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> 1) a record of searches and user clicks for the past 20 years From what I can tell, Google cares a lot more about recency. When I switch over to a new frame

> 1) a record of searches and user clicks for the past 20 years From what I can tell, Google cares a lot more about recency. When I switch over to a new framework or language, search results are pretty bad for the first week, horrible actually as Google thinks I am still using /other language/. I have to keep appending the language / framework name to my queries. After a week or so? The results are pure magic. I can search for something sort of describing what I want and Google returns the correct answer. If I search for 'array length' Google is going to tell me how to find the length of an array in whatever language I am currently immersed in! As much as I try to use Duck Duck Go, Google is just too magic. But I don't think it is because they have my complete search history. Also people forget that the creepy stuff Google does is super useful. For example, whatever framework I am using, Google will start pushing news updates to my Google Now (or whatever it is called on my phone) about new releases to that framework. I get a constant stream of learning resources, valuable blog posts, and best practices delivered to me every morning! It really is impressive.

nojvek 7y ago
Going back to OPs point. Google is real good at associating search query to search result. Every time you search and click on something, google learns that association. So it could very well be that as more users adopt the new language/framework in the first couple of weeks they have taught google those associations. Google isn’t a search company. They are a distributed machine learning company that make most of their money from learning what people want and showing relevant ads to them.
- kingludite 7y ago
  They have adds to show first, telling what people want comes after that, knowing what people wanted is only to make the second easier and only interesting up to serving the first. Really good or really bad only exists if there is something else to compare it to.
torbjorn 7y ago
Yeah I must echo your sentiments wrt their Google Now product, it is great. Not only does it provides relevant content but some of it is very new and or obscure which I really appreciate. I have linked people to videos I pulled off my Google Now feed and they are amazed that I know about a video on our very specific shared interest that is less than a couple hours old and has only a few hundred views.
latexr 7y ago
> Also people forget that the creepy stuff Google does is super useful. For the same reasons you’re exalting them, I have non-technical friends who asked me how Google knows so much about them (and suggestions on how to avoid it) because they found it too creepy. I don’t think people forget Google’s results are useful; some just think they’re more creepy than valuable. You seem to have picked your side in that (im)balance, and other people prefer the other side. There’s also the relevant consideration that no matter how useful they may be, they should have no right to impose themselves on you. By this I mean that one should be free to refuse their creepiness, understanding the price is their usefulness. Yet, Google is the subject of privacy violations all the time, and they are caught time and again lying about what they collect on users.
- lostctown 7y ago
  I wish interfaces were more straight up about their intentions and made it easier to implement account level partitions. For work I love Google's magic tracking effects, but at 1 am, hell no.
  - mjevans 7y ago
    It would be immensely useful if Google understood that normal people have multiple facades that they use in different contexts. Probably several professional (which project / component was I working on again), private but family friendly (planning gifts for relatives, etc), and private but clearly out there (stuff you don't want to shock 60 year old parents / young kids / etc with) profiles. Also, for incognito stuff, it'd be nice to have read-only basing on stock profiles related to various activities or people.
  - arwineap 7y ago
    You can have multiple identities in chrome[0], even guest identities. [0] https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/2364824 https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/2364824
    - lostctown 7y ago
smsm42 7y ago
I was curious about this, as I work in multiple languages every day. I almost never use Google though except as last resort if other engines can't find anything. So the result I got for array length was for Javascript. Which is quite high on the hype cycle now, but I only very rarely use it and search anything about it even less frequently. Sо I wonder how much of the magic you perceive might be just your interests matching the interests of the most other people using Google and thus it's not just Google magically guessing you're into Javascript (for example) now, but Javascript being popular and this being the cause of both Google returning matches for it and you starting to use it? Did you ever do a clean experiment - e.g. try to learn APL or some other relatively obscure language and have Google return all results about APL and none about Javascript?
majormajor 7y ago
I always see posts like this here, and then I try it, and I get a page full of "array length" results for Javascript, while everything in the last year that I've searched for has been Java or Kotlin... Same when I owned a Pixel after hearing about Google Now and their ML magic there. Nothing more magical than an iPhone in terms of suggestions. The camera was amazing, but not all this supposed contextual stuff.
- lrem 7y ago
  Wild guess: in a surge of privacy consciousness you told Google to stay the heck away from your data. These checkboxes stick forever and couple years down the line some magic feature won't be able to learn from your data. E.g. despite working there, I still haven't figured out how to let Photos recognize people in my pictures, something that definitely is on by default.
feanaro 7y ago
The flip side of this is that it makes it harder for you to stumble upon something related, but new, outside of the filter bubble Google is making for you. There's no arguing what you're describing is useful, but it's nice to keep in mind that there are downsides even if you ignore the privacy argument (which, IMO, shouldn't be ignored).
amelius 7y ago
Question: have you ever visited this webpage? https://myactivity.google.com/ https://myactivity.google.com/ For many people it is enough to be totally creeped out about Google. Also, that Google remembers context can be handy but it is not essential. Without context, I am sure you would be equally capable of finding what you are looking for, although it might take a little more typing since you'll have to supply the context yourself. Imho, convenience is not a good argument for giving away your personal information.
r-w 7y ago
Your results may be bad for the first week, but the better results you get later on have everything to do with Google’s long-term user-base.

nojvek 7y ago

Going back to OPs point. Google is real good at associating search query to search result. Every time you search and click on something, google learns that association. So it could very well be that as more users adopt the new language/framework in the first couple of weeks they have taught google those associations. Google isn’t a search company. They are a distributed machine learning company that make most of their money from learning what people want and showing relevant ads to them.

kingludite 7y ago
They have adds to show first, telling what people want comes after that, knowing what people wanted is only to make the second easier and only interesting up to serving the first. Really good or really bad only exists if there is something else to compare it to.

torbjorn 7y ago

Yeah I must echo your sentiments wrt their Google Now product, it is great. Not only does it provides relevant content but some of it is very new and or obscure which I really appreciate. I have linked people to videos I pulled off my Google Now feed and they are amazed that I know about a video on our very specific shared interest that is less than a couple hours old and has only a few hundred views.

latexr 7y ago

> Also people forget that the creepy stuff Google does is super useful. For the same reasons you’re exalting them, I have non-technical friends who asked me how Google knows so much about them (and suggestions on how to avoid it) because they found it too creepy. I don’t think people forget Google’s results are useful; some just think they’re more creepy than valuable. You seem to have picked your side in that (im)balance, and other people prefer the other side. There’s also the relevant consideration that no matter how useful they may be, they should have no right to impose themselves on you. By this I mean that one should be free to refuse their creepiness, understanding the price is their usefulness. Yet, Google is the subject of privacy violations all the time, and they are caught time and again lying about what they collect on users.

lostctown 7y ago
I wish interfaces were more straight up about their intentions and made it easier to implement account level partitions. For work I love Google's magic tracking effects, but at 1 am, hell no.
- mjevans 7y ago
  It would be immensely useful if Google understood that normal people have multiple facades that they use in different contexts. Probably several professional (which project / component was I working on again), private but family friendly (planning gifts for relatives, etc), and private but clearly out there (stuff you don't want to shock 60 year old parents / young kids / etc with) profiles. Also, for incognito stuff, it'd be nice to have read-only basing on stock profiles related to various activities or people.
- arwineap 7y ago
  You can have multiple identities in chrome[0], even guest identities. [0] https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/2364824 https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/2364824
  - lostctown 7y ago

smsm42 7y ago

I was curious about this, as I work in multiple languages every day. I almost never use Google though except as last resort if other engines can't find anything. So the result I got for array length was for Javascript. Which is quite high on the hype cycle now, but I only very rarely use it and search anything about it even less frequently. Sо I wonder how much of the magic you perceive might be just your interests matching the interests of the most other people using Google and thus it's not just Google magically guessing you're into Javascript (for example) now, but Javascript being popular and this being the cause of both Google returning matches for it and you starting to use it? Did you ever do a clean experiment - e.g. try to learn APL or some other relatively obscure language and have Google return all results about APL and none about Javascript?

majormajor 7y ago

I always see posts like this here, and then I try it, and I get a page full of "array length" results for Javascript, while everything in the last year that I've searched for has been Java or Kotlin... Same when I owned a Pixel after hearing about Google Now and their ML magic there. Nothing more magical than an iPhone in terms of suggestions. The camera was amazing, but not all this supposed contextual stuff.

lrem 7y ago
Wild guess: in a surge of privacy consciousness you told Google to stay the heck away from your data. These checkboxes stick forever and couple years down the line some magic feature won't be able to learn from your data. E.g. despite working there, I still haven't figured out how to let Photos recognize people in my pictures, something that definitely is on by default.

feanaro 7y ago

The flip side of this is that it makes it harder for you to stumble upon something related, but new, outside of the filter bubble Google is making for you. There's no arguing what you're describing is useful, but it's nice to keep in mind that there are downsides even if you ignore the privacy argument (which, IMO, shouldn't be ignored).

amelius 7y ago

Question: have you ever visited this webpage? https://myactivity.google.com/ https://myactivity.google.com/ For many people it is enough to be totally creeped out about Google. Also, that Google remembers context can be handy but it is not essential. Without context, I am sure you would be equally capable of finding what you are looking for, although it might take a little more typing since you'll have to supply the context yourself. Imho, convenience is not a good argument for giving away your personal information.

r-w 7y ago

Your results may be bad for the first week, but the better results you get later on have everything to do with Google’s long-term user-base.