Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google Correlate - Draw

google.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 69 posts

Re: Google Correlate - Draw

#21

Post by _delirium »

This is a great brainstorming tool for doing light blogspam-style "journalism", if your readers don't know about it (which they probably don't). Draw something with a rather unlikely looking feature— a graph that strikes the reader as quite definitely not just random noise. See if you get anything interesting in return. If yes, conjure up a backstory, and write up a post in a confident, assertive tone, that closes with the graph as your "care to explain this?!" evidence nailing home your suspicion.

Re: Google Correlate - Draw

#23

Post by andymatuschak »

thetwiceler wrote: post #11

Anyone know why "bruising" and "brown spots" are common in the summer? Not as nice as the canonical answer of "ice cream"... http://www.google.com/trends/correlate/search?e=id:UfmYZwmin... In case you're wondering what's popular in winter: it's lots of diseases!

Stone fruit (peaches, plums, apricots, nectarines) are in season in the summer and easily bruise and get brown spots when they overripen.

Re: Google Correlate - Draw

#24

Post by iskander »

scribu wrote: post #5

Seems like the typical "pre-Plus" Google project: limited usefulness, but interesting from an engineering standpoint. Noticed that it still contains share buttons for two defunct Google services: Google Buzz and Google Reader

This was one of the many projects that got gutted by Plus, I'm surprised that it's still being hosted at all.

Re: Google Correlate - Draw

#25

Post by zanny »

rattray wrote: post #18
devcpp wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried the same curve and got open source and free software. This is rather depressing but it's predictable.

predictable? how so?

foss is a nerd thing. The general consumer has no idea what source code is in the first place, they often don't know what an application or OS is, they just click the thing on the screen to make facebook appear.

So it loses search percentage because it isn't becoming a mainstream concept, which is sad. People should care more about their software freedom but they don't even know what software is.

Re: Google Correlate - Draw

#26

Post by jvm »

hayksaakian wrote: post #6

Bad news for "linux" http://www.google.com/trends/correlate/search?e=id%3AWuHjnma... Wow, I can share with Google buzz. /nostalgia

I wouldn't read too much into that trend, all desktop operating systems declined:

http://www.google.com/trends/explore?q=Mac+OS+X,+Linux,+Wind...

Ubuntu really does win though among the linuxes:

http://www.google.com/trends/explore?q=Ubuntu,OpenSuse,Debia...

My favorite linux is on the rise, albeit from a tiny baseline:

http://www.google.com/trends/explore?q=Archlinux&cmpt=q

At least the mobile OSes are doing well:

http://www.google.com/trends/explore?q=Mac+OS+X,+Linux,+Wind...

Re: Google Correlate - Draw

#27

Post by rattray »

zanny wrote: post #25
rattray wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

predictable? how so?

foss is a nerd thing. The general consumer has no idea what source code is in the first place, they often don't know what an application or OS is, they just click the thing on the screen to make facebook appear. So it loses search percentage because it isn't becoming a mainstream concept, which is sad. People should care more about their software freedom but they don't even know what software is.

Right, I get why linux / FOSS in general adoption isn't high. But why declining?

Re: Google Correlate - Draw

#30

Post by kristopolous »

rattray wrote: post #27
zanny wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

foss is a nerd thing. The general consumer has no idea what source code is in the first place, they often don't know what an application or OS is, they just click the thing on the screen to make facebook appear. So it loses search percentage because it isn't becoming a mainstream concept, which is sad. People should care more about their software freedom but they don't even know what software is.

Right, I get why linux / FOSS in general adoption isn't high. But why declining?

The number of people, globally, using the internet, is still on that same near exponential growth curve that the first world nations were seeing in the late 90s. It really hasn't subsided; only gone to lower income brackets.

Heck, half of the US didn't have reliable access to the web until I think 2002?

And these late adopters, they are both non-english speakers and non-technical people.

Additionally, the early adopters, let's take my parents, who had Prodigy in about 1990, are now using the web more for things like shopping and content consumption, then they did in 1998.

If they wanted to watch the latest TV show, they can do that now online, AND they know this. Compare that to 2004. That will be reflected in the search terms.

Also, there are internet phenomenons that are at the order of that which we have not seen. Psy's videos on youtube for instance; 1 ba-ba-billion+? That's insane.

So yeah, Linux is left in the dust. Also, it's much easier than it used to be - take that from someone who's been using it since 1996 (?)

I need to do a write-up some time soon of how good we have it now - for my own memory.

Post reply on HN