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Microsoft Patent Hints At Search Results Tailored To User's Mood, Intelligence
theodp writes "A newly surfaced Microsoft patent application, reports GeekWire, describes a 'user-following engine' that analyzes your posts on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites to deduce your mood, interests, and even your smarts. The system would then automatically adjust the search experience and results to better match those characteristics, explains Microsoft, such as changing the background color of the search interface to suit your mood, or bringing back only those search results that won't strain your feeble brain. From the patent application: 'In addition to skewing the search results to the user's inferred interests, the user-following engine may further tailor the search results to a user's comprehension level. For example, an intelligent processing module may be directed to discerning the sophistication and education level of the posts of a user. Based on that inference, the customization engine may vary the sophistication level of the customized search result.'"
That's what I want, whether constructed pages of junk or Wikipedia mirrors, hat is what I do not wish to see.
You do what you need to do, people. Don't exercise your tiny little grey cells. You don't need to learn anything new. You don't need to stretch yourselves or make yourselves better. Just leave it all in our hands. That's better. Go back to sleep now.
...they treat us all like morons. Their business practices have been predatory in the past and unecessarily nasty - and that comes in a close number two reason. But I can't stand using their products because they are always "helping". And now they're gonna screw with SEARCH RESULTS? Their OS is bad...Office is worse. THIS is insulting.
Sometimes the truth is arrived at by adding all the little lies together and deducting them from all that is known.
You know Microsoft thinks your dumb if you search for "secret service prostitutes colombia" and the first result is "Escorts discretas colombianos a precios asequibles".
by Cyphase ( 907627 )
Listen up, Microserfs :
What anyone wants is to quickly and easily find
results.
The idea that search results will be better suited to a person
you do not even know because you insert some algorithm into
the mix is just absurd. Sorry, but real life is not something which
can be solved like some puzzle.
Further, your little game will probably fuck up the chance that
serendipity ( in the form of an illogical search return ) might
cause happy results.
I understand that the results returned by Google are already customized to the user.
How about you just return the results that match what I typed in?
Visit the Arcade Restoration Workshop @ http://www.arcaderestoration.com
How helpful have they been to you?
I really wish these search companies would go back to their roots and provide bare metal search results.
Stop geo/mood/intelligence filtering the results for me.
Especially the geographic results. If I want results for my location, I'll include it in the search.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
So if a writer types 'How does someone publish there book?', Microsoft will send them to a spelling and grammar site instead of HarperCollins?
Hal Spacejock: Science Fiction with Nuts
"Can't find him on FaceBook. He must be stupid".
-or-
"Can't find him on FaceBook. He must be smart".
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
Alta Vista did this back in the nineties. Virtually any result I found was exactly what I was in the mood for! Thanks to Google, now I have to type specific words in to get porn. Innovation, pbtbtbt.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
...for targeting malware.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
So, does that mean when I look at my Facebook Friends List, I'll start getting popups for Proazc, Paxil and Xanax?
Consistency is only a virtue if you're not a screw-up.
"Honestly, professor, I searched for all these things that you told us to search for, but none of these links you are showing us ever came up!"
AccountKiller
I worry that customizing *search*, or customizing computer-based mediation/filtering of objective reality (as will be possible through video glasses and earphones) -- especially if made somewhat automatic by corporate-defined models of how people behave -- will eventually cause people to be trapped by their own personal history of thoughts and beliefs.
It's like people being attracted to Fox News or the Rush Limbaugh radio show because of whatever thoughts and beliefs they have at the time, and then forever finding comfort there because of a lack of competing/challenging input (partly because the opportunity for alternative input is crowded out by the activity of viewing/listening to their initial media channel of choice).
We are all familiar with "helpful" automation making choices that go against our personal wishes (or, at best, are simply unhelpful). But search (and, soon, mediated reality for the masses) creates the scary possibility of people becoming very isolated and trapped by their own history of personal actions and implied "preferences".
I've sometimes done web searches for things in which I had only incidental interest -- topics which might even offend me, but which I would like to learn about for the purposes of being informed -- and the search service has inferred that I am actually generally interested in those topics. Needless to say, the chance for automated systems drawing the wrong conclusions is very high.
I've seen blogs and discussion forums with communities with wacky beliefs, and it's sad that the insanity doesn't get any constructive criticism because of "moderators" (ironic term here) deleting any challenging/opposing comments. In the same way, unwittingly or intentionally, a person might become immersed in their own world of information.
I actually like the idea of modifying reality! I'd love to surround myself with challenging and encouraging avatars with virtual reality glasses and earphones, because I think having personal coaches and cheerleaders around me all the time (virtually) would be a supernatural boost. I don't know how to reconcile my attraction for that idea with my general concern about people experiencing detrimental self-delusion, except to say that I think that *automatic* guesses about "preferences" seems bad.
Although people can benefit from their memories (e.g., education and work experience) and past actions (e.g., earning money, buying and accumulating things), I worry about mechanisms that TRAP people in to their own legacy of memories and actions. Things like credit scores, criminal records, Internet records, etc, can make it difficult for people to change direction and grow, and have a new phase in their lives. Given the increasing role of Internet search and mediated reality in the lives of ordinary people, a new, and profoundly influential, mental trap is being built around them. I'm not judging it, but for some people their avatar in the World of Warcraft MMORPG is as much an influence on their lives as real-world people; and, in the same way, I think web search and mediated reality will eventually become the dominant influences in the lives of many people. I think the widespread absorption of people with their smartphones (after the earlier phenomenon of "Crackberry" devices) is somewhat telling.
I think Google and Microsoft have it all wrong with bubbling users. I strongly believe that it's the job of the user to enter the proper queries so that he or she will receive the proper result. I don't want the engine to guess what I like or how I feel. Furthermore, search results are not about a popularity contest, I want relevant search results, not popular results. On that front, I feel like Google have given up, I find it increasingly hard to search for things that are the opposite of what's popular. (Not that it's any better on other search engine as I never took the time to compare)
For example, I don't eat enough sodium in my diet. (Healthy home cook diet almost all the time) Searching for information about sodium deficiencies will always return hit after hit of information for people that want to reduce the sodium in their nutrition. You would think that a search engine could understand a simple thing such as the search of an opposite? And no, a search engine doesn't have the right to know who I am so I can get the proper queries. It should "understand" what I'm asking.
Clippy's back...
"Hi, it looks like you're an idiot. Let me omit all search results that aren't TV or XBox related."
They didn't say how they measure intelligence. ;-)
So maybe they add 150 to your default IQ if you don't post on facebook
There are fewer illiterates than people who can't read.
YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!
speling for dummies
+1 for the pun. Everyone knows speeling has two e's in it.
Okay, fair enough. So, what features of the Microsoft products is it that meets your needs better?
In addition to skewing the search results to the user's inferred interests, the user-following engine may further tailor the search results to a user's comprehension level.
<Samuel L. Jackson Voice>
Dear Condescending Microsoft Motherfuckers. My motherfucking search interests are directly expressed by my motherfucking search query - that's why I fucking entered it. In addition, there are times I want to actually *learn* something, which necessitates results above my current motherfucking comprehension level.
</Samuel L. Jackson Voice>
Why can't search engines simply answer the questions as I ask and let *me* worry about asking better questions?
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Ever have one of those conversations where you're asking your wife/girlfriend (yeah, I know, this is slashdot) where she'd like to go for dinner, and she tells you what she thinks you want to hear. And you say OK because you think that's where she wants to go. You're both so busy trying to figure out what the other person wants that your ability to interact effectively breaks down completely... And you either end up still arguing about it on the couch an hour later or at some restaurant neither of you likes.
This is the same thing! Microsoft is trying to patent relationship dysfunction!
You might as well use a tablet with a keyboard with keys that change under your fingers depending on what the device thinks you're going to type next. You'll never get what you want because the key you're looking for is constantly moving around... Running away from your fingers or hiding under them. There's a reason the QWERTY layout is standard, despite its flaws - everyone knows where to expect the keys!!!
The only group that would claim this is a good idea would be the advertisers: "Oh, you searched for Peanut Butter? You must be looking for JIFF." "Oh, you searched for tasty and filling? You must be looking for JIFF." Oh, you searched for JPG/GIF? You must be looking for JIFF!"
It would be nice if Slashdot could tell us about actual products, not vague vaporware information inferred from patent fillings.
. . .Microsoft has finally caught up with Emacs.
*sniff* They said Redmond could never do it *cough* but they were WRONG!
Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
I can see it now...
"Dammit! Every search gives me results featuring Ke$ha!"
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Exactly!
While they're at it they can patent a car with no steering wheel. Instead it senses your mood and intelligence and drives youwhere it guesses you want to go.
After reviewing the information a new approach was decided for future computer interfaces. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexigram
To deduce your smarts? A moment while I clean my keyboard.
Next thing you know, they'll stoop to Bing users.
Have gnu, will travel.
"Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to test a prototype software program designed to trap filthy Communists and Mutants inside a simulation of the life of a Red-level warehouse worker that Friend Computer has laboriously constructed. Unfortunately, the manual is marked Blue and cannot be accessed by a Red-level citizen such as yourself. Attempting to access the manual without clearance is Treason and punishable by termination. Friend Computer wishes you godspeed."
Emotions! In your brain!
I do not go to facebook nor I tweet
And if they want to "judge" my "mood", that is, if they can somehow insert a cookie that follows me throughout my web-surfing journey - they have to read the messages I post on /,
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
Why bother with net neutrality when search results can simply be skewed to a person's perceived intelligence or interests, based on some proprietary and probably secret algorithm? This is the perfect way to get around any net neutrality legislation. Beyond that, the idea thumbs its nose at the best feature of the internet: Expanding your mind. If the results are so tailored to what one already thinks, how intelligent the person supposedly is (like that can really be measured anyway) and one's current interests, how does that expand the mind? Seems like keeping everybody their on personal status quo. To my mind, and I don't mean this flippantly, people are generally a tad dull brained...they tend to seek out ideas and opinions that they already believe. I always liked to think that the internet sort of helped people break out of that and find new ideas, new ways of thinking. This idea would seem to automate "Reinforcement Theory" which is already a proclivity for most.
Can all those "customized" search results please fuck off and leave me alone?
I like getting results from outside my own bubble of reality, even from outside my comfort zone. It allows me to broaden my horizon and learn something new.
And when I'm in a bad mood, the last thing I need is more depressing stuff. Frankly, that alone is a sufficient reason to never, ever, ever even consider using any search engine that MS is running.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
There is no reason to assume that one search I do today is in any way related to any other search I have ever done. This is like the NSA's Total Information Awareness program. All it produced was constant false leads, they're still using it because information is like a drug, they're hooked. I have already tried Google's bad attempt at this and it just produces none sense results. Microsoft will just produce the Blue Screen of Confusion.
"I know I will be modded down for this": where's the option '-1, Asking for it'?
"Do what I mean" is the worst possible response from a computer, "Do what I say" might be bad but it's better than any of the alternatives.
That's why my Google links have a veritable alphabet soup attached to them... Google Search 1 vs. Google search 2
What I'd like is a nice simple dwiS flag that I can attach ... but,
Of course if the first one doesn't work for you maybe Google has already decided you're too dumb...
If Bing figures out that you LIKE Fox News, they never include results from Snopes.com, or anything that leans away from fairies and bean stalks towards reality.
>>"ad space available -- low rates!!!"
With absolutely zero social networking outside of these posts on slashdot, I'll love that feature if I can control it. But I've long been requesting the ability to filter search results based on the reputation of the source. Sometimes I'm searching the equivalent of "what would the general population think is the...", and wikipedia results are great. Other times, I need a real medical journal or newspaper result. And other times still I'm searching on behalf of a seven year old, and want the lowest level of result imaginable. Give me a slider, and I'll be happy.
There are a lot of dumb people out there.Including intelligence in their search queries could cost Microsoft customers by sending more people toward Apple results.
Nah, they need to run their engine the other way and tailor it up for smart guys like you. How do I know? Anyone who wheels off "infer someone's cognitive level" ... is way above "How Is Babby Formed".
I did a hobby-experiment with this - just set the Fleschâ"Kincaid Grade Level greater than 4th grade.
Watch how fast THAT rules out junk results!
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
Great, just what we need: search filtering based on somebody else's decision about what we need to see. Not too hard to see where this could be headed ...
The mood of Microsoft users? "Frustrated." Duh!
"A newly surfaced Microsoft patent application, reports GeekWire, describes a 'user-following engine' that analyzes your posts on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites to deduce your mood, interests, and even your smarts".
...
If Google did this it would be a gross invasion of our privacy
AccountKiller
These people are fucking morons.