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There’s a whole lot of mystique, paranoia, and guessing as to how Google comes up with its generally best-in-class search results. Steven Levy at Wired digs in to discover what really makes Google’s search engine different, and how it learns from us.

PageRank, the generally accepted metric of, among other things, how often a page is linked to, is only a small part of the larger story at Google. Talking to Google’s engineers and tracing the history of publicly announced search features, Levy discovers that a good deal of what Google has learned about search comes from the searchers themselves.

Take, for instance, the way Google’s engine learns which words are synonyms. “We discovered a nifty thing very early on,” Singhal says. “People change words in their queries. So someone would say, ‘pictures of dogs,’ and then they’d say, ‘pictures of puppies.’ So that told us that maybe ‘dogs’ and ‘puppies’ were interchangeable. We also learned that when you boil water, it’s hot water. We were relearning semantics from humans, and that was a great advance.”

If you’re at all intrigued by what Google gets right or wrong, Levy’s piece is well worth the read. It’s a lot of straight talk from inside Google about search, written up in plain English.

Smartphones can do some amazing things these days, and the Android Market has quickly become a sandbox for some clever developers, as well as Google Inc. itself.

We’ve already touched on some popular Android apps for Twitter, some for news, and some great multiplayer games, but not all apps have a specific purpose. Some are just interesting, amazing, or too cute not to keep in your back pocket as a conversation starter.

Utility be darned, here are seven free android apps that are just plain cool.

1. Floating Image

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If you’ve lost your passion for Android’s bare bones built-in photo gallery, check out the Floating Image app that will breathe new life into your snaps, as well as pull in some great shots from around the web.

There’s not a whole lot of utility here, but it’s a really sharp looking way to show off your photos or discover some pretty ones from Flickr. You can even score a new home screen background by long-pressing any of the images that float by.

This one is all about the animation, and this video demo shows it off well.

2. Google SkyMap

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Google SkyMap is an armchair astronomer’s dream come true. Using data from Google Sky and your GPS coordinates, the SkyMap app becomes a handheld window unto the heavens. As you move your phone across the night sky, you can see real-time information on the stars, celestial objects, and constellations as you pass them. You can also disengage the compass view and float freely through the galaxy with your finger, browsing the celestial map or searching for objects at will.

3. Google Goggles

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We’ve certainly covered the release of Google Goggles before, but it’s hard to over-stress just how cool this project is. In essence, it’s a visual Google search which utilizes your handset’s camera. Simply view your surroundings through Google Goggles to get an augmented view of the stores and landmarks in your area, or snap a photo of a product or some text to get relevant search results.

In testing, Goggles didn’t recognize the Nike swoosh (one of the simplest and most well-known U.S. logos), but it did know where I was without GPS, and identified a complex logo for Coca-Cola, the American flag, and my DVD of High School Musical 2 [Extended Edition], promptly directing me to Amazon.com where I could purchase a second copy.

Google is also hoping to implement text translation into Goggles, which is not available yet, but is expected in future updates.

4. Talk To Me

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Talk To Me is an impressive app that can translate your input text or speech between over 40 different languages, and in most cases, speak the translations back to you. The interface is really dead-simple: An input for text, a drop-down list to choose your languages, and a big green button to activate the speech recognition.

You can even set it as a home screen widget. Simply tap the button, speak a phrase, and the app will speak it back to you in Spanish, German, French, and many other languages that use Roman characters. Support for many Asian languages is included, but currently only provides textual translations.

The speed and ease of translation has a pretty big cool factor, but this is one app on the list that may also be very useful for tourists or those studying a new language.

5. MovieFone

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If you’re out with friends and still on the fence about which flick to catch and where, gather ’round the old Nexus One and fire up the new MovieFone app, which is a great way to get film details without ever touching a mobile browser.

The app, developed by AOL Mobile, gives you all the data from moviefone.com in convenient Android form, including synopses, coming attractions, theater listings based on your location, and perhaps best of all, full trailer videos built right in.

6. Android Lightsaber

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If you simply must get your nerd on, the Android Lightsaber app, which is officially sanctioned by LucasArts, brings the power of the Force (or a Force-like substance) into the palm of your hand. Choose between five different Star Wars characters, each with their own unique saber color, then tap the screen to unleash your weapon.

Swing your handset for the classic wooshing and buzzing sounds. Your lightsaber will flash and crackle as you spar with invisible foes. Perhaps the best part is the 1-click epic music that you can switch on in the midst of your imaginary battle.

7. BubbleBeats

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BubbleBeats is brand new in the Market and injects some much-needed creativity into Android’s music library. The concept is difficult to explain, but it essentially creates a visual landscape for your music collection by way of multicolored, animated bubbles.

Each bubble represents a song that you add to the canvas. Resize and group your bubbles however you want — perhaps a gathering of red rock songs on the left, some blue blues bubbles on the right — and float around your custom bubble-scape, playing your favorite tunes at will simply by tapping their corresponding bubbles.

This one’s certainly not for everyone. Finding and arranging music on this sort of interface can be difficult. But it’s a unique way to visualize your collection, and experiment with a new approach to the playlist. Check out the developer’s video below to see what I mean.

More Android resources from Mashable:

- Free Multiplayer Android Games [3 of the Best]
– 3 News Apps for Android Compared
– The Best Free Twitter Apps for Android
– 30 Android Apps to Watch
– 8 Android Apps Worth Paying For (And Some That Aren’t)
– Mobile Advertising: 5 Things You Need to Know to Succeed in 2010

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, robnroll

Tags: android, Android apps, apps, droid, Fun, G1, games, Google, google goggles, Mobile 2.0, nexus one

Sony tries out new anti-piracy measure with PSP game, hits used game market hard in the process originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 16:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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On Wednesday we asked you to share your first impressions with Google Buzz, and despite all the privacy issues and a whole lot of new inbox clutter, Lifehacker readers are willing to give Buzz a chance. 16% of respondents loved it off the bat, 10% hates it, 16% really didn’t care one way or the other, while another 16% were lukewarm about the service. The largest group, consisting of 39% of those who replied, really aren’t sure how they’re going to use it. Not exactly an instant hit, but people seem at least interested.

Google today announced a new service, Google Buzz, that automatically brings social networking into Gmail and the rest of the Google-sphere. Whether or not you’re big on social networking sites like Twitter or Facebook, Buzz offers a somewhat new and intriguing approach.

What’s Buzz All About?

Buzz’s five key features, as laid out in the event at Google HQ today, include:

• Automatic friends lists (friends are added automatically who you have emailed on Gmail)
• “Rich fast sharing” combines sources like Picasa and Twitter into a single feed, and it includes full-sized photo browsing
• Public and private sharing (swap between family and friends)
• Inbox integration (instead of emailing you with updates, like Facebook might, Buzz features emails that update dynamically with all Buzz thread content)
• “Recommended Buzz” puts friend-of-friend content into your stream, even if you’re not acquainted. Recommendations learn over time with your feedback.

Buzz lets you share photos, video, links to web sites, and other content from all over the web with your closest contacts or with the public at large.

It feels a whole lot like Facebook’s newsfeed—or even more like FriendFeed, though fewer people ever got to know FriendFeed all that well—but it lives inside Gmail and integrates automatically with your most frequent Gmail contacts.

Apart from working directly inside Gmail, it can pull content from Twitter, from Flickr, and from various other popular social sites from across the web. Currently social services supported include:

• Flickr
• Twitter
• Picase Web
• YouTube
• Blogger
• Any feed connected to your Google profile (like your blog)

When you publicly post something via Buzz, it automatically and instantaneously adds the post to your Google Profile page (which it creates for you if you haven’t already created one). If you want to post privately, you can create and choose specific groups you want to share with—in what looks like an attempt to offer both the public aspects of Twitter and with the private aspects of Facebook.

Buzz is (or will soon be) available as a new sidebar link in Gmail, but it also integrates with your Gmail inbox. If you’re worried about email overload, here’s the skinny—Buzz items end up in your inbox in a three ways:

• Someone comments on your stuff
• You comment on something and other people continue the conversation.
• Someone @’s you, Twitter style.

Buzz also suggests a Recommended Buzz, pulling content from users you aren’t following using an algorithm based on what your friends like or are following. The idea is that they’ll bring you the “good buzz” even if you’re not friends with who’s delivering it. If you don’t agree with the recommended “good buzz”, you can tell Google so and it’ll tweak its algorithm, so hopefully it’ll more closely match what you like next time.

When your friends post content that’s not all that exciting (“ate a bagel for breakfast”), Buzz will attempt to identify it and automatically “collapse the bad buzz.”

Buzz on Your Mobile Device

Google is also launching three different mobile products that integrate with Buzz.

First, they’ve integrated Buzz into the Google.com mobile homepage. The new homepage has small UI tweaks, but the big change is that the Buzz icon now appears in the upper right corner of the screen. Click on it and you can post to Buzz, but more importantly, when you click there, Buzz will find your location and turn it into a real place—not just an address, but an actual, meaningful place. (When demoing, Buzz asked the user “Are you at Google?”) In normal use, it’ll try placing you at wherever it thinks you are, whether it’s a business, your home, a restaurant, or wherever.

A mobile Buzz webapp for Android and iPhone (available at buzz.google.com, screenshotted below) gives the user mobile-friendly version of Buzz, providing a stream of people you’re following. You can also grab nearby buzz to see what people around you are saying (say you’re at a concert and want to hear what people are saying about it).

Finally, Google Mobile Maps has added a new Buzz layer, which allows you to post to Buzz quickly from Google Maps. (We’re doubting this will work on the iPhone soon because it would require Apple to update Google Maps, which normally only does on OS updates, but it will likely be pushed out to other devices soon.) Like the webapp, you can post from the Maps app, it’ll grab your location and snap you to a real place rather than just an address.

Google says they want Buzz to be the poster child for what it means to make a social tool that plays nice—one that has an open API, that respects the user’s privacy decisions, and that doesn’t lock up your data. (As opposed to some other popular social networks.)

Google Buzz in the Business

Last, Google explained that they’ll eventually be adding Buzz to Google Apps accounts so business can use them internally, something that Google thinks will be a very important use in time.

Google Buzz will begin rolling out at 11am PST, and will continue slowly rolling out to users over the course of the next couple of days.

Interested? Let’s hear what you think in the comments.

If you’ve got a SlingBox and an iPhone, you could previously fork over another $30 to get the SlingPlayer app and watch your home TV and recordings … over Wi-Fi, which kind of defeated the whole purpose of mobile watching (aren’t you usually home already when you’re on Wi-Fi?). But Sling and AT&T have reached an agreement on 3G streaming, so the SlingPlayer will get an upgrade to truly mobile TV streaming as soon as Apple approves the upgrade. Existing SlingPlayer owners will get the upgraded version free. Would watching your Sling content over 3G make sense for you, or is this a whole lot of money to spend when there’s already lots of streaming TV on the web? [NYTimes via Gizmodo]

An alleged insider told The New York Times today that Amazon has just bought a startup specializing in touchscreens, and that Amazon will merge the company and its technology into its own Kindle division.

If this little rumor turns out to be true, then Amazon is probably preparing a response to the Apple iPad that was launched last week. The iPad doesn’t add a whole lot of functionality that you don’t get on a smartphone or a laptop, but the thing it does add is the iBooks application, which competes directly with Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader by way of deals with publishers Penguin, Simon and Schuster, HarperCollins, Macmillian and Hachette.

The startup — it’s called Touchco — specializes in resistive touchscreen displays that display full color; they’re not as precise and elegant as the capacitive tech used by the iPad, but they’re much cheaper. Amazon will probably try to keep it’s significant price advantage if it moves ahead with a touchscreen Kindle.

Touchco has a website, but right now that website reads only: “Thank you for your interest in Touchco. As of January 2010, the company is no longer doing business.”

Tags: amazon, Apple iPad, Apple Tablet, gadgets, Kindle, startups, touchco

Motorola’s so-called Calgary has found itself on a lengthy, fascinating journey from rumor to retail — a journey that began way back in 2008. Finally, here we are a whole bunch of months later, the high-end Droid having been released back in November and Verizon still without a midrange choice for Android hopefuls — but that’s about to change. Right, Verizon? Right? The latest intel from Android and Me suggests that the Devour (as it’ll almost certainly be known to the public) will feature a Qualcomm MSM7627 — the same next-gen entry-level core being used by the Pixi that’s designed to replace the aging MSM7600 series, very likely a chip that we’re going to be seeing a whole lot of over the next 12-18 months in devices that manufacturers don’t deem worthy of Snapdragon. Meanwhile, Android Central seems to have scored a shot of some promotional material for the Devour suggesting that it’s not far off — the site says we’re looking at a retail box here, but considering how small and narrow the Droid’s box is, this could actually be some in-store signage or something to that effect. We’ll know soon enough, hopefully.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: And look at this, Motorola’s support documents for the Devour are now live (we count 10 pages’ worth, total). Not too much interesting in here, but we can confirm that the name will be Devour, it’s got WiFi, and there’ll be a car kit available. Thanks, Stormdancer!

Motorola Devour for Verizon gets boxed, shares Pixi’s processor? (update: Moto’s support site is live) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This month we showed you the best times to buy anything, all year round, highlighted a better way to tie your shoes, discussed some problems with the Apple iPad, and a whole lot more. Here’s a quick look back.

• The Best Times to Buy Anything, All Year Round
  You’re always hearing about off-season, post-peak times to save money on purchases and food, but it always arrives too late. We’ve compiled a timeline and lots of best-time-to-buy suggestions into one post to help you plan a more frugal 2010.
• The Problem with the Apple iPad
  Yesterday, Steve Jobs worked his charm, attempting to wow the world with the Apple iPad, a new, super-slim computer he touted as the missing link between iPhones and laptops. It’s an undeniably beautiful device, but it also represents some serious problems.
• Five Best DVD-Ripping Tools
  You pay good money for your DVDs, but they’re hardly the only format you need these days. These five ripping tools ensure you can back them up, keep them on your media server, and load them on your favorite portable player.
• Ditch the Granny Knot to Tie Your Shoes More Efficiently
  The difference between shoes tied with a balanced, neat, and self-tightening knot versus those tied with an unbalanced, sloppy, and loose knot, is all in how you make your first loop.
• Pack a Gun to Protect Valuables from Airline Theft or Loss
  If you don’t like your bags being out of your sight and it makes you uncomfortable to think that airline workers are rifling through your stuff, you can take advantage of the TSA’s own security rules by—eek—packing a gun.
• How to Put Your PC to Good Use While You’re Sleeping
  The great part about your computer is that—unlike you—it doesn’t require any sleep. Take advantage of your PC’s insomnia by automating time- and processor-intensive tasks while you’re counting sheep.
• Your Passwords Aren’t As Secure As You Think; Here’s How to Fix That
  If you allow applications to save your passwords, anyone with physical access to your PC can decode them unless you’re properly encrypting them—and chances are pretty good you’re not.
• Five Best Email Clients
  Email as a technology has been around for decades, and thanks to wide spread adoption and popularity, it isn’t in danger of disappearing. Check out the five most popular email clients to help you wrangle your email.
• Browser Speed Tests: Firefox 3.6, Chrome 4, Opera 10.5, and Extensions
  Firefox 3.6 is out, Chrome’s stable version got a big upgrade, and Opera 10.5 is inching toward release. It’s a great time for us to break out the timer, process manager, and code tracker for some up-to-date browser speed tests.

In quite a few ways, Apple’s iPad and iBooks announcement today was a shot across the bow of Amazon’s Kindle. Sure, Apple played nice, even saying that Amazon has done a “great job of pioneering” the e-book space, but you can’t help but think that Apple thinks of itself as the evolution of the Kindle, not mere competition. Steve Jobs says that Apple is going to “stand on their shoulders,” and that doesn’t sound quite as benign as perhaps he meant it. So, how do the devices stack up, specifically as book consuming devices? Well, for starters, one of these things costs a whole lot more than the other… let’s break it down after the break.

Continue reading iPad or Kindle: will our wallets decide?

iPad or Kindle: will our wallets decide? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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