Lights, camera, Gmail!

Posted by Julian Sonego, Consumer Marketing Manager

Last month, we invited you to join the Gmail collaborative video, pull out your video cameras and help us imagine how an email message travels around the world.

Two Rubik's cubes, a few jaunts in a bottle, beautiful sand animation, and one dog's trip to the Southernmost point of the continental US later, we'd received more than 1,100 fantastic clips from Gmail fans from more than 65 countries.

We're delighted to have received 4 clips from Australia and 2 from New Zealand.

It was impossible to fit all of the great submissions into one cut, but after hours of fun watching jugglers, firemen, camel-riders, and original animation, the edited highlights were spliced together into this video and the Google Maps API was used to put together a map showing where many of the clips came from.

You can see the final video and the Aussie /Kiwi contributions here.




A big thank you to everyone who participated!

Get more out of your AdSense!

Mel Ann Chan, AdSense Account Associate

Web publishers and bloggers - when was the last time you took a look at your Google AdSense performance? The AdSense team here in Sydney is really excited to be holding its first ever optimisation webinar for existing AdSense publishers on the 19th of September. It will be streamed live online.

We'll be sharing our most up-to-date, revenue-enhancing tips, as well as giving you the opportunity to ask questions of our optimisation specialists on all aspects of AdSense performance. We're also inviting a special guest, Richard Tribe, from www.ski.com.au who will be presenting his experience on how AdSense has helped him develop his website.

As a taster, here are the top three tips for getting the most out of your AdSense:

1. Knowledge is power - Look at your channel data to find what layout works best for your site. If you don't know what channels are, get some!
   
   
2. Size does matter – Our medium rectangles (300 x 250) and wide skyscrapers (160 x 600) are easy on the eye and attract a lot of natural attention, so maximise their beauty and add them to your site! Advertisers are in love with these formats too.
   
   
3. Integrate and conquer – Don't hide your ads - make them part of your site and you'll see your AdSense performance soar. By placing ads where they are relevant and useful to your website's community, you'll find their experience with your site actually improves.

To attend the webinar or for further details, simply drop us a line with your AdSense publisher ID here.

We hope to see you there!

Scene Kid Hairstyles

Some really nice scene kid hair images. Visit the gallery here.

Agreement with News Digital Media

Posted by Julian Persaud, Head of Business Development

Google Australia has formed partnerships with a lot of great Australian websites, large and small. Today, we're excited to announce a significant agreement with News Digital Media.

Under the agreement, News Digital Media properties (including NEWS.com.au, dailytelegraph.com.au, theaustralian.com.au, heraldsun.com.au, couriermail.com.au, perthnow.com.au, adelaidenow.com.au, themercury.com.au and regional and community newspaper websites) and FOXSPORTS.com.au will have web and site search powered by Google.

Google will also provide keyword and contextual text ads on these sites, through our AdSense program.

This means that our AdWords advertisers can now have their ads appear on News Digital Media's range of websites, contextually matched to relevant articles. Having so many of News’ assets from across the country join our Content Network in Australia is another great step for our advertisers.

We look forward to working with News Digital Media in the years ahead.

Emo Hair

The band "Refused" popularised the emo hair with their uniform appearance in this music video for the "New Noise" single.As with clothing, the hairstyles of emo kids vary depending on the individual and on his/her music influences. However, there are several common aspects of emo hairstyles.

For one, because the emo scene is very DIY-oriented, hair that is not professionally cut is considered to be more scene than hair that is. Emo kids have their friends cut their hair, or they cut it themselves. Jet black, bleached blonde, or dark hair with a reddish or purplish tinge are all very emo, as is hair with distinct sections of contrasting colors (all-over black hair with a section of bleached blonde in the undermost layer of the back is quite common).

Emo hair is short-ish, and does not differ much from gender to gender. It is common for boys and girls to have oily and/or shaggy hair that covers the eye and reaches the shirt-collar. Boys usually wear theirs unkempt and girls may wear clips on the front. It is common for both to have bangs cut straight across their browridges, and swept to one side.

The most common emo hair

What is most commonly implied by the term "emo" in reference to hair is dyed jet-black hair that is sloped to cover, or partially cover, one of the eyes (usually the right eye). Sometimes this is known as the "emo comb-over", because the way the emo hair sweeps from the back of the head looks like the way an old man would grow a patch of comb-over hair to hide a bald spot. The popularisation of this hairstyle is often attributed to the band Refused, whose members had uniform jet black hair sloped to partially obscure the right eye. The uniform dress code of the band has also been an influence of emo fashion — especially the fashioncore strand — in general.

As the term "emo" has become more and more ingrained in the popular conscience, "emo hairs" have come to include a much wider array of styles. These more complex styles are largely associated with the fashioncore style of emo fashion and are most commonly sported by scene kids.

The Scene/Devilock haircut

AFI frontman Davey Havok with what is commonly referred to as the Havok Devilock. The origins of one of the most popular emo hairstyles are largely attributed to The Cure, The Misfits and AFI. Robert Smith of The Cure had his long hair drooping over his eyes, but had the back slightly shorter and spiked out. Jerry Only of The Misfits invented a haircut in the late 1970s/early 1980s known as a "devilock" which involved the hair to be cut short, but leaving the fringe to grow very long and to be combed forward over the eyes. Only, guitarist Doyle and former lead singer Glenn Danzig all wore the style and dyed their hair black. Most members of The Misfits have sported the style or one similar at one point or another. During the "All Hallows EP" and "The Art of Drowning"-era, AFI frontman Davey Havok used to have a haircut that mixed these two styles together, cutting his hair short by way of the standard hardcore punk shirt and spiky haircut, but left only his immediate fringe to grow long, at least down to his chin. He also dyed his blond hair black from a very young age. Since the appearance of this variation of the devilock, the two have been given names: The Only Devilock and The Havok Devilock. These two, and in particular Havok's variation, are an obvious precursor to what has become known as "scene" hair.

The neo-mullet

Lostprophets guitarist Mike Lewis sports a neo-mullet. Also referred to as a skewed mullet or 90-degree mullet, this is an updated version of the much-derided classic mullet haircut. The basic "business at the front, party in the back" cut is often modified with a longer piece of hair on one side at the back, whilst the front section of the cut often partially obscures one eye (most commonly the "tail" at the back slopes to the left while the fringe slopes to the right). This haircut is commonplace amongst both male and female scene kids. The hair is almost always dyed jet black, and it is then commonplace for sections to be highlighted either blonde or red.

Maps, maps, maps and more maps

Posted by Carl Sjogreen, Senior Product Manager

Becoming a "tab" on the Google homepage is like graduating from University - for a product at Google, its a sign that you've really arrived, proven your stuff, and are now ready to be showcased to the millions of people who use Google every day.

We're pleased to announce that as of today we're making Google Maps Australia available as a link (or tab as we call it) on the Google Australia homepage. This means that access to our maps, local search results, and driving directions are now just one click away.

There's been a mountain of great news and new Google Maps features in Australia recently. From easily embeddable maps to the Aussie engineers behind the product, to draggable driving directions, to Mapplets, local business reviews and more

The team here in Sydney has been working hard on making Google Maps the best mapping product out there - both globally and for our Australian users.

The fact that we've got a team of dedicated Googlers based here who can listen to your feedback and make enhancements quickly helps set us apart. More and more Australians are using Google Maps daily, and we're eager to hear your feedback as we continue in our efforts to make Google Maps the easiest to use, most comprehensive and most innovative map of Australia.

Happy mapping!

Emo Hair 01

This emo hairstyle is accompanied with dark eye makeup and a light colored face. You can place a temporary tattoo of a teardrop underneath the visible eye.

Photo Storage and Sharing Made Easy

Posted by Christine Knight, Creative Maximiser (Retail, media and entertainment team)

There was a time when going on holidays might result in you taking a few rolls of film, developing them into a hundred or so snaps, which may or may not make it into a photo album to be shown to friends who come around for dinner.

On my last trip, I took over 2,000 photos … in three days. Welcome to the dilemma of the digital age – how to store, edit, access and share your digital photos.

This is where we step in. Google has developed Picasa and Picasa Web Albums, free applications to take care of all your photo needs.

One of the best things about using the Google suite of products is that they seamlessly let you move your files from one to the other. With Picasa, you can quickly upload your photos, view them in easy-to-manage folders and perform basic editing (like removing red eye, adjusting lighting and changing images from colour to sepia or black and white).



It’s then a quick step to email photos to friends at your desired resolution, upload them to your blog, order prints online, print you faves, make a collage or slideshow or export them. You can also upload your photos to your Picasa Web Album.



Picasa Web Albums gives you 1GB of free storage to showcase and share your photos online. You can create a slideshow, map your photos to show friends where the pics were taken, set albums as public or private, and send an email to your friends with a link to your albums. Your friends can download your photos – full-size – and leave comments.



Is 1GB enough space, I hear you say. If you decide it isn’t, you now have the option of purchasing extra storage. Plans start at $20/year for 6GB, with larger plans ranging up to 250GB.

More info about emo boy Tom Falcone

Tom actually recently cut his hair off, but in the picture it was a short-medium length shaggy cut. A few layers in the front so it can be swept off to the side. Actually if you go to CIWWAF's myspace, or I think Tom still has some older pictures up on his myspace that show his hair better than my picture does. Like I said he's recently cut it short but I prefer the longer style he had going a few months ago.

As for what I know about him, he's only about 5'5"-5'7", brown hair, brown eyes. He honestly is one of the sweetest guys I've met. He's a bit shy, but if you can find him I highly recommend talking to him. He's incredibly nice and gives the best hugs. Very gracious too.

got this tru email
thanks to Andraea

July's top gainers

Posted by Rafe Petkovic, Google Business Solutions Team

The top gaining Google Australia searches in July included everything from underwear to skiing to US sailors stopping over in Sydney for one night only…

Interest in Australian fashion came alive in July. Alex Perry's dresses won him a spot in the top fifteen. At the other end of the skin-covering scale, what better place to look for underwear than on Google? Australians BRIEFly searched for them via local brand Aussiebum, famous for their cheeky range of men's underwear!

Australians love their sport - there's no denying that. So it didn't come as a shock that Google users desperately wanted live AFL scores or that the results of the Wimbledon tennis tournament were a high priority, perhaps they just wanted to see if it had stopped raining there! Now we can't forget about NRL: West Tiger's player Benji Marshall made his comeback from a shoulder injury.

Impatient Harry Potter followers wanted to get in on the Harry Potter leak and find the answer to the question that everyone wants to know; who will die?

Actor/singer and overall teen sensation Ashley Tisdale proved herself worthy of her inclusion in Teen People's 25 hottest stars under 25, by coming in as the fifth top gaining query on Google Australia.

From teeny boppers to rock. My Chemical Romance guitarist Frank Iero played his way into people's hearts with a mixture of punk attitude, black eyeliner and musical talent of course!

Gossip lovers found Deborah Hutton's relationship with former Hockeyroo player Danni Roche fascinating. The USS Kittyhawk's impending arrival to Sydney's shores raised the eyebrows of many others, bringing with it more then 7000 sailors.

Boys and their toys; Transformers 2007 have won back the hearts of many with the release of the new blockbuster hit movie based on the children's toys and cartoons. Those who didn't want to watch the movies, chose to watch their investments instead, with the stockmarket another top gaining query.

With the Sydney Opera House on the shortlist to be a new wonder of the world, Australians searched on Google to find the original Seven Wonders of the World. In other history news, many Australians searched for details of the anniversary of the the French Revolution (Bastille Day).

And with ski season upon us, Jindabyne accommodation was of interest for skiing enthusiasts.

For breaking news and obscure information alike, people around the world search on Google. What follows is a summary of Google Zeitgeist results for the top gainers on Google.com.au in the month of July.

For more information, visit the Google Zeitgeist and Google Trends.

Top gainers for July:

1. Seven Wonders of the World
2. Danni Roche
3. Stockmarket
4. Live AFL scores
5. Ashley Tisdale
6. Bastille day
7. Aussiebum
8. Transformers 2007
9. USS Kittyhawk
10. Harry Potter leak
11. Frank Iero
12. Wimbledon
13. Alex Perry
14. Benji Marshall
15. Jindabyne accommodation

Googlers go surf offline

Posted by Shaden Mohamed, Creative Maximiser (Travel Team)

On Sunday 12 August, in the heart of Sydney’s CBD, 64,000 enthusiastic participants flocked to the starting line of the Sun Herald’s annual City to Surf.


In a bid to raise much needed money for the youth-focused charities of Australia, fitness junkies and amateurs alike travelled 14km on foot, from Hyde Park to the shores of Bondi Beach.

This year, a new health initiative entitled “Google 4 Life” organised a team entry, with 20 Googlers and their families taking part in the grueling run (or in my case, walk!).

Although most of us were separated during the course of the race, we were all exposed to the same pleasures (and pains!) - from quirky costumes, random roof-top bands, copious amounts of Gatorade, to the battle to conquer the infamous Heartbreak Hill.

The Google team crossed the finish line with smiles and pride. The day was a huge win for both the participants and the recipients of the generous donations and funds raised during the day.

Congratulations to the Googlers and all other Sydneysiders who participated – I look forward to seeing you at the next fitness charity event!

Blonde: Shorter than Shoulder Gallery

Another gallery for emo girls with blonde hair shorter than shoulder. The usual emo hair for females: cut short, just above the shoulders. Tips and streaks are the most widely used version. Side bangs is also a common trait.

Emo: A Mosh Pit Of Sound

Sadly, a lot of people have very limited opinions (and ideas) about emotional hardcore music, or emo music. Some would even assume that for as long as the lyrics aren't clear and the lead vocalist is singing on hyper drive, then it must be emo music. What most of you didn't know is that emo developed from music recorded on vinyl. It can be considered Indie, sure, but it most probably emerged into being before they even had a name for it. With its roots in hardcore punk, emo music is bringing the core of punk music into a whole different level. With people buying more CDs, downloading stuff off the net, and investing in music hardware or software like there was no tomorrow, I wouldn't be surprised if emo music became another solid category all on its own, like pop rock or country.

You can't possibly understand emo music without taking the time to ponder on its evolution. Just like with other genres, emo has no clear-cut definition. Some would even call it a lyrical and sonic revolution. You hear these artists and bands play some kind of a distraught yet endearing sound you've never quite heard before and you find yourself actually liking it -- it's the most successful 21st century snake charmer routine to date.

Even though emo started in the 80's, the most popular emo music only came out and boomed in the 90's until the present. What started out as a fast, loud, hard, intense, and one-tracked version of punk (emocore) lead to a varied post-indie rock that more people seemed to relate better to. Bands like Jimmy Eat World started to perform across the country, had their five minutes of fame on MTV or a far-reaching alternative radio show, appeared on next-generation movie soundtracks, and before anyone knew what hit them, the mosh pit of sound was reborn.

One can expect that the appeal of emo music would vary, since people have particularly sundry tastes. The emo music scene was almost completely divided, leading to variations that only die-hard emo fans can fully grasp. On one hand, you have the heavy, faster-than-fast, noise-bouncing-off-the-walls variety which blended elements of apocalyptic chaos and neurotic grind-core with nose-bleeding screams. These bands would include One Eyed God Prophecy, Living War Room, To Dream Of Autumn, and Reversal Of Man. On another part of the pie graph, you have experimental analog synths and new wave or goth. Bands like Crimson Curse, Slaves, VSS, and Das Audience did a lot of post-emo style-rock in their time. It is also believed that this lead to the birth of an almost exclusively Californian indie sound that brought about the unique styles of bands like The White Stripes, The Hives, The Strokes, and The Faint, mixing a little 60's and 70's rock whenever they can.

To date, there is a very good collection of awesome emo music albums that everyone should listen to at least once in their lives. The self-titled LP or CD from Embrace, End On End by Rites of Spring, Lyburnum Wit's End Liberation Fly by Moss Icon, Plays Pretty For Baby by Nation of Ulysses, and the self-titled EP or CD from Heroin are only some of the first rocking emo records released.

Got this tru email

Thanks Ale00123 from Chihuahua, Mexico for sending us his picture. He is such a cute emo boy and his emo hairstyle looks great on him.

Faux Hawk

A toned-down version of the famous mohawk haircut popularized by David Beckham. Instead of shaving the side of your head, you just glue up the middle part or make the central strip of hair stand up so that it is in the style of the mohawk. The faux hawk resembles the mohawk when styled but can also, if desired, appear to be a conventional emo hairstyle.

Send us your pictures!

This blog is all about emo hairstyles. If you have an emo hairstyle and would like to be featured on this blog, just send us an email to rockenspiel@yahoo.com with your pictures. It would be nice if you add instructions on how to achieve your haircut but not really required. We would be happy to link back to your myspace or bebo profile. You could also hold a sign saying EmoHairstyle.blogspot.com :) !

Doodle 4 Google - what a response!

Posted by Ashley Gorringe, Doodle 4 Google Team


I wanted to give you an update on the Doodle 4 Google initiative that we launched a couple of weeks ago. We've had an amazing response, with over 1,300 Australian schools registering. Registrations close in a little over a week.

There's been quite a bit of media and blog interest in the initiative.

And we're thrilled that Education Departments are right behind it.

Halloween doodle 2006

If you're not familiar with D4G (our internal nickname), the program invites school children in Years 1 to 10 across the country to use the Google logo as a starting point for their own creativity around the theme of 'My Australia'. The winning student will have their 'doodle' appear on the Google Australia homepage on Australia Day 2008. The winner will also receive a MacBook for themselves and over $10,000 worth of technology equipment for their school.

We're particularly excited about the geographical spread of the schools that have registered, which range from Hobart to Darwin and everywhere between. With so many teachers and students getting behind the initiative, we estimate that over 100,000 students will be designing Google doodles.

Frank Lloyd Wright themed doodle

Needless to say, we can't wait to see what Australia means to today's generation of school kids. We've also had really positive response from teachers, who have taken the opportunity to work with their students to consider what it means to be Australian.

In terms of our next milestones, we're focused on registrations closing on August 17, then the cutoff for entries on September 7. And if you're a registered school and reading this, look out for your certificates and bookmarks, which we'll be sending out by mail later this month.

Ed: Since Ash wrote this post this morning, we're now well over 1400 schools!

A modern love

The "shag" cut, with the so called "emo sweep" at the front, sloped to cover, so only one eye is visible for most parts. Emo hairstyles does not necessarily have to be short and hidden face sort of thing though it is usually of that fashion.

Purerube

Personalized Hoodies of Pete Wentz, where to buy?

Does anyone know what brand of hoodies does Pete Wentz wear? Or does he go for customized hoodies from his Clandestine clothing line? I've been searching online but cant seem to find that much info.

The hoodies used to be sold at Urban Outfitters, but no longer is. The hoodie that is almost the exact same is being sold at an H&M store. I have one hoodie and I got it from their men's department. Too bad H&M doesn't have an online store. I want to add more hoodies to my collection.

I dig his hoodies and the guys low rise jeans he wears. I also want to have those guy clothing but I dont know where to buy. If any emo there knows, your comment is highly appreciated.

So far, only got this information:

http://www.clandestineindustries.com/ - You cant buy the hoodies online. Only listings of their stores.

http://www.bbcicecream.com/ - The clothing line of Pharrell Williams (Neptunes), and Nigo from Bathing APE. They cost around $300 - too expensive but feel great.

To ping or not to ping?

Posted by Christine Knight, Creative Maximiser

New starters at Google invariably find themselves surrounded by new terms, acronyms and ways of conducting business – including using instant messenger as a regular form of communication. We favour using our own IM applications – Google Talk and Gmail Chat – over email to quickly “ping” each other work-related messages and questions. As well as being a fast and instant way to connect and get a reply, it helps bridge the gap between international offices.


With many Australian businesses using IM as a standard form of work communication, a whole range of new etiquette issues have arisen! (I find email etiquette easy to navigate in comparison to good IM manners).

Besides the easy-to-do accidental IM-ing disasters (“I pinged the wrong person!” is a common moan heard around the office), the instant, casual nature of instant messaging applications has brought with it a minefield of questions as to IM etiquette.

Straight from the Australian Googlers’ mouths, here are a few tips you also might find useful from our office IM experiences.

1. The “I’m busy” sign. It generally means that the person is busy. Don’t IM them to say “I know you're busy, but...”.

2. Having a long/personal/meaningful message in the status bar. Remember that your co-workers will all see it. You might be the biggest Grey’s Anatomy fan in the country, but having “McDreamy Is Mine” as your IM status might not go down so well with your boss.

3. If you’re out of office, set your status to reflect your location. Those five seconds will be well spent when it means you won’t get co-workers bugging you to attend training in the Sydney office – when you’re actually in London that week.

4. Setting the status to "I'm so incredibly busy don't even think about IMing me". If you're really that busy, you should probably sign out!

5. Take advantage of the great features like the ability to set a “nickname” or “alias” instead of using the user’s actual email address. For example, your friend’s name/alias is “K007kid”, you can just make it display as "Steve" on your end and stop those “who on earth is that again?” moments.

6. It’s great to get instant attention and feedback from colleagues when matters are urgent, especially when dealing with colleagues in other countries and time zones. But if it’s going to require you writing an essay, put it in an email.

7. Begin your chat with “Do you have minute?” or, “Need to ask you a quick question”, rather than diving straight into the topic. Think of it like having a conversation with someone in person. If you wouldn’t say it to their face, don’t say it over IM.

8. IMing complicated questions to the person who sits behind you. Come on now. It’s not that hard to just turn around.

To finish up, here is a heart-warming story of how one Googler used IM to (accidentally) find love. Remember it next time you ping the wrong person and wish there was a “Ctrl Z” function for IM. You never know where that random ping may lead!

“My would-be fiancé had started working in my office a few days before, and I'd added her as an IM contact. One day I sent a “funny” IM to an old friend, with an alphabetically similar name. I realised quickly that I'd sent it to her, and rereading it, I realised that it was something that really shouldn't be said to someone you've just met. It was pretty horrible. Unexpectedly, however, it ended up breaking the ice. That was four years ago, and we get married next September.”

See more at the Google Talk blog.

Build Your Campus Competition

Posted by Will Blott, University Programs Manager

The Build Your Campus in 3D Competition has launched in Australia and New Zealand! If you're a college or university student in either country, this is your opportunity to show off your university. All you have to do is model your campus buildings in Google SketchUp, geo-reference them in Google Earth, and submit them through the SketchUp competition website. The winning teams will earn eternal online glory and an all-expenses-paid visit to our office in Sydney.

To enter the competition, you must be a college or university student in Australia or New Zealand, and you must be at least 18 years old. You can take on the project yourself or enlist the help of your classmates, and to do your best possible work, we suggest that you have a faculty advisor. The deadline for entries is October 31st, 2007.

We've recruited a really great panel of judges to help us determine the winners, including Andrew Carter of Utile Design, Karl May of Turner & Associates, and Andrew Maynard of Andrew Maynard Architects. Visit the competition website to learn more about best practices, see example models, and peruse a whole pile of Frequently Asked Questions.

You might not know that a similar Sketchup Competition just ended in the U.S. and Canada; you can read all about it. Check out the winning models, and get ready for some friendly, cross-Pacific rivalry.

We can't wait to see what you create. Good luck and happy sketching!

Emo Model: Pete Wentz

Emo boy Pete Wentz recently signed a deal with DKNY to make his Clandestine Industries clothing line available to all emos. An emo inspired clothing line - the dark hues and texture of rock and roll with dark denim and leather, but mixing it up with softer fabrics and feminine pops of color. Now we can buy the same hoodies he wear.

Another Blue Hair

Emo or anime? Blue hair on a female emo girl tends to indicate shyness or introversion, a correspondence which seems to have originated with Ami "Sailor Mercury" Mizuno from Sailor Moon. - tvtropes.org