Improving finger dexterity for faster web browsing

This is a cross-post from the Google Chrome Blog.

Three weeks ago, we released a new stable build of Chrome which featured our biggest speed improvements to date—a 66 percent lift in JavaScript performance on the V8 benchmark suite.

However, the Chrome browser can only process data as quickly as users can tell it how to do so—i.e., type. In 1946, Stella Pajunas-Garnand set a world record by typing at a blistering 216 words per minute. Once we learned that the average Internet user ambles in at 33 words per minute—just 15.2778 percent of the existing milestone—we decided to conduct our own research into the state of finger speed and performance.

Browsing the web involves two key finger movements: the up-and-down motion of a finger pressing a key and the back-and-forth movement of a finger scrolling the wheel of a mouse. To reach a standard measurement for speed and performance, we combined eight key metrics from both movements to produce the Finger Dexterity Index (FDI), which we’ve mapped below against the V8 Benchmark:

As you can see, there have been relatively few advances in finger dexterity since Chrome’s launch, which is why we’re excited to bring you Chromercise, a new exercise regimen for your hands and fingers. Some existing finger exercise programs focus on upgrading your digits’ cardiovascular strength and musculature; others focus on dexterity. Chromercise’s unique blend of aerobic motion and rhythmic accompaniment covers all of the above while simultaneously tightening and toning your fingers’ actual appearance.

A few words of caution: be sure to stretch before and after your Chromercise workout, and only attempt the complex moves at the end of the workout video after mastering the core movements from the first half. In fact, we strongly encourage finger sweatbands throughout your workout for your comfort and the safety of those around you. And as with any fitness program, don’t forget to consult your physician before committing to a rigorous Chromercise regimen.

To learn more visit Chromercise.com today.

Posted by Chris Wright, certified Chromercise Instructor

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Fresh new perspectives for your blog

Today we’re previewing five new dynamic templates in Blogger that you’ll soon be able to customize and use for your blog. These new views use the latest in web technology, including AJAX, HTML5 and CSS3, to deliver a host of benefits to you and your readers:

• Infinite scrolling: read more posts without having to reload or click to a second page
• New layouts: different views suited to different types of blogs
• Speed: download images as you view them, not all at once in advance
• Interactivity: there are now more ways to experience and engage with blog content

Click on any of these links to take the new dynamic views for a spin on a few of our favorite blogs: Flipcard, Mosaic, Sidebar, Snapshot and Timeslide.

Flipcard

Snapshot

Mosaic

To try these views on your own blog, simply add “/view” to the end of the blog URL—for example, http://buzz.blogspot.com/view. These new views are available on all public Blogger blogs with feeds fully enabled—to learn more, including how to disable these views for your blog if you wish, please see our help center article.

We’re previewing these templates early on so we can incorporate your feedback for a wider launch soon. At that time you’ll be able to customize these templates and select one for your blog. Please let us know what you think!

Antin Harasymiv, Software Engineer, Blogger

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Getting Aussie Business Online - in Perth!

Well it isn’t every day that I get to meet the Prime Minister ... but this week we were in Perth to talk about Getting Aussie Business Online with Prime Minister Julia Gillard, and Federal Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy. They were speaking about plans for the NBN and the need for businesses to get online to take advantage of the digital economy.



The PM and the Minister reiterated that two thirds of Australians search online for small business information but only one third of small businesses has a website. The rest are missing out on the benefits of the digital economy because their customers can’t find them. There are 15,000 searches every month for “Perth cafe”.

At Google, we want to make it easy for small businesses to get online and succeed. Which is why we launched Getting Aussie Business Online with MYOB. So far, 5,600 businesses have signed up with a free website, including 500 from Western Australia.

We went to visit one of these businesses with Senator Conroy, Toys in the Park. Owned by Jan Stearne, the shop has been up and running since June last year. The walls are lined with things to fascinate any little person - there are books and games, and some really amazing fairy costumes. If that isn’t enough, there’s a play room as well.

A couple of weeks ago, you could find Jan’s shop by driving past it on Albany Highway. Today, you can find it online at toysinthepark.com.au too. She’d been thinking about getting a website since she opened the shop last year, but like a lot of business owners wasn’t sure where to start, or how much it was going to cost. Despite (in her own words) ‘not being the best on computers’ she was able to set up a website quickly and easily.

Jan told the Minister that what she liked most about her website through Getting Aussie Business Online was that she could take things one step at a time, and learn how to use the website at her own pace. ‘Before people would ring me to ask me where my shop was,’ Jan said. ‘Now they can just look at my address and find me right away’.



To set up a website, all you need is an ABN and your phone number. It easy to do, it only takes 15 minutes and you get a free website for a year and your own free .com.au domain name for two years. Once you’re up and running, you can keep adding to your site, just like Jan did - photos, a logo or banner, links to social networks or a map. You’ll receive tips and education along the way to learn how to make the best out of your presence online, all while being visible to customers turning to the Internet to find information about your business.

Bora Toska, Small Business Marketing, Google Australia

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Make Sleep Deprivation Hypertension

Those who slept only 6 hours, 42 percent more likely to have hypertension, while those used to sleeping no more than 5 hours the risk is 31 percent higher. The study reported in the journal Hypertension.
This study has recently studied women only, not in men. According to study leader, Dr. Francesco P. Cappuccio from Warwick Medical School, Coventry, these findings indicate the possibility of a special relationship of sex, decreased sleep time, and blood pressure. Even so, the reasons must be of this finding remains unknown.
Numerous studies link poor sleep quality to an increased risk of high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease. Many of these studies focused on people with breathing disorders sleep apnea (stopping breathing during sleep). However, some evidence suggests, loss of sleep without any obvious interference, is also detrimental to health.
For the study, Cappuccio and his team used data from long-term health study of 10,300 white British civil servants aged 35-55 years. The researchers focused on respondents who are free from high blood pressure in the 1997-1999 phase of the study and be assessed again in 2003-2005.
During the two-phase, 76 and 68 percent, respectively, from the original group, included in the evaluation. At reassessment, 20 percent of respondents newly diagnosed with high blood pressure and the risk is greater among women with short sleep time.
Risk factors for heart disease, such as smoking, being overweight, or sedentary lifestyle, partially contributing to the relationship. Nevertheless, free relationship between sleep and blood pressure remained.
Experts speculate that loss of sleep can contribute to high blood pressure. This is because lack of sleep makes the nervous system in a state of hyperactivity, which in turn affects systems throughout the body, including heart and blood vessels.a
According to Cappuccio team, need more research to confirm that sleep duration affects blood pressure levels, and why these effects may differ in women and men.

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Team Trev finishes the Zero Race

Last month saw the finish of the Zero Race, an 80-day race spanning 28,000km and 16 countries. Entrants drove from the starting point in Geneva to Shanghai, from Vancouver to Cancun, and from Casablanca back to Geneva. What is different about the Zero Race is that all the entrants produced zero emissions.

The Australian entrant was Team Trev from the University of South Australia, an innovative 3-wheeled electric car. There is a comprehensive web site called TREVipedia with all the info required to build a Trev. I was particularly fortunate in seeing Trev over a year ago when it was still in the prototype stage (photo above).

Team Trev has demonstrated that it is not just possible to design and build a low-cost vehicle powered by renewable energy, but that it is also possible to run it using a whole lot LESS energy. The energy cost of Trev's entire journey was less than A$400 worth of energy, incidentally electricity generated from a wind farm in South Australia.

In contrast, the best commercially available hybrid vehicles would consume over A$1,500 worth of fuel (28,000km @ 4 liters/100km = 1120 liters x A$1.40/liter = A$1,568).

Below is a photo of Trev successfully crossing the finish line in Geneva, at the United Nations Palais de Nations.

Trev's success is timely in that it reminds us of the potential of electric vehicles to transform the global transportation industry. Electric vehicles like Trev are more efficient and cheaper to operate. Imagine an entire transportation system dominated by electric vehicles. Clean; efficient; quiet.

Today in Australia there is a furious debate over the introduction of a carbon price. Instead of fixating on the short-term costs associated with a carbon price, we should be asking ourselves what we stand to lose if we don't invest in tomorrow's clean technologies. Countries that are early adopters of clean energy and electric vehicles will create substantial economic wealth.

Trev has shown that innovation in this area is alive and well in Australia. Let's embrace it!

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Earth Hour 2011: Go Beyond the Hour!

At 8:30pm tomorrow night, Saturday 26 March, lights in more than 130 countries across the planet will switch off for Earth Hour. Earth Hour events are being run around the world - including by students in Morocco, Girl Scouts in America, bank staff in Qatar and researchers in the Antarctic.



This year, Earth Hour is challenging people to go “Beyond the Hour” by committing to actions that will help make the world a better place, and to sharing these actions with the world via messages, pictures and videos online.

We're supporting Earth Hour with the global campaign with a number of Google tools and services, including a YouTube platform to promote the Beyond the Hour campaign and to share our commitments to action beyond the hour with people around the world, and with Google Grants - in-kind advertising for non-profits - to increase awareness fo Earth Hour online.

At Google Australia, we’re also committed to going Beyond the Hour. One area where we are reducing our carbon emissions is by cutting back on use of taxis and petrol-fuelled cars. Instead we're using two iMiev electric vehicles for daily travel and commuting in and around Sydney. Googlers can book these vehicles in our Google Apps Calendar system and travel pollution-free to meetings and events.

Please join us and show your support for Earth Hour by switching off your lights at 8:30 pm tomorrow, Saturday 26 March, and be sure to share your actions Beyond the Hour!

Posted by Justin Baird, Innovationist

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Spare two cents?

Published by Brett Wiltshire

We had a fantastic week in Austin during SXSW, and it was a pleasure getting to talk to so many of you who dropped by our booth and party. We always learn a lot when we get to speak with our users and it makes a big difference when we're thinking about the next exciting things to work on.

In that spirit, we thought we'd give those of you whom we weren't able to talk in person a chance to pass along your input on Blogger and the way you publish content online. So for those with a few thoughts to share and an extra few minutes lying around, please check out our quick survey.

Thanks, and we really do appreciate it!

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13 Super Nutrients in Soybeans

VIVAnews - Number 13 is identical with an unlucky number, but not for 13 nutrients contained in soybeans. Some studies say if soy is a "super food" due to a very high nutritional content and can meet the needs of the body in the portion that is almost perfect.

As reported by the Times of India, soybeans contain 13 essential nutrients. Namely, high-quality protein, omega-3 fatty acids, omega-6 fatty acids, calcium, magnesium, iron, fiber, folic acid, vitamin B1, B2, and B6, potassium and phosphorus, and zinc. According to The American Heart Association, soybean is a source of best-quality protein for vegetarians.

The content of natural cholesterol and lactose free, and essential fatty acids like omega 3 and omega 6, making the soybean is highly recommended for people with heart problems, diabetes and high blood.

Soybeans contain 45 percent high-quality vegetable protein, which is proportional to the protein in egg lipids including 18-20 percent, which is the main source of good fats or polyunsaturated fats.

Soybeans are also known to have all the essential amino acid content in the appropriate ratio. By eating 25 to 50 grams of soy per day is known to reduce levels of bad cholesterol in the blood and reduce the risk of heart disease. So, from now on, make soy as healthy snacks to your daily.

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Six Tips For Healthier Eyes

Working at a computer every day will make the eyes tired. Not to mention the activities of watching TV or playing games. All of that will have negative effects on the eye.
It's not impossible, our eyes will be quickly destroyed by the habits above. Rather than treat, it's better to prevent the eye from damage. Here are some suggestions from Dr. ophthalmologist. Bruce P. Rosenthal quoted by Fox Health:
1. Use the appropriate room lighting. Light ruanagan very influential on eye health. Berkegiatan in the room is too dark (or too light) will make your eyes have difficulty adapting to visual impairment. Customize your choice of light with needs.
2. Use natural light. Natural light the room can be obtained from sunlight. In addition, the room can also look bright with walls of bright colors, like white or pastel colors.
3. Protect eyes. Protect your eyes from radiation computer monitors and TVs using antiradiasi lens glasses. You also can use the coating on a computer monitor in order to reduce the radiation entering the eye.
4. Customize your computer settings. Computer settings can affect eye health. Adjust the brightness of the screen appropriately. Do not be too dim, not too bright. Choose the font size according to the ability of your eyes. Font size is too small or too big will only make your eyes tired.
5. Clean the TV screen and computer. Sometimes the TV and computer screens are dirty make the picture quality is impaired. Instead of your eyes become tired she made, do not forget to always clean the TV screen / computer before using it.

6. Take the right position. Both use a computer or TV, always adjust your viewing distance to screen size. Do not get damaged because of the distance your eyes are too close or too far away.

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Broadband data maps, brought to you by M-Lab

This is a cross-post from the Google Public Policy Blog.

In 2009 we helped a group of researchers and industry partners launch Measurement Lab (M-Lab), an open platform for broadband measurement tools. Over the past two years, M-Lab has grown significantly – more than 300 terabytes of data from over half a billion tests are now publicly available.

M-Lab tools help an individual understand the performance of one’s own broadband connection, but making sense of that much data in the aggregate is more complicated. That’s why we’re happy to announce that, working with M-Lab, we have developed a set of maps to help investigate such a huge dataset using Google’s Public Data Explorer.

The visualizations show measured median upload and download speeds as measured by M-Lab tools across the United States, Europe, and Australia, and you can drill down to city-level aggregates. You can also view to what extent speeds are limited by problems with users’ network connections or with their computers (or other devices).

The maps are built entirely on open data collected by Network Diagnostic Tool (NDT), an open source tool developed by Internet2 and widely deployed. The platform, the tool, and the data are all open – which means the Internet community can vet the measurement methodology, perform independent analysis of the same data, and build their own visualizations. In fact, the M-Lab data provide much more information that what’s presented in these visualizations, and we hope that our effort will help drive future research in this area.

On Wednesday, the Open Technology Initiative will be hosting a panel discussion on M-Lab in Washington, D.C. In a keynote, Vint Cerf will explain how M-Lab is helping analyze broadband performance and promote good science. For those who can’t attend in person, the event will be live-streamed via the web, starting at 10:30am, EST.

Posted by Tiziana Refice, Network Researcher, and Meredith Whittaker, Program Manager

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Searching for cake?

In my view, celebrating is always better with cake. So whether it’s a celebration with my team, a friend’s 40th or cupcakes to cheer someone up, there’s a good chance that some time soon I’ll be joining the ranks of the 15,000 or so Sydneysiders every month who search on Google for “cakes sydney”.

Two weeks ago, Cakes by Nadia in Illawong, NSW - like two-thirds of Australian businesses - didn’t have a website. So if I’d been searching, Cakes by Nadia wouldn’t have turned up in my search.

Today, Nadia is one of the more than 4,000 businesses who are now visible online to the 14 million Australian consumers who are searching for local business information after setting up a website with Getting Aussie Business Online.


Nadia is a mother of four who owns and operates her own cake-making business. She does a lot of the work for her business at night while the kids are in bed. Like a lot of small business owners, Nadia works very hard to create beautiful products and to look after her customers. But without a website, all the work she does to promote her business falls to her - and she has enough on her plate.

Now Nadia’s website can do some of her work for her - customers can see if Nadia has what they’re looking for and easily get in touch. She’s created a photo gallery of her cakes - from cakes in pretty pastel colors for baby showers to artful cupcakes with seashells and starfish for a beach party. She has a list of events, like the upcoming Sydney Bridal Fair, where she’ll be presenting. She has links to her Twitter and Facebook pages. And of course all the basics are there too - phone number, email, a map and opening hours.

To get your business online - for free, and in about 15 minutes - visit www.gettingbusinessonline.com.au. Business owners need to enter their ABN, a phone number, and a few details about their business such as street address, preferred contact method, and opening hours. Your website is then available immediately.

Right now, I’m plotting out the drive to Illawong - those Butterfrosting and Rose Cupcakes look perfect for my next-door neighbour's baby shower!

Posted by Claire Hatton, Head of Local Business, Google Australia & New Zealand

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More Flexible With Coffee

Coffee is often the choice of many people to fill his spare time. Benefits of the most popular coffee is to make the sleep lost and the spirit to come back. Padalah many other things that can be obtained when we drink coffee.

A psychologist conducted a study of Australia and the United States shows that, a cup of coffee can also lead to changes in a person's attitude. The study was conducted in a way that is quite simple. As quoted from Genius Beauty, the researchers asked for opinions from a group of objects on a matter of research. But after that, the object of study dbagi into two groups. The first group was given no coffee, and the second was given coffee.

Afterward, both groups were given different views with their opinions. The group that drank no coffee to be more 'rigid' and survive on their opinions. While on the contrary, the group that drank more easily directed. They are also being more flexible and try to find the midpoint between the new view as well as their personal opinion.

The experts concluded that coffee was also influential in changing the attitude of the object of study earlier. Coffee can accelerate blood circulation, thus reducing the stress and pressure in one's mind. Thus making them more flexible and more receptive to input from others.

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Engage your audience with Follow by Email

Posted by Ben Eitzen, Software Engineer

Fresh content is the fuel that drives the blogosphere; it keeps readers coming back to your blog. Our team is always thinking of new ways to connect users with the freshest content across Blogger, and today we’re happy to offer a new, powerful way to do just that with Follow by Email.

The Follow by Email gadget provides blog authors a simple way for their readers to subscribe to the latest hot-off-the-press updates, which are delivered directly to the reader’s inbox. When new blog content is published, all subscribed readers will receive a daily email notification of the new published posts, which includes a copy of the new content as well as links back to the actual posts.

To enable Follow by Email, click the Add a Gadget link from the Design | Page Elements tab, and then select the Follow by Email gadget which should be at the top of the list. Once you add the gadget, readers visiting your blog can then just enter their email address and click Submit.

Taking advantage of Feedburner technology, Follow by Email will also track your subscription information, such as the number of subscribers and daily views. To view these stats, log into Feedburner.com, and select the appropriate blog feed from your list.

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What’s New With Blogger

2010 was a big year for Blogger. We cemented ourselves as one of the largest blogging platforms and the sixth largest website in the world, according to Alexa. Blogger users published more than half a billion blog posts, which were read by more than 400 million active readers across the globe. We introduced template designer, real-time stats, comments spam filtering, mobile templates, web fonts, and more. And to top it all off, we were dubbed the most reliable blogging service around.

2011 promises to be another exciting year.



To start, we’re kicking things off at SXSW by giving folks a sneak peek at our next-generation user interface. The new design is not only cleaner and more modern, but it also uses Google Web Toolkit, delivering the latest in web technology.

We’ll also be showcasing our new content discovery feature that lets you uncover interesting and related content based on the topics of the blog you’re currently reading.

These are just a couple of new features we want to share with you. We look forward to unveiling more throughout 2011!

If you’re in Austin for SXSW, be sure to visit us at the Google booth—or come by and enjoy a drink with us tonight at our annual Blogger bash. 

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Google joins the 2011 Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras

We were in the mood for dancing. Along with a lot of other people!

This year, a group of Googlers joined hundreds of others in marching (and dancing) along Oxford and Flinders Streets as part of the 2011 Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras. It was the first time we’d had a float in the parade, and the first time we had been a major sponsor of the Mardi Gras Festival.

We also presented a panel session on workplace diversity at Queer Thinking, and joined 70,000-odd picnickers at the Mardi Gras Fair Day.

Google is a company that supports its LGBT employees, taking a public stand on issues that are important to our community. This is not the first year that Google has been involved in major LGBT events, and it will certainly not be the last.

We're already looking forward to next year's festival!

Posted by Verne Smith, Mardi Gras Coordinator, Google Australia & New Zealand.

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Blogger in the Down Under

Posted by Brett Wiltshire

click for the larger version!

Last week was special for all of us who work on Blogger. For the first time, our entire team came together from around the globe to sit down in one room and talk about our vision for Blogger in 2011 and beyond. We came from five different Google offices spanning four continents, many of us meeting team members in person for the first time. And since we've come to truly appreciate the value of face-to-face time with each other, we also wanted to share a photo of the team behind Blogger.

While many of us were meeting in Sydney for the first time, we left as a family closer than ever, excited about the year to come and fueled by all of the engaging conversations and innovative ideas exchanged. The future of Blogger is bright, and it has been an exercise in willpower trying to keep from spilling the beans too early on what we have in store. The good news for you and all of us though is that with SXSW on the horizon, we'll soon be making some very exciting announcements. So please stay tuned, and once again thanks for using Blogger!

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Digitising The Dawn

We’ve been commemorating International Women’s Day for a century, recognising the struggle for women’s rights in Australia and around the world. It’s a proud history, well worth discovering.

A century ago, women discovered the movement for women’s rights through publications like The Dawn. Edited and published by Louisa Lawson, The Dawn was Australia’s first journal produced solely by women, employing ten women at its height, including women printers to run its printing presses. Louisa Lawson was a pioneer for women’s rights. Close to our hearts here at Google, she was also an innovator in information technology, patenting a mailbag fastener.

Today, we discover this rich history in slightly differently ways - we search. This is what Donna Benjamin did, when researching her talk on women in technology for linux.conf.au this year. But she couldn’t find The Dawn anywhere online - she knew it was preserved in libraries around Australia, but it couldn’t be easily accessed and browsed by most Australians. So she decided to do something about it.

By the end of the conference, and with the help of the Australian Women's Archive Project, Donna had launched the #digitisethedawn campaign. Through the campaign, Donna has campaigned to raise the funds to digitise The Dawn - so that it will be preserved electronically in the National Library’s collection and accessible and able to be searched by all.

From Louisa Lawson’s descendants, to Senator Carol Brown from Tasmania, to the Chifley Research Centre, Calyx and WikiMedia, to us here at Google Australia and many others in the community, people around the country have recognised the importance of this project - and donated.

This afternoon, a chapter in this history was opened up to the world. The funds have been raised to digitise The Dawn, and make it accessible and able to be searched by the world.

Through Donna’s own pioneering efforts, we will now be able to discover this important chapter in Australia’s history, and in the history of women’s rights - by searching.

As Donna says,

[The Dawn] was the first publication that gave voice to Australian feminist politics. It is a significant publication and often cited by scholars of history and feminist thought.

It's now in the public domain, so making it available online makes it available to all. As an important primary source for the suffrage movement it might help future scholars rediscover the fight to win women the right to vote, the right to work, and the history of the struggle for equal pay.'

Posted by Alice Boxhall, Software Engineer.

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Wonders of sugar apple

VIVAnews - sugar apple store a million health benefits. Fruit is also known as custard apple or sugar apple by British sailors, one of which is useful for beauty.
Sugar apple contains antioxidants, like vitamin C, which helps fight free radicals in the body. High potassium and magnesium contained in these fruits can also protect you from heart disease, as quoted by the Times of India pages.
If you want to beautify the skin naturally, consume regular sugar apple. This fruit contains vitamin A which is beneficial to keep the skin, hair health, and improve the function of the eye.
Not only that, the fruit commonly used as a jam in the bread, it is also efficacious to control blood pressure and help normalize digestive function, cure constipation, and treat diarrhea and dysentery.
That is why it is important to include this fruit in your daily diet. This fruit contains a high magnesium, able to balance the water in the body, helps to remove acid from the joints and reduces symptoms of rheumatism and arthritis.
When often experience excessive fatigue, you can eat sugar apple. Therefore, the potassium contained in it can help fight muscular weakness.
The fruit is also beneficial for people suffering from anemia, because the fruit is high in calories. And if you want to gain weight, there's no harm in eating regular sugar apple. Sugar apple is famous for its natural sugar content, for it is better if the fruit is used as a snack or dessert you.

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Two Weeks until the YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011

This is a cross-post from the YouTube Australia blog.

In just a few days the YouTube Symphony Orchestra arrives in Sydney. The 97 orchestral musicians, winning improvisers, and Michael Tilson Thomas have been hard at work to ensure that their performances in Sydney are nothing short of extraordinary. And to give you a sneak peek, Tourism Australia has flown four winning musicians down under in advance of the full orchestra’s arrival to spend some time with some of Australia’s up and coming musical talent. The pair, Desmond from London, and Luke from NSW have completed a musical track, inspired by their journey:

The YouTube Symphony Orchestra kicks off March 15 for a week-long festival of creativity, technology and the arts. The Grand Finale is nearly sold out, but be sure to pick up your tickets at the Sydney Opera House website for any of the week’s ensemble concerts and the Saturday matinee.



This year, we’ll also be joining an additional YouTuber to jam with the YouTube Symphony Orchestra at a special, pre-finale performance at The Basement. Here’s the winning entry from Qantas’ open mic competition, Zak Gottleib:

Even if you don’t have tickets, be sure to come down to Dawes Point to watch the Opera House sails come to life during the Grand finale performance on 20 March. And stay tuned for more sneak peeks of what’s to come!



Posted by Ernesto Soriano, YouTube Team, just watched Making Tracks: Stu and Sam cycling in Canberra

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Hang with Blogger @ SXSW2011

Posted by Brett Wiltshire

The annual South by Southwest (SXSW) conference in Austin, Texas is just around the corner, and once again Team Blogger will be on the scene and hoping to mingle with as many of you as we possibly can. We’ll have a booth set up on the tradeshow floor where we’ll be showing off some exciting new things we’ve been working on, so please come find us at booth 1322 under the giant orange ‘B.’

We’re also throwing our annual SXSW bash at Six Lounge on Monday, March 14th. We’ll have great local music, some goodies to give away, and of course, free booze. And if you come visit us at the tradeshow, we just might have some VIP invites lying around if you mention this post. Doors open at 7 p.m., so come early and avoid the lines.

Please spread the word, and we’ll see you in Austin!

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Getting Aussie Business Online

For an Aussie business these days, having a website is as important as having a phone.

Millions of Australians regularly turn to the Internet to research local shops and services. They start their taxes online; there are 4,000 Google searches every day in Australia for accountants. They go online to remodel their kitchens; there are 12,000 searches every day in Australia for builders. And they look for a nearby cafe to get their morning cup of coffee; there are 30,000 searches every day in Australia for cafes.

Yet two-thirds of Aussie small businesses are invisible to Aussies online. According to research from MYOB Business Monitor, only one in three Aussie small businesses have a website. These businesses tell us they’re not online because it’s too expensive, too complicated, and they just don’t have the time.

Until 9:50am this morning, Terry Randall was one of these small business owners.



But now, Terry has a new website for his excavations business, which means customers can now find him online. Terry is the first of what we hope will be more than 50,000 Aussie businesses to set up a website through Getting Aussie Business Online.

Getting Aussie Business Online is a nationwide campaign from Google and MYOB to give a free website to more than 50,000 Australian small businesses. It’s designed to knock down the common barriers to small businesses getting online by making it easy, quick, and free to set up and maintain a website.



To set-up your website, visit Getting Aussie Business Online and enter your Australian Business Number (ABN), your business phone number, and a few details about your business such as street address and opening hours. Your site can be up and running in 15 minutes. You’ll also get a free .com.au domain for two years and resources to help you add information and features to your website over time.



We’ve long believed in the power of the Internet to help businesses thrive and to help consumers find information quickly and easily. Getting Aussie Business Online makes businesses like Terry’s visible to their customers and, in the long run, improves the Internet for all Australians.

Posted by Claire Hatton, Google Australia’s Head of Local Business

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