Category Archives: Australia Blog

News and notes from Google down under

Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 pack 5G speeds and so much more

Today, we hosted Launch Night In, a virtual event introducing new products from across Google that will offer a little joy, entertainment and connection for people. These products bring together the best of Google’s hardware, software and AI to deliver helpful experiences built around you. Not only are these products more helpful; they’re more affordable too. 
Our new smartphones, Pixel 4a with 5G and Pixel 5 offer more helpful Google features backed by the power and speeds of 5G.1 From Google’s latest AI and Assistant features, to the biggest ever batteries we’ve put in a Pixel, to industry-leading camera features, Pixel 4a with 5G and Pixel 5 join our much loved Pixel 4a in providing more help at a more helpful price. 

5G speeds at affordable prices 
5G is the latest in mobile technology, bringing fast download and streaming speeds to users around the world. Whether you’re downloading the latest movie2, listening to your favourite music on YouTube Music, catching up on podcasts with Google Podcast or downloading a game Pixel 4a with 5G and Pixel 5 can provide you with fast speeds at a helpful price.1 Starting at just $799 for Pixel 4a with 5G.

New camera, new lenses—same great photos 
Ask any Pixel owner and they’ll tell you: Pixels take great photos. Pixel 4a with 5G and Pixel 5 are no exception. These phones bring Pixel’s industry-leading photography features to the next level. 
  • Better videos with Cinematic Pan: Pixel 4a with 5G and Pixel 5 come with Cinematic Pan, which gives your videos a professional look with ultrasmooth panning that’s inspired by the equipment Hollywood directors use. 
  • Night Sight in Portrait Mode: Night Sight currently gives you the ability to capture amazing low-light photos—and even the Milky Way with astrophotography. Now, these phones bring the power of Night Sight into Portrait Mode to capture beautifully blurred backgrounds in Portraits even in extremely low light. 
Night Sight in Portrait Mode, captured on Pixel 
  • Portrait Light: Portrait Mode on the Pixel 4a with 5G and Pixel 5 lets you capture beautiful portraits that focus on your subject as the background fades into an artful blur. If the lighting isn’t right, your Pixel can drop in extra light to illuminate your subjects. 
  • Ultrawide lens for ultra awesome shots: With an ultrawide lens alongside the standard rear camera, you’ll be able to capture the whole scene. And thanks to Google’s software magic, the latest Pixels still get our Super Res Zoom. So whether you’re zooming in or zooming out, you get sharp details and breathtaking images. 
Ultrawide, captured on Pixel 
  • New editor in Google Photos: Even after you’ve captured your portrait, Google Photos can help you add studio-quality light to your portraits of people with Portrait Light, in the new, more helpful Google Photos editor. 
Stay connected and entertained with Duo 
To make it easier and more enjoyable to stay connected to the most important people in your life, the new HD screen sharing in Duo video calls lets you and a friend watch the same video, cheer on sports with a friend and even plan activities – no matter how far apart you are.3 And with features like Duo Family mode, you will be able to keep kids entertained and engaged with new interactive tools, like colouring over backgrounds, while you video chat. 

A smarter way to record and share audio 
Last year, Recorder made audio recording smarter, with real-time transcriptions and the power of search.4 Now, Recorder makes it even easier to share your favourite audio moments. Since Recorder automatically transcribes every recording, now you can use those transcripts to edit the audio too. Just highlight a sentence to crop or remove its corresponding audio. Once you have something you want others to hear—say a quote from an interview or a new song idea—you can generate a video clip to make sharing your audio easier and more visual than ever. 
Editing in Recorder is easy

To improve searching through your transcripts, smart scrolling will automatically mark important words in longer transcripts so you can quickly jump to the sections you’re looking for as you scroll. But most helpful of all? Recorder still works without an internet connection, so you can transcribe, search and edit from anywhere, anytime. 

The biggest Pixel batteries ever 
Pixel 4a with 5G and Pixel 5 also have all-day batteries that can last up to 48 hours with Extreme Battery Saver.5 This mode automatically limits active apps to just the essentials and lets you choose additional apps you want to keep on. 

And now, the specs 
Like all Pixel devices, security and safety are paramount in Pixel 4a with 5G and Pixel 5. Both devices come with our TitanTM M security chip to help keep your on-device data safe and secure, and both phones will get three years of software and security updates. Your Pixel also has built-in safety features like car crash detection6 and Safety Check.7
Plus, Pixel 5 is designed with the environment in mind; we used 100% recycled aluminium in the back housing enclosure to reduce its carbon footprint. You can charge your Pixel 5 wirelessly8 and even use it to wirelessly charge other Qi-certified devices using Battery Share.9 Pixel 5 also doesn’t mind a little water or dust. The metal unibody can handle being submerged in 1.5 metres of fresh water for 30 minutes.10
When you buy the Google phone, you get more from Google. Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a with 5G come with trial subscriptions to Google’s entertainment, security and storage services for new users.11 If you’re a new user you’ll get a YouTube Premium trial for 3 months, 100 GB of storage with Google One for 3 months and 3 months of Google Play Pass and Gold/Silver Status on Play Points. See g.co/pixel/4a5Goffers or g.co/pixel/5offers, as applicable, for more details.11 
In Australia, Pixel 5 will range in two colours, Just Black and Sorta Sage (selected retailers). It will retail for $999 and can be pre-ordered today from Google Store, Telstra, Optus, Vodafone, JB Hi-Fi, Officeworks and Harvey Norman, and will be available starting October 15. Pixel 4a with 5G will retail for $799 and can be pre-ordered today from JB Hi-Fi, Officeworks and Harvey Norman, and will be available from these retailers in addition to Google Store and Telstra in November ranging in Just Black. 


Looking for the Pixel’s that’s right for you? Head to the Google Store now. 

1 Requires a 5G data plan (sold separately). 5G service and roaming not available on all carrier networks or in all areas. Contact carrier for details about current 5G network performance, compatibility, and availability. Phone connects to 5G networks but, 5G service, speed and performance depend on many factors including, but not limited to, carrier network capabilities, device configuration and capabilities, network traffic, location, signal strength and signal obstruction. Actual results may vary. Some features not available in all areas. Data rates may apply. See g.co/pixel/networkinfo for info. 
2 Download speed claims based on testing videos from three streaming platforms. Average download time was less than sixty seconds. File sizes varied between 449MB and 1.3GB. Download speed depends upon many factors, such as file size, content provider and network connection. Testing conducted in an internal 5G network lab and on pre-production hardware in California in July/August 2020. Actual download speeds may be slower. Australian results may vary. 
3 Screen sharing not available on group calls. Requires Wi-Fi or 5G internet connection. Not available on all apps and content. Data rates may apply. 5G service, speed and performance depend on many factors including, but not limited to, carrier network capabilities, device configuration and capabilities, network traffic, location, signal strength, and signal obstruction. 
4 Transcription and search are available in English only. 
5 For “all day”: Maximum battery life based on testing using a mix of talk, data, standby, and use of other features. Testing conducted on two major US carrier networks using Sub-6 GHz non-standalone 5G (ENDC) connectivity. For “Up to 48 hours”: Maximum battery life based on testing using a mix of talk, data, standby, and use of limited other features that are default in Extreme Battery Saver mode (which disables various features including 5G connectivity). Testing conducted on two major US carrier networks. For both claims: Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 battery testing conducted by a third party in California in mid 2020 on pre-production hardware and software using default settings, except that, for the “up to 48 hour claim” only, Extreme Battery Saver mode was enabled. Battery life depends upon many factors and usage of certain features will decrease battery life. Actual battery life may be lower.
6 Not available in all languages or countries. Car crash detection may not detect all accidents. High-impact activities may trigger calls to emergency services. This feature is dependent upon network connectivity and other factors and may not be reliable for emergency communications or available in all areas. For country and language availability and more information see g.co/pixel/carcrashdetection. 
7 Personal Safety app features are dependent upon network connectivity and other factors and may not be reliable for emergency communications or available in all areas. For more information, see g.co/pixel/personalsafety. 
8 Qi-compatible. Wireless charger sold separately. 
9 Designed to charge Qi-certified devices. Use of Battery Share significantly reduces Pixel battery life. Cases may interfere with charging and will reduce charging speed. Charge speeds may vary. See g.co/pixel/wirelesscharging for more information. 
10 Pixel 5 has a dust and water protection rating of IP68 under IEC standard 60529. Charger and accessories are not water-resistant or dust-resistant. Water and dust resistance are not permanent conditions and may be compromised due to normal wear and tear, repair, disassembly or damage. 
11 The Google One, Google Play Pass, Google Play Points, and YouTube Premium offers are available to eligible new users with the purchase of Pixel 4a (5G) or Pixel 5. Offer expires April 30, 2021 at 11:59pm PT. See g.co/pixel/4a5Goffers or g.co/pixel/5offers, as applicable, for more details.


Posted by Matt Gaskell, Director, Devices & Services Business Organisation, Google Australia and New Zealand

Small businesses and Australia’s Media Bargaining Code

In what has been an incredibly tough year, Australia’s small and medium businesses have kept our economic engine going—protecting jobs and providing vital services in their communities. 



Throughout this time, we’ve made sure business owners know Google’s tools and services are there to help. Small businesses are using our affordable ad services to advertise where they couldn’t before, and connecting with new customers via free listings on Search and Maps. We’ve also helped businesses operate online through national digital skills training. 



As Australia starts to look towards economic recovery, we’re concerned that many of these businesses will be affected by a new law being proposed by the Australian Government—the News Media Bargaining Code—which would put the digital tools they rely on at risk. 



While we don’t oppose a code governing the relationship between digital platforms and news businesses, the current draft Code has implications for everyone, not just digital platforms and media businesses. We wanted to explain our concerns and how we believe they can be addressed in a way that works for all businesses. 



How does the Code impact small businesses? 



The draft code affects small businesses because it would weaken Google services like Search and YouTube. These services created more than 130 million connections between business and potential customers in 2019, and contributed to the $35 billion in benefits we generated for more than 1.3 million businesses across the country. But they rely on Search and YouTube working the same for everyone—so that people can trust that the results they see are useful and authoritative, and businesses know they’re on a level playing field. 



Under the draft code, we’d be forced to give some news businesses privileged access to data and information—including about changes to our search algorithms—enabling them to feature more prominently in search results at the expense of other businesses, website owners and creators. 




For example, a cafe owner might have made their way to the top spot in Search results for a particular query over time, thanks to popularity, search interest and other signals. But if the draft code became law—giving some publishers an advanced look at algorithm changes—they could potentially take advantage of this and make their web content appear more prominently in search results. 



Likewise, if you ran an independent travel website that provides advice to people on how to plan local holidays, you might lose out to a newspaper travel section because they’ve had a sneak peek at changes to how Search works. 



That’s an unfair advantage for news businesses. Businesses of all kinds would face an additional hurdle at a time when it’s more important than ever to connect with their customers. 



A bad precedent 



The draft code would also create a mandatory negotiation and arbitration model that only takes into account the costs and value created by one party—news businesses. The code’s provisions mean costs are uncapped and unquantifiable, and there is no detail on what formula is used to calculate payment. 



Regulation framed in this way would set a bad precedent. Most businesses support sensible regulation—but not heavy-handed rules that favour one group of companies over all others. Australian entrepreneurs like Mike Cannon-Brooks, Matt Barrie and Daniel Petrie have made the point that a market intervention like this would deter international companies from operating in Australia, risking jobs and investment just as we need to be focusing on the recovery from COVID-19. 



And it’s not just business leaders who’ve spoken out. Over the last few weeks, we’ve heard a cross-section of Australia’s business community, from local retailers and restaurants to YouTube creators, and we’re deeply grateful for their support. 



The way forward 



The issues with the draft code are serious, but we believe they can be worked through in a way that protects full and fair access to Search and YouTube for every Australian business. We’ve made it clear that we want to contribute to a strong future for Australian news, and we’re engaging constructively with the Government and the ACCC to try to find a resolution — making proposals for changes that would support a workable code. 



Throughout 2020, we’ve worked with business owners across Australia to help them get through the challenges of the fires and the pandemic, whether by providing digital tools, direct assistance, skills training or advice, and we hope to continue providing that support long into the future. 



We know how tough this year has been, and we’re going to keep doing everything we can to make sure that the final version of the code supports Australia’s amazing businesses.

Black Rainbow creates fund for the future

This is a guest blog post from Black Rainbow, an emergent organisation that is 100% Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQSB led. Black Rainbow is a national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, Queer, Sistergirl and Brotherboy (LGBQTISB) organisation in the pursuit of positive health and well-being for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBQTISB.


The COVID-related global health inequities faced by Indigenous and LGBTIQSB peoples as stand alone communities are becoming increasingly documented. However, data on those who identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander and LGBTIQ remain visibly absent. This absence was unfortunately no surprise, as the broader population of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples continue to be marginalised and excluded.

Black Rainbow has seen some incremental progress with Indigenous LGBTIQSB people being recognised as a distinct population group in the 2019 Close the Gap Report for the first time in its 10-year history. What happens next and how efforts are resourced and mobilised remains to be seen. As with prior Close the Gap targets, additional targets and priority reforms are inadequate and unable to respond to the needs of the Indigenous LGBTIQSB community until we know where we are at across the whole range of targets. As it stands, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQSB peoples have zero indicators of our health and well-being status across every indicator which currently only represent our non-LGBTIQSB counterparts. This includes targets across all health, well-being, education, and justice indicators. There’s much work to be done.

We are excited to share several announcements happening in the coming months.


1. Grant funding, support by Google.org, Google’s philanthropic arm

We created an Indigenous LGBTIQSB Futures Fund with the grant funding, which was part of Google.org’s global initiative to support LGBTQ+ organisations worldwide. The Futures Fund has been created to support self-selected career development and enhancement opportunities across all professions. This includes corporate, creative industries, academia and sports. The old adage that ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’ also rings true for our community and the Futures Fund is our attempt to help increase opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQSB peoples.The Futures Fund is for Indigenous LGBTIQSB community members aged 15-35 years. From 2021-25, Black Rainbow will provide grants of up to $1000 to four Indigenous LGBTIQSB recipients each year with 20 individual grants in total.


Expressions of interest for 2021 will open in October 2020. Keep an eye on our social media accounts such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and website for updates on this exciting initiative.


2. Indigenous LGBTIQSB Glossary posters


In 2019, we licensed the use of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQSB artists’ work to act as backdrops to glossary posters. Packs of six were sent out to 150+ Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander organisations nationwide. They are now available for download, free, from our website.


3. Formalisation of our board


In the next month we will be taking perhaps our biggest step forward with the formalisation of our board. For us, this process has been about learning to walk before we try to run and to ensure that our leadership group will continue to have equal weighting in our decision-making processes. Black Rainbow will also be seeking additions to our leadership group toward the end of the year with a view to incorporate valued diverse identities and experiences.


We are thankful for all who have supported us in our close to now seven-year history. Black Rainbow will continue to invest in our commitment to change for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQSB community. A community we live and breathe.


Black Rainbow
Them, They, Theirs

Environmental Insights Explorer Expands: 100 Australian councils and counting

Environmental Insights Explorer 

Reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is a crucial step in fighting the climate crisis. And cities now account for more than 70 percent of global emissions. But measuring exactly which activities—whether it’s buildings, cars, or public transport—are contributing to emissions, and by how much, is complex. Without this information, cities can neither understand the challenges they face, nor the impact of their environmental policies. 

This is the problem we’re working to solve with Environmental Insights Explorer (EIE), an online platform that provides building and transportation emissions, as well as solar potential analysis to make it easier for cities to measure progress against their climate action plans. Launched in 2018 for a handful of cities around the world including Melbourne, with Sydney, Canberra and Adelaide then added in 2019, EIE has helped councils accelerate GHG reduction efforts. Today, we’ve expanded EIE data access to thousands of cities worldwide, including 100+ Australian councils. 

To scale data access to local governments, policy makers and community groups, we’re also developing partnerships with leading Australian organisations, councils, and climate change experts. This includes a new partnership with Ironbark Sustainability and Beyond Zero Emissions to make EIE transportation data available for 100+ councils in Snapshot—a free tool that calculates major sources of carbon emissions, including stationary energy, transport, waste, agriculture, and land-use change. Snapshot allows municipalities to easily compare their sources of carbon emissions. This data integration will provide updated GHG profiles and enable local government policy decision-making for more than 86 percent of the country's population to put councils on a fast track for delivering commitments, building local resilience, and ensuring economic recovery. 
Accelerated city-wide analysis 
By analysing Google’s comprehensive global mapping data together with GHG emission factors, EIE estimates city-scale building and transportation carbon emissions data with the ability to drill down into more specific data such as vehicle-kilometres travelled by mode (automobiles, public transit, biking, etc.) and the percentage of emissions generated by residential or non-residential buildings. 
The insights that EIE provides have traditionally required many months of research, and a lot of resources for cities undertaking a climate action plan. Using Google’s proprietary data coupled with machine learning capabilities, we can produce a complete survey of a city that can be assessed very quickly. In this way, EIE allows cities to leapfrog tedious and costly data collection and analysis. 
EIE transport data now available in Snapshot for 100+ councils 

The next chapter 
Over the next few months, we’ll be working together to help Australian councils learn more about data insights from EIE and expand data coverage to more councils. We hope that by making EIE data accessible to more councils across Australia, we’ll help nurture an ecosystem that can bring climate action plans to life. 

Posted by Nicole Lombardo, Partner Development Manager, Environmental Insights Explorer

Environmental Insights Explorer Expands: 100 Australian councils and counting

Environmental Insights Explorer 

Reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is a crucial step in fighting the climate crisis. And cities now account for more than 70 percent of global emissions. But measuring exactly which activities—whether it’s buildings, cars, or public transport—are contributing to emissions, and by how much, is complex. Without this information, cities can neither understand the challenges they face, nor the impact of their environmental policies. 

This is the problem we’re working to solve with Environmental Insights Explorer (EIE), an online platform that provides building and transportation emissions, as well as solar potential analysis to make it easier for cities to measure progress against their climate action plans. Launched in 2018 for a handful of cities around the world including Melbourne, with Sydney, Canberra and Adelaide then added in 2019, EIE has helped councils accelerate GHG reduction efforts. Today, we’ve expanded EIE data access to thousands of cities worldwide, including 100+ Australian councils. 

To scale data access to local governments, policy makers and community groups, we’re also developing partnerships with leading Australian organisations, councils, and climate change experts. This includes a new partnership with Ironbark Sustainability and Beyond Zero Emissions to make EIE transportation data available for 100+ councils in Snapshot—a free tool that calculates major sources of carbon emissions, including stationary energy, transport, waste, agriculture, and land-use change. Snapshot allows municipalities to easily compare their sources of carbon emissions. This data integration will provide updated GHG profiles and enable local government policy decision-making for more than 86 percent of the country's population to put councils on a fast track for delivering commitments, building local resilience, and ensuring economic recovery. 
Accelerated city-wide analysis 
By analysing Google’s comprehensive global mapping data together with GHG emission factors, EIE estimates city-scale building and transportation carbon emissions data with the ability to drill down into more specific data such as vehicle-kilometres travelled by mode (automobiles, public transit, biking, etc.) and the percentage of emissions generated by residential or non-residential buildings. 
The insights that EIE provides have traditionally required many months of research, and a lot of resources for cities undertaking a climate action plan. Using Google’s proprietary data coupled with machine learning capabilities, we can produce a complete survey of a city that can be assessed very quickly. In this way, EIE allows cities to leapfrog tedious and costly data collection and analysis. 
EIE transport data now available in Snapshot for 100+ councils 

The next chapter 
Over the next few months, we’ll be working together to help Australian councils learn more about data insights from EIE and expand data coverage to more councils. We hope that by making EIE data accessible to more councils across Australia, we’ll help nurture an ecosystem that can bring climate action plans to life. 

Posted by Nicole Lombardo, Partner Development Manager, Environmental Insights Explorer

How Google supports the news industry

Many of you have been following developments around the News Media Bargaining Code and what it means for the Google services that you use and love. We’d like to take a step back and answer some fundamental questions we’ve heard about Google’s relationship with news and the news industry.

Just to be clear—Google does not object to the idea of an Australian Code to oversee relationships between news businesses and digital platforms. We have already made agreements to pay publishers for content through a licencing programand several Australian publishers have come on board. But what we don't agree with is a law that’s totally unworkable from a product and business perspective. We know that many voices have called for changes to the current draft law.

Now, to address some key questions we’ve heard from you about Google and news:

Question #1: How does Google use news content?
Google doesn’t “use” news content—we link you to it, just like we link you to every other page on the web—think Wikipedia entries, personal blogs or business websites. We sort through hundreds of billions of webpages to find the most relevant, useful results in a fraction of a second, and present them in a way that helps you find what you’re looking for—and then we take you to the source of that information.

Some large publishers have inaccurately accused us of “stealing” news content, but how we connect people with news content, such as articles from the Herald Sun or the Sydney Morning Herald, is no different than the way Search connects you to your footy team’s home page, a website with your favourite recipes, or official Government websites. We sent more than 3 billion clicks and visitsto Australian news publishers in 2018 - for no charge - allowing these publishers to make money by showing their own ads, showing other articles or converting people into new paying subscribers—driving an estimated $218 million worth of value. 



Question #2: Do news websites have a choice whether to appear or how to appear in search results?
Yes. Most websites want people to find their content in our Search results, but if a news site (or any other for that matter) doesn’t want to show upor wants to control what is shownon Google, they can choose to do so. They can do that whether their site is paywalled or free to view. 

 

Question #3: Does Google value news content?
Yes. We recognise its role in educating and informing Australians, and in strengthening democracy. But it represents a very small proportion of the websites that people choose to visit from our search results. And it is not financially lucrative for us.

Google makes money from ads and we don't run ads on Google News or the News Tab in Search.

Last year, only a very small percentage of Google Search queries were news-related and Google generated approximately AU$10 million in revenue—not profit—from clicks on ads against news-related queries in Australia. Most of our revenue comes from search queries for highly commercial topics, like when someone searches for 'running shoes' and then clicks on an ad. Businesses want their ads to appear against queries when a user is looking to buy a product or find a good deal. It’s these types of queries that lie at the heart of our Search ads business.

Question #4: Why do you say news queries represent a small proportion of search queries?
People come to Google to find many things, whether it's 'how to' videos, recipes, sport scores, weather forecasts, outfit ideas, or home insurance. News is only a very small part of this content, and represents a tiny proportion of search queries. In fact, we looked at all the billions of searches that Australians typed into Google over the past year, and found that just over 1% of these were news-related. Examples of news-related queries in 2019 are “federal election” or “bushfire”. Queries like “best running shoes”, “burger restaurant near me”, “Dean Lewis new album”, "flu symptoms" and most everything else you can think of, are not. 



Question #5: How does Google financially support news media businesses?
For many years we’ve helped publishers make money by providing tools and technology that helps them sell advertising on their sites. Businesses which advertise with Google can choose to have their ads appear on news publishers’ sites with a few clicks. This removes a lot of the hard work for Australian publishers and gives them access to a huge range of new advertisers - often overseas - who work with Google. Of course we pass on the vast majority of money these advertisers pay us directly to Australian publishers.

More recently we’ve created technology to help publishers drive revenue through subscriptions. In addition, we have developed the Google News Initiative, designed to help journalism adapt to the digital age. In Australia, we have partnered with the Walkley Foundation to deliver free training for up to 5,000 journalists and students in Australia and New Zealand. Nine Australian media organisations have received our Innovation Challenge and YouTube innovation funding. We also provide emergency funding to publishers impacted by COVID-19.

And importantly, in July, we announced a series of new deals to pay to license content for a new news product going live in the next couple of months.



Question #6: Hasn’t Google taken news publishers’ revenue?
Actually, an analysis recently conducted for Google by the economists at AlphaBeta, shows that the loss of newspaper revenue resulted primarily from the loss of classified ads to online classifieds businesses such as Domain, Realestate.com.au, Carsales and Seek. Between 2002 and 2018, newspaper revenue fell from $4.4 billion to $3.0 billion. Of that decline, 92% was from the loss of classified ads, and most of these classified revenues went to specialist online providers that target niches such as job advertisements, second-hand goods, or real estate listings. Almost none went to Google

Posted by Google Australia

De-classified: What really happened to newspapers

In the mid-1990s the status of newspapers as the main source of news to society felt both indisputable and permanent.
The Internet was a novelty. We accessed the web on dial-up modems, surfed pages using Netscape and searched for information on Yahoo!, Excite and Lycos. Around the same time, across the Pacific, Amazon had only just launched an obscure online bookstore. 
In 1995, I began my career as a journalist at The Advertiser in Adelaide. The web was so niche that there were fevered debates about whether we would need one “Internet terminal,” or perhaps two, for an entire newsroom.
Newspapers back then could afford to take their time with technology - there was no rush. They were unassailable and spectacularly profitable, thanks largely to classified advertising. Rupert Murdoch once described classifieds as “rivers of gold”.
Today, as we all know, the landscape is vastly different. The print rivers of gold have dried up, print circulation has sharply declined. On the face of it, the news business has never looked so vulnerable. To me, and anyone else who has worked in print or simply loves newspapers, this has been a painful process. My dad worked in newspapers - it’s in our blood.

Source: AlphaBeta
What happened?
An analysis of the revenues of newspapers over nearly two decades, recently conducted for Google by the economists at AlphaBeta, is revealing - there is no mistaking precisely how and over what time period the old business model for newspapers broke.
In 2002, Australian newspapers collected 96% of all classified advertising, which amounted to $1.6 billion. By 2018, the total classified advertising market had grown to $1.9 billion, but only 12% of that was going to newspapers - the rest has splintered off to specialist online providers such as Domain, Realestate.com.au, Carsales and Seek.
Source: AlphaBeta
Over that same period we moved from sitting at bulky desktop computers with slow connections to carrying a supercomputer in smartphone form, with instant access to news and information. Australian newspaper revenues peaked at $5.5 billion in 2007-08, just as Apple introduced the iPhone. The smartphone in our pocket, able to access the content news publishers made available for free on their websites, was almost a perfect disincentive to buying the next day’s newspaper. We now consume more news, but fewer newspapers.

Source: AlphaBeta
That’s not all that has changed, of course. Over the same period we’ve seen the transformative development of search and social media platforms. Google launched ads in 2003, and it has grown to become a global business as the web itself has expanded to hundreds of billions of pages. Facebook was founded in 2004, and today almost 3 billion people use it to connect with each other around the world. Together they earn billions of dollars in revenue from commercial advertisers in Australia.
A widely held view is that if Google and Facebook didn’t exist, much of this revenue would have stayed with news publishers - that these tech platforms directly disrupted the newspaper business model. But AlphaBeta’s research disproves that theory: it wasn’t Google or Facebook specifically, it was technology in its entirety.

Source: AlphaBeta
Search advertising is an entirely new category which allows businesses that would never have taken out a newspaper ad to reach specific audiences right at the instant they are seeking a product or service. And they only pay if a user actually clicks on their ad. Locally, Google’s advertising customers in Australia include a multitude of small and medium-sized businesses that never would have generated a substantial proportion of a newspaper’s income. If there is an incumbent publisher that has been disrupted by search ads, it’s directory operators like the Yellow Pages.
Source: AlphaBeta
The total Australian advertising market almost doubled between 2002 and 2018 from $8.9 billion to $16.6 billion, and almost all of that growth came from search and social. But to suggest that that money would otherwise have gone to news publishers would require news publishers to have built their own search engines and social platforms. They didn’t.
Every time you use Gumtree to sell a bike, browse Domain for a place to live or flick through Carsales represents the flow of money away from newspapers. Major publishers still own large stakes in these digital classifieds businesses but the revenues no longer fund journalism.
Source: AlphaBeta
However, the AlphaBeta study also offers hope. The business model that was broken is being re-made through technology: distribution, analytics, advertising, subscriptions. Reader contributions and subscriptions are transforming the economics of publishing news.
Source: AlphaBeta
Today we spend greater amounts of time than ever before consuming the news, and there are many innovative new publishers finding readers that would have struggled to get a foothold in the days of the printing press. There are even green shoots of growth amid the COVID destruction - Telum Media reported this week that more than 30 new digital mastheads have emerged just this year.
In the quarter of a century since I first began as a fledgling print journalist the news industry has been radically, often painfully, transformed. It has taken years of trial and error, but there are paths that now lead to publishing profits and prosperity.
It’s my hope that Google can continue to support the news industry, through new products which pay publishers for high-quality content, and continue the work we have been doing for almost two decades in helping newsrooms to find new audiences, engage them with compelling stories and generate new income through digital channels. 
Posted by Nic Hopkins, Google News Lab Lead, Australia and New Zealand

13 things you need to know about the News Media Bargaining Code

Last week, we shared an open letter about our concerns with the News Media Bargaining Code. We know many of you have lots of questions, so we’re taking this opportunity to address the top ones we’ve heard since publishing our letter. 


Question #1: Why is Google against this proposed law? 
We are not against a law that governs the relationships between news businesses and digital platforms. But the current draft Code is unworkable. Our concerns include: 
  1. An obligation to share details about our algorithm changes that would provide an unfair advantage to large news businesses and help them feature more prominently in organic search results at the expense of other businesses, creators and website owners. 
  2. An obligation to tell news media businesses what user data Google collects, what data it supplies to them, and how they “can gain access to the data” which Google does not supply to them, with a lack of detail on safeguards for demands from news businesses for access to sensitive data.
  3. An unfair arbitration process that ignores the real-world value Google provides to news publishers and opens up to enormous and unreasonable demands. 

Question #2: If this law is just about news, why are you talking about Search? 
The proposed law is not limited to Google News, or the news results tab. It covers “every digital platform service” of Google and Facebook that makes available news content of registered news businesses (s52B, s52L). This means it directly impacts Google Search itself. 


Question #3: Is YouTube included in the proposed law? 
Yes. The Code covers “every digital platform service” Google and Facebook provide that make available news content of registered news businesses (s52B, s52L). Australian media companies upload content to YouTube, which means YouTube will be impacted by the Code. The ACCC Chairman has also said so. 


Question #4: Why shouldn’t Google give notice of changes to your rankings and algorithms? 
We share general tips on ranking with all website owners already, but this new law would require us to give special notice and explanations to news businesses. This would dramatically worsen how you experience Google Search and YouTube: 
  1. If we are required to give one group special advice about how to get a higher ranking, they’d be able to game the system at the expense of other website owners, businesses and creators, even if that doesn’t provide the best result to you. If we want to keep our algorithms fair for everyone, we would have to stop making any changes in Australia. This would leave Australians with a dramatically worse Search and YouTube experience. 
  2. Additionally, 28-day advance notice is really a 28-day waiting period before we can make important changes to our systems. That’s 28 days before we can roll out defences against new kinds of spam or fraud. 28 days of extra delay before we can launch new features that are already available to the rest of the world. And 28 days before we can fix things that break. To illustrate: in order to give you the most relevant results when you use Search, last year, we launched 3,620 algorithm updates. 

Question #5: Will Google have to share my Search and YouTube data with news businesses? 
The Code requires us to tell a registered news business how it can “gain access to” data (s52M(2)(e)). This is data that we do not supply to them at the moment. As a reminder, you currently have control over your personal data thanks to easy-to-access tools in your Google Account. If we are required to hand that data over to news organisations, there’s no way to know what controls they will give you, nor how your data will be protected—or how it might be used by news businesses. 


Question #6: Why the sudden move to speak out publicly against this? 
We have been engaged with the Government, the ACCC and news businesses in good faith since a publisher code was first brought up last year. You can read more about the key issues we raised in our submission to the ACCC concept paper and blog posts here and here. 

Initially this new law was going to be a voluntary code of conduct, and we were making good progress on discussions with news publishers. But in April the Government shifted the goal posts and moved to a proposed mandatory Code. On July 31, the proposal became a new law. We have continued to raise our concerns and make submissions, but unfortunately these have not been reflected in this proposed law. In addition, we thought it’s important to let you know directly about the draft Code and potential harm this would cause to the services you love and rely on - including Search and YouTube. We’ve since heard from thousands of Australians who share our concerns. 


Question #7: Doesn’t the Code contain a negotiation and arbitration process to sort this out? 
Put simply, it's extremely one-sided and unfair––so unfair that no company should be asked to accept it. Just before this law was proposed we had reached agreements with several Australian news organisations to pay them to license their content. 

We're happy to pay more to license content, and want to support journalism as it transitions to a digital future, but a fair negotiation or arbitration should factor in the value both parties provide. 

Under this law the arbitrator is not required to take into account the value we provide news businesses (s52ZP(2)). Google Search referred more than 3 billion visits to news businesses’ websites last year, which is estimated to be worth around $218 million—and this doesn’t include the many other ways we support publishers. The arbitrator is also not required to look at the significant costs we incur in providing our services, or the value of comparable deals, which would be the starting point for any standard arbitration. 

All it looks at is the news organisation’s costs, its content’s value to Google, and whether the payment would put an undue burden on the digital platform. That means bigger news organisations with higher costs and more content will get paid more. Because of all this, the law is set up to encourage enormous and unreasonable demands. 


Question #8: Are you going to charge for your services? 
No. We never said that the proposed law would require us to charge Australians for Search and YouTube. What we did say is that Search and YouTube, which are free services, are at risk in Australia. 


Question #9: Why are you saying your services are at risk? 
First, the very nature of our search engine and YouTube is to surface the best information. If one group is given special information and notice, and can game the rankings at the expense of others, we can’t provide the best service. Having to disclose information about ranking would harm our services in Australia and around the world. 

Second, the proposed law contains provisions that are difficult to comply with while providing a useful service, and if we can’t, the law imposes ruinous fines and liability - up to 10 percent of our turnover for each breach of the law. 

Third, the arbitration is set up to encourage news businesses to make unreasonable and exorbitant financial demands. News queries account for just over 1% of our total search queries in Australia. We have news partners in other countries, as well as countless other categories of websites and content that people search for. It simply isn’t viable for us, or any digital platform, to pay unreasonable and exorbitant amounts to one group in one country. 


Question #10: Why won’t you just shut down Google News like you did in Spain, or remove Australian news websites? 
This proposed law is written extremely broadly. If we show Australians any content from any “news publisher” (defined to include any “website”) in the world, we must also show all news content of news businesses registered under the Code. For this purpose, "news" is defined very broadly - way beyond what most of us would consider “news”. This includes covering issues that are of ‘interest to Australians’, including foreign news and citizen journalism - which go well beyond traditional journalism to capture all kinds of information, blogs, videos and websites. That means we’d have to undertake a mass cull of content globally to stop them being visible to Australians - we’d have to remove all foreign newspapers, bloggers, YouTube citizen reporters, but also sports reporting, discussions of global health issues, tweets about current events, and literally endless other types of content from all sources around the world. 


Question #11: Shouldn’t news businesses get a say on how their content is used? 
Of course. All websites can opt out of appearing in Search results, including news media sites, and we share guidance on how to do this. But we find not many news businesses take that step because they value the free referral traffic they get which they can then monetise through ads and new subscribers. If they want to be featured in Search, they can customise how they show up - decide the length of the short summary (called a snippet) of their content, add or remove images or videos. The snippet is then automatically generated from the content, designed to emphasise and preview the page content that best relates to a user's specific search. We've also been working on a new product in which we would pay news publishers for content that they would curate, while still driving traffic to their websites. 


Question #12: What next? 
We help more than 20 million Australians and over one million businesses in Australia. We have invested significantly in this country. We are proud to work with the Government and others to contribute to our economic recovery and a growing digital economy. So we want to make the law workable. At the moment it’s simply not, for the reasons we outlined in our Open Letter and above. We’ll keep working to impress this upon the Government and will keep raising our concerns so Australians know where we stand. 


Question #13: Where can I read more? 
It’s good that there’s now a robust public discussion about this important issue. 
As a start, here is the ACCC’s Draft Legislation. 
And here is a thorough article by an independent media analyst.

Google Supports Scams Awareness Week

This year, #scamsweek2020 comes at a time where many of us are spending more time at home, and are using a plethora of new apps and communications tools to work, learn, access information, and stay connected with loved ones.  We are joining the ACCC Scamwatch team this week to promote the importance of identifying and managing online security risks - some of which we do on your behalf without you even realising and some of which we ask you to make an informed decision about. 


When people first started staying home due to COVID-19 earlier this year, our advanced, machine-learning classifiers saw 18 million daily malware and phishing attempts related to COVID-19, in addition to more than 240 million COVID-related spam messages globally. Our security systems have detected a range of new scams circulating, such as phishing emails posing as messages from charities and NGOs, directions from “administrators” to employees working from home, and even notices spoofing healthcare providers. Our systems have also spotted malware-laden sites that pose as sign-in pages for popular social media accounts, health organisations, or even official coronavirus maps. 


To protect you from these risks, we've built advanced security protections into many Google products to automatically identify and stop threats before they ever reach you. Our machine learning models in Gmail already detect and block more than 99.9 percent of spam, phishing and malware. Our built-in security also protects you by alerting you before you enter fraudulent websites, by scanning apps in Google Play before you download, and more. But we want to help you stay secure everywhere online, not just on our products, so we’re providing these simple tips, tools and resources.



Know how to spot and avoid COVID-19 scams
With many of the COVID-19 related scams coming in the form of phishing emails, it’s important to pause and evaluate any COVID-19 email before clicking any links or taking other action. Be wary of requests for personal information such as your home address or bank details. Fake links often imitate established websites by adding extra words or letters to them—check the URL’s validity by hovering over it (on desktop) or with a long press (on mobile).

Tips to Avoid Common Scams

Use your company’s enterprise email account for anything work-related
Working with our enterprise customers, we see how employees can put their company’s business at risk when using their personal accounts or devices. Even when working from home, it’s important to keep your work and personal email separate. Enterprise accounts offer additional security features that keep your company’s private information private. If you’re unsure about your company’s online security safeguards, check with your IT professionals to ensure the right security features are enabled, like two-factor authentication.



Secure your video calls on video conferencing apps
The security controls built into Google Meet are turned on by default, so that in most cases, organisations and users are automatically protected. But there are steps you can take on any video conferencing app to make your call more secure:
  • Consider adding an extra layer of verification to help ensure only invited attendees gain access to the meeting.
  • When sharing a meeting invite publicly, be sure to enable the “knocking” feature so that the meeting organiser can personally vet and accept new attendees before they enter the meeting.
  • If you receive a meeting invite that requires installing a new video-conferencing app, always be sure to verify the invitation—paying special attention to potential imposters—before installing.



Install security updates when notified
When working from home, your work computer may not automatically update your security technology as it would when in the office and connected to your corporate network. It’s important to take immediate action on any security update prompts. These updates solve for known security vulnerabilities, which attackers are actively seeking out and exploiting.



Use a password manager to create and store strong passwords
With all the new applications and services you might be using for work and school purposes, it can be tempting to use just one password for all.  In fact, 69% of Aussies admit to using the same password across multiple accounts, despite 90% knowing that this presents a security risk. To keep your private information private, always use unique, hard-to-guess passwords. A password manager, like the one built into Android, Chrome, and your Google Account can help make this easier.



Protect your Google Account
If you use a Google Account, you can easily review any recent security issues and get personalised recommendations to help protect your data and devices with the Security Checkup. Within this tool, you can also run a Password Checkup to learn if any of your saved passwords for third party sites or accounts have been compromised and then easily change them if needed.


You should also consider adding two-steps verification (also known as two-factor authentication), which you likely already have in place for online banking and other similar services, to provide an extra layer of security. This helps keep out anyone who shouldn't have access to your accounts by requiring a secondary factor on top of your username and password to sign in. To set this up for your Google Account, go to g.co/2SV.


Posted by Samantha Yorke, Government Affairs and Public Policy Senior Manager, Google Australia

Boost your bass and share your sounds, with Pixel Buds

Today, we’re dropping new features for Pixel Buds to help you customise your sound experience, find your earbuds more easily if you misplace them and get more done with your earbuds—including an experimental feature that alerts you to what's going on around you even when you have your Pixel Buds in. 


Personalise your audio experience 
When Pixel Buds launched earlier this year, we heard people wanted more control and customisation over their audio experience. So today, we’re introducing bass boost1 and sharing detection1 to give you more options to use Pixel Buds in a way that’s unique to you. You can enhance your bass directly in the Pixel Buds settings, and if you decide to share one of your earbuds with someone, you no longer have to sacrifice your volume preferences thanks to sharing detection. When on, sharing detection automatically detects when you're sharing an earbud with someone and you can both individually swipe on your respective earbud to control your own volume. So whether you’re listening to music or watching a movie with a friend, you can seamlessly share your Pixel Buds. 
Translate, transcribe and transform your conversations 
Building on the helpfulness of Pixel Buds’ conversation mode translate feature, which helps when you’re talking back and forth with another person, the new transcribe mode lets you follow along by reading the translated speech directly into your ear, helping you understand the gist of what’s being said during longer listening experiences. Launching initially for French, German, Italian and Spanish speakers to translate English speech, transcribe mode can help you stay present in the moment and focus on the person speaking. Transcribe mode works best in a quiet environment where one person is speaking at a time. For example, simply say “Hey Google, aiutami a capire l’inglese”2 to start listening, and optionally follow along on your phone screen to see the translated transcript. 


More helpful features 
If your dog barks, baby cries or an emergency vehicle drives by with sirens ringing, Attention Alerts3—an experimental feature that notifies you of important things happening around you—lowers the volume of your content momentarily to alert you to what’s going on. 
We launched ring my earbuds earlier this year so you can hear where your Pixel Buds are if you’ve misplaced them. Now, you can see them too. We’ve added an update to Find My Device4 that will show you the last known location of your Pixel Buds on a map even when they’re no longer connected to your Android phone. 
Ask Google Assistant 
Google Assistant on Pixel Buds is becoming even more helpful by allowing you to do more with your earbuds while on the go. Now, you can ask Google to turn touch controls on and off, so you don’t have to worry about accidentally triggering them. Just say, “Hey Google, turn off touch controls”5 or adjust settings in the Pixel Buds app. And you can now ask Google Assistant to help check your battery life by saying "Hey Google, what's the battery level on my earbuds?”5 
All of this begins rolling out today to Pixel Buds users. To learn more, head to the help center. 



1 Requires a device running Android 6.0 or newer.
2 Requires an Assistant-enabled Android 6.0+ device, a Google Account and an Internet connection. Data rates may apply. Transcribe mode translates from English to Spanish, German, French and Italian. Translation is not instantaneous. For available languages and minimum requirements, go to g.co/pixelbuds/help. 
3 Requires a device running Android 6.0 or newer. Attention Alerts may not detect all instances of supported alerts, and similar sounds may be mistaken for alerts. Attention Alerts should not be relied upon in circumstances that have potentially serious consequences, such as when personal injury or property damage may result.
4 Requires Google Pixel Buds paired with Fast Pair to a phone running Android 6.0 or newer, with location history enabled. 
5 Requires an Assistant-enabled Android 6.0+ device, a Google Account and an Internet connection. Data rates may apply. For available languages and minimum requirements, go to g.co/pixelbuds/help.


Posted by Tricia Fu, Product Manager, Google