australia

Ride on! Cycling comes to Google Maps in Australia

woensdag 11 juli 2012

Dark green indicates a dedicated cycle path

Light green indicates a dedicated cycle lane along a road

Dashed green indicates roads that are designated as preferred for cycling, but without dedicated lanes

report a problemgoing for a Sunday afternoon ride with the family, or training to be the next Cadel Evans, we hope that bicycle directions in Google Maps can help make it easier to safely plan your next outing. Happy cycling!
Posted by Nabil Naghdy, Product Manager, Google Australia

Fairfax Media Goes Google

woensdag 4 juli 2012

In an increasingly web-enabled world, the speed of sharing information continues to increase at a stunning acceleration. This has changed the way businesses in every vertical operate, but no field has been more impacted than the media sector – businesses that deal in information itself.
Today Fairfax Media, a leading multi-platform media group in Australasia, announces that it will provide its employees with Google Apps for Business. This makes Fairfax Media one of the largest Google Apps customers in the Asia-Pacific region, and they join 5 million other businesses, including fellow Australian companies such as Visy, Jetstar, Flight Centre and Ray White. After a successful Google Apps pilot program earlier this year, Fairfax will now work with Google Apps Premier Reseller, Cloud Sherpas, to ensure all staff have access to Google Apps by November 2012.

The Fairfax Media group comprises metropolitan, rural, regional and community publications and websites across Australia and New Zealand. High profile mastheads include The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian Financial Review and The Age, along with their corresponding national news websites.

A key part of Fairfax’s business is about quickly, efficiently and expertly providing information and content to its readers and customers — and the multi-tenant communication platform that Google Apps provides will help keep Fairfax at the forefront of its industry. Google Apps is a central part of the company’s “Fairfax of the Future” program transforming it into a “digital first” media organisation.
By taking up the heavy lifting of storing data and managing infrastructure, going Google will allow Fairfax to focus on being a media company and not worry about also being an IT provider. And the real-time collaboration in Docs and communication facilitated through Talk and Google+ Hangouts will allow reporters and editors working in various locations to overcome geographical barriers.

We're excited to see Google Apps as a key piece of Fairfax's transformation into the future model of a media company. These tools will allow Fairfax not just to allow employees to work in the future but to let the entire company better concentrate on the thing they do best — keeping the public informed.
Posted by Stuart McLean, Head of Google Enterprise Australia and New Zealand

Australia Blog