New Zealand Blog
Google news for Kiwis
Helping Parents and Families this Safer Internet Day
Tuesday, February 11, 2020
Today is Safer Internet Day globally and to kick things off here in New Zealand, we hosted a breakfast to talk about online safety for families and children. We welcomed media and parents into Google to participate in a discussion about some helpful ways that parents can check their safety settings and teach their children about online citizenship.
Lucian Teo, User Outreach and Education Manager from Google’s Trust and Safety team, delivered the workshop and we were joined by Netsafe’s CEO Martin Cocker who also spoke about the incredible work they’ve been doing for the past 20 years to keep Kiwis safe online. We shared Google and Netsafe’s five top tips to teach your kids about online safety:
Be mindful of what and to whom you are sharing your information with. Encourage thoughtful sharing by treating online communication like face-to-face communication.
Don’t trust everything you see online. Be discerning and ‘think before you click’.
Safeguard your personal information & take a privacy check up.
Being kind online creates a brighter and safer place for everyone on the internet.
If you see something, say something. When in doubt, talk it out with someone you trust.
While today is a great moment to pause and think carefully about how we’re keeping our families and kids safe online, this is also something that we should be considering all year round. To find out more, visit the Google Safety Centre for updated resources, easy security tips and information dedicated to educating and empowering people on important topics like data security, privacy controls and how to use technology in a way that is right for your family.
Safer Internet Day aims to raise awareness about online safety and encourages everyone to help create a better internet. We hope that you take the opportunity today and regularly throughout the year to use these tools to stay safe online
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Posted by Caroline Rainsford, Country Manager Google New Zealand
Google Maps Turns 15! Celebrate with a new icon and features
Friday, February 7, 2020
In 2005, we set out to map the world. Since then we’ve pushed the limits of what a map can do: from helping you easily navigate from point A to B to helping you explore and get things done in the world. With more than 1 billion people turning to Google Maps to see and explore the world, we're celebrating our 15th birthday with a new look and product updates based on feedback from you.
A fresh look from the inside out
Starting today, you'll see an updated Google Maps app for Android and iOS that gives you everything you need right at your fingertips with five easy-to-access tabs: Explore, Commute, Saved, Contribute and Updates.
Explore:
Looking for a place nearby to grab lunch, enjoy live music or play arcade games? In the Explore tab, you’ll find information, ratings, reviews and more for about 200 million places around the world, including local restaurants, nearby attractions and city landmarks.
Commute:
Whether you’re traveling by car or public transit, the Commute tab is there to make sure you’re on the most efficient route. Set up your daily commute to get real-time traffic updates, travel times and suggestions for alternative routes.
Saved:
People have saved more than 6.5 billion places on Google Maps—from the new bakery across town to the famous restaurant on your upcoming vacation. Now you can view all of these spots in one convenient place as well as find and organize plans for an upcoming trip and share recommendations based on places you've been.
Contribute:
Hundreds of millions of people each year contribute information that helps keep Google Maps up to date. With the new Contribute tab, you can easily share local knowledge, such as details about roads and addresses, missing places, business reviews and photos. Each contribution goes a long way in helping others learn about new places and decide what to do.
Updates:
The new Updates tab provides you with a feed of trending, must-see spots from local experts and publishers, like
The Infatuation
. In addition to discovering, saving and sharing recommendations with your network, you can also directly chat with businesses to get questions answered.
Our five new tabs provide easier access to everything you need in Google Maps.
We’re also updating our look with a new Google Maps icon that reflects the evolution we’ve made mapping the world. It’s based on a key part of Google Maps since the very beginning, the pin, and represents the shift we’ve made from getting you to your destination to also helping you discover new places and experiences.
And because we can’t resist a good birthday celebration, keep an eye out for our celebratory party-themed car icon, available for a limited time when you navigate with Google Maps.
Look out for our new icon on your phone and browser!
Made for you, on the go
We’re constantly evolving to help you get around—no matter how you choose to travel. Our new transit features in the Google Maps app help you stay informed when you’re taking public transportation.
Last year, we
introduced
crowdedness predictions to help you see how crowded your bus, train or subway is likely to be based on past rides. To help you plan your travels, we’re adding new insights about your route from past riders, so you’ll soon be able to see important details, such as:
Temperature: For a more comfortable ride, check in advance if the temperature is considered by past riders as on the colder or warmer side.
Accessibility: If you have special needs or require additional support, you can now identify public transit lines with staffed assistance, accessible entrance and seating, accessible stop-button or hi-visible LED.
Women’s Carriage: In regions where transit systems have designated women's sections or carriages, we'll help surface this information along with whether other passengers abide by it.
Security Onboard: Feel safer knowing if security monitoring is on board—whether that’s with a security guard present, installed security cameras or an available helpline.
Number of carriages available: In Japan only, you can pick a route based on the number of carriages so that it increases your chances of getting a seat.
These useful bits of information come from past riders who've shared their experiences and will appear alongside public transit routes when available. To help future riders, you can answer a short survey within Google Maps about your experience on recent trips. We’ll start rolling this out globally in March, with availability varying by region and municipal transportation agency.
New trip attributes help you make informed decisions about your travel plans.
A sense of direction
Last year, we
introduced
Live View to help you quickly decide which way to go when you start a walking route with Google Maps. By combining Street View’s real-world imagery, machine learning and smartphone sensors, Live View in Google Maps shows you your surroundings with the directions overlaid in augmented reality.
Over the coming months, we’ll be expanding Live View and testing new capabilities, starting with better assistance whenever you’re searching for a place. You’ll be able to quickly see how far away and in which direction a place is.
Live View will soon help you get oriented in the right direction in new ways.
A big thank you to everyone for placing your trust in us and for being with us on this wild ride over the last 15 years. We can’t wait to see what the next 15 years bring!
New Zealand native birds inspire today’s Doodle
Thursday, February 6, 2020
Diversity and individuality are at once something that defines and unites the people of New Zealand. The same can be said for the breadth of interesting, colourful and quirky native bird fauna we have on our three islands. So today, as we pause to recognise the 1840 signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, the Google Doodle pays tribute to some of our iconic native birds.
Inspired by the variety, colour and brilliance seen in native birds of New Zealand, the artwork depicts three of our most precious birds. Kiwi’s popular namesake, the iconic bird sits at the centre, with the Tūī and the Kererū either side.
New Zealand’s bush is home to around 168 different native birds. And astonishingly over half of these are species cannot be found anywhere else in the world. The Tūī, treasured for its imitation skills, is able to use two voice boxes to mimic nearby sounds. The Kererū’s distinct sound of its wing beat in flight would be recognised by many. And of course the Kiwi, which instead of just being a popular nickname for people from Aotearoa, is the only bird in the world with nostrils at the end of its long bill.
Our rich collection of bird fauna has developed these individual characteristics from evolving on our remote South Pacific island shores. Look up into the sky, or down to the ground, and enjoy these wonders of biodiversity.
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Posted by Caroline Rainsford, Country Manager, Google New Zealand
Data Privacy Day: Six ways we protect your privacy
Wednesday, January 29, 2020
Keeping you safe online is a top priority at Google, especially for the thousands of Googlers who work on privacy and security around the world. Today on Data Privacy Day, we’re sharing some of the many ways we keep you safe online and across our products—from built-in protections to easy tools that keep you in control of your privacy.
1. Keep your passwords safe
Password Manager
in your Google Account helps you remember and securely store strong passwords for all your online accounts. With
Password Checkup
, one click will tell you if any of your passwords are weak—whether you’ve reused them across multiple sites, or if we've discovered they’ve been compromised in a third-party data breach—and we’ll give you the link to change them.
2. Let Google automatically delete your data
With auto-delete for
Location History
,
Web & App Activity
and
YouTube History
, you can choose to have Google automatically and continuously delete your activity and location history after 3 or 18 months. You can also control what data is saved in your account with easy on/off controls in your
Google Account
, and even delete your data by date, product and topic.
3. Use your favourite Google apps in Incognito mode
Incognito mode
has been one of our most popular privacy controls since it launched with Chrome in 2008, and last year we added it to YouTube and Google Maps. Tap from your profile picture to easily turn it on or off. When you turn on Incognito mode in Maps, your activity—like the places you search or get directions to—won’t be saved to your Google Account. When you turn off Incognito mode, you’ll return to a personalised Google Maps experience with restaurant recommendations, information about your commute, and other features tailored to you.
4. Browse the web safely with Chrome
Safe Browsing in Chrome
automatically protects you from malicious ads and warns you before you visit dangerous sites or download suspicious files. If you use Chrome, your password protections are automatically built-in. We’ll warn you if your username and password have been compromised in a known breach as you log into websites.
5. Check in on your privacy settings across your apps and devices
Data Privacy Day is a great time to check in on your privacy and security settings. Take a
Privacy Checkup
and we’ll walk you through key privacy settings step-by-step. You can do things like choose what data—such as your location and search history—gets saved to your Google Account or control what ads you see. When you’re finished, head over to
Security Checkup
for personalised recommendations to help protect your data and devices, like managing which third-party apps have access to your account data.
6. Control what ads you see from Google
We do not sell your personal information
to anyone and give you transparency, choice and control over how your information is used. If you’re curious about why you’re seeing an ad, you can click on
Why this ad
for more information. If you no longer find a specific ad relevant, you can choose to block that ad by using the
Mute this ad
control. And you can always control the kinds of ads you see, or turn off ads personalisation any time in your
Ad Settings
.
No matter how you use our products, it’s our responsibility to keep your data private and secure. That’s why we work every day to build the best privacy experiences and strongest protections, and we’ll continue our ongoing efforts to make privacy and security simpler for you.
Post content
Posted by
Rahul Roy-Chowdhury
,
Vice President of Product, Privacy
YouTube’s Ongoing Commitment to the Christchurch Call: Wellington Incident Response Workshop
Thursday, December 12, 2019
This time last week, 120 experts across Governments, companies, civil society and NGOs converged in Wellington to participate in a YouTube-hosted Incident Response Workshop. We developed the programme as part of our ongoing commitment to the
Christchurch Call
, in consultation with the New Zealand Government and the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (
GIFCT
). The Workshop aimed to
refine and strengthen the collective response
in the event of another terror attack with an online component. It was particularly important to work with civil society groups on this and the Atlantic Council played an integral role in content developing scenarios and facilitation.
Two months after the terror attack on two mosques in New Zealand, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and French President Emmanuel Macron led the launch of the Christchurch Call at a summit in Paris, as a commitment by Governments and tech companies to eliminate terror and violent extremist content online. Since then, at further meetings in Aqaba, Jordan and in New York at the United Nations General Assembly, we’ve seen continued work including the
announcement
that the GIFCT would become an independent body.
Jacinda Ardern and YouTube’s Managing Director APAC, Gautam Anand, opened the two-day workshop with an address to the attendees.
This Incident Response Workshop was the next step in the development of the Christchurch Call and it delivered on its three key objectives:
We worked in a multi-stakeholder format and developed stronger partnerships across companies, governments, civil society and NGOs.
We stress tested the Christchurch Call Shared Crisis Response Protocol - alongside other relevant protocols, against evolving risks and scenarios.
We gathered critical feedback from those present, in order to inform the future agenda of the GIFCT’s crisis response working group.
YouTube was honoured to host this workshop and will continue to work together with the GIFCT, governments and civil society to tackle these issues.
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Posted by Ross Young, Google New Zealand Government Affairs and Public Policy.
Year in Search 2019: Here’s what Kiwis searched for this year
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
As Kiwis we grinned, grew and grieved through Search this year, so as 2020 draws near, it’s time to reflect on the moments, people and existential questions that piqued our interest in 2019.
Sports tournaments, games and stars took the lead in trending searches across the country this year. We mused over musicians, paid close attention to fires, both here and abroad, and looked to Search to solve everyday problems like how to write a cover letter. Kiwis continued the obsession with keto, however ‘plant based diets’ surged to the top of our diet queries.
Watch the global Year in Search 2019 clip below.
Here’s a summary of some themes that dominated New Zealand's searches this year:
A Helpful Search
Answering the questions you either can’t or don’t want to ask someone else, Search provided helpful information to Kiwis on everything from cover letters to quinoa. Many of us wondered what is Easter, and Ramadan, and what is area 51?
Helping Kiwis with recipes, we cooked spag bol and guac with gusto, not to mention pikelets and pumpkin soup. (Doesn’t that sound like the worst dinner party ever?)
A Country of Two Halves
As we saw in 2018, Kiwi’s sports obsession continued throughout the year. Games of rugby, cricket matches, tennis tournaments and boxing champions all captured our hearts and minds. Six of the top 10 Kiwis searched are athletes, and Spark Sport and ‘Where to watch the Rugby World Cup’ helped the sports supremacy continue.
Millennial Moments
Generational divide came into stark contrast for us this year, as we collectively wondered, ‘what is a boomer?’ Millennials prevailed with Kiwi’s curiosity of local heroes Kane Williamson (let’s not talk about the cricket), Israel Adesanya and Lorde. Alongside this however, up and coming Gen Z’s, such as Billie Eilish, broke into the zeitgeist.
Local Events
Some moments found New Zealand on the world stage this year, and our Search habits show local interest in these. The Christchurch shooting and the Grace Millane case also drew international interest. We kept up with ongoing disputes at Ihumatao and a measles outbreak, and wondered what our minimum wage was.
A Changing World
News events of fires, terror attacks and cyclones all show the state of the world we’re trying to understand. Our searches show we came together for greater understanding, as we also queried how to wear a hijab and what is a mosque. Meanwhile breakout activist Greta Thunberg captured our attention, as did a newfound discovery of the ‘plant based diet’.
Check out the top trending* lists for New Zealand in 2019:
Overall
Rugby World Cup
New Zealand vs England
Cricket World Cup
Christchurch Shooting
Stuff News NZ
Spark Sport
Australia vs Pakistan
Australia Open 2019
Disney Plus
Grace Millane
Kiwis
Israel Adesanya
William Waiirua
Ryan Fox
Lorde
Kane Williamson
Anna Wilcox
Sarah Dowie
Robert Whittaker
Sonny Bill Williams
Scott McLaughlin
Loss
Grace Millane
Cameron Boyce
Pua Magasiva
Manning Smith
Luke Perry
Jeffrey Epstein
Karl Lagerfeld
Keith Flint
Etika
Jessi Combs
Global Figures
James Charles
Billie Eilish
Prince Andrew
Nipsey Hussle
Greta Thunberg
Jordyn Woods
Israel Folau
R Kelly
Pewdiepie
Marie Kondo
News Events
Christchurch Shooting
Nelson Fire
The fall of the Berlin wall
London Bridge attack
Measles
Auckland Fire
Notre Dame
Sri Lanka
Ihumatao
Cyclone Oma
What Is…
What is area 51?
What is black Friday all about?
What is a mosque?
What is lupus?
What is a boomer?
What is momo?
What is minimum wage in NZ?
What is easter?
What is the time in India?
What is ramadan?
How to…
How to watch the Rugby World Cup
How to watch Game of Thrones NZ
How to wear a hijab
How to solve a rubix cube
How to write a cover letter
How to cook quinoa
How to get rid of fleas
How to make french toast
How to take a screenshot
How to make cheese sauce
Recipes
Spaghetti bolognese recipe
Guacamole recipe
Hot cross buns recipe
Apple crumble recipe
Pikelet recipe
Playdough recipe
Pancake recipe easy
Fried rice recipe
Lasagne recipe
Pumpkin soup recipe
Diet Trends
Plant based diet
Fodmap diet
Keto diet plan
Diet doctor
Mediterranean diet
What is keto diet
Dubrow diet
Low carb diet
Vegan diet
Atkins diet
* Trending Searches: What was hot in 2019? The "trending" queries are the searches that had the highest spike in traffic over a sustained period in 2019 as compared to 2018.
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Posted by Carrie Jones, Communications Manager, Google New Zealand
Kiwi’s Top Trending YouTube Videos Revealed for 2019
Friday, December 6, 2019
It's time to hit #YouTubeRewind and check out the top trending videos for 2019.
In 2019 we revelled in the return of Sam Smith, the scandalous revelations of James Charles and recreations of Billie Eilish. We bopped to ‘
Bad Guy
’ and attempted to learn
how to create the video
clip at home!
Let’s dive into our annual look back at the year that was in online video, and reflect on the moments that captured the hearts and minds of Kiwis in 2019.
Kardashians, conspiracies and spicy wings reviews all made it into our top trending videos. Well known creators dominated our watchlist, with the confessions and investigations of
James Charles
and
Shane Dawson
. While
Gordon Ramsay
and the infamous ‘twenty bucks’
Karen
brought us entertainment with a side of colourful language.
The spectacular leaping acrobatic display by
Katelyn Ohashi
clearly captured us. As did the opportunity to jump on a bandwagon to “
Make this video the most liked video on YouTube
” (sorry guys, no luck this time).
Breakout artists of the year
Billie Eilish
and
Camila Cabelo
made our top list but we are still clearly obsessed with
Ariana Grande
(with two of her tracks in the top 10!).
And if you claim you haven’t watched or listened to
Old Town Road
- you’re a liar.
Some may have inspired a belly laugh, while others a break down. These are the videos that had Kiwi’s laughing, leering and losing it in 2019.
New Zealand’s Top Trending Videos
1.
No More Lies
2.
Katelyn Ohashi - 10.0 Floor (1-12-19)
3.
Gordon Ramsay Savagely Critiques Spicy Wings | Hot Ones
4.
Conspiracy Theories with Shane Dawson
5.
Make This Video The Most Liked Video On Youtube
6.
73 Questions With Kim Kardashian West (ft. Kanye West) | Vogue
7.
how to create billie eilish's "bad guy"
8.
New Zealand Today - Karen wants her $20 back.
9.
Minecraft Part 1
10.
Gangsters in Paradise - The Deportees of Tonga
New Zealand’s Top Trending Music Videos
While some artists returned for a second year in a row we also saw breakout stars Billie Eilish and Camila Cabella feature this year. But the great return of Sam Smith dominated.
1.
Sam Smith, Normani - Dancing With A Stranger
2.
Billie Eilish - bad guy
3.
Shawn Mendes, Camila Cabella - Señorita
4.
Lil Nas X - Old Town Road (Official Movie) ft. Billy Ray Cyrus
5.
Ariana Grande - 7 rings
6.
Khalid - Talk (Official Video)
7.
Lil Dicky - Earth (Official Music Video)
8.
Khalid, Kane Brown - Saturday Nights REMIX (Official Video)
9.
Cardi B & Bruno Mars - Please Me (Official Video)
10.
Ariana Grande - break up with your girlfriend, i'm bored
As 2020 draws near, we also take this moment to celebrate YouTube with the annual
Rewind mashup
. This year, we tried something different and looked at what you did like — a lot. Our Rewind 2019 video compiles the top videos and creators that you liked, shared, and watched the most around the world, from the biggest games to must-try beauty tutorials and breakout stars.
Check out the full video below and head over to our
Rewind site
for more!
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Posted by Carrie Jones, Communications and Public Affairs Manager, Google New Zealand
Helping Kiwi Teachers Learn Digital Skills through the Manaiakalani Education Trust
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
Back in 2013 Google New Zealand
began work
with the Manaiakalani Education programme by partnering on initiatives to help digitise education. Today we announced our continuing support of their
Digital Fluency Intensive
(DFI) which is rapidly upskilling large numbers of teachers in schools across New Zealand.
While 8 in 10 New Zealand principals say that digital technologies are positively impacting student achievement
(1)
, 72% also believe that professional development among staff presents either a “major barrier” or “somewhat of a barrier” to the use of digital technologies in schools
(2)
. That’s why schools working with Manaiakalani are combining effective teaching techniques with digital enablement to accelerate children’s learning.
Announced today at the 12th annual Manaiakalani Film Festival, Jenny Oxley from Manaiakalani Education Trust said “The Digital Fluency Intensive programme is a direct result of Google's ground-breaking support of the Manaiakalani Digital Teacher Academy innovation and is maximising the impact of the digital learning for young people through accelerating teachers’ own skill development. This is proving to be an enormous professional learning experience for these teachers and the flow-on impact on student achievement is now undeniable.”
Since 2018, the DFI has delivered over 1600 days training to Kiwi teachers across 91 schools. We look forward to seeing how this programme helps New Zealand teachers prepare for the digital future.
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Posted by Ross Young, Google New Zealand Government Relations and Public Affairs.
(1) Research New Zealand (2017)
(2) Education at a Glance. (2017). Retrieved from
https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/education-at-a-glance-2017_eag-2017-en
YouTube Creator Workshops Kick Off in Manukau
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Last week we kicked off the YouTube Creator Workshops in Manukau, Auckland, with many showing up to meet, learn and work with fellow creators from all over the city. These events are for the next generation of YouTube creators who are looking to learn how to set their channel up for success and build positive communities online.
We want to encourage and nurture budding local talent, to help them find their place on the global stage that is YouTube. With over 45% of local YouTube content being viewed from outside of New Zealand, we’re committed to supporting Kiwi creators into a career in this ever changing media environment.
Video content agency
Changer Studios
delivered the programme and shared knowledge on how to keep your voice and remain socially aware, and how to get your videos watched by the right audience. Attendees also heard from successful YouTube creators,
Torrell Tafa
and
Ben Mikha
on what they’ve learned in their years developing and putting out content.
The number of YouTube channels in New Zealand with over 100,000 subscribers, which is the point where many turn their content into a career whether full or part time, has increased by over 50% between this year and last. We want this number to continue to grow, by sharing best practice advice with budding creators on building a sustainable business on the platform, and giving them access to successful creators who have built a brand on and off YouTube.
This was the first in a series of workshops that will travel around the country. Further dates can be
found online
.
Post content
Posted by Ross Young, Government Relations and Public Affairs, Google New Zealand
Google pilot aims to provide accurate store hours in New Zealand this Labour Day
Tuesday, October 22, 2019
Starting this week, we'll start a pilot to confirm holiday hours for a small number of local businesses in New Zealand with the help of the
Google Duplex technology
. Duplex makes it possible for AI to conduct natural conversations to carry out complex tasks over the phone.
Businesses in this pilot group will receive an automated call from Google asking to confirm their hours for the upcoming Labour Day public holiday on October 28. Once confirmed, these times will automatically be updated on Google Maps and Search for anyone searching for the business info for the holiday. This not only helps people save time during busy holidays, but also ensures that businesses maximise foot traffic at their stores.
We’re also mindful of including controls for businesses. If a business wants to opt-out of receiving calls from Google, we’ll honour that. You can tell us over the phone or change your settings in
Google My Business
. As always, we’ll disclose that the business is speaking with an automated system when making a call. Business owners can also learn more about
calls from Google here
.
Post content
Posted by Scott Huffman, Google’s VP of Engineering.
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