Google Drive: Updates for iOS and Android

Cross-posted from the Official Google blog.

Every day, more and more people are choosing to live online and get things done in the cloud. To help make this experience as seamless as possible, Google Drive is one place where you can create, share and keep all your stuff. Drive is available on the web, as well as Mac, Windows, Android and iOS.

Updates for iOS
Starting today, if you’re using the Drive app on your iOS device you can edit Google documents, just as you can with the Android app. From your iPhone or iPad, you can create a new document, edit an existing one or format text. And just like on your computer, you’ll be able to see other people’s edits instantly as they’re made.



You’ll also notice other new improvements to the iOS Drive app. For example, you can now view Google presentations on your iPhone or iPad, including speaker notes, full-screen mode and the ability to swipe between slides. You can also create new folders, move files into folders and upload stuff (like photos and videos) from your device directly in the Drive app.

Updates for Android
We’re also updating the Drive app for Android phones and tablets today. You can now add comments, reply to existing comments and view tables in your Google documents. And you’ll have the same new abilities to view presentations and organize your stuff as your friends with iPhones do.

More to come...
Looking ahead, we have plenty more planned for the Drive mobile apps—including native editing and real-time collaboration for Google spreadsheets. Stay tuned.
Get Drive in the App Store for your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch and visit the Play Store to get the latest on your Android phone or tablet. To learn more about Google Drive, visit drive.google.com/start.

Posted by Anil Sabharwal, Senior Product Manager

Read More Here...

Hanging out at the Brisbane Writers Festival

+Google Play partnered with the +Brisbane Writers Festival to bring together readers with their favourite authors, including Claire Bidwell Smith, +Toni Jordan, +Chris Flynn, +Chris Turney, +Krissy Kneen and +Peter Barry, in a series of interviews via Hangouts on Air from the Brisbane Writers Festival over the weekend of 8th and 9th September.

Some of the highlights of the weekend included Professor Chris Turney unexpectedly pulling out a replica skull of the Hobbit from his backpack to describe the expedition he took part in which lead to the discovery of the remains of this prehistoric human being.

Chris Turney showing his hobbit replica skull at the Brisbane Writers Festival

After the Hangout, author Chris Turney tweeted that for him hangouts are “a complete game changer” - http://goo.gl/7WQw8

In another Hangout we had Toni Jordan admitting that as a novelist, she could be compared to her heroine, the con artist in Fall Girl, whose compulsive lies could be construed as great, believable story-telling.

Claire Bidwell Smith, a grief counsellor, explored the five stages of grief in her memoir The Rules of Inheritance.  It’s an incredibly raw piece of writing, and her advice for people going through a similar loss was riveting.  And as a US visiting Australia for the first time, her passion for our sausage rolls is entertaining.

Krissy Kneen reminded us that she does not write erotica but does write pornographic texts. Her explanation of how to differentiate the two is enlightening.  She discussed the impact of EL James and what is like when she meets her readers knowing that they are familiar with the intimate details of her sex life thanks to her memoir Affection.

If you didn't manage to see them live, you can view the G+ Hangouts on YouTube.

Inspired to get back into reading?  The Brisbane Writers Festival featured some very well known authors and you can check out some of their bestselling books from the festival here on Google Play.

Happy Reading!

Posted by Louise Sherwin Stark and Leticia Lentini - We read books for Google

Read More Here...

YouTube’s next generation of creators and brand builders

Rob Nixon, a former airport ground-crew worker from Perth turns his passion for cooking into a career and an audience of 100 million worldwide. Arlene Zelina, a 22-year-old singer-songwriter from Melbourne scores a record contract with a global pop superstar. Natalie Tran, a Sydney media and arts graduate, amasses an audience bigger than the Royal Wedding.

These are today’s media superstars. They’re using the sight, sound and motion of video to reach the 800 million people around the globe who tune into YouTube every month. They’ve become experts in building communities, inviting their audience in to participate in the creation of their content and brand.

The last few days successful Aussie YouTube partners came to Sydney to share their experience and knowledge with advertisers, media companies, other content creators and their fans at our series of YouTube Next events. At these events we’re also celebrating the seven-year evolution of YouTube and looking at the possibilities for our video platform in Australia.

Today, two thirds of online Australians are on YouTube every month and one in five say they now visit YouTube every day. And no surprise for smartphone loving Aussies, one in three Australian YouTube views happens on a mobile device, and this number is growing fast. We love watching Mighty Car Mods DIY car modification videos on our tablets in bed.

Click here or on the image below to check out some highlights from our YouTube NEXT kick-off event at Luna Park on Wednesday night.

Arlene Zelina performing at YouTube NEXT

We’re overwhelmed by the unlimited creativity and curiosity of the growing YouTube community and thanks to our collaboration with AFTRS we’re excited to offer a free, one-day workshop for young creatives like MGPactionsports at our Sydney office to learn how to become the next YouTube star.

We’re excited to see how Rob, Natalie, Arlene and the tens of thousands of other Australian YouTube partners will take it to the next level.

Lucinda Barlow, Head of Marketing Google Australia & New Zealand, recently watched How to order KFC like a boss

Read More Here...

Explore with the Knowledge Graph carousel in Australia

[Cross posted from the official Inside Search Blog]

Last month, we showed how you can now get answers to your questions with the help of the Knowledge Graph even when the best answer is not just a single person or thing, but a collection or list of items. When looking for [cedar point rides], you see a carousel of popular roller coasters at the amusement park, drawing on our Knowledge Graph and the collective intelligence of the Web. The feature was initially available in English on google.com, and we’re now taking our first steps to make it available more widely around the world. Over the next couple days, we’ll begin showing the carousel for factual lists to our English users on all Google domains across the world.

This works for a variety of locally interesting lists like [Russel Crowe Movies] and the [Cast of Home and Away] or more general queries like [saturn’s moons] or [dog breeds]. The carousel makes it easy to explore the items in the list -- it stays attached to the top of the search results page so you can flip through the items easily and dive in deeper if something catches your interest. Happy exploring!

Read More Here...

Become a ‘YouTube Star in a Day’

Today’s guest blogger is Martin Brown, Head of the National Open Program at AFTRS. Martin is a highly regarded filmmaker who has worked as an art director, co-producer and lead producer on feature films such as Strictly Ballroom, William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet (starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes) and Moulin Rouge (starring Nicole Kidman).

This Sunday the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) is partnering with YouTube to deliver a free, exclusive one-day workshop at the Google Sydney office to help filmmakers ages 16-18 become YouTube’s next overnight sensations.

AFTRS is Australia's national screen arts and broadcast school, with an alumni list that is a veritable who's who of the Australian film industry. For example, one of AFTRS alumni, Damien Power, was showcased as a finalist in YouTube’s Your Film Festival in Venice last weekend with his touching film “Bat Eyes.”

At the workshop, our experts on YouTube will be sharing their top tips and tricks for making the most of videos, teaching you how to make the digital leap from being a hit at your local school to achieving global superstardom.

In addition to AFTRS’ teachers, YouTube sensations Christiaan and Nick from Bondi Hipsters will also be hosting sessions on content production at the masterclass on Sunday. You might remember Nick from his original internet sensation “Beached Az” and the duo together in their more recent videos such as “Bondi Hipsters: On Recreational Sports”.

Participants in the 'YouTube Star for Day' workshop will learn about:

• Next generation content
• Broadening opportunities as a YouTube creator
• Getting a start on YouTube
• Building channels and audience
• Scripting ideas
• Camera, lighting and sound techniques
• The rules of production

Places are filling quickly, so, if you’d like to be involved you need to register your interest very soon! Here are the details for the event:

WHO: 16-18 year olds

DATE: Sunday September 9, 2012

TIME: 9:00 am - 5:00pm

WHERE: Google Australia, Level 5, 48 Pirrama Road, Pyrmont, NSW

COST: Free, but places limited to 80.

To find out more, visit http://www.aftrs.edu.au/whats-on/aftrs-events.aspx

Read More Here...

Get More into: Music, On Tour

Last summer we brought you the best of the Aussie festival scene, from the chilled out vibes at St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival to Pumped Up Kicks at Big Day Out.

This year, for those who couldn’t get tickets to the epic Splendour In The Grass Festival, we brought you over 8 hours of uninterrupted live streamed content on YouTube in partnership with Virgin Mobile Australia.

We had a great response, with an impressive 440,000 playbacks and almost three million views on Virgin Mobile’s YouTube channel.

Have a look at what of some of the biggest names at this year’s festival had to say about their music passions:

We also sat down with Beth Ditto of Gossip on a quick Sydney Stopover. Her passion for duets extends well beyond the traditional chords & lyrics you might expect!

We’ve also been lucky enough to have The Killers and Linkin Park tell us the inspiration behind their newest albums during their trip down under.

We hope you’ve enjoyed getting into music as much as we have this festival season!

Ernesto Soriano, Product Marketing Manager, just watched A Guy Called Gerald Voodoo Ray

Read More Here...

That’s Good to Know!

Supporting Australians to be smart, safe and responsible online is important to us here at Google. 

Coinciding with National Child Protection Week, today, we are launching the Good to Know website, which aims to help all Australians stay safe on the internet. 

Through our partnership with The Alannah and Madeline Foundation, we have worked together to provide practical advice and helpful tips on security, safety and managing information online.

Written in clear language and featuring practical examples, the Good to Know website aims to empower users to address their online safety concerns and make more informed decisions about their internet use.

We also put together this handy booklet which gives you useful hints and tips that are easy to remember and put into action.

So, if you’re looking to brush up on ways to be smart and safe online visit www.google.com.au/goodtoknow

Posted by Ishtar Vij, Policy Counsel

Read More Here...