Google Search

Google Searches Suggest Many in UK Don’t Understand Brexit

You may have woken up to news that the UK voted to leave the EU which sent the global markets plunging and led to the resignation of the prime minister. But there’s more! Google Trends suggests that many people in the UK still aren’t sure what passing “Brexit” even means. According to Google Trends, there…

Google Data Says We’re Ready To Talk About Gun Control, But We Probably Won’t

The Wall Street Journal picked up a hope-inspiring dataset from Google showing a swift change in gun-related searching habits from before and after the San Bernardino shootings. It showed a massive spike for “gun control” searches (blue in the image above) related to “gun shop” searches (red). Yes, maybe we’re finally ready to get serious…

Google Wants to Help You Find a Plumber

Need a plumber or a locksmith? Google might be your new best friend. Yesterday, Google began rolling out a search feature that displays listings for qualified home service providers when you search for telling phrases, for instance, “clogged toilet.” The new feature, which so far includes plumbers, handymen, locksmiths and house cleaners, offers a phone…

All The Stuff You Can Send To Your Android Phone From The Search Bar

Over the last few weeks, Google has quietly been rolling out the ability to interact with your Android device on a limited basis, right from the search bar. It started with asking Google to “find my phone”; now, you can set alarms, send directions, or leave yourself a note. With all of these tricks, you…

Feds Caught the Silk Road Mastermind With… A Google Search

“Dread Pirate Roberts,” the mastermind behind the online drug market Silk Road, seemed like a smart dude. He amassed a multimillion dollar fortune in drug money in just a few years! And he did it using the deep web and cryptocurrency usually associated with sophisticated cybercrime. But if 30-year-old self-styled “Robert Pattinson lookalike” Ross Ulbricht…

Google’s 2014 Top Searches: Robin Williams, World Cup, Ebola, and More

Here’s your 2014 Google Zeitgeist, better known as the last 12 months in Google Search. The company does this every year, and it’s always fascinating because search sheds light, however disappointingly, onto what the heck people on earth are thinking about. Because when you want to know more about something, you Google it. As with…

Google’s New Search App Has a New Look and App-Searching Superpowers

Over the last few weeks, Google has been adding Lollipop’s material design flourish to all of its big name apps and services, and now the Google app is finally getting the same treatment. But in addition to its new look, Google is pushing its voice assistant even harder by opening up “OK Google” search to…

Google search for iOS just got updated with Siri-style voice searching—including follow-up questions like “what’s the weather like?” followed by “how about this weekend?”. It also features custom alerts to keep you updated on your favorite sites, blogs, and more. Download it here for free. [iTunes via 9to5mac]

Do You Miss Google’s Old School Look?

Yesterday, Google’s desktop search page got a redesign. Now it looks the same as Google’s mobile and tablet search pages—bigger titles and, notably, no more underline for linked text. Did you notice? And if you did, which do you prefer? I gotta admit, I felt like something looked unusual in my Google searches yesterday, but…

Google Search Can Now Answer Questions About Your Specific Life

Between the always-listening Moto X and the promise of conversational search, it’s pretty clear that Google’s ultimate goal is to become your very own, sci-fi, voice controlled personal assistant. And the new features Google’s adding to search are bringing us even closer. https://gizmodo.com/moto-x-hands-on-forget-specs-this-thing-is-awesome-991536492 Google has slowly been incorporating more and more of your personal information…

Google Barely Shows Real Search Results on Google.com Now

Google it. Everyone who has ever connected to the Internet knows what that means. But should it really mean use Google to search for/find something on the Internet? Or should it be a term for being bombarded with ads and white space when you’re looking for something. Google.com’s search results have all just become links…

Google Thinks Gayest and Worst Mean the Same Thing

When you search for something on Google, Google knows what you’re looking for even if you’re not saying it exactly. Google search is smart like that. Like if you search for ‘hilarious videos’, Google will also show you results for ‘funny videos’ too (words that Google equates as synonyms pop up in bold in Google…

Are Google Ad Results Racist? (Updated)

It’s tough to imagine computers and robots and electrical wiring being racist but a Harvard study has found “significant discrimination” in advertising results depending on the perceived race of the name you search for. Names typically associated with black people produced more ads related to crime. Searches for white names would be harmless. That would…

Google Search iPhone App Redesigned For Speed and Beauty

Google Search version 2.0 is now available in the App Store. The “complete” redesign is much better suited to mobile browsing than its predecessor. According to Google, the app got a big speed boost, but what will likely make people staring down at a 3.5-inch iPhone screen happiest is full-screen image search. No more squinting!…

Google Knowledge Graph: Search Results Packed With Worlds of Information

Google search has always been about connecting you to information. The new Google Knowledge Graph makes the process faster than ever by delivering a summary of important info on your search results page. Google’s been moving in the direction of delivering information rather than links for some time by adding sports scores, election results, and…

Google Search: It’s Like Chrome on Your iPad

I like Chrome. In fact it’s my browser of choice. I like it so much I wish there was an iOS version. Well, Google has updated it’s Google Search app so that it looks and feels sort of like Chrome. What’s it do? The main purpose of the Google Search app is to search and…

Google Abandons Realtime Service But Is Looking at Wrapping It Into Google+

Choosing the wee hours of a national holiday to tweet out the news, Google today announced that they’re disabling their Realtime service after less than two years since it launched. Never fear, though—they’re looking into adding the functionality to Google+. Better hop to finding someone to invite you to the service, then. [@GoogleRealtime via @DarrenWaters]…

Google Cuts Off Kazakhstan Search as They Don’t Wish to “Create Borders on the Web”

The country Kazakhstan has changed the way it allows websites to be accessed, with all websites with a .kz domain now required to have their hosting within the country. After the whole China debacle, Google’s not au fait with that at all. Writing on the Google Blog, Bill Coughran, SVP of Research & Systems Infrastructure…

The Future According to Google Search Results

What does the future hold? You can keep your Mayan prophecies and tarot cards; I’m sticking with Google. Thank you, xkcd, for showing us what will happen every year for the next 90. And sorry, Emperor penguin fans, for your loss in 2100. Click to biggie size.[xkcd]

The Best Chrome Extension Ever Blocks Sites You Hate From Google Search Results

I just blasted the Huffington Post out of my Google search results forever. One click. It felt fantastic. That’s what you can do to any site you hate using Chrome’s new personal blocklist extension. When you block a site, results from that domain name disappear from your search results, whether it’s a site you just…