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For some searches the whole screen on Google is now ads

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Re: For some searches the whole screen on Google is now ads

#373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm still bitter that they've deprioritized results from SongMeanings.net in favor of garbage like Genius. The former is one of the only sources for lyrics from smaller acts, especially from the 90's to early 2010's. Since it's from the pre-Web 2.0 era, it's disappeared from Google's search results.

Same with Sheldon Brown’s website on bicycle maintenance. Much of the information on his site is still the best resource on the internet but instead Google would rather serve irrelevant results that show ads.

Same with images, I used to search for historical images, but it’s all a wave of stockimage this and that, and ofcourse flipping pinterest, which usually is just a link to real content anyway.

Google Search is aptly named, for finding something relevant and without ads plastering is almost impossible.

Anyway, I am happy with DDG now.

Re: For some searches the whole screen on Google is now ads

#374

Last night I watched a YouTube video that had a song in the background that I hadn't heard but really liked. I pulled up Shazam but it didn't recognize the song, so I took to Google. I entered the lyric and added the search terms "lyrics" and "r&b" at the end. Google returned 4 YouTube videos to songs that didn't contain the lyric, a link to a Boyz II Men song on Genius that didn't contain the lyric (good job Google,…

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Re: For some searches the whole screen on Google is now ads

#375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have the opposite experience most of the time. I’ve been trying to use DuckDuckGo as my default search engine but I end up clicking my Google bookmark a lot of the time because the DDG results are so low quality. I have no doubt there are edge cases where Bing/DDG outperform Google, but most of the time I have better luck with Google.

Yeah, Google is still my default browser, though I haven't used other engines enough to develop a strong opinion here. I'll add that I could have been more clever with my query. For instance, if I surround the lyric in quotes, Google returns the right result first. Original query: like you didn't care I don't know why lyrics r&b Improved query: "like you didn't care I don't know why" lyrics r&b At the end of the day,…

Funny enough, when I search for your second query on Google right now, the top result for me is your comment right here.

Re: For some searches the whole screen on Google is now ads

#376
post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their bottom line was hurt by Apple, not by their anti consumer policies.

It isn't an either or situation. Personally I used to watch Youtube quite a bit more but barely watch it at all these days thanks to their oppressive censorship policies.

In my experience people making these "freedom stands" are a statistical minority that in no way influences actual mass markets, much like those Greenpeace people chaining themselves to oil & gas equipment to stop it from being used.

I mean, it's nice and noble but the vast majority of people don't follow you and corporations don't care as long as you don't become a social and political landmark. If you go quietly for sure it doesn't matter to their bottom line.

People generally give stuff up for prosaic reasons, instead such as: too many ads, favorite content producers moved to another platform, content they like becomes paid, their social circles don't consider the platform cool anymore, etc.

Re: For some searches the whole screen on Google is now ads

#377
post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not duckduckgo's customer either (their primary revenue source is keyword based advertising), or the customer of anything else you don't pay for. The only one I know of that at least plans to have a simple two-way relationship with search users as their customers is Kagi. Currently it's in free beta with a waitlist (took a week for me). When they go live they intend it to be a paid, subscription service with n…

I am on Kagi Beta but IMO they do not have a valid monetisation strategy that I would pay for. Their current pricing model is planned to be $30 a month for an 'all you can eat' subscription, or $10 a month for a 'lite' membership that gives you 20 searches per day and then charges you $0.02 per search after that on a pay-as-you-go model (but if you check your search history, you may be suprised how many searches you…

I've been using kagi for a while. I was using google+ublacklist, and (mostly) searx prior to that. I only care about search, every other feature (maps, listicles, etc) is worthless to me.

So far I've been quite pleasantly surprised. I didn't need to de-prioritize anything yet, and most of my queries are technical. I would pay for it, but like you say, I'm not sure how much.

5$ for unlimited searches is something I'd go for without even thinking. For 10$, I already question whether is it actually better than using searx where I get comparable results. I can get a VPS cheaper than than and run my own customizable searx instance for that cost.

I'm not doing anything fancy, but I don't want to think about the query count. You can stack-up hundreds of searches per day sometimes, just because you're looking up something interesting, then do next to nothing for days.

I'm not saying I wouldn't pay for more, but I don't see the gain.

I definitely see the problem with the API cost of the underlying calls though. That feels like a huge argument that having your own index is important to compete in the market.

Re: For some searches the whole screen on Google is now ads

#378
post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the summary of the second hit on Duck Duck Go (the first hit is a troubleshooting article about the feature): > A built-in load sensor automatically detects the laundry load and a microprocessor optimizes washing conditions such as ideal WATER LEVEL and washing time. Turbo drum washing (option) When "Punch + 3" washing wings turn, the washing tub turns in the opposite direction. I accidentally searched for th…

Appreciate the effort, but my example was for clothes load sensing (what it does before determine the water required.) I've watched it at work and as best as I can tell, it takes inertial mass readings by wiggling the drum using a specified current, and measuring how far the drum oscillates. Or maybe it predetermines the amplitude and measures the power required? I'm just guessing. What I want to find out: is either…

The problem I am seeing is that yes, someone will write the exact nerdy explanation on how it works - on a private Facebook group, which you will never find in any search engine. I'm a member of several automotive FB groups and the wealth of knowledge there is enormous - but ultimately it all gets swallowed up in Facebook's belly and is not available for easy search like it used to be. It's a real tragedy.

Re: For some searches the whole screen on Google is now ads

#379

Last night I watched a YouTube video that had a song in the background that I hadn't heard but really liked. I pulled up Shazam but it didn't recognize the song, so I took to Google. I entered the lyric and added the search terms "lyrics" and "r&b" at the end. Google returned 4 YouTube videos to songs that didn't contain the lyric, a link to a Boyz II Men song on Genius that didn't contain the lyric (good job Google,…

I tried for few months, but unfortunately DDG results are really poor for local searches. Whenever I want to find something in Polish, half of the results are from some autotranslated websites. Also Google is the only one that shows local business in a useful way.

Re: For some searches the whole screen on Google is now ads

#380
I would pay $10 a month for an ad free search engine that serves objective (not "personalised") query results related to what I'm looking for that doesn't sell my data, with similar features to Google Scholar and ideally even greater granularity, but for the whole web.
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