More than likely you’ve turned to Google Maps in order to find your way to destinations unfamiliar. While typically reliable, anytime you search for directions between two places on Google you will also receive the small print caution: It’s an …

YouTube has narrowed down finalists for its second YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011 to be held at the Sydney Opera House and is calling on users to vote on the best musicians.

Users can vote on the remaining 336 finalist from 46 countries over the next seven days to determine who will be going to the Sydney Opera House from March 14-20 to perform for a global audience.

New Zealand hacker Beau Butler pointed out an ancient (1999) computer bug still posed problems for web browsers all the way up to modern versions.

Internet companies down under are in a sticky situation. They’re handing Google about 80% of their search marketing spend, using Google for 82% of all online searches, and spending around AU$399 million a year. They’re playing nicely with Google, but Google refuses to play nicely back.

Google received the stamp of approval from regulators with the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission for its bid for ad serving network DoubleClick.

A case against Google’s subsidiaries in Australia and Ireland will be refiled against Google’s US operations instead.

Under the right circumstances, an air of exclusivity can create a lot of interest.  Under the wrong circumstances, it can generate a lot of shrugs.  And by blocking some Australian mobile users, MySpace seems to have earned an unhealthy mix of the two.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation will meet in Australia’s largest city in about three weeks’ time, but if you seek Google’s help to look at Sydney, you may be out of luck – Google Maps images of the area have become rather fuzzy.

Views of Australia’s well-known metropolis on Google Maps have diminished in their clarity, resulting in conspiracy theories and denials from the search company.

When I first wrote about Google Australia’s Doodle 4 Google contest, I thought it was a nice idea – “nice idea” meaning a warm-fuzzies PR initiative that not a lot of people would notice.  But people are noticing, and a new post on the Official Google Australia Blog quantifies the matter.

If you want to win a Macbook Pro, or get some artwork on the front page of Google Australia, a new contest will give you that chance.  There’s only one catch: to qualify, you must be an Australian child.

As Google develops video ID tools for YouTube, its main motivation is likely a desire to avoid lawsuits – some companies just don’t approve of the whole free-video arrangement.  But some companies do, and one Australian show even owes much of its success to YouTube.

“ninemsn is set to launch mobilise.”  Now, look closely at that sentence (or not closely at all, really), and you can guess three things – this development relates to mobile phones, Microsoft, and either Britain or Australia.

Earlier today, a feature on Google’s new Experimental Search site drew a comparison between Australian politician Kevin Rudd and Hitler.  The primary engine also caught Wikipedia at a bad time – a search for “George Washington” showed a result claiming our first president had, um, “defecated” on a stick.

Architecture is one of those subjects that appeals, on some level, to just about everybody; from your basic suburban house to St. Basil’s Cathedral, it’s just too entwined in our lives to go unnoticed.  Now architecture is being noticed by Google Earth – The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has helped design two new 3D layers for the software.

Last week, a high-ranking Google executive confirmed that the search engine company is developing a mobile phone.  Now another exec – one with even more influence – has denied the rumors.  “[B]ecoming an equipment manufacturer is pretty far from our business model,” said Vinton Cerf.

Google has gone to great lengths to defend free speech, and has protected a lot of questionable material (posted by users) on both Orkut and Blogger. It appears that Google draws the line at death threats, however, as a blog containing threats against a New Zealand politician was shut down this morning.

Disappointment reigned through the Sydney area, as Google’s scheduled flyover for photographing the Australian city had to be altered to suit aviation requirements.

In their existence, Google Maps and Google Earth have displayed quite a few odd images. Prepare to see a lot more, courtesy of the citizens of Sydney, Australia. Google is going to take some new pictures of the area, and the search engine company has not only given the public a heads up – it’s encouraged them to put on a show for the cameras.

In America, Google is pretty much omnipresent. Elsewhere in the world . . . well, it’s getting there. The search engine company has announced plans to enter Portugal in order to access the African market indirectly.

Australia may make changes to its copyright laws that, according to Google, would cause the Internet to “promptly grind to a halt.”

Google is becoming involved in yet another battle that may test its dedication to “free speech”: an Australian group has accused the company’s Blogger site of hosting what it describes as “racist and neo-Nazi content.” The group has requested that the offensive blogs be removed, but Google hasn’t budged.