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With Bing, Google, and Yahoo (well, until the Microsoft deal takes effect) all competing for our searches, how do they differentiate themselves? The obvious answer is their search results, of course, but do results really matter?
Try using a site like Blind Search for a few searches. There are a lot of similar sites, but they all basically do the same thing. They strip away the extra formatting and features and just show you the search results, without telling you which results come from which site. I tried 12 searches and choose Yahoo for 3, Google for 4, and Bing for 5. That may seem like a clear difference, but every single set was close. At least 50% of the links on just about any search are the same, just in a slightly different order. They’re just not that different.
Less scientifically, I certainly do not choose any search engine because it delivers better results. I, along with most of the world, happen to use Google, but neither because of it is the default for most people nor because it has better results. What, then, determines the quality of a search engine?
There are two factors for me in looking at a search engine. First, how are the pages formatted. Yahoo employs the most complicated pages, followed by Bing, and, trailing far behind, Google. While I know people who can’t stand the spareness of Google’s home page, instead choosing to use Yahoo, I like the simplicity and speed of Google. Bing has chosen a sort of middle ground. There is much less white on Bing, yet it is not as crowded as Yahoo. Partly as a consequence of this, I have spent much more time trying Bing out than Yahoo.
Second, the ‘extra features’ of the search engine. One trick every major search engine can do is to act like a calculator, recognizing equations and solving them for you. Other common tricks include finding movie show times, directions, or snippits from image or video results.
Ultimately, I don’t think search results are that important anymore. Short of somehow allowing other search engines to improve their algorithms for years without doing anything to your own, the most important thing for search engines is to have a page design that people like and the ability to detect special searches that should be handled differently (10+5 or 15cm in miles).
Google has announced a new programming language for Android-based phones called Simple. Simple is a BASIC-like language, meaning that it has very simple syntax.
The interesting thing about this announcement is that this is the first effort to make writing mobile applications really easy, even for programming novices. The Android app store already has a low barrier to entry in terms of cost, so that combined with an easy-to-use programming language, it could give Android a leg up with their application ecosystem, which is currently far smaller than Apple’s.
The example given in the Google blog post is an etch-a-sketch, writted in just 35 lines of code. Admittedly a simple etch-a-sketch is, well, simple, but 35 lines is practically a hello world program in some languages. (OK, not quite, but you get the point.)
It’s far to early to tell if anyone will be intersted by Simple or not, but if it catches on, some cool applications might come from people who would otherwise never have implemented their ideas.
For years there have been rumors that Google would release an OS that would take over the world. The taking over the world part doesn’t seem very likely, but Google has announced an OS.
Their new OS will arrive in later 2010, and is aimed at netbooks. Not surprisingly, the OS is both open-source and Linux-based.
Apparently, the main idea is to create a lightweight OS that will boot to a web browser in just a few steps. From there, you can use the web browser to access Google services.
With so few datails, it is difficult to to know anything more about it, but a Google OS sounds promising, as long as it doesn’t take over the world
The first Android-running phone, the G1, attracted a fair amount of attention, but didn’t really make it as a mainstream phone. Over and over again, though, people said it was the hardware, not the software, that made them dislike the phone.
While this particular model will never be released, CNet got their hands on the Google Ion, a new all-touchscreen phone from HTC running Android 1.5 (Cupcake). CNet called the phone “the Android device for which we’ve been waiting.” Though the Ion lacks the G1’s physical keyboard, it is supposed to be much sleeker and generally more polished. There are still some complaints, but there is plenty of time for issues to be worked out before a phone like this makes it to the US consumer market.
This look at future Android devices may signal that Android is really starting to go somewhere as a consumer phone platform, not just a hobbyist’s toy. Competitors, such as Apple and Microsoft, have a lot going for them, but, if Android takes off, its cross-device presence will give it a major boost.
Android’s future is still unknown, but this looks like a step in the right direction.
Google Announces Wave: GMail Meets Google Docs, Meets Chat
Google has announced a new product that is supposed to reinvent email.
The main product combines GMail, including its chat feature, and Google Doc’s real-time collaboration. Each “wave” is like a whiteboard that involves a number of people. Multiple people can edit it at once anywhere in the wave. Photos and other media can also be added into the wave. In addition, Wave will be open-source and APIs will be released, allowing plugins to be included in waves or waves to be included in web pages.
It’s impossible to know if Wave will take off and replace email or die off like so many other Google projects, but it’s good to see someone taking a second look at something so ordinary and everyday.
Another Example of Open-Source Enabling Improved Software
We talk a lot about how open-source software can improve the end user’s experience in various ways, but there are not always a lot of really good examples. Google’s Chrome, though, is a perfect example.
Google Chrome has been available for some time under Windows, but Google has still not yet released a version for OS X or Linux. They are, however, with the help of the community, working on Mac and Linux versions. Thanks to Chrome being open-source, though, unofficial builds of Chrome are already available to OS X users, offering an early preview of the work that is being done.
If Chrome were not open-source, everyone would just have to wait until Google decided to release a beta (which is a final release in Gooogle terms) . With Chrome as open-source, we can not only get an early look at the work, but also people can pitch into the effort themselves to speed up the process.
Since LinuxLoop.com serves Google AdSense ads, I feel that I should alert you that Google has announced they will begin targeting their ads to individual users, rather than basing off the content of the site. This announcement immediately made me uncomfortable, since I feel that it can be viewed as an invasion of privacy. Other ad networks do this already, but (a) this is Google and (b) I would prefer to avoid serving tracking ads.
I have to give credit to Google for making it possible to opt-out, though, both as an advertiser and as a user. I have already disabled serving ads based on interests on this website, but I encourage you to opt-out of the entire interest-tracking system on your own with Google’s Ads Preferences page. Please note that this is on a per-computer basis and will be erased if you clear your cookies. If you use IE or Firefox, you can download a plugin that will keep your preference, even if you clear your cookies. You can read more about this here.
I am not sure that I find this too concerning. After all, Google is actually making it easy to opt-out as a user, something that is not generally done. Plus, this can only, as I understand it, pull data from your browsing history of sites that have AdSense (and have interest-tracking enabled). Overall, I think we have to applaud Google for the easy opt-out switch.
For now, to the best of my knowledge, I have disabled interest-tracking on this site. Depending on how this plays out, I may or may not choose to re-enable it in the future, especially since you can opt-out on your own. I would love to get your feedback on this.
Thank you.
Why Android Will Win Out in the End
The T-Mobile G1, the first phone to run Google’s Linux-based, open-source Android phone operating system, may have had some issues and never really taken off, but that doesn’t mean Android won’t take off. In fact, I think it is almost certain to take off.
Unlike the iPhone, Blackberry, and many of the other OSs out there, the Android operating system is not tied to a single phone manufacturer. If Apple badly messes up somewhere, the whole iPhone platform goes down with Apple. Likewise, if RIM messes up, the BlackBerry platform is history, because they control the entire system. Even with Windows Mobile, because the OS is not open-source, if Microsoft messes it up (some argue they already have), Windows Mobile as a platform is dead.
If the G2, or any Android phone, is, on the other hand, a complete failure, the Android software takes nothing more than a little dent, since another phone manufacturer can come along and build a better phone based on the same software. This feature is incredibly powerful, since it means that the Android platform will offer greater choice, both in hardware and in software, than any of the closed phone OSs. Even if Google messes up the software, Android is open-source, so anyone can come along and create a better version.
Ultimately, no matter how successful other phones are, Android or another open-source phone OS, is going to be the “winner,” since they can control a wide array of phones, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, and, thus, target a much larger audience.
Google Says Every Site "May Harm Your Computer"
Earlier this morning (as of 10:00AM EST), a bug in Google search caused every site, including Google.com, to be marked with “This site may harm your computer.” I tested this on two different computers on two different internet connections with two different browsers and the result is the same.
This glitch, in addition to probably confusing the heck out of some novice computer users, had some interesting possibilities, as illustrated below:
Help and Support Fail
Government Fail
Self-Respect Fail
Full Version of Government Fail
(click to enlarge)
Sometimes bugs are annoying, but this is just awesome!
Google Announces Shopping Automation Tool
Google announced today a new tool that takes the burden of finding gifts off your back. The new tool, now called the Automated Shopper, will pick out who to give the gifts to, how much to spend on each person, and what to get them. After confirming the purchases, the new tool will ship the gifts out to the recipients.
To get started, all you have to do is set a budget for your entire holiday shopping and press go. Although, Google will not reveal the specifics of how their tool works, they have given us a rough outline.
First, the tool analyzes emails, chat conversations, search and web history, gift notes from previous years stored in Google Notebook, genealogical trees, and any other available information to determine who should receive gifts from you. Then, using the same information, Automated Shopper determines how close you are to each person on the list using a new technology called RelationshipRank ™. Your specified budget is then allocated across people according to their RelationshipRank ™.
For each person on the list, Automated Shopper queries Google’s profile database. This database contains all the information available about any person in a single area. Automated Shopper then uses this information to choose a gift that fits each person’s interests and falls within the budget for each person.
Automated Shopper then returns a list (Google says it should take between 0.00003 and .00005 seconds to get this list back after entering your budget) of the people each item will go to for you to confirm. Google says this confirmation phase is only temporary for as long as this tool remains in beta.
After confirming the gifts, the tool pays for each of the items and has them shipped to a location near Moutain View. At this facility, a line of advanced robots removes each gift from its box and wraps it, adding a personilized note created by a highly advanced AI designed to match the personality of the giver.
The wrapped packages are then sent off to the recipients, whose addresses are found in Google’s profiles of the recipients.
The only problem is, it doesn’t really exist…yet.