tdaxp

Back in March '07, I requested two new features for Google Docs: automatic synching between openoffice and Google Docs, and batch uploading to Google Docs.

Well, batch uploading has just come true.

Even cooler, the batch uploader is really just a tech demo for the new and improved Google Docs API, so advanced functionality like the add-in background uploader to Google Docs isn't too far away.

Thanks Google!

The good: The Great Firewall of China is blogging blogspot and livejournal currently -- thanks Cisco and Nortel! Fortunately, google reader is still up and running, so I can still follow all of my favorite blogs.

The bad: Unfortunately, google's attempt to track its users is reducing its functionality as a quick search engine. For instance, if I google "great firewall of china tdaxp," the first result appears to be to http://tdaxp.blogspirit.com/tag/great+firewall+of+china but is actually to http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F.... So to copy a url, right-clicking on the result is not good enough -- I need to follow it to its source.

As I mentioned in the open thread, I've started using Google Toolbar for Firefox again. It will automatically open .doc files in Google Docs & Spreadsheets, which is much more convenient than the hassle fo downloading it to my computer and reading it with OpenOffice. It is faster, and then if the file will be useful I merely leave it there in Google Docs & Sheets -- then I can use it anywhere. Otherwise, it's one click to delete.

A feature that Google is missing, however, is a plugin to Microsoft Office and OpenOffice that would allow one-click saving of documents to Google Docs & Spreadsheets (or, even better, automatic backup to Google DS even if the file is also saved on my computer). This would have been useful just yesterday, when I realized I had neglected to print out a copy of my statistics assignment. I ended up going down to the computer lab, booting my laptop, uploading my file to Google DS (or emailing it to myself), and then printing it out. The process would have been quicker if the file was just there.

Additionally, there should be a way to synchronize, or at least upload, local files with Google DS. Besides a number of files in My Documents, I have backups of stuff that I no longer work on -- but do not want to throw away -- all over the place. Some are on my laptop harddrive, some are on my backup USB drive, and stuff I'll probably never need again is in some CD backup or the other. But if I could store the info with Google, it would be always available and always searchable -- even if the worst happens to me locally.

(I've also taken to reading Google Operating System blog regularly, and at least for a time have been fixed of my live addiction.Google Operating System blog regularly, and at least for a time have been fixed of my live addiction.)

What a joke:

I had some pretty major crashing on the new build of IE7 whereas the previous build worked just fine. The error reported is:

Faulting application iexplore.exe, version 7.0.5335.5, faulting module mshtml.dll, version 7.0.5335.5, fault address 0x000d850d.

For those that do not browse the usergroups, the fix that worked for me is to disable the Web History checkbox in Google Desktop indexing options.

I am generally skeptical of Microsoft's Franco-Soviet development process. Nonetheless, I have been using a number of common Microsoft programs, such as

• Windows XP
• Windows Live Messenger
• Wordpad

because they work better than competitors. Yet when competitors are required for certain jobs -- such as Jedit for editing programs or Google Talk for online message logging -- I use those as well.

With that in mind, I have now modified Firefox to use Microsoft Windows Live Search instead of Google. The moment of truth came when I was searching for my article on Citi MasterCard's reward cuts. Of the top five Windows Live searches, four bring you to my page. Further, the very top result is exactly the one I'm looking for. However, on google there are only four results, and while three will take you there, none are a direct page link.

(I also found through my experiment that spammer sites are now using "tdaxp" as a junk keyword. Before I started this blog, the only pages that contained "tdaxp" were the raw output of some statistical program. So I guess that's a move up in the world, heh).

I've already noticed this with my evolutionary politics notes, with google typically taking you to the category main page while Windows Live Search brings visitors to the actual post.

I began using google back in the google.stanford.edu era. From then to now, I have never had another primary search engine, or recommend that anyone else do so. Now I can say this: I use Windows Live Search. You should, too.



I have installed Stuart Marshall's Windows Live Engine for Mozilla Firefox, and have changed Firefox's default behavior by making Windows Live my default search engine (a now removed copy of Yahoo Messenger sneakily changed this behavior and refused to change it back).

I will still use Google apps as they are useful -- Google Talk, Goolge Scholar, and GMail especially --- but Google Search is no longer the best in the business. Windows Live Search is.

Update: The side search box has been updated to use Windows Live instead of Google. It now looks like thing like:



Additionally, in both Google and Live Search, my friend Mike's blog "Spooky Action is the 2nd result. Let's change that, and make Spooky Action #1!

"Google News Drops 'The Jawa Report' for 'Hate Speech' Violation," by Rusty Shackleford, Jawa Report, 29 March 2005, http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/073310.php (from Michelle Malkin).

I've been hearing complaints about liberal bias at Google for a while, but I dismissed them until now.

I received the following e-mail moments ago from Google News.

Hi Rusty,

Upon recent review, we've found that your site contains hate speech, and we will no longer be including it in Google News. If you can guarantee that your news no longer includes hate speech, we will be happy to re-review the site for inclusion.

Regards,
The Google Team

Needless to say, I am pretty damned ticked.

I challenge Google News to find one instance of 'hate speech' on this site that is not either a case of sarcasm, humor, or a direct quote used in the context of a post that attempts to do just the opposite.

All the facts aren't in yet, and of course Google can carry what sites they wish. Google and Google News are great services that I use many, many times a day. But this is disturbing. Cries of "hate speech" are commonly used to silence conservatives on college campus, and now in the blogosphere too. Let's hope there is an innocent explanation!