OT: what is the deal with Google?

[John Doue]

Since yesterday, Google's UI has dramatically changed. Located presently
in Finland, I can no longer normally access Google.com. The settings
option has disappeared, making it impossible to select the way Google works.

Furthermore, I used to have the option, under the search field to select
whether I wanted to search international sites, french language sites,
or only French sites.

This has disappeared too.

Do you guys in the US have noticed the same phenomenon? I have used a
fake IP pretending to be in the US. The settings option has disappeared too.

Sorry for being OT but I knew this NG to be fairly understanding ...
--
John Doue

 

[Bert Hyman]

In news:hs18fu$d4h$1@news.eternal-september.org John Doue
<notwobe@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Do you guys in the US have noticed the same phenomenon? I have used a
> fake IP pretending to be in the US. The settings option has
> disappeared too.

I always enter Google via a saved shortcut to the "Advanced Search" page

http://www.google.com/advanced_search

and the "Settings" selector is still there in the upper right.

--
Bert Hyman St. Paul, MN bert@iphouse.com

 

[John Doue]

On 5/7/2010 5:42 PM, Bert Hyman wrote:
> In news:hs18fu$d4h$1@news.eternal-september.org John Doue
> <notwobe@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> Do you guys in the US have noticed the same phenomenon? I have used a
>> fake IP pretending to be in the US. The settings option has
>> disappeared too.
>
> I always enter Google via a saved shortcut to the "Advanced Search" page
>
> http://www.google.com/advanced_search
>
> and the "Settings" selector is still there in the upper right.
>

Thanks. I will do that from now on, especially since the Gmail link
shows up immediately whereas you have to wait a long time or enter a
search before it shows in the "improved" UI. I am curious to know what
motivated such a move ... Money no doubt, but how?

Thanks again, bye bye Google eye candy.

--
John Doue

 

[Sjouke Burry]

Bert Hyman wrote:
> In news:hs18fu$d4h$1@news.eternal-september.org John Doue
> <notwobe@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> Do you guys in the US have noticed the same phenomenon? I have used a
>> fake IP pretending to be in the US. The settings option has
>> disappeared too.
>
> I always enter Google via a saved shortcut to the "Advanced Search" page
>
> http://www.google.com/advanced_search
>
> and the "Settings" selector is still there in the upper right.
>
From the Netherlands:
I use the Usa google as homepage, http://www.google.com/webhp.
Altough I still have to watch out for "kind" packages to install
google or yahoo toolbars or switch my homepage.

Btw, www.googl.com still sends me to www.google.nl, thats why I use the
special homepage link.

 

[John Doue]

Sjouke Burry wrote:
> Bert Hyman wrote:
>> In news:hs18fu$d4h$1@news.eternal-september.org John Doue
>> <notwobe@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>> Do you guys in the US have noticed the same phenomenon? I have used a
>>> fake IP pretending to be in the US. The settings option has
>>> disappeared too.
>>
>> I always enter Google via a saved shortcut to the "Advanced Search" page
>>
>> http://www.google.com/advanced_search
>>
>> and the "Settings" selector is still there in the upper right.
>>
> From the Netherlands:
> I use the Usa google as homepage, http://www.google.com/webhp.
> Altough I still have to watch out for "kind" packages to install
> google or yahoo toolbars or switch my homepage.
>
> Btw, www.googl.com still sends me to www.google.nl, thats why I use the
> special homepage link.

Thanks for the info. Needless to say, residing in Finland for the moment
but not speaking more than a few words of finnish, I find it very
frustrating to be send back to google.fi.

Thanks again.

 

[BillW50]

Re: what is the deal with Google?

In news:hs18fu$d4h$1@news.eternal-september.org,
John Doue typed on Fri, 07 May 2010 175:41 +0300:
> Since yesterday, Google's UI has dramatically changed. Located
> presently in Finland, I can no longer normally access Google.com. The
> settings
> option has disappeared, making it impossible to select the way Google
> works.
> Furthermore, I used to have the option, under the search field to
> select whether I wanted to search international sites, french
> language sites, or only French sites.
>
> This has disappeared too.
>
> Do you guys in the US have noticed the same phenomenon? I have used a
> fake IP pretending to be in the US. The settings option has
> disappeared too.
> Sorry for being OT but I knew this NG to be fairly understanding ...

Hello John! What browser are you using? As Google has been acting this
way for at least a month here in the states at least with IE. Although
while nothing shows except the search box. The rest of it will appear if
you move the mouse up there and then it all appears. Have you tried
this?

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Windows XP SP3

 

[John Doue]

Re: what is the deal with Google?

BillW50 wrote:
> In news:hs18fu$d4h$1@news.eternal-september.org,
> John Doue typed on Fri, 07 May 2010 175:41 +0300:
>> Since yesterday, Google's UI has dramatically changed. Located
>> presently in Finland, I can no longer normally access Google.com. The
>> settings
>> option has disappeared, making it impossible to select the way Google
>> works.
>> Furthermore, I used to have the option, under the search field to
>> select whether I wanted to search international sites, french
>> language sites, or only French sites.
>>
>> This has disappeared too.
>>
>> Do you guys in the US have noticed the same phenomenon? I have used a
>> fake IP pretending to be in the US. The settings option has
>> disappeared too.
>> Sorry for being OT but I knew this NG to be fairly understanding ...
>
> Hello John! What browser are you using? As Google has been acting this
> way for at least a month here in the states at least with IE. Although
> while nothing shows except the search box. The rest of it will appear if
> you move the mouse up there and then it all appears. Have you tried
> this?
>
Hi Bill,

I am mostly using Firefox and Seamonkey, never IE. I had noticed the way
Google acts several days ago but had not tried to move the mouse. It
does work. Thanks.

Until yesterday, going to google.fr gave me three options, search for
English answers, search both for French and English, or French only.
This was very convenient for me since I translate from English into French.

Now, those options are gone and I have not found a way to find the
equivalent. So now, I have to use two different tabs for Google, one
google.fr, the other google.com/webhp kindly provided by Sjouke (would
not venture to try pronouncing his/her name!). I am still missing the
option, especially useful to me, to select "answers in *both* languages".

I realize that, on the surface, Google provides a supposedly free
service and that you don't look into a gift horse' mouth, as the saying
goes. But ...

Regards

--
John Doue

 

[P.V.]

"John Doue" <notwobe@yahoo.com> kirjoitti
viestissä:hs18fu$d4h$1@news.eternal-september.org...
> Since yesterday, Google's UI has dramatically changed. Located presently
> in Finland, I can no longer normally access Google.com. The settings
> option has disappeared, making it impossible to select the way Google
> works.

In the end of the page "www.google.fi" there's a link named 'Google.com in
English', leading to "http/www.google.com/ncr". That will take you to
"www.google.com".


> Furthermore, I used to have the option, under the search field to select
> whether I wanted to search international sites, french language sites, or
> only French sites.
>
> This has disappeared too.

In the end of the line where you enter your search there's link named
'Language Tools', or 'Kielivalinnat' in Finnish.

There you can select languages. The default is 'Automatically selected
languages' but when you change that to 'Specific languages' you can select
which languages you want to be included in the search results.

Back in the first page, on top-right you can select 'Settings -> Search
settings' ('Asetukset -> Hakuasetukset') where you can choose language of
the UI.



I'm not sure these options were shown right after the UI update. Perhaps
they've been quickly added after complaints from other people in your
situation, or perhaps I just hadn't noticed them because I wasn't looking
for options I don't usually use.

Another observation: "www.google.us" would seem to take you to the .com site
instead of the .fi site.


P.V.

 

[BillW50]

Re: what is the deal with Google?

In news:hs3pm1$qeh$1@speranza.aioe.org,
John Doue typed on Sat, 08 May 2010 16:41:23 +0300:
[...]
> I realize that, on the surface, Google provides a supposedly free
> service and that you don't look into a gift horse' mouth, as the
> saying goes. But ...
>
> Regards

Google is free? Well it might appear that way to the end user. But
Google makes megabucks off of the users. Let alone from advertisers. As
Google uses the information from the users input and stores them for 9
months I believe it is. As they know who you are by recording your IP
address. And they make tons of money with this information.

For some people, they get really nervous about somebody who they don't
know, knowing more about them than they themselves knows. Yes I can see
this. And for those, there is always ixquick.com. Which claims they
don't keep track of anybody. Which appears to be different than any
other search engine. And for those curious...

http://www.ixquick.com/eng/privacy-policy.html

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Windows XP SP3

 

[Lars]

Previously, on Usenet John Doue <notwobe@yahoo.com> wrote:

>Thanks for the info. Needless to say, residing in Finland for the moment
>but not speaking more than a few words of finnish, I find it very
>frustrating to be send back to google.fi.

I use this link to keep Google all in English;
http://www.google.co.uk/

Lars
Stockholm

 

[AJL]

Re: what is the deal with Google?

"BillW50" <BillW50@aol.kom> wrote:

>As they [Google] know who you are by recording
>your IP address.

On Qwest DSL I can change my IP address by simply killing my modem for
a few minutes. Occasionally it just changes by itself. My old
Earthlink dialup changed my IP every time I logged in. So I doubt
Google knows me by my IP address. Perhaps by my cookies though...

Course if I do something really bad law enforcement can find me
through Qwest's IP logs... but not Google...yet. 8-O

 

[John Doue]

On 5/8/2010 5:09 PM, P.V. wrote:
> "John Doue" <notwobe@yahoo.com> kirjoitti
> viestissä:hs18fu$d4h$1@news.eternal-september.org...
>> Since yesterday, Google's UI has dramatically changed. Located
>> presently in Finland, I can no longer normally access Google.com. The
>> settings option has disappeared, making it impossible to select the
>> way Google works.
>
> In the end of the page "www.google.fi" there's a link named 'Google.com
> in English', leading to "http/www.google.com/ncr". That will take you
> to "www.google.com".
>
>
>> Furthermore, I used to have the option, under the search field to
>> select whether I wanted to search international sites, french language
>> sites, or only French sites.
>>
>> This has disappeared too.
>
> In the end of the line where you enter your search there's link named
> 'Language Tools', or 'Kielivalinnat' in Finnish.
>
> There you can select languages. The default is 'Automatically selected
> languages' but when you change that to 'Specific languages' you can
> select which languages you want to be included in the search results.
>
> Back in the first page, on top-right you can select 'Settings -> Search
> settings' ('Asetukset -> Hakuasetukset') where you can choose language
> of the UI.
>
>
>
> I'm not sure these options were shown right after the UI update. Perhaps
> they've been quickly added after complaints from other people in your
> situation, or perhaps I just hadn't noticed them because I wasn't
> looking for options I don't usually use.
>
> Another observation: "www.google.us" would seem to take you to the .com
> site instead of the .fi site.
>
>
> P.V.
>
>

Thanks. Indeed, google.us takes me, too, where I want to be.

Yes, I am aware of these settings and options, which probably would
allow to do about what I want, but much less conviently than before ...

Thanks for the tip.

--
John Doue

 

[John Doue]

On 5/8/2010 10:44 PM, Lars wrote:
> Previously, on Usenet John Doue<notwobe@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> Thanks for the info. Needless to say, residing in Finland for the moment
>> but not speaking more than a few words of finnish, I find it very
>> frustrating to be send back to google.fi.
>
> I use this link to keep Google all in English;
> http://www.google.co.uk/
>
> Lars
> Stockholm

Thanks Lars, comes in handy for shopping. Otherwise, I am partial to
American English

--
John Doue

 

[BillW50]

Re: what is the deal with Google?

In news:9vjcu5hg3mue526kkhnk5ssr93lol0ivrc@4ax.com,
AJL typed on Sat, 08 May 2010 23:164 -0700:
> "BillW50" <BillW50@aol.kom> wrote:
>
>> As they [Google] know who you are by recording
>> your IP address.
>
> On Qwest DSL I can change my IP address by simply killing my modem for
> a few minutes. Occasionally it just changes by itself. My old
> Earthlink dialup changed my IP every time I logged in. So I doubt
> Google knows me by my IP address. Perhaps by my cookies though...
>
> Course if I do something really bad law enforcement can find me
> through Qwest's IP logs... but not Google...yet. 8-O

True, but not true of everybody. And yes there are other things that
Google can use besides IP addresses to figure out who you are. One is
your computer tells Google what browser you are using, screen
resolution, computer name, and user name. That might be all they need.
But there are other things like cookies as you mentioned. And a lot of
people use some sort of Google service like GMail, apps, and whatever
that requires logging in. So they have many ways to figure out who you
are. And they used to store what you were doing up to 18 months. Privacy
people complained and Google knocked it down to 9 months. Google also
has "My Location" service which tracks wherever you go. But I think you
have to opt in before they can pull that off.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Windows XP SP3

 

[AJL]

Re: what is the deal with Google?

"BillW50" <BillW50@aol.kom> wrote:

>Google can use besides IP addresses to figure out who you are. One is
>your computer tells Google what browser you are using, screen
>resolution, computer name, and user name.

I don't think they get your computer name or user name, but they get
lots else. Here's what my Opera browser tells about me:
(mybrowserinfo.com)

Your IP Address is 75.167.62.228
Detail About Your IP Address
Country:
(US) United States
Region:
Arizona
City:
Mesa
ISP Name:
Qwest Communications Company Llc
Your Browser User Agent String is
Opera/9.80 (Windows NT 6.0; U; en) Presto/2.5.24 Version/10.52
Operating System:
Microsoft
Platform:
Windows Vista
Internet Browser:
Opera 9.80
Beta Version:
No
Connection Speed:
1095493 bits/sec (133.73 KBytes/sec)
Restrictive Firewall:
No
Local Date/Time:
5/9/2010 9:12:19 PM
Language:
English
System Language:
Not detectable with this browser
User Language:
en
Popups Blocked:
Yes
SSL Support:
Yes
SSL Enabled:
Yes
Style Sheet Support:
Yes
Supports Tables:
Yes
Table Cell BG Colors:
Supported
Table Cell BG Images:
Supported
CDF Support:
No (Channel Definition Format)
Color Depth:
16.77 Million Colors (32-bit True Color)
Supports GZip:
Yes
Supports Cookies:
Yes
Cookies Enabled:
Enabled
Supports JavaScript:
Yes
JavaScript Enabled:
Yes
JavaScript Version:
1.5
JavaScript Build:
Not detectable with this browser
Supports VBScript:
No
Supports ActiveX:
No
ActiveX Enabled:
No
Supports Java:
Yes
Java Enabled:
No
Java Vendor:
Java N/A (applet not accessible)
Java Version:
Java N/A (applet not accessible)
MS JVM Build:
Not detectable with this browser
Supports DHTML:
Yes
Supports Uploads:
Yes
Supports Frames:
Yes
Gecko Engine:
No
Screen Dimensions:
1366 x 768
Browser Dimensions:
1366 x 655
Supports IFrames:
Yes
Images Enabled:
Yes
PNG Support:
Yes
XML Support:
Yes
MS XML Parser:
Not detectable with this browser
Background Sounds:
Not Supported
Supports MouseOver:
Yes
Windows Installer:
4
..NET CLR Installed:
No
MS Media Player:
Not installed
Apple QuickTime:
Not installed
RealPlayer:
Not installed
Adobe Acrobat:
Installed (version Not tested or result unavailable)
Adobe SVG Viewer:
Not installed
Macromedia Flash:
Version 10 (version 10.0 r45)
Macromedia Director:
Not installed
Macromedia Authorware:
Not installed
Citrix:
Not installed
iPIX Image Viewer:
Not installed
Crystal Reports:
Not installed
Viewpoint:
Not installed
Autodesk MapGuide:
Not installed
NetMeeting Build:
Not detectable with this browser
Using PDA:
No
WAP Support:
No
Proxy Connection:
No
Font Smoothing:
No
Font Sizing:
Yes
IE Text Size:
Not detectable with this browser
Fonts Installed: