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Google timer

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Re: Google timer

#151
post #84
post #43

Yet again I am reminded that my google is not necessarily the same as 'your' google Just like how "define: something" doesn't show a dictionary definiton for me anymore, a functionality i used all the time. And now can't be sure whether was actually removed, or just removed for me!

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=define:something Works fine for me.

no colon needed

Re: Google timer

#152
post #68
post #43

Yet again I am reminded that my google is not necessarily the same as 'your' google Just like how "define: something" doesn't show a dictionary definiton for me anymore, a functionality i used all the time. And now can't be sure whether was actually removed, or just removed for me!

Ha, yeah. When I'm in the US, I deliberately navigate to a European Google site (usually google.co.uk) in order to get their onebox flight schedule search results. I really enjoy seeing a full timetable of published flights for the week when I do a search for "[flights lhr fra]". Doing the same search in the US, and seeing the new Google Flights ad instead of the old timetable onebox, is infuriating.

That's actually pretty ridiculous if you think about it. Almost any other website displays the same info wherever you're from and if it doesn't, it's considered an anti-pattern (and rightly so).

I remember, back in the day, Google didn't used to do this. That was 8-10 years ago, though. At first it was interesting, a curiosity, seemingly clever. But from the start it was annoying (at least, it was, in a global community centred around ways to search the web) because there is no easy way to select what "view" of the website you want to see. (there were ways but they kept changing, and I didn't keep up)

Maybe that is the worst anti-pattern. Most websites that change their entire behaviour depending on what IP you came from, at least offer the option to select a different behaviour, or specify from what locale you want your perspective.

Best would be if one could simply link to such a perspective, so that this article would actually make sense to everyone, instead of just the people that live in the "correct" part of the world ... :)

Re: Google timer

#154
post #123
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Didn't come up for me on .com, only on .ie. I'm not sure why exactly, but I really hate this. I hate it that sometimes results have a news link and sometimes they don't. I hate that youtube suggestions are tailored to me. There are rational reasons. I want the thing I use to be there when I try to find it. But, I dislike it beyond the inconvenience. It just feels wrong, like I'm being probed.

I think the "tailoring to me" problem can be solved by logging out of google and doing the search (or search in incognito mode if you are a chrome user). However, I wish there was a way to turn off personalized search. That way, Google can remember what I searched (when I am signed in) for but not give me tailored results..

FYI, you can quickly and easily toggle between "private"/"personalized" results and "global" results, right on the search page, by clicking the toggle button with the person and the globe to the top-right of the search results:

https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/2410479?hl=en

Re: Google timer

#155
post #43

Yet again I am reminded that my google is not necessarily the same as 'your' google Just like how "define: something" doesn't show a dictionary definiton for me anymore, a functionality i used all the time. And now can't be sure whether was actually removed, or just removed for me!

Google software engineer here. These gripes are legitimate. We want our users be able to depend on our features and services, and if you can't do that, we're letting you down.

But I would beg for a bit more patience and understanding on this one point: it's not like we have one server that all our users connect to. When new features roll out, it's inevitable that some users will see the new features before others do. Also, there are often complex legal issues affecting how products are released in different countries. Okay, that's two points. :-)

Re: Google timer

#156
post #140
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ha, yeah. When I'm in the US, I deliberately navigate to a European Google site (usually google.co.uk) in order to get their onebox flight schedule search results. I really enjoy seeing a full timetable of published flights for the week when I do a search for "[flights lhr fra]". Doing the same search in the US, and seeing the new Google Flights ad instead of the old timetable onebox, is infuriating.

I got this working by creating a new user in Chrome and searching from my default local https://www.google.com.hk/ site. The following attempts all failed: logging out, a different browser, /ncr , incognito, and tor browser. The US site on the new user account also didn't work. Interestingly, all of the u/jfoster examples worked the first time.

My experience is the same.

Re: Google timer

#157
post #127
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't work for me neither. Might be because I'm in Europe. The given URL redirects to www.google.de

Works for me when I am not logged in (Chrome incognito mode).

I tried incognito mode. Didn't work.
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