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Googling 'fun facts' will quickly ruin your productivity
It won't change your life, but oh boy is this a good time waster. If you scoot across to the Google homepage and type in "fun facts," the search engine will present you with a new type of answer box filled with a curious tidbit or two. The source of that particular knowledge will be listed below, followed by a blue bar with the option to "ask another question." Click that and you'll be presented with yet another random piece of information, with the classic "I'm feeling curious" query in the search field. Is this a new frontier in online productivity? No, but it's an amusing little addition to Google's search engine, and might distract you from the new logo on the homepage (we're still not used to it just yet).
Bing makes it easier to scope out your future neighborhood
Google, Yahoo and Microsoft are constantly working to make the best possible search engine, and that's great news for you. The more they challenge each other with new features, the better your experience on the web will be. Today is Bing's turn to make an announcement, revealing a set of features that will be helpful for people who are moving to a new place. So not only can you search for a house or an apartment, but also learn about their neighborhood and the services located around them -- such as schools and hospitals. Once you find an area you're interested in, Bing will show you ratings, rankings and other detailed information regarding each place; the company says this is pulled from a variety of trusted sources, like Zillow.com and GreatSchools.org. Right now, it's is limited to users in the US, but chances are it'll be expanding to more countries later on.
Yahoo's redesigned mobile search looks a lot like Google's
Yahoo has been pushing hard to be people's default search engine on every device. Before it can make that happen, though, the company knows its product must be improved drastically. As part of these efforts, Yahoo Search is getting an overhaul on mobile, designed to put relevant results information front and center. For example, if you're looking for sushi in Seattle, you now have the option to get directions to any restaurant, as well as read reviews and make reservations -- so long as you're in the US. It's obvious that Yahoo took a cue from Google with these features, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. After all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?
Marvel's universe gets a dedicated search engine for comic queries
Since Marvel opened up its API to developers, creative types are able to leverage the company's massive comic library for apps and the like. One dev, Filix Mogilevsky, took it upon himself to create a search engine for the collection of characters and issues. iMarvel serves up character and comic book descriptions based on what you input with auto-complete suggestions to boot. For example, inputting "Thanos" provides a short bio with links to different sections of Marvel's site for more detailed info. Search for a specific title like The Avengers & the Infinity Gaunlet and you'll be privy to a brief synopsis, characters, a few images and a list of creators. Sure, it's more of a quick reference tool than anything else -- and yes, it's piping in content from Marvel's own site -- but I'll admit to spending more than a few minutes pecking around. Give a go for yourself via the source link below. [Image credit: PatLoika/Flickr]
Flickr builds powerful photo search engine in major redesign
Flickr unveiled an impressive new search function today that aims to make digging through the site's 10 billion or so photos far less of a chore. The unified search results page now includes sections for your own photostream as well as those of people you follow and the rest of the community. A slick new thumbnail view let's you quickly scan through all those results. Users can also filter results by color, size or orientation as well as by specific holidays or events, like graduations or Thanksgiving. The engine itself has also received an upgrade. Its improved search algorithms can reportedly suss out contextual intent from your query. That way, a recent Flickr Blog post explains, "Search for 'London Eye' and you'll no longer get photos of eyes in England, but find the giant Ferris wheel." Even more impressive, the site now offers an auto-tagging option that utilizes the company's image recognition software. Seems the only thing the new search functions can't do is make you a better photographer.
Yahoo will be Firefox's default search engine for the next five years
Remember when Yahoo was your go-to search engine for browsing the web? It might be again soon, at least if you're a Firefox user. Mozilla and Yahoo just announced a five year deal to make Yahoo the web browser's default search engine, supplanting Google as the top item in Firefox's search bar in the United States. Mozilla says this is part of providing a more "local" experience -- until now, the company defaulted to Google search regardless of the user's country. Now the default search engine will be assigned by region: Yahoo for the United States, Yandex search for Russia and Baidu for China. Each region will have the ability to switch to other local options as well, giving Googlers a chance to switch back if they so desire.
Bing partners with Pinterest to add image collections to search results
It's no secret that Bing has been waging an uphill battle to stay relevant, and now, Microsoft is hoping that its partnership with Pinterest will be enough to win you over. The Bing team's latest effort combines its own search results with a new feature: image collections, a supplement that presents related Pinterest boards to the right of your main results. For example, an image search for "Pink cupcakes" will pull up a list of boards relevant to your interests. Clicking on one of them -- we opted for "Pretty in pink cupcakes" -- will take you to a new page that collects the user's pinned images along with a direct link to the board on Pinterest. The new feature is designed to introduce a social element to Bing by uniting collections curated by living, breathing humans with the search engine's algorithms. We don't know if it'll be enough to convince people to "Bing it" next time they're on the hunt for images, but we do know that we're now in desperate need of cupcakes.
Facebook expands Graph Search to include status updates and posts
Today, Facebook is giving Graph Search something of a power-up by adding status updates and posts to the list of content it can access. Previously, the revamped search engine could only scan four types of information -- people, photos, places and interests -- when presented with queries like "who are my friends in New York City?" Now, if someone types in "posts about bacon from the last month," your recent public complaint about the wilted lettuce in your B.L.T. will pop up. Also included in the expansion are check-ins, comments and photo captions. As it has at every step of the Graph Search rollout, Facebook is quick to assure its users that the feature respects your privacy settings, so only content that's been shared with you or is otherwise publicly accessible will show up in search results. For more information, head on over to the source link below.
Microsoft details Bing's improved 'Page Zero' search results
Wondering how Bing's upgraded Page Zero search feature produces rich details and options before you've even finished typing? Microsoft has posted a deep dive that explains a lot of what's going on. Bing is taking better advantage of its entity relationship engine, Satori; as soon as the search tool finds a likely subject, it both displays an information tile and the most popular intentions associated with that subject. Look for the San Francisco Giants, for example, and Bing will offer search pages dedicated to scores or tickets. The technology is also clever enough to both expand and refine the list of intentions over time. The new Page Zero details won't necessarily get you to switch search providers, but they do show how Microsoft is responding to Google's constant refinements.
Topsy lets you search tweets from 2006, look up old cringeworthy posts
Next time you're feeling nostalgic and want to peruse old Twitter posts -- such as in 2006, when Pluto was demoted to dwarf planet status -- you might want to pay Topsy a visit. The social search engine, which could previously look for posts up until 2010, has expanded its archives to include tweets from as far back as Twitter's birth in 2006. Simply input terms in the search box, and you'll find their newest and oldest mentions on the site. Even better than that, you can use the site to read every single tweet a user has ever posted by querying "from:yourusername," making it easy to look for the first time you tweeted about Lady Gaga's wardrobe. Before you run off and facepalm at your old tweets, though, check out @engadget's first one by Ryan Block after the cut.
This is the Modem World: The day Google died
Each week Joshua Fruhlinger contributes This is the Modem World, a column dedicated to exploring the culture of consumer technology. One day, Google will not be the technology giant that it is today. Consider the following: In 1968, the Pontiac GTO was Motor Trend's Car of the Year. Today, Pontiac is a historical footnote of General Motors. In 1981, IBM launched the PC, which became the de facto standard of personal computers, spawning hundreds of PC clones and dominating the computing market to this day. In 2005, the IBM PC business was acquired by Lenovo, and the IBM PC is no more.
South Korea's FTC finds Google not guilty of antitrust measures
Google has been acquitted of the anti-competitive allegations brought to it more than two years ago by South Korean search operators NHN and Daum Communications, the Yonhap News reported today. Back in April 2011, the two firms accused the Mountain View company of having an unfair advantage by making its own search engine the default on the Android operating system. After a couple of raids and a lengthy review process, the local Fair Trade Commission has finally decided that Google doesn't hurt NHN's or Daum's competitive chances at all. FTC officials said that both companies presently enjoy a healthy chunk of the domestic search engine market -- NHN's portal maintains a good 70 percent share, for example -- and that users could easily download NHN and Daum apps onto their phones as alternatives. Chalk this one up as at least one victory in the search giant's seemingly never-ending battle with authorities.
Facebook rolling out Graph Search to US users this week
Remember that profile-specific social network search tool Mark Zuckerberg announced back in January? It's finally ready for the general public. According to the New York Times and ABC News, Facebook Graph Search will start rolling out to US users this Monday. The update is more than a simple search bar revamp, however -- it allows users to mine their social circle for very specific information, asking questions like "Who are my friends in San Francisco," or searching for "people who went to Stanford who like the 49ers." The tool is designed to harken back to the company's original goal of connecting people, and aims to help users draw lines between their friends and interests. Graph Search will also pull select data from Bing, allowing users to peek at the weather from the comfort of their timeline. Despite launching on a wider scale, the service isn't perfect -- the New York Times reports that it still has trouble juggling synonymous phrases (something we experienced in our own hands-on), returning discrepant results for searches like "people who like to surf" and "people who like surfing." The tool also works within the confines of a user's privacy settings and public activity, meaning that you won't accidentally uncover your cousin's secret My Little Pony fan-group if its privacy settings are locked down. The feature is set to debut for a few hundred million users this week, and will continue to become available to the all US users in the coming weeks.
Bing news search now shows related topics and personalities
Microsoft's Bing may be a boy among men in the search-engine wars, but that's not stopping it from piling on new features. The latest are in its news search, where it just added a "trending topics" carousel that shows timely info in the same category as your query (see the above image), along with a sidebar that displays personalities "you might also like." Clicking on either will bring up further news results, and Bing also said it's now extended the article index several years back in time compared to the curt two-week period it had before. It's an interesting change-up over Google's Knowledge Graph, and Microsoft needs all the help it can get in search, given recent survey results.
Stephen Wolfram says he almost had a deal with Google, but it 'blew up'
As you may recall, Wolfram Research signed a deal with Microsoft a few years back that saw some Wolfram Alpha functionality integrated into Bing. As it turns out, it very nearly found its way into a certain other search engine as well. In an interview at The Next Web conference in Amsterdam today, Stephen Wolfram revealed that his company had tried to work with Google and "almost had a deal," but it "blew up." Unfortunately, he didn't provide any further details about when those talks took place or exactly what the potential deal entailed, and it doesn't sound like we can expect that deal to be revived anytime soon -- especially considering Google's own efforts that are increasingly overlapping with Wolfram Alpha. As Wolfram himself notes, though, the two companies do have something of a longstanding connection: Google co-founder Sergey Brin was actually an intern at Wolfram way back in 1993.
Facebook launching 'Graph Search' personalized social search engine, beta starts today (video)
Facebook this morning announced "Graph Search," a way to search all of Facebook's content for queries tailored to your profile. CEO Mark Zuckerberg explained the search by saying, "Graph Search is meant to answer very specific questions like 'Who are my friends in San Francisco?" In a video released by Facebook just after the announcement, project lead Lars Rasmussen (formerly of Google Maps / Waves fame) related a story about needing a dentist in a town he'd just moved to, and being able to search through which dentists his friends used for a tailored result. Worry not, privacy protectors: we're told Graph Search is "privacy aware;" Facebook's even dedicated 10 percent of its computing power just to the goal of ensuring privacy. And no, none of your privacy settings will automatically change as a result of signing up or using Graph Search. It's being touted as a return to Facebook's roots, when the company's main goal was forging connections between people (rather than, say, a gaming portal, or a means for companies to advertise). Graph Search is essentially a relaunch of Facebook's internal search engine, allowing its already existing users to forge new relationships with folks they may not otherwise meet, and to find content that's hyper-specific. The beta -- albeit in a limited, English-only capacity -- kicks off today. During that period only a "subset of content" is available through search, with four primary areas of focus: people, photos, places, and interests. Facebooks says Graph Search will expand, "over the coming months," with additions like searchable wall posts and song listens (only if your privacy settings allow those things to be searchable, that is). You can head right here to get whitelisted for the beta, which is apparently rolling out "very slowly." Or you could head past the break right now for the full PR from Facebook and a walkthrough video, as well as a slew of updates from our liveblog.
Baidu and Orange launch mobile browser for Africa, Middle East
Not content to dominate internet search in China alone, Baidu and France Telecom's Orange are partnering to capitalize on African and Middle Eastern markets as well. Today they launched a co-branded version of Baidu's browser on France Telecom's Egyptian operator MobiNil -- it's essentially the same as the one released last year for the Chinese market but in English / Arabic instead (a French version is also coming). The browser is a pre-installed app on carrier-sold smartphones and features bookmarks for Orange and Baidu services. According to Orange, smartphone adoption in the region has become widespread due to the increased availability of 3G networks -- demand apparently doubled in Egypt in the second half of 2012 alone. With nearly 80 million potential customers at hand, Baidu could certainly give Google a run for its money yet again. You can peek at the full PR after the break.
Google promises better Knowledge Graph answers for more countries and languages
Google has been rolling out a fair number of additions to its so-called Knowledge Graph as of late, but the search engine enhancement has tended to be a bit less useful for those looking for results in something other than US English. The company says that's now set to change, however, with it announcing today that it's begun to roll out new improvements that promise to deliver "smarter answers" in Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Japanese, Russian, and Italian. What's more, it will also now take your location into account even if you're searching in English -- it gives the example of "football" delivering different results depending on whether you're in the US or Europe. You can expect to see those changes appear over the "next few days."
Google redesigns search to make space for more info, kick the sidebar to the curb
Google loves to tweak its search results whether or not it's something we'd ever notice. Even the most casual of visitors might notice its latest change, though. The Mountain View crew has dropped the sidebar on the desktop in favor of moving everything to drop-down menus up above. It's ostensibly a reflection of the company's tweaks to its mobile page that should scale elegantly through different screen sizes, although a key goal is to fit in richer results: images, the Knowledge Graph and more all have extra room to breathe with the update. Americans tracking down election results will be the first to see the extra-wide view, and they should be followed by everyone else as soon as Google can flick the switch. We'll be content enough knowing that the company isn't spreading sidebars everywhere.
Google delivers search app for Windows 8 with a touch of tablet optimization
It's not a finished, Windows 8-tuned Chrome build, but we'll take it. Much as Google has been catering to iOS users who don't have its search completely baked into the platform, there's now a dedicated Google Search app for the Metro-inclined. Ignore the desktop OS foundation; the Windows 8 app is much closer to the touchscreen-oriented mobile version with its oversized search box, service shortcuts, an emphasis on voice recognition and finger-friendly instant previews of the results. Although incorporating Google search on a Surface will undoubtedly rankle Microsoft's Bing team, the app could be the ticket for many tablet owners who live in Google's cloud without using its hardware.
