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Human Nature As Seen On AOL Search

AOL has published this week 36 millions search queries from more than 650,000 US users. The data has been anonymized, but you can still use the queries to find information about each person. The data, released by AOL Labs as a research material, stirred a lot of negative controversy, and it was removed from AOL's site. AOL spokesman Andrew Weinstein confessed: "This was a screw-up, and we're angry and upset about it. It was an innocent enough attempt to reach out to the academic community with new research tools, but it was obviously not appropriately vetted, and if it had been, it would have been stopped in an instant."

The valuable data is still available on other sites, including this searchable database and this mirror (439 MB, tgz file). You can find users like 1983280 and track all the searches between March 1st and May 31st this year. The data set includes these fields: UserID, Query, Query Time, Clicked Rank, Destination Domain. So what can you find out about our user? She's a teenager interested in politics, she's from Washington DC, she likes photography and American Idol, one of her parents died and she's about to get married. From other users, you can find the name, the address, the work place and other details that allows identifying the person. New York Times discovered the user no. 4417749, Thelma Arnold, a 62-year-old widow who lives in Lilburn. AOL didn't realize that, in the name of the science, has comitted the biggest privacy breach a search engine ever did. Google didn't let the Government to obtain a similar data set, and AOL, who gets the search results from Google, releases them to the public.

Despite all the privacy considerations, the database is fascinating and it could be the subject of a book about human nature.

What happens when your life is exposed to the public by small fragments of text? You reveal your intentions, your problems and fears, your friendships and your hidden desires. Your queries reveal more than any detective or psychiatrist could find about your life.

Gwigle Game - Find the Google Query

Gwigle is a game that asks you to guess the query by looking at the first search results. Of course, the search terms are blurred. The game, created by a Google employee, is multi-level and if you think the first levels are too easy, wait for the queris from Image Search, Google Maps and Google Calculator. It will be pretty difficult to guess the queries and the options are pretty limited. Good luck!

Cheating:
Click only if you're stuck...

Private Albums In Picasa Web?

Picasa Web Albums allows you to upload photos from Picasa to the web. By default, an album is public, so everyone will be able to see it if he knows the homepage of your Picasa Web Albums. By default, the homepage is picasaweb.google.com/gmailusername, but you can change the name of the directory. You can also make an album unlisted, so it won't be included on the homepage, but anyone can find it in the Google search results (if you or someone else links to it) or can try to guess its name. This means there's a good chance that someone interested in your pictures will be able to find them if he tries hard enough.

A sign that the unlisted albums are about to become private is that Google includes a parameter in the URL of unlisted albums: authkey, followed by a security code. There's also a message that warns people to update the bookmarks with the new URL.

It's interesting to see if the unlisted albums will be available to anyone who knows the URL or they'll require invitations.

Related:
Interesting features in Picasa 2.5 Beta
Picasa Web Albums uploader for Mac

Why Is YouTube More Popular Than Google Video?

YouTube, a video site created by three former PayPal employees in 2005, accounts for more than 60% of all videos watched online in the US. Google Video has a such a small share that it's not worth mentioning (things will change a little now that Google Video is linked on Google.com). Why is that?

1. YouTube is perceived as a video site. Google is a search engine that also has a video section. In addition, Google Video has disappointed twice: it was first a TV shows search but without videos and then a site that required a software to play videos (a version of VideoLAN).

2. YouTube is more open: it shows the number of views, links to a video, so you can have a better perspective about a video. Google shows the number of views only to the upoaders.

3. YouTube is more focused on the community: you could post comments from the beginning, you can post video responses and replies.

4. YouTube lets you have favorite videos, so it's easy to view the same videos again. Google lets you find the videos in the search history and bookmark it, but it's more difficult to do it.

5. You can create playlists in YouTube, and share them. There are also channels you can subscribe to. Google Video's playlists are only derived from search results.

6. In YouTube you can become a member of a group and discuss all sorts of topics related to videos. The videos are an excuse for discussion.

7. YouTube lets people create an online identity, so it's closer to a social network. You can send messages to users, add to friends, subscribe to his/her favorite videos.

8. Popular doesn't always mean great. YouTube has a list of top rated videos and controversial videos. It's reassuring to know that a video has 500 excellent ratings from 3000 views.

9. YouTube has a better search. You can sort the results by number of views, rating, search in playlists and channels.

10. YouTube has a lot of free music videos and TV shows without having the legal right, so it attracts more people. Google is more inclined to remove copyrighted content and to sell premium videos. So YouTube has a more rebellious image.

To conclude, I'll say that Google Video should not try to copy YouTube's design, and let people do more with the videos, find out more about the videos and connect them in a meaningful way.

Related:
10 Google Video tips
Google Video on Google homepage

Why Is Gmail Still In Beta?

Many people are wondering why Gmail, a service launched in April 2004, is still in beta. The screenshots below are a good answer. Gmail still has problems with scalability and server errors are still frequent.

New Interface For Google Image Search

Google Image Search can learn a thing or two from Windows Live Image Search. And I'm not talking about relevancy. Windows Live manages to show more results without complicating the interface. You can see only the thumbnails. If you're interested in one of the pictures, hover over it and you have some details.

Google tries to change Google Image Search interface, by adapting Windows Live's clean interface.

Assaf Rafaeli saw the new design experiment and saved the source code. The change is simple: the details about an image are visible only if you hover over it (you can see the blue rectangle in the screenshot).

Update (January 23, 2007): The new design is live.

Google Engages Star Trek Fans In 3D Artwork

For the 5th Annual Star Trek Convention that will take place in Las Vegas, Google wants you to be a part of the event. "Use your imagination and celebrate sci-fi history by using our free Google Earth, Maps and SketchUp to create your own sci-fi themed vision of an alien's visit to Earth. Skin-tight uniforms and scaly green skin are, of course, optional." You'll design the scene using Google Sketchup (which is now free), and upload it to Google's 3D Warehouse using the tag "scifi".

Your artwork will be displayed on a Google site and at Las Vegas Hilton Hotel, between August 17-20, 2006. You can send the files until August 13, so you have to be fast. Engage!

{ Thank you, Trek1701. }

Google Video On Google Homepage

This is Google's new homepage. Or it's just another experiment. But this time, many people were able to see this page today.

Google replaces Froogle and Groups with Google Video, the service that had a lot of updates lately. If you click on more, a small rectangle appears and it has only three services: the disappearing Froogle and Groups and Google Books. You have to click on even more to see the complete list of services.

Google lists on the homepage only the most used services and Google Video has a slightly bigger popularity than Google Groups and Froogle and has a prominent tendency of growth.

If you can't see the new homepage, here's a mirror.

Related:
Google design experiments
New design in Google Video

The Value Of Videos

Online video is a big business, and Google realized that. While YouTube, Google Video and other video sites don't have a business model, contextual video ads are a sure bet. The idea that anyone can shoot a short video, upload it on the site and then embed it on his blog entices people to populate video sites databases with content. While many people will say that the content is not valuable (TV is the same), the diversity and the big amount of choices will make it very valuable in the future. It will be an archive of cultural trends, popular songs, news, events, TV shows, tips, and crazy ideas and it will surpass TV in popularity.

What do you watch on Google Video or YouTube? Do you think most of the videos are shallow?

Related:
10 Google Video tips
Google Video's dreams of expansion

Gmail Without Invitation In Australia

The only thing that hinders Gmail's growth is the fact it's still an invitation-only service (except in the US and few other countries). PC World informs that, as of today, Australian and New Zealand residents can get a Gmail account without invitation.

"As we prepare to broaden availability, we have decided to launch these efforts in Australia and New Zealand first," said a Google Australia spokesperson. The Google representative said that Gmail will be out of beta when "strong internal metrics" will be met. Those who use Gmail know that there are days when Gmail is not accessible or is very slow, so there are still problem with scalability.

MySpace Will Use Google For Search

News Corporation and Google have reached an agreement in which Google is the exclusive provider of search and text ads for Fox Interactive Media's sites, that include MySpace. "The agreement calls for Google to power web, vertical and site specific search for MySpace.com and the majority of Fox Interactive Media properties. Google will be the exclusive provider of text-based advertising and keyword targeted ads through its AdSense program, for inventory on Fox Interactive Media's network," informs MarketWatch. The pearl of the crown, MySpace, has more pageviews than Google in the US, according to a Hitwise study.

"MySpace.com is a widely acknowledged leader in user-generated content and incorporating search and advertising furthers our mission of making the world's information universally accessible and useful," says Google's Eric Schmidt.

Well, sometimes the quantity is more important than quality.

No Google Music Store Soon

Reuters found out that we won't see a music service from Google soon. "We are not going to be selling music," said Chris Sacca, head of business development at Google. "Sacca says the big opportunity in digital music is in developing the ecosystem: one that allows consumers to move content from the home to the car and between devices with ease. He noted the need for open source systems and protocols to drive collaboration among companies." It will take some time until companies realize the power of their devices lies in their interoperability. Google used an open protocol for Google Talk and this should be the way to go in the future.

"We're already in the music business, because we're the complement to the offline life," he said. "After people hear the name 'Gnarls Barkley' their next move is to go and check on Google for it."

Google realized it's a tough business to compete with iTunes and other music stores and Google Video Store is already a problem. But I don't think this is a closed chapter.

New Design Experiment In Google Video

Google Blogoscoped reports a new interface experiment in Google Video. This time, it's not about the homepage, but the video page. I always liked in Google Video that the content gets the most screen space. In this experiment, Google Video tries to mimic YouTube so hard, that it's just a pale copy. The comments are placed below the video and the related video take more space. It's very hard to compete with YouTube, but losing your identity is not the right way.

To see the new layout, go to a video page and paste this in the address bar:

javascript:setCookie('np','new');window.location.reload();

If you don't like the new design, you can always go back to the current one. If many people revert to the previous layout, Google will keep it.

Happy Birthday, WWW !

15 years ago, on 6^th August 1991, Tim Berners-Lee posted a message on Usenet about a project called World Wide Web... "On that day the web went world wide" writes Amit Agarwal.

Now WWW is 15 years old! Three letters which are now billions of dollars worth. Three letters that introduced a new world...

So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WORLD WIDE WEB !