PointerActivityMonitoring
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Google pointer activity monitoring could influence search engine results, probably won't
For the latest development in Google's mad quest for search engine efficacy, the company was granted a patent titled, in the necessarily wordy way that these things are, "System and method for modulating search relevancy using pointer activity monitoring." Essentially, the idea here is that mouse pointer movements can be interpreted to gauge someone's interest, so Google would track the mouse as it moves in and out of predefined regions of a web page, or hovers over certain regions for a predefined period of time. Apparently, the pointer is sort of seen as a surrogate for the eye, telling the search engine provider where your eye is wandering. Of course, there is plenty of math on the back end, where the relevancy of those actions has to be determined. Or something. This baby was filed in 2005, and as far as we know this technology hasn't been implemented, so who knows if it ever will? Check it out for yourself by hitting the source link.
