Google New Zealand Blog

Street View Trekker takes on the Abel Tasman and Heaphy Tracks

Monday, August 19, 2013

Together with the Department of Conservation (DOC) we are bringing the Trekker to New Zealand for the first time today to start capturing Street View imagery of two of New Zealand’s iconic Great Walks: The Abel Tasman and Heaphy Tracks.
These two Great Walks are home to some of the most spectacular views in New Zealand, and their remote trails provide an ideal setting for the newest camera system in the Street View fleet. The Trekker — a wearable backpack with a camera system on top — has been specially designed to allow us to visit and photograph places that are only accessible by foot. Once this imagery goes live on Google Maps, people from around the world will be able to virtually visit these views from the Abel Tasman National Park and the Kahurangi National Park on South Island right from their phone or computer.

The Abel Tasman and Heaphy Tracks span over 130 kilometres and each take about week to complete by skilled, fit trampers. By collecting this imagery for Street View on Google Maps, we hope to help DOC make the trails more easily accessible not only to those trampers preparing for upcoming walks, but also to anyone who wants to virtually roam the beauty of the Great Walks right from their living room. And so with winter on its last legs, off we go! Wish us luck (and some sunshine) as we embark on this new adventure in New Zealand. We can’t wait to bring this new imagery online for you to check out. Posted by Nabil Naghdy, Google Maps Product Manager, Google New Zealand

Photo Credit: Project Janszoon

Get an All Access music pass on Google Play

Thursday, July 18, 2013

With millions upon millions of songs out there, it can be a daunting task to figure out what to listen to. Sometimes you just want to sit back, press play and hear something completely new. Starting today, you can do just that with All Access, our new monthly music subscription service in Google Play. All Access gives you an unlimited pass to a huge library of music on all your devices — from all the major record companies, as well as top New Zealand and independent labels.

All Access lets you create an ad-free, interactive radio station from any song or artist you love. You can add, remove or re-order your station and see what’s coming next. Or you can browse recommendations from our expert music team and explore songs by genre. The “Listen Now” tab puts artists and radio stations we think you’ll like front and center so you can start listening the minute you open your library.

And when millions of songs just aren’t enough, Google Play Music lets you combine our collection with your own collection. You can store 20,000 songs for free online, and listen to them alongside the All Access catalogue on any Android device, or via the web at play.google.com. You can even ‘pin’ specific albums and playlists so they’re available when you’re offline.

You can try it today for free for the first month and pay only $10.99 each month after that. Regular pricing for those who sign up after August 31 will be $12.99 a month, with a 30-day free trial.

With today’s launch in New Zealand, you now can find, enjoy and share your favourite apps, games and music on your Android phone or tablet on Google Play.

Sign up for All Access today, and start discovering a whole new world of music.

Posted by Paul Joyce, Product Manager for Google Play Music

E aroha ana ki tōu reo? Tēnā, āwhinatia mai i te mahi whakawā, whakamāori hoki. Love your language? Rate it and translate it.

Monday, July 1, 2013

Five years ago we made a small but important addition to the Google New Zealand homepage: google.co.nz in Māori. A team of Googlers and awesome Māori-speaking volunteers had helped translate thousands of words and phrases so Māori language speakers and students could search the web while fully immersed in their language. At the time, it was one of the first minority languages in the world to be translated into the language of the internet age.
We recently checked in on the usage of the Māori language-version of Google, and were heartened to see that it’s being used tens of thousands of times per day! For a language that numbers only an estimated 30,000 regular speakers, this is a meaningful number of people who are making Māori part of their daily routine—and as experts will tell you, that is the best possible way of bringing an endangered language back from the brink. Far from preserving endangered languages in textbooks and museums, we need to bring them into daily life in a normal, unassuming way—from saying “kia ora” as you board the bus, to clicking "Taku Waimārie Hoki!" instead of "I'm Feeling Lucky".
But we have a long way to go before Māori is off the endangered languages list, and we think technology holds an important key. We need more Māori speakers to join us and rate translations so we can see if Māori could become a candidate for full integration into Google Translate.
Google Translate allows languages to be translated automatically, and thereby opens up worlds of knowledge that may be otherwise hidden. For minority languages such as te reo Māori, it provides more avenues for the language to be seen and used, and greater understanding for those who are unfamiliar with the language.
While ultimately Google Translate works without the intervention of human translators, right now we need a little help from native speakers to rate the initial efforts of Google Translate with Māori. If you are fluent in the Māori language, click on this link and rate as many translations as you have time for. Doing so will help us determine the viability of te reo Māori to be fully integrated with Google Translate—which could be a huge step forward for the language.
The usage of Google services in Māori shows that there are many reasons to be optimistic about the future of New Zealand's beautiful indigenous language—and far from technology further threatening it, technology is helping it. Help us make this a reality by rating some translations to see even more of the Māori language available on the web. Posted by Craig Nevill-Manning, Engineering Director, Google

Introducing Project Loon: Balloon-powered Internet access

Saturday, June 15, 2013

moonshotProject LoonCanterbury area of New Zealand

Follow our Google+ pagePosted by Mike Cassidy, Project Lead

Things you need to know about Google Apps for Education and security

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Schools and universities around the world are turning to Google Apps for Education to communicate and collaborate more efficiently. These tools are given to schools and universities for free because we are committed to supporting education and learning.
We’re also committed to protecting the privacy and security of our users — and that includes students. Here are a few important things to know about Google Apps for Education and student accounts: Google Apps for Education is not ad-supported Advertising is turned off by default in Google Apps for Education. So unless a school administrator chooses to turn ads on, students will not see any of them while using Google Apps services. Students and schools own their data The data schools and students put into our systems is theirs, and we believe it should stay that way. If an education department, school or university decides to no longer use Google we make it easy for them to take their data away. Most importantly, Google does not sell students’ — or any other users’ — information. Student accounts are separate to other Google accounts Student account information is never linked with any other consumer accounts they may open. In addition, Google Apps for Education offers schools a number of additional controls and security features. These include a 99.9% uptime guarantee, 24/7 customer support, greater storage capacity and the ability for school administrators to turn certain features on or off. As with all our accounts, we keep our users secure by filtering out spam and looking out for viruses and malware. Google Apps for Education helps thousands of schools and universities around the world to work more efficiently, collaboratively and securely. To learn more about how Google Apps for Education keeps student data secure, read our security policy.
Posted by Suan Yeo, Head of Google Apps for Education, Asia and Pacific

Forget perks and pay: IT may be the secret weapon in the war for talent

Friday, June 7, 2013

In the last few years, forward-thinking businesses have come to the same conclusion: it’s not only perks and pay that matter when it comes to attracting and keeping top talent. Up-to-date IT systems that support and encourage collaboration are also very important.

In the last year we’ve seen companies like Woolworths, Fairfax and Dick Smith move their communication and collaboration software to the cloud. These businesses cite the benefits of being able to have their remote teams work on the same document in real time, have editorial meetings via video conference or give their casual staff access to company updates and videos via their mobile phones.

Today, for the first time, we’re starting to get a clearer picture of the bottom-line benefits of giving employees the kind of IT systems that make them happy and productive. A new report from Deloitte Access Economics Australia now shows a direct link between flexible IT policies and employee satisfaction and retention.

Deloitte’s The Connected Workplace — War for talent in the digital economy shows that:

Employees who are happy with their workplace IT are one third less likely to leave the company than those who are unhappy.
Large companies with 500 employees could save up to $350,000 annually simply by investing in flexible IT policies. Over a ten year period this amounts to $2.6 million.
Similarly, small businesses could save up to $22,000 a year by investing in flexible IT policies.

The Connected Workplace report comes at a time when Australian and New Zealand business leaders are experiencing a critical shortage of skilled employees. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 20% of businesses reported that an inability to find skilled workers within the labour market or within their company was a barrier to innovation.

Deloitte found that the businesses whose employees were most satisfied with their IT policies had a few characteristics in common.

They allowed people to bring their own devices to work.
They permitted access to social media while on the job.
They let them work from home.
They encouraged them to use collaborative technology.

The report also found that when people are given the opportunity to use their workplace IT to do personal activities, they spend an equal amount of time at home doing work tasks. So every Harlem Shake may well be balanced out by 30 seconds of very productive activity later in the day.

Around the world, businesses are finding that it pays to be more flexible and let employees collaborate and work in whatever way suits them best. This includes more than 5 million businesses that now use Google Apps for Business to work from anywhere, anytime on any device. Aussie and Kiwi businesses looking to win in the war for talent may find the same.

Posted by Claire Hatton, Industry Director, Google Australia

Doodle 4 Google 2013 is open! Calling all Explorers

Monday, June 3, 2013

From today, school students can register to take part in our fourth Doodle 4 Google in New Zealand. We’re inviting school students in years 1-10 to sharpen their pencils, use their imagination and reveal their artistic talent to create a Google doodle depicting their vision for “If I was an Explorer I would...” The winning doodle will be shown on the Google homepage for a day for millions of New Zealanders to enjoy.
Since 1998, when Google founders Larry and Sergey played with the corporate logo to indicate they were going to the Burning Man Festival in Nevada, USA, Google’s team of doodlers has been creating doodles to celebrate holidays, anniversaries, and the lives of famous writers, scientists and explorers.
This year, we’ve lined up a panel of judges who are incredibly passionate about children’s art and education. Judging the initiative will be Voyager Maritime Museum’s Karen Walters, Professor Chris Turney, ASB’s Ian Boyce and back for another round of doodlin’ fun is artist Michael McCormack. These judges will select finalists across four age groups: Grades 1-3; Grade 4-6; Grades 7-8, and Grades 9-10, whose doodles will be shown online.
We’ll ask the public to vote on their favourite doodles from each age group and the winners will receive fantastic technology prizes for themselves and their schools, including laptops, tablets and $10,000 worth of technology for the National winner’s school. A Google doodler will select the overall national winner to be shown on the homepage and exhibited at the Voyager Maritime Museum, Auckland.
This year we have an extra special prize which is sponsored by ASB. A teacher from the winning doodlers school will be accompanying Professor Chris Turney on an expedition to the Antarctic to meet the local penguins and help with research projects which will emulate Mawson’s Australasian Antarctic Expedition research from a century ago. We’ll be catching all their adventures through a series of Hangouts on Air from the Google Australia +page. During June, we’re sending out information packs to every New Zealand school. To take part, please register your school by 23 August, and all doodles must be submitted by 20 September. Please visit the Doodle 4 Google website for a full listing of all the contest rules and information.
We’re so excited and can’t wait to see the doodles!Posted by Leticia Lentini, Events Magician, Google Australia and New Zealand, whose favourite doodle is Einstein’s 124th Birthday doodle from 2003.

We’ve just guessed your password : Password1234?

Monday, May 20, 2013

Oops, did we just put your password in the title of this blog? You had better change it!

Supporting Kiwis to be smart, safe and responsible online is important to us - but, sometimes it takes some tough love. As part of Netsafe’s Cyber Security Awareness Week, we’re inviting all New Zealanders to take a moment to think about their safety and security on the web - and, hopefully in the process change a password or two.

There are a few simple steps that every Kiwi can take right now to stay safe and secure online. Making sure your passwords are secure is a great place to start.

You wouldn’t want one master key that unlocks your car, opens your front door and provides entry to the jewellery in your safe - it’s the same on the web. Hackers love it when you choose a generic password and use it across every website you visit - because if they manage to find out your password they can access all the sites you care about.

It’s important to change your passwords often and to develop a variety of long passwords, which contain letters, numbers and symbols. You should also ensure that you have different passwords for each of your important accounts like email, social media and online banking.

When spending time on the web, make sure you’re using an up-to-date modern browser and only download files and visit sites that you know are safe and trust.

And finally, always lock your screen when you're finished using your computer, tablet or phone, and for added security, set it to lock automatically when it goes to sleep.

Google is investing hundreds of millions of dollars and has hundreds of security experts that are making the web safer for everyone and you can help too. If you’re looking for more advice about how to stay safe online you can read our top safety and security tips at google.com/goodtoknow.

Posted by Johnny Luu, Communications and Public Affairs, Australia and New Zealand

Explore the science of photography with local shutterbug Trey Ratcliff

Thursday, May 2, 2013

As the saying goes, ‘a picture paints a thousand words’, but behind every photo there is not only a story, but some amazing science. World renowned Queenstown-based photographer Trey Ratcliff is an expert in the science of photography and takes amazing pictures: like this Aurora Australis light show, shot from New Zealand’s South Island.

Next Wednesday, May 8th, he’ll discuss how photography brings art, light, and technology together with well-known blogger and amateur photographer Robert Scoble as well as Google Student Ambassadors from Wakatipu High School in a Google+ Hangout.
Trey, Robert and the students will look at how light and processing can be used to make pictures look really cool, how cameras and lenses capture images differently and what it takes to become a Photo Scientist.
This event is part of our Google Science Fair Google+ Hangout series featuring world renowned scientists like inventor Dean Kamen and oceanographic explorer Fabien Cousteau. The Google Science Fair is an online science competition open to students ages 13-18 from around the globe.
To tune into this Hangout On Air with Trey, simply log on to Google+ or the Google Science Fair YouTube channel at 9 am (NZDT) Wednesday May 8th.

New Zealand’s famous five – with lashings of web-savvy entrepreneurs

Thursday, April 18, 2013

As the saying goes, on the internet, no one knows you’re a dog. Or a small business. The web is a level playing field, giving small companies the same sized shopfront as much bigger organisations. Yesterday we named the five New Zealand cities and towns—Auckland, Nelson, Tauranga, Wellington, and Queenstown—whose small businesses have most wholeheartedly and enthusiastically embraced the web to grow their businesses and act bigger online than their real-world size. They are New Zealand’s inaugural eTowns, and an overall winner will be announced in May.

To find New Zealand’s most web-savvy eTowns, we looked at business’s use of websites, social media, online directory listings and online marketing to assess the sophistication of their web presence. Our winning towns are on a par with the most successful towns we see from around the world. And our small businesses—such as Decorada cake decorating in Wellington—are building globally-relevant businesses from our own backyard.

That’s great news for our economy. The web can represent big business opportunity for a small operation - according to a new report by Deloitte Access Economics in Australia, small businesses with high digital engagement are twice as likely to be growing revenue, and earn twice as much revenue per employee. They are also four times as likely to be hiring!

Congratulations to our eTown winners and we look forward to revealing the national winner in May.
Posted by Tony Keusgen, Country Manager, Google New Zealand

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