In what way does Google make your life easier

 Link to us : http://sn.im/analysisgoogle
Today the topic of our poll is on - (In what way does Google make your life easier). Today will be the last poll of our blog since it's is the last day of our assignment. So i would like to take some time to explain about why some user prefer to choose this particular application rather then the others. Google does make our life easier, but the matter is which application is the best?? Below is and image of the poll result we collected since last week.

Link to Picassa 

Our last poll question - "In what way does Google make your life easier"
A) Through it's application (20% - 3 out of 15 votes)
B) Through it's search engine (60% - 9 out of 15 votes)
C) Through G-mail (7% - 1 out of 15 votes)
D) Through translator (13% - 2 our of 15 votes)

First of course i would like to thank all voters who support us by polling our poll from the beginning of when our blog was started. From last week poll result, we can clearly see that many user vote for it's powerful search engine - "Google" (60% which is 9 out of 15 votes). Despite some annoying sponsor link which will display some links on top of it rather than the search result, it is well organized in terms of customizability, appearance and consistency. User can customize their own background theme through iGoogle which enable user to drag and place their widget as they desire.Another usefull feature of Google search engine user can use Google instant to automate the search result which predict the keyword given by the user.To help conserve the environment, Google introduce it's own green search engine - "blackle" to help preserve the nature which is estimate to save around 550,000 watts everyday.

The second highest poll result goes to it's application such as Google docs, Google page/site, Google TV, Google voice, Google map and many more. all of this application is quite handy when it comes to Google page/site. Google page/site help in uploading and hosting various type of files and format which is quite handy when u need to host a web page which does not support a particular image/file format. Although Google voice does not have any latest features update since last year but it is useful when running a small business especially when we use it in the right place. Google map are useful when we need to find a certain location/the direction.

The 3rd place goes to Google translator which is 13% (2 out of 15 votes). This is also another example of a Google application which help user to translate from a language to another (up to 30 types of language). However the result of the poll shows that the response from the voter is not quite great. i think this is because there's a lot of different version of language translator everywhere. Some are even advanced than Google translator, and another reason is that Google translator cannot translate exactly a sentences which is longer in length. Hence, more user does not prefer to use this application, unless they are in a rush and use Google translator which come default with Google search engine.

G-mail has the lowest number of votes so far - (7% 1 out of 15). I think this is the lowest vote so far, i think this is because many user can choose from different e-mail service other than Google mail. G-mail does has it's advantage of having a large storage capacity, but different e-mail have different capability. So i think it's up to user to choose their own preferred E-mail services.

If there are any opinion or disagreement on this post, kindly voice up!!

Which Google Green Search Engine is more green?

Link to us: http://sn.im/google-green-analysis

Greeting everyone. Today I would like to explain about ours poll for this week. The Poll question are - Which Google Green Search Engine is more green?
Below picture are the result that show the vote are vote by users.
Link to Picasa

Blackle ( 12 votes of out 16 votes)
Eco-Find( 1 vote of out 16 votes)
Earthle ( 3 vote of out 16 votes)

The poll show urs the result is Blackle get 12 votes out of 16 total votes. For Eco-Find is 1 vote out of total 16 votes, while Earthle are 3 votes out of total 16 votes.
Why users choose Blackle at this poll. Let me have a briefly explain about Blackle search engine. Blackle is save many energy is because Blackle over 2billion watt per hour. How Blackle save so many energy in an hour. The reason why Blackle can save many energy is because the screen is predominantly black. Black color or dark color display will use less energy, while white color background will requires more power to display. Other then that, the size also will require power while the size is large, when the size is small will minimize the power usage. So every time users using Blackle to search will saving energy.
The second more users vote is Earthle. Earthle it would save an estimated 750 Megawatt-hours in a year. When the users using Earthle, the results are powered by Goolge.com so the search result provided by Earthle are the same for using Goolge.com
Eco-Find is the less vote is because Eco-find it use the compact fluorescent lamps to save the power. And it also more efficient than incandescent bulbs. Eco-find it use less power is because Eco-find turn off the light while no use too many at the webpage.

Reference:
Earthle.com, [online] 2007
http://www.earthle.com/about/
Heap Media, [online], 2010
http://www.blackle.com/about/
Eco-Find.com, [online], 2007
http://www.eco-find.com/

Google News vs. Yahoo! News vs. Bing News

Link to us: http://sn.im/search-engine-news-provider

The poll topic for today is - "Which search engine do you use to read daily news ?" In this post, we will be analyzing Google News as compared with other popular search engine News provider such as Yahoo! News, and . Below is an image illustrating the result of the poll we have collected since last week.
Link to Picasa

Our poll question: Which search engine do you use to read daily news ? Below is the result collected from 42 Total Votes. A) Google News - 50% ( 21 Votes) B) Yahoo! News - 17% (7 Votes) C) Bing News - 10% (4 Votes) D) Other- 24% (10 Votes) From this poll result, we can see that most peoples use Google News to read their daily news. The reason is because Google search engine is currently the most popular search engine. Google News is more user friendly compared to other search engine news provider. It's mainly because, Google News readers are able to personalized their Google News homepage layout. However, Yahoo! News has better looking or more attractive compared to Google News when Bing News has bad user interference. There are 10 votes voted for other, and probably one of it is MSNBC. MSNBC is the one the best news provider. There is an issue about the Bing News. Bing News should exist because of the presence of MSNBC. MSNBC has more absolutely much more better compared to Bing News. Futhermore, they are in the same company, Microsoft. As one of the MSNBC readers, I prefer MSNBC than Google News. MSNBC is more user friendly and more attractive compared to Google News.

Which search engine will user choose when Google search engine server is down?

Link to us : http://sn.im/analysisweek8

Today the topic of our poll is on - (Which search engine will user choose when Google search engine server is down?) Today we will analyze this poll and find out which search engine will user choose other then Google search engine. Today we have received total of 17 votes from our poll collected from last week. Below is an image of the total vote collected.
Link to Picassa 

Our poll question is - "which search engine will user choose when Google search engine server is down?"

1. Dogpile (3 votes out of 18 votes)
2. Yahoo (8 votes out of 18 votes)
3. Bing (3 votes out of 18 votes)
4. Ask.com (4 votes out of 18 votes)

This poll result shows that many users vote for Yahoo. The reason is because Yahoo is also a popular search engine for users. Yahoo search engine is a large, unique search engine database that is similar to Google search engine. Other than that, Yahoo also support full Boolean operation which consists of AND, OR, and NOT operator. This Boolean is made to help users to find a specific search result from the key-word entered. This search engine also provides non-case sensitive searching. Either lower or upper or mixed case will gives the same result.

The second most votes voted by users goes to Ask.com. Ask.com have the function called Binoculars that can save time by quickly previewing a search result before clicking it. Ask.com Toolbar is free Internet browser toolbar . The toolbar is optional to the users and always requires end user consent (in the form of an "Opt-Out" check box). Ask.com also provide users to erase search queries. This erase the needs of users to completely delete search queries and associated cookie information from Ask.com. This including IP addresses, user IDs, session IDs and the text of queries made.

The total vote for Dogpile and Bing are same which are 3 out of the total - 17 votes. Dogpile used metasearch for searching. Dogpile search engine have the most recent search feature that displays at the right hand side of the webpage. This is to let users to navigate back to the recent searches. Other than that Dogpile search engine also provide the advanced search which refine the search. Advanced search give the option to narrow the search by exact word phrases, language filters, date, domain filters, or adult filters. This also have the option to set the search preferences with the ability to customize the Dogpile default search setting.

Bing on the other hand have an interactive interface features which includes a daily changing of the background image. Some of the background image contains information about the element shown in the image. Bing also provide a navigation panel. The navigation include and, on results pages, related searches and prior searches. For media, Bing provide the video thumbnail Preview where hovering over a video thumbnail, the video will start playing automatically

reference

Grey R.Notess, Notess.com , [online], 1999

http://www.searchengineshowdown.com/features/yahoo/review.html
Jaikumar Vijayan, Computerworld, [online], December 12 2007

http://www.pcworld.com/article/140491/askcom_allows_users_to_erase_search_queries.html

Metamend Software & Design Ltd, [online], 2010
http://www.metamend.com/dogpile-search-engine.html

What do you think about Google targeted search result compared to other search engine?

 Link to us : http://sn.im/analysispoll
The poll topic for today is - (What do you think about Google targeted search result compared to other search engine?). In this post, we will discuss more about targeted search result of Google compare to other popular search engine which is the same version as Google search engine (Web 2.0). Targeted search result means a result which display only the specific keyword entered by the users by removing those unwanted/irrelevant search result. Below is and image of the poll result we have collected since last week.
Link to image: Analysis(image)

Our poll question: What do you think about Google targeted search result compared to other search engine?
A) Relevant - 61% (37 out of 61 votes)
B) Accurate - 25% (15 out of 61 votes)
C) Well-organize interface - 2% (1 our of 61 votes)
D) Detail - 13% (8 out of 61 votes)

First i would like to give thousand appreciation to the voters for spending their time to read and vote for our polls. This week, we have received quite a large amount of votes - 61 votes!! To make a targeted search (also known as close-ended searching methods) , you can choose from an option beside Google search box - (advance search) to start typing for the keyword and the exact word or phrase so that the result will show only the desire search result. A user may also choose from using boolean connectors such as (AND, OR, NOT and quotation) or mathematical operators ( + , -) to search for a specific keyword.

Many of us agree with the answer - "relevant" which is the most, 61% of the total votes. This is because when a keyword is entered, using advance search or boolean and mathematical operator, Google will send their "spiderings" to search for the result and then the result are than filtered/refined by the specific keyword/phrase using targeted method entered by user to show only the best and relevant article related to the keyword. The page ranking displayed will be determined by using Page-rank technology.

25% of the voters choose accurate for the poll. However, i'm not truly agree with this point - "accurate'.As we can see, although the result shown by Google search engine may be relevant, it will still display some unnecessary result because we can't filter all non-specific pages. Google uses automated "spidering" to search for the most exact result unlike the human search engine which uses human being to search manually for the result. Hence, the page cannot be as accurate as what a user is searching for.

Another 2% goes to "Well-organize interface", which is a point i strongly disagree with. Unlike other search engine, such as "Ask.com", "Dogpile" and many more which has other interface function either on the right hand side or top of the page such as recommended search result, best search result and related result of the keyword. Google on the other hand only display the search result and rank which one will be on the top (sometimes sponsored link). However  Google does have a user-friendly interface because the background and the function is simple, handy and easy to use. There's also a total of 13% vote for "detail". Search result by Google search engine is quite detail, and it cover the scope of the result given.

Is there any other doubt on my analysis of this poll? Or anyone have a different opinion from what i have said, kindly voice up in the comment box.

What do you think of Google Chrome created by Google INC compared to other browser??

Link to us: http://sn.im/pollresult
The poll topic for today is - "What do you think of Google Chrome created by Google INC compared with other browsers?" In this post, we will be analyzing Google Chrome browser as compared with other popular web browsers such as Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Internet Explorer and Opera. Below is an image illustrating the result of the poll we have collected since last week.

Our poll question: "What do you think of Google Chrome created by Google INC compared with other browsers?"
A) The best of all - 25% (2 out of 8 votes)
B) Fastest for now - 75% (6 out of 8 votes)
C) Slow - 0%
D Disappointing

About a web browser
Before we start analyzing deeper into our poll result, do you know what actually is a web browser? I will start by giving some brief explanations about the meaning of a web browser. A web browser is arguably the most important piece of software on our computer which allows us to browse, search and view different types of informative information, breaking news/happenings around the globe, audio and even shocking video footages available online. However, a web browser is just a piece of junk when there is no Internet connection available.
A web browser should have the following features:
> Status Bar: This is the box at the bottom of your browser window. The Status Bar displays all sorts of information, depending on what you're doing at the time, but mostly it's for showing load speed and the URL of whatever address your mouse is hovering over.
> Address Bar: This is the box at the top of your browser window that displays the entire URL, or Web site address.
> Title Bar: The Title Bar is at the very top of your browser window; in both Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer it is the blue bar at the top of the browser window.
> Toolbar Icons: The Toolbar and its icons are at the top of your browser window right underneath the title bar. This is where you'll see the Back button, the Home button, the Refresh button, etc.
> Display Window: The Display Window is just a fancy term for your browser work space; it's the frame through which you see this website right now.
> Scroll Bars: If you've ever been to a website that you had to "scroll down" to read something, then you've used the Scroll Bars. They're just navigational/directional aids.

The following is a video for better "Web browser" understanding

What is a "Web browser"

According to our poll, most of the voters voted for (b) - The fastest for now (6 out of 7 votes) which means Google Chrome satisfies most of the users in terms of speed. The main reason users switched from other browsers to Google Chrome when it was first released was the speed of the browser. Chrome launches from your desktop within seconds when you double-click the Chrome icon, compared with other browsers such as Microsoft Internet Explorer which often leaves users impatient. Mozilla Firefox loses out to Chrome by just a few seconds which is a huge matter when it comes to comparing the speed among different browsers.

There is just 1 vote for (a) - The best for now. Why choose Google Chrome? Google Chrome comes with simplicity which looks neat, clean and is easy to use. It is mainly designed for efficiency and ease of use. For example, you can search and navigate from the same box and arrange tabs in an order according to your wish quickly and easily. Google Chrome also has the most up-to-date security features. Google Chrome includes features to help protect you and your computer from malicious websites as you browse the web by using technologies called safe browsing (shows warning message when you visit a site which is suspicious and suspected of containing malware and phishing), sandboxing (which adds another layer of security of protection and prevent malware from installing itself on your computer) and auto-update which check for essential update regularly to make sure that you are protected by the latest security update. Due to the fact that Microsoft Internet Explorer is the default browser on every personal computer, it has the most security leaks and exploits which will allow users' computers to be compromised when strict precautions are not taken. There are also some unique features in Google Chrome which are not available in other browsers:

1) Super clean contextual menus


-- The number only comes down to four when you right-click on any image on the browsers.






2) Search your favorite website from the Address Bar
– Chrome will automatically recognize and add that search engine for you so the next time you can perform a search on that site via the Chrome Address Bar itself.

3) Re-open web sites that you close by mistake

4) Task-manager for website

- This will give you an idea about how much physical memory is consumed by different websites and if any particular page is causing your system to crawl, you can do an "end process" to close that tab directly from Task Manager.

I am not totally surprised that there's zero vote for "slow and disappointing" for Google Chrome because I am also an avid users of Google Chrome browser. However, I am not here to promote Google Chrome and we have individual opinions and reasons for choosing which web browser to use. Different web browsers suit different persons, it's up to you to choose the browser which suits your taste.

Do you agree with me that Google Chrome is the best browser? Please comment.



Source:
Google.com, [online], 2010
http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/more/security.html
Digital Inspiration ,[online], march 08 2008
http://www.labnol.org/software/browsers/best-google-chrome-features/4388/
Wendy Boswell, about.com, [online], 2010
http://websearch.about.com/od/whatistheinternet/a/browser.htm
Google.com, [online], 2010
http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/more/index.html

Which Google application/features is the most useful/interesting?

Link to us: http://sn.im/google-app-poll
The topic of our poll this week is quite interesting. It is on "Which Google application/feature is the most useful/interesting?" The poll is about the sub-application developed by Google, such as Google earth, Gmail, iGoogle and Google translator. The result is shown using a bar chart (which is link to Picasa) as below.
Link to Picasa - Poll result

Our poll question: Which Google application/feature is the most useful/interesting?
The result of the poll is:
A) Gmail - 44% (4 out of 9 votes)
B) Google translator - 22% (2 out of 9 votes)
C) iGoogle - 11% (1 out of 9 votes)
D) Google earth - 22% (2 out of 9 votes)


Gmail
What does Gmail mean? Gmail is actually a term for "Google web e-mail services". It is a commonly used free web-based e-mail service other than Hotmail, yahoo mail, window live, etc. It was open through invitation only when it was launched in their beta phase and was then released to the public later on. Gmail, which had 176 million users even at the beta phase, is popular due to its capability of storing data in the gigabytes, a function which gives the ability to search for a specific messages and rearrange the related messages automatically into a conversational thread. With an initial 1GB storage for users, Gmail increased the storage capability significantly from 1GB to 2.4GB due to competition from other email servers. Gmail now provides up to 7450MB of free storage and users are able to rent an additional storage at minimal cost.

"According to Google co-founder and president Larry Page, the company was inspired to create Gmail by a user's complaint about problems with existing Web e-mail services, such as the constant need to delete messages to stay within storage limits, and the lack of any searching ability."

Example of Gmail

Google translator
Like other language translating tools, Google corporation provides a powerful statistically-based machine translation service online which translates a text, document or a sentence from one language to another. However, there are some limitations of this tool. Although it helps users to understand the general contents of the translated text, it does not gives an accurate meaning. An obvious example is when it translates a Chinese text into English and vice-versa (which makes the sentences look weird). To avoid this problem, the service limits the number of words/paragraphs entered by users. This is because shorter sentences are less likely to get their meaning lost in translation.

An example of Google translator (inaccurate translation)

iGoogle

Like we mentioned earlier in the post entered by Jimmy, iGoogle is known as a Google personalized home page or "a smarter version of Google". It allows interaction between user and Google with a gadget known as "Google gadgets". Users can create their own web pages that display the Google search engine and themes through Google gadget.

The gadget which is customizable is as below:

• "Framed Photo" – displays a series of photos.
• "GoogleGram" – creation of special daily messages.
• "Daily Me" – displays user's current mood and feelings.
• "Free Form" – allows the user to input text and an image of their choice.
• "YouTube Channel" – displays videos from a YouTube channel.
• "Personal List" – allows the user to create a list of items.
• "Countdown" – countdown timer.

An image on iGoogle personalized skin

Google Earth

Google Earth is a useful and interesting desktop application which allows users to view the Earth in virtual 3D shapes. Users can navigate through the map in different views (perpendicularly down or at an oblique angle, with perspective "bird's eye view"). Google Earth lets you fly anywhere on the Earth to view satellite images, maps, terrains, 3D buildings, from galaxies in outer space to the canyons of the ocean. It combines satellite photos and maps with Google search engine which allows user to look for a specific location, address and directions easily compared with a GPS (Global Positioning System) because the directions are virtually 3D, which look just the same as what we see of the real thing. Only 2D images are available to view a larger part of a map, from almost a vertical photography. The most interesting feature of Google Earth is viewing and exploring 3D rendering images of Mars and moon 3D terrains.

Features of Google Earth:

• Flight stimulator - A stimulator which runs with animation, providing a realistic experience.
• Sky mode - Allow users to view through stars, celestial bodies and galaxy.
• Street view - Provides 360-degree panoramic street-level views.
• Ocean view - Allows users to zoom below the surface of the ocean and view the 3D bathymetry beneath the waves.

An image of Google Earth beta version

According to the poll result, 44% of the respondents choose Gmail as their most useful and interesting Google application. I, too agree with their opinions because Gmail, unlike other applications, serves many of our purposes, to explore or for entertainment. With an additional storage of up to 7,250MB, Gmail is useful for handling important messages between one client and another. Hence, users are free from the annoying "full capacity" message in inbox and the need to delete old messages frequently.


We can also make full use of its storage by uploading our pictures, documents and files (ranging from 1MB to 7GB).It serves as our secondary storage, thus saving some hard-disk space on our computers. Gmail also has a function which allows users to search for related messages and re-arrange them automatically into a conversational thread.


To my surprise, 22% of the respondents' votes went to Google translator despite its shortcoming in that it cannot give an accurate translation. Still, the application should be credited for giving users a rough idea of of the sentences translated.


iGoogle has the least vote in this poll. I believe this is because the majority of the interest users do not know what its existence. Although iGoogle can be personalized by the user using Google gadget it is not preferable because it is just an application to ease the user and for visual enhancement purposes only.


Google Earth receives 22% of votes, which is same as Google translator. Google Earth provides virtual 3D shapes with different views. An interesting feature of Google Earth is that it allows users to explore Mars, moon terrain and even ocean 3D bathymetry beneath the waves. I think Google Earth is good for self-exploring and to watch an incident live through the satellite.

Do you think my post has removed most of your doubts or answered most of your questions on Google applications? Is my explanation simple enough and up-to-date?

Source:
Tech Target, [online], 2001
http://searchsoa.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid26_gci958524,00.html
Memodata Corporation ,[online] , 2009
http://dictionary.sensagent.com/google+translate/en-en/
Marziah Karch, About.com
http://google.about.com/od/i/g/igoogledef.htm
Marziah Karch, About.com, [online], 2010
http://google.about.com/od/googleproducts/g/earthdef.htm

Is Google a web 2.0 application? (poll result)

Link to us: http://sn.im/pollresultweek2
Similar to the poll of week 1, we have collected a few result from the poll we change since Thursday. In this analysis, we will still be using "Picasa" as our image hosting website. However we will be using bar chart since the poll result only consist of 2 answer for the ease of the public.

Link to our poll result: poll result
Our poll question is on - (Is Google a web 2.0 application)
The following will be our result:
A) Yes - 92% ( total of 11 vote)
B) No - 8% (total of 1 vote)

I would like to thanks the public who participate and vote for our poll to give us their opinion on "Is Google a web 2.0 application." From the result stated above, we could clearly see that most of the public 92%(11 vote out of 12 votes) agrees that Google is a web 2.0 application.


           "Originally in 2004, Web 2.0 was referred to as this idea of the "Web as a platform".The concept was such that instead of thinking of the Web as a place where browsers viewed data through small windows on the readers' screens, the Web was actually the platform that allowed people to get things done."           

What is web 2.0? I doubt many of the public are not familiar with this term, however i think it is common among those who major in information technology courses. Web 2.0 often refers to 2nd-generation of internet based applications (between the period of 2004). From my point of view, I agree with the majority that Google is definitely a web 2.0 application because it contains the features such as web as services, not package software which is certainly free of charge and is available/ready 24 hours for end-users to use. It is now complete with many features such as blogs, Google map (uses Ajax which make the application really takes off), and Google translator. Google also reflects the features of web 2.0 such as collective intelligence - (contents get richer as more users uses them) hence users can collaborate and share information online in perceived new ways unlike the previous version "web1.0" which only allows the host to share their information to the users. In another term, it means that users as co-developers and Google as the center of massive collective information.Web 2.0 application also offers interactive GUI(Graphic-User-Interface),added graphic, text, video and colors which oppose the previous version which is just about text and colors. There is a total of 8% vote for no on this poll, i think this is because the voters does not understand the meaning of web 2.0? or he/she may refers to the old version of Google in that era. Is my information correct and satisfying? Did i give much information on web 2.0? Please leave a comment.

Analysis

Link to us: http://sn.im/week1pollresult  
To make our analysis look more tidy and meet our specific requirement for our project, we decided to embedded a link which leads to a photo sharing website (Picasa) for the public to view our pie chart about our previous poll result.
Please kindly visit our link:
Poll result

Our last poll question is on - ( Do you think Google is the best search engine ever created?)
The result is as follow:
A) yes,definitely (50 % vote)
B)No,i disagree (13% vote)
C)For now,yes (31%)
D)I have no idea's whats Google is(6%)

The result of the poll is many of the users agree that Google definitely is the best search engine ever created compare to other search engines such as: Bing, Yahoo, and ask.com.This is because Google has an interesting interface when it come's to design, because Google will change it's look of it's homepage on different festivals or occassion. Other than the interesting interface they offer, Google is popular because Google usually comes with the web browser installation which come by default. Hence, many user which is lazy will just use the default search engine.Google also provide a quick and systematic search which allows user to get the most accurate and updated answer through the search.Google is also good at maintaining their sites which ensures that it's web availability is 24 hours ready. In this poll, 13% of the public disagree with Google as the best search engine. I think this is because different users like to use different search engine, different users have different taste. 31% voted Google is currently the best search engine because technology is so advance that once day it will be replaced by a better search engine. However, to my dissapointment, there's a total of 6% of the users do not know what Google is, this may be the result of some users only live in their own box and decline to search and explore the web(lack of exploring skills). Do you think my analysis is accurate? Readers are welcome to give some comment about this blog .