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Category Archives: Search Engines

Amazon Puts Its Own “Brands” First Above Better-Rated Products

TheMarkUp – “The online giant gives a leg up to hundreds of house brand and exclusive products that most people don’t know are connected to Amazon… An investigation by The Markup found that Amazon places products from its house brands and products exclusive to the site ahead of those from competitors—even competitors with higher customer… Continue Reading

Government Secretly Orders Google To Identify Anyone Who Searched A Sexual Assault Victim’s Name, Address And Telephone Number

Forbes: “The U.S. government is secretly ordering Google to provide data on anyone typing in certain search terms, an accidentally unsealed court document shows. There are fears such “keyword warrants” threaten to implicate innocent Web users in serious crimes and are more common than previously thought…It’s a rare example of a so-called keyword warrant and,… Continue Reading

What Is Google Socratic and How Does It Work?

MakeUseOf: “Need detailed or specialized information? Google Socratic is the scholar’s Google, and here’s how it works…Google Socratic helps connect students to helpful educational resources from all over the web through a mobile phone app for free. Using technology like text-to-speech and photo analysis, Socratic uses artificial intelligence to enhance its search capabilities to help… Continue Reading

You’ve decided to quit Facebook. Here’s how to migrate your online life elsewhere

Washington Post: ‘Every time there’s a Facebook scandal, you may have thought about quitting the social network, and this time for real. But you run into the same problem every time: Where exactly should you go? After a rough month of revelations about Facebook’s business practices, culminating with a whistleblower testifying in front of lawmakers… Continue Reading

Climate and energy choices this decade will influence how high sea levels rise for hundreds of years

Climate Central: Which future will we choose? Search VisualsView risk maps for 180 cities around the world (Africa, Asia, Oceania, Europe, North America, South America). Media Type – Photorealistic Image, Flyover Video, Google Earth Image, Animated GIF. Present-day sea level 1.1°C, 1.5°C, 2°C, 3°C, 4°C. View risk maps| See the research Continue Reading

Find Your Ancestors Quickly Using FamilySearch’s New Discovery Search Experience

FamilySearch: “If you find yourself struggling to know how to find your ancestors, FamilySearch has a new search experience that can help you find your ancestors in a quick and easy way without having to sign in. The FamilySearch Discovery Search experience provides a way to quickly search select databases on FamilySearch—the tree, records, memories,… Continue Reading

Google launches new features to help users shrink their carbon footprints

The Verge: “Google announced a suite of new features that it says will help people who use their platforms make more sustainable choices. The new services focus on reducing planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions and are primarily found on Search, Maps, Travel, and Nest. But before we get into the details of how their new tools… Continue Reading

We don’t know where all the lead pipes are. This tool helps find them

Fast Company – “President Biden wants to replace all the lead pipes left in the U.S. The only problem is we have very little idea where they are…That means that cities typically have to dig to figure out whether a pipe buried underground is lead or copper—and each dig can cost thousands of dollars. Schwartz,… Continue Reading

There’s a Multibillion-Dollar Market for Your Phone’s Location Data

The MarkUp – A huge but little-known industry has cropped up around monetizing people’s movements – “Companies that you likely have never heard of are hawking access to the location history on your mobile phone. An estimated $12 billion market, the location data industry has many players: collectors, aggregators, marketplaces, and location intelligence firms, all… Continue Reading

How to Get Google Search Results That Are Actually Useful

Wired: Here’s how to cut through the sponsored listings and ads—and get back to the good stuff….To get good results out of Google, you need to go beyond simply typing out a few keywords and hoping for the best. Using the tips we’ve outlined below, you should be able to find what you’re after faster… Continue Reading

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, October 2, 2021

Via LLRX – Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, October 2, 2021 – Privacy and security issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly… Continue Reading