Official Google Australia Blog: אפריל 2018

Shellebrating Christmas Island’s extraordinary nature with Street View and Google Earth

יום שלישי, 24 באפריל 2018

In December, we took the Street View trekker to Christmas Island, a remote tropical territory of Australia just south of Indonesia. With Parks Australia, we joined the island’s red crabs as they marched in the millions from the forest to the sea for their annual migration.
Now it’s time to shellebrate. Starting today on Google Maps Street View and Google Earth, you can explore Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands’ unique wildlife, dazzling ocean vistas and lush rainforests, including the grand finale of the red crab migration—the spawning. The red crabs wait all year for this very moment—and the precise alignment of the rains, moon and tides—to release their eggs at the coastal waters.
Christmas Island’s remote location makes it home to a wild and diverse ecosystem—including 600 species of tropical fish, 14 species of terrestrial crabs, more than 100 bird species and four native reptile species. Exploring its wetlands and blowholes and coastline, you can see for yourself why the island is often called “Australia’s Galapagos.”

A view of Dolly Beach, home to a stunning coral reef and turtles.

A scenic walking trail in the Dales wetlands—a dense rainforest crawling with the island’s endemic blue crabs (Tip: Walk uphill on Street View and you’ll find a waterfall).

The Blowholes, where the waves blast water through eroded cliffs.

A view of Direction Island Beach, part of Cocos (Keeling) Islands which is home to diverse marine life, including coral, reef sharks and parrotfish.

Christmas Island’s nature and wildlife is so treasured and protected that the crabs have right of way. Roads are often closed during the migration, and Parks Australia have erected fences to direct the crabs to safe crossing points with under-road passes, or fly-over bridges. Now you can join the island’s 45 million red crabs as they crawl along the forest floor, climb the cliffs and finally, spawn at the water’s edge.

The red crabs starting their journey in the forest, on the way to Merrial Beach.

The crabs crawling on the Ethel Beach ramp.

Crabs climbing down the cliffs to Merrial Beach

The crabs arriving to spawn at Ethel Beach

The crabs above Ethel Beach after the spawning

Scuttle over to Street View and Google Earth to experience the wonderland of wildlife on Christmas Island, and the white sand beaches of Cocos (Keeling) Islands. And as you step into this moment in time, we welcome you to join the crabs as they lead this magnificent dance of nature. Posted by Camilla Ibrahim, Christmas Island Crab Advocate, Google Australia & New Zealand

Consumers will determine the future of news

יום שני, 23 באפריל 2018

Enhanced Media Metrics Australiareadership has been increasingAFRFairfax MediaAustralian Competition and Consumer Commission’s inquiryresponse FirstNews Lab FellowshipsSecondSubscribe with Google

ThirdFinallyAccelerated Mobile Pagesmyaccount.google.com

Jason Pellegrino, Managing Director, Google Australia

Puparazzi alert: Tips for your pet photos

יום חמישי, 12 באפריל 2018

If you’re a pet owner, you've probably taken countless photos of your pooch. Here are a few pet-tential ways you can celebrate your pets with Google Photos:
Identify popular breeds with Google Lens
Recently, we made Google Lens preview available in Google Photos across Android and iOS. Now, when you take a photo of an animal—like a cute cat or dog—you can use Lens to help identify its breed and get more information.

Create a movie dedicated to your furry friend
Your pet may have a leading role in your life, but it’s time to show the rest of the world that your animal is a star. If your pet is ready for a big screen debut, open your Google Photos app, go to the Assistant tab, and click on the movie button. Then, if available, choose the Meow Movie or Doggie Movie option, select your pet, and we’ll compile the best photos of your four-legged pal into a movie, set to pet-themed music.

Label your pet to easily find photos of themIn most countries, you can label your cats and dogs so that you can search to quickly find photos of them. Or even better, you can find photos of that one time you dressed them up for Halloween by searching “Oliver hat” or pictures of them in the park by searching “Oliver park.”

Search by breed and emoji
Speaking of fast ways to find photos of your pets, you can also search by breed, species, or emoji — try

– or quickly search “pitbull” to rediscover photos of your sister’s cute canine.
Howevfur you pampurr your pets, we hope you can try out a few of the features that Google Photos has to off-fur.Posted by Kristi Bohl, Product Manager and Cat Enthusiast, Google Photos

Hop through the school holidays with new Google Assistant experiences designed for families

יום רביעי, 11 באפריל 2018

School’s out! Whether you’re home making pancakes with the family or out on an adventure with the kids, we’ve added new experiences for the Google Assistant so you can learn, play and stay entertained with the family over the school holidays. Monday musical chairs? Tuesday night trivia? Saturday storytime? The Google Assistant has many games, activities and stories designed for families. And if you want to create your own personal trivia game to play with friends, you can try out one of our Actions templates. Talking to your Assistant screen-free is an easy way to be there – in the moment – spending time with loved ones. These experiences are available today in Australia with the Assistant on Google Home, other smart speakers and eligible phones.

Below are some things you can ask—just start with “Ok Google.” Play 👯

"Play Lucky Trivia for Families”

“Play Musical Chairs”

“Play Musical Statues”

“Let’s play a game”

Learn 📖

“Play ABC Behind the News”
“Help me with my homework”
“Tell me a fun fact”
“How do you say “Let’s have crêpes for breakfast” in French?”

Entertain

“Let’s make ANZAC biscuits”
“Play Kinderling Radio”
“Read The Complete Adventures of Blinky Bill”*
“Tell me a joke”

The new activities are rolling out today so you can go on a family adventure together. With their parent's permission, children under 13 can also have their own personalised Google Assistant experience when they log in with their own account, powered by Family Link. Family Link helps parents manage their child’s Google Account while they explore. And with Voice Match, your family can train the Assistant to recognise who’s speaking - up to six voices.

So round the family up this school holidays to unlock a world of magic!
Posted by Aisling Finch, Marketing Director, Google Australia & New Zealand

*Audiobook purchase via Google Play Books is required (see more details here).

Just call us Googz

יום ראשון, 1 באפריל 2018

We Aussies are a unique lot, on a unique land. Since we arrived in Australia in 2002, our goal has been to build and adapt our products to best serve Aussies – whether you’re finding your way around town using Google Maps, or chatting with your Google Assistant about brekkie recipes.
And just like our products, we’re always testing and iterating on our visual identity to keep our communications relevant, relatable and real for Aussies. Over the years, we’ve played with our logo through Google Doodles celebrating various Australian icons – from gumnut babies to our Great Barrier Reef.
Recently, we’ve been prompted to examine how our brand might be shaped by rising popular culture and linguistic trends in Australia. We all know abbreviations are the hallmark of Australian English. And upon further analysis of this evolving dialect, we made a fascinating discovery: Just like Maccas, Aussies are increasingly calling us “Googz.”
We had a real “yeah, nah” moment. That inspired us to reimagine our brand from the ground up, in partnership with leading Australian designer Jazza. We conducted in-depth focus groups on beaches and in skate parks across Australia – and went back to the drawing board to define a new logo identity that would be authentic to Aussies, roll off the tongue but still anchored in our heritage. After months of sketching, mood boarding, foraging and finger painting, we are delighted to unveil our shiny, new ‘Strayan logo:

In the end, we landed on exactly the same typography and colour palette, with a gorgeous, gumtree green, lowercase ‘z.’ We opted for the ‘z’ over an ‘s’ as the former felt unexpected and gave us snazzy typographic angles to work with. To get a glimpse into the design journey, check out Jazza’s video:

Starting today on April 1, you’ll see this new brand identity out in the wild - in Pyrmont and in our products. Just ask your Google Assistant “Ok Google, What’s your name?” on your Google Home device or Assistant enabled iOS and Android phone.

With Jazza’s help, we’ve also produced some swanky swag:

To get your hands on these Googz goodz, head over to the Google Store.

UPDATE: April Foolz!Posted by Gabi Conlon, Head of Brand, Google Australia & New Zealand

Australia Blog

Shellebrating Christmas Island’s extraordinary nature with Street View and Google Earth

Consumers will determine the future of news

Puparazzi alert: Tips for your pet photos

Hop through the school holidays with new Google Assistant experiences designed for families

Just call us Googz

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