Category: Computer Related – Basic

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Tool Claims To Show Google Search Bias

The commenter Yo_its_Me is on the right track. The key issue is not whether or not they can or should do it. The key issue is deception versus accuracy in the adherence to their published definition and public’s understanding of “Search Results”.

If millions if not billions of people believe that Google’s search results are organic, then they should be just that. If the public see an ad and recognise it as an ad. no problem.

If the public see a link to a promoted page and recognise it as a link to a promoted page, again, no problem.

Its when Google elevate a link to a page above its natural ranking and the users cannot obviously see that is the case is where I question the integrity of the process.

I know many people do not even recognise the paid ads at the top of the organic search results as ads.

http://www.webpronews.com/tool-claims-to-show-google-search-bias-2014-10

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Malware Built At Record Rates

If you do not have malware (MALicious softWARE) protection (anti-virus being the simplest example) then you are it is only a matter of time before you are badly stung.
Trojans continue to dominate the threat landscape, according to Panda Security’s latest quarterly report, released Monday.
The anti-virus maker’s research arm, PandaLabs, found that between January and March of this year, more than 6.5 million new malware strains were built, with trojans comprising 75 percent of those. In total, trojans were responsible for 80 percent of global computer infections – a record – far outpacing worms, viruses and adware.
Across the globe, researchers discovered that more than 31 percent of PCs have been seeded with malware, with machines in China experiencing the highest infection rates (around 50 percent). In the United States, PandaLabs said 28 percent of computers are infected nationwide, numbers that roughly correspond to previous versions of the report.
http://www.scmagazine.com.au/News/342296,stats-confirm-malware-built-at-record-rates.aspx

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Perfect Use For QR Codes

Just read this newsletter from one of the world’s most prominent usability researchers, Jakob Nielsen.
Overly Tabletized Museum Info
Just back from Singapore. It’s about 15 years since my last visit and it’s amazing how much progress they have made. The world’s most efficient country. The new National Museum of Singapore is very impressive, in terms of both buildings and collections. I particularly liked the full-length paintings of old-time governors, including one by John Singer Sargent that could be in any art museum in the world, even disregarding the historical value.
Sadly, the museum is an example of mobile technology run amok. All information about the exhibited objects is provided on a tablet that you borrow when entering the history exhibition. The good news is that this allows for more in-depth information than traditional museum labels, and it’s also easier to provide the text in multiple languages that would crowd a printed label.
But the tablet fails to support the actual museum-going experience. You pause by a wall or display case with maybe 10-20 objects, each only marked by a number. And then you’re supposed to enter all these numbers into the tablet to find out what you’re seeing. No way: much too slow.
Nothing beats the roaming human eye in terms of quickly taking in volumes of information, especially when glancing around a large physical space. In a second or two, you can scan a big wall and focus on the label for the object that interests you the most. A few more seconds suffice to scan the label for the most pertinent information (what is it? how old is it?), and then you can either read more or move your gaze to the next object. All in much less time than it takes to type in a 3-4 digit number on a tablet.
You can easily imagine a more efficient retrieval user interface: for example one that utilizes location and direction to display information about an object simply by being pointed in the direction of that object. While faster, this would still be slower than simply glancing at a label next to the object.
Let’s stick to old technology when it works better. Then for sure use tablets to provide supplementary information, multimedia, and other elements that utilize its strengths and provide sufficient added-value to justify the interaction cost.

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Your Computer

Estimates put the value of the data on a computer three months old as being of more value than the cost of the hardware. When next you need to replace your computer, get the vendor to put in two mirrored hard drives so if one fails all your data is on the other drive.
Next step is to get at least one, if not two, hard drives so you can copy the data from your computer to one of the drives then give it to a trusted person to store in an off site location. Put a password on the drive so that if the trust sours, your data doesn’t become public domain.