DuckDuckGo and three other rival Google search engines on Thursday urged EU lawmakers to take action against the Alphabet unit via new tech rules, saying they have yet to see positive results from an antitrust ruling against Google.

In 2018, the European Commission imposed a record fine of 4.24 billion euros (around $ 5 billion) on Google for unfairly using Android to consolidate the dominance of its search engine and ordered it to ensure a level playing field for its rivals. The search giant subsequently made changes and four months ago it said it would let its competitors compete for free to be the default search engines on Android devices in Europe.

US search engine DuckDuckGo, Germany’s Ecosia and their French counterparts Qwant and Lilo have said lawmakers should use technology rules drafted by EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager called the Digital Markets Act (DMA ) to ensure competition.

“Despite recent changes, we do not believe it will significantly increase market share due to its persistent limitations,” they said in a joint letter to European Parliament lawmakers.

They said that a preferences menu that allows users to choose their default search when setting up an Android device is not available on the Chrome desktop or other operating systems, and that it is only displayed once to users. “The DMA should enshrine in law the requirement for a menu of search engine preferences that would effectively prohibit Google from acquiring search access points by default of operating systems and browsers from gatekeepers,” they declared.

The digital markets law could enter into force in 2023 once it receives the green light from lawmakers in the EU and EU countries.

Four competing Google search engines have called on EU lawmakers to fight the tech giant’s continued dominance in the market by setting rules for search engine preference menus, arguing that the giant’s ability Technology to set damaging defaults continues to limit the ease with which consumers can switch to non-Google alternatives.

In a open letter today, search engines without tracking DuckDuckGo and Qwant, with technology focused on good Lilo and non-profit tree planting Ecosia, urge lawmakers in the region to go further to tackle the market power of the platform giants.

“The DMA [Digital Markets Act] needs to be urgently adapted to prevent gatekeepers from removing competition from search engines, “they write. and gatekeepers’ browsers. Additionally, the DMA should ensure that in addition to selecting their preferred default search During the initial onboarding, consumers could switch with one click at any time via prompts from competing search engine apps or websites. These actions would ultimately have significant implications for competition in the search engine market. research and guarantee real choice for online consumers. ”

The Commission presented the Digital Markets Law at the end of last year – proposing a fixed set of ex ante rules for the so-called “gatekeepers” of the internet to ensure that these intermediary internet giants cannot abuse their power to crush the competition and crush the consumers.

However, the four search rivals Google say the proposed legislation currently contains no measures that will help break the tech giant’s continued dominance over search in Europe (where it has about 93%) – hence their call to EU lawmakers must make changes to add binding rules for search preference screens so that consumers always have the ability to effortlessly change their choice of default search engine, whether on mobile or on the Internet. desktop computer.

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While the Commission was responsible for the original DMA project, the other central EU institutions – the European Parliament and Member States, via the Council of the EU – must agree on the details so that the negotiations on the exact form of the settlement continue. .

“We welcome the Commission’s goals with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) but te DMA fails to overcome the most important obstacle in search: hoarding of default positions by Google, “also write the four search rivals. “Google would not have become the guardian of the market it is today without years of locking in these defaults. If DMA fails to address this fundamental problem, we believe the status quo will continue, leaving the root cause of this problem unchanged. “

Google has been contacted for comment on the allegations.

In 2018, the EU competition commission fined Google $ 5 billion on antitrust abuse in the way it operates its Android smartphone platform.

As a result of this intervention, the tech giant introduced a regional search preference screen that was displayed when setting up a new Android smartphone in Europe. However Google quickly set up a sealed auction model which required competitors to pay for it (and outbid) to appear in one of the available slots, which competitors immediately decried as unfair and not transparent.

Some three years later, following another Commission intervention – and after absolutely no decline in Google’s search market share in Europe – the tech giant finally announced it would abandon the auction model, replacing it with a choice screen that shows eligible search rivals without charging a fee.

But, again, rivals were quick to point out the lingering limitations of Google’s ‘cure’ – such as the fact that it only applies to mobile devices, not to users of Google’s Chrome browser on desktop devices. ; and the fact that Android users only see the screen of choice during setup or during a factory reset so that most of the time they’re using a device, they don’t see it.

DuckDuckGo, for example, strongly advocated for a “really fair” search choice that only requires one click for consumers to change – not the 15+ clicks it says to change the default search engine on an Android device currently at any other time after the initial setup (or a factory reset).

Using such dark models to lock in self-preference defaults is something that should be outlawed by EU law, search rivals argue.

“The limitations imposed by Google make it difficult for consumers to adopt other search engines, despite the Commission’s antitrust ruling,” they argue. “As MEP Yon-Courtin proposed in his disorganized for the committee on economic affairs, we believe that a well-designed preference menu should be more broadly mandated. “

We have reached out to the Commission for feedback on the call for dedicated search preference screen rules to be incorporated into the DMA and will update this report with any response.

Update: A Commission spokesperson confirmed taking note of the letter, adding: “WWe are of course aware of the ongoing debate in the European Parliament and in the Council. “

“The DMA already includes several provisions aimed specifically at injecting contestability into the search engine industry, such as the requirement for controllers to make essential data available to competing search engine providers. It also includes a strong anti-circumvention clause, ”the spokesperson also said.

“The Commission is engaging constructively with the two co-legislators in their objective of making the DMA more effective in achieving its objectives in practice.”

Where’s the cure?

The European Commission has – for years – been reluctant to impose specific remedies on Google, despite a series of antitrust applications. Instead, EU lawmakers have generally said that it is up to Google to determine exactly how to comply with its various orders to end infringements in areas such as Product search, advertising brokerage research and Android.

The result of such a hands-off approach from the EU executive is that Google has been able to find ways to maintain its dominance in key strategic markets like search – despite a series of high profile antitrust applications in Europe.

It’s an uncomfortable record for EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager, who has carved out a reputation for herself as an “iron lady” ready to take on Big Tech – but whose digital applications have failed. not really upset the platform giants. ‘ market share. (Neither blocked Google from continued consolidation.)

However, some EU member states are starting to take a much more practical approach to cracking down on Big Tech market abuse, which appears to be having an impact.

The French competition authority, for example, recently extracts a series of interoperability requirements of Google in a case related to the self-preference of its adtech.

While the German Federal Cartel Office started this year with heightened powers to impose ex ante corrective measures on digital giants deemed to have substantial market power. The snow evaluating whether Google – and a number of other tech giants – meet that bar. If he finds that they are doing so, he seems eager to get down to work on setting up preventative rules on how they can operate in Germany.

Outside the EU, the UK is also reforming national competition rules to cut the wings of Big Tech. He is developing an ex ante regime for digital giants with what he describes as a “strategic market status” – which, unlike the Commission’s approach with the DMA, will not be unique.

Instead the The UK has said it wants to tailor the rules to the specific business – which would give its regulators more leeway to, for example, impose a menu remedy of search preference on a company like Google if they decide that such a step is necessary.

The Commission’s single set of centralized rules for large technologies therefore appear to prove to be a weak tool in the face of extremely well-endowed ‘innovators’ who have years of experience in building and iteration of services designed for. eliminate friction. and breaking down obstacles on a larger scale.

The EU executive risks being caught off guard on the issue of technological antitrust at a time when lawmakers around the world are enthusiastic and active on the issue – of China in the United States.

It’s also interesting how, following a very bad week for (another tech giant) Facebook, including Congressional testimony from the latest tech whistleblower, Francis Haugen, the European commissioners were jostling to tweet about their “urgency” to tackle Big Tech:

Antitrust chief Vestager also tweeted in the wake of the global crisis Facebook failure – which was also an Instagram and WhatsApp outage, since all three social services operate on the same infrastructure, all owned by Facebook – with the EU executive vice-president saying the episode demonstrated the need for “alternatives and of choice in the technology market ”. “

Given this anti-consolidation message, EU citizens could be forgiven for asking why Vestager’s department hasn’t blocked a single tech acquisition – including Google’s recent engulfment of health tech company Fitbit?

How exactly does Vestager propose to support startups and alternatives to gain the necessary scale to challenge the platform giants?

Unfortunately, his tweet did not contain a solution, so the search for a cure continues.

It also remains to be seen where the Commission’s next antitrust investigation into Google will go.

This summer, the bloc’s executive confirmed that it was looking at the tech giant’s adtech – lagging antitrust interventions have already been taken elsewhere in the region, including by Great Britain and France.

As for Google, the tech giant has been working to fight the Commission’s existing antitrust measures.

Last week her attorneys were in court over their appeal against the Commission’s $ 5 billion Android antitrust fine – claiming the penalty was based on flawed calculations, was not “appropriate” and had failed no anti-competitive intent.

Wolfram alpha is a different type of search engine, and if this is your first time on the website, you will be spending a lot of time looking at the homepage. Is it a search engine? Is it a calculator? What is that?

It’s a bit of both. It is a search engine that calculates answers based on high level algorithms and knowledge. It might sound too close to a college course to you, but you’ll be surprised how useful it can be for everyday life – and you’re probably already using another device to research the kind of information Wolfram Alpha excels at. to supply. Let’s dive in.

Characteristics

Wolfram Alpha’s research topics are divided into four categories – Mathematics, Science and Technology, Society and Culture, and Daily Life – with sub-themes below. By clicking on a subtopic, you will see several examples of related query searches.

The math is pretty straightforward – you enter what you need to calculate and the results show you the final answer and the steps to get there. This makes Wolfram Alpha unbeatable for math students or anyone working in the field.

The Science and Technology section is similar. Within this framework, however, are options that the everyday user may find useful. For example, you can convert grams to ounces when cooking, find out the size of your clothes in another country for help with shopping, or determine how much paint you need to purchase to cover a room in your house. House.

The categories Society and Culture and Daily Life will be the most useful for users. Think about what you might ask Alexa (or whatever voice assistant you want) on a normal day – things like “What time is it in London?” Or “What size turkey do I need for 15 people?” This is the kind of information that Wolfram can help you with, provided you know how to enter the search query. And there are several examples for each subtopic to help you determine what to look for and how to look for.

Privacy

Wolfram Alpha is not a private search engine, and what they collect and how they use your information are shown in their privacy policy. In essence, there is a lot of information that Wolfram Alpha can collect about you, and it can be disclosed to third parties, as well as be used to add you to the Wolfram mailing list (which you should be able to unsubscribe from).

The search engine also uses cookies, and while you can configure your browser to block cookies, the company says this can negatively impact your search results.

User experience

You can’t type anything into Wolfram Alpha, like you can with Google, and expect to get results (or at least the right results). For example, research such as “What are the healthiest foods?” “What’s on TV tonight” and “Paleo Diet” all returned nothing research-related – while something was returned at all.

Instead, you need to know how to search in Wolfram and what kind of information to look for to get anywhere. But there are so many examples that you’ll get used to them in no time, as long as you take the time to learn how to communicate with him.

Here’s an example of what the search results look like. It is in response to “Oscar for Best Actress 1982”.

The most entertaining section of Wolfram Alpha is the Surprises category tucked away under Everyday Life. Ask Wolfram Alpha to tell you a cheesy joke, give him a tongue twister to respond to, make him recite a rhyme, and more.

Platforms

Wolfram Alpha is accessible through a browser, and there are also mobile apps for Android, iPad and iPhone, Kindle Fire, and Windows phones and tablets.

There’s also Wolfram Alpha Pro, the upgraded paid version of the basic search engine, but it’s not clear what you get for the price. Two of the main features are file uploads for data analysis and form-based interfaces called web applications.

When you go to page dedicated to data analysis, the examples don’t seem to work. Maybe it’s because you are not a Pro user, but the idea here is to see the functionality before you register.

The sample web applications are more useful. This is an example of the auto loan application.

The competition

There isn’t a lot of competition for Wolfram Alpha other than the AI ​​your chosen virtual assistant uses – and even then devices like Alexa often return irrelevant responses. Yes, Wolfram Alpha can also return irrelevant answers if you type the search the wrong way around, but with so much advice on the site it’s easy to get around. Plus, it’s good to have the answers in front of you so you can see them and slowly go through the details.

Final verdict

Wolfram Alpha is a whole different kind of search engine, and while you can’t search anything and everything with it, which it does, it does very well. Whether you are trying to come up with a geometric solution for the classroom, get stats on a car you want to buy, remember who the president of a foreign country is, or find out the rating of a movie you want to watch. as a family, Wolfram / Alpha can provide the answers, as well as more relevant information that you probably want to know.

Go back to the basics to learn what an algorithm is with our explicator. Read it here.

Baidu is the leading search engine in China – you can think of it as the Google of China. And while Google has a global presence and can be accessed by Chinese users (to some extent), Baidu is the search engine of choice there.

For US and English speaking users, know this: Although Baidu loads in Mandarin first, you can easily change its settings to browse in English.

To make this change, it is better to use Google Chrome. Click it Three points at the top right of the page, then choose Settings. Go to Advanced> Languages, and set the This language is used when translating pages Possibility of English (or whatever language you prefer). Then make sure the toggle next to Offer to translate pages that are not in a language you read is on. (The languages ​​you’ve told Chrome you’re reading are listed in this section, just above Add languages.)

When you go to Baidu – or any other site that isn’t in a language you read – you should get a pop-up to translate it. If you don’t or if you accidentally close it, click the Pages icon in the address bar. By clicking on it, you will be able to choose your language, which will translate the page.

Characteristics

Baidu can be compared to Google in terms of products, which go beyond simple search. Baidu offers services like maps, multimedia, and a Wikipedia-like website, among others.

For advertisers, such as brands that want to promote products or services to a Chinese audience, there is a advertising platform similar to that of Google. You can bid on keywords, which will trigger display ads. There is also the option of paying for a higher placement in search results.

Privacy

by Baidu privacy policy is brief and easy to understand. The search engine collects and uses your personal information, in particular to personalize your search experience, but does not disclose it to third parties. Baidu also uses tracking cookies. The website says that you can refuse tracking cookies, which you should be able to do in your browser.

It looks like you need a login to access the privacy settings of the search engine in order to make changes, and the login page doesn’t seem to translate. Basically, you should be comfortable with the out-of-the-box privacy settings that Baidu offers and whatever else you can do with your browser – that’s probably the best insurance you’ll get.

User experience

Baidu’s English translation isn’t perfect, and reading the results might seem a bit awkward – but there’s a good chance you’re not using Baidu as your primary search engine, and getting a glimpse of the best results. of China is the real draw.

Also, using Baidu and getting the most accurate search results takes some effort. Baidu is designed to work with Chinese, not English, so searching in English will not give you full results. Instead, you need to search in Chinese.

For example, a search for “Disneyland” in English returns nearly 16 million results.

But searching for “Disneyland” in Chinese (more info on how to do it in a second) returns 100 million results, and they target Shanghai Disney more.

This is important because if you are marketing to a Chinese audience, you need to know what they see when they search for a specific term in Chinese, not English. You can do this by keeping the page translation set to English, but instead of entering your search term in English, go to Google Translate. To select English in the first box and Simplified Chinese) in the drop-down list of the second box. Translate your search text, then copy and paste the Chinese characters into the Baidu search box.

Platforms

Baidu can be accessed through Baidu.com, and it is best to use the search engine on Chrome for translation tools.

Don’t be fooled by the “Baidu in English” website which will probably be among the top results if you search for “Baidu”. While this search engine claims to return the same results as Baidu.com when you search in English, it also states that it is in no way affiliated with Baidu.

The competition

While Google is its biggest competitor globally, Baidu is the number one search engine in China (Google is heavily blocked for Chinese users). Additionally, Baidu focuses on the domestic market, while Google has global reach. Additionally, Baidu does a better job than Google at understanding Chinese searches – it has a more complex search algorithm to match the complex native language.

Final verdict

The regular internet user may not need Baidu, but for brands or designers who want to reach a Chinese market, it is an unrivaled tool.

Searching with Baidu and getting the best possible results takes some effort when it comes to translating text to and from Chinese. You need to set the homepage and results pages to your preferred language (which doesn’t always auto-fill, so you need to click to translate), but you need to search in Chinese, which requires translating your search text from English.

If you don’t mind the somewhat long approach and you are either very interested in Chinese culture or trying to reach a Chinese audience, Baidu is the go-to search engine to use. There are plenty of products to try out as well, and while you may not need them on a daily basis, they can be helpful in understanding what Chinese audiences are interested in.

Google has been so firmly embedded in the software of our lives that it’s hard to imagine life without it. Countless times we grab our screens to ‘Googling’ something.

Originally developed as a prototype in the dorms of computer scientists Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Scott Hassan in 1998, Google has grown into the world’s most viewed website, handling 3.5 billion searches per day and a share of 92 % of the world market. search engine market. The company launched Google News in 2002, Gmail in 2004, Google Maps in 2005, Google Chrome in 2008, and Google Voice assistant in 2016.

On the occasion of Google’s 23rd anniversary, let’s tell about Google features that have revolutionized the world:

Google Maps: Launched in 2006, Google Maps has revolutionized travel around the world. Getting lost, asking for direction no longer applies. With Google Maps, people are free to travel alone, with faraway destinations just a click away.

Not only does it guide the way, but it shows the suggested time to reach different modes of travel, takes into account traffic and traffic jams to help commuters in any way possible for free. He made everyone a hyperlocal expert knowing the nearest gas pumps, cafes and grocery stores. Think about the vast possibilities that Google Maps offers with radio taxi services such as Uber and Ola running on maps. In addition, tourism applications like Airbnb or WhatsApp location sharing, all are possible thanks to Google maps.

Google Pay: On January 8, 2018, the old Android Pay and Google Wallet merged into a single payment system called Google Pay. Directly linked to your bank account, google pay has become the only platform to pay the neighboring tea seller, to direct the bank transfer to a distant relative. It offers direct rewards, allows online shopping with secure payment at your fingertips.

Google Forms: Google Forms have made search easier for academics around the world. Who knew polls could be done from home, as Google allowed us to create quizzes with multiple types of questions, listing the results in sheets and analyzing them for our convenience. In addition, quizzes and practical sheets can be made possible using google forms. It also has wide application in collecting multiple data entries.

Google voice assistant: The Google voice assistant launched in 2016 conveyed information with a simple command. It has gained wide acceptance, not only on its own hardware, but also through partnerships with other companies related to Google Assistant in a wide range of devices such as refrigerators and headphones, speakers, and cars. .

Google voice assistant is able to provide interactive solutions: control your devices and smart home, access your calendars and other personal information, find information online, from restaurant reservations to driving directions to weather and news, make appointments and send messages, read your notifications and provide real-time voice translations.

Google classroom: After the pandemic, Google also took over the physical study classroom, with classes taking place on the web. Google Classroom allows teachers to upload study materials, create assignments while students can submit them within a limited time frame. Classes could take place through his connected Google Meet.

Google Business List: Google allows young business owners to expand their reach through the Google Business Listing. Owners can post photos, add descriptions on what makes their business unique to attract more traffic. In addition, Google my business account comes with built-in features such as analytics, reflecting peak times, the best content. These tools are used by small and large businesses.