The appetite for news on mobile is increasing, and Google wants to make chewing through it more like Snapchat and less like a chore. The company has revealed its latest project, AMP Stories, taking news content and packaging it into a visual-first format that promises more engagement from attention-short readers.
Microsoft has taken the wraps off new artificial intelligence features for its search engine Bing, as well as Cortana and Office 365. The company unveiled the new abilities at an event in San Francisco today, explaining that AI has the ability to bring about the intelligent tools that consumers want. Whether it is asking for help or seeking answers, artificial intelligence -- and Microsoft's products that use it -- are here to help.
What's three billion dollars between friends (and arch-rivals), right? Google will reportedly drop a cool $3bn into Apple's back pocket this year alone, one analyst firm has suggested, in return for being the default search engine on the iPhone, iPad, and other iOS hardware. Although unconfirmed by either company, it's an indication of just how valuable mobile users are, and how much importance Google places on its role there despite considerable mindshare.
If you hate Facebook's autoplaying videos, just wait. Google has introduced the same feature into search results for some users, though it depends on the results you get. The feature has been confirmed by Google as a test, though the company didn't go into any details. It is limited to desktop at the moment, at least based on user feedback, and it is live in the UK and Canada as well as the US.
This weekend Google began rolling out changes to its mobile search results UI. Instead of flat, sharp corners, each result in Google search has a softer, rounder edge. Instead of having nothing in the upper right-hand corner of each search result, this new layout includes four friendly little dots that correspond with the 4 colors of the Google Logo and newest Android OS startup.
Both Microsoft and Google have agreed to demote piracy links in search results in the UK, it has been announced, in their latest efforts to help crack down on Internet piracy. This move, if it proceeds, will be a first of its kind, and will result in Google Search and Bing demoting websites in search results that give access to copyrighted content without the authority to do so. The first page will be entirely scrubbed of piracy links.
Google has tweaked the way it presents recipes for food searches on its mobile search. Pull out your phone and search for any particular food item or multiple items using Google Mobile Search, and you'll see an array of recipe cards at the top of the results. Above those cards you'll find related search terms that, when tapped, will themselves pull up additional recipes, all of which can be scrolled through in their own dedicated section.
It’s that time of year — a bunch of people are agonizing over which college to attend, and Google plays a large part in their research. To help expedite and flesh out that research process, Google has announced the addition of detailed college data cards in Search, presenting a bunch of information about the institution in one easy-to-read place. The data presented is gathered from the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard, says Google.
Chinese authorities have launched new regulations for the nation's search engines and the results they display to internet users. But as a country with some of the tightest controls over the internet, its use, and what information people have access to, China's new rules are actually beneficial for its citizens. Under the new rules, search engines are required to identify paid ads within search results, as well as verify advertisers.
Google says top searches in UK following Brexit vote inquire what the European Union actually is. What better time to find information on the EU, the subject that you JUST voted on, than right after the vote has been cast? It's like interviewing someone after you've hired them with a lifelong contract. It's like drinking a glass of liquid, asking what was inside only after you've swallowed.
Google is about to take over "am I sick" searches. They're going to do this with smart parsing of the terms you search - sussing out the ones they're able to tell you more about. If, for example, you search for "why does the left side of my head hurt", Google will tell you about the sort of headache you likely have. And why? Why would Google take the time to do this? Because "roughly 1 percent of searches on Google (think: millions!) are symptom related," according to Google's Veronica Pinchin, Product Manager.
Google is going to add shopping advertisements to its image search, presenting related products to browsers and giving them a way to click-through and buy. The advertisements will show up for users on mobile, with Google saying that this year has seen 34-percent of online purchases happening through mobile devices. Likewise, the company says it has seen the number of mobile shopping searches on its own service jump 30-percent in the past year.