Google kills off its censored Chinese search engine, Project Dragonfly
Google has decided to close down its controversial Project Dragonfly which would have seen the company launching a censored version of its search engine in China.
The company's vice president of public policy, Karan Bhatia, made the revelation speaking at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing yesterday. She said simply: "We have terminated Project Dragonfly".
Genius.com uses clever entrapment technique and accuses Google of stealing song lyrics from its site
Ask Google what the lyrics to a particular song are and the chances are that the search results will display them in an info pane as well as links to lyrics sites. But where does Google get these lyrics from? Have Googlers sat and manually transcribed the words to songs ready or when people search for them?
No. Actually, there's a high chance that Google has simply scraped the lyrics from other sites, and one lyrics website says it caught the company red-handed. Genius.com used "Morse code" to catch the company lifting content directly from its lyric database.
Privacy for the win! Startpage.com defeats Google and Bing to become best search engine
Google may be the world's most popular search engine, but that doesn't necessarily mean it is the best. Don't forget, Google is notorious for tracking users and logging search activity. Not to mention, there are many other search engines out there, such as Microsoft's Bing, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo to name a few.
Believe it or not, a lesser-known search engine, Startpage.com, has defeated Google (and all others) to become the search champion! You see, following an in-depth investigation, German organization "Stiftung Warentest" has declared the search engine to be the best. Not familiar with that organization? Please know, it is similar to Consumer Reports in the USA. So yeah, this is a big deal. And yes, Startpage.com also defeated fellow privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo.
Microsoft releases Windows 10 19H1 Build 18317, splits up Search and Cortana
New Windows 10 19H1 builds are coming thick and fast at the moment. With some builds the focus is just on fixing problems and making general improvements, but Insider Preview Build 18317 for Windows Insiders on the Fast ring is notable mainly because Search and Cortana are no longer linked.
Yes, that’s right -- instead of being part of the search bar, Cortana’s button now sits to the right of it.
Privacy-centric DuckDuckGo shuns Google and turns to Apple Maps for location-based searches
With the emphasis it places on privacy, it should come as little surprise that search engine DuckDuckGo is less than keen on Google. The latest demonstration of this is the company's decision to eschew Google Maps in favor of Apple's MapKit JS framework to power its map-related searches.
DuckDuckGo says that this brings users a "valuable combination of mapping and privacy", both on the desktop and on mobile.
DuckDuckGo denies using fingerprinting to track its users
Responding to a forum post that accused it of "fingerprinting users", privacy-centric search engine DuckDuckGo says that fears are unfounded and that it is not tracking its users.
The allegation was made after the Firefox extension CanvasBlocker showed a warning to users. The suggestion of fingerprinting -- gathering as much information as possible about a user through their browser to create a unique identifier that can be used for tracking -- is clearly something that would seem to sit in opposition to what DuckDuckGo claims to stand for. The company CEO says the accusation is simply wrong.
Google relents and hands duck.com to privacy-centric rival DuckDuckGo
It may well just be coincidental timing, but shortly after DuckDuckGo accused Google of personalizing search results even for people not signed into their account, Google has handed control of the Duck.com domain over to its rival.
The concession comes after years of frustration for DuckDuckGo, with Google having acquired Duck.com after buying On2 Technologies (previously The Duck Corporation) in 2010. The privacy-focused search engine has long asked Google to point the address at its website, and this has finally happened. Duck.com now redirects to DuckDuckGo.
Google unveils 2018 top global search trends
2018 has been quite the wild ride, and it isn't even over yet! Sure, there has been a lot of negativity in the news, but let us not forget -- there are many positive things happening too that simply don't get reported. The world isn't all bad.
With Google being the most popular search engine on Earth, it has the ability to offer great insight into the interests of people all over the world. Today, the search giant reveals its 2018 top global search trends.
Privacy-focused DuckDuckGo finds Google personalizes search results even for logged out and incognito users
You might well expect that if you perform a Google search while signed into your Google account that the results will be tailored according to what that company has learned about you over the years. But what about when you're not signed into your account?
A study carried out by the privacy-centric search engine DuckDuckGo yielded some slightly surprising results. In tests earlier in the year, it was found that even when people searched without logging into a Google account -- or when they used private browsing mode -- "most participants saw results unique to them", suggesting there was still personalization of results.
Privacy-focused search engine Startpage.com relaunches with new look, faster speeds and Anonymous View
Startpage.com is a privacy-focused alternative to the likes of Google (although the search results are provided by Google -- minus all the ads and stripped of tracking), and the search engine has just relaunched with a new look and new features. The visual changes will be apparent to anyone who has used the site before, but for anyone who is concerned about their online privacy, it is new options such as Anonymous View that will be of greater interest.
This new feature makes it possible to visit websites completely privately, essentially using Startpage.com as a proxy. Importantly, this extra level of privacy and protection does not come at the expense of speed, meaning you can browse the web anonymously without compromise.
Privacy: Google makes it easier to delete your search history
It's the butt of many jokes, but your search history -- as well as your browsing history -- can be hugely revealing about you. While it is possible to quickly clear the record of searches that your browser stores, it is not so easy to delete the records stored by Google. At least that used to be true.
Google has just announced a new option that enables you to view and delete your Google search history, making it possible to take control of some of the data stored on the company's servers. Contrary to what you might expect, the option is not being hidden away, but will instead be accessible from a Google search. What's more, the company says that similar options will be coming to Google Maps and other Google services next year.
As trust in Google wanes, interest in privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo soars
Google has long been eyed with suspicion, and incidents such as covering up potential data leaks does nothing to help. Privacy and security have increased in importance for the average internet user, and this has seen people moving away from Google and investigating the alternatives.
One beneficiary of this shunning of Google is DuckDuckGo. The privacy-focused search engine has enjoyed a 50 percent surge in usage over the last year, and it can now boast a new record of 30 million daily searches.
Google (sort of) redirects Duck.com to DuckDuckGo after complaints of anti-competitive behavior from its search rival
Google may have been slammed by Europe for using Android to dominate with its search engine, but this is not the only complaint that has been leveled at the company. Privacy-focused search rival DuckDuckGo has criticized Google for sending visitors to Duck.com to the Google search page.
Google owns Duck.com, but DuckDuckGo believes the company has been confusing users with the redirect. Now, following publicity of the issue, Google has relented and says it is introducing a new landing page that will give visitors to Duck.com the opportunity to jump to the DuckDuckGo search engine as well as other pages.
Google loses big 'right to be forgotten' case -- and it could set an important precedent
A businessman with an historic criminal conviction has won his case against Google in a "right to be forgotten" lawsuit seeking to remove information about his conviction from search results.
The case, heard today in London, could set a precedent and lead to a series of similar cases from other people with spent convictions. The anonymous businessman -- known only as NT2 -- has a conviction for conspiracy to intercept communications from more than a decade ago and spent six months in prison for the crime.
Google is beta testing a 'More results' button to reduce searches to a single, endless page
Google search results are, usually, multi-page affairs, but if a new test gets off the ground this could be set to change.
The search giant is conducting a limited test that sees the arrival of a "More results" button at the bottom of search results, replacing the "Next button" that is there at the moment. It's a variation on the idea of infinite scrolling, but a variation that grants the user more control.
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