Google Announces Hummingbird Algorithm, Updates To Search, iOS App and Android

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Google Announces Hummingbird Algorithm, Updates To Search, iOS App and Android

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday September 26, 2013 @10:27AM from the you-can-almost-drive dept.

rjmarvin writes "Google search is turning 15, and on a media field trip to the Menlo Park garage where Sergey Brin and Larry Page began the company, they rolled out a slew of product updates. Chief among them was the announcement of a new search algorithm called Hummingbird along with an updated Knowledge Graph and other search improvements, on top of updated Google Now cards for Android, push notifications for Google's iOS app and more."

46 comments

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Tomorrow, not today by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-26 10:27 · Score: 5, Funny

As someone who's birthday is also September 27th, I can tell you that Google's birthday is tomorrow too, not today. Every year I'm greeted with a birthday graphic on the Google homepage. For the first two years, I just thought Google had somehow figured out when my birthday was and was customizing the page for me personally. But when I mentioned it to co-workers, it turned out they were only doing it for me :-)
1. Re:Tomorrow, not today by suso · 2013-09-26 10:33 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  Happy Birthday and exactly, I am also related to someone whose birthday is tomorrow, which is how I also remember it. Its amazing how with so much information at people's fingertips that they keep eroding facts.
  Tomorrow is also the 30th anniversary of Richard Stallman announcing the FSF/GNU initiative.
2. Re: Tomorrow, not today by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-26 10:36 · Score: 0
  
  I am sorry to disappoint you but Google displays a cake if it's your birthday and you have it on G+
3. Re: Tomorrow, not today by relyimah · 2013-09-26 10:40 · Score: 1
  
  I am sorry to disappoint you but Google displays a cake if it's your birthday and you have it on G+
  ... Except that Parent said "for the first two years"... which I took to mean the first two years Google was active... not the last 2 years that G+ has been active...
4. Re:Tomorrow, not today by snowtigger · 2013-09-26 13:00 · Score: 1
  
  It's already September 27 in Australia. Problem solved.
5. Re:Tomorrow, not today by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-26 16:46 · Score: 0
  
  Google was born in Menlo Park, California. No amount of travel across the international date line will make you age faster than the natural progression of time.
6. Re: Tomorrow, not today by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-26 17:15 · Score: 0
  
  It wasn't the first two years of Google as they didn't used to change up the graphic in the beginning, but it was quite a few years before G+.
7. Re:Tomorrow, not today by bickerdyke · 2013-09-26 19:36 · Score: 1
  
  There is a personalized birthday Doodle if you log in with your birthdate.
  
  --
  bickerdyke
So what? by Joining+Yet+Again · 2013-09-26 10:55 · Score: 4, Funny

Google's not improved for a decade.
The only reason it's still up there is that Yahoo's not improved for nearly two decades, and Microsoft can't do anything right.
1. Re:So what? by fredprado · 2013-09-26 11:03 · Score: 1
  
  And how exactly do you define and measure "improvement" in order to conclude that there was none.
2. Re:So what? by Cinder6 · 2013-09-26 11:17 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Not the parent, but I feel like the quality of Google search has gone down in a few ways. For instance, I found the old '+' operator much quicker and less cumbersome than enclosing the word in quotes.
  Further, I often abhor Google's "fuzzy" matching system. Sometimes it's great, like when you say "photo" and it also searches "picture", "photograph", etc. But other times, it's extremely frustrating. I was writing a Mac app a few months back, and I needed help on something specific with NSTableView. Google decided that UITableView was the same thing, and started showing results for that at the top. Incredibly annoying, and it kept showing up even if I used quotes (had to use "-uitableview" to get it to go away). Not sure if that was a bug or if Google just really thinks I should be programming for iOS.
  I think I run into the latter situation more often than the former. At least, that's what it feels like.
  
  --
  If you can't convince them, convict them.
3. Re:So what? by swillden · 2013-09-26 12:04 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Further, I often abhor Google's "fuzzy" matching system. Sometimes it's great, like when you say "photo" and it also searches "picture", "photograph", etc. But other times, it's extremely frustrating.
  When the fuzzy matching doesn't give you what you're looking for click on "Search tools" (just above the results), then the "All results" pulldown and "Verbatim".
  I tried to use your example to demonstrate, but even without verbatim mode I couldn't find a search result in the first half-dozen pages that mentioned "UITableView".
  However, I did notice one thing that was kind of funny: Next to the results pulldown there's a time pulldown. When I set it to "last hour" the top hit was your post above.
  
  --
  Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
4. Re:So what? by rsborg · 2013-09-26 12:09 · Score: 1
  
  Not the parent, but I feel like the quality of Google search has gone down in a few ways.
  Google feels they're good enough. Now it's time for them to become more profitable. Sorry, but that's the single driving factor I feel has directed every move since Larry Page has become CEO. Perhaps this is for the best - there were times I wondered how sustainable Google was, given their seemingly un-matched altruistic aims (in the mega-corp space).
  
  --
  Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
5. Re:So what? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-26 14:53 · Score: 0
  
  Further, I often abhor Google's "fuzzy" matching system. Sometimes it's great, like when you say "photo" and it also searches "picture", "photograph", etc. But other times, it's extremely frustrating.
  When the fuzzy matching doesn't give you what you're looking for click on "Search tools" (just above the results), then the "All results" pulldown and "Verbatim".
  I tried to use your example to demonstrate, but even without verbatim mode I couldn't find a search result in the first half-dozen pages that mentioned "UITableView".
  However, I did notice one thing that was kind of funny: Next to the results pulldown there's a time pulldown. When I set it to "last hour" the top hit was your post above.
  I tried the same search in google for "NSTableView" and never once did UITableView popup. What a f'in retard. I bet he's an Android hater
6. Re:So what? by Kal+Zekdor · 2013-09-26 16:29 · Score: 2
  
  Further, I often abhor Google's "fuzzy" matching system. Sometimes it's great, like when you say "photo" and it also searches "picture", "photograph", etc. But other times, it's extremely frustrating.
  When the fuzzy matching doesn't give you what you're looking for click on "Search tools" (just above the results), then the "All results" pulldown and "Verbatim".
  I tried to use your example to demonstrate, but even without verbatim mode I couldn't find a search result in the first half-dozen pages that mentioned "UITableView".
  However, I did notice one thing that was kind of funny: Next to the results pulldown there's a time pulldown. When I set it to "last hour" the top hit was your post above.
  Guess that means the search algorithm is working better than it was when he made that search.
7. Re:So what? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-26 16:44 · Score: 0
  
  thats because the + operator means every single instance of and the "" operator means "exactly this"
  As someone who writes and maintains their own search engine that is of a decent size, the + operator is very very expensive - probably even for google's server farm
8. Re:So what? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-26 17:06 · Score: 0
  
  I'd like to see your search engine.
9. Re:So what? by fredprado · 2013-09-26 17:23 · Score: 1
  
  Which by itself means there were improvements after all.
10. Re:So what? by Joining+Yet+Again · 2013-09-26 20:00 · Score: 1
  
  No, it means that a regression was fixed.
11. Re:So what? by Joining+Yet+Again · 2013-09-26 20:02 · Score: 1, Insightful
  
  "El Presidente is a duplicitous cunt."
  "Well..well.. how many countries have YOU run?"
12. Re:So what? by mrprogrammerman · 2013-09-26 20:41 · Score: 1
  
  I think it's time we move away from searching by keywords to ideas. Searching by keywords require alot of work to maintain and has created the SEO industry. You should be able to give the search engine a complete thought and it have it go through it's knowledge base to find relevant ideas. That means instead of the search bots just keeping track of the keywords on webpages they will have to read through the webpage and form an idea of what the webpage is about.
13. Re:So what? by DoctorBonzo · 2013-09-26 23:48 · Score: 2
  
  I'd never noticed the "Search tools" before. Looks to be quite useful. Thanks.
14. Re:So what? by fredprado · 2013-09-27 02:14 · Score: 1
  
  Or that haters like you are talking bullshit without anything to substantiate them...
15. Re:So what? by Cinder6 · 2013-09-27 14:33 · Score: 1
  
  Thanks for that suggestion. As to your not being able to see the same annoyance that I did with UITableView...
  It could have been fixed. It could be the fact that I don't remember any of the exact search strings (it happened a couple of times, and not just with NSTableView). Or it could be due to Google's search bubble thing. For what it's worth, searching for "nstableview bind data" brings up an article about UITableView as the 9th result. That's not as bad as it was when I was having the problem, where it came up as the top three results unless I specifically excluded it.
  
  --
  If you can't convince them, convict them.
16. Re:So what? by swillden · 2013-09-28 02:19 · Score: 1
  
  Note that unlike some of the people who responded to my post I wasn't saying you were being untruthful about what you saw, just that I couldn't reproduce it. It's not at all unlikely that the recent update fixed your particular search, especially since one of the changes is to use the knowledge graph more -- meaning that Google search now (probably) knows the difference between NSTableView and UITableView, knows that one is associated with OS X and the other with iOS, and understands that even though the two strings are very similar, someone searching for the former is probably not interested in information about the latter.
  If you think about it, your complaint that maybe "Google thinks I should be programming for iOS" is very interesting. Making connections like that is something that human brains do automatically and so effortlessly that we often don't even realize we do it. But until very recently, Google didn't do that at all. Google searches were originally pure string searches with a clever ranking algorithm based on counting links. The ranking algorithm was improved bit by bit over time, but until very recently it was still just pure string searches with clever ranking. It's now progressing towards actually knowing what real-world entities the strings refer to, how those entities are related to other entities and what that implies about what the searcher is actually seeking.
  Personally, I expect Google search to get dramatically more effective as knowledge graph data is more thoroughly incorporated. Ideally, the "verbatim" option should become irrelevant and go away, because the search engine should understand what you're looking for and know when to be literal and when to cast a wider net. To be maximally effective will require personalization as well. It's the difference between a smart "grep" and an intelligent personal assistant who knows you, understands what you're trying to accomplish and gives you what you need -- including knowing when you need a smart grep.
  
  --
  Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
17. Re:So what? by Joining+Yet+Again · 2013-09-28 11:05 · Score: 0
  
  You may need to work on your reaction to being corrected. If it helps, it was nothing personal.
18. Re:So what? by fredprado · 2013-09-28 13:12 · Score: 1
  
  Man, if you call this "correction" you need psychiatric help and urgently.
19. Re:So what? by Cinder6 · 2013-09-28 13:43 · Score: 1
  
  If Google can perfect it, it could be an awesome tool. I guess I'll have to keep that in mind on the occasions when it comes up with something not right. I did just notice that I no longer seem to need to specify "bicycle" instead of "bike"--a year ago, I would get a lot of results for motorcycle stuff on searches like "best bike groupset". Then again, that might be a search bubble thing.
  
  --
  If you can't convince them, convict them.
20. Re:So what? by swillden · 2013-09-28 15:25 · Score: 1
  
  I don't think the search bubble really exists yet, not in any significant way. The value of personalization is obvious (as are some of the risks -- which can be addressed by having the search engine deliberately throw in a few outside-the-bubble results) but I don't see a lot of it happening yet, except with respect to the really obvious things like geographical location.
  
  --
  Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
21. Re:So what? by Joining+Yet+Again · 2013-09-28 20:00 · Score: 0
  
  Ohhhh, you're that kook of low intelligence from a few days ago.
  ...
  Prima: The bug is fixed now.
  Kook: Ah, an improvement!
  Yours truly: No, that's fixing a bug which wasn't there before.
  Kook: Bullshit EVERYTHING U SAY IS BULLSHIT.
  Yours truly: Calm down. Nothing personal.
  Kook: U NEED PSYCHIATRIC HELP NOWWW!!
  Turns out there is such a thing as a free clown. Dance for me, clown! For your next fallacy, I suggest: moving the goalposts. 3..2..1.. go!
Hangouts is the source of the bug by steelfood · 2013-09-26 11:08 · Score: 0

I've had all sorts of issues with them trying to integrate hangouts into everything. At some point in time, I was banning people through my hangouts profile, even though I didn't even have one.
Google, it's time to live up to your CEO's words and become adults.

--
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
iGoogle by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-26 11:10 · Score: 1

They should devote some of their energy to maintaing iGoogle, used by many, instead of shutting it down to focus on these products.
1. Re:iGoogle by Seumas · 2013-09-26 11:24 · Score: 1
  
  I remember the "replacements for google reader" thread here, on Slashdot at the beginning of 2013 and I was shocked at how many people claimed to use iGoogle as their main page. I tried using that for awhile, but it was such an ugly clunky pile of crap. It felt incredibly dated and if they weren't going to renovate it, ditching it seems to make the most sense.
  Not saying it had no value -- just my opinion of iGoogle when I tried to use it for a few months. It really was quite a surprise to hear so many here upset that it was being yanked.
2. Re:iGoogle by relyimah · 2013-09-26 11:49 · Score: 1
  
  I actually found the opposite with iGoogle, so guess its a matter of preference... I've been using a Netvibes page since the announcement that they were removing iGoogle, and while it "looks" nicer, I've found all the widgets lag (ie I get twitter "search" updates hours later). Although, like everything, the only people you really hear from when something closes down are the ones that are using it ... so this makes it appear like a lot.
3. Re:iGoogle by Gavagai80 · 2013-09-26 19:39 · Score: 1
  
  I liked iGoogle as a homepage back when I had a browser homepage, but these days the speed dial is more convenient than having a homepage.
  
  --
  This space intentionally left blank
hummingbird ... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-26 12:06 · Score: 1

is the new search 'algorithm' that simultaneously runs database queries on two different server clusters -- one owned by google, the other by you-know-who.
1. Re:hummingbird ... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-26 13:41 · Score: 0
  
  hummingbird = hummer where your boyfriend doesn't swallow :)
hope for the best; expect the worst by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-26 12:48 · Score: 1

Hummingbird is the most comprehensive overhaul to the search engine since “Caffeine” in 2009.
I'm hopeful that this means Google search results will suck less (like pre-2009 when the results were awesome), but (using their recent history as a guide) the search results are probably going to plunge even more into the suck.
1. Re:hope for the best; expect the worst by Wootery · 2013-09-27 04:55 · Score: 1
  
  I'm hopeful that this means Google search results will suck less (like pre-2009 when the results were awesome)
  You've given me no reason not to assume rose-tinted glasses are at work here.
Push notifications by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-26 12:57 · Score: 1, Insightful

They updated push notifications for their retasrded apps but pulled support for exchange ... Fuck you google.
1. Re:Push notifications by Albanach · 2013-09-26 14:41 · Score: 1
  
  They updated push notifications for their retasrded apps but pulled support for exchange ... Fuck you google.
  They pulled support for a propriety protocol over which they had no control, in favor of supporting an open one. I don't see the problem.
Hummingbird is a CIA trojan! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-26 13:18 · Score: 0

It's not Google's project at all, they're just using that as cover. Project Hummingbird is a long-range biometric identification program, developed by a CIA hacker named Auggie Anderson, with the ultimate purpose stated by a high-ranking CIA official as "a way to track anybody anywhere".
genius knackered by epine · 2013-09-26 15:39 · Score: 1, Interesting

It's been so long since Google moved the bar on search in a substantive way, I've begun to wonder if they still hold true to their original vision. It was something about indexing and knowledge.
Does it take a miraculous growth spurt of Wolfram Alpha to remind Google that innovation is still possible, fifteen years later? No matter if you burst onto the world stage shaming Picasso, any corporation that sits on its hands long enough eventually becomes part of the problem.
For a while Google was so good one almost believed their principal technology was a time machine. Lately I'm beginning to wonder if the time machine has its dial permanently welded at 2010.
1. Re:genius knackered by casab1anca · 2013-09-26 19:35 · Score: 1
  
  It was something about indexing and knowledge.
  It was also something about not being evil...
google by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-26 21:19 · Score: 0

yawn
Give us "classic Google" from before 2008! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-27 02:29 · Score: 1

All I want is the option to go back to the crisp, precise, useful searches from before the big changes started around 2008. I want to be able to use +, -, and quotes to get EXACT terms. The current sloppy search that Google uses is just plain useless. I'm not saying get rid of the sloppy search for people who want it. I'm saying give us the good search back from before 2008 as an option.