Last week in Davos, Switzerland, leaders were discussing ways to restart the sputtering global economy. Two new studies released at the World Economic Forum offer the same answer as last year’s “Connected Continent” report: go digital.
The Boston Consulting Group’s “Digital Manifesto” predicts that the value of the Internet economy in the world's top 20 economies (including Australia) will boom to US$4.2 trillion in 2016—nearly double 2010’s number. One of the biggest drivers will be the huge increase in the number of people accessing the web. In four years, the report predicts three billion people will be using the internet, or over 40% of the world's population.
The Internet does not just benefit the developed world, either. It contributes an average of 1.9 percent of GDP across 30 countries in the developing world and generated 1.9 million jobs alone in six countries: Hungary, Malaysia, Mexico, Taiwan, Turkey, and Vietnam, according to a new McKinsey & Co. report, also released in Davos last week.
Both the McKinsey and BCG reports are the latest chapter in more than a year of work by the two consultancies and others on the Internet’s growing economic impact. For example, the “Connected Continent” report released by Deloitte Access Economics in August 2011 found (amongst other things) that the Internet already contributes AU$50 billion, or 3.6% of GDP, to the Australian economy and forecasted that the amount will rise to AU$70 billion by 2015. Full disclosure: Google funded this joint research effort, though the reports were conducted independently. You can see the full range of all these country reports on a new website called Value of the Web.
Taken together, these reports represent a growing body of evidence about the huge economic opportunities that the digital economy provides for individuals and businesses, large and small, in Australia and the world.
Posted by Iarla Flynn, Head of Public Policy, Google Australia
Monday, January 30, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
What are you working for?
We asked small businesses in Australia “What are you working for?” Their responses were as diverse as the businesses themselves. But there were two things all of them had in common. The first was a passion for what they did. The second was a desire for more time to focus on their business, rather than on the operational details -- like technology.
While many understood that using the Internet could make their lives easier - to find customers, to run and promote their business, even to save costs - they had been slow to adopt it because they often didn’t know how and who to ask. At Google, we want to make it easy for small businesses to succeed. This is why we launched Getting Aussie Business Online last year, which gives businesses a free domain name and website. Today we’re launching another set of resources -- at www.whatareyouworkingfor.com -- to help small businesses learn how to use Internet technologies to operate more efficiently.
At www.whatareyouworkingfor.com business owners and managers can learn from their counterparts around Australia who have already taken the leap to Google Apps. Like George Perry at Choice, a leading consumer advocacy group, who turned on Gmail and Google Calendar for the whole company... overnight! Or John O’Neil, owner and builder at O’Neil Construction who said Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Docs have helped him exceed his clients’ expectations while letting him spend more time outside the office. Karen Huby is a project manager at Sitback, a Sydney based design studio, who says Google Apps has helped take the stress away from her everyday job. No longer chained to her office desktop, she is now fully productive on her mobile from anywhere.
The site contains a repository of relevant content from Google and from around the web on topics that address real questions around how small businesses work. At any time, business managers can sign-up for a 30-day free trial of Google Apps to experience the benefits of these tools in their own business environments.
The Internet is redefining how most businesses work. We hope you find these resources useful in helping you consider how you want to work in 2012.
While many understood that using the Internet could make their lives easier - to find customers, to run and promote their business, even to save costs - they had been slow to adopt it because they often didn’t know how and who to ask. At Google, we want to make it easy for small businesses to succeed. This is why we launched Getting Aussie Business Online last year, which gives businesses a free domain name and website. Today we’re launching another set of resources -- at www.whatareyouworkingfor.com -- to help small businesses learn how to use Internet technologies to operate more efficiently.
At www.whatareyouworkingfor.com business owners and managers can learn from their counterparts around Australia who have already taken the leap to Google Apps. Like George Perry at Choice, a leading consumer advocacy group, who turned on Gmail and Google Calendar for the whole company... overnight! Or John O’Neil, owner and builder at O’Neil Construction who said Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Docs have helped him exceed his clients’ expectations while letting him spend more time outside the office. Karen Huby is a project manager at Sitback, a Sydney based design studio, who says Google Apps has helped take the stress away from her everyday job. No longer chained to her office desktop, she is now fully productive on her mobile from anywhere.
The site contains a repository of relevant content from Google and from around the web on topics that address real questions around how small businesses work. At any time, business managers can sign-up for a 30-day free trial of Google Apps to experience the benefits of these tools in their own business environments.
The Internet is redefining how most businesses work. We hope you find these resources useful in helping you consider how you want to work in 2012.
Posted by Jeremy Wood, Marketing Manager, Google Enterprise
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Five Myths of Viral Video
This blog post was initially published on AdNews
You’d be hard pressed to find someone who couldn’t name at least one example of how a viral video has launched a person or company into fame (Justin Bieber ring any bells?). From talking twin babies to Rebecca Black or Aussie video-blogger Natalie Tran, viral videos have become a part of our pop culture.
The success of these videos clearly demonstrates YouTube’s ability to build a brand. However they’ve also created a dangerous misconception among businesses — the myth that you need a viral hit to be successful on YouTube. A little known secret is that the most successful businesses on YouTube have never had a viral hit.
While this may seem counterintuitive, we’ve seen this play out time and time again. This goes back to the underlying principle of smart marketing: know your audience and the context in which they are interacting with your brand. YouTube has a global, diverse audience, with 800 million unique users visiting YouTube every month. 60 hours of video are uploaded every minute. If you’re trying to reach the YouTube audience in its entirety, that’s a lot of noise to break through.
Successful businesses understand they don’t need to connect with the whole YouTube audience. They just need to engage with the right audience. If you’re an online travel agency like Ecruising, for example, you care about people who are interested in travel or holidays.
This means that you don’t need to create a video that has mass appeal. You need a video that has personal appeal to people you want to talk to and who are interested in what you have to say.
To get you started in thinking about how you can use online video to promote your business, here are a few common myths I’d like to debunk:
1) You need a viral hit to have a successful presence on YouTube. For smaller businesses, the most successful videos are often the ones you’ve never heard of. Let’s revisit the Ecruising example. When specialty travel agencies began to close their doors, Ecruising had to shift sales online, and video has been vital to helping customers visualise a cruise holiday before booking. YouTube is now one of the main source of web traffic for Ecruising and 1-out-of-4 clients come directly through YouTube. While none of their videos have gone “viral”, their YouTube strategy has helped them create a flourishing business.
2) Only humorous videos are popular. Shoes of Prey, a 17-person company that lets you design your shoes online, uses YouTube mostly to educate customers on how to use their design engine, the materials they use and what shoe designs are most popular. Their instructional videos have generated more than 360,000 views and boosted sales significantly -- proof that videos don’t need to be humorous to sell a product. Instead of focusing on being clever, focus on being relevant. Videos that engage your audience by showcasing product features or explaining a difficult concept can have much more impact.
3) YouTube is just for young people. With millions of people visiting YouTube every day, the site has a broad base of regular viewers. For example, 55 percent of all women aged 18-54 are on YouTube. When you run an advertising campaign on YouTube, you can focus on reaching the specific audience you care most about. Similar to search engine marketing, you can also optimise your videos by tagging them with keywords you want your video to show against.
4) People only watch YouTube for entertainment. Videos need to be interesting, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be educational. In fact, there are more than three times as many searches for “how to” videos than there are for “music videos” on YouTube. For example, the most viewed videos on Canon Australia’s YouTube channel are videos about how to getting started with their EOS camera.
5) Videos need to be professionally produced to gain views. Many small businesses shoot and produce videos themselves in-house, using tools as simple as a handheld camera and the video editing features in YouTube. Since you can focus on reaching people that are most interested in your topic, content and relevancy trump production value. Orabrush, a U.S. business that sells tongue cleaners, produced and posted their first video with just $500 and the help of a local marketing student. After spending tens of thousands of dollars trying to launch their brand with an infomercial and other traditional marketing techniques, their small investment in online video helped them sell over a million Orabrushes online, and caught the eye of retail giant Walmart.
Today, more Aussie businesses than ever use YouTube ad formats like TrueView or promoted videos to drive sales, generate leads and build brand awareness. But it’s still not too late to be early in video marketing. Online video is growing at a rapid pace, and as smartphone sales continue to grow, even more people will be watching video on the go.
You’d be hard pressed to find someone who couldn’t name at least one example of how a viral video has launched a person or company into fame (Justin Bieber ring any bells?). From talking twin babies to Rebecca Black or Aussie video-blogger Natalie Tran, viral videos have become a part of our pop culture.
The success of these videos clearly demonstrates YouTube’s ability to build a brand. However they’ve also created a dangerous misconception among businesses — the myth that you need a viral hit to be successful on YouTube. A little known secret is that the most successful businesses on YouTube have never had a viral hit.
While this may seem counterintuitive, we’ve seen this play out time and time again. This goes back to the underlying principle of smart marketing: know your audience and the context in which they are interacting with your brand. YouTube has a global, diverse audience, with 800 million unique users visiting YouTube every month. 60 hours of video are uploaded every minute. If you’re trying to reach the YouTube audience in its entirety, that’s a lot of noise to break through.
Successful businesses understand they don’t need to connect with the whole YouTube audience. They just need to engage with the right audience. If you’re an online travel agency like Ecruising, for example, you care about people who are interested in travel or holidays.
This means that you don’t need to create a video that has mass appeal. You need a video that has personal appeal to people you want to talk to and who are interested in what you have to say.
To get you started in thinking about how you can use online video to promote your business, here are a few common myths I’d like to debunk:
1) You need a viral hit to have a successful presence on YouTube. For smaller businesses, the most successful videos are often the ones you’ve never heard of. Let’s revisit the Ecruising example. When specialty travel agencies began to close their doors, Ecruising had to shift sales online, and video has been vital to helping customers visualise a cruise holiday before booking. YouTube is now one of the main source of web traffic for Ecruising and 1-out-of-4 clients come directly through YouTube. While none of their videos have gone “viral”, their YouTube strategy has helped them create a flourishing business.
2) Only humorous videos are popular. Shoes of Prey, a 17-person company that lets you design your shoes online, uses YouTube mostly to educate customers on how to use their design engine, the materials they use and what shoe designs are most popular. Their instructional videos have generated more than 360,000 views and boosted sales significantly -- proof that videos don’t need to be humorous to sell a product. Instead of focusing on being clever, focus on being relevant. Videos that engage your audience by showcasing product features or explaining a difficult concept can have much more impact.
3) YouTube is just for young people. With millions of people visiting YouTube every day, the site has a broad base of regular viewers. For example, 55 percent of all women aged 18-54 are on YouTube. When you run an advertising campaign on YouTube, you can focus on reaching the specific audience you care most about. Similar to search engine marketing, you can also optimise your videos by tagging them with keywords you want your video to show against.
4) People only watch YouTube for entertainment. Videos need to be interesting, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be educational. In fact, there are more than three times as many searches for “how to” videos than there are for “music videos” on YouTube. For example, the most viewed videos on Canon Australia’s YouTube channel are videos about how to getting started with their EOS camera.
5) Videos need to be professionally produced to gain views. Many small businesses shoot and produce videos themselves in-house, using tools as simple as a handheld camera and the video editing features in YouTube. Since you can focus on reaching people that are most interested in your topic, content and relevancy trump production value. Orabrush, a U.S. business that sells tongue cleaners, produced and posted their first video with just $500 and the help of a local marketing student. After spending tens of thousands of dollars trying to launch their brand with an infomercial and other traditional marketing techniques, their small investment in online video helped them sell over a million Orabrushes online, and caught the eye of retail giant Walmart.
Today, more Aussie businesses than ever use YouTube ad formats like TrueView or promoted videos to drive sales, generate leads and build brand awareness. But it’s still not too late to be early in video marketing. Online video is growing at a rapid pace, and as smartphone sales continue to grow, even more people will be watching video on the go.
Posted by Karen Stocks, Head of YouTube & Display, Google Australia
Picture perfect: Welcome customers into your business on Google Maps
When we initially announced the Business Photos pilot program, we wanted to give business owners an easy way to get customers in the door online using interactive, high-quality, 360-degree images of places on Google Maps and on Google Search results. With thousands of businesses under our belt — from cafes to hotels— we’ve been hearing the same question again and again from both business owners and photographers alike: How can I participate?
Well, with the overwhelming success of the first pilot, we’ve decided to unveil a complementary initiative that will help us reach more interested business owners, more quickly: Trusted Photographers.
Well, with the overwhelming success of the first pilot, we’ve decided to unveil a complementary initiative that will help us reach more interested business owners, more quickly: Trusted Photographers.
Click and drag to view the inside of Yuki’s at The Quay
It’s simple. Visit our new website and search for a Google Trusted Photographer in your area. Either email or call a photographer in your area to schedule a time and agree on a price that you will pay the photographer for a photoshoot of your business. This self-serve model makes for easier scheduling and quicker turnaround, while also supporting the local photographers in your community. During the hour it should take for the shoot, you can collaborate with the photographer about how best to display and capture your business. When finished, the photographer will upload the images to Google, and shortly thereafter, you’ll see 360-degree panoramic views of your business on Google.com.au, Google Maps and on your Google Places listing.
See how Business Photos has helped Toy Joy of Austin, Texas.
Trusted Photographers are available in 14 U.S. cities, as well as in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and France. Don’t see a photographer in your area? Let us know, as that will help us determine where more Trusted Photographers are needed.
Posted by Gadi Royz, Product Manager, Google Maps
Google Earth 6.2: It’s a beautiful world
This is a cross-post from the Google LatLong blog.
We're taking bird's eye view to a whole new level with the latest version of Google Earth, released today. With Google Earth 6.2, we’re bringing you the most beautiful Google Earth yet, with more seamless imagery and a new search interface. Additionally, we’ve introduced a feature that enables you to share an image from within Google Earth, so you can now simply and easily share your virtual adventures with family and friends on Google+.
A seamless globe
The Google Earth globe is made from a mosaic of satellite and aerial photographs taken on different dates and under different lighting and weather conditions. Because of this variance, views of the Earth from high altitude can sometimes appear patchy.
Today, we’re introducing a new way of rendering imagery that smoothes out this quilt of images. The end result is a beautiful new Earth-viewing experience that preserves the unique textures of the world’s most defining geographic landscapes—without the quilt effect. This change is being made on both mobile and desktop versions of Google Earth. While this change will appear on all versions of Google Earth, the 6.2 release provides the best viewing experience for this new data.
Share your explorations with Google+
Google Earth is a great way to virtually explore the globe, whether revisiting old haunts or checking out a future vacation spot. With the Google Earth 6.2 update, we’ve added the option to share a screenshot of your current view in Google Earth through Google+. If you’ve already upgraded to Google+, you can share images of the places you’ve virtually traveled to with your Circles, such as family, friends or your local hiking club. To try this new feature, simply sign in to your Google Account in the upper right hand corner of Google Earth and click “Share.” Images of mountains, oceans, deserts, 3D cities, your favorite pizza shop on Street View—you can now experience all these amazing places around the world with people on Google+.
Search improvements
We’ve also made some updates to the search feature in Google Earth. Aside from streamlining the visual design of the search panel, we’ve enabled the same Autocomplete feature that’s available on Google Maps. We’ve also introduced search layers, which will show all the relevant search results (not just the top ten), so now, when looking for gelato in Milano, you can see all the tasty possibilities. Finally, we’ve added biking, transit and walking directions, so if you’re itching for a change of scenery or looking for a new route for your regular commute, you can now use Google Earth to generate and visualize all your options.
Download Google Earth 6.2 and start exploring and sharing today!
Posted by Peter Birch, Product Manager, Google Earth
A seamless globe
The Google Earth globe is made from a mosaic of satellite and aerial photographs taken on different dates and under different lighting and weather conditions. Because of this variance, views of the Earth from high altitude can sometimes appear patchy.
Today, we’re introducing a new way of rendering imagery that smoothes out this quilt of images. The end result is a beautiful new Earth-viewing experience that preserves the unique textures of the world’s most defining geographic landscapes—without the quilt effect. This change is being made on both mobile and desktop versions of Google Earth. While this change will appear on all versions of Google Earth, the 6.2 release provides the best viewing experience for this new data.
Grand Canyon before and after
Sri Lanka before and after
Share your explorations with Google+
Google Earth is a great way to virtually explore the globe, whether revisiting old haunts or checking out a future vacation spot. With the Google Earth 6.2 update, we’ve added the option to share a screenshot of your current view in Google Earth through Google+. If you’ve already upgraded to Google+, you can share images of the places you’ve virtually traveled to with your Circles, such as family, friends or your local hiking club. To try this new feature, simply sign in to your Google Account in the upper right hand corner of Google Earth and click “Share.” Images of mountains, oceans, deserts, 3D cities, your favorite pizza shop on Street View—you can now experience all these amazing places around the world with people on Google+.
Search improvements
We’ve also made some updates to the search feature in Google Earth. Aside from streamlining the visual design of the search panel, we’ve enabled the same Autocomplete feature that’s available on Google Maps. We’ve also introduced search layers, which will show all the relevant search results (not just the top ten), so now, when looking for gelato in Milano, you can see all the tasty possibilities. Finally, we’ve added biking, transit and walking directions, so if you’re itching for a change of scenery or looking for a new route for your regular commute, you can now use Google Earth to generate and visualize all your options.
Biking directions in Google Earth
Download Google Earth 6.2 and start exploring and sharing today!
Posted by Peter Birch, Product Manager, Google Earth
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Android Developer Labs Coming to Australia
Our Android Developer Advocates are kicking off 2012 with new events to get out and meet Android developers around the world. First stop: Australia & New Zealand!
Android Developer Labs (ADLs) will be taking place in Melbourne (Tuesday 31 January), Sydney (Friday 3 February) and Auckland (Wednesday 8 February). ADLs are aimed at accomplished Android developers who want to learn the best practices for building truly world-class Android apps. Ideally, developers will enter an ADL with a good app that has already garnered some success, but leave with a great app that will appeal to Android users everywhere.
In these sessions, we’ll cover the following topics:
Android Developer Labs (ADLs) will be taking place in Melbourne (Tuesday 31 January), Sydney (Friday 3 February) and Auckland (Wednesday 8 February). ADLs are aimed at accomplished Android developers who want to learn the best practices for building truly world-class Android apps. Ideally, developers will enter an ADL with a good app that has already garnered some success, but leave with a great app that will appeal to Android users everywhere.
In these sessions, we’ll cover the following topics:
- Latest advances in Ice Cream Sandwich
- Utilising cloud services in Android apps
- Designing polished and immersive user experiences
- Building rich apps for both smartphones and tablets
Registration is open to everyone, but we will sift through the applications by hand and select the most qualified developers. In choosing attendees, we’re primarily looking for developers who have already released a successful app on Android Market but want to improve its overall quality, fit and finish.
Other prerequisites include a laptop with the Eclipse & Android SDK (API 15) installed and configured, an Android device(s) for debugging and a solid understanding of Android fundamentals (activities, layouts, app life cycle, etc). If you’re selected to attend, you’ll receive an invitation up to 48 hours before the event.
Visit the Android Developer Lab website for more information and submit your application.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Think fast in the first Think Quarterly of 2012
In the amount of time it takes you to read this blog post, roughly 382 Android phones will be activated, 250,000+ words will be written on Blogger and more than 48 hours of video will be uploaded to YouTube. The world is moving faster than ever before, bringing us instant access and split-second connections to people and information.
Speed is important in technology, but equally essential in business. Consumer expectations are rising as we learn to take speed for granted; today’s email is tomorrow’s snail mail. In our hyper-real-time world, nanoseconds matter—which means we need to question old assumptions. How will we respond to consumer expectations as the demand for instant access to everything intensifies? How will we keep pace in a world that moves at web speed?
The new Speed issue of Think Quarterly explores these questions and more. Don Meij, CEO of Domino’s Pizza in Australia, comments on what it means to be first to market on mobile. Moving fast into mobile has allowed his business to differentiate against a crowd of competitors. By integrating mobile early Don claims that they made a step change in providing the fastest, most convenient ordering process possible.
The current issue also features Bom Kim, CEO and founder of Korean deals site, Coupang, who explains that it’s more about being the best at responding to the market than being the first to do something. Google’s SVP of Engineering Urs Hölzle shares our efforts to speed up the Internet, while Astro Teller, Director of New Products at Google, dreams about the amazing inventions these improvements will unleash.
We hope you enjoy the issue. Let us know what you think.
Posted by James Toepfer, Marketing Manager, Google Australia
Speed is important in technology, but equally essential in business. Consumer expectations are rising as we learn to take speed for granted; today’s email is tomorrow’s snail mail. In our hyper-real-time world, nanoseconds matter—which means we need to question old assumptions. How will we respond to consumer expectations as the demand for instant access to everything intensifies? How will we keep pace in a world that moves at web speed?
The new Speed issue of Think Quarterly explores these questions and more. Don Meij, CEO of Domino’s Pizza in Australia, comments on what it means to be first to market on mobile. Moving fast into mobile has allowed his business to differentiate against a crowd of competitors. By integrating mobile early Don claims that they made a step change in providing the fastest, most convenient ordering process possible.
The current issue also features Bom Kim, CEO and founder of Korean deals site, Coupang, who explains that it’s more about being the best at responding to the market than being the first to do something. Google’s SVP of Engineering Urs Hölzle shares our efforts to speed up the Internet, while Astro Teller, Director of New Products at Google, dreams about the amazing inventions these improvements will unleash.
We hope you enjoy the issue. Let us know what you think.
Posted by James Toepfer, Marketing Manager, Google Australia
Monday, January 16, 2012
Ask your question in the 2012 Google Science Fair
Are human beings born curious, or can curiosity be nurtured through environment, competition or a good teacher? Everyone’s got a question—that’s ours. But we’re sure you’ve got tons of questions, too. So we’re inviting students around the world to pose their most pressing questions and answer those questions through scientific inquiry as part of our second annual Google Science Fair.
Along with our partners CERN, The LEGO Group, National Geographic and Scientific American, it’s the largest online science competition in the world. Open to students ages 13-18, students (either individually or in teams of up to three people) pose a question, develop a hypothesis and conduct science experiments to test it.
Last year, we received entries that strove to solve a wide variety of needs, from “How can I cure cancer?” to “Can I teach a robot to learn English?” to “Can I build a faster sailboat?” The breadth and depth of these projects was incredibly impressive, and this year we hope to see even more entries from the next generation of brilliant young scientists.
From the entries we will recognise 90 regional finalists before our judges select the top 15 finalists, who will be flown to Google headquarters in Mountain View, California, for the Google Science Fair event on July 23, 2012. At the finals, a panel of distinguished international judges (like Vint Cerf, Sylvia Earle, and Nobel Laureates David Gross and Ada Yonath) will select top winners in each age category (13-14, 15-16, 17-18).
In addition to satisfying your curious mind, your project can also help to win you some pretty cool prizes, like a US$50,000 college scholarship from Google, a 10-day trip to the Galapagos Islands with a National Geographic Explorer or an internship at Google or any one of our partners.
We’re also introducing a new category for this year’s competition—the Scientific American Science in Action award which will see the winner earn US$50,000 and a year-long mentorship to make their project a reality. We were so inspired by 2011 finalist Harine Ravichandran’s project, which attempted to solve energy surges in rural villages, that this year we decided to recognise an outstanding project that addresses a social, environmental or health need.
The Google Science Fair will accept submissions until Sunday, April 1 at 11:59 GMT.
Google itself was founded through experimentation and with the Google Science Fair, we hope to inspire scientific exploration among the next generation of scientists and engineers, celebrate scientific talent, create scientific role models and unite students around the world in the quest for learning.
Visit google.com/sciencefair and ask your most burning questions.
Along with our partners CERN, The LEGO Group, National Geographic and Scientific American, it’s the largest online science competition in the world. Open to students ages 13-18, students (either individually or in teams of up to three people) pose a question, develop a hypothesis and conduct science experiments to test it.
Last year, we received entries that strove to solve a wide variety of needs, from “How can I cure cancer?” to “Can I teach a robot to learn English?” to “Can I build a faster sailboat?” The breadth and depth of these projects was incredibly impressive, and this year we hope to see even more entries from the next generation of brilliant young scientists.
From the entries we will recognise 90 regional finalists before our judges select the top 15 finalists, who will be flown to Google headquarters in Mountain View, California, for the Google Science Fair event on July 23, 2012. At the finals, a panel of distinguished international judges (like Vint Cerf, Sylvia Earle, and Nobel Laureates David Gross and Ada Yonath) will select top winners in each age category (13-14, 15-16, 17-18).
In addition to satisfying your curious mind, your project can also help to win you some pretty cool prizes, like a US$50,000 college scholarship from Google, a 10-day trip to the Galapagos Islands with a National Geographic Explorer or an internship at Google or any one of our partners.
We’re also introducing a new category for this year’s competition—the Scientific American Science in Action award which will see the winner earn US$50,000 and a year-long mentorship to make their project a reality. We were so inspired by 2011 finalist Harine Ravichandran’s project, which attempted to solve energy surges in rural villages, that this year we decided to recognise an outstanding project that addresses a social, environmental or health need.
The Google Science Fair will accept submissions until Sunday, April 1 at 11:59 GMT.
Google itself was founded through experimentation and with the Google Science Fair, we hope to inspire scientific exploration among the next generation of scientists and engineers, celebrate scientific talent, create scientific role models and unite students around the world in the quest for learning.
Visit google.com/sciencefair and ask your most burning questions.
(Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog)
Posted by Cristin Frodella, Google Education Team
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Introducing our Sydney Community Manager, Anna Kricker
(Cross-posted on the Google Places Community Blog)
Hey Sydneysiders,
My name is Anna and I’m the new Places Community Manager for Sydney. What does that mean? It means I’m here to make sure you get the most out of Google Places and don’t find yourself sighing,
“Where should we eat tonight?”
“How can I find a good gym whilst travelling interstate?”
“Does anyone know of a nearby bike shop?”
I’d like to let you know a little bit more about myself. I am my happiest (apart from being part of the Google Places team) when cranking my 29er mountain bike around a track, reading Margaret Atwood or drinking my first morning coffee -- as Murakami stated -- coffee as ‘hot and strong as the devil at midnight.’
I love taking videos with my GoPro whilst planning my next caffeine hit or out on adventures with my FJ40. I am passionate about good food and about accessing the beautiful, yet unforgiving, Australian bush. You can also find me on Twitter having a chat about car restorations with the FJ40 community.
After a long road trip or bike ride, nothing but the most satisfying food will suffice. I love Das Kaffee Haus in Manly for german schnitzels and Weissbier or Steki Taverna in Marrickville for spanakopita and meat dolmas. When I have interstate visitors I always head to Fratelli Paradiso for rice porridge and rhubarb breakfasts. "Blessings on him who invented…the food that appeases hunger"(Cervantes)
Having grown up in both Sydney and Melbourne, I am fascinated by the complex, yet mutually beneficial, food relationship these cities have. I have entered many a passionate debate about the superiority of a Sydney style latte versus the Melbourne. My favourite caffeine burrows in Sydney involve anything roasted by the team at Allpress and if a cafe is near a Berkelouw Bookshop , even better. When in Melbourne my favourite battleground cafes are Pellegrini’s and Ici Cafe.
Ask me about my favourite food genre and there is no hesitation in answering… Japanese. Long time Sydney favourites are Uchi lounge, Kintaro and Sydney’s best Japanese supermarket, Tokyomart.
You can often find me seeking out a burger for lunch after racking up the kilometers cycling Manly Dam . Currently the best spots to hit up are The Cooks Larder or Cafe Splat with a glorious Sydney water view as bonus.
Through planning user meetups, foodie contests and giveaways I want you to experience and share Sydney at its best. I look forward to hearing from foodies, outdoor adventurers and dog lovers about everything that makes you L-O-V-E- this Emerald City as a marvellous place to live, work and play!
Follow us at @googlesydney and get ready to join me for some very cool activities.
Posted by Anna Kricker, Sydney community manager
My name is Anna and I’m the new Places Community Manager for Sydney. What does that mean? It means I’m here to make sure you get the most out of Google Places and don’t find yourself sighing,
“Where should we eat tonight?”
“How can I find a good gym whilst travelling interstate?”
“Does anyone know of a nearby bike shop?”
I’d like to let you know a little bit more about myself. I am my happiest (apart from being part of the Google Places team) when cranking my 29er mountain bike around a track, reading Margaret Atwood or drinking my first morning coffee -- as Murakami stated -- coffee as ‘hot and strong as the devil at midnight.’
I love taking videos with my GoPro whilst planning my next caffeine hit or out on adventures with my FJ40. I am passionate about good food and about accessing the beautiful, yet unforgiving, Australian bush. You can also find me on Twitter having a chat about car restorations with the FJ40 community.
After a long road trip or bike ride, nothing but the most satisfying food will suffice. I love Das Kaffee Haus in Manly for german schnitzels and Weissbier or Steki Taverna in Marrickville for spanakopita and meat dolmas. When I have interstate visitors I always head to Fratelli Paradiso for rice porridge and rhubarb breakfasts. "Blessings on him who invented…the food that appeases hunger"(Cervantes)
Having grown up in both Sydney and Melbourne, I am fascinated by the complex, yet mutually beneficial, food relationship these cities have. I have entered many a passionate debate about the superiority of a Sydney style latte versus the Melbourne. My favourite caffeine burrows in Sydney involve anything roasted by the team at Allpress and if a cafe is near a Berkelouw Bookshop , even better. When in Melbourne my favourite battleground cafes are Pellegrini’s and Ici Cafe.
Ask me about my favourite food genre and there is no hesitation in answering… Japanese. Long time Sydney favourites are Uchi lounge, Kintaro and Sydney’s best Japanese supermarket, Tokyomart.
You can often find me seeking out a burger for lunch after racking up the kilometers cycling Manly Dam . Currently the best spots to hit up are The Cooks Larder or Cafe Splat with a glorious Sydney water view as bonus.
Through planning user meetups, foodie contests and giveaways I want you to experience and share Sydney at its best. I look forward to hearing from foodies, outdoor adventurers and dog lovers about everything that makes you L-O-V-E- this Emerald City as a marvellous place to live, work and play!
Follow us at @googlesydney and get ready to join me for some very cool activities.
Posted by Anna Kricker, Sydney community manager
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