Scripting News - Latest Comments in How Google got left behind (Scripting News)

Re: How Google got left behind (Scripting News)

Mark Essel — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:53:19 -0000

I think we need something smarter in search. A tool we can customize to our needs with a slider for features like relevancy by link, by author/influence, and certainly by time.

How do you knowledgeable gents see search in a decentralized real time system. I mentioned in a post a while back search like status (you'd propagate searches like real time status/feedupdates so they'd be on the same footing).

My long term dream are virtual assistants that keep track of all my favorite topics/streams, monitoring them with a novelty filter crafted by my usage and manual interaction. Novelty filters intersecting with relevancy features is a fun problem :).

Re: How Google got left behind (Scripting News)

Michael Jung — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:41:00 -0000

A more visually and configurable way is http://newstimeline.googlel...

Re: How Google got left behind (Scripting News)

brianjesse — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:41:47 -0000

Twitter search spoiled me with it's recency. For months i've performed several extra steps on almost every Google search:

a) submit the search term via my browser toolbar
b) click "Advanced Search"
c) click "Date, usage rights, numeric search and more"
d) choose "past 24 hours" from the date popup
e) click "Advanced Search" submit button.

It was getting tiresome but recently a new 3-step option appeared and I can

a) submit the search term via my browser toolbar
b) click "Show options"
c) click "past 24 hours"

I'm ready for the 1-step version, I will Like it.

Re: How Google got left behind (Scripting News)

John E. Bredehoft (Empoprises) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:24:57 -0000

DeWitt, you are correct (and Dave has amended his post to note this). However, while the feature is there, it is relatively difficult to get to (by "relatively difficult" I mean that it takes a couple of steps or a bit of manual typing to get to the desired result).

As it turns out, it's easier to get date-sorted information in other types of Google searches. For example, to get http://blogsearch.google.co... I merely had to go to Google Blog Search, type in "Dave Winer," and click on "Sort By Date."

If Google would offer a "Sort By Date" function on its MAIN search page, then perhaps the competition would be stopped dead in its tracks.

Re: How Google got left behind (Scripting News)

Karma Jay — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:54:40 -0000

I use the Google date sorting all the time. I don't know when they added it, but it's very helpful in certain circumstances.

There's a discussion to be had on relevance vs. timeliness, but for me, it's entirely dependent on the topic I'm searching for. Looking for general information on something, I'll likely want relevance to be my primary search criteria. If I'm looking for information on driver compatibility for my external sound card with Snow Leopard, then I want timeliness over Google's perceived relevance. I don't know how you make this more visible though. Maybe a simple slider above the search results? Newer <----> More Relevant

Re: How Google got left behind (Scripting News)

dave — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:50:08 -0000

Eugene, that's my point.

Grafting a timeline onto the Google search engine is going to leave you
unsatisfied.

It's like grafting a word prcessor onto a spreadsheet. Lotus tried that, bet
the company on it, and spent years realizing that it wasn't working.

This is a perfect case study for the Innovator's Dilemma.

Re: How Google got left behind (Scripting News)

Eugene Mandel — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:32:37 -0000

Search is really two different use cases that should not be confused. Google won't help you when searching for time-sensitive information (e.g., your friends' pictures). However, you would not turn to Twitter when searching for a recipe, formula, historical fact or any other info that is time-insensitive.

Re: How Google got left behind (Scripting News)

DeWitt Clinton — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:31:44 -0000

@Mike - sorry the results weren't what you were hoping for.

Out of curiosity, what results did you expect to see, vs. what you did see? I'll take the feedback back with me.

Re: How Google got left behind (Scripting News)

Mike Cane — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:17:31 -0000

Yes, I did. And I tried to edit my Comment in light of it, but got stuck with a spinning ball.

Just as well, because while it was whirrrrring, I went and did a likewise vanity search.

Wow, did the results suck! Google is full of FAIL when it comes to Real-Time.

Re: How Google got left behind (Scripting News)

directeur — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:12:16 -0000

What DeWitt said! You can search by time intervals. Moreover, IMVHO, very often relevancy is *better* than newness. I want a smart search engine that answers my questions not a hype/trend thing. I'd rather read an article from the 60's on some specific stuff than a tweet by an A-list socialmedia matador. YMMV

Re: How Google got left behind (Scripting News)

DeWitt Clinton — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:09:49 -0000

Mike, please see my comment below (http://www.scripting.com/st....

Re: How Google got left behind (Scripting News)

Mike Cane — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:07:34 -0000

Google News Alerts are a bad joke.

And I've always wondered why Google doesn't have a Sort By Date option for search. You've just shown why.

Re: How Google got left behind (Scripting News)

DeWitt Clinton — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:55:16 -0000

Dave, does this link work for you:

http://www.google.com/searc...

That should include results for [dave winer] over the past hour. Play with the options on the left. You can restrict to all sorts of time intervals.

And here's a search for your name, sorted by date:

http://www.google.com/searc...

Cheers,

-DeWitt