Vivaldi collaborates with DuckDuckGo to improve browser privacy
Vivaldi Technology has announced a new collaboration with the privacy-centric search engine DuckDuckGo. In coming together, DuckDuckGo will be made the default search engine in a Private Window.
The aim is to further increase the privacy offered by the Vivaldi web browser, helping to ensure that searches that are conducted in a Private Window really are private.
Google Images gains captions to make search results much more useful
By its very nature, searches on Google Images are very visual things -- but that's not to say they couldn't be enhanced with some non-pictorial content. And that's exactly what Google has done, adding captions to image search results to make them more useful.
The aim is to provide greater context about results, giving users the chance to judge the quality of the image, and to perhaps determine whether the host site will have other useful images.
Google brings search and sharing to iMessage in iOS, Safari updates, and more
Google has released an update for its iOS app that adds an extension to iMessage. This allows for easy searching -- be it for GIFs or restaurant opening times -- while you chat, so there's no need to leave the app. More than this, it is also possible to share the information you find as a card.
The update also brings an expansion of sharing to all web browsers, including Safari. Share a page to the Google app, and you'll see a list of related suggestions. But it doesn't end there. Google has also introduced new options for iPad users.
India hits Google with $21 million fine for search bias
Google is certainly no stranger to accusations of abusing its position to its own advantage, and the company has now been fined 1.36 billion rupees ($21.17 million) by India's antitrust watchdog.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) said Google was guilty of "search bias" and had been abusing its dominance in online web search and online search advertising. Particular criticism was leveled at Google's promotion of its own flight search page.
Shutterstock unveils 2018 Creative Trends Report -- cryptocurrency, fantasy, and more
Shutterstock is an excellent website to obtain high-quality media -- images, music, and videos. Not only is it easy to use, but it has a large and diverse selection too. That is probably why so many companies use the service (including us). With so many people searching Shutterstock for media, the company has the opportunity to analyze that search data to predict trends. This is smart to do, as unused data is arguably worthless data.
Today, Shutterstock unveils its Creative Trends Report for 2018, and the data is quite interesting. If you aren't familiar, it is a report that highlights certain media trends based on search data. Even though it focuses on media, the subject matter can reveal larger overall worldwide trends too. As an example, one of the big media search trends is cryptocurrency -- this should come as no surprise, as Bitcoin and others have seen huge gains (and losses) lately. As you can see, people will search for media that represents things that are happening in the world.
Getting a good Google ranking is a long game
Whenever a business gets a new website it wants to see it ranking highly in search results. But getting to the top in Google and other search engines is a long game, according to SEO company Ahrefs.
UK web design company The Website Group has produced an infographic based on the Ahrefs research. It shows that -- based on random keywords -- the top 10 ranking pages on Google are on average more than two years old.
Google updates job search with estimated salary, location filter
As part of its Google for Jobs initiative, earlier this year Google introduced a new job search tool to help users better understand a prospective employer or how long their new commute might take.
Today, based on feedback that Google has received, the job search tool gets an update that makes it a lot more useful. Among the new features are a salary estimator and improved location filter.
Google adds restaurant wait times to Search and Maps
Search for a restaurant using Google, and you're already told the times of day at which a particular place is busiest. But Google is about to make this information even more useful.
The fact that a restaurant is busy at 3PM on a Thursday afternoon doesn't necessarily mean you'll have to wait ages for service -- there may be more staff working, for instance. A new update to Google Search -- and Maps is to follow -- means you'll be able to see estimated wait times as well.
eBay launches Image Search option and AI-powered Find It On eBay tool
A picture, they say, is worth a thousand words. When you're searching for something on eBay, it can be hard to find quite the right turn of phrase to track down precisely what it is you mean. To help overcome this problem, eBay has now launched a new Image Search option.
The feature lets you take a photograph of an object -- or upload an image they already have --and use it to search for similar items that are for sale. This is just one of two new tools that eBay has launched to make it easier to find exactly what you're looking for without having to think about how a seller might have described it.
Google makes it harder to search for results from other countries
For a long time, there was an easy way to conduct a Google search in a country other than the one you're in. If you wanted to get results specific to Japan, for instance, you would visit www.google.co.jp; to get Australian results you would visit www.google.com.au -- but this trick no longer works.
Google has announced that it will now always serve up results that are relevant to the country that you're in, regardless of the country code top level domain names (ccTLD) you use. The reason given is a little bizarre.
iOS Siri and Search, and macOS Spotlight, are now powered by Google
Apple is switching from Microsoft Bing to Google search to power Siri and Search in iOS, and Spotlight in macOS. The changeover is taking place right now, and should be complete by the end of the day.
The search switch coincides with the launch of macOS High Sierra, but Mac users will find that Bing will still be used for image searches in both Siri and Spotlight.
Microsoft enters the fight against fake news as Bing gains Fact Check label
The "fake news" moniker may be a relatively recent one, but the phenomenon is not exactly new. Search engines and social media sites have long fought a battle against rogue news sources, and Microsoft's latest attack sees the company adding fact-checking to Bing.
The addition of Fact Check labels means that anyone looking at search results should be able to tell at a glance if a particular news story has been debunked. The label can be applied to sites as a whole as well as individual articles, making it easier for Microsoft to alert people about poor news sources -- although the company does not do any actual fact-checking itself.
'It is time to return to not being evil': Opera and Vivaldi founder accuses Google of 'misuse of power'
The founder of the Opera and Vivaldi web browsers, Jon von Tetzchner, has lashed out at Google in a vitriolic blog post in which he accuses the search giant of a "misuse of power." He says that Opera helped Google to grow and that it didn’t take long for the company to expose its dark side.
He complains that despite the fact that Vivaldi is based on Chromium, the web browser has to hide its real identity in order to work with Google Docs. He also suggests that his Google AdWords campaigns were suspended after he gave interviews in which he described Google as being a threat to democracy. von Tetzchner is not a happy man, and he has a simple message for Google: "it is time to return to not being evil."
Google brings video previews to search results on Android
Google is undeniably the best search engine for results -- concerns about privacy be damned. Alternatives such as Bing and DuckDuckGo aren't terrible, but the optimal experience still comes from Google -- for now.
Today, Google announces a cool new search feature for its Android operating system. When using either the Chrome web browser or the official Google app, you will now sometimes see video previews in results. In other words, rather than needing to click a video to load it entirely, you can instead see a brief snippet, allowing you to see if the video should meet your needs.
Google adds Q&A to search and Google Maps on Android
Android users now have a new "Question & answers" option in both Google Maps and search. This is not a general Q&A feature along the lines of Yahoo Answers, but a way to ask questions about businesses.
This appears to be Google's attempt to draw people away from the likes of Facebook when they want to ask questions about hotels, restaurants and other places they may visit. Business owners are able to respond to questions -- as are users -- and they are encouraged to create FAQs to prevent the same queries being posted time and time again.
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