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Google will remove misleading election-related autocompletes
In the fight against fake news, even a search engine’s autocomplete suggestions can create confusion. Google announced today that it’s updating its autocomplete policies related to elections, adding that it will “remove predictions that could be interpreted as a claim about participation in the election” as well as “predictions that could be interpreted as claims for or against any candidate or political party.” Things that sound like they might be claims about voting methods, requirements or status of voting locations will not be shown either.
Google Docs is adding Spanish-language grammar suggestions
Starting today, Google Docs can make grammar suggestions in both English and Spanish.
Google Docs is getting Gmail's autocomplete smarts
Google hoped to make writing emails a little easier when it added its Smart Compose autocomplete function to Gmail last year. You should be able to take advantage of the helpful feature elsewhere soon, as it's coming to Google Docs, starting as a beta for G Suite users on the web.
YouTube pulls autocomplete results that showed child abuse terms
YouTube has been working hard lately to fix issues around child exploitation and abuse. The Google-owned video service revamped its policies and their enforcement around videos featuring minors or family-friendly characters in disturbing situations. Over the weekend, the company promised a crackdown on inappropriate comments on kid-friendly videos in response to big-name brands pulling their advertisements from the respective content. Now, YouTube is working to fix a problem with its autocomplete system that was finishing the search term "how to have" with "s*x with kids."
Google refines its search results to curb fake news
Google's quest to fight fake news isn't stopping with identifying bogus stories and an emphasis on fact-checking. The internet giant is rolling out changes to its search results in hopes of curbing both fake news and offensive material. To begin with, it's tweaking its "signals" (such as freshness and the frequency of a site's appearance) to promote more authoritative sources while downplaying the junk. Also, Google's human Search Quality Raters now have new guidelines to help them spot false stories and ultimately influence search algorithms.
Trump still thinks Google suppresses negative Clinton searches
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has never let the truth get in the way of an angry rant. So it goes with this week's conspiracy theory of choice. At a rally in Wisconsin last night, Trump boasted that a "Google poll" showed he won Monday night's debate over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton despite the fact that Google's search engine is biased against him.
Google clarifies how search autocomplete works
In yet another odd development of the 2016 campaign season, Google's autocomplete feature -- not the actual search results, just autocomplete -- has come under scrutiny of potential bias. A YouTube video posted by SourceFed (with a followup, posted here) picked up attention after claiming that Google failed to link "Hillary Clinton" with "indictment" in its autocomplete, unlike competitors Bing and Yahoo (that Yahoo is powered by both Bing and Google seems to have gone unmentioned), even if you spot it the i-n-d. So, clearly Google is in the tank for Clinton, right? As it turns out, an alternate and more accurate explanation becomes clear with some knowledge of how Google's algorithms work.
Game turns Google's search suggestions into 'Family Feud'
Think you're good at predicting Google's search suggestions? You now have an easy way to prove it. A new (and decidedly unofficial) Google Feud game challenges you to make Family Feud-style guesses about what comes next in Google's autocomplete box. The closer you are to the top result, the more points you get; guess outside of the top 10 and you'll get a strike. There's sadly no easy way to challenge others, but this should still be a fun way to demonstrate your search savviness to your friends.
DARPA funds $11 million tool that will make coding a lot easier
DARPA is funding a new project by Rice University called PLINY, and it's neither a killer robot nor a high-tech weapon. PLINY, named after Pliny the Elder who wrote one of the earliest encyclopedias ever, will actually be a tool that can automatically complete a programmer's draft -- and yes, it will work somewhat like the autocomplete on your smartphones. Its developers describe it as a repository of terabytes upon terabytes of all the open-source code they'll find, which people will be able to query in order to easily create complex software or quickly finish a simple one. Rice University assistant professor Swarat Chaudhuri says he and his co-developers "envision a system where the programmer writes a few of lines of code, hits a button and the rest of the code appears." Also, the parts PLINY conjures up "should work seamlessly with the code that's already been written."
Chrome for Android starts answering your questions in search suggestions
Google's as-you-type search suggestions have only offered the tiniest bit of help so far. They can handle basic math, but they won't answer questions that require more than a few numbers. However, that might soon change. Chrome for Android now has an experimental feature that answers some of your queries before you've even finished asking. Switch it on and you can get the weather, historic dates and other valuable info without ever seeing Google's usual results page. While the feature isn't all that vital when you have access to Google Now, it may save you the trouble of switching apps (or leaving the page you're on) when you just want to get a small factoid. There's also no hint as to when Google might make the feature standard on Android or bring it to the desktop, but let's hope that an upgrade comes soon -- it could save a lot of unnecessary keystrokes.
Waze speeds up its sat nav app with quicker search and simpler interface
Even though Waze is now under Google's umbrella, it's continued to operate as if nothing has changed, other than the fact that it now has a billion dollars. To that end, it's just rolled out a new release for Android and iOS with some welcome new features, most significantly an auto-complete function for addresses and categories that plays well with its new Google search powers. Other goodies include a redesigned main menu, easier waypoint editing and new icons on the map view to see traffic reports or nearby pals. Hopefully, other than borrowing its tech, Google will continue to leave the new acquisition alone -- after all, how many apps let you be guided around by a celebrity?
Tokyo court fines Google for not censoring defamatory instant search results
Remember the sad tale of the Japanese man that Google's Instant Search forced out of a job? Entering his name into the search bar, and Google's auto-complete algorithm tacked on accusations of nefarious acts that he was allegedly responsible for -- causing his employers to hand him his pink slip. Afterward, John Doe-san took Google to court, but Mountain View refused to intervene. That's why the Tokyo District Court has fined Google 300,000 yen ($3,068) for the mental distress, which will be paid to the unnamed individual in question.
Gmail autocomplete updated with search history and contact thumbnails
Building off of last year's Gmail enhancements, Google is rolling out improved autocomplete predictions that display terms from your previous email searches. In addition to referencing your old inbox explorations, results now display thumbnails of people in your contact list. These useful new features are being issued to all Gmail users over the next few days, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled.
Boxee TV web app gets autocompleting searches, revamped recordings view
When there's a sea of shows to dig through in Boxee TV's web interface, finding one won't always be easy without knowing the exact name. A range of updates hitting the servers should put an end to the guesswork while throwing in a few extras at the same time. The freshened portal brings an autocompleting search box that should speed up finding shows in the guide and, eventually, cloud DVR recordings. Viewers with a load of archived episodes aren't left out to dry, either -- the recording viewer now stuffs TV shows and movies into a more compact grid view, and offers a quick recording override if there's suddenly a more important show in the same time slot. While deeper, firmware-based updates are still on the way, it's nice to have the web update as a prelude.
Gmail advanced search gets autocomplete in 'from' and 'to' fields, three lab features become standard
Coming on the heels of Google announcing additional languages for Gmail search, the dev team out in Mountain View is rolling out a few more tweaks. For starters, when you use advanced search, you'll now see autocomplete predictions in the "from" and "to" fields. Google is also "graduating" three labs: Refresh POP accounts, Filter import / export and Navbar drag and drop. Starting with that POP feature, you'll be able to click the refresh link at the top of the inbox to populate your inbox with new messages, and also fetch messages from any other POP address you've got set up. Moving on, that filter import / export feature should come in handy if you want to share filters with friends or feel the need to back them up. Wrapping things up, the ability to drag and drop gadgets on the left-hand pane is good for, well, you get the idea.
Twitter brings search autocomplete to the web, helps find Biebs tweets in record time
Twitter had been hinting at a big search update today, and that's just what it delivered. Instead of the (quite frankly clunky) search results page, a search box at top now provides autocompleting search results that split into keywords and people. The system is smart enough to check for spelling gaffes and related searches, and results can drill down just to followed users rather than the entire social network. Autocompleting has been a mainstay of the Android and iOS apps for some time, but we're glad to hear that web users can now track down their favorite recently graduated teen pop stars faster than ever.
Google rolls out improved Gmail search, scans your emails for better results
Oh those Googlers, always tirelessly tweaking code behind-the-scenes to make our lives that much more easily indexed. So it should come as no surprise that Mountain View's begun rolling out a streamlined Gmail search feature to English-language users today, replete with "tailored" autocomplete suggestions. Now, instead of simply returning results for labels and contacts, queries will also include relevant email info based on the conversations stored in a user's account, like flight or hotel reservations. At the moment, this improved ease-of-use applies to only the web-based version of the service, but a planned extension to its ever popular GApp is on deck, as well support for additional languages in the coming months. Hit up the source below for the finer details.
Japanese court orders Google to halt Instant search for suggesting one man be fired
Could Google Instant suggest you out of a job? According to one Japanese man's claims, that search algorithm is precisely what landed him a pink slip and permanent spot on the unemployment line. The Kyodo News Agency is reporting that a string of unflattering searches performed by the plaintiff's former employer allegedly linked him to a host of illegal and unflattering behavior, leading to his eventual termination. Baseless claims of a paranoiac? One Tokyo court doesn't think so, as the search giant's been issued an injunction that temporarily bars the use of autocomplete in the country. So far, Mountain View's refused to bow down to the order and maintains its service is consistent with user privacy policies. Our currently jobless John Doe-san would beg to differ and had previously sought the company's assistance in deleting the offending queries before seeking judicial aide, albeit to no avail. Should be interesting to see how this case plays out, seeing as the infraction is the first of its kind and could potentially alter the legal parameters of internet queries. We'll keep you posted on further developments as this courtroom drama continues to play out.
Behind the scenes video reveals Google's attention to search detail (video)
If you're interested in how much detail the engineers at Mountain View pay to every element of Google's search business, check this out. This is footage of the Quality Launch Review, a meeting that takes place every week on Thursdays. Amit Singhal assembles a room full of engineers to delve into "losses," the company term for when a search query goes awry, and turn them into "wins." This week, the team examined error-correction in searches that are over ten words long, and how best to resolve it. It may not be the most exciting thing you'll ever see, but it's a fascinating insight into the effort that begins every time you don't find what you're looking for.
April Fools' Day roundup: Google overload edition
Ah, April 1st. It's that time of the year again when the internet is rife with odd news and pranks. As before, news sites like us end up with a healthy stream of tips throughout April Fools' Day (thanks, by the way), so let us round up some of the best findings for your comedic appetite. Contenders include the usual suspects like Google and ThinkGeek, the former of which dominating the gigglesphere this year with some new "features." We also have some interesting submissions from Hulu, a font company, and probably plenty more to come as the day progresses, so keep watching this space as we add new entries to this post. Right, let the fun commence after the break.
