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867 'Google Search' stories May 2011 - June 2015

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Pro-tip: you can set alarms for your Android phone using desktop Google search

Tom Maxwell Jun 18 2015 - 5:11 pm PT

If you’re anything like me, at some point during your day you’ll consciously think to yourself about what time you’d like to get up the next day. You’ll think about it, but then just forget to set an alarm on your phone before you go to sleep and end up waking at a different time than you’d like. Well, there’s a neat card in Google search that can be evoked with a simply query that may help you with this problem.

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You can now search for chain restaurant nutritional information in the Google app

Tom Maxwell Jun 16 2015 - 9:10 am PT

Regulations in the United States enacted by the USDA require chain restaurants to include the caloric content of menu items right on the menus themselves. Restaurants do their best to get around this requirement, however, by oftentimes printing the calorie information in small, faint type that’s hard to see or even notice. Fortunately, Google is here to help, putting caloric and other nutritional information only as far away as an “OK Google” command.
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Chrome for Android’s ‘Touch to Search’ feature for looking up highlighted text now rolling out

Tom Maxwell Jun 3 2015 - 9:41 am PT

Thanks to a screenshot shared on Google+, we’ve learned that the previously experimental Touch to Search feature for the Chrome browser on Android seems to have been moved to the stable build and is now rolling out to users. Touch to Search “sends the selected word and the current page as context to Google Search,” according to Google. In other words, you see something in a webpage that you’d like to learn more about and can highlight and look it up in Google Search without leaving the page.

It’s notably similar to the recently announced Now on Tap, except it only works within the Chrome browser and, of course, you’re providing more context than Now on Tap requires. From the image above it seems that this feature is opt-in, which makes sense with many cautious of Google’s attempts to collect information on their every digital move.

According to Android Central they’ve been able to access the feature from Chrome on a 2014 Moto X without updating, so Google probably just enabled a flag for the feature on the public build server-side, but I just tested it on a 2nd generation Moto G and wasn’t able to bring it up. Does the new feature appear like in the image above when you highlight text in Chrome for Android? Leave a comment if so!

Google’s mobile search now answering questions right in the autocomplete options

Tom Maxwell May 27 2015 - 9:37 am PT

It appears that Google is rolling out a neat new update to its instant search suggestions on mobile, first spotted by The Next Web. While in the past, Google search would simply load results for what it thought you were searching for to the whole page, now answers to some short questions may find themselves placed directly inside autocomplete suggestions.
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Google now indexing info from iOS apps in search

Tom Maxwell May 27 2015 - 8:38 am PT

Google’s App Indexing technology isn’t exactly the most exciting thing to discuss, but so long as the majority of the company’s revenue still comes from search (it does), it is imperative that they figure out how to make their main business work on mobile where the eyeballs are going. So the company announced that today App Indexing is coming to iOS apps, starting with Chrome and Google Search.

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Google to introduce new ‘buy now’ buttons in search results within the coming weeks

Chance Miller May 15 2015 - 5:15 pm PT

The Wall Street Journal today reported that Google plans to launch a new “buy now” button this week. The button will be incorporated directly into its shopping search results. The report echoes a similar report from The Wall Street Journal earlier this year, in which it was reported that Google wanted to enter the online commerce and more seriously battle Amazon and eBay.

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You can now order takeout in the U.S. from your Google search results

Chance Miller May 7 2015 - 5:51 pm PT

In a post on Google+ this evening, Google has announced that it is adding a new feature to its search engine that will make it incredibly easy to quickly order food on the go. Google says that starting today, if you search for a restaurant that is integrated with Seamless, Eat24, GrubHub, Delivery.com, MyPizza.com, or BeyondMenu, you will be able to order a meal directly from the search results.

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More Google searches now occur from smartphones than from desktops

Chance Miller May 5 2015 - 7:21 pm PT

As you probably could have expected would happen eventually, Google this evening has revealed that more searches are now performed on mobile devices than on desktops. In a post on the Inside AdWords blog, Google wrote, “more Google searches take place on mobile devices than on computers in 10 countries including the US and Japan.”

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Microsoft’s search engine market share passes 20% for the first time

Stephen Hall Apr 17 2015 - 7:27 am PT

Microsoft’s Bing isn’t the most popular search engine around, but—at least according to the latest from comScore—it’s gaining ground slowly but surely. For the first time, Microsoft sites have surpassed the 20% milestone, meaning more than one fifth of overall search traffic is now owned by the Redmond, Washington company…
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Report: Google partnering w/ retailers for new ad-targeting method in Search

Chance Miller Apr 14 2015 - 3:22 pm PT

The Wall Street Journal reports that Google is currently in talks to allow advertisers to target ads towards existing customers in search results. According to the report, Google has approached advertisers with the idea of them sharing customer information that Google would then use to target the ads.

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Google testing new direct-to-business chat platform powered by Hangouts

Stephen Hall Feb 24 2015 - 2:20 pm PT

Google is testing an interesting new feature in search, as spotted by one Matt Gibstein on Twitter. As you can see in the above screenshot, there’s a small “Chat” icon next to the phone number of a business called “Dizengoff” in Philadelphia—and it looks like clicking it will launch you into a chat session directly with that business via Hangouts.
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Google Flight Search expands to Switzerland

Zac Hall Feb 2 2015 - 10:19 am PT

Google shared today that its Flight Search feature is now available to users in Switzerland. This means an optimized version of the travel search function with local currency and language is available from primary Google search both online and through Google’s apps in Switzerland. Previously, users had to rely on google.com/flights which isn’t fine-tuned for users outside of the United States.

Whether you’re traveling from Geneva to Barcelona, Zurich to Sydney, or you’re not sure where to go, Flight Search can offer inspiration and help you find the best flights available. Starting today, you can use Google to quickly and easily compare and book flights — from your mobile device, desktop or tablet.

Users in Switzerland can now access the localized Google Flights Search feature through www.google.ch/flights in addition to seeing support through the Google mobile apps with Google Now cards supported. Google adds that Now cards will display airfare changes for searched flights for users in Switzerland. Previously, Google Flights Search expanded into Denmark, Norway, and Sweden in mid-2014,

Google adds new interface for movie-related searches on Android

Chance Miller Jan 28 2015 - 5:02 pm PT

Google today has unveiled a newly designed search page for move-related queries in Chrome for Android and the official Google Search app. The update presents the results in a fashion similar to what you see when you search for content in the Play Store.

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How to set up Google Now to listen for ‘OK Google’ hotword from everywhere

Casey Carroll Dec 16 2014 - 12:51 pm PT

Google Search is a powerful tool that you’ll find on almost any Android device. Its ability to start listening to your voice after you say the hotwords “OK Google” makes it convenient to use and fun to show off. Most people assume the hotword detection only works when you’re in the Google Search app or if you’re using the Google Now Launcher, but when using a device that’s on Android 4.3 or higher, you can set up Google Now to listen for the hotwords from any screen–even when the display is off on some devices…

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The EU reportedly wants Google to separate search from the rest of its business

Mark Hearn Nov 21 2014 - 1:54 pm PT

Google’s ongoing battle with the European Union may have just taken a nasty turn. A new draft motion from the European Parliament is looking to separate the outfit’s search business from the rest of its operations. This comes after years of accusations against the company claiming that it exercises adverse practices, showcasing its own products while burying its competition.

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Google Search for Android updated with Material Design makeover, improved reminders and more

9to5 Staff Nov 12 2014 - 12:08 pm PT

With the release of Android Lollipop for a wider lineup of Nexus devices expected to occur any day now, the official Google Search app has been updated with a brand new design and several new features that make searching for everything from the best sushi in Chicago to Van Gogh research for a school project that much better of an experience.

First and foremost, the Google Search app has been revamped with a Material Design user interface and that includes bold colors, fluid animations and simplified layouts. Nexus 6, Nexus 9 and Samsung Galaxy Note 4 users also benefit from being able to activate “Ok, Google” searches even when the smartphone is unplugged and the display is off.

The latest version Google’s official app is more effective at organizing your day-to-day life by automatically pulling events that it feels you might want to follow up on, like catching up with Chris over dinner or getting drinks with Susan. Normally, these small events would be buried in your inbox and you might forget to follow up on them later.
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Google updates search platform to decrease visibility of pirated media

Mark Hearn Oct 27 2014 - 9:06 am PT

Google recently rolled out an update for its web search algorithm that makes it harder for people to find pirated media through torrent sites like Pirate Bay and Isohunt. This new software push comes soon after News Corp. chief executive Robert Thomson issued a letter blasting the search giant, referring to it as a “platform for piracy” and requesting that the EU enforce stricter policies against the company.

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Google testing new non-mobile friendly web search icon

Mark Hearn Oct 13 2014 - 1:41 pm PT

Google is in the process of testing a new search result icon that helps people quickly identify websites that aren’t mobile-friendly. A few months back, the search giant started taking action against sites that weren’t properly optimized for smartphones and this new notification icon appears to be part of the company’s focus on mobile web browsing.

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Celebrity attorney threatening Google with $100 million lawsuit over links to leaked pictures

Mark Hearn Oct 8 2014 - 9:19 am PT

A recent scandal that involved countless private pictures of several high-profile female celebrities being published online was initially linked to Apple’s iCloud, however such claims were never validated and the Cupertino software company has publicly denied such allegations. After taking aim at Apple, some of the outraged celebrities are now targeting Google, threatening to sue the company behind its web search results linking to their leaked photos.

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Google no longer displaying news article excerpts in German search results

Mark Hearn Oct 2 2014 - 7:39 am PT

Photo: http://www.corporateofficeheadquarters.com

After receiving a lot of pressure from a group German publishers, Google is changing the way its search engine handles news articles. The company is now removing excerpts and image thumbnails from its web search results for sites like bild.de, bunte.de or hoerzu.de and replacing them with headlines and story links.

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Google makes site-search more prominent to speed you to the exact page you want

Ben Lovejoy Sep 5 2014 - 7:07 am PT

Google is today rolling out a new version of its web search to make it more obvious how to search for a specific page within a website.

Search for a company or website by name and Google has long displayed a list of popular links within that site. For example, search for Samsung and this is what Google will show you:

If the page you’re after isn’t shown, you can click the ‘More results from’ link to open up a site-specific search – but most people didn’t notice it. In the new version, a site search box will pop up right underneath the main link, with greyed-out text letting you know that will search within the site – as in the YouTube example shown. Type in your keyword(s) and Google will take you right there.

Websites with their own search engines can also include code that tells Google how to access it, in which case the site’s own search facility will be used.

The new page is appearing on google.com today, and is likely to reach other countries soon.

Latest Google Search app update brings support for multilingual voice search

Stephen Hall Aug 21 2014 - 1:48 pm PT

Google today announced a new feature for its Google Search app for Android, catering to the billions of people in the world who speak more than one language. Previously, you had to manually switch between the language you wanted Google to recognize, but now you’re just a flick of a switch away from being able to speak in multiple languages at once—and Google will be able seamlessly switch with you.
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Google Play Music updated w/ new ‘I’m Feeling Lucky’ widget, other interface tweaks

Chance Miller Aug 6 2014 - 1:08 pm PT

Google this afternoon, as part of its Update Wednesday regiment, started rolling out an update to the Play Music app on Android. The update bumps the app to version 5.6.1616 and includes several interface tweaks and new features. For one, the update adds a newly-skinned 4×1 widget, as well as a new 1×1 widget that allows you to instantly listen “I’m Feeling Lucky” radio. For those unfamiliar, the “I’m Feeling Lucky” feature provides an infinite stream of music that Google thinks you will like.

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Google discusses child porn detection policies after recent sex offender arrest

Mark Hearn Aug 5 2014 - 7:38 am PT

Photo: http://www.corporateofficeheadquarters.com

Google recently helped police in Houston, Texas catch a sex offender after tipping the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) that it had located explicit pictures of children in a man’s email. Although the search giant’s efforts helped catch a criminal, they’ve also made some people wonder if the company regularly monitors its subscribers’ email accounts.

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