Web search speed used to be gauged by how many mouse they took. Google just took the click out of the equation.Thanks to a set of enhancements to its Internet search engine released on Wednesday (and propagating out to the entire net over the next few days), the new Google search engine will predict your query as you type and deliver results simultaneously — no more clicking for results.
The company claims its Google Instant technology will shave two to five seconads off every web search.
“Our key technical insight was that people type slowly, but read quickly, typically taking 300 milliseconds between keystrokes , but only 30 milliseconds (a tenth of the time!) to glance at another part of the page,” the company explained. By presenting results as you enter your search, “you can scan a results page while you type.”
But there may be a downside to the enhanced speed. According to Adam Bunn, head of search at independent search and social marketing agency Greenlight, some websites may suffer a drop in traffic thanks to the changes.
Many sites buy advertising space based on long multi-word keywords, he explained, and as people see results that may be appropriate before they finish typing such keywords, those ad dollars may be wasted — and traffic may suffer.
“If a website has optimized for and holds good rankings for ‘cheap Car insurance UK ,’ that term may lose search traffic as UK users find that the shorter ‘cheap car insurance’ returns several relevant looking results, negating the need to finish their sentence,” Bunn said.
On the other hand, should less common topics should see even fewer page visits, the cost of buying ads that target those pages may drop, he pointed out.
Google is the world’s No.1 search engine, but is facing increased competition from Microsoft Corp’s Bing search engine.
New technologies, such as the specialized applications that run on Apple’s iPhones and fast-growing social-networking services such as Facebook, are also threatening to undermine Google’s position as the main gateway to online information, according to analysts.
Google shares are down roughly 26 percent from their 52-week high of $629.51.
Google said the technology will also be available in many more countries in several weeks.
--------------------------------------
SAN FRANCISCO: Google and Verizon have introduced a proposal for howInternet service should be regulated — and were immediately criticized by groups that favor keeping the network as open as possible.According to the proposal, Internet service providers would not be able to block producers of online contentor offer them a paid “fast lane.” It says the Federal Communications Commission should have the authority to stop or fine any rule-breakers.
The proposal, however, carves out exceptions for Internet access over cellphone networks, and for potential new services that broadband providers could offer. In a joint blog post, the companies said these could include things like health care monitoring, “advanced educational services, or new entertainment and gaming options.”
The two companies are hoping to influence regulators and lawmakers in the debate over a principle known as net neutrality, which holds that Internet users should have equal access to all types of information online.
This principle is crucial for consumers and for fostering innovation amongInternet entrepreneurs, Eric E Schmidt, Google’s chief executive, said in a call with reporters. “The next two people in a garage really do need an open Internet,” he said.
But some proponents of net neutrality say that by excluding wireless and other online services, Google and Verizon are creating a loophole that could allow carriers to circumvent regulation meant to ensure openness.
The plan “creates an Internet for the haves and an Internet for the have-nots,” said Andrew Jay Schwartzman, senior vice president and policy director at the Media Access Project, an advocacy group in Washington and a member, along with Google, of the Open Internet Coalition. “It may make some services unaffordable for consumers and access to those services unavailable to new start-ups.”
Ivan Seidenberg, chief executive of Verizon, said the proposal excluded cellphone networks because the companies were “concerned about the imposition of too many rules” that could slow the growth of the wireless Web.
The proposal also excludes services that broadband providers may create. These services, the companies said, would have to be “distinguishable from traditionalbroadband Internet access services and are not designed to circumvent the rules.”
--------------------------------------
Mobile phones are writhing bug factories that can harbour 18 times more bacteriathan a flush handle in a men’s toilet, a new study shows.With iPhone 4 fever about to hit Melbourne, a researcher who swabbed 30 mobiles found at least seven had unacceptably high levels of bacteria.
The results point to potentially poor hygiene among millions of mobile phone users that could result in stomach upsets, or worse.
“The levels of potentially harmful bacteria on one mobile were off the scale,” said UK hygiene expert Jim Francis.
“That phone needs sterilising.”
The microscopic nasties ranged from enterobacteria, a group of bacteria that includes bugs such as salmonella, to food poisoning bugs e.coli andstaphylococcus aureus.
Even if a phone owner is scrupulously clean, beating the bacteria may not be so simple.
Handing your phone to others so they can view holiday snaps or marvel at a coolnew iPhone app is an invitation for bugs to get on board.
Researcher Ceri Stanaway said most phones in the study didn’t have any bacteriathat would make users sick straight away, but they were grubbier than they need be.
“The bugs can end up on your hands, which is a breeding ground and be passed back to your phone,” she said.
“They can be transferred back and forth and eventually you could catch something nasty.”
Researchers said the study showed how easy it was to come into contact withbacteria.
“People see toilet flushes as being something dirty to touch but they have lessbacteria than phones,” Ms Stanaway said.
--------------------------------------
Posted in: Science And Tech News
.jpg)
