In January, Google Translate for Android gained “Conversation Mode,” a way to speak into your phone and have it speak back in a different language. Today, Google’s expanded the number of languages supported. Originally, the tool only supported English-to-Spanish translation (or vice versa). Now, Google says 14 languages in all are covered: Brazilian Portuguese, Czech, […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Marketing solutions at Search Engine Land Understand Your Web Visitors Without Using Cookies Multi-site Management: Challenges and Solutions Holistic Marketing: Fitting All the Pieces Together What’s the Secret to Video SEO? […]
Beyond some of the processing and other technical upgrades in the new iPhone 4S, the standout feature of the new device is the Siri “Assistant.” It’s an expanded and enhanced version of what’s behind the existing Siri iPhone app, which is being shut down on October 15. And while Siri is not a “voice search […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google: Low PageRank & Bad Spelling May Go Hand-In-Hand; Panda, Too? If your website and/or web pages have low PageRank, it’s possible that they also suffer from poor spelling and grammar. […]
The Siri voice search assistant that Apple demoed today as part of its big press event looks pretty impressive. If it works as shown, it’ll go a long way in patching up one of the big weaknesses the iPhone has had versus Android, that of lacking built-in voice commands. Voice Actions: A Spoken Magic Wand […]
All excited about Siri coming to the iPhone 4S? It does look pretty cool. And many people enjoyed using a version of Siri already on existing iPhones. But that enjoyment appears to be over, as the Siri app no longer works consistently. Siri Gone For Some, Gone From App Store I fired up Siri on […]
The Apple iPhone keynote just ended and as you probably already know there was no iPhone 5. What was announced was an interim iPhone 4S, which has a faster processor, iOS 5, improved camera/video camera and will work with both CDMA and GSM networks. So it’s a “world phone.” In the US it will reportedly […]
When I last looked at Android phones in January, Verizon didn’t have a 4G phone. That’s since changed. Indeed, Verizon has three now. In this review, how I found two of them — the HTC ThunderBolt released in March and the Samsung Droid Charge released in May — measured up against each other. Before I […]
As a long-time Android user I can tell you two specific areas where Android beats the iPhone’s otherwise superior user experience hands down: speech and navigation. All text fields on Android devices are speech-enabled, including email, SMS and the search box on any site. The iPhone offers “voice control commands” that allow users to initiate […]
Life just got a little easier for U.S.-based smartphone users running Android 2.2 (Froyo). During a press event this morning, Google announced “Voice Actions,” a series of commands that lets users speak tasks that typically require typing. Danny Sullivan was at the event and live-blogged it here on SEL, and now there’s more information from […]
Google’s having an impromptu small press “gathering” today at its offices in San Francisco. Topic? “Cool new mobile features.” Want to know more? Stay tuned, as I’ll be live blogging the event that begins at 10am. This is all we know so far: We’ll be unveiling a couple of cool new mobile features at the […]
Steve Jobs’ interview at the D8 conference last night was widely covered and live-blogged. He covered lots of ground, from competing with Android, to rejecting Flash, Apple TV and AT&T’s network. Below I discuss selected (mostly search-related) parts of the lengthy interview. Putting to rest a very persistent rumor, Jobs said that notwithstanding Android and […]
It’s Day 2 of Google I/O, Google’s annual developers conference. The morning keynote gets underway at 8:30AM Pacific. What to expect? How about Google TV? An Android Tablet? TechCrunch found evidence that’s what we may be hearing about. We’ll see shortly. My liveblogging begins, below. Those at home can also watch live. I/O sessions are […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google To Phase Out Old Keyword Tool In Exchange For New Version If you try to access Google’s external keyword tool, you may notice that you are sent to the new […]
Siri describes itself not as a “mobile search tool,” as I have in the headline, but rather as a “virtual personal assistant.” The company went public with its technology and iPhone app just a few months ago and now Apple has reportedly acquired it for an undisclosed sum that is likely more than $50 million […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Two Simple Rules For Fixing High Bounce Rate Pages Of all the metrics that I struggle and fight with, probably the easiest one I’ve found to correct is a high bounce […]
When I’ve spoken in the past to people at Siri we’ve discussed and they’ve struggled a bit with how to present and “position” what they’re doing. Described as a “virtual personal assistant” — and called the “Siri Assistant” in fact in its formal launch — the company’s much anticipated iPhone app has arrived. There will […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google AdWords Expands Product Ads Google announced they are expanding the product ads within the AdWords listing that they have been testing for a while. Google said, in the U.S., searchers […]
Recently IDG News Service asked Google’s Marissa Mayer about the “perfect search engine.” Here was the question posed: “What is the perfect search engine? If you had a magic wand and could create it, what would it look like? What would it do?” Mayer replied: “It would be a machine that could answer that question, […]
A class of mobile “help” or “answer engines” has arisen as an alternative to traditional search engines. They hold out the promise more efficient, relevant or direct responses to queries than search engines can provide on the small screen. In several cases they involve the use of live human agents or a community of users […]
How many people are familiar with Microsoft’s Voice Search tool “Live Search 411?” It’s a powerful yet not well-known way to do local search from any phone (1-800-CALL-411 or 1-800-225-5411). Conceptually, it’s exactly like Goog-411 but has more considerably more content and capabilities. Built on the Tellme infrastructure it can provide: Local business search Driving […]
With the US about to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday tomorrow, how are the major search engines gearing up to support an onslaught of Thanksgiving queries? Let’s take a look at how you can use them, ranging from flight tracking tools to special "shortcut" or "smart answer" boxes leading to related information. Many people travel by […]