Ever Wonder What Everyone Else Is Googling?
You're not the only one interested in albino lemurs!
Wednesday, May 23, 2007 by Zoomba | Discussion: WinCustomize News
Every day, millions of people turn to Google to find the answers to life's burning questions; What did Paris Hilton do last night? What's the best chili recipe? How much wood, could a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood? And so on. So as we query the search engine for these bits of knowledge, we largely do so separated from everyone else on the Internet. The world's largest virtual gathering point essentially treats each user as the only person in the world. Imagine going to the Super Bowl, but instead of sitting in a crowd, you're in a completely sealed off booth with a little television screen that only watches the game on the field and gives no hint that anyone else is watching the game.
This week Google launched the experimental "Trends" service. Here you can see what the top search terms are for the day. It's an interesting glimpse into the current mood and mindset of the collective population of the Internet. Or, if today is any indication, a slightly disturbing one ("microwaved baby" is the #3 term). You can see the top 100 overall terms for the last 24 hours. You can also do a popularity comparison of search terms by entering two terms in the search box on the Trends page, separated by a comma.
Here's a chart comparing search popularity between the terms WindowBlinds and MSStyles.
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Reply #22 Saturday, May 26, 2007 4:38 PM
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Reply #21 Friday, May 25, 2007 12:56 AM
Yeah, me too (I think)....being that ignorance is supposedly not bliss! But then that could depend on whom or what the ignorance pertains to, whether you wanted to know something in particular about certain somebody's or not
Think I missed the TV expose on Google (cos I rarely watch TV and these days and am too tight fisted to purchase a TV guide to find out when things are on or not) but I do recall one of the previews detailing some frightening aspects that should be of concern to everyone...
According to the preview: Google data mines from every publicly available site/web page on the internet in order to provide such wide & varied search results. The warning in this is that if you don't want Google to mine/display any information about you, personal, sensitive or otherwise, you simply do not make it publicly available on the internet in the first place. You do so at your own risk, and should Google link to such information about you, Google will tell you it is the responsibility of the host site to remove it. However, it was said, if said site does not comply, best not to hold your breath for Google to remove the links from their search engine or data banks.
So with this mined data and the data provided by personal web searches, Google knows as much about us as we know ourselves, if not more....just pisses me off that they know I'm left-handed & which one I use to wipe....
They say knowledge is power, and that has never been truer than now, with the advent of Google. It's all well and good to say "I have nothing to hide" but it all depends on who's got access to what information about whom. I know I'm innocent, but a Google search places me as being the only left-handed person in the vicinity of the crime at that precise time.....and the conclusive piece of evidence which could convict me is the small particle of S monogrammed toilet paper, which according to Google is peculiar to the victim, and was found under my left index finger nail post-crime. It doesn't matter that my initial is also S, and I too have monogrammed toilet paper, handkerchiefs, socks and (non) smoking jackets. That's just an unfortunate coincidence and will not stand up in court.
I rest my case.