Today we announced our first official YouTube most watched lists, a look at 2009 through the videos Australians and people around the world were watching and searching for.
From a singer's debut on the world stage, to newly-weds dancing down the aisle, YouTube has offered people a way to share together in both the big and small moments that touched millions of people around the world this year.
And in addition to global content, some great Aussie-generated content attracted hundreds of thousands of views.
Enjoy!
Most watched YouTube videos in Australia
Top five most watched YouTube videos overall:
Susan Boyle - Singer - Britains Got Talent 2009 (With Lyrics)
I'm On A Boat (ft. T-Pain) - Album Version
Miley Cyrus - The Climb - Official Music Video (HQ)
Miley Cyrus - Party In The U.S.A. - Official Music Video (HD)
Black Eyed Peas "Boom Boom Pow"
Top five most watched Australian-made videos:
Kate Miller-Heidke 'The Last Day On Earth' Official Video
Guy Sebastian - Like it Like That [Official Video]
Jessica Mauboy - Been Waiting [Official Video]
Cassie Davis - Like It Loud [Official Video]
Short Stack - Princess
Top five most watched music videos:
I'm On A Boat (ft. T-Pain) - Album Version
Miley Cyrus - The Climb - Official Music Video (HQ)
Miley Cyrus - Party In The U.S.A. - Official Music Video (HD)
Black Eyed Peas - Boom Boom Pow
Pussycat Dolls - Jai Ho
Top five most watched animal-related videos:
Extreme Sheep LED Art
Bizkit the Sleep Walking Dog
The largest dead snake ever found, over 50 feet.
Piranha Devours a Duck
Slow loris loves getting tickled
Instant celebrities thanks to YouTube:
Susan Boyle - Singer - Britains Got Talent 2009 (With Lyrics)
JK Wedding Entrance Dance
David After Dentist
Greatest freak out ever (ORIGINAL VIDEO)
Inspired Bicycles - Danny MacAskill April 2009
Top five most watched movie trailers:
New Moon Movie Trailer - Official (HD)
Bruno - Official Trailer
Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen Official HD Movie Trailer #2 NEW!
'2012' Trailer HD
Paranormal Activity - Official Trailer [HQ HD]
Top five most watched Australian user-generated content:
My Crazy Sister - mychonny
Asian and White Parents - mychonny
Sorry it's been a while - communitychannel
My Victorian Bushfire Campaign - juanmann
Uncomfortable Love Scene - communitychannel
Most watched YouTube videos globally
Susan Boyle - Britain's Got Talent (120+ million views)
David After Dentist (36+ million views)
JK Wedding Entrance Dance (33+ million views)
New Moon Movie Trailer (30+ million views)
Evian Roller Babies (27+ million views)
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Our views on Mandatory ISP Filtering
At Google we are concerned by the Government's plans to introduce a mandatory filtering regime for Internet Service Providers (ISP) in Australia, the first of its kind amongst western democracies.* Our primary concern is that the scope of content to be filtered is too wide.
We have a bias in favour of people's right to free expression. While we recognise that protecting the free exchange of ideas and information cannot be without some limits, we believe that more information generally means more choice, more freedom and ultimately more power for the individual.
Some limits, like child pornography, are obvious. No Australian wants that to be available – and we agree. Google, like many other Internet companies, has a global, all-product ban against child sexual abuse material and we filter out this content from our search results. But moving to a mandatory ISP filtering regime with a scope that goes well beyond such material is heavy handed and can raise genuine questions about restrictions on access to information.
The recent report by Professors Catharine Lumby, Lelia Green, and John Hartley, Untangling The Net: The Scope of Content Caught By Mandatory Internet Filtering, has found that a wide scope of content could be prohibited under the proposed filtering regime. Refused Classification (or RC) is a broad category of content that includes not just child sexual abuse material but also socially and politically controversial material -- for example, educational content on safer drug use -- as well as the grey realms of material instructing in any crime, including politically controversial crimes such as euthanasia. This type of content may be unpleasant and unpalatable but we believe that government should not have the right to block information which can inform debate of controversial issues.
While the discussion on ISP filtering continues, we should all retain focus on making the Internet safer for people of all ages. Our view is that online safety should focus on user education, user empowerment through technology tools (such as SafeSearch Lock), and cooperation between law enforcement and industry partners. The government has committed to important cybersafety education and engagement programs and yesterday announced additional measures that we welcome.
Exposing politically controversial topics for public debate is vital for democracy. Homosexuality was a crime in Australia until 1976 in ACT, NSW in 1984 and 1997 in Tasmania. Political and social norms change over time and benefit from intense public scrutiny and debate. The openness of the Internet makes this all the more possible and should be protected.
The government has requested comments from interested parties on its proposals for filtering and we encourage everyone to make their views known in this important debate.
Updated: December 16, 2009 at 5:00 PM
* Germany and Italy have mandatory ISP filtering, however in both cases they are of a clearly limited scope. In Germany, the scope is child abuse material and in Italy, it is child abuse material and unlawful gambling sites. Australia's proposed regime would uniquely combine a mandatory framework and a much wider scope of content, the first of its kind in the democratic world.
We have a bias in favour of people's right to free expression. While we recognise that protecting the free exchange of ideas and information cannot be without some limits, we believe that more information generally means more choice, more freedom and ultimately more power for the individual.
Some limits, like child pornography, are obvious. No Australian wants that to be available – and we agree. Google, like many other Internet companies, has a global, all-product ban against child sexual abuse material and we filter out this content from our search results. But moving to a mandatory ISP filtering regime with a scope that goes well beyond such material is heavy handed and can raise genuine questions about restrictions on access to information.
The recent report by Professors Catharine Lumby, Lelia Green, and John Hartley, Untangling The Net: The Scope of Content Caught By Mandatory Internet Filtering, has found that a wide scope of content could be prohibited under the proposed filtering regime. Refused Classification (or RC) is a broad category of content that includes not just child sexual abuse material but also socially and politically controversial material -- for example, educational content on safer drug use -- as well as the grey realms of material instructing in any crime, including politically controversial crimes such as euthanasia. This type of content may be unpleasant and unpalatable but we believe that government should not have the right to block information which can inform debate of controversial issues.
While the discussion on ISP filtering continues, we should all retain focus on making the Internet safer for people of all ages. Our view is that online safety should focus on user education, user empowerment through technology tools (such as SafeSearch Lock), and cooperation between law enforcement and industry partners. The government has committed to important cybersafety education and engagement programs and yesterday announced additional measures that we welcome.
Exposing politically controversial topics for public debate is vital for democracy. Homosexuality was a crime in Australia until 1976 in ACT, NSW in 1984 and 1997 in Tasmania. Political and social norms change over time and benefit from intense public scrutiny and debate. The openness of the Internet makes this all the more possible and should be protected.
The government has requested comments from interested parties on its proposals for filtering and we encourage everyone to make their views known in this important debate.
Updated: December 16, 2009 at 5:00 PM
* Germany and Italy have mandatory ISP filtering, however in both cases they are of a clearly limited scope. In Germany, the scope is child abuse material and in Italy, it is child abuse material and unlawful gambling sites. Australia's proposed regime would uniquely combine a mandatory framework and a much wider scope of content, the first of its kind in the democratic world.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Talking smart 'info-structure' at the Realising our Broadband Future forum
I was lucky enough to be involved with the 'Smart Infrastructure' stream at this week's 'Realising our Broadband Future' forum in Sydney. What is smart infrastructure? In part it's using sensors and communications technologies to better use and sustain important resources, but I like to think of it as more about empowering people than about playing around with physical infrastructure. Smart 'info-structure' rather than 'infrastructure' perhaps?
With the coming roll-out of the NBN, Australia is perfectly placed to become a leader in the field of sensor networks. We need to make sure we integrate smart technology into our vital infrastructure to achieve things like reduced road congestion, improved water management, and maximised energy efficiency.
Some of the cool ideas we discussed in the stream today included:
So far so good, but what needs to happen for some of these cool ideas to become reality? There are plenty of technology requirements, but there's also the engagement and belief of users. End users have to see the value in systems like smart electricity grids, and they need to retain control of their data in order to feel comfortable participating. By the way, anything that makes life harder than it already is will fail to be adopted in large numbers!
There are a few other requirements that I can see before we'll really be poised for a smart infrastructure future. We'll need to see an even greater mindset shift in both the public and private sector around sharing information, and a commitment to using open standards to stimulate innovation in smart applications. The Gov 2.0 agenda is a great step in the right direction here.
We'll need a regulatory environment in Australia that's conducive to the development of new services.
We'll need enough wireless spectrum to support smart infrastructure which generally runs on a hybrid fibre-spectrum network, and the right regulatory framework around spectrum for the rapid growth of a variety of new devices and services.
And we'll need to address questions around where all of this new data will be managed.
All of this can be achieved by the right kind of collaboration between sectors, and by playing some things a little smarter - for example, let's only dig up ditches once and put the right stuff in them! That kind of cooperative thinking is going to turn this smart infrastructure dream into a reality for all Australians.
The conference organisers encouraged tweeting of the event's proceedings, so you'll find plenty of additional commentary by searching under the tag #bbfuture.
With the coming roll-out of the NBN, Australia is perfectly placed to become a leader in the field of sensor networks. We need to make sure we integrate smart technology into our vital infrastructure to achieve things like reduced road congestion, improved water management, and maximised energy efficiency.
Some of the cool ideas we discussed in the stream today included:
- Intelligent road transport systems that can actively manage congestion and breakdowns; and more efficient planning and construction of roading systems using GIS
- Remote sensing and monitoring of water resources that lead to better management of ground and surface water; and more efficient and transparent water markets
- More efficient energy markets and pricing; better demand management, and more efficient management of energy security
So far so good, but what needs to happen for some of these cool ideas to become reality? There are plenty of technology requirements, but there's also the engagement and belief of users. End users have to see the value in systems like smart electricity grids, and they need to retain control of their data in order to feel comfortable participating. By the way, anything that makes life harder than it already is will fail to be adopted in large numbers!
There are a few other requirements that I can see before we'll really be poised for a smart infrastructure future. We'll need to see an even greater mindset shift in both the public and private sector around sharing information, and a commitment to using open standards to stimulate innovation in smart applications. The Gov 2.0 agenda is a great step in the right direction here.
We'll need a regulatory environment in Australia that's conducive to the development of new services.
We'll need enough wireless spectrum to support smart infrastructure which generally runs on a hybrid fibre-spectrum network, and the right regulatory framework around spectrum for the rapid growth of a variety of new devices and services.
And we'll need to address questions around where all of this new data will be managed.
All of this can be achieved by the right kind of collaboration between sectors, and by playing some things a little smarter - for example, let's only dig up ditches once and put the right stuff in them! That kind of cooperative thinking is going to turn this smart infrastructure dream into a reality for all Australians.
The conference organisers encouraged tweeting of the event's proceedings, so you'll find plenty of additional commentary by searching under the tag #bbfuture.
Making copyright work on YouTube
My first visit to Sydney was in 2006, when I moved here with my wife and one-year-old son to live for six months. I returned again this past week, this time as a Senior Product Manager for YouTube, to meet with Australian media companies, and to speak at the Government's Realising our Broadband Future event.
It's only been 3 years since my last visit to Sydney, but in that short time, the way Australians watch video has changed dramatically. Today, more and more Australians are enjoying their favourite TV shows and video content on the Web. They're not just watching videos; they're also uploading their own, commenting, rating, and sharing their favorites. In fact, a recent demographic study of Australians on YouTube found that two out of three people do more than just watch a video; they're actively participating in the YouTube community.
As more users have headed online, so has more professionally-created video. Increasingly, major movie studios, record labels, and broadcast networks upload their content to YouTube to reach the millions of people on the site. In addition to uploading content themselves, content owners are using YouTube's sophisticated content management tools to identify their copyrighted content in user uploads. To our pleasant surprise, the vast majority decide to leave their content on YouTube and make money by allowing us to place ads next to it. I helped build our latest tool launched in 2007, called Content ID, which allows rights holders to block, track, or make money from their copyrighted content.
Copyright has proved to be one of the most difficult challenges online, but it's one that we're committed to solving through technology. After all, Google at its core is a technology company interested in organising the world's information. On YouTube, that means video but also the vast and often tangled web of global rights management.
Platforms like YouTube, and tools like Content ID, help Australians promote their content to a worldwide audience. Everyone from new bands to large broadcasters like the ABC can tap into the international reach of YouTube to find a new fan base for their videos and music. YouTube is truly the world's largest focus group, and I think that's an enormous opportunity for companies large and small.
I return to the U.S. today, but I'm excited to see what the online video landscape will look like on my next visit to Australia.
It's only been 3 years since my last visit to Sydney, but in that short time, the way Australians watch video has changed dramatically. Today, more and more Australians are enjoying their favourite TV shows and video content on the Web. They're not just watching videos; they're also uploading their own, commenting, rating, and sharing their favorites. In fact, a recent demographic study of Australians on YouTube found that two out of three people do more than just watch a video; they're actively participating in the YouTube community.
As more users have headed online, so has more professionally-created video. Increasingly, major movie studios, record labels, and broadcast networks upload their content to YouTube to reach the millions of people on the site. In addition to uploading content themselves, content owners are using YouTube's sophisticated content management tools to identify their copyrighted content in user uploads. To our pleasant surprise, the vast majority decide to leave their content on YouTube and make money by allowing us to place ads next to it. I helped build our latest tool launched in 2007, called Content ID, which allows rights holders to block, track, or make money from their copyrighted content.
Copyright has proved to be one of the most difficult challenges online, but it's one that we're committed to solving through technology. After all, Google at its core is a technology company interested in organising the world's information. On YouTube, that means video but also the vast and often tangled web of global rights management.
Platforms like YouTube, and tools like Content ID, help Australians promote their content to a worldwide audience. Everyone from new bands to large broadcasters like the ABC can tap into the international reach of YouTube to find a new fan base for their videos and music. YouTube is truly the world's largest focus group, and I think that's an enormous opportunity for companies large and small.
I return to the U.S. today, but I'm excited to see what the online video landscape will look like on my next visit to Australia.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Coast to coast, more Australian universities Go Google
With the recent announcement that hundreds of thousands of UK students are moving to Google Apps, there are now more than six million students, staff, and faculty around the world using Google at school. In the US, a recent survey reported that of those universities that had converted to hosted student email, 56% are going Google. The trend is similar here, with more and more Australian universities getting on to Google Apps.
Back in 2008, we blogged that the NSW Department of Education had successfully deployed Gmail to over 1.2 million students, joining Macquarie University and a number of other Australian schools in switching to Google. Since that time I'm pleased to say that more Australian universities have gone Google, including the University of Adelaide, University of Southern Queensland, Monash University and the University of Western Australia, who've all made the decision to offer our powerful set of communication and collaboration tools to their students.
For the University of Western Australia, implementing Google Apps for its 30,000 students meant offering a compelling set of features while allowing staff to focus on their core competencies. "The service we could offer for students through Google Apps was much better than we could reasonably hope to provide ourselves. Our staff can now concentrate on the things we do best - serving the teaching and research needs of the University," said John Arfield, University Librarian and Director (Information Management). "Providing a good experience for our students is a very high priority at UWA. The students are delighted, and so are we."
Over at the University of Adelaide, the ITS team who implemented Google Apps for their 16,000 students in early 2009 recently scooped the primary award at the Universities Services and Resources Annual Awards for Excellence (pictured below is the University of Adelaide project team managed by Bianca Velder (third from right) receiving their award on November 19 this year). Google Apps went live for the University of Adelaide on March 16, after a 5 month planning and development period. The University saw a 50% take up rate within two weeks of go-live, students were enthusiastic to make the switch from the previous mail system to Google Apps.
"Google Apps allows the university to deliver seamlessly integrated email, calendaring and IM services to students with significant capacity, and the migration has been a huge success for the university" says Virginia Deegan, director, infrastructure, property and technology. "The strength of Google Apps Education edition lies in the ease of implementation and the ability to deliver an integrated and flexible platform for collaboration and communication technologies in the future. All at no cost to the University, and that was a compelling story to us.
"Post implementation surveys show a very high student satisfaction with Google Apps. Many students offer suggestions how we can add value to the student experience, by increasing the functionality of Google Apps as a teaching and learning environment. Google Apps is rapidly becoming part of the DNA of the university, and that is exactly what we hoped for".
Across in Melbourne, at Australia's largest university Monash, Alan McMeekin, CIO and Executive Director IT Services Division is very pleased with the outcome for their 58,000 students and staff. "Monash has a commitment to principles of equity and diversity, so accessibility of services for students is important. We want to remove the blocks that prevent students from learning and growing. Google is one of the few products that provides a html version for email that works well with assistive technology." For Alan, demand from students and the support Google offered with the implementation were two key ingredients in a successful implementation. "The demand from students to participate in the pilot was encouraging, with over two hundred students registering in a weekend. Google have been great to work with on the implementation, providing dedicated resources and making changes where necessary to ensure Monash's move to Google is successful."
Lisa Marsh, Manager of the Flexible Learning and Teaching Program at Monash, leads the team that builds and runs the award winning my.monash portal for staff and students. In partnership with Calvin Chow, IT Analyst and Project lead, Lisa lead the project to migrate students to Google Apps. "The team are excited by the move to Google Apps. Calendar, email space, and collaboration tools have always been high demand items with students. We're also working on integrating Google Apps with other core university services via the my.monash portal, so there's lots of excitement around the potential to enhance the student experience. It's great to be running a project that is overwhelmingly positive. The pilot was oversubscribed by students. We're already getting 'thank you' email".
We look forward to working closely with more Australian universities and making 2010 a year in which even more students across Australia get the benefits of going Google.
Back in 2008, we blogged that the NSW Department of Education had successfully deployed Gmail to over 1.2 million students, joining Macquarie University and a number of other Australian schools in switching to Google. Since that time I'm pleased to say that more Australian universities have gone Google, including the University of Adelaide, University of Southern Queensland, Monash University and the University of Western Australia, who've all made the decision to offer our powerful set of communication and collaboration tools to their students.
For the University of Western Australia, implementing Google Apps for its 30,000 students meant offering a compelling set of features while allowing staff to focus on their core competencies. "The service we could offer for students through Google Apps was much better than we could reasonably hope to provide ourselves. Our staff can now concentrate on the things we do best - serving the teaching and research needs of the University," said John Arfield, University Librarian and Director (Information Management). "Providing a good experience for our students is a very high priority at UWA. The students are delighted, and so are we."
Over at the University of Adelaide, the ITS team who implemented Google Apps for their 16,000 students in early 2009 recently scooped the primary award at the Universities Services and Resources Annual Awards for Excellence (pictured below is the University of Adelaide project team managed by Bianca Velder (third from right) receiving their award on November 19 this year). Google Apps went live for the University of Adelaide on March 16, after a 5 month planning and development period. The University saw a 50% take up rate within two weeks of go-live, students were enthusiastic to make the switch from the previous mail system to Google Apps.
"Google Apps allows the university to deliver seamlessly integrated email, calendaring and IM services to students with significant capacity, and the migration has been a huge success for the university" says Virginia Deegan, director, infrastructure, property and technology. "The strength of Google Apps Education edition lies in the ease of implementation and the ability to deliver an integrated and flexible platform for collaboration and communication technologies in the future. All at no cost to the University, and that was a compelling story to us.
"Post implementation surveys show a very high student satisfaction with Google Apps. Many students offer suggestions how we can add value to the student experience, by increasing the functionality of Google Apps as a teaching and learning environment. Google Apps is rapidly becoming part of the DNA of the university, and that is exactly what we hoped for".
Across in Melbourne, at Australia's largest university Monash, Alan McMeekin, CIO and Executive Director IT Services Division is very pleased with the outcome for their 58,000 students and staff. "Monash has a commitment to principles of equity and diversity, so accessibility of services for students is important. We want to remove the blocks that prevent students from learning and growing. Google is one of the few products that provides a html version for email that works well with assistive technology." For Alan, demand from students and the support Google offered with the implementation were two key ingredients in a successful implementation. "The demand from students to participate in the pilot was encouraging, with over two hundred students registering in a weekend. Google have been great to work with on the implementation, providing dedicated resources and making changes where necessary to ensure Monash's move to Google is successful."
Lisa Marsh, Manager of the Flexible Learning and Teaching Program at Monash, leads the team that builds and runs the award winning my.monash portal for staff and students. In partnership with Calvin Chow, IT Analyst and Project lead, Lisa lead the project to migrate students to Google Apps. "The team are excited by the move to Google Apps. Calendar, email space, and collaboration tools have always been high demand items with students. We're also working on integrating Google Apps with other core university services via the my.monash portal, so there's lots of excitement around the potential to enhance the student experience. It's great to be running a project that is overwhelmingly positive. The pilot was oversubscribed by students. We're already getting 'thank you' email".
We look forward to working closely with more Australian universities and making 2010 a year in which even more students across Australia get the benefits of going Google.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Have a say in your Broadband Future
The Australian Government is holding an event, Realising Our Broadband Future, at UNSW in Sydney this week to talk about the applications and business models that will thrive in Australia's high speed broadband future. At Google we've been very supportive of the vision for ubiquitous high-speed Internet access in Australia for driving innovation and stimulating the digital economy and we'll be presenting in various sessions at the conference.
On Thursday morning Vint Cerf (our Chief Internet Evangelist) will be giving a keynote address, to be followed by David King (Senior Product Manager at YouTube). David will talk about new business models that are emerging for media companies in the digital economy. I'll be chipping in as Lead Editor on a stream focusing on Smart Infrastructure.
It's great to see Government opening up the event for participation online for everyone in Australia. The Open To Ideas forum lets you submit questions and ideas for discussion as well as voting on other people's ideas - this uses Google Moderator. Make sure you submit your vote today. You can watch live webcasts of the event here.
On Thursday morning Vint Cerf (our Chief Internet Evangelist) will be giving a keynote address, to be followed by David King (Senior Product Manager at YouTube). David will talk about new business models that are emerging for media companies in the digital economy. I'll be chipping in as Lead Editor on a stream focusing on Smart Infrastructure.
It's great to see Government opening up the event for participation online for everyone in Australia. The Open To Ideas forum lets you submit questions and ideas for discussion as well as voting on other people's ideas - this uses Google Moderator. Make sure you submit your vote today. You can watch live webcasts of the event here.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Relevance meets the real-time web
(Editor's note: This is a truncated cross-post from the Official Google Blog).
Search is a natural starting point for discovering the world's information, and we strive to bring you the freshest, most comprehensive and relevant search results over an ever expanding universe of content on the multitude of devices you use to access it.
That's why today we're excited to share a few new innovations in the areas of real-time and social search that we feel are important steps in the evolution of information access.
First, we're introducing new features that bring your search results to life with a dynamic stream of real-time content from across the web. Now, immediately after conducting a search, you can see live updates from people on popular sites like Twitter and FriendFeed, as well as headlines from news and blog posts published just seconds before. When they are relevant, we'll rank these latest results to show the freshest information right on the search results page.
Try searching for your favourite TV show, sporting event or the latest development on a recent government bill. Whether it's an eyewitness tweet, a breaking news story or a fresh blog post, you can find it on Google right after it's published on the web.
Here's how it looks:
Our real-time search enables you to discover breaking news the moment it's happening, even if it's not the popular news of the day, and even if you didn't know about it beforehand. For example, in the screen shot, the big story was about GM's stabilising car sales, which shows under "News results." Nonetheless, thanks to our powerful real-time algorithms, the "Latest results" feature surfaces another important story breaking just seconds before: GM's CEO stepped down.
Click on "Latest results" or select "Latest" from the search options menu to view a full page of live tweets, blogs, news and other web content scrolling right on Google. You can also filter your results to see only "Updates" from micro-blogs like Twitter, FriendFeed, Jaiku and others. Latest results and the new search options are also designed for iPhone and Android devices when you need them on the go, be it a quick glance at changing information like ski conditions or opening night chatter about a new movie — right when you're in line to buy tickets.
And, as part of our launch of real-time on Google search, we've added "hot topics" to Google Trends to show the most common topics people are publishing to the web in real-time. With this improvement and a series of other interface enhancements, Google Trends is graduating from Labs.
Our real-time search features are based on more than a dozen new search technologies that enable us to monitor more than a billion documents and process hundreds of millions of real-time changes each day. Of course, none of this would be possible without the support of our new partners that we're announcing today: Facebook, MySpace, FriendFeed, Jaiku and Identi.ca — along with Twitter, which we announced a few weeks ago.
The new features will be rolling out in the next few days and will be available globally in English. You can try them out today by visiting Google Trends and clicking on a "hot topic," which in most cases will bring you to a search results page with the new real-time feature.
Here's a first look at our real-time search:
As we've written before, search is still an unsolved problem and we're committed to making it faster and easier for people to access a greater diversity of information, delivered in real-time, from across the web. I'm tremendously excited about these significant new real-time search features.
Search is a natural starting point for discovering the world's information, and we strive to bring you the freshest, most comprehensive and relevant search results over an ever expanding universe of content on the multitude of devices you use to access it.
That's why today we're excited to share a few new innovations in the areas of real-time and social search that we feel are important steps in the evolution of information access.
First, we're introducing new features that bring your search results to life with a dynamic stream of real-time content from across the web. Now, immediately after conducting a search, you can see live updates from people on popular sites like Twitter and FriendFeed, as well as headlines from news and blog posts published just seconds before. When they are relevant, we'll rank these latest results to show the freshest information right on the search results page.
Try searching for your favourite TV show, sporting event or the latest development on a recent government bill. Whether it's an eyewitness tweet, a breaking news story or a fresh blog post, you can find it on Google right after it's published on the web.
Here's how it looks:
Our real-time search enables you to discover breaking news the moment it's happening, even if it's not the popular news of the day, and even if you didn't know about it beforehand. For example, in the screen shot, the big story was about GM's stabilising car sales, which shows under "News results." Nonetheless, thanks to our powerful real-time algorithms, the "Latest results" feature surfaces another important story breaking just seconds before: GM's CEO stepped down.
Click on "Latest results" or select "Latest" from the search options menu to view a full page of live tweets, blogs, news and other web content scrolling right on Google. You can also filter your results to see only "Updates" from micro-blogs like Twitter, FriendFeed, Jaiku and others. Latest results and the new search options are also designed for iPhone and Android devices when you need them on the go, be it a quick glance at changing information like ski conditions or opening night chatter about a new movie — right when you're in line to buy tickets.
And, as part of our launch of real-time on Google search, we've added "hot topics" to Google Trends to show the most common topics people are publishing to the web in real-time. With this improvement and a series of other interface enhancements, Google Trends is graduating from Labs.
Our real-time search features are based on more than a dozen new search technologies that enable us to monitor more than a billion documents and process hundreds of millions of real-time changes each day. Of course, none of this would be possible without the support of our new partners that we're announcing today: Facebook, MySpace, FriendFeed, Jaiku and Identi.ca — along with Twitter, which we announced a few weeks ago.
The new features will be rolling out in the next few days and will be available globally in English. You can try them out today by visiting Google Trends and clicking on a "hot topic," which in most cases will bring you to a search results page with the new real-time feature.
Here's a first look at our real-time search:
As we've written before, search is still an unsolved problem and we're committed to making it faster and easier for people to access a greater diversity of information, delivered in real-time, from across the web. I'm tremendously excited about these significant new real-time search features.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
The top Aussie searches of the year
2009 has certainly been a year to remember - from the Victorian bushfires to the death of Michael Jackson and Masterchef mania.
Today we released the most popular search terms that Australians tapped into google.com.au this year, as well as the fastest rising search terms of 2009. When seen in aggregate, search queries reflect the people, places and events that captured our attention and imagination throughout the year.
And it was all about vampires. A Twilight-related search featured in the fastest rising searches of the year, the most searched for news stories, most popular celebrities and dominated the most searched for movies of the year for both Twilight and the new release, New Moon. The most Twilight obsessed state was NSW, followed closely by Queensland and Tasmania.
Michael Jackson's death sent people rushing to their computers for more information, as did the rumoured death of Jeff Goldblum and Miley Cyrus. We're still dwelling on the breakup of some of our most beloved bands, with the ABBA and Simon and Garfunkle breakup being among the most searched for of the year. And Hamish and Andy were the most searched for Aussie celebs, beating out Miranda Kerr.
Our reality TV obsession continues and was evident in the weddings we searched for most - the top three most searched for nuptials were that of reality TV stars Kendra Wilkinson, Khloe Kardashian and Jade Goody.
We went crazy for the lemon detox diet, which was maybe balanced by our love of all things 'foodie', driven by the wildly popular Masterchef series. Searches for particular recipes from the show soared following each episode, with the infamous 'Croquembouche' topping our recipe related Masterchef searches for the year.
A full list of results is included below. To see the most popular searches from across the world, visit google.com/zeitgeist2009.
The fastest rising searches of 2009
One HD
twitter.com
Masterchef
Melbourne Cup 2009
Grooveshark
New Moon Movie
Facebook search
Trading Post Auto
Smartkiddies
Currency converter calculator
Most popular searches of 2009
Facebook
YouTube
Hotmail
eBay
MySpace
Google
Yahoo
Gmail
Bebo
Seek
Most searched for news stories of 2009
Swine Flu
Stimulus package
Flu
Bushfires
Bushfire
New Moon
Fires
Robert Pattinson
Michael Jackson
Rihanna
Most searched for celebrities of 2009
Michael Jackson
Lady Gaga
Robert Pattinson
Megan Fox
Taylor Swift
Miley Cyrus
Susan Boyle
Hamish and Andy
Miranda Kerr
Kirsten Stewart
RIP - most searched deaths in 2009 (including rumoured/incorrectly reported deaths)
Michael Jackson
Jeff Goldblum
Patrick Swayze
DJ AM
Kanye West
Miley Cyrus
Farrah Fawcett
Emma Watson
Sookie Stackhouse
Rick Astley
Most searched breakups of 2009 (rumoured and confirmed)
Oasis breakup
Telstra breakup
Beatles breakup
PussyCat Dolls breakup
Wolfmother breakup
John Mayer breakup
Abba breakup
Hugh Hefner breakup
Breakup of Gondwana land
Simon and Garfunkel breakup
Most searched for diets of 2009
Lemon detox diet
Atkins diet
Detox diet
CSIRO diet
Low carb diet
Soup diet
South Beach diet
Cabbage soup diet
Tony Ferguson diet
Liver cleansing diet
Most searched for album of 2009
Eminem new album
Lady Gaga album
Muse new album
Taylor Swift album
White album
U2 new album
Michael Jackson album
The Script album
Lily Allen album
Beyonce new album
Most searched for movies of 2009
New Moon
Twilight
2012
Hannah Montana
Star Trek
Eclipe
Avatar
Halo
District 9
Bruno
Most searched for weddings of 2009
Kendra Wilkinson wedding
Khloe Kardashian wedding
Jade Goody wedding
Kristy Hinze wedding
Kyle Sandilands wedding
Fergie's wedding
Ellen Degeneres wedding
Roger Federer wedding
Rove wedding
Heidi Montag wedding
Most searched for births of 2009
Catriona Rowntree baby
Nicole Richie baby
Kim Clijsters baby
Britney Spears baby
Jennifer Garner baby
Roger Federer baby
Alyson Hannigan baby
Heidi Klum baby
Sarah Michelle Gellar baby
Ashlee Simpson baby
Most searched for Masterchef-related recipes
Croquembouche
Chocolate mousse cake
Chips
Risotto
Open Kofta
Lamb Shanks
Cupcakes
Chocolate fondant
Scone
Lemon tart
Most searched for country/city outside of Australia
New Zealand
Singapore
Vietnam
India
Italy
Antartica
Dubai
Egypt
France
Phuket
The hot tickets of 2009
AFL tickets
Pink tickets
Wicked tickets
ACDC tickets
Parklife tickets
Jersey Boys tickets
Australian Open tickets
Melbourne Cup tickets
Soundwave tickets
John Farnham tickets
Most searched for retail outlets
Harvey Norman
Big W
JB HiFi
Target
Ikea
Bunnings
Officeworks
Woolworths
KMart
Coles
Most searched for retail catalogues of the year
Target catalogue
Harvey Norman catalogue
Big W catalogue
Bunnings catalogue
Myer catalogue
Coles catalogue
IKEA catalogue
Spotlight catalogue
Aldi catalogue
Fastest rising searches in relation to love
Love quotes
Love poems
Love calculator
Love story lyrics
Love songs
Love tester
Love sayings
Love games
Love actually
What is love?
Most popular sports for 2009
AFL
NRL
Cricket
Melbourne Cup
BMX
Greyhounds
Tennis
Golf
Swimming
Soccer
Popularity contest
Rudd vs Turnbull vs Abbott
NRL vs AFL vs Rugby vs Soccer
Chanel vs Prada vs Gucci
Save vs Spend
Today we released the most popular search terms that Australians tapped into google.com.au this year, as well as the fastest rising search terms of 2009. When seen in aggregate, search queries reflect the people, places and events that captured our attention and imagination throughout the year.
And it was all about vampires. A Twilight-related search featured in the fastest rising searches of the year, the most searched for news stories, most popular celebrities and dominated the most searched for movies of the year for both Twilight and the new release, New Moon. The most Twilight obsessed state was NSW, followed closely by Queensland and Tasmania.
Michael Jackson's death sent people rushing to their computers for more information, as did the rumoured death of Jeff Goldblum and Miley Cyrus. We're still dwelling on the breakup of some of our most beloved bands, with the ABBA and Simon and Garfunkle breakup being among the most searched for of the year. And Hamish and Andy were the most searched for Aussie celebs, beating out Miranda Kerr.
Our reality TV obsession continues and was evident in the weddings we searched for most - the top three most searched for nuptials were that of reality TV stars Kendra Wilkinson, Khloe Kardashian and Jade Goody.
We went crazy for the lemon detox diet, which was maybe balanced by our love of all things 'foodie', driven by the wildly popular Masterchef series. Searches for particular recipes from the show soared following each episode, with the infamous 'Croquembouche' topping our recipe related Masterchef searches for the year.
A full list of results is included below. To see the most popular searches from across the world, visit google.com/zeitgeist2009.
The fastest rising searches of 2009
One HD
twitter.com
Masterchef
Melbourne Cup 2009
Grooveshark
New Moon Movie
Facebook search
Trading Post Auto
Smartkiddies
Currency converter calculator
Most popular searches of 2009
YouTube
Hotmail
eBay
MySpace
Yahoo
Gmail
Bebo
Seek
Most searched for news stories of 2009
Swine Flu
Stimulus package
Flu
Bushfires
Bushfire
New Moon
Fires
Robert Pattinson
Michael Jackson
Rihanna
Most searched for celebrities of 2009
Michael Jackson
Lady Gaga
Robert Pattinson
Megan Fox
Taylor Swift
Miley Cyrus
Susan Boyle
Hamish and Andy
Miranda Kerr
Kirsten Stewart
RIP - most searched deaths in 2009 (including rumoured/incorrectly reported deaths)
Michael Jackson
Jeff Goldblum
Patrick Swayze
DJ AM
Kanye West
Miley Cyrus
Farrah Fawcett
Emma Watson
Sookie Stackhouse
Rick Astley
Most searched breakups of 2009 (rumoured and confirmed)
Oasis breakup
Telstra breakup
Beatles breakup
PussyCat Dolls breakup
Wolfmother breakup
John Mayer breakup
Abba breakup
Hugh Hefner breakup
Breakup of Gondwana land
Simon and Garfunkel breakup
Most searched for diets of 2009
Lemon detox diet
Atkins diet
Detox diet
CSIRO diet
Low carb diet
Soup diet
South Beach diet
Cabbage soup diet
Tony Ferguson diet
Liver cleansing diet
Most searched for album of 2009
Eminem new album
Lady Gaga album
Muse new album
Taylor Swift album
White album
U2 new album
Michael Jackson album
The Script album
Lily Allen album
Beyonce new album
Most searched for movies of 2009
New Moon
Twilight
2012
Hannah Montana
Star Trek
Eclipe
Avatar
Halo
District 9
Bruno
Most searched for weddings of 2009
Kendra Wilkinson wedding
Khloe Kardashian wedding
Jade Goody wedding
Kristy Hinze wedding
Kyle Sandilands wedding
Fergie's wedding
Ellen Degeneres wedding
Roger Federer wedding
Rove wedding
Heidi Montag wedding
Most searched for births of 2009
Catriona Rowntree baby
Nicole Richie baby
Kim Clijsters baby
Britney Spears baby
Jennifer Garner baby
Roger Federer baby
Alyson Hannigan baby
Heidi Klum baby
Sarah Michelle Gellar baby
Ashlee Simpson baby
Most searched for Masterchef-related recipes
Croquembouche
Chocolate mousse cake
Chips
Risotto
Open Kofta
Lamb Shanks
Cupcakes
Chocolate fondant
Scone
Lemon tart
Most searched for country/city outside of Australia
New Zealand
Singapore
Vietnam
India
Italy
Antartica
Dubai
Egypt
France
Phuket
The hot tickets of 2009
AFL tickets
Pink tickets
Wicked tickets
ACDC tickets
Parklife tickets
Jersey Boys tickets
Australian Open tickets
Melbourne Cup tickets
Soundwave tickets
John Farnham tickets
Most searched for retail outlets
Harvey Norman
Big W
JB HiFi
Target
Ikea
Bunnings
Officeworks
Woolworths
KMart
Coles
Most searched for retail catalogues of the year
Target catalogue
Harvey Norman catalogue
Big W catalogue
Bunnings catalogue
Myer catalogue
Coles catalogue
IKEA catalogue
Spotlight catalogue
Aldi catalogue
Fastest rising searches in relation to love
Love quotes
Love poems
Love calculator
Love story lyrics
Love songs
Love tester
Love sayings
Love games
Love actually
What is love?
Most popular sports for 2009
AFL
NRL
Cricket
Melbourne Cup
BMX
Greyhounds
Tennis
Golf
Swimming
Soccer
Popularity contest
Rudd vs Turnbull vs Abbott
NRL vs AFL vs Rugby vs Soccer
Chanel vs Prada vs Gucci
Save vs Spend
Show Your Vote for COP 15
One of the benefits working at Google is the ability to spend 20% of your time on projects you are passionate about. Recently I was lucky enough to attend the Australian Conservation Foundation's Climate Project Summit where I met Al Gore and was trained as a Climate Project Presenter. I developed in my 20% time an open source platform called Show Your Vote to allow people around the world to tell the world's leaders to seal a fair and effective climate deal.
Some major environmental campaigns (including Earth Hour) as well as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are now using Show Your Vote to help visualize the world's public support of the upcoming Copenhagen Climate Summit, the COP15.
You can see all the ways in which you can participate in the COP15 from wherever you are in the world on their "Virtual participation in COP15" page.
One of the big challenges around activating people on the issue of climate change is that there are a myriad of campaigns, big ones, small local ones, all over the world. I really wanted to address this issue, to provide a single platform that all campaigns and websites can use to collectively show the vote. So I developed a "web element" similar in function to Google's Web Elements, which anyone can insert to allow people to vote, show the vote and provide educational tools on their own website by simply filling out the publisher form, and copying and pasting a single line of HTML code.
Google App Engine provides the hosting solution that makes this all possible.
Show Your Vote has three tabs: Vote, Explore, and Learn. The Vote tab allows individuals and organisations to show their vote.
The Explore tab displays individual votes aggregated by post code, and organisations by their own custom icons. The voting map is powered by Google Maps API. Additionally, social networking tools powered by Google Friend Connect allow people within the global community to share their messages of support. Individual votes are aggregated into post codes, and organisations can upload their own icon to the map.
Finally, the Learn tab contains rich educational pieces, narrated by some of the top names in science, NGOs and the political world. These tours were created by the Google Earth Outreach team using Google Earth's new touring capabilities.
In the countdown to the Copenhagen Climate Conference, I'm hopeful that we can collect enough of the world's public show of support to help amplify the need to change climate change, to drive collective action and to reinforce the need for our world leaders to act now. Please join me in helping to show the vote!
I'd like to thank fellow Googlers Pamela Fox, Bob Aman, Rupert Breheny and Benjamin Kott for volunteering their time in helping to make Show Your Vote possible.
Some major environmental campaigns (including Earth Hour) as well as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are now using Show Your Vote to help visualize the world's public support of the upcoming Copenhagen Climate Summit, the COP15.
You can see all the ways in which you can participate in the COP15 from wherever you are in the world on their "Virtual participation in COP15" page.
Visiting with the UNFCCC in Bonn, Germany to present Show Your Vote
One of the big challenges around activating people on the issue of climate change is that there are a myriad of campaigns, big ones, small local ones, all over the world. I really wanted to address this issue, to provide a single platform that all campaigns and websites can use to collectively show the vote. So I developed a "web element" similar in function to Google's Web Elements, which anyone can insert to allow people to vote, show the vote and provide educational tools on their own website by simply filling out the publisher form, and copying and pasting a single line of HTML code.
Google App Engine provides the hosting solution that makes this all possible.
Show Your Vote has three tabs: Vote, Explore, and Learn. The Vote tab allows individuals and organisations to show their vote.
The Explore tab displays individual votes aggregated by post code, and organisations by their own custom icons. The voting map is powered by Google Maps API. Additionally, social networking tools powered by Google Friend Connect allow people within the global community to share their messages of support. Individual votes are aggregated into post codes, and organisations can upload their own icon to the map.
Finally, the Learn tab contains rich educational pieces, narrated by some of the top names in science, NGOs and the political world. These tours were created by the Google Earth Outreach team using Google Earth's new touring capabilities.
In the countdown to the Copenhagen Climate Conference, I'm hopeful that we can collect enough of the world's public show of support to help amplify the need to change climate change, to drive collective action and to reinforce the need for our world leaders to act now. Please join me in helping to show the vote!
I'd like to thank fellow Googlers Pamela Fox, Bob Aman, Rupert Breheny and Benjamin Kott for volunteering their time in helping to make Show Your Vote possible.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Melbourne in 3D on Google Earth
Been to Melbourne lately? If not, it has become a whole lot easier to get your Melbourne fix without jumping on a plane, thanks to recent updates to the 3D buildings layer in Google Earth.
Today, turning on the 3D building layer in Google Earth will show you both 3D buildings contributed by users via our 3D Warehouse, and also photo-textured buildings that we’ve modelled to really bring Melbourne to life in Google Earth.
Get a preview of the experience by checking out the cool fly-over video below.
If you haven’t already, download Google Earth 5.0, and fly around 3D views of great cities from around the world, including San Francisco and Christchurch. It’s one of the ways we’re continuing to make Google Earth an even richer experience, with the addition of Street View imagery, historical imagery, and terrain imagery.
Today, turning on the 3D building layer in Google Earth will show you both 3D buildings contributed by users via our 3D Warehouse, and also photo-textured buildings that we’ve modelled to really bring Melbourne to life in Google Earth.
Get a preview of the experience by checking out the cool fly-over video below.
If you'd like to take a crack at modelling a building for Google Earth, the tools are free and everything you need to get started can be found here. As inspiration, look at the amazing things ZNO have done in Christchurch, New Zealand.
If you haven’t already, download Google Earth 5.0, and fly around 3D views of great cities from around the world, including San Francisco and Christchurch. It’s one of the ways we’re continuing to make Google Earth an even richer experience, with the addition of Street View imagery, historical imagery, and terrain imagery.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Boost for Australian businesses this holiday season
We know Christmas is one of the most important times of the year for businesses of all sizes, from retailers to restaurants and travel agents. Though 2009 has been a tough year for many, recent reports suggest that there are reasons for optimism this Christmas: small and medium businesses are showing signs of recovery and consumers are beginning to spend again.
To help Australian businesses make the most of the month before Christmas, we're excited to offer a free $100 search marketing campaign for advertisers that have yet to try Google AdWords. This $100 Christmas bonus must be claimed before 31 December 2009 at http://www.google.com.au/stilltimein09.
Tens of thousands of Australian businesses already use AdWords and search marketing to reach new customers and drive sales. This Christmas, an online presence will be more important than ever, as a record number of Australians head online to research and purchase their holiday list. In fact, in the month of October, we saw strong query growth in several key categories compared to the same month last year, including apparel (+55%), home furnishings (+64%), restaurants (+44%), spa and beauty services (+57%), and travel (+37%).
We're also excited to launch a new way for businesses to understand how people search for and interact with their online business listing. The Local Business Centre dashboard will show business owners information like what search queries led users to the business listing and how many times users clicked through to the business's website. With this tool, business owners will be able to identify trends, such as days of the week when interest in their business spikes, or seasonality in the types of searches that lead potential customers to their listings.
The dashboard is accessible to any business owner who has claimed his or her listing in the Local Business Centre. Business owners who do not yet have an LBC account can quickly create one for free by visiting http://www.google.com.au/lbc. You can check out the video below for more information.
We hope these tools will help Australian businesses see out 2009 in a strong position, ready to make the most of the opportunities in 2010.
To help Australian businesses make the most of the month before Christmas, we're excited to offer a free $100 search marketing campaign for advertisers that have yet to try Google AdWords. This $100 Christmas bonus must be claimed before 31 December 2009 at http://www.google.com.au/stilltimein09.
Tens of thousands of Australian businesses already use AdWords and search marketing to reach new customers and drive sales. This Christmas, an online presence will be more important than ever, as a record number of Australians head online to research and purchase their holiday list. In fact, in the month of October, we saw strong query growth in several key categories compared to the same month last year, including apparel (+55%), home furnishings (+64%), restaurants (+44%), spa and beauty services (+57%), and travel (+37%).
We're also excited to launch a new way for businesses to understand how people search for and interact with their online business listing. The Local Business Centre dashboard will show business owners information like what search queries led users to the business listing and how many times users clicked through to the business's website. With this tool, business owners will be able to identify trends, such as days of the week when interest in their business spikes, or seasonality in the types of searches that lead potential customers to their listings.
The dashboard is accessible to any business owner who has claimed his or her listing in the Local Business Centre. Business owners who do not yet have an LBC account can quickly create one for free by visiting http://www.google.com.au/lbc. You can check out the video below for more information.
We hope these tools will help Australian businesses see out 2009 in a strong position, ready to make the most of the opportunities in 2010.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
What's Cooking With iGoogle?
At Google, we're huge foodies, and most of us love spending time in the kitchen with friends and family - especially around the holidays. Particularly during this season, many people turn to Google when searching for recipes - in fact, as you'll see, Australians are searching for recipes more than every country but the US and Canada! But, in addition to spicing up your recipe repertoire, Google can be a really useful resource in the kitchen. From helping you with sugar measurements, to jump starting ideas for unique Christmas table settings, the web has made becoming a culinary master much easier.
We're excited to announce that we've partnered with a number of top chefs and food industry experts to bring you some elegant new, food-focused iGoogle themes and gadgets just in time for one of the most foodie times of the year. iGoogle is all about personalisation and freshness, and in that spirit, these unique themes are sure to delight the chef in all of us. Check out our iGoogle gallery, where you'll find some tasty new themes from chefs like Iain Hewitson and Peter Gordon, food artists like Carl Warner and James Parker, and even famous bakeries like New York City's Crumbs Bake Shop and Magnolia Bakery.
In addition to these taste bud tantalising themes, we've also partnered with top food industry names to build a suite of new gadgets for your iGoogle page. For example, Supercook lets you input various ingredients you have on hand, then gives you some great recipes you can whip up — all from your iGoogle page.
We hope this new element of gourmet iGoogle personalisation will get you even more interested in enhancing your cooking and dining experiences. Here's to some great new food with family and friends this holiday season!
We're excited to announce that we've partnered with a number of top chefs and food industry experts to bring you some elegant new, food-focused iGoogle themes and gadgets just in time for one of the most foodie times of the year. iGoogle is all about personalisation and freshness, and in that spirit, these unique themes are sure to delight the chef in all of us. Check out our iGoogle gallery, where you'll find some tasty new themes from chefs like Iain Hewitson and Peter Gordon, food artists like Carl Warner and James Parker, and even famous bakeries like New York City's Crumbs Bake Shop and Magnolia Bakery.
In addition to these taste bud tantalising themes, we've also partnered with top food industry names to build a suite of new gadgets for your iGoogle page. For example, Supercook lets you input various ingredients you have on hand, then gives you some great recipes you can whip up — all from your iGoogle page.
We hope this new element of gourmet iGoogle personalisation will get you even more interested in enhancing your cooking and dining experiences. Here's to some great new food with family and friends this holiday season!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Releasing the Chromium OS open source project
This is a cross post from the Official Google Blog
In July we announced that we were working on Google Chrome OS, an open source operating system for people who spend most of their time on the web.
Today we are open-sourcing the project as Chromium OS. We are doing this early, a year before Google Chrome OS will be ready for users, because we are eager to engage with partners, the open source community and developers. As with the Google Chrome browser, development will be done in the open from this point on. This means the code is free, accessible to anyone and open for contributions. The Chromium OS project includes our current code base, user interface experiments and some initial designs for ongoing development. This is the initial sketch and we will color it in over the course of the next year.
We want to take this opportunity to explain why we're excited about the project and how it is a fundamentally different model of computing.
First, it's all about the web. All apps are web apps. The entire experience takes place within the browser and there are no conventional desktop applications. This means users do not have to deal with installing, managing and updating programs.
Second, because all apps live within the browser, there are significant benefits to security. Unlike traditional operating systems, Chrome OS doesn't trust the applications you run. Each app is contained within a security sandbox making it harder for malware and viruses to infect your computer. Furthermore, Chrome OS barely trusts itself. Every time you restart your computer the operating system verifies the integrity of its code. If your system has been compromised, it is designed to fix itself with a reboot. While no computer can be made completely secure, we're going to make life much harder (and less profitable) for the bad guys. If you dig security, read the Chrome OS Security Overview or watch the video.
Most of all, we are obsessed with speed. We are taking out every unnecessary process, optimizing many operations and running everything possible in parallel. This means you can go from turning on the computer to surfing the web in a few seconds. Our obsession with speed goes all the way down to the metal. We are specifying reference hardware components to create the fastest experience for Google Chrome OS.
There is still a lot of work to do, and we're excited to work with the open source community. We have benefited hugely from projects like GNU, the Linux Kernel, Moblin, Ubuntu, WebKit and many more. We will be contributing our code upstream and engaging closely with these and other open source efforts.
Google Chrome OS will be ready for consumers this time next year. Sign up here for updates or if you like building your operating system from source, get involved at chromium.org.
Lastly, here is a short video that explains why we're so excited about Google Chrome OS.
In July we announced that we were working on Google Chrome OS, an open source operating system for people who spend most of their time on the web.
Today we are open-sourcing the project as Chromium OS. We are doing this early, a year before Google Chrome OS will be ready for users, because we are eager to engage with partners, the open source community and developers. As with the Google Chrome browser, development will be done in the open from this point on. This means the code is free, accessible to anyone and open for contributions. The Chromium OS project includes our current code base, user interface experiments and some initial designs for ongoing development. This is the initial sketch and we will color it in over the course of the next year.
We want to take this opportunity to explain why we're excited about the project and how it is a fundamentally different model of computing.
First, it's all about the web. All apps are web apps. The entire experience takes place within the browser and there are no conventional desktop applications. This means users do not have to deal with installing, managing and updating programs.
Second, because all apps live within the browser, there are significant benefits to security. Unlike traditional operating systems, Chrome OS doesn't trust the applications you run. Each app is contained within a security sandbox making it harder for malware and viruses to infect your computer. Furthermore, Chrome OS barely trusts itself. Every time you restart your computer the operating system verifies the integrity of its code. If your system has been compromised, it is designed to fix itself with a reboot. While no computer can be made completely secure, we're going to make life much harder (and less profitable) for the bad guys. If you dig security, read the Chrome OS Security Overview or watch the video.
Most of all, we are obsessed with speed. We are taking out every unnecessary process, optimizing many operations and running everything possible in parallel. This means you can go from turning on the computer to surfing the web in a few seconds. Our obsession with speed goes all the way down to the metal. We are specifying reference hardware components to create the fastest experience for Google Chrome OS.
There is still a lot of work to do, and we're excited to work with the open source community. We have benefited hugely from projects like GNU, the Linux Kernel, Moblin, Ubuntu, WebKit and many more. We will be contributing our code upstream and engaging closely with these and other open source efforts.
Google Chrome OS will be ready for consumers this time next year. Sign up here for updates or if you like building your operating system from source, get involved at chromium.org.
Lastly, here is a short video that explains why we're so excited about Google Chrome OS.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Making it easier to find the property you want on Google Maps
Around half of the Googlers in our Sydney headquarters are software engineers, working on some really cool things - Google Wave, App Engine, Google Docs, and of course, Google Maps.
Recently, some of us have been working on a particularly interesting project that combines Google Maps and search technology - we've been trying to work out if your search query in Google Maps means you're interested in having current real estate listings returned to you. It's nice to get to work on some 'search' engineering down here!
So here's what we've been cooking up - in the past, if you wanted to view real estate listings on Google Maps, your best bet was to select "Real Estate..." from the "More" menu at the top of the map.
Now, simply searching for "real estate" will return, well, real estate (try it)! You could also try "homes for sale sydney" or "homes for rent adelaide". Or while you're at it, check out "apartments for sale brisbane", or "homes for rent near perth". The idea is to make it really easy for you guys - you tell us what you want, and we get it back to you! Of course, we'll continue to work to return the best results for all your Google Maps queries, whether you're looking for local businesses, geographic features, or your perfect home.
We also wanted to tell you about the integration of real estate listings with Place Pages. Now clicking the "more info" link next to a listing takes you to a faster, easier-to-read page that gives you all of the information we have about a listing: photos, inspection times, videos, details, a Street View preview and nearby public transit information if available, allowing you to quickly find the listing you want and click through to the sources of the listing.
We hope you find these features improve your real estate search experience on Google Maps.
Recently, some of us have been working on a particularly interesting project that combines Google Maps and search technology - we've been trying to work out if your search query in Google Maps means you're interested in having current real estate listings returned to you. It's nice to get to work on some 'search' engineering down here!
So here's what we've been cooking up - in the past, if you wanted to view real estate listings on Google Maps, your best bet was to select "Real Estate..." from the "More" menu at the top of the map.
Now, simply searching for "real estate" will return, well, real estate (try it)! You could also try "homes for sale sydney" or "homes for rent adelaide". Or while you're at it, check out "apartments for sale brisbane", or "homes for rent near perth". The idea is to make it really easy for you guys - you tell us what you want, and we get it back to you! Of course, we'll continue to work to return the best results for all your Google Maps queries, whether you're looking for local businesses, geographic features, or your perfect home.
We also wanted to tell you about the integration of real estate listings with Place Pages. Now clicking the "more info" link next to a listing takes you to a faster, easier-to-read page that gives you all of the information we have about a listing: photos, inspection times, videos, details, a Street View preview and nearby public transit information if available, allowing you to quickly find the listing you want and click through to the sources of the listing.
We hope you find these features improve your real estate search experience on Google Maps.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Guinness World Record for evian's Rollerbabies ad on YouTube
We always knew that cooing babies were popular videos on YouTube. But apparently roller skating babies are what users around the world love to watch the most. Today, BETC and evian's 'Rollerbabies' film on YouTube were awarded an official Guinness World Record for the most viewed online ad of all time. The video has been watched a whopping 45,166,109 times and is getting more views every day.
Don't be shy...check it out for yourself (for perhaps the second or third time):
One thing that we've learned at YouTube is that sometimes even the most creative and entertaining ads need a little help to go viral. That's why BETC and evian bought YouTube homepage ads in the UK, France, Germany, US, Japan, and Canada to promote their video around the world. These ads, combined with an innovative creative idea, also had a positive brand impact, according to research from Nielsen and YouTube. Specifically, Internet users in France experienced increased brand awareness and purchase consideration after viewing the ad.
Posted by Jason Chuck, Marketing Team
Friday, November 13, 2009
Modifications to the Google Books settlement
(Editor's note: This is a cross-post from the Google Public Policy Blog)
Last year, we joined with a broad class of authors and publishers to announce a settlement agreement that would make millions of out-of-print books available to students and readers in every part of the U.S., while forging new opportunities for rightsholders to sell access to their books. Tonight we submitted an amended version of the Google Books settlement agreement to the court.
We've travelled all over the world together with the authors and publishers to talk with people about our agreement, and over the last two months, we've read the many letters and briefs written to the court. We've also had discussions with the Department of Justice about the settlement.
The changes we've made in our amended agreement address many of the concerns we've heard (particularly in limiting its international scope), while at the same time preserving the core benefits of the original agreement: opening access to millions of books while providing rightsholders with ways to sell and control their work online. You can read a summary of the changes we made here, or by reading our FAQ.
We firmly believe in the promise of the agreement, as do our many supporters. As Sergey Brin recently wrote in a recent op-ed, "even if our cultural heritage stays intact in the world’s foremost libraries, it is effectively lost if no one can access it easily."
We're disappointed that we won't be able to provide access to as many books from as many countries through the settlement as a result of our modifications, but we look forward to continuing to work with rightsholders from around the world to fulfill our longstanding mission of increasing access to all the world's books.
You can find more perspectives on the agreement from authors and publishers here and here.
Last year, we joined with a broad class of authors and publishers to announce a settlement agreement that would make millions of out-of-print books available to students and readers in every part of the U.S., while forging new opportunities for rightsholders to sell access to their books. Tonight we submitted an amended version of the Google Books settlement agreement to the court.
We've travelled all over the world together with the authors and publishers to talk with people about our agreement, and over the last two months, we've read the many letters and briefs written to the court. We've also had discussions with the Department of Justice about the settlement.
The changes we've made in our amended agreement address many of the concerns we've heard (particularly in limiting its international scope), while at the same time preserving the core benefits of the original agreement: opening access to millions of books while providing rightsholders with ways to sell and control their work online. You can read a summary of the changes we made here, or by reading our FAQ.
We firmly believe in the promise of the agreement, as do our many supporters. As Sergey Brin recently wrote in a recent op-ed, "even if our cultural heritage stays intact in the world’s foremost libraries, it is effectively lost if no one can access it easily."
We're disappointed that we won't be able to provide access to as many books from as many countries through the settlement as a result of our modifications, but we look forward to continuing to work with rightsholders from around the world to fulfill our longstanding mission of increasing access to all the world's books.
You can find more perspectives on the agreement from authors and publishers here and here.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Two great hackfest days!
This is a guest cross post from blog.openaustralia.org
Last weekend, OpenAustralia held its second hackfest at Google's Sydney office. If you haven't come across OpenAustralia.org before, it's a volunteer run website which helps you to find out what your representatives get up to in parliament with the aim of bridging the growing democratic disconnect that many people feel.
This time we went all out with a two day hackfest - 10:30am till 8pm both days. That's over 18 hours of hacking! As well as the venue and a fabulous team of volunteers, which included Tim Ansell, James Polley and Pamela Fox, Google provided lunch and snacks for both days. Thank you to Google for supporting this community!
It was an amazing turnout by an incredibly talented group of people. Over 90 people took part, including a surprise group from CSIRO who happened to be wandering past and dropped in to see what we were up to. We were also delighted to have 30 people take part in the first ever retroactively-named OpenAustralia installfest - installing the development virtual machine onto their laptops, and walking through the first steps showing how they can make changes to the code, test locally, and then submit to our repository on github. During the course of the hackfest, we had half a dozen or so patches pushed to us - we're still working through the process of accepting them all! We also had 40-odd updates to bugs on our tracker.
Photos by Halans. For more fabulous photos by Halans and others see Flickr.
This hackfest was timed to coincide with the Gov2.0 Taskforce MashupAustralia competition, and we encouraged people to work on mashups for the competition, OpenAustralia itself, or any other civic-minded project.
At the same time hacking on MashupAustralia on the weekend was the #melbhack session, organised by Lonely Planet and the GovHack folks.
If people weren't in the mood for hacking, either on a mashup or OpenAustralia, we had presentations and directed hacking sessions scheduled throughout both days. Plenty for all to do.
We gave out small prizes (donated by Google) to some of our favourite mashups created over the weekend. Working demos, however rough, won out over plans, however well-formed.
Our favourite mashup, the "Suburb Matchmaker", was created over the weekend by Raul Alberto Caceres (@totocol), Daniela Fernandez (@danira_98) and Roberto Arias Alegria (@roberto8080). It was particularly impressive that this team met over lunch on the first day and decided on the spot to work together. "Suburb Matchmaker" helps you find the suburb that's right for you by answering some simple questions.
Second place went to the "Frog Census" by Simon Swain (@psi6030). See where and when different frogs have been spotted in South Australia.
The irreverant "Bouncing Teapots" by Dan Bethell (@fxmonkeydan) and Ray Haleblian (@rhaleblian) came third. The "Bouncing Teapots" simulated members of the House of Representatives as teapots falling where the more time they spoke in parliament the more bouncy they were.
We hope that one of these or one the many other projects that were worked on over the weekend will win the MashupAustralia competition!
To follow OpenAustralia's progress and find out when we'll be running the next Hackfest near you please read our blog, follow us on Twitter, Facebook or join our community mailing list on Google Groups!
This work, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Australia License.
Last weekend, OpenAustralia held its second hackfest at Google's Sydney office. If you haven't come across OpenAustralia.org before, it's a volunteer run website which helps you to find out what your representatives get up to in parliament with the aim of bridging the growing democratic disconnect that many people feel.
This time we went all out with a two day hackfest - 10:30am till 8pm both days. That's over 18 hours of hacking! As well as the venue and a fabulous team of volunteers, which included Tim Ansell, James Polley and Pamela Fox, Google provided lunch and snacks for both days. Thank you to Google for supporting this community!
It was an amazing turnout by an incredibly talented group of people. Over 90 people took part, including a surprise group from CSIRO who happened to be wandering past and dropped in to see what we were up to. We were also delighted to have 30 people take part in the first ever retroactively-named OpenAustralia installfest - installing the development virtual machine onto their laptops, and walking through the first steps showing how they can make changes to the code, test locally, and then submit to our repository on github. During the course of the hackfest, we had half a dozen or so patches pushed to us - we're still working through the process of accepting them all! We also had 40-odd updates to bugs on our tracker.
Photos by Halans. For more fabulous photos by Halans and others see Flickr.
This hackfest was timed to coincide with the Gov2.0 Taskforce MashupAustralia competition, and we encouraged people to work on mashups for the competition, OpenAustralia itself, or any other civic-minded project.
At the same time hacking on MashupAustralia on the weekend was the #melbhack session, organised by Lonely Planet and the GovHack folks.
If people weren't in the mood for hacking, either on a mashup or OpenAustralia, we had presentations and directed hacking sessions scheduled throughout both days. Plenty for all to do.
We gave out small prizes (donated by Google) to some of our favourite mashups created over the weekend. Working demos, however rough, won out over plans, however well-formed.
Our favourite mashup, the "Suburb Matchmaker", was created over the weekend by Raul Alberto Caceres (@totocol), Daniela Fernandez (@danira_98) and Roberto Arias Alegria (@roberto8080). It was particularly impressive that this team met over lunch on the first day and decided on the spot to work together. "Suburb Matchmaker" helps you find the suburb that's right for you by answering some simple questions.
Second place went to the "Frog Census" by Simon Swain (@psi6030). See where and when different frogs have been spotted in South Australia.
The irreverant "Bouncing Teapots" by Dan Bethell (@fxmonkeydan) and Ray Haleblian (@rhaleblian) came third. The "Bouncing Teapots" simulated members of the House of Representatives as teapots falling where the more time they spoke in parliament the more bouncy they were.
We hope that one of these or one the many other projects that were worked on over the weekend will win the MashupAustralia competition!
To follow OpenAustralia's progress and find out when we'll be running the next Hackfest near you please read our blog, follow us on Twitter, Facebook or join our community mailing list on Google Groups!
This work, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Australia License.
Locking SafeSearch
This is a cross post from the Official Google Blog
When you're searching on Google, we think you should have the choice to keep adult content out of your search results. That's why we developed SafeSearch, a feature that lets you filter sexually explicit web sites and images from your search results. While no filter is 100% accurate, SafeSearch helps you avoid content you may prefer not to see or would rather your children did not stumble across. We think it works pretty well, but we're always looking for ways to improve the feature.
Today we're launching a feature that lets you lock your SafeSearch setting to the Strict level of filtering. When you lock SafeSearch, two things will change. First, you'll need to enter your password to change the setting. Second, the Google search results page will be visibly different to indicate that SafeSearch is locked:
Even from across the room, the coloured balls give parents and teachers a clear visual cue that SafeSearch is still locked. And if you don't see them, it's quick and easy to verify and re-lock SafeSearch.
To use SafeSearch lock, go to the "Search Settings" page on Google. For detailed instructions, check out this video.
We hope you and your family find exactly what you’re looking for in Google search results — and nothing more.
When you're searching on Google, we think you should have the choice to keep adult content out of your search results. That's why we developed SafeSearch, a feature that lets you filter sexually explicit web sites and images from your search results. While no filter is 100% accurate, SafeSearch helps you avoid content you may prefer not to see or would rather your children did not stumble across. We think it works pretty well, but we're always looking for ways to improve the feature.
Today we're launching a feature that lets you lock your SafeSearch setting to the Strict level of filtering. When you lock SafeSearch, two things will change. First, you'll need to enter your password to change the setting. Second, the Google search results page will be visibly different to indicate that SafeSearch is locked:
Even from across the room, the coloured balls give parents and teachers a clear visual cue that SafeSearch is still locked. And if you don't see them, it's quick and easy to verify and re-lock SafeSearch.
To use SafeSearch lock, go to the "Search Settings" page on Google. For detailed instructions, check out this video.
We hope you and your family find exactly what you’re looking for in Google search results — and nothing more.
Congratulations to our 2009 Doodle 4 Google winners!
What an amazing day we had at Google's Australia headquarters on Tuesday. Thirty-two talented young artists from every state and territory in Australia flew to join us for a day of celebrating their achievement at being selected as the winners of the 2009 Doodle 4 Google Australia competition, which asked kids to draw a Google doodle showing their 'Wish for Australia'.
From more than 5,500 individual entries, our 32 wonderful winners had first been selected as one of 320 finalists, and then impressed our judges (Ken Done, Anne Geddes, and Hugh Evans) enough to be selected to come to Sydney for a day of Googley fun.
Every one of the young artists impressed us with both their obvious artistic talent, but also their wonderful attitudes and interest and passion for Australia's future. They asked fantastic questions throughout the day, as they learned about the history of the Sydney Opera House in a fun behind-the scenes tour; heard from inspiring humanitarian Hugh Evans about his wish for Australia and the world; and saw first hand the way that Google's original doodler Dennis Hwang creates his iconic artworks.
Nearly 80,000 Australians voted for their favourite Google Doodles over the last few weeks, and we revealed the winners after a jaunty trip down from Google HQ led by gypsy band Kush.
The four national age group winners are:
Then came one of the big moments of the day ... finding out which Google doodle would be seen by millions of people around Australia and the world on Australia Day next year. Dennis Hwang, selected Jessie Du's doodle "Australia Forever" to appear on the page, and he complemented her on the real warmth in her drawing. We can't wait to see it on the homepage next year in all its glory - congratulations Jessie.
To everyone who entered Doodle 4 Google Australia 2009 - thank you for sharing your talent and enthusiasm with us. Doodle 4 Google is one of the highlights of our year, and you guys really made it special for us. Keep doodling!
From more than 5,500 individual entries, our 32 wonderful winners had first been selected as one of 320 finalists, and then impressed our judges (Ken Done, Anne Geddes, and Hugh Evans) enough to be selected to come to Sydney for a day of Googley fun.
Every one of the young artists impressed us with both their obvious artistic talent, but also their wonderful attitudes and interest and passion for Australia's future. They asked fantastic questions throughout the day, as they learned about the history of the Sydney Opera House in a fun behind-the scenes tour; heard from inspiring humanitarian Hugh Evans about his wish for Australia and the world; and saw first hand the way that Google's original doodler Dennis Hwang creates his iconic artworks.
Nearly 80,000 Australians voted for their favourite Google Doodles over the last few weeks, and we revealed the winners after a jaunty trip down from Google HQ led by gypsy band Kush.
The four national age group winners are:
- Ferryn Sutantio, Mill Park Heights Primary School, Mill Park VIC (Years 1-3)
- Jessie Du, Rydalmere East Public School, Ermington NSW (Years 4-6)
- Darcy McBean, Kormilda College, Katherine NT (Years 7-8)
- Emilie Tan, St Ursula's College, Toowoomba QLD (Years 9-10)
Then came one of the big moments of the day ... finding out which Google doodle would be seen by millions of people around Australia and the world on Australia Day next year. Dennis Hwang, selected Jessie Du's doodle "Australia Forever" to appear on the page, and he complemented her on the real warmth in her drawing. We can't wait to see it on the homepage next year in all its glory - congratulations Jessie.
To everyone who entered Doodle 4 Google Australia 2009 - thank you for sharing your talent and enthusiasm with us. Doodle 4 Google is one of the highlights of our year, and you guys really made it special for us. Keep doodling!
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Googlers pose for Street View camera
We recently announced that our Street View fleet would be back on public roads across Australia this month to capture new and better imagery of our country's beautiful cities, beaches, and dusty roads.
What better way to kick this off than to start with a little fun at our Google Australia headquarters in Sydney? This morning, about 300 Googlers in our Pyrmont office lined the park next to our office to welcome the Street View camera (and get our 15 minutes of fame). When the imagery goes up sometime next year, you'll be able to spot all kinds of props - blow-up toys, signs, exercise balls - and acrobatics - handstands and human pyramids. You may also see a few Googlers trying to catch the car on their scooters.
It's become a Google tradition to pose for our Street View cars when they drive-by our offices around the world. For this occasion, we won't blur our faces, though we normally blur faces and license plates in our Australian Street View imagery.
For a sneak peak of our Street View shots, check out the photos from our neighbours at the Sydney Morning Herald (you may spot a few of their faces too).
What better way to kick this off than to start with a little fun at our Google Australia headquarters in Sydney? This morning, about 300 Googlers in our Pyrmont office lined the park next to our office to welcome the Street View camera (and get our 15 minutes of fame). When the imagery goes up sometime next year, you'll be able to spot all kinds of props - blow-up toys, signs, exercise balls - and acrobatics - handstands and human pyramids. You may also see a few Googlers trying to catch the car on their scooters.
It's become a Google tradition to pose for our Street View cars when they drive-by our offices around the world. For this occasion, we won't blur our faces, though we normally blur faces and license plates in our Australian Street View imagery.
For a sneak peak of our Street View shots, check out the photos from our neighbours at the Sydney Morning Herald (you may spot a few of their faces too).
Transparency, choice and control — now complete with a Dashboard!
This is partially cross posted from the Official Google Blog
Today, we are excited to announce the launch of Google Dashboard. Have you ever wondered what data is stored with your Google Account? The Google Dashboard offers a simple view into the data associated with your account — easily and concisely in one location.
Over the past 11 years, Google has focused on building innovative products for our users. Today, with hundreds of millions of people using those products around the world, we are very aware of the trust that you have placed in us, and our responsibility to protect your privacy and data. In the past, we've taken numerous steps in this area, investing in educating our users with our Privacy Center and making it easier to move data in and out of Google with our Data Liberation Front. Transparency, choice and control have become a key part of Google's philosophy, and today, we're happy to announce that we're doing even more.
In an effort to provide you with greater transparency and control over their own data, we've built the Google Dashboard. Designed to be simple and useful, the Dashboard summarizes data for each product that you use (when signed in to your account) and provides you direct links to control your personal settings. Today, the Dashboard covers more than 20 products and services, including Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Web History, Orkut, YouTube, Picasa, Talk, Reader, Alerts, Latitude and many more. The scale and level of detail of the Dashboard is unprecedented, and we're delighted to be the first Internet company to offer this — and we hope it will become the standard. Watch this quick video to learn more and then try it out for yourself at www.google.com/dashboard.
Today, we are excited to announce the launch of Google Dashboard. Have you ever wondered what data is stored with your Google Account? The Google Dashboard offers a simple view into the data associated with your account — easily and concisely in one location.
Over the past 11 years, Google has focused on building innovative products for our users. Today, with hundreds of millions of people using those products around the world, we are very aware of the trust that you have placed in us, and our responsibility to protect your privacy and data. In the past, we've taken numerous steps in this area, investing in educating our users with our Privacy Center and making it easier to move data in and out of Google with our Data Liberation Front. Transparency, choice and control have become a key part of Google's philosophy, and today, we're happy to announce that we're doing even more.
In an effort to provide you with greater transparency and control over their own data, we've built the Google Dashboard. Designed to be simple and useful, the Dashboard summarizes data for each product that you use (when signed in to your account) and provides you direct links to control your personal settings. Today, the Dashboard covers more than 20 products and services, including Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Web History, Orkut, YouTube, Picasa, Talk, Reader, Alerts, Latitude and many more. The scale and level of detail of the Dashboard is unprecedented, and we're delighted to be the first Internet company to offer this — and we hope it will become the standard. Watch this quick video to learn more and then try it out for yourself at www.google.com/dashboard.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Supporting SOSO campaign to combat cyber bullying
Today we hosted the launch of a new campaign to help teens combat cyber bullying. The campaign, called Cyber Bullying Affects Real Lives, is part of the Smart Online, Safe Offline (SOSO) social initiative from the National Association for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (NAPCAN).
At Google, we believe that education is vital for combating cyber bullying and we're proud to support the SOSO campaign through YouTube. YouTube is a great platform for reaching teens and speaking to them in a medium they understand.
It was very impressed to see NAPCAN involve young people in all aspects of developing their campaign. Although we all have a responsibility to prevent and combat cyber bullying, the most powerful impact will come from teens themselves.
At today's event I sat on a panel chaired by TV presenter Jennifer Byrne and alongside Dr Toni Noble, senior lecturer in Education and Psychology at the Australian Catholic University, and three teenagers who starred in the campaign video Esra Isak, Isobel Wilson and Jettson Fawcett. Here are some of the insights into cyber bullying they shared:
Jettson:
Online people say things they don't mean. In person, you get reactions and facial experessions. Online you don't get that; you don't have to face them, you can say more extreme things - there are less consequences online but not for the other person.
Isobel:
Bullies pick on others to try to feel better about themselves. Sarcasm doesn't sound the same online. Once you write things down, the damage is done.
Esra Isik:
Don't be a keyboard hero! Stand up to bullied online!
My message for young people is that you're in control of your online experience. Don't put up with stuff which bothers you - flag inappropriate content if you find it on YouTube, delete comments which bother you on your videos or moderate comments before they go live. You can also disable comments altogether. Think about whether you want to be contacted and by who - you can block this feature altogether or limit to your friends. Keep personal videos private.
Check out our Safety Centre - we have lots of practical advice about being safe and making the most of your online experience.
At Google, we believe that education is vital for combating cyber bullying and we're proud to support the SOSO campaign through YouTube. YouTube is a great platform for reaching teens and speaking to them in a medium they understand.
It was very impressed to see NAPCAN involve young people in all aspects of developing their campaign. Although we all have a responsibility to prevent and combat cyber bullying, the most powerful impact will come from teens themselves.
At today's event I sat on a panel chaired by TV presenter Jennifer Byrne and alongside Dr Toni Noble, senior lecturer in Education and Psychology at the Australian Catholic University, and three teenagers who starred in the campaign video Esra Isak, Isobel Wilson and Jettson Fawcett. Here are some of the insights into cyber bullying they shared:
Jettson:
Online people say things they don't mean. In person, you get reactions and facial experessions. Online you don't get that; you don't have to face them, you can say more extreme things - there are less consequences online but not for the other person.
Isobel:
Bullies pick on others to try to feel better about themselves. Sarcasm doesn't sound the same online. Once you write things down, the damage is done.
Esra Isik:
Don't be a keyboard hero! Stand up to bullied online!
My message for young people is that you're in control of your online experience. Don't put up with stuff which bothers you - flag inappropriate content if you find it on YouTube, delete comments which bother you on your videos or moderate comments before they go live. You can also disable comments altogether. Think about whether you want to be contacted and by who - you can block this feature altogether or limit to your friends. Keep personal videos private.
Check out our Safety Centre - we have lots of practical advice about being safe and making the most of your online experience.
AAPT’s journey to going Google
(Editor's note: This is a guest post by AAPT COO David Yuile)
As a challenger telco in the competitive Australian market, AAPT has worked closely with Google in the past couple of years to get the most out of the technology opportunities available to us - using search in smarter ways, and using Google Maps and Google Earth when it has made sense as a way to better visualise and plan our operations and communications with customers. These decisions were easy – Google’s technology was leading the way, and we were committed to being at the cutting edge. The decision to ‘go Google’ for our internal IT infrastructure was a tougher decision at a philosophical level than a technical one, because it fundamentally concerned a new way of working within enterprises, but it’s a decision we haven’t regretted. Let me tell you about our journey to go Google.
Feasibility phase
The first, and perhaps most fundamental question we had to answer was around how much control we would have when we adopted more open, social collaborative methods rather than more traditional enterprise methods. The breakthrough for us was in realising that both worlds can exist and people will use the methods that best suit them. With this decision made, we quickly moved on to what the business case would be and what benefits we would gain.
Most of the tangible benefits were in the Gmail and storage arena. However, we were rolling out only Google Video and Google Sites in our ‘Phase 1’, with a view that Gmail would quickly follow. We resolved that Phase 1 was “strategic’ (a euphemism for ‘gut feel’) and would significantly contribute to a more engaged (and hence productive) workforce.
15 days before go-live:
With the business case approved, we moved into implementation mode. Firstly we had to convince our security guys that we were all still safe, and then we started to tackle the old “single sign on” chestnut, believing firmly that we need to embrace ease-of-use as a core principle for this and many other things. It was a really interesting experience, as along with Google we were really educating our security guys on the robustness and security of the cloud, a new area for them.
Next, we moved into the test phase, with about 20 of us. Here, we picked up and solved a few minor issues, such as firewall and monitoring configuration which were pretty confused with the sudden increase in video traffic!
While all this technical stuff was going on, we were busy working away on the “how-we-launch” part and what should the landing page should look like. In line with our internal philosophy to keep things simple and straight-forward, we used a basic landing page and worked on the premise that many people were already familiar with the technology and/or it was so intuitive that little or no training was required. We decided a company-wide announcement and restatement of the internal internet usage policy would suffice.
Perhaps the hardest part of all was preparing the welcome video for the landing page, as I became stuck in the retake loop and ended up trying to use video editor to tidy it…which then chewed up inordinately large amounts of time. Suddenly, the penny dropped and I realised I had forgotten it was meant to be easy to use and it was not meant to be studio quality.
Day of launch
We went live with 1,300 users and, even as I was trying to upload my second video at 7.30am, I realised that several people had already hit the landing page and watched the video. More impressive is that I’m still getting feedback and comments from people about what I post. I think this whole ‘engagement’ thing must be working …
Day 15 after launch
We’ve had loads of videos and sites popping up around all sorts of topics that I never knew about. Personally, I’m sucked in hook, line and sinker with video updates, which are proving a much simpler and quicker way to spread the word (or am I just really saying it saves me writing it down?!).
We’re now looking forward to the next stage, which we’re aiming to accelerate into Phase 2 (Gmail).
As a challenger telco in the competitive Australian market, AAPT has worked closely with Google in the past couple of years to get the most out of the technology opportunities available to us - using search in smarter ways, and using Google Maps and Google Earth when it has made sense as a way to better visualise and plan our operations and communications with customers. These decisions were easy – Google’s technology was leading the way, and we were committed to being at the cutting edge. The decision to ‘go Google’ for our internal IT infrastructure was a tougher decision at a philosophical level than a technical one, because it fundamentally concerned a new way of working within enterprises, but it’s a decision we haven’t regretted. Let me tell you about our journey to go Google.
Feasibility phase
The first, and perhaps most fundamental question we had to answer was around how much control we would have when we adopted more open, social collaborative methods rather than more traditional enterprise methods. The breakthrough for us was in realising that both worlds can exist and people will use the methods that best suit them. With this decision made, we quickly moved on to what the business case would be and what benefits we would gain.
Most of the tangible benefits were in the Gmail and storage arena. However, we were rolling out only Google Video and Google Sites in our ‘Phase 1’, with a view that Gmail would quickly follow. We resolved that Phase 1 was “strategic’ (a euphemism for ‘gut feel’) and would significantly contribute to a more engaged (and hence productive) workforce.
15 days before go-live:
With the business case approved, we moved into implementation mode. Firstly we had to convince our security guys that we were all still safe, and then we started to tackle the old “single sign on” chestnut, believing firmly that we need to embrace ease-of-use as a core principle for this and many other things. It was a really interesting experience, as along with Google we were really educating our security guys on the robustness and security of the cloud, a new area for them.
Next, we moved into the test phase, with about 20 of us. Here, we picked up and solved a few minor issues, such as firewall and monitoring configuration which were pretty confused with the sudden increase in video traffic!
While all this technical stuff was going on, we were busy working away on the “how-we-launch” part and what should the landing page should look like. In line with our internal philosophy to keep things simple and straight-forward, we used a basic landing page and worked on the premise that many people were already familiar with the technology and/or it was so intuitive that little or no training was required. We decided a company-wide announcement and restatement of the internal internet usage policy would suffice.
Perhaps the hardest part of all was preparing the welcome video for the landing page, as I became stuck in the retake loop and ended up trying to use video editor to tidy it…which then chewed up inordinately large amounts of time. Suddenly, the penny dropped and I realised I had forgotten it was meant to be easy to use and it was not meant to be studio quality.
Day of launch
We went live with 1,300 users and, even as I was trying to upload my second video at 7.30am, I realised that several people had already hit the landing page and watched the video. More impressive is that I’m still getting feedback and comments from people about what I post. I think this whole ‘engagement’ thing must be working …
Day 15 after launch
We’ve had loads of videos and sites popping up around all sorts of topics that I never knew about. Personally, I’m sucked in hook, line and sinker with video updates, which are proving a much simpler and quicker way to spread the word (or am I just really saying it saves me writing it down?!).
We’re now looking forward to the next stage, which we’re aiming to accelerate into Phase 2 (Gmail).
And they're racing now ...
All eyes will be on Flemington racecourse this afternoon, for the 2009 running of Australia's most famous horse race - the Melbourne Cup. It's all about the thrills, the wagers ... and of course, the fashion, which we're celebrating in our special Melbourne Cup 2009 Google Doodle. If Google search trends are anything to go by, fashion generally noses out horses as a hot search topic ... but today wouldn't be complete without them both. Enjoy the day!
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