Washington Post [paywall – Seattle Times no paywall] “Let’s Google together. Open a Web browser and search for T-shirts. I’ll wait. Is the first thing you see a search result? I’m not talking about the stuff labeled Ads or Maps. On my screen, the actual result is not in the first, second, third, fourth, fifth,… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Search Engines
Taking Back Our Privacy
The New Yorker – Moxie Marlinspike, the founder of the end-to-end encrypted messaging service Signal, is “trying to bring normality to the Internet. “…Marlinspike is the C.E.O. of Signal, the end-to-end encrypted messaging service, which he launched in 2014; he is also a cryptographer, a hacker, a shipwright, and a licensed mariner…Marlinspike believes that encrypted-communication… Continue Reading
State of the Facts 2020: 37% of Americans say it’s harder to find facts since the pandemic began
AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. (October, 2020). “State of the Facts 2020: COVID-19.” Topline Results Report “Eight months into the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans are still paying close attention, but few have trusted sources for factual information. Over half of Americans are paying close attention to information related to the virus these days. But 43%… Continue Reading
It’s Google’s World. We Just Live in It
The New York Times – “Googling something was all we once did with Google. Now we spend hours a day using its maps, videos, security cameras, email, smartphones and more….It isn’t just that I am spending more time in a Google search, either. The Silicon Valley company has leveraged the act of looking for something… Continue Reading
The Problem of Free Speech in an Age of Disinformation
The New York Times – The First Amendment in the age of disinformation. “…The United States is in the middle of a catastrophic public-health crisis caused by the spread of the coronavirus. But it is also in the midst of an information crisis caused by the spread of viral disinformation, defined as falsehoods aimed at… Continue Reading
Justice Department Sues Monopolist Google For Violating Antitrust Laws
“Today, the Department of Justice — along with eleven state Attorneys General — filed a civil antitrust lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to stop Google from unlawfully maintaining monopolies through anticompetitive and exclusionary practices in the search and search advertising markets and to remedy the competitive harms. The participating… Continue Reading
The Urgent Need for Expiration Date of Personal Information in the Cyberspace
Ogbuefi, Nnubia, RTBF: The Urgent Need for Expiration Date of Personal Information in the Cyberspace (April 10, 2020). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3678213 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3678213 “The internet is an information highway that remembers all our deeds and transgressions. It keeps track of all information posted online and recalls this information when there is a search for… Continue Reading
Google launches a suite of tech-powered tools for reporters, Journalist Studio
TechCrunch: “Google is putting AI and machine learning technologies into the hands of journalists. The company this morning announced a suite of new tools, Journalist Studio, that will allow reporters to do their work more easily. At launch, the suite includes a host of existing tools as well as two new products aimed at helping… Continue Reading
Song stuck in your head? Just hum to search
Google Blog: “Do you know that song that goes, “da daaaa da da daaaa na naa naa ooohh yeah”? Or the one that starts with the guitar chords going, “da na na naa”? We all know how frustrating it is when you can’t remember the name of a song or any of the words but… Continue Reading
Google is giving data to police based on search keywords
Cnet – Court records in an arson case show that Google gave away data on people who searched for a specific address. “There are few things as revealing as a person’s search history, and police typically need a warrant on a known suspect to demand that sensitive information. But a recently unsealed court document found that… Continue Reading
Microsoft Edge gets free 24-hour video calls, screenshot tool, shopping features
VentureBeat: “[On October 8, 2020] Microsoft…announced a slew of new features coming to its Chromium Edge browser. There are PDF improvements, a built-in screenshot tool, support for more themes, and new shopping features in time for the holiday season. But the most notable addition is the one powered by Skype because, for better or for… Continue Reading
Identify Any Song With Spotify’s New Lyrics Search Feature
Lifehacker: “Spotify rolled out its new “lyrics search” feature into all of its apps without fanfare, so you’re excused if you had no idea it even exists. (How many of us spend time typing out I would choke on the rinds, but the lack thereof would leave me empty inside into the search fields of our… Continue Reading
