You may be able to ask Google questions you would never ask aloud and the search engine will silently offer you the answers. But, ou can’t think of Google as an oracle for anonymous searches. Sometimes, the most intimate questions a person is asking—about health worries, relationship woes, financial hardship—are the ones that set off a chain reaction that can have troubling consequences both online and offline.
Continue reading… “Google searches put vulnerable consumers at risk”
You can use Wolfram Alpha in all kinds if ways, and it’s often a better idea to load up the computational knowledge engine rather than your search portal of choice. Here are 16 of the most useful queries that Wolfram Alpha can handle but leave Google stumped.
In the future ordinary devices will be sensor equipped and wifi-connected. But the Internet of Things might be missing a concept that is something like its inverse: Let’s call it the Search Engine of Things. That is, a device or suite of devices that can identify and contextualize the objects that surround us in the physical world, from pills to trees to hamburgers.
Continue reading… “The Search Engine of Things”
How it works.
You will see endless photos of white models if you type “beauty” into Google image search. Search “beauty” in Yossarian, the metaphorical search engine, and it returns pictures of men shaking hands, a little boy dressed as a super hero, and burning money. Keep scrolling and new understandings of “beauty” pop up.
Continue reading… “Yossarian – a search engine that can make you more creative”
The internet is a huge and massive web of content. For a long time Google Alerts was a key navigational tool that kept users on top of things that were relevant specific to them. A series of reports in recent months have surfaced that indicate Google Alerts is no longer working as it should.
Continue reading… “Is Google going to abandon Google Alerts?”
Logo for the Russian search engine, Yandex.
The biggest search engine few people have ever heard of. is probably Yandex. According to Search Engine Watch, the Russian search engine has surpassed Microsoft’s Bing in the world’s top search engine rankings. Search Engine Watch got its data from ComScore.
Continue reading… “Yandex surpasses Bing in the world’s top search engine rankings”
Racks of networking equipment connect servers inside a Google data center
In a new research exercise known as the Daily Information Needs Study, Google wants to improve its mobile search services by automatically delivering information you wouldn’t think to search for online.
Continue reading… “Google to improve its mobile search services by searching the ungoogleable”
83% of people who use search engines in the U.S. prefer Google.
Despite privacy concerns, Google still reigns supreme as the go-to search engine, even if people are bit nervous about how it collects data and targets ads.
Continue reading… “83% of Americans prefer Google despite privacy concerns”
Speech recognition searches may take time for web users to get used to.
Asking a computer out loud for information is seen as a futurist idea right out of science fiction. But Google is trying to change that. They are adding speech recognition to its search engine which will release technology that will allow any browser, website, or app to use the feature.
Continue reading… “Google adds speech recognition to its search engine”
Anthony Weiner
Just ask Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-New York), Sometimes it’s easy to know which messages will spread through Twitter like wildfire. He now faces pressure to resign after unwittingly sending an intimate photo of himself to thousands of followers.
Continue reading… “Trumor – Tracking Twitter’s Best Rumor Spreaders”
Google and other search engines track what users search; over time, the data collected can be pretty revealing, so much so that the DOJ wants access. For the most part, privacy policies are only as good as the lawyers backing them, and “law of the land” can trump anything. And all of that adds up to worrisome prospects for all of us.
But what if no data were collected to begin with?
Continue reading… “StartingPage Now Returns Google Search Results, Privately”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.