“Read more.” Every year it’s one of the more popular New Year’s resolutions. But with all the time spent battling traffic, working out, or picking up groceries, there often doesn’t seem to be a minute to simply sit down with a book.

With audiobooks on Google Play, rolling out today in Australia and around the world in nine languages, you can get stuck into a page-turner without lifting a finger.

Find your next great read at an affordable price, and enjoy it across devices that include the Google Assistant – like Google Home and many others – as well as Android, iOS and the web with Google Play Books. Here’s what you need to know:

Enjoy your audiobook with your Google Assistant

Just say “Ok Google, read my book” to listen to your favorite audiobook hands free with the Google Assistant on your Google Home device, smartphone or speaker. Try “Ok Google, who is the author?” if you need a refresher, or “Ok Google, stop playing in 20 minutes” to set a timer for bedtime reading. The Google Assistant integration with audiobooks is available on Android and smart speakers in Australia.

Listen without a subscription

On Google Play, you can buy a single audiobook at an affordable price, with no commitments. You can also get a free preview of the book to make sure you’re hooked by the story and enjoy listening to the narrator’s voice.

Weave reading into your day across multiple devices

Start your morning by listening to “Ready Player One” with the Assistant on Google Home, and continue listening with the Google Play Books app on your Pixel. You can pick up where you left off no matter what device you're using, with the Assistant or the Google Play Books app—on Android, iOS, Chromecast, Android Wear, Android Auto or even your laptop. And share your favorite audiobook with everyone in the family through Family Library for no additional fee—even if they’re using a different device.

Posted by Greg Hartrell, Group Product Manager, Google Play Books 

“Read more.” Every year it’s one of the more popular New Year’s resolutions. But with all the time spent battling traffic, working out, or picking up groceries, there often doesn’t seem to be a minute to simply sit down with a book.

With audiobooks on Google Play, rolling out today in Australia and around the world in nine languages, you can get stuck into a page-turner without lifting a finger.

Find your next great read at an affordable price, and enjoy it across devices that include the Google Assistant – like Google Home and many others – as well as Android, iOS and the web with Google Play Books. Here’s what you need to know:

Enjoy your audiobook with your Google Assistant

Just say “Ok Google, read my book” to listen to your favorite audiobook hands free with the Google Assistant on your Google Home device, smartphone or speaker. Try “Ok Google, who is the author?” if you need a refresher, or “Ok Google, stop playing in 20 minutes” to set a timer for bedtime reading. The Google Assistant integration with audiobooks is available on Android and smart speakers in Australia.

Listen without a subscription

On Google Play, you can buy a single audiobook at an affordable price, with no commitments. You can also get a free preview of the book to make sure you’re hooked by the story and enjoy listening to the narrator’s voice.

Weave reading into your day across multiple devices

Start your morning by listening to “Ready Player One” with the Assistant on Google Home, and continue listening with the Google Play Books app on your Pixel. You can pick up where you left off no matter what device you're using, with the Assistant or the Google Play Books app—on Android, iOS, Chromecast, Android Wear, Android Auto or even your laptop. And share your favorite audiobook with everyone in the family through Family Library for no additional fee—even if they’re using a different device.

Posted by Greg Hartrell, Group Product Manager, Google Play Books 

Posted by Julia Donnan, Head of Hardware Marketing, Australia & New Zealand

There’s no denying 2017 was a difficult year, with several issues affecting our community and our advertising partners. We are passionate about protecting our users, advertisers and creators and making sure YouTube is not a place that can be co-opted by bad actors. While we took several steps last year to protect advertisers from inappropriate content, we know we need to do more to ensure that their ads run alongside content that reflects their values. As we mentioned in December, we needed a fresh approach to advertising on YouTube. Today, we are announcing three significant changes.

Stricter criteria for monetisation on YouTube 
After careful consideration and extended conversations with advertisers and creators, we’re making big changes to the process that determines which channels can run ads on YouTube. Previously, channels had to reach 10,000 total views to be eligible for the YouTube Partner Program (YPP). It’s been clear over the last few months that we need the right requirements and better signals to identify the channels that have earned the right to run ads. Instead of basing acceptance purely on views, we want to take channel size, audience engagement, and creator behavior into consideration to determine eligibility for ads.

That’s why starting today, new channels will need to have 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time within the past 12 months to be eligible for ads. We will begin enforcing these new requirements for existing channels in YPP beginning February 20th, 2018.

Of course, size alone is not enough to determine whether a channel is suitable for advertising. We will closely monitor signals like community strikes, spam, and other abuse flags to ensure they comply with our policies. Both new and existing YPP channels will be automatically evaluated under this strict criteria and if we find a channel repeatedly or egregiously violates our community guidelines, we will remove that channel from YPP. As always, if the account has been issued three community guidelines strikes, we will remove that user’s accounts and channels from YouTube.

This combination of hard-to-game user signals and improved abuse indicators will help us reward the creators who make engaging content while preventing bad actors and spammers from gaming the system in order to monetise unsuitable content. While this new approach will affect a significant number of channels eligible to run ads, the creators who will remain part of YPP represent more than 95% of YouTube's reach for advertisers.

Those of you who want more details, can find additional information in our Help Centre.

Manually reviewing Google Preferred 
We’re changing Google Preferred so that it not only offers the most popular content on YouTube, but also the most vetted. We created Google Preferred to surface YouTube's most engaging channels and to help our customers easily reach our most passionate audiences. Moving forward, the channels included in Google Preferred will be manually reviewed and ads will only run on videos that have been verified to meet our ad-friendly guidelines. We expect to complete manual reviews of Google Preferred channels and videos by mid-February in the U.S. and by the end of March in all other markets where Google Preferred is offered.

Greater transparency and simpler controls over where ads appear 
We know advertisers want simpler and more transparent controls. In the coming months, we will introduce a three-tier suitability system that allows advertisers to reflect their view of appropriate placements for their brand, while understanding potential reach trade offs.

We also know we need to offer advertisers transparency regarding where their ads run. We’ve begun working with trusted vendors to provide third-party brand safety reporting on YouTube. We're currently in a beta with Integral Ad Science (IAS) and we're planning to launch a beta with DoubleVerify soon. We are also exploring partnerships with OpenSlate, comScore and Moat and look forward to scaling our third-party measurement offerings over the course of the year. The challenges we faced in 2017 have helped us make tough but necessary changes in 2018. These changes will help us better fulfill the promise YouTube holds for advertisers: the chance to reach over 1.5 billion people around the world who are truly engaged with content they love. We value the partnership and patience of all our advertisers to date and look forward to strengthening those ties throughout 2018.
Posted by Paul Muret, VP, Display, Video & Analytics

From from slime to sport, covfefe to cryptocurrency and hurricanes to hot cross buns – Aussies searched for an eclectic bunch of topics this year.

’Tis that time of year again, to look back at the moments that had us fascinated, dumbfounded and over the moon in 2017. It was the year we pined for slime, whirled fidget spinners and were hungry Shepherd's pie. We celebrated sport, looked into bitcoin and mourned senseless tragedies. From cyclones to tofu to covfefe, this year’s trending searches are mix of obvious, surprising, intriguing – and downright confusing – queries.

Here's a wrap-up of six topics that caught Aussies' attention and brought us together in Search in 2017:

Fun, games and fidget spinners 

Sayonara stress balls! Fidgets spinners were the toy craze of 2017. ‘Fidget spinner’ appeared on three of the top trending lists, as Aussies asked what they are and even how to DIY. We also had a quirky obsession with slime and became quite the connoisseurs – searching for fluffy, borax-free and glue-free alternatives.

On the sports field, Aussies cheered on the tennis, horse racing, boxing, AFL, cricket and rugby. We searched on the sidelines of the Australian Open and Wimbledon and placed our bets for Melbourne Cup (which landed the top three trending searches overall).

Aussie, Kiwi and International Figures 

In Australia, Sophie Monk found true love on The Bachelorette, and first place on the list of trending searches for Aussie people. As we searched for people around the world, we danced with Ed Sheeran, hailed Wonder Woman and said goodbye to Hugh Hefner. We also bid farewell to legends of music, comedy and sport – including Chris Cornell, John Clarke and Malcolm Young.

Customs and traditions

‘How to…?’ searches show Aussies were keen to have their say on the same sex marriage vote. And in light of the change the date debate, we also asked why Australia Day is on January 26. We also wondered why our Anzac Day pub tradition, Two Up, is illegal.

The tough times 

We often turned to search in to find answers when we were lost for words. We navigated natural disasters, watching Cyclone Debbie, Hurricane Irma and Bali’s volcano. And in the wake of attacks, we showed our support through search for London, Las Vegas and Manchester.

Big questions, complex topics 

Aussies sunk their teeth into some serious subject matter in 2017. We grappled political tension in our searches for North Korea, we wrapped our heads around bitcoin – and looked to learn about Sharia Law. We also asked what DACA is (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) – and as we followed Trump’s feeds, we just had to know... what is covfefe!?

Quiche, Cod and Kimchi

It seems Aussie palettes have embraced the 80’s, as the top trending recipes included Beef Stroganoff, Chicken Cacciatore and Quiche Lorraine. Interestingly, contemporary ingredients and flavours feature across top trending lists for ‘How to make…?’ and ‘What is…?” – including eggplant, salmon, smoked cod, lentils, fennel and kimchi. Aussies also showed their health consciousness, asking what MSG is and why it is bad. And that’s just a preview.

To dive into the top trending terms of the year, check out Australia's full trending lists*:

Overall

1. Australian Open 2017 
2. Melbourne Cup 2017 
3. Wimbledon 2017 
4. Fidget spinner 
5. Cyclone Debbie 
6. iPhone 8 
7. North Korea 
8. Chris Cornell 
9. iPhone X 
10. Amazon Australia site 

News 

1. Cyclone Debbie 
2. North Korea 
3. Amazon Australia site 
4. Hurricane Irma 
5. Bali volcano 
6. London 
7. Las Vegas 
8. Manchester 
9. UK election 
10. Schapelle Corby 

Global people 

1. Harvey Weinstein 
2. Ed Sheeran 
3. Kevin Spacey 
4. Gal Gadot 
5. Floyd Mayweather 
6. Jake Paul 
7. Post Malone 
8. Pippa Middleton 
9. Boy George 
10. Macklemore 

Aussies 

1. Sophie Monk 
2. Kate Fischer 
3. Schapelle Corby 
4. Ben McCormack 
5. Dustin Martin 
6. Cassie Sainsbury 
7. Lisa Wilkinson 
8. Paul Hogan 
9. Katherine Langford 
10. Amber Sherlock 

Loss 

1. Chris Cornell 
2. Hugh Hefner 
3. Chester Bennington 
4. Tom Petty 
5. Bill Paxton 
6. David Cassidy 
7. Nicky Hayden 
8. John Clarke 
9. Rich Piana 
10. Malcolm Young 

Sporting events 

1. Australian Open 2017 
2. Melbourne Cup 2017 
3. Wimbledon 2017 
4. Mayweather McGregor fight 
5. AFL Grand Final 2017 
6. US Open 2017 Tennis 
7. Mundine vs Green 2 
8. ICC Champions Trophy 2017 
9. AFL Fixtures 2017 
10. Rugby League World Cup 2017 

How to....? 

1. How to make slime 
2. How to make a fidget spinner 
3. How to make fluffy slime 
4. How to watch Mayweather vs McGregor 
5. How to buy Bitcoin 
6. How to make slime without borax 
7. How to use Snapchat map 
8. How to unblock people on Instagram 
9. How to make slime without glue 
10. How to vote for gay marriage 

What is…?

1. What is MSG 
2. What is Bitcoin 
3. What is kimchi 
4. What is a publican 
5. What is covfefe 
6. What is a fidget spinner 
7. What is MSG and why is it bad 
8. What is Sharia law 
9. What is DACA 
10. What is good friday 

Why is…? 

1. Why is Pandora shutting down 
2. Why is Club Penguin shutting down 
3. Why is Australia Day on 26 January 
4. Why is it called Good Friday 
5. Why is Nathan Lyon Garry 
6. Why is my poop green 
7. Why is Messenger crashing 
8. Why is Snapchat down 
9. Why is two up illegal 
10. Why is my internet so slow 

Recipes

1. Beef Stroganoff 
2. Hot cross bun 
3. Hollandaise sauce 
4. Chilli con carne 
5. Chicken Cacciatore 
6. Bechamel sauce 
7. Chicken parmigiana 
8. Shepherd's pie 
9. Beef Bourguignon 
10. Quiche Lorraine 

How to cook…?

1. How to cook tofu 
2. How to cook eggplant 
3. How to cook pasta 
4. How to cook rice in microwave 
5. How to cook smoked cod 
6. How to cook silverside 
7. How to cook lentils 
8. How to cook salmon fillets 
9. How to cook fennel 
10. How to cook rhubarb 

Posted by Camilla Ibrahim, Communications and Public Affairs Manager, Google Australia and New Zealand

Google has long supported the Digital Technologies Curriculum in Australia to equip and inspire students. The Digital Technologies Curriculum focuses on computational thinking and computer science to provide students with the opportunity to develop skills needed for the jobs of the future.
Our annual CS educator professional development (PD) grant program (formerly known as CS4HS) is designed to increase access to CS education by funding computer science professional development programs for educators and support them in the curriculum implementation. More than 9,000 educators in Australia and New Zealand have benefited from training by expert PD providers dedicated to growing the confidence and skillset of new and future CS educators.
Today, we’re excited to announce our 2018 funding cycle is open to universities, schools and nonprofits in around Australia and New Zealand. Applications will close on the 2 March 2018. To learn more about the application process head to the website.
The impact of PD grants for educators
Emil Zankov, an educator at Pedare Christian College, sees his role as one to engage and build creative minds. In 2014 he set out to introduce computer science and computational thinking into classrooms around Adelaide through a Google funded CS educator PD grant.

Emil Zankov, an educator at Pedare Christian College in South Australia.

Bringing together local educators for hands on workshops and talks mapped to the digital technologies curriculum, Emil was able to “express a range of skills developed over a number of years” and he found that “having colleagues sharing their practice and then providing them time for productive discussion was seen as important and a difference to traditional conferences.”
Having now run four CS PD workshops, Emil has grown his network and developed a community of passionate educators around Adelaide to empower students with STEM skills, which he believes will allow students to “create something impactful, creative and inspirational.”
Posted by Sally-Ann Williams, engineering community & outreach manager for Google Australia https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4AflzJGclCc/Wi3mnnDGBhI/AAAAAAAABeA/y2REMjQ21-I1XlIWZMe6y5WIg0P-80eIgCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-12-11%2Bat%2B12.44.59%2Bpm.pngSally-Ann Williamsengineering community & outreach managerGoogle Australia

From herds of elephants in Kenya to penguins in the Arctic and frogs in the Amazon, the Street View Trekker has met some charming characters on its journeys around the world.  This week, Street View is venturing to Christmas Island, a remote Australian territory in the Indian Ocean, to join more than 45 million local residents for their annual trip from the forests to seas. Christmas Island’s famous, endemic red crabs have begun their once-a-year migration.



For most of the year, these land crabs stay burrowed in Christmas Island’s lush damp forests to preserve body moisture and protect themselves from harsh sunlight. But each year, they emerge from the forest to march to the sea to spawn near the coastal waters. These bright red residents wait patiently for a precise alignment of the rains, moon cycle and tides to commence their journey. They’re starting to paint the town red and Dr. Alasdair Grigg on behalf of Parks Australia, is carrying the Street View Trekker to collect imagery of this yearly miracle for all to see. The migration concludes on the ocean shores when the highest density of crabs spawn and lay their eggs in the sand—a finale forecasted for December 13.

The volume of red crabs presents unprecedented conditions for the Street View image capture. As crabs crowd the roads, boardwalks and beaches, each step must be taken with care. Fortunately, crabs have right of way on Christmas Island, and Parks Australia has built walls and fencing along roads to direct the crossers to safety.

Camilla Ibrahim, Christmas Island Crab Advocate, Google Australia & New Zealand