Categories
Technology

The Google Bias

It’s no secret that I like Yahoo!’s offerings more than Google; and I’m also aware of the fact that there are a lot more Google fanboys out there than Yahoo!. Obviously, that isn’t a way to settle the answer on which one is better – after all, more people use Windows, but that doesn’t mean it’s good.

The Trigger
Anyway, the reason why I sat down to write this post is because of two reasons. I just wrote a review of the new Foo Fighters’ latest album, and was searching up some basic info (like their site, et al). Of course, I used Yahoo! Search, and was quite delighted to find the search result with an info box giving their site, links to information on their albums, songs, video; inline videos; a photo of the band; links to play song samples. Have a look below.


It was curious what would be shown if I searched the same on Google. After all, the writers blogs like Google Operating System seem to have an orgasm every time Google makes some update to its PlusBox results. I really am SICK and FED UP of reading posts bordering on “Oooh! Aaaah! Have you seen the NEW and IMPROVED update to Google PlusBox results? Ooh!”. Really, it’s irritating to read that every few weeks. Anyway, I did search it on Google, and here’s what I got.

As you can see, Google gave the link all right, but not in a direct form. You’d have to go the Foo Fighters site, and figure out yourself from there. Google and its orgasmic fanboys derive a lot of pleasure in trying to brag that ‘Google presents the results directly to what the user wants, so that they don’t need to look around more’.

There ya go fanboys, as far as I see it, if I was someone looking for info on Foo Fighters for the first time in my life, then it’s a no-brainer that Yahoo! Search’s result is better – for someone searching for the first time, he immediately gets to check out their latest songs / videos, and direct links to pertinent info like albums, etc.

The Other Reason
Recently, I went to the watch the Tata Crucible Campus Edition Quiz 2008. Jimi was there too, and we (mainly, he was compiling this time) decided that we should compile the questions. After coming back, he had to resort to Google to figure out stuff from the notes we’d taken (because my handwriting is pathetic). I really commend his work, for he’s created it with amazing detail to authenticity (recreating the feel of the visuals, etc). He called me up to tell that apparently he’d searched for some stuff, and “neither found the result on Google Image Search or Yahoo! Image Search”. Mystified, I looked it up myself. With the same search terms, and got the result on Yahoo! Image Search. Turns out, he searched Google, but never bothered to check Yahoo! Assuming that Yahoo! won’t have it either if Google doesn’t, he simply decided that nobody had it.

I’m not pointing fingers (especially the middle one) at anybody here, but I wanted to illustrate a point. And it’s this. People, and especially Google’s fanboys, are too blind about Google’s shortcomings. Even when time again Yahoo! Image Search at least has been proved better because of it’s better index and tight integration with Flickr, people don’t bother to check it and just brush it away. It’s disturbing, and it’s scary.

The Future Lies In Marketing Yahoo! Search
These two incidents really showed to me what Yahoo! Search really needs to succeed – better and vocal marketing of its search engines. Things like their Panama advertising system, etc are good steps – but less effective than a very visible marketing campaign. An all-out media blitz – Internet, TV, radio – is what they need. Yahoo! home page is already among the most trafficked site on the Web – it needs to get people to start entering search terms in that box if it wants to win. Over time, people WILL realize on their own that Yahoo! Search is better.

Another thing which makes Yahoo! Search better is its inbuilt search suggest feature – something only available via toolbars for Google. And the fact that Yahoo! Search is better and more consistent than Google in pointing out alternate search terms.

PS – One funny thing. If you type the letter ‘L’ (just that one letter) into Google Search Suggest using their toolbar, the first suggestion is ‘Lindsay Lohan’! Whoa, I knew she was popular, but THIS popular!?

Categories
Personal Reflections Reviews

Foo Fighters’ Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace Album Review

Got my hands on the latest Grammy-winning (for Best Rock Album) album Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace from the Foo Fighters; courtesy Jimi Hendrix (do check out his nice post on bird watching at JNU). Thought it’d be a nice idea to take a bit of a break in between the school exams to check this out.

I’m most certainly not a hardcore Foo Fighters fan. Damn, I’m not even a ‘lightcore’ fan of them. I do happen to like a few of their songs – like Learn To Fly! By far one of my most favourite songs till now. Even got featured (ahem, on a lot of insistence by me) in the Code Wars 2007 video. I can listen to that again and again again…and yet not get bored. That’s ONE groovy track.

With only that much of a background of an interest in them, I got down to reviewing their album. Trackwise review follows.

Artist: Foo Fighters (Official website / Wikipedia)
Album: Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace
My rating of Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace: 6.7 / 10
Foo Fighters Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace album cover

  1. The Pretender (rating – 4.9 / 5): At first thought, I didn’t like the way they switched from a very slow start to something quite fast; but somewhere down the line, I loved it – because it gels in with the title, The Pretender. And I’m not being sarcastic here. Got some pretty slick music mixing towards the end of the track. The first track is the best out in the whole album. BTW, this was the same song that they played at the Grammy’s. Also won a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance.
  2. Let It Die (rating – 3.1 / 5): A song which is confused about the message it wants to get across. With a VERY abrupt ending too. Soothing in the beginning, it switches track midway to go into a punk rock rant, and ends as abruptly as it switched. As if the singers decided, “Um, just let’s end the song here”.
  3. Erase Replace (rating – 2.4 / 5): People like Apoorv who seem to have discovered the phenomenon of beats only recently (bit odd, that) will love this track. Apart from that, nothing much makes this track stand out. You can safely erase and replace this song from your hard drive.
  4. Long Road To Ruin (rating – 3.8 / 5): Misses the point again. Too cheerful for something titled such – almost as if looking forward to the ruin. Catchy, in a twisted sort of way, if you can forgive them for that. Especially when you consider the fact that reviewing albums amidst school exams (like I’m doing) IS a long road to ruin. 😉
  5. Come Alive (rating – 4.2 / 5): One of the best tracks in the album. Predominantly slow paced, this one’s the sort of stuff you want in a Grammy-winning album.
  6. Stranger Things Have Happened (rating – 3.6 / 5): The longest track in the album. Comes closest to old school rock, at least to people like me on this side of the new millenium. Long stretches of instrumental in it.
  7. Cheer Up Boys, Your Makeup Is Running (rating – 2.3 / 5): Frankly, I still haven’t figured out what this song is all about; and that is something I don’t like – when a song isn’t clear about what it’s talking about. It’s a very good reason for why I hate ‘that rap shit’ so many people happen to like these days. This song had nothing to do with highly athletic cosmetic products, as far as I can figure out.
  8. Summer’s End (rating – 3.0 / 5): Not a bad song, as such, but it didn’t get me excited about it. Weird feeling. Sounds nice, but doesn’t generate excitement.
  9. The Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners (rating – 4.3 / 5): Wasn’t looking forward to such an oddly-titled song. It’s completely instrumental. Being a sentient carbohydrate based life-form, even I can look beyond punk rock at times. Liked it.
  10. Statues (rating – 3.8 / 5): Idyllic song. Seems like if the track above this one had lyrics, this would be it.
  11. But Honestly (rating – 3.5 / 5): But honestly, I’d not have given this song even this much rating, if it wasn’t for the good accompanying instruments. The beginning simply murders the interest of the listener, but the song does try to redeem itself towards the end. Once again, I give it this rating ONLY because of the instrumental bits.
  12. Home (rating – 3.9 / 5): Pretty ‘feel good’ note song. Note my cuppa of tea, but I understand that many people will like this sort of stuff. Nice instrumentals too.

Overall, I’d say it’s not a album that I’d wait hours for at a store to buy, nor is it an album which I’ll throw away in disgust the moment I get it. Maybe most of the songs are simply not…my preferred genre. Yes, there were 1-2 brilliant tracks, but that’s hardly redeeming for me. By no means though am I saying it didn’t deserve the Grammy – it did, because it IS good music – just simply that it’s not my type.
Having listened to a whole album now (in its completeness) by the Foo Fighters, I can say now that for me, liking their song is a hit-or-miss affair. Most of their songs comprise a lot of ‘mood swings’ and / or changes in pace. Sometimes it works for me, and wows me. Most of the time, it doesn’t. When it does wow me though, it turns me into an addict of that song. At times, I’ve spent whole days listening to nothing but Learn To Fly in continuous loop.

Not an album to miss if you like the Foo Fighters, or like alternative / soft rock. People more heavier stuff are better off staying away for this one – you won’t hate it, but you won’t like it either.