Search

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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Macromedia Flash, now owned and killed by Adobe, was once the Web's darling. It enabled rich and interactive content that gave way to fancy web pages, games, and, of course, videos. Those came at the cost of file sizes, bandwidth, and security and has now turned into a liability rather than an asset. Almost all major web browsers have bid Flash farewell and soon Google Search will also be ignoring Flash content in indexing web pages.

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Technology and Fashion couldn't be farther from each other but there have always been times when the two become intertwined one way or another. The most recent example is Google's Projects Jacquard and Soli but, almost a decade ago, Google had an odd brush with fashion as well, way back in 2000 when Jennifer Lopez wore what became a highly-popular jungle dress by Versace. Now the tech giant is teaming up with the two personalities that unwittingly gave birth to one of Google Search's most popular features: image search.

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Google Search has become an almost indispensable tool in today's age, much to the chagrin of privacy-conscious Internet users. The way it has been indexing and presenting information on the Web has made it learn anything and everything, sometimes even without having to go to the associated website or service. Videos, however, are not as easy to deal with, which is why Google is presenting a compromise that helps surfers first check if they got the right one before jumping directly at that point in time in the video itself.

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Over the years, Google has been improving search results to give users less reason to navigate away from Google just to find simple answers to their questions. Those range from snippets presented in answer boxes to even video clip previews. On Android, it may even present more information or more controls that remove the need to switch an app. Now Google is doing the same for podcasts by letting users not only search for relevant podcasts but even start listening to them right then and there within the search results page.

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Android users in Europe will get to pick their search engine of choice, as Google complies with the antitrust ruling from the European Commission, though in doing so the company will be lining its own pockets. Google was found guilty last year of creating a monopoly situation in Europe, insisting that Android smartphones have the Chrome browser pre-installed, and its own search engine set as the default.

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After spending just a few minutes with Valve's new Interactive Recommender for Steam, I can already see the massive improvement. I've been using app stores and game stores since before they were digital, and I've never experienced such a smooth process. This is a positive, well-planned, thoughtful, non-intrusive way to use machine learning, and I'm glad it was a gaming company that had to be the first to make it happen.

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As the entity with the biggest influence on what we discover on the Internet, Google is seen both as custodian and also censor of the Wide Wild Web. The latter is an especially thorny subject when it comes to political topics, with the search giant accused of favoring either left or right wing agendas. One of the latest controversies involves images of former US President Bill Clinton and Jeffrey Epstein that certain parties claim have been removed by Google from its search results. The truth, however, might be too simple to be believed.

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Once the bane of the Web and proper web design, GIFs, specifically animated GIFs, have not only returned but also became the Internet’s darling. These short, looping animated clips are often used to comically express sentiments and reactions in ways emojis and even stickers could not. Unless you keep a library of such GIFs categorized by emotion or reaction, searching for the right one can be a hassle. Fortunately, Google Image Search is coming to the rescue.

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