The Evolving Google Search

Google is arguably the most-used search engine on the Internet, but the bare-bones design seems to need a bit of an update.

In what they’re calling “Experimental Search,” Google is testing out some different search options to make the searching experience richer. One of the experiments is different views for search results:

See results on a timeline, map, or in context of other information types. With these views, Google’s technology extracts key dates, locations, measurements, and more from select search results so you can view the information in a different dimension.

Another cool idea is keyword suggestions. It works like this: as you type in a word in the Google search bar, a list of results with the same starting letters will show up with the number of results for each term. Users of this Firefox plug-in already know how useful it is, but I think Google adding it as a function for all users will be helpful.

Check out this Google Labs Experimental Search page for more.

Eee software mini-review

In previous posts, I’ve talked a bit about the Asus Eee PC’s hardware, but the software deserves some attention, too. The OS is a customized form of Linux, that comes with more than 40 pre-installed programs. The Eee can be as simple or complex as you like, with enough customization to whet the hardcore geek’s appetite. Along with the OpenOffice suite (basically a clone of Microsoft Office, complete with powerpoint, excel, and word clones), the Eee comes with a movie player, music player, photo manager, dictionary, and easy links to common sites like Wikipedia and Google. On the educational and games side of things, the laptop comes with a few games and utilities to practice languages and typing.

The only downside to the Eee is that installing applications of your own choice is difficult. I’ve heard of people doing it, but it seems a bit complicated for my taste. As for now, I’m going to use it for Internet browsing and some word processing, both things that it does well.

Open Source Revolution?

What is sometimes hailed as an open source revolution hasn’t really caught my eye up until now. With the introduction of Windows Vista, the newest operating system from Microsoft, many users have been turned off by its usability problems.

I’ve known what open source is for a while, using products like the internet browser Firefox, but I haven’t really gone all in and used an entirely different operating system than the safe Windows XP, which some people are actually reverting to, as they find that Vista is a piece of crap.

I recently bought a micro-laptop, like the one at right. It’s an Asus Eee PC and it is barely bigger than a common DVD case. It weighs just more than two pounds and has built-in wireless internet connectivity. The kicker is that it doesn’t run any windows operating system. It runs a customized version of Linux, an open source operating system. Some people might be worried about using a relatively new OS like this version of Linux, but the amount of viruses written for Linux systems, like Apple systems, is extremely small compared to the amount written for Windows systems.

Anyway, I just wanted to post on how I’m incorporating open source software into my life and that it isn’t just for geeks anymore; open source can offer a lot to everyday users. We might see a blossoming of the use of open source applications in the future, especially if Microsoft doesn’t do anything to fix the Vista mess.

Asus Eee PC on Amazon