BEST OF THE WEB: Google’s mysterious search engine shift

You may have noticed a key change in the way Google allows you to search its home page. Previously, if you wanted to search for a term, you type in the words you want. You could also click on the banners at the top of the page for images, news, and so on, without having to type that search term again.

Now, that feature is gone. When you click on a new banner, you’ll need to type the search term in again – and Google has no plans to change this.

In a new piece on The Atlantic, a Google spokesperson has explained that the change is here to stay.

“The design change,” wrote the Google representative in an email today, is a small adjustment, “albeit noticeable if you’re an avid user”. She went on to say that the adjustment is “part of a constant process of experimenting and making changes to the design and user interface of Google products”.

She recommended an alternative. “For query refinements such as restricting results only to news, we recommend the left-hand side tools that I’m sure you’re very familiar with.”

But that isn’t good enough for some users, who have saved plenty of time using this feature. So why has it gone away?

As the piece explains, this could be part of a bigger picture, with Google wanting to change the way it measures searches. Perhaps it’s trying to measure search more organically, and maybe it wants to see how many people are specifically using each of those features. It’s hard to pin down, as Google hasn’t even given an explanation.

The mystery deepens when juxtaposed against Google’s decision to publicise a number of algorithm tweaks last week.

But as the piece explains, users will just have to get used to it.

“So maybe if we keep retyping the exact same search terms as we go from tab to tab, they’ll get the hint. Or maybe we will. The black navigation bar that’s at the centre of Togglegate seems like it has been part of the Google.com interface forever, but it’s only been there since June.”

Google moving in on Microsoft

Speaking of Google, there’s another interesting shift happening in the space of office software. More and more, businesses are starting to adopt the cloud-based Google Apps suite instead of Microsoft Office, and as The New York Times points out, this is a big win for the search giant.

“Microsoft says Google’s efforts are hardly noticeable. But Google executives say that more and bigger companies are signing up for the cloud service.”

“Possibly more important to Google is the way that Apps helps Google build social networks inside business. If successful, it would be a threat to Microsoft’s biggest division and would create another inroad in its struggle with Facebook to dominate users’ online lives.”

Even in Australia, businesses are signing up to Google Apps and Google claims 5,000 businesses every day are joining. This is in direct opposition to Microsoft, which is still selling its much more expensive – and feature packed – Office software.

Funnily enough, it all has to do with social networking. The more people are on Google products, the more chance Google has to put its Google+ network in front of their faces.

“Once Google+ has perfected features like security and encryption,” said Bradley Horowitz of Google, “it will change the way people work, share and communicate. I’ll have work conversations at 100 water coolers a day.”

The Huffington controversy

Arianna Huffington has caused a lot of controversy this year. After acquiring AOL, and tech industry blog TechCrunch along with it, a number of resignations have scorned the company and put its editorial independence into question.

But Huffington herself has a distinct vision of where she wants the company to go. As described in this new profile on the tech publishing entrepreneur in New York Magazine, Huffington wants to take on The New York Times.

“After all, HuffPo has more traffic than the Times and was recently found in a Comscore study to be the web’s most popular source of political news.”

“Huffington ripped out the old AOL cubicles and replaced them with desks, creating a crowded bullpen of over 315 reporters on the company’s fifth floor, with a glass-walled office for herself. Her four assistants sit in the front (one for travel, one for phones, and two research assistants, one of whom helps edit her books).”

As the piece describes, Huffington was keen to make a stamp on AOL, including during the entire TechCrunch university when founder Michael Arrington himself stepped down over what many say – Huffington included – to be a conflict of interest.

“It’s so black and white, so simple,” says Huffington. “I don’t think there is any journalist on this or any other planet that wouldn’t question having someone run a VC fund and also being the editor of a site that is covering start-ups.”

As the piece describes, the future of AOL is muddy, but Huffington’s presence couldn’t be clearer. This is an extensive piece that delves into Huffington’s history, her previous marriage, and many of her work practices – and her intentions to build a digital empire after acquiring AOL.

“The company has allowed her access to ­corporate funding for the Huffington Post website, and she seems to believe her new perch will recast her from a protean self-­reinventionist – at various times a Greek immigrant, New York socialite, New Age proponent, political wife, California gubernatorial candidate, and on and on – into something more solid: the Rupert Murdoch of the digital age, helming the world’s most influential ‘internet newspaper’, as the Huffington Post is called.”

Apple wins by losing to Windows

The future of PCs is a debate that is constantly being fought in tech blogs and websites – will Apple or Microsoft dominate?

But as this piece by MG Seigler in TechCrunch points out, that may not be the right question to ask.

“Now we’re in the midst of another new age. People are now carrying around computers in their pockets, called smartphones. But those aren’t considered PCs. Instead, they’re considered descendants of the original mobile phones.”

“The truth is that they’re closer in just about every way to a personal computer – in fact, they may be the most personal computers ever. But they look more like phones, so we consider them phones – even as people make fewer and fewer actual phone calls on them.”

As a result, he argues, tablets should be considered a type of PC, given their use in a consumer’s lifestyle. With desktop PC numbers continuing to fall, it appears there needs to be a new way of measuring performance in the declining sector.

“Apple is set to become the top personal computer maker in the world. They’ll never win the desktop PC battle, but who cares? That fight hasn’t mattered for years.”