4 ms·

Off topic, but ref "I remember when you could half-remember a comment from a website, type that into Google, and get taken to the article you were looking for"

Off topic, but ref "I remember when you could half-remember a comment from a website, type that into Google, and get taken to the article you were looking for" It's funny to me that (to my knowledge) no browser (mainstream?) implement this functionality yet. Seems like a no brainer to index what the user have actually seen... (Could even be restricted based on viewport - I don't think it's that crazy of an idea) I know there's a a number of third party programs which does though. Of course - multi-device being the norm - complicates things.

catlover76 7mo ago
[dead]
hirako2000 7mo ago
That's called search: in history.
- hoppyhoppy2 7mo ago
  That doesn't search the content of the pages you've browsed, though, right?
  - hirako2000 7mo ago
    Right, I misunderstood the case. I guess because it isn't then trivial for a web browser to do, indexing every text ever rendered?
- packetlost 7mo ago
  I think you would need to take it a step further and do full-text search on loaded pages. It's certainly possible but probably pretty data intensive.
flexagoon 7mo ago
There are things like Mymind (SaaS) or Karakeep (selfhosted) that do this, though they require you to explicitly save the pages instead of indexing everything by default
- evanjrowley 7mo ago
  I would really like to see integration between Karakeep and SearXNG so that I could combine online search engine results with my self-hosted bookmarks serice.
- twiclo 7mo ago
  I haven't used this but looks someone created a self hosted version of Microsoft's Recall https://github.com/openrecall/openrecall https://github.com/openrecall/openrecall
evanjrowley 7mo ago
>It's funny to me that (to my knowledge) no browser (mainstream?) implement this functionality yet. Seems like a no brainer to index what the user have actually seen... The answer to this is complicated. Both Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge actually implement this. Behind the scenes, both will upload your browser history to the cloud. You can see it in network packet captures. It's implemented in the browser for the vendor, but not for the user. The choice to not implement this for the user is very deliberate. It's contrary to the vendor's interests if the browser provides this capability directly to users. If a user's browser can take you to a website directly, then you are not using the vendor's search engine, meaning you are not looking at their ads, paid search results, algorithm, etc. It would severly impact their business model. This is also the reason why browsers have: - Adopted Google Chrome's "Omnibar" instead of a separate address bar and search bar. - Implement only basic hierarchical organization for browser Favorites. Directly and indirectly, Google is the central nexus of all modern browsers. Aside from Google Chrome, they also: - Fund the vast majority of Firefox. - Pay Apple for preferential treatment. - Provide the same mechanisms to vendors who base their browsers on Chromium (i.e., Microsoft Edge, Brave). I would love for this to not be the case. There is hope to be found in small independent browser and search companies/projects.
- nubg 7mo ago
  > both will upload your browser history to the cloud I wonder if the EU could fine them a couple weeks of revenue for this. Seems illegal.
  - olejorgenb 7mo ago
    I'm 80%+ sure the claim is BS
    - evanjrowley 7mo ago
      It's not BS for the people who don't understand the dark patters that guide users to enabling all of this stuff. That's everyone with a Windows PC who didn't bypass the Microsoft account requirement and went with all of the defaults in Microsoft Edge. Everyone using Chrome Enterprise/Education whose Google Workspace admins don't want to get into trouble for not backing up people's stuff (i.e., sharing it all with Google). Same goes for company Windows PCs set up with Microsoft Entra ID. It's everyone with an Android device and a Google account who wants their settings backed up or transfers to a new Android device. It's in the fine print and legalese for all of these products and services.
vel0city 7mo ago
If only some operating system incorporated a way to make everything you've seen on your computer locally searchable, wouldn't that be a neat feature?
- olejorgenb 7mo ago
  I believe there some projects trying this now using OCR IIRC. Did even Microsoft try something like this? It's of course something you'd only want running locally
  - gjm11 7mo ago
    I think the joke is that Microsoft did do something very like this -- they call it Windows Recall -- and it got a lot of angry pushback. (Partly, IIRC, because the specific way they did it initially was very bad in terms of security and privacy, but I think a lot of people quite understandably don't trust them to implement it (a) the way they claim they do or (b) competently, so even after they made a bunch of changes aimed at making it less scary it's still viewed with a lot of hostility.)
    - olejorgenb 7mo ago
      Ah :wooosh:, :D
mock-possum 7mo ago
> no brainer to index what the user have actually seen... I know there's a a number of third party programs which does though Which company would you trust with this kind of deep surveillance information on you though?
- olejorgenb 7mo ago
  I would trust Firefox if they made a version which did the indexing locally. I think I'd trust chrome as well as long as it was implemented locally.
paradox460 7mo ago
There's an old Mac app that tried to do it. History hound. It sometimes worked

catlover76 7mo ago

[dead]

hirako2000 7mo ago

That's called search: in history.

hoppyhoppy2 7mo ago
That doesn't search the content of the pages you've browsed, though, right?
- hirako2000 7mo ago
  Right, I misunderstood the case. I guess because it isn't then trivial for a web browser to do, indexing every text ever rendered?
packetlost 7mo ago
I think you would need to take it a step further and do full-text search on loaded pages. It's certainly possible but probably pretty data intensive.

flexagoon 7mo ago

There are things like Mymind (SaaS) or Karakeep (selfhosted) that do this, though they require you to explicitly save the pages instead of indexing everything by default

evanjrowley 7mo ago
I would really like to see integration between Karakeep and SearXNG so that I could combine online search engine results with my self-hosted bookmarks serice.
twiclo 7mo ago
I haven't used this but looks someone created a self hosted version of Microsoft's Recall https://github.com/openrecall/openrecall https://github.com/openrecall/openrecall

evanjrowley 7mo ago

>It's funny to me that (to my knowledge) no browser (mainstream?) implement this functionality yet. Seems like a no brainer to index what the user have actually seen... The answer to this is complicated. Both Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge actually implement this. Behind the scenes, both will upload your browser history to the cloud. You can see it in network packet captures. It's implemented in the browser for the vendor, but not for the user. The choice to not implement this for the user is very deliberate. It's contrary to the vendor's interests if the browser provides this capability directly to users. If a user's browser can take you to a website directly, then you are not using the vendor's search engine, meaning you are not looking at their ads, paid search results, algorithm, etc. It would severly impact their business model. This is also the reason why browsers have: - Adopted Google Chrome's "Omnibar" instead of a separate address bar and search bar. - Implement only basic hierarchical organization for browser Favorites. Directly and indirectly, Google is the central nexus of all modern browsers. Aside from Google Chrome, they also: - Fund the vast majority of Firefox. - Pay Apple for preferential treatment. - Provide the same mechanisms to vendors who base their browsers on Chromium (i.e., Microsoft Edge, Brave). I would love for this to not be the case. There is hope to be found in small independent browser and search companies/projects.

nubg 7mo ago
> both will upload your browser history to the cloud I wonder if the EU could fine them a couple weeks of revenue for this. Seems illegal.
- olejorgenb 7mo ago
  I'm 80%+ sure the claim is BS
  - evanjrowley 7mo ago
    It's not BS for the people who don't understand the dark patters that guide users to enabling all of this stuff. That's everyone with a Windows PC who didn't bypass the Microsoft account requirement and went with all of the defaults in Microsoft Edge. Everyone using Chrome Enterprise/Education whose Google Workspace admins don't want to get into trouble for not backing up people's stuff (i.e., sharing it all with Google). Same goes for company Windows PCs set up with Microsoft Entra ID. It's everyone with an Android device and a Google account who wants their settings backed up or transfers to a new Android device. It's in the fine print and legalese for all of these products and services.

vel0city 7mo ago

If only some operating system incorporated a way to make everything you've seen on your computer locally searchable, wouldn't that be a neat feature?

olejorgenb 7mo ago
I believe there some projects trying this now using OCR IIRC. Did even Microsoft try something like this? It's of course something you'd only want running locally
- gjm11 7mo ago
  I think the joke is that Microsoft did do something very like this -- they call it Windows Recall -- and it got a lot of angry pushback. (Partly, IIRC, because the specific way they did it initially was very bad in terms of security and privacy, but I think a lot of people quite understandably don't trust them to implement it (a) the way they claim they do or (b) competently, so even after they made a bunch of changes aimed at making it less scary it's still viewed with a lot of hostility.)
  - olejorgenb 7mo ago
    Ah :wooosh:, :D

mock-possum 7mo ago

> no brainer to index what the user have actually seen... I know there's a a number of third party programs which does though Which company would you trust with this kind of deep surveillance information on you though?

olejorgenb 7mo ago
I would trust Firefox if they made a version which did the indexing locally. I think I'd trust chrome as well as long as it was implemented locally.

paradox460 7mo ago

There's an old Mac app that tried to do it. History hound. It sometimes worked