Just thought I’d mark this here, since I like to look back and see what I was thinking about in years prior.
This time it was Google rolling out a broad algorithm update – calling it the September 2019 Core Update.
As usual, Twitter is where all the discussion is.
Fascinating experiment going on by Dan (here’s the background) after his recent Google penalty.
Here’s his ongoing update on what’s happening.
Not sure if this is real or doctored, but it’s pretty funny – and also spot on in terms of the ‘experience’ that Google (especially on mobile) is heading to. via Valentin Pletzer. It reminds me of when The Onion was taking the piss out of men’s razor blades – Google seems to be doing the same thing with their ad coverage: fuck everything we’re going to 5...
Good news for podcasters (of which I am one), with Google tweaking things in order to highlight individual podcast episodes more relevantly for search queries. Note: To pull off the search indexing, Google is automatically transcribing all the podcast episodes it finds. And also note: This new functionality could fundamentally change how people find new shows because podcasts have lacked...
Sorry for the long headline, but it’s required in order to actually explain what is happening. Otherwise, from other sources (like Reuters and Fast Company), you’d be forgiven for thinking that the Australian Government was going to force Google to hand over their search algorithm (Spoiler alert: that is never, ever going to happen). Instead, the real story is they want to check how...
Not before time (via Bloomberg): Amazon.com Inc. will let Alexa users opt out of human review of their voice recordings, a move that follows criticism that the program violated customers’ privacy. emphasis mine Apple has actioned this just recently, and Google has (in EU at least) as well. Still not right that people can opt out (ie they need to take the initiative) – this should be an opt...
Very thorough analysis of the Nacho Analytics demise by Ars Technica (a reminder of what good investigative tech journalism looks like btw). If you’re not familiar with the whole situation, here’s the summary: Chrome Browser extensions (perhaps deceptively) get your permission to track everything you do (recording URLs you visit, content that is on the page etc) and then on-sell that...
Eric Schmidt showed how to lead as a student
If you use the paid version of Google Site Search then be aware Google is shutting it down this year. Here’s SEL with the news. You’ll have to find a replacement, one of which is the free Custom Site Search – basically the same as Google Site Search but shows ads. Interestingly if you go to the Google Site Search page you can still sign up – at least for another month or...
Answer: The Australian Federal Election date is Saturday 02 July 2016.
Interesting that as I write this on 25 May 2016, right in the middle of election campaign mayhem and just over 5 weeks until the next Australian Federal Election, that neither Bing nor Google give me the answer I was wanting when I searched:
And Bing:
Thankfully DuckDuckGo has something more helpful:
