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The Search Engine Belt Buckle

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the how-some-people-get-their-kicks dept.

ptorrone writes "Engadget shows how they made "The Search Engine Belt Buckle" a PDA-based device which shows 24 hours of all the bizarre and banal things people are looking for on the web. Art project or pointless hack? That's for you to decide, people are searching for some pretty freaky stuff out there, so why not put in a belt buckle and get on the scene like a sex machine?"

10 of 244 comments (clear)

  1. Both? by kjones692 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Art project or pointless hack? Why can't it be both?

    --

    Love the Third Amendment?
  2. Seen something liek this before... by thegoogler · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I remember hearing that there is a monitor at google headquaters(i think it was in wired magazine) that scrolls random searches that are currently being done, cool idea.... but not new

    1. Re:Seen something liek this before... by ZorbaTHut · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Yes, there is. It's equally mesmerizing - I've sat there and watched it for a few hours. Funny searches:

      paris hilton (no less than seven times)
      UTOPIA (you're not gonna find it if you can't fix your capslock)
      www.google.com (found it!)
      net (I can only wonder what they were searching for)
      BIG BROTHER (no, no we're not watching you)
      . . . and at least two or three phone numbers, which I was very tempted to call.

      "Hi! Who is this? Did you know someone's searching for you on Google?"

      --
      Breaking Into the Industry - A development log about starting a game studio.
  3. I see the attraction by number · · Score: 4, Interesting

    A great many people use search engines as modern-day confessional booths - supposedly confidential ways to bear their most personal and private thoughts (well, search engines are more useful, but suck at spiritual advice).

    And who wouldn't want to listen in on a confessional booth every now and then? Sure you'll never know who made what search, but it's a peek inside someone's psyche that you would never get the chance to see otherwise. Mental voyeurism.

    Plus you may (~may~) find out that everyone else really is as weird as you in private. But why you'd need this on a belt buckle is anyone's guess.

    --
    - HOORAY!
    1. Re:I see the attraction by humankind · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Does Google have an area where real-time search queries are displayed?

    2. Re:I see the attraction by tpgp · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Does Google have an area where real-time search queries are displayed?

      Afraid not - the closest Google have is the Google zeitgeist

      However - some of the other (crappier) search sites do.

      The only one I can find at the moment is Metacrawler's Metaspy. God - just been watching it for a few seconds - it includes the gems:

      * how to measure body fat percentage with a tape measure and scale
      * thongs for 7 year olds
      * ubaid alien
      * uncensored olympic gymnastic photos

      I also found The Disturbing Search Requests Page - gleaned from some guy's referrer logs...It includes such goodies as 'clitoris size scale' and 'vampire "breasts grow"'

      --
      My pics.
  4. A similar effect... by rde · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I've had hours (okay, minutes) of amusement by doing something similar; using the passive search feature of gtk-gnutella to see what others were looking for. People do indeed look for weird shit.

    You can always tell how many are using the system for the first time by the number of times there's a search for the word 'porn' by itself. I'm tempted to try it out myself, but I'm afraid that with only 256Mb of ram, my computer will blow up.

  5. Common Searches by ozmanjusri · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There are a few places where you can check on live searches, and there are a lot of advertisers who are very interested in the results.

    http://searchenginewatch.com/facts/article.php/215 6041
    is a site which aggregates a lot of the searches.

    On occasion, I find it quite relaxing watching the queries scroll up the screen like some wierdly twisted ascii lava lamp, and the content of some of those queries makes me feel reasuringly normal by comparison.

    --
    "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
  6. A new slashdot effect.. by pherthyl · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I like that once in a while the phrase
    "Why are you watching?"
    scrolls past. A new symptom of the slashdot effect I guess ;)

  7. Ahhh the referrals log... by Capt'n+Hector · · Score: 3, Interesting
    It's always amusing to see which google searches hit your site. I kid you not, I've had:

    sexy salesperson girl gallery
    possum probe

    Try it! What sort of sickos are surfing your website? Post em here!

    --
    Quid festinatio swallonis est aetherfuga inonusti?
    Africus aut Europaeus?