fidzu : search engine

It's been more than a year since Facebook introduced Graph Search to the world - its first foray into developing a serious search product for Facebook users. If you think development of Graph Search has been moving at a snail's pace, you're probably not alone. The rollout to...

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

16 Apr 2014 6:57pm GMT

Matt Cutts has been the subject of a number of parody/comedy videos during his tenure as the chief of Google's webspam team, and the latest has him starring in a rap-style clip called "Spam Around The World." It's a collage of clips from past webmaster videos edited together...

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

16 Apr 2014 6:26pm GMT

According to a new study from Marin Software, advertisers that leveraged integrated search and social ad campaigns experienced twice as many conversions, and doubled their revenue per click rates. Using data from its Global Online Advertising Index, Marin evaluated the performance of paid search...

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

16 Apr 2014 6:17pm GMT

It's that time of year when Q1 "state of" reports are published to demonstrate where 2014 stands today. Two reports, one from RKG and one from The Search Agency, look at trends on both the organic and paid side. Here are the highlights.

16 Apr 2014 6:00pm GMT

By being customer-centric, continuously optimizing and innovating, and creating an agile corporation, Amazon.com dominates the competition. Jeffrey Eisenberg explains how it became so successful and how marketers can grow and succeed like Amazon.

16 Apr 2014 4:00pm GMT

Safeguarding large and complex websites from Google Panda is no easy feat. This post details a case study of a large website that got hit by Panda twice, and also provides important tips for avoiding content-quality problems.

16 Apr 2014 1:30pm GMT

Gmail has a new interface for adding images to a message. When you click the "insert images" icon, Gmail now shows all the photos highlighted by Google+ Photos. You'll see all the photos that are displayed here: https://plus.google.com/photos, including Auto Backup photos from your desktop and mobile devices.

Google uses clever algorithms that find your best photos and place them in the "highlights" section, which is displayed by default when you visit Google+ Photos. Gmail only shows these photos, but you can click "X more" to show all the photos from an album (X is the number of photos).

After adding a photo, you can now resize it by dragging on any corner.

Gmail's dialog also includes a section for albums, so you can insert links to your Google+ Photos albums. "Inserted albums are shared via link. Anyone with the link can access the album," explains Google. You can also upload photos or paste URLs. By default, images are inserted inline, but you can also add them as attachments if you click "as attachment" next to "insert images".

"Whether it's photos of your hiking trip or a night out, sending photos to friends and family just got easier. Starting today, you can save time and insert your Auto Backup photos from your phone into Gmail messages on the web using the new Insert Photo button. When you click the button, you'll instantly access all the photos that are backed up from your mobile devices, starting with the most recent," informs Google.

16 Apr 2014 12:53pm GMT

Chrome's app launcher has an interesting way to match results. Let's say you want to open Google Play Music. You can search for google play music, play music or you can just type the the first letter from each word and search for gpm. It also works if you type the first letters from the first word, followed by the first letters from the second word and so on. For example, you can also search for goplm, gplam, gmu.

Another example: launch Mahjong Solitaire by searching for ms.

{ via François Beaufort. }

13 Apr 2014 3:28pm GMT

Google Search not only shows driving directions, it also shows a card for public transit directions. This feature seems to be limited to trains and buses. Another limitation is that this feature only works if you are in the US.

"Find the best route to travel using public transportation without ever leaving the Google Search page. For example, if you're in New York and traveling from Fulton Street to Times Square, you can search [from columbus circle to times square by train] to find information about the next train that's leaving. You can also search for directions between cities, like [seattle to portland by train]," informs Google.

Click the Settings button to specify the date and time for your departure or arrival.

You can also append to your query "arriving by 5 pm" or "departing at 6 pm".

13 Apr 2014 2:35pm GMT

Today we're joined by Dr. Jane Goodall, primatologist and founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and Roots & Shoots program. In this post, Dr. Goodall shares her thoughts on how today's technology can enable more people around the world to make a difference in their communities. Join Dr. Goodall for a celebratory Birthday Hangout on Air today at 11 a.m. PDT/2 p.m. EDT. -Ed.

When I first set foot on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in 1960 to study chimpanzee behavior, I carried with me notebooks, pencils and a pair of second-hand binoculars. I was, at the time, a young woman with no scientific training, but had a strong passion for learning about animals in Africa. In later years I founded the Jane Goodall Institute, dedicated to preserving the habitat of chimpanzees and other animals worldwide.

Today, the mapping technology available to all of us is completely changing the potential for animal and environmental research. My trip in 1960 would have looked quite different today. You have much more power at your fingertips, and you don't even have to leave your home. Tools like Google Earth let you visit the shores of Lake Tanganyika with just a few keystrokes. And in Gombe, local villagers are using Android smartphones and tablets, in conjunction with Google Maps Engine and Earth Engine, to monitor changes in the forest habitat that affect chimpanzee populations. Technology makes it so easy for people to find and share information and to understand the world around them. And once we understand, we can start to foster positive change.

That's one of the reasons we started the Roots & Shoots program to connect young people with the knowledge and tools they need to solve problems in their communities. The projects undertaken by these young people help them learn important science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills while developing real leadership capabilities. Today, Roots & Shoots is launching a new community mapping tutorial for young people to help them use digital mapping technology to identify and address needs in their community. If you're an educator, we offer online professional development to help you fit our youth leadership model into your classroom and curriculum. You can sign up for the Roots & Shoots MOOC to learn more.

Today, on my 80th birthday, my wish is for young people around the world to think about the ways you can use technology to learn more about the wonderful world we share. Then, to take action, and inspire others to do the same. You have the power to do so much more than I did in 1960, to spark change I could only imagine back then. And you can do it no matter where in the world you are.

Posted by Dr. Jane Goodall

03 Apr 2014 1:00pm GMT

Google+ Auto Awesome is all about fun surprises that bring your photos to life. And whether it's Benedict Cumberbatch at the Oscars or Michelle Obama at the White House, a celebrity photobomb is the ultimate surprise, turning an ordinary photo into something extraordinary.

Now with Auto Awesome Photobombs, you too can get a celebrity photobomb-no red carpet required. We're starting with surprise appearances by +David Hasselhoff, everyone's favorite crime-fighting rockstar lifeguard.

Upload a new self-portrait, or a group photo with friends, and leave some room for The Hoff. He might just make your photo a little more #Hoffsome.

Posted by Erik Murphy-Chutorian, Staff Software Engineer and Avid Photobomber

01 Apr 2014 2:50am GMT

While we've always known how important transparency is when it comes to government requests, the events of the past year have underscored just how urgent the issue is. From being the first company to disclose information about National Security Letters to fighting for the ability to publish more about FISA requests, we've continually advocated for your right to know.

Today, we're updating our Transparency Report for the ninth time. This updated Report details the number of government requests we received for user information in criminal investigations during the second half of 2013. Government requests for user information in criminal cases have increased by about 120 percent since we first began publishing these numbers in 2009. Though our number of users has grown throughout the time period, we're also seeing more and more governments start to exercise their authority to make requests.

We consistently push back against overly broad requests for your personal information, but it's also important for laws to explicitly protect you from government overreach. That's why we're working alongside eight other companies to push for surveillance reform, including more transparency. We've all been sharing best practices about how to report the requests we receive, and as a result our Transparency Report now includes governments that made less than 30 requests during a six-month reporting period, in addition to those that made 30+ requests.

Also, people have been asking about how we respond to search warrants in the U.S., so we've created an entertaining video to explain in plain language how this process works. We apply the same rigorous standards presented in this video to every request we receive, regardless of type.

You deserve to know when and how governments request user information online, and we'll keep fighting to make sure that's the case.

Posted by Richard Salgado, Legal Director, Law Enforcement and Information Security

27 Mar 2014 3:00pm GMT

In January, my 30 day challenge was to limit my social media. That was a productive month. In February, my 30 day challenge was to eat more slowly. I did that by counting to ten between chewing bites of my food. I tend to wolf down my food, which doesn't give my stomach time to […]

26 Feb 2014 8:41am GMT

Okay, I'm calling it: if you're using guest blogging as a way to gain links in 2014, you should probably stop. Why? Because over time it's become a more and more spammy practice, and if you're doing a lot of guest blogging then you're hanging out with really bad company. Back in the day, guest […]

20 Jan 2014 7:51pm GMT

Today I made a Bluetooth garage door opener. Now I can open my garage from my Android phone. There's a short how-to YouTube video from Lou Prado. Lou also made a website btmate.com that has more information, and you can watch an earlier howto video as well. The project itself was pretty simple: - Acquire […]

28 Dec 2013 12:39am GMT

The Emperor instructed the gardener to set up the new court's garden. "I want you to plant five trees growing the Crataan fruit," the Emperor said, "Because we asked people what fruit they like best, and most named the Crataan fruit!" The gardener replied, "Emperor, that is excellent thinking! But let me make some suggestions: First, how about we make one of the five trees bear the Muran fruit. Only one out of ten citizens loves it, but those peculiar citizens tend to love multiple times as much!" "Second," the gardener continued, "How about we make one of the five trees bear the Dratean fruit. No one loves it, but that's because no one knows it yet!" "Third," the gardener said, "How about we leave one spot in the garden empty. Who knows what new type of tree we'll discover that we can put there in the fut ...

26 Aug 2011 12:12pm GMT

For those of you who've been wondering whether I had turned to stone, fallen into a bottomless pit, or been climbing the Himalaya... no, none of that is true, even though you probably did notice I'm not actively blogging about Google here anymore*! Just now, a new iPad app I've been working on called Color Sound Machine went live, and this -- and all the other apps and games at Versus Pad** -- are actually what I am doing while not blogoscoping. *I've drafted unpublished posts explaining much more about past, present and future of Blogoscoped, and the history of Google news reporting, but ... oh, for now le ...

15 Aug 2011 4:00pm GMT

One of the earliest specialist services provided by Google was reverse phone number lookup. If you used the "phonebook:" or "rphonebook:" operators together with a 10-digit US phone number, Google would show you the owner of that phone number, unless the number was unlisted. Google no longer provides that service. Not surprisingly, there was no press release marking the closure, but Google employee Daniel Russell has acknowledged the closure of the service in his blog. He hints at the possible pressures leading to the shuttering of the service: "As you can imagine, this was an endless source of hassles for people (who were surprised to see themselves searchable on Google) and for Google (who had to constantly de ...

25 Feb 2011 11:23am GMT