Try Google Search As It Was in 2001

September 30, 2008 on 9:01 pm | In Technology, Internet, Google, Search | Comments Off

In honor of their tenth birthday*, Google brought back their search engine the way it was many years ago, in January 2001. Below an old-school Google logo (in 2001 they were actually already using a newer one) the input box invites you to search through “1,326,920,000 web pages”. A search for Barack Obama returns around 773 results, for instance, with the top link leading to the old address as it was, and a special link pointing to the Wayback Machine’s archived version of it (today, over 60 million results are returned). A search for Gmail returns “gmail.linuxpower.org”, a Linux “email client for the Gnome desktop”. A search for BitTorrent returns 0 results.

Now, why isn’t Google showing the index of 1998, considering it’s supposed to celebrate their 10th birthday? “[F]or various technical reasons that are too boring to go into,” Google states in their FAQ, “earlier versions of our index aren’t readily accessible ... the January 2001 index is the best we can do.” Google’s FAQ also disclaims that the index shown is not exactly the one as it was in 2001, but that it’s a “pretty good” approximation. The FAQ adds that this special search engine won’t be live forever, but just for one month.

Google 2001 is a highly interesting trip to the past. You can get a feeling for what the web** was like back then, what topics were as of yet unknown or little talked about, and – provided the ranking order is the exact same as it was in 2001, which I’m not entirely sure about – you can also evaluate how well Google ranked results back then. Which insightful bits did you find?

*Or one of their tenth birthdays, as there’s different dates where you might want to put the “start” flag.

**The web, or to be more precise, Google’s large but incomplete index of it.

[By Philipp Lenssen | Origin: Try Google Search As It Was in 2001 | Comments]


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NuevaSync

September 30, 2008 on 5:21 pm | In Computer | Comments Off

When using a Mac as a main computer, I was able to create an overly complicated setup that would allow me to sync my iPhone wirelessly with Google Calendar/Contacts.  But this doesn't work on my linux computer.  When I was looking foa a solution I found a link to NuevaSync.

NuevaSync is a Exchange "proxy" for Google Calendar/Contacts.  This allows the iPhone to be configured to sync to thie Google apps.  This solution acually makes MobileMe unnecessary. This article has a good walkthough for configuring NuevaSync with an iPhone.

This has been working fine for me on my iPhone.

One problem that is being worked on is better support for multiple calendars.  Also another annoyance, with the iPhone and not with NuevaSync is that you can not connect to multiple Exchange servers.  I would like to connect to my work's Exchange server for mail, but connect to NuevaSync for Calendars and Contacts.

The Google Story, Updated for Google’s 10th Birthday

September 30, 2008 on 11:23 am | In Technology, Internet, Google, Search | Comments Off

Between Google’s 10th birthday, the third Google founder controversy, ordering your G1 and their launch of “10 to the 100th"*, you might have missed the new “Google Story”. This latest iteration of David Vise and Mark Malseed’s National Bestseller hit store shelves last Tuesday**. “Updated for Google’s 10th Birthday”, this new edition is the same “Google Story” you’ve come to know only updated with new accounts. Like previous versions, this latest edition provides an interesting and entertaining glimpse behind the curtain at Google. It’s a great read for anyone interested in learning more about Google’s greatest successes and biggest blunders from a unique, behind the scenes perspective.

The Preface provides insight into the lives of Google’s founders and how they have changed over the past ten years. From bachelors living on credit in Stanford’s dorms to married billionaires ranked among the top five wealthiest Americans, it’s a pretty remarkable story.

In terms of new information and updated statistics, the book claims that Google now has more than 20,000 employees, a million computers and produces “billions of search results with every tick of the clock”. Most of the new information is introduced around page 260. In addition to the new Preface, up to date information, expanded chapter and the addition of one new chapter, readers may notice a few things are missing from this addition edition. Interestingly, the chapter titled “Trick Clicks” about click fraud is no longer a part of “The Google Story”. Also missing, a recount of Eric Schmidt’s run-in with CNET over their publishing his personal information found via Google.***

What’s good about the book?

  • The recounts in this book are fantastic! One of my favorites is the time Mikhail Gorbachev and Shimon Peres dropped in to hear Brin and Page while speaking at a Israeli high school.
  • Obviously, I’ve always thought Blogoscoped’s role in “The Google Story” was an interesting one but, no updates there until next time (Chrome) I guess!
  • I don’t want to give away anything but, this edition serves up lots of “juicy” details regarding Google’s move into China and the role Dr. Kai-Fu Lee played. Google CEO Eric Schmidt is quoted as saying “We actually did an ’evil scale’” in determining Google’s approach in China.
  • It’s pretty amazing but according to the book, “Larry and Sergey still look at all measurements for all traffic for all applications every week”.
  • Despite the free food, bean bags and lava lamps, according to Sergey Brin “... what is not apparent from the outside is the set of rigorous systems and processes that we use to manage our growth while maintaining this entrepreneurial zeal.”
  • Detailed updates also include Appendix #9 and #23 as well as “The Google Financial Scorecard”.
  • Paperback suggested retail price is only $14.00

What’s bad about the book?

  • Somehow denoting new content would be nice for future editions.
  • The book seems to indicate Google’s executives own only one aircraft but, I’m pretty sure that number is a little higher.

The Google Story Updated Edition is a great book and a highly suggested “must read”!

*See the September archive for more.

**Disclosure: The book’s co-author Mark Malseed guest-blogged here before.

***When CNet reporter Elinor Mills used Google to research Eric Schmidt within public sources, Google’s response was to tell CNet they were now blacklisted from receiving Google communication for a year – due to privacy issues with Elinor’s report.

[By Brian Ussery | Origin: The Google Story, Updated for Google's 10th B ... | Comments]


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Virtual Machines

September 30, 2008 on 8:58 am | In Computer | Comments Off

VirtualBox is a free virtual machine that I have been using for a while It worked perfectly to run Windows XP on my Ubuntu computer. VirtualBox is available for Mac, WIndows and Linux. Connecting my iPhone didn't work. It looks like there is a bug where a connected iPhone is not recognized with VirtualBox.

This isn't a problem in VMware Workstation. I tried the 30 day free trial and it worked with the iPhone. I was able to easily transfer the data from my VirtualBox VM to VMware Workstation.  I backed up the VirtualBox to the Windows Home Server.  Then in the VMware Workstation VM, before I installed an OS, I put in the client restore CD.  This allowed me to restore the image to the new vm.

Moving to Windows

September 30, 2008 on 7:18 am | In Computer | Comments Off

About the time that we got our new Dell M1530, the internal video card on our MacBook Pro died.  My wife is now trying to use the M1330 as her personal computer.  I erased the Ubuntu partition and installed WIndows Vista on it.  Also, since our Mac OS X machine was disabled, I have installed Windows XP in a virtual machine on my Ubuntu m1530 to do everything that I can't do in Ubuntu.

There are several things that I have noticed about Windows:

  1. The backup functionality in Windows Home Server works perfectly with Windows machines.  (I actually have used this to rebuild a machine and it worked perfectly)
  2.  There is no calendar program.  I don't get how Microsoft can ship an OS that doesn't have a calendar program.  Mac OS X ships with iCal.  You would think that Microsoft would want a computer to be functional for a family with just the base OS install.  They ship a mail program, photo and video editing programs, but no calendar.  This means that I can not sync my calendar with MobileMe.
  3. I am getting tons of errors from MobileMe Sync on both XP and Vista.  The errors state things like "a sync in progress" or my "MobileMe account is expired".
  4. The Windows version of Quicken is so much more functional that the Mac version.  Once I confugured Quicken for our accounts, it automatically configured itself to use the online bill pay from the bank.  With Quicken for the Mac, you have to use a third party bill pay service.
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