Tag Archives: Bing
Review: Chrome Canary – More Than One Browser Instance
Posted on 25. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 
4 Comments
I had recently written a post at the Chromium-discuss Google Group about a recent problem I was having with Chrome instances.
The pace of Chrome’s development is mind blowing. So when I read the Chromium-dev Group news about Chrome Canary, I was happy that the team is allowing more instances of the browser to be run for those of us who have a keen interest in Chrome.
However, does Chrome really need to have a stable, beta, dev and now Canary release? Under normal browser conditions, it does not. But because the pace of releases are being sped up due to Chrome being implemented as an OS as well as an integral part of Google’s TV initiative, it makes sense.
The real purpose is to put a canary build out that can be frequently updated, and possibly rolled back. The Chromium team realizes that the more eyes that are on their early builds, the faster potential problems can be worked out, thus speeding up the development life cycle. Note that this build is currently only available for Windows users.
When I first installed Chrome Canary, I was surprised to see that I was given a choice for which search engine would be queried when I put a term in the omnibox. Actually since Yahoo how uses Bing for search results there’s really only two options here.
Looking at the versions of these two instances, it appears that for now the two are running the same build so there’s really nothing intriguing to report on about canary for the time being. Although canary will only be used to push the more risky features into the build, we’ll keep updating on any of the most interesting changes.
Surprise – Google Recently Surpasses Yahoo in Time Visited
Posted on 13. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 0 Comments
Silicon Alley Insider’s recent chart showing the amount of time spent on major sites displays a strong push for both Google and Facebook, while the previous (shocking) champ Yahoo is experiencing a steady overall drop.
Yahoo and AOL are in steep decline, while Microsoft is simply staying afloat, most likely bolstered by spending hundreds of millions on marketing their Bing search engine. Apple, which is rumored to be preparing for a more cloud-based approach, isn’t even on this list.
Facebook has really pulled up close with Google, but co-founder Sergey Brin recently said the company is unfazed by Facebook’s growth.
“The indications that we have show that when Internet users become Facebook users they actually do significantly more searches on Google,” Brin told Reuters in Sun Valley, Idaho last week.
But Google isn’t resting on their laurels in regards to competing with Facebook. That would explain this recent release of a huge 216 slide presentation by Google UX researcher Paul Adams on the problems and opportunities of social networking.
Google Buys ITA Software to Position Itself in Travel
Posted on 02. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 0 Comments
ITA Software really is a good product. I had said in the past that Google would be keen to buy it, and they finally did for $700 million. The reason that ITA fits with Google is because of its innovative search engine for finding flights at the cheapest prices. Although the cheapest flights sometimes have wacky routes, it offers a deep look (click “login as a guest”) into how the complex airline industry works.
That’s why Google bought it – another great algorithm, and something to go up against Bing’s travel engine, which has slowly gained popularity for its valuable features as well as its uniqueness. Also, having ITA in the fold better strengthens Google Travel, because up until this point, there really has been no real travel service from Mountain View.
One interesting thing is ITA’s enterprise cachet – while regular users can access ITA for free, large airlines pay them for their advance algorithms. Not only could Chrome OS work well with a possible ITA Software flight search app offered for free there could also be a potential benefit for companies with an enterprise version of the OS using a more complex one that helps business travelers get where they are going – fast.
thechromesource Daily: Links for 6/2/10
Posted on 02. Jun, 2010 by Greg Farnum. 0 Comments
Google rules online search advertising, but TechCrunch Disrupt attendees aim to crack the social media ad market.
Google’s Wi-Fi incident is under more scrutiny from Canada’s privacy commissioner.
Inspired by Ask.com and Bing, Google will allow users to add a background image to the Google homepage.
Google Search for Mobile now includes mobile app results.
Google Chrome OS could shake up PC market predicts PCWorld’s Tony Bradley.
thechromesource Daily: Links for 6/1/10
Posted on 01. Jun, 2010 by Greg Farnum. 0 Comments
Computerworld asks, has the Microsoft-backed Bing search engine actually aided Google?
Chrome adds Opera-like Trash Can extension for better tab reopening.
Will Google really become more secure by moving away from Windows?
House Judiciary Committee to look at Google and Facebook privacy practices says Huffington Post.
Inside Google? Really? Seems More Like Outside
Posted on 22. May, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 1 Comments
Consumer Watchdog, a non-profit organization whose mission is to fight on the behalf of “American consumers and taxpayers” has launch a blog called Inside Google where they intend to keep in check some of the privacy issues that the search engine giant has been encountering recently. From a few of the articles that I have read on the site, Inside Google clearly believes that the folks at Google need to be more open about the way they do business, and one of the issues highlighted is the way their search algorithm is calculated to bring back query results.
This is especially true when looking at the post fuming about the fact that the term “Inside Google” doesn’t come up on the first few pages of a Google Search, yet does when querying Bing. The opposite end of this is perhaps Microsoft should be asked if they are trumping up the Inside Google site while Google is giving it a representative ranking since the Inside Google site is very new; the domain was only registered three months ago and currently has no PageRank.
Plus, there is no update on this post since it was written to point out that searching the term Inside Google appears in the first page of Google Search, at least when I queried it today. Even when done in Incognito Mode or another browser with cleared history. Looks like the “lack of transparency” tag placed on these posts doesn’t apply to Inside Google.
I know that I have not always written rosy things about Google, and they still rank me well, probably because their engine is based on a specific system to return the best results for a query, not by humans directly manipulating search results. Here are some examples of things I’ve written:
Concerned About Privacy? Scroogle Scrapes Your Searches
Do You Know Why Google Wants to Trade Energy?
Maybe Google Knows Too Much, GoogleSharing Can Help
Google Invests in Recorded Future
Inside Google is based on the foundation that because Google has seventy percent of the United States market of online search it should be investigated because it is a monopoly. But there are other competitors in the search market. In reality if Bing, Yahoo or Ask were actually better search engines than Google, I would use them. But they are not. Hence the reasoning behind the fact that I use Google Search as I’m sure others who read this post would agree.
If serious privacy or security issues arose that Google was not willing to face or to make amends for, I would be all for going after them, as would a great deal of others. In that regard perhaps Inside Google is on the right track with what they are doing but some of these articles posted on the site seem, well, a bit angst driven for some reason. Is there a motive to why Inside Google feels like they’ve been left on the outside? Possibly because its journalists were formally a part of the once dominant print media industry?
Will Google Buy ITA Software?
Posted on 13. May, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 6 Comments
Speculation abounds that Google is thinking about purchasing ITA Software. I first heard about this company when I was flying somewhere, and for good reason: ITA offers a superior way to search for the cheapest flights over anyone else. They give you the gritty details on flights like no one else will. Plus, anyone (for the time being) can use their search engine to find the least expensive routes to wherever one’s destination may be.
And that brings Google into the picture. A quick search for the query “Google travel” brings nothing promising back. This is indeed one area where Google could expand its business. They are trying to get into many different markets, so why not the travel industry? Their main search competitor, Microsoft’s Bing, has tools to help travelers find flights, hotels and cars. Bing even has a unique twist: its Farecast technology gives you insight on when to buy airlines tickets when they are at the lowest prices.
Today, Google managing director for Travel Rob Torres said, “Google is seeing that mobile hotel queries have grown almost 3000% in three short years”.
Could Google do Bing Travel one better? Sure, with all of their innovative technology and data they would be able to offer something that is different in this market, and possibly superior. They could do it on their own, but acquiring ITA Software would be beneficial for flight information. Already ITA is used by many other travel companies to find the best fares. If Google owned ITA’s technology it would most likely open up its API for all sorts of creative things, something that Microsoft likely won’t do.
Google Flatlining in Search Just Means it Needs a New Platform
Posted on 12. May, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 2 Comments
It would seem problematic to many that Google is unable to sustain growth in the search market. Unfortunately, with the emergence of Microsoft’s Bing, that now is the case. But this is not something that the folks in Mountain View did not see coming: they have been working away for quite some time now on providing more incentives to use the Google platform, and this chart is proof of that now more than ever:
The Silicon Alley Insider has used this chart as the centerpiece for their post, “Big Bad News for Google: Search Share Gains Have Flatlined“. However, looking at this chart it doesn’t appear that Google Search has been on a growth tear in terms of market share for the past couple of years. Therefore, what this chart fails (understandably) to take into account is the growth in the mobile market as well as the ongoing expansion of internet users.
Plus, Google has been working on this issue for years, most likely realizing that there is going to be a limit that they reach in terms of market share. In a free market world, no one is going to have complete control of any business niche since there will always be competition. Plus, I’m not sure anyone really wants to see Google have complete control since once a company has that ability they could use their power to push around other would-be competitors.
The way around this for them is to expand their bevy of applications into their own platform. This has just begun with Android, and as the recent New York Times article out about early adopters who have taken an interest in Chrome OS before any commercial product is available shows that a platform outside of smartphones has some likelihood of being viable.
Google: Let’s Piss Off Microsoft with Chrome Frame
Posted on 18. Jan, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 5 Comments
OK, so sometimes I’m behind the times, but I just discovered this little project Google has been working on called Chrome Frame. Basically it’s an add-in to Internet Explorer that allows it to run newer web technologies such as HTML5 if a developer puts in a line that triggers it within their code. This includes the Chrome browser’s V8 Javascript kit that allows for faster performance, support for newer CSS formats and offline storage functions that are starting to be seen in Google applications such as Gmail.
We all know that Internet Explorer has become a slow and cumbersome behemoth, and for those who are unable to install Chrome browser on a managed machine this is a simple fix for that as you can easily download a small executable and then run it. It would also be useful for developers who need to test different browser versions in one application as well. Chrome Frame works with IE 6, 7 and 8. Here is a video from Google:
Although released under the auspices of development, this kind of stuff must really irritate Microsoft and when this was first announced last September they issued a statement that using Chrome Frame may have security implications, but Google later released a patch that allayed those concerns.
Anything from the positive department for Microsoft? Looks like Bing is making headways in search. Must be all those ads on television. Too bad I make my own decisions.
