Search

When people say they are searching on the Internet for information, they usually mean using Google Search, whether they're aware of it or not. Google's biggest and most universal Internet service has become the gateway to information but is sometimes also used to deceive people. That happens especially in times of crisis and confusion, which is why Google specifically formatted and curated COVID-19 search results in late January. Now it is stepping up that game not just with more data but with a whole website dedicated to official and verified information about the coronavirus.

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After six months of beta testing with major brands like Adobe, Spotify, and Method, Reddit rolled out "Trending Takeovers." This is an advertisement platform product in which the "trending today" system on Reddit can be "sponsored" by brands. They'll appear in links very similar to all other trending links, much like Google includes paying brands to appear in search results.

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Today Google announced that they've got a timeline for when they'll move to mobile-first indexing for all websites starting in September of 2020. For most websites, this won't be a big deal. Most modern websites - news sites and social networks especially - have been ready to roll with "mobile friendly" design for several years at least. It's the old guard that should worry.

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With no favorable resolution in sight yet, Huawei has practically been forced to truly roll out its own apps and service to replace Google's. It's not easy to accomplish in a few months what Google has been doing for years and the lack of some functionality is testament to that. One thing that has been noticeably missing in the newly-launched Huawei Mobile Services is a counterpart to Google Search. Apparently, even that is now in the works but it does raise questions and concerns about Huawei's Search replacement.

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A Windows 10 update revealed this week included a major change to the search system, creating what appears to be a robust system that'll compete with MacOS' Spotlight feature. This update will come in Windows 10 update 2004, a system that'll be delivered to the average user in the very near future. This version 2004 will improve the full File Explorer system - the most basic bit of the entire OS, the part that makes the OS usable by the average user, and - importantly - the average MacOS user looking to make a switch.

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Misinformation and attention-seeking nonsense is appearing on social networks as coronavirus is declared a public health emergency worldwide. Social media brands like Facebook, Google, Twitter, and others are in the process of enacting crack-downs on the spread of health-threatening and/or public safety-threatening coronavirus-centric information that's false or otherwise unverified. One way the networks have begun to do this is to attach notes to pages with hashtags, or as Facebook calls them, "pop-ups with credible information."

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The World Health Organization or WHO just declared a global health emergency on account of the novel coronavirus situation gripping the world. That will unsurprisingly trigger a flood of dread and panic and, of course, Google searches. Knowing too well that it is in the position to make a lasting first impression, the tech giant switched on an SOS Alert for such searches to surface information from the WHO and other authoritative sources over potentially misleading ones.

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Today Google updated the way Google Search results appeared in web browsers on desktop computers after a similar redesign earlier this month. The most visual bit of this update - the most prominent, easy to see, and central element of this update - is the favicon. As it was with mobile UI for Google Search results updated in May of 2019, so too shall it be for Google Search results on desktop computers - or at least that's what Google suggested on the 17th.

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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.

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Beginning on March 1st, new Android users in Europe will be greeted by something new when opening Chrome for the first time. Instead of simply seeing the Google search bar, they'll be asked to make one of four search providers their default for Chrome. Google today revealed which search engines will appear alongside its own, and each country will have its own selection.

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Cortana is really on the way out, with Microsoft continuously de-emphasis its role in its products. In the past, it featured prominently on Windows' taskbar as an assistant ready to serve you the information you need. It has now been booted out of that position and replaced by an impersonal Windows Search Bar, one that enthrones Microsoft Bing search instead and practically puts a web browser in your panel.

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Google may have Google Translate but, especially on mobile, it requires installing a separate app or navigating to the Translate website. In this Google-centric world, the go-to solution is for people to type in a query on their phones or browsers That's fine when trying to find out how a word is pronounced but what if you wanted to try saying it yourself? Thanks to speech recognition and machine learning, you can now do that too right within Google Search.

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