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Google rolls out new search page look, moves navi bar

Google is rolling out a new search page layout that moves its navigational tools from the upper left of the page to the top of the page, the company announced today in a blog post.

Those included in the rollout so far will see a more streamlined search page. Removing the tools from the side doesn't give the results more real estate though. Curiously, some of the results don't have any advertisements displayed with them, but that may be a glitch from the testing as Google assures CNET the advertising placements remain the same.

A recent search for &… Read more

An Election Day Instagram is worth a thousand tweets

If there's been one sacred cow that's stood the test of time in America, it's the secrecy of a citizen's ballot. But in the age of Instagram, that cow has wandered straight off the farm.

Do a search for "Election2012" on Instagram today and there's no shortage of pictures of people's ballots. Or polling places, people's "I voted" stickers, and even Big Bird waiting to exercise his franchise. Whether they're excited that they voted -- maybe for the first time? -- or if they just want all the world to know who they picked, it's clear that a lot of people think Instagram is the obvious way to share their enthusiasm for the election.

Regardless of the fact that there seems to be a school of thought that Instagramming your ballot may be illegal, there's no doubt that the election, following immediately after Hurricane Sandy slammed the East Coast, is a big moment for the young photo-sharing service. … Read more

Google's doodle tells users where to vote

Google's latest doodle may not be as interactive as some in the past, but it's pretty appropriate for the day.

The doodle follows an Election Day theme, directing people where to vote when they click on the Google search page image.

The first link listed is a box for users to enter their addresses for where they're registered to vote. Clicking "get my info" sends voters to Google's politics & elections page, with details about the user's polling place and ballot summary, as well as links to "insights," YouTube Live, and other election-related information. … Read more

Foursquare launches rating system, competes with Yelp

Foursquare is edging even deeper into Yelp territory. Today the check-in social network announced that it is launching a 10-point rating system for local businesses with its iOS app update.

Sound familiar? That's because it's basically Yelp's business model. However, Foursquare said that what it's introducing is "a lot different from the other types of ratings you see today."

"Instead of other sites where every place gets 3.5 stars, we come up with our scores using the same Foursquare magic that powers Explore," the company wrote in a blog post today. &… Read more

Google has customized results for Obama, but not Romney

Google isn't treating searches related to presidential candidates fairly, a new report charges.

The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that it commissioned a study on the way in which search results related to President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are displayed on Google. The study found that when users search for "Obama" or "Romney," Google displays standard results. Other related searches, however, are treated differently.

For example, the Journal tried to search for topics ranging from Iran to Medicare. Those who had already searched for "Obama" found that their results were customized to … Read more

Google offers up secret sauce on new voice search

How voice search technology listens to and spits out information is a complex endeavor, but Google has attempted to explain what mechanisms make its voice search app work in a new research paper it posted earlier today.

Basically, it boils down to data, and lots of it.

According to Google, more data improves all Web services. This may seem obvious, but for better speech recognition, it doesn't only mean a sheer amount of data but also how that data is organized. Google's voice search technology mainly uses data from anonymized queries on Google.com to get the information … Read more

Ross Levinsohn: Marissa Mayer needed 'clean slate' at Yahoo

Ross Levinsohn, in his first interview since departing Yahoo, told Bloomberg he left the company in part because CEO Marissa Mayer needed a "clean slate" and the ability to choose her own team:

In talking to Marissa I think we agreed that you need a clear path, and I think I was pretty well entrenched with the guard that was there. I felt like it was right for her to have a clean slate going forward and if I stayed it probably wasn't the right thing to do. I took a good run at trying to be … Read more

New York Web sites remain offline following Sandy

Hurricane Sandy may have passed the Mid-Atlantic region, but its effects are still being felt online.

The storm knocked out power and caused severe flooding across the Northeastern United States. New York City power companies pulled the plug on parts of lower Manhattan yesterday, shutting down Web sites without redundant servers. Many of those data centers remained down today, and power provider Con Edison said power likely won't be restored to Manhattan for about four days.

Those in Bk and Manhattan should have power back w/in 4 days. All others in areas served by overhead lines will take … Read more

Windows 8 is like a bad blind date, Google search suggests

Google "Windows 8 is" followed by a space or a letter, and you'll find some nasty suggestions for Microsoft's new OS.

Typing Windows 8 followed by a space comes up with such phrases as "Windows 8 is awful," "Windows 8 is horrible," and "Windows 8 is terrible," with only one compliment -- "Windows 8 is awesome."

Extend your search to include a letter after "Windows 8 is," and the pattern continues. A few positive suggestions pop up, calling the OS excellent, fast, and stable. But most … Read more