Google World

I used the Beta version of Google’s new browser, Chrome, tonight. The first thing I noticed is that it looks like a file folder, which I like (Firefox appeals more than IE for that reason). The second thing I noticed is that the front page is actually a tile of all the pages you visit most frequently, which was ingenious. I liked having it all there since I rarely actually want to start on my homepage.

I actually worried for Google a few weeks ago when Cuil came out. Not because I thought Cuil was going to overtake Google, but because it reminded me that it had been a while since I’d seen anything new from Google. The browser assured me that Google was still busy at work, creating products people really like.

Chrome has a few new browser functions that will catch on instantly. The bookmarks are on the upper right hand corner. You click a bookmark icon and they open on the right margin. A function to go “incognito” will make sure you don’t leave any cookies while you surf. That was one of those items that make you wonder why someone else didn’t think of that sooner.

Though I suppose I must ask (and everyone will eventually): isn’t it a wee bit spooky how much Google knows about us? They have us on GoogleMaps, GoogleEarth, and Gmail, they have our search histories… and now our browsing histories. I don’t think they’re doing anything evil with that data but I am pretty sure if they were, I’d use Google to research it.

Cuil v. Google

As of this moment, Google has nothing to worry about with the new Cuil search, launched by former Google employees. It’s slow, awkward [there is no place to hit "next", you just have to click on the page you want of the returned page numbers], and the “info” page isn’t up yet. It’s got an interesting layout – three columns, with pictures and text. It’ll be interesting to see if it can capture some of Google’s market share at all.

The Google Anthropologist

Last week, I started to notice that my Enron posts were being indexed by Google very quickly. Within seconds after hitting ‘post’, an Enron google alert would ding my inbox alerting me that Cara Ellison had posted about Enron.  Furthermore, if I googled ‘Cara Ellison’, the very latest post – published seconds previous – would appear as the first hit.  This piqued my curiosity because even just a month ago, the posts were showing up as google alerts but it would take a few hours, or even days. And some were missed entirely. No more. Presto-perfecto, they are grabbed and indexed and sent to those who have asked for Enron alerts and is shuttled to the very tip-top of the google search.

I was determined to figure out what was going on here. I found out that google doesn’t just start indexing the web by saying “okay you guys do the ones that start with A, you guys do the Bs…” because that would be unlikely to yield the highest hit rate of relevant links. Instead, they dynamically prioritize the sites that are observed to be authoritative, and if a site is both considered authoritative and updated frequently, google raises the priority of that site to make sure it is visited and indexed more frequently.

So one can conclude that I am considered a highly relevant, authoritative, high priority site on the subject of Enron. I shall go about my day with silent smugness now. Thankyouverymuch.