Hasta La Gadget!

Google’s search engine has a turbulent history in China, from search results being censored to temporary shutdowns. The company’s most recent effort to serve mainland China with unfiltered search results met with an untimely end back in early December, Google confirms — a warning previously told mainlanders when the search term they were using had met with issues (read: Chinese government intrusion causing lengthy connection times) for other users. GreatFire discovered that said message no longer popped up when searching for various censored terms on Google Search in China, and while Google’s confirming that fact, it’s unclear what the exact reasoning is. Given the rocky history between Google and China, it seems likely that China responded in turn to Google’s efforts with its own — or as The Guardian puts it, “Google concedes defeat in China censorship battle.” Whether that’s the case or not remains to be seen, but Chinese Google searchers should beware that your experience may result in some unfortunate connection issues from time to time (as much as 90 seconds), per China’s censorship policies.

Filed under: Internet, Software, Google

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Via: The Guardian, The Verge

Source: GreatFire

Luckily for some, Google has thing for dishing out free internet, which is probably why it’s teamed up with Filipino carrier Globe to test out complimentary access to its services. Available now, Free Zone allows any internet-enabled phone to access Gmail, Google+ or Google Search without even having a data plan. Intended mainly for feature phones, you can even load up pages from those search results without paying a dime — or should we say, peso. There’s no usage cap, but clicking through to subsequent pages, accessing Gmail attachments, or opening links from within Google+ will incur charges, but you’ll be prompted to accept them or sign up for a plan before that happens. The Philippines is the first market to try out Free Zone, but the wider scheme is “aimed at the next billion users of the internet, many of whom will be in emerging markets.” Yeah, the catch is that you’ll be exposed to some advertising while you’re using it — but there’s no such thing as a free search, right?

Update: Actually, there is such a thing as a free search. Google has been in touch to let us know that “Free Zone doesn’t serve any ads.” Bonus!

Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile, Google

Google Free Zone comes to the Philippines: access Google+, Gmail and Google Search without charge originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Nov 2012 12:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s election season and Google is doing its part to help you “rock the vote.” No, the search kingpin isn’t endorsing a specific candidate, instead it’s doing what it does best — help people search the internet for information. The company’s open source Voter Information Tool is designed to help people research candidates and locate polling places. In an effort to reach the masses, Google is partnering with companies such as Foursquare and AT&T. Election Day can be a chaotic event to say the least. Hopefully this powerful new web-based tool will make things run a little smoother for frantic voters trying to beat the clock.

Filed under: Internet, Software, Google

Google’s Voter Information Tool hopes to make Election Day a little easier originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Oct 2012 06:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s not a finished, Windows 8-tuned Chrome build, but we’ll take it. Much as Google has been catering to iOS users who don’t have its search completely baked into the platform, there’s now a dedicated Google Search app for the Metro-inclined. Ignore the desktop OS foundation; the Windows 8 app is much closer to the touchscreen-oriented mobile version with its oversized search box, service shortcuts, an emphasis on voice recognition and finger-friendly instant previews of the results. Although incorporating Google search on a Surface will undoubtedly rankle Microsoft’s Bing team, the app could be the ticket for many tablet owners who live in Google’s cloud without using its hardware.

Filed under: Tablets, Software, Microsoft, Google

Google delivers search app for Windows 8 with a touch of tablet optimization originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Oct 2012 21:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As Google continues to improve other areas of its broad ecosystem, it’s always great to see that the company hasn’t abandoned its search simplification roots. A spokesperson for the company told us, “we recently added the ability to search within Gmail attachments as part of our ongoing efforts to improve search.” This potential time-saver plays nice with Word docs, PDFs, PPTs and many other file extensions. Currently in its infancy, some of your older attachments may not have been indexed yet, so you might not be able to “share” last year’s term paper with your younger sibling until Google brings the feature up to speed. However, if you’re just looking to locate that recently received Word doc filled with notes from your study buddy, then have at it.

Filed under: Internet, Google

Gmail now searches attachment text, homework hoarders rejoice! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Oct 2012 19:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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