Hasta La Gadget!

When it wanted to increase its search market share in the US, Microsoft sought out a partnership, resulting in a Yahoo-branded engine with Bing-flavored results. So, it seems natural that the company would look for a similar deal in China, the world’s largest market, where the company only manages a presence of around one-percent of search. This time, however, Microsoft’s managed a deal with the number one search engine, Baidu, which currently lays claim to three-quarters of the Chinese market — far greater than Google’s 20-percent or so. Baidu and MS announced a deal this week that will put Redmond in charge of English searches on the site. No money changed hands with the deal — Baidu gets advertising revenue, Microsoft gets a larger slice of China’s search pie, and we get an excuse to do an image search for Steve Ballmer on a Chinese search engine.

Microsoft, Baidu strike China search deal originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Jul 2011 18:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Whereas Android users were able to get their hands on a Google+ app as soon as the social network launched, iOS users have thus far been left out in the cold, with nary a soul to “hang out” with. Fortunately for them, though, their arduous, week-long wait may be coming to an end, now that Google+ has applied for App Store citizenship. The confirmation came yesterday from Erica Joy, a Mountain View employee who shared the news on her Google+ profile. According to Joy, the app has already been submitted for approval, leaving it up to Apple’s council of elders to give the yea or nay. Joy didn’t specify the exact date on which Google applied for iOS entry (saying only that it happened prior to yesterday’s post), nor did she speculate as to when the app may be ratified. But unless it’s laced with political rhetoric or packing a dictionary, Google+ should sail through the approval process… maybe.

Google+ iOS app already submitted for Apple’s approval, employee says originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Jul 2011 09:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This article was written on June 04, 2008 by CyberNet.

One of the my favorite things in Firefox and Opera is having the ability to perform searches right from the location bar using keywords. In fact I’ve always removed the search box from the browser simply because I never use it. But when I found out about the Peers extension I thought it was going to be the extension that would actually get me to use the search box once and for all. I was wrong.

Ghacks uncovered an incredible extension that could very well be the best one ever created. I know, a lot of extensions have passed through the golden gates of the add-ons site, but I don’t think any of them will save me as much time as this one does.

The extension is called AwesomeSearch, which is named after the new Firefox 3 location bar (pictured above) that’s dubbed the “Awesome Bar.” With it you’ll get Google and Amazon search results intermingled with the items from your browser’s history. Here’s a video demonstration put together by the author to show you how it works.

As you can see in my screenshot the search results that are pulled in are highlighted with a blue background, and that makes it easier to differentiate what’s a search result and what’s a site you’ve previously visited. The true power of the extension, however, will only be revealed if you’re familiar with some of Google’s advanced search operators. A good example of this is what I have typed into the location bar in my screenshot, where the “site:cybernetnews.com” is the advanced search operator. By including that as part of the query it only returns results from our site. This basically gives you a nearly instantaneous way to search specific sites. Another example would be using “site:en.wikipedia.org” to only show results from the English Wikipedia site. Now do you see why this is so cool?

I sent an email to the developer with some recommendations that would make the extension even better. One of the things that came to my mind was having the ability to create keyword searches so that you can force it to only show Google results, and not anything from your browser’s history. That can be taken even further by being able to automatically append text onto the query based upon which keyword you use. For example, typing “wiki [search text]” into the location bar would actually be like performing a Google search formatted like “[search text] site:en.wikipedia.org“. That’s just an idea, but it would give people the chance to add site-specific search capabilities without the developer working overtime trying to make it compatible with dozens of different services.

The extension is currently in the experimental stage, and you’ll have to login with your Mozilla account to install it. It’s also not officially compatible with the latest Firefox 3 release, which means you’ll also need to ignore extension compatibility checking before trying to grab it.

It’s been awhile since I’ve gotten this excited about a Firefox extension! One thing that I do want to point out is that this does also search Amazon, and it uses affiliate links for the results it retrieves. It’s just an easy way to support the developer though.

Get the AwesomeSearch Extension for Firefox 3

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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The original Google Videos is going to be mighty huffy about this. Not only has it endured repeated attempts on its life following Big G’s acquisition of YouTube, but now its very identity has been humiliatingly copied and pasted onto an entirely different service. The new Google Videos is a movie rental app that will give Android users in the US mobile access to the 3,000+ premium titles that are already available to rent on a desktop. So far, no one has been able to break out the popcorn except a few lucky Xoom owners, but last night the app mysteriously became available to everyone else in Android Market, too. Unfortunately, those quick triggers who managed to install the app before it disappeared were rewarded with a riveting succession of server errors, but at least it gives us hope that the real-deal will be with the masses in short order. Google Videos is dead, long live Google Videos.

Google Videos rental app makes fleeting cameo in Market, portends of an imminent release originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Jul 2011 18:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In an effort to help force your ambivalent hand at the checkout, Google’s taken a decidedly whimsical approach to Nexus S marketing. The end result: an interactive, YouTube-hosted mini-game that lets you bounce and blow four Google app-labeled balls through a funnel to the Nexus S. Sound fun? It kind of is, but before you wonder where the last half-hour went, keep in mind there’s no free handset at the end of this Android rainbow — just pure fun. It’s a cute distraction that probably won’t have you forgetting about dual core processors anytime soon, but could still sway your credit card if you’re the silly type. Check the source below to get your Google-gaming on.

Nexus S mini-game adds whimsy to list of must-have specs originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 03 Jul 2011 14:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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