Microsoft Losing Browser Marketshare
The BBC reports that Internet Explorer continues to lose marketshare. The latest report has IE's marketshare below 60%. Firefox has 24.5% and Google Chrome has 6.7%. The BBC says a Nielsen report gives IE a larger marketshare of 70%. Here is the breakdown of browser marketshare from the NetApplications reports.
- Internet Explorer - 59.9%
- Firefox - 24.5%
- Chrome - 6.7%
- Safari - 4.7%
- Opera - 2.3%
- Opera Mini - 0.7%
- Netscape - 0.46%
- Mozilla - 0.16%
- Flock - 0.06%
- Lunascape - 0.04%
Posted on May 22, 2010
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Google Expands Its Search Options
Google blogs that have expanded the number of search options they offer. The new search options include nine new search options: past hour, specific date range, more shopping sites, fewer shopping sites, visited pages, not yet visited, books, blogs and news. You can find them by searching Google and clicking "Show options" in the blue bar just under the logo.
The date option is very useful if you want more timely results. The visited pages feature only works best if you are signed in to your Google Account and have Web History enabled.
Posted on October 10, 2009
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Google Launches Google Squared
Sometimes it is easier to review information if it is contained in a database. Examples include baseball statistics and financial information. Google uses the example of rollercoasters in its explanation of its new search feature called Google Squared.For instance, I'm a big fan of roller coasters. In the past I've used Google to search for information about roller coasters, such as which ones are the tallest, fastest, and have the most loops. Finding this information used to take multiple searches — I'd find roller coaster sizes on one website, heights on another, and speeds on a third. By manually comparing the sites, I could get the information I was looking for, but it took some time. With Google Squared, a new feature just released in Google Labs, I can find my roller coaster facts almost instantly.The Google Squared site includes many different databases for mountains, dog breeds, presidents, poets, cloud types and more. Not everything is easier in a database form but it sure makes it easier when you need to make comparisons.
Posted on June 17, 2009
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Google Maps Runs Over a Deer
Wow! That's not very cool. It looks like the Google Maps driver hit a deer and then left it there. Hopefully, this is some kind of a fake. (via BuzzFeed)
Posted on February 24, 2009
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Google Takes Chrome Out of Beta
It's good when a product doesn't stay in Beta forever and ever. It probably helps to get out of Beta faster when you have so many people using your product. Google says they have already had ten million people download Google Chrome. Google has now taken its Chrome browser out of beta. Google also says they've increase the stability of plug-ins, the browser speed and improved the bookmark manager.
Better stability and performance of plug-ins (particularly video). Video and audio glitches were among the most common bugs fixed during the beta period. If you had problems watching videos with Google Chrome in the past, you should be pleasantly surprised with the performance now.
Even more speed. Google Chrome starts up fast, loads pages quickly, and just keeps getting faster. Since the first beta, the V8 JavaScript engine runs 1.4 times faster on the SunSpider benchmark and 1.5 times faster on the V8 benchmark - and there is more speed to come.
Bookmark manager and privacy controls. We heard you! Better bookmark features were a top request from our users. It's now easier to switch between another browser and Google Chrome with the bookmark import and export features, and we added a new simple way to manage large numbers of bookmarks, too. We also wanted to make it even easier for you to control your browsing data, so all of the features in Google Chrome which affect user privacy are now grouped in one place with detailed explanations for each one.
Posted on December 12, 2008
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Google's Search VP Talks Search Trends
Google's Vice President of Search Product and User Experience Marissa Ann Mayer was on the Today Show talking about some of the trends. She listed some of the fastest rising searches in 2008.Fast rising searches in 2008:
- Obama
- AT&T
- iPhone
- YouTube
Posted on December 3, 2008
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Google Takes You Back to 2001
Mental-floss reports that Google took its users back in time for its 10th birthday. You can now search an index from 2001 to see how things have changed. You can find the special search here.In honor of Google's tenth birthday*, the search engine has posted a version of itself as it appeared in January 2001 (the earliest available index). It was a simpler time: only 1,326,920,000 web pages were in the index. Today it's over 8 billion, though Google stopped revealing the exact number in 2005, saying the index size was "meaningless." Doing a search on the 2001-era index reveals how much the web has changed since then.Just like mental-floss we aren't in the 2001 index but our parent company WritersWrite.com is.
Posted on October 2, 2008
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Google Launches a New Browser Called Chrome
Google has launched a beta version of a new browser called Chrome. Google is pushing the security aspects of Chrome. The Chrome has a feature called the omnibar that pulls in the top three or four search results from Google. PC Magazine compares the Omnibar to Firefox's "Awesome Bar." Other features with Chrome include tabs and desktop shortcuts.
Topher Kohan handles search engine optimization for CNN.com and discusses Google's new Web browser in the video below. He calls the browser fast, quick and secure. Kohan mentions one problem - there is no "Home" button. You can add a home button though by changing the preferences. You can also configure Chrome to bring up several of your favorite sites upon launching.
Posted on September 4, 2008
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Add Places to Google Maps
You can now add any place to Google Maps that does not already appear on the map. Suggestings from Google include "your favorite town square" or "little-known landmarks." It is a pretty nifty feature especially if you trying to give someone directions. You have to logged in with Google to add a place. Here is a video from Google showing how it is done.Posted on March 21, 2008
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Create Search Engines at Topical
A new website called Topical allows users to create search engines that will search a small number of websites. People can also take advantage of the search engines that have already been created on the website. ReadWriteWeb reports that the site is using a Wikipedia-type model.
The service, which went live today, uses a model similar to that of Wikipedia, allowing anyone to contribute to the creation and enhancement of their own vertical search engines.The Topicle website is using Google Custom Search tool to generate the search engines. ReadWriteWeb says the site is the brainchild of Steffen Mueller, a former Google Product Manger.
To use Topicle, the process is simple. You first search for a search engine, using their current database of human-created engines. If you find one that fits your needs, you can use it. If not, you can create your own engine or add to an existing one to make it more suitable.
Posted on March 19, 2008
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Google Wants Some Kid Doodles
Google always has interesting new versions of its logo for holidays and special events. Most of the Google doodles are created by Chief Google Doodler Dennis Hwang. Here is a video of Hwang doodling.Now Google is turning to students for help creating its doodles. They are running a Doodle 4 Google competition. The competition gives U.S. students in grades K-12 the opportunity to design a doodle for the Google homepage. Google says students will be asked to draw a doodle that best represents the theme "What if...?"
A panel of expert judges and Googlers will select 40 regional winners, who will be invited to the Googleplex in Mountain View, California, in May. Four national finalists will be announced as the result of a public vote. From there, Dennis will select one lucky student whose doodle will be on the Google homepage for a day in the U.S. This winner will also receive a $10,000 college scholarship and a technology grant for his or her school.Registration closes on 3/28/08, and entries must be postmarked by 4/12/08.
Posted on March 7, 2008
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Google Maps at the Gas Pump
The Internet is spreading everywhere. The latest extension of the web is the gas pump. The Associated Press reports that a company named Gilbarco Veeder-Root wants to put Google Maps on gas pumps so motorists can print out directions while they are filling up their tanks.After the driver selects a destination, the pump will print out directions. Eventually, Gilbarco Veeder-Root hopes to enable motorists to type in a specific address and get directions.It does seem like a logical place for a web-based mapping technology.
"We think the service will create more customer loyalty for retailers," said Gilbarco Veeder-Root spokeswoman Lucy Sackett.
Greensboro, N.C.-based Gilbarco Veeder-Root will initially offer the service in about 3,500 gas pumps and expand based on retailer demand.
Unlike most of Google's services, this one won't include ads bringing the company income. But participating retailers will be able to make extra money from other merchants that offer coupons on the service.
Making maps available at gas pumps appealed to Google because the Mountain View-based company wants to make its services available whenever and wherever people need them, said Karen Roter Davis, a principal business development manager for Google.
Posted on November 17, 2007
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Is Google Filtering Out Torrents?
TorrentFreak is reporting that Google has started filtering torrents out of its search results. Google says the filtering began in response to DMCA complaints.The owner of SumoTorrent told TorrentFreak that he discovered that A search on Google for sumotorrent now triggers the following message at the bottom of the results page:If you search for Torrentspy on Google you do get the " In response to a complaint we received under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, we have removed 2 result(s) from this page. If you wish, you may read the DMCA complaint that caused the removal(s) at ChillingEffects.org." message. However, if you follow the link to ChillingEffects.org it says "The notice is not available." Chilling Effects is supposed to be a clearinghouse for cease-and-desist notices but this particular notice appears to be missing or incorrectly linked.
"In response to a complaint we received under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, we have removed 1 result(s) from this page. If you wish, you may read the DMCA complaint that caused the removal(s) at ChillingEffects.org."
A search for other BitTorrent sites like Torrentspy and Torrentreactor comes up with the same message (note. the sites are still indexed but some results are removed). Strangely enough, for torrentreactor it only shows up for a search on the .com domain.
TorrentFreak did find one interesting torrent-related DMCA notice (see here) about a Paris Hilton video sent to Google by Jim Salomon, the brother of a guy who dated Paris Hilton.
Posted on August 8, 2007
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Find Faces on Google Image Search
Google has a secret built in feature that lets you focus on faces when searching images in its Google Image database. Wired Epicenter blog details the find discovered by Google Operating System.A hidden image recognition feature buried in Google's image search function has been discovered. Blogger Ionut Alex Chitu discovered the hidden search feature a few days ago. To try the search feature out, simply go to Google image search, enter a search term, and once you have your results, enter the following at the end of the URL in your browser: "&imgtype=face". Suddenly you'll find a wealth of new images-all faces. I tried the search on PBS television host Charlie Rose, and it worked like a charm.You can find more uses for this secret feature here.
Posted on June 4, 2007
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Google to Anonymize Search Data
Google has posted that they plan to start anonymizing their server logs after 18-24 months in a move towards more privacy for Google search users.When you search on Google, we collect information about your search, such as the query itself, IP addresses and cookie details. Previously, we kept this data for as long as it was useful. Today we're pleased to report a change in our privacy policy: Unless we're legally required to retain log data for longer, we will anonymize our server logs after a limited period of time. When we implement this policy change in the coming months, we will continue to keep server log data (so that we can improve Google's services and protect them from security and other abuses)-but will make this data much more anonymous, so that it can no longer be identified with individual users, after 18-24 months.There has been an overall positive reaction to Google's privacy move -- see here, here, here, here and here. Wired Threat Level blog has a comment from Kevin Bankston of the Electronic Frontier Foundation who called Google's move a good first step.
Just as we continuously work to improve our products, we also work toward having the best privacy practices for our users. This includes designing privacy protections into our products (like Google Talk's "off the record" feature or Google Desktop's "pause" and "lock search" controls). This also means providing clear, easy to understand privacy policies that help you make informed decisions about using our services.
After talking with leading privacy stakeholders in Europe and the U.S., we're pleased to be taking this important step toward protecting your privacy. By anonymizing our server logs after 18-24 months, we think we're striking the right balance between two goals: continuing to improve Google's services for you, while providing more transparency and certainty about our retention practices. In the future, it's possible that data retention laws will obligate us to retain logs for longer periods. Of course, you can always choose to have us retain this data for more personalized services like Search History. But that's up to you.
"Google seems to have finally realized that keeping detailed logs of users' online activities threatens their privacy. We are very glad to see Google is taking these first steps to limit their retention of data which can intimately detail users' private online activities .We hope this is only a first step and we hope they will expand this to retain this data for even less time."The data needs to be anonymized to the point where search patterns cannot be determined. Some people were identified from their search keywords during the AOL search datda fiasco - see here and here. That incident really highlighted how crucial it is that user's search data remain private and be destroyed by search providers. The best reality for users would be if the search information was never recorded or linked to an account number or IP number at all.
Posted on April 10, 2007
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