By Joel Abrams, Senior Product Manager
I’m a contrarian, so instead of the usual top list, I decided to put together a bottom list.
Note: All of these are actual search terms that users typed into the search box on boston.com in 2012, but they aren’t the true bottom. Our analytics system only let me get the top 100,000 search terms, and many are actually quite prosaic. These are my selection of the most obscure, random, and unlikely to yield useful results.
- mass. witches assembling to end tim tebow’s season, keep tom brady’s alive
- Video of unknown male murder feburary 19 2012
- bhjgffghyfgfrfdfffffffffffffffffffffffjhghuehwyhbhhduddddddddiyhygugy yugy
- Sex in Kenya
- and rabbi akiva said it was 200 plagues as we got closer to the sea
- What are the two qualities looked for in choosing sled dogs?
- what do it look like when the sun tern to a blak hole
- why globe is placed on the table in every office?
- internet explorer and its helpful features
- Would you wait in line 8 hours for a beer?
What’s the most popular search on Boston.com? Same as it was last year: obituaries. The most popular topical term of the year? Liberty Mutual.
Bonus popularity contest: the most popular entry on our Big Picture photoblog was the Russia in color, a century ago and least popular was the death of Cambodia’s King Sihanouk.
Yes, I would wait in line 8 hours for a beer.
Yahoo is about to launch a Web browser: Axis, Yahoo’s somewhat belated attempt to get into the Web browser game, is an iOS app/desktop browser plug-in intended to take a step out of the process of searching for a Web page — rather than flooding you with links, search is directly inside the browser, creating a fully integrated experience. Yahoo appears to have announced the browser a little early — video links to the desktop launch video have been up and down (currently up), but the iOS launch video is up. The site is also down, though the launch time is rumored to be tonight. We’re curious but pretty sure this won’t replace Chrome for us.
Google Knowledge Graph Could Make Clicking Unnecessary
Rather than having to visit the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation’s website to learn more about the architect, Google will use Knowledge Graph to showcase biographical details about the architect on its own website, serving up his birthdate, spouse, children and images of his most famous buildings (See screenshot below). Of course, it’s just a cursory glance at the architect — but one that might satisfy many.
A pal of ours who used to work at Google-acquired startup Apture called this the “Tristan Harris feature” earlier today. (Harris was Apture’s CEO.) This is very much the basic idea of Apture applied to Google search results, which is cool.
Anyone know any Apture alternatives? As you guys might know, Apture’s pending death (it’s folding into Google in a little less than a month) means that many of their features will disappear along with the tool itself. We admit to being a little lost in terms of looking for alternatives for its useful scroll-down interface. We considered using Wibiya, but to be a little less than blunt, it’s not the prettiest horse in the race. Anyone know a toolbar-type tool that 1) allows for easy sharing of stories and 2) provides a useful search alternative? We’d like to allow our users to continue to search; just sayin’. :) A little help?
[Analyst Nigam] Arora believes that Siri could change users’ mobile habits, making them search for information via Apple’s Siri rather than directly through Google. He thinks Siri is a better solution because it provides a small number of relevant results rather than a long list that users must sort through. Plus, he views advertisements on a small screen like an iPhone as a distraction.
To support his hypothesis, Arora cites a small study he conducted, in which a total of 40 iPhone 4S users were queried about their mobile search habits. All 40 said they see no need to search Google if Siri can answer their question, while 27 indicated they have not done a single direct Google search since they obtained their iPhone 4S.
Is he full of it? Or could you see Siri replacing some of Google’s usefulness on cell phones?
So we get hauled in front of the Congress for developing a product that’s free, that serves a billion people. Okay? I mean, I don’t know how to say it any clearer. I mean, it’s fine. It’s their job. But it’s not like we raised prices. We could lower prices from free to…lower than free? You see what I’m saying?Google Chairman Eric Schmidt • Proving to be a bit cagey in an interview after taking questions at a Senate hearing a week ago. Google is facing antitrust questions that they’re abusing their power in the search market, and Schmidt claims that there’s a disconnect at play between Washington and the tech culture of Silicon Valley. “The press is so young, they don’t understand the history here,” he said. “We’re still a small component of what a whole bunch of other companies have done, and certainly most other industries. So I reject all such charges.” Think he’s right about all this? source (via • follow)
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