As you may have noticed in the last couple of days, Google has introduced icons within its Search results on desktop. These icons were launched in Google Search on mobile devices, helping users distinguish between results so that they could better tell which site they were going to click. The new desktop design tweak also adds in bolded 'Ad' icons to distinguish advertisements from search results.
Google is making it easier to shop for clothes and similar items directly through its Search app on mobile devices. The company introduced the new capability this week, explaining that it makes it possible to browse through shoes, accessories, and clothing from different brands, see which stores sell the items, how much the products cost, and more.
Gone are the days when almost anyone that can set up a web server would offer a search engine of their own. These days, any custom engine is often powered by either Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, or Yandex and Baidu in certain countries. That is exactly what is happening with Verizon's unexpected OneSerch engine, which actually serves up results from Microsoft Bing. That, however, isn't what makes it interesting. Rather it is its promise to protect users' privacy that will probably raise not a few eyebrows.
Though Instagram is available on desktop browsers, the service is limited on the web when compared to the service's mobile apps. You'll need to download the mobile app to access a number of features, including any direct messages you've been sent. That has changed this week, at least for a percentage of users who have been included in a new Instagram test.
The updated desktop interface first promised in April has started appearing for some Facebook users. The design finally updates Facebook's increasingly archaic and messy interface with a clean, sleeker alternative that ditches many of the colorful elements and cluttered sidebar. More users will get access to the updated interface over the next few months.
The expansion of Verizon's 5G Home Internet service has been delayed until at least the second half of the year, according to a new report. The wireless carrier is waiting on new equipment that will not be available until later this year, though the company still anticipates eventually offering its wireless home Internet service to millions of people in the United States.
Just as the Internet empowered people by connecting them to knowledge and to one another, it has sadly also empowered less conscientious individuals in carrying out illegal activities in anonymity. Sexual exploitation, especially those of minors, is one of the long-standing problems for both authorities and Internet companies and its complexity defies conventional solutions. Microsoft is rising to the challenge with a new tool called Project Artemis will try to look for signs of online grooming that could lead to child exploitation.
Today the folks at The Pokemon Company released a bunch of new info on multiple Pokemon games as well as the cloud-based Pokemon storage and trading system called Pokemon Home. This was all included in a single video stream, and Pokemon HOME was blink-and-you'll-miss-it quick, but it was there! Now's the time we get pumped up about the biggest missing component of Pokemon Sword and Shield, next month!
Twitter plans to release a new feature that will make it easier for users to reduce the number of abusive or toxic replies to their tweets, the company announced at CES. The revelation was made by Suzanne Xie, the company's director of product management. In addition to limiting who is allowed to reply, the company will make it possible to completely block replies on some tweets.
SpaceX's Starlink satellite constellation may be starting to take shape in orbit, but we're only just starting to find out what the user-experience of the internet service will be like down on the ground. Elon Musk's ambitious plan to build a network of satellites tens of thousands in number will eventually, if the plan pans out, deliver internet connections to areas previously underserved by ISPs or offline altogether.
TP-Link just announced a handful of new networking products designed to accommodate the increasing number of devices in our homes that connect to the Internet. Not just the usual culprits like computers and smartphones but now TVs, ovens, and even refrigerators want to access the Internet. That, unfortunately, also means that there are now more points of entry into your home network, which is why TP-Link has partnered with security software company Avira to put shields around the hub of all that Internet activity: your TP-Link router.
5G might be the one making headlines in the mobile industry but when it comes to computing at large, Wi-Fi 6 is the name of the game. Grabbing the chance to make waves in that market, TP-Link is putting out router after router to enable computer users of all kinds to experience blazing-fast Wi-Fi 6 speeds. Presuming, of course, they have devices capable of handling all that bandwidth.