 There has been lots in the press lately about the fight between the Australian Government and Google over the proposed media bargaining code (where Google would have to pay to host news content).
In particular, Google (or, should I say, Alphabet) has this week threatened to withdraw the Google Search Engine from Australia if the government proceeds with its plans. Here is an article explaining this issue: So how would you search for content in the absence of Google?
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 Club members Sylvia S had a question about Google at this week's iPad & iPhone user group session.
She had recently received an email to say that her Google account was nearly full and that, if she doesn’t clean it out, she will soon be unable to send/receive emails for her Gmail account. Her question was: “How do I work out what is filling up my Google account and then clear out storage”. While it may just be a lot of mail that is filling up the Google account, it can sometimes be other content that is the culprit – for example, photos. So, where do you go to look at the content of your Google account? 15/4/2020 0 Comments How to tell Google to only search for 'recent' content, or only Australian content When Googling to get answers to your questions, or to search for a variety of online content, you often want to limit the results that you see to be only recent posts - whether that be posts from the last month, year, or some other period.
A perfect example came up today during a client visit. This client who wanted to find an ABC Podcast that was broadcast within the last month. His Google search returned a lot of results that related to past content on the topic, but not the one he was looking for. How could he ensure that he only saw results from the last month? And for cases where you only want to see results from local businesses and services, how can you limit the results to show only Australian posts and pages? 22/3/2020 0 Comments How to ensure your child can't see inappropriate content in Google Search - especially on a school-provided computer With so many children schooling from home at the moment - and therefore on their computers for many more hours of the day - it is important to ensure that they cannot access - either deliberately or accidentally - inappropriate content, particularly through Google searches and Google Images.
Many school-provided computers will not allow you to set up parental controls, especially in Google Chrome. But you can at least set up something called SafeSearch. SafeSearch stops inappropriate content from being presented to children when they do a Google search. Here are the steps involved in setting up Google's SafeSearch: 22/3/2020 0 Comments How to stop Google from backing up Desktop, Documents and Pictures folders and filling up your storage If you are a Google Drive user, you have the capability to sync your Google Drive files to your computer - so that they are accessible from your Mac Finder or Windows File Explorer, even when you don't have internet.
I love this feature, as it allows easy editing of Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents using my Desktop apps. To do this, you download and install the Google Backup and Sync service. However, it is important to understand the settings associated with this service once it is installed.  When you download the Google Photos app to your mobile device, you may inadvertently turn on a feature that causes your device's photos to automatically sync to your Google cloud.
If you already use iCloud Photos on iOS, or some other sync service like Dropbox or OneDrive, there may be no real need to do this (unless you intend to use Google Photos to share with family and friends, etc.). If you no longer wish to backup your device's photos to the Google cloud, you need to adjust a setting in the Google Photos app - and turn off the Backup & sync setting that is causing this upload to Google. 6/3/2020 0 Comments How do I delete all of the photos or files that I have accidentally uploaded to Google If you have installed the Google Photos app on your mobile device, or the Google Backup & Sync service on your computer, you may find that you have inadvertently been uploading and storing your photos and/or files in your Google Cloud.
This is what happened to two clients this week, who were both getting messages that their Google account was full. 
A parent at one of the two Keeping Kids Safe on iPad and iPhones sessions run by iTandCoffee at Melbourne schools this week asked a really good question - the answer to which I figured was worth including in this blog for other parents.
We were talking about how the Limit Adult Content setting of Screen Time on iPads and iPhones can be used to not only limit their access to 'adult' websites and images, but to also stop a child from clearing their browsing history - in case you want to do any checks of where they have been on the internet and what they have been searching. The question from this parent was around the DuckDuckGo search engine and whether it can be used by children to avoid tracking of browsing history.  I, like many iTandCoffee clients who have contacted me, received an email from Google+ yesterday - as shown in the image above.
The questions I have been asked are "Is it legitimate?", "What is Google+", "Do I have this Google+' and "What should I do?". Here are some answers.
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