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Tag: Google Australia

  • Google Search May Pull Out Of Australia Over News Content

    Google Search May Pull Out Of Australia Over News Content

    Google has taken the extraordinary step of threatening to pull its search engine out of Australia if it’s forced to pay for news content.

    Google has long been at odds with news publishers. Many have tried to get the company to pay for news, but the company has made it a practice to link to and use news content without paying. Google has always claimed that news publishers benefit far more than it does from the arrangement.

    In spite of that, the company has begun caving to pressure. France has ordered Google to pay for news and the company recently set aside $1 billion to help fund partnerships with publishers.

    Google seems unwilling to give into Australia’s demands, however, according to ABC News. According to the report, Google has said it will pull its search engine if Australia moves ahead with its plans to force the company to pay.

    “If this version of the code were to become law, it would give us no real choice but to stop making Google search available in Australia,” Mel Silva, the managing director of Google Australia and New Zealand, told a Senate inquiry. “And that would be a bad outcome not only for us, but also for the Australian people, media diversity, and the small businesses who use our products every day.”

    That stance did not go over well with the government, with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison saying “we don’t respond to threats.”

    It remains to be seen how things will eventually shake out, but it’s not looking good for Google Australia either way.

  • COSBOA Joins Effort to Get Small Businesses Online

    Last month, Google Australia celebrated the first birthday of Getting Aussie Business Online (GABO) and announced that more than 50% of Australia’s small businesses are now online.

    Users can get a website for free through GABO that allows them to do business while they slumber. The service is being pitched to prospective users as a free solution from Google and MYOB.

    It also includes:

  • Free .com.au web address for 2 years
  • Free e-commerce functionality for 1 year
  • $75 free Google advertising trial

    • Despite these advances, nearly half of Australia’s 1 million small business owners remain on the sidelines of the digital economy.

    To overcome this economic disadvantage, the Council of Small Business of Australia (COSBOA) has announced they’ve joined the effort and become an official supporter of the movement. Their support will enable the program to reach small businesses in COSBOA’s network of organizations and educate them about the importance of being online.

    COSBOA was founded in 1979 and was incorporated in 1985. The organization has been noted as a strong advocate for small business issues ranging from taxation and workplace relations, to competition law and retail tenancy.

  • Google Sponsors New Computer Science Prize

    Australians who study computer science now have an added incentive to accomplish impressive things.  Today, it was announced that a certain search company will give away $10,000 once per year in the form of the Google Australia Eureka Prize for Innovation in Computer Science.

    Like many of Google’s contests, this has the potential to be both a nice gesture and a smart business move.  The first label applies because the PR certainly won’t do Google any harm; the second might fit because the prize will put the company in touch with some very smart people.

    Anyway, Google specified what it’s looking for by stating in a Google+Australia+Blog%29″>blog post, "Entries in the Google Australia Eureka Prize for Innovation in Computer Science should be cutting-edge and represent a tangible advance in their field.  The winning innovation will have the potential to improve the lives of many other Australians."

    A couple other important details: people can enter this competition either as individuals or as teams.  The main thing is that they enter by the end of May 7th.

    It should be interesting to see what sort of computer science advances occur as a result of the Eureka Prize.  The winner(s) will be announced on August 17th.