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caffeine posts

Filed under: Web services, Google, Search

Google's next-gen search, aka Caffeine, may arrive soon

Over the summer, we told you how Google had enlisted users to test the next generation of its search technology. The new version of search, called Caffeine, might be ready to roll out very soon, according to some evidence dug up by Mashable. The sandbox link - for testing Caffeine - that we gave you back in August no longer works, because "the sandbox has been retired."

It's been replaced with the following announcement:
"Based on the success we've seen, we believe Caffeine is ready for a larger audience. Soon we will activate Caffeine more widely, beginning with one data center. This sandbox is no longer necessary and has been retired, but we appreciate the testing and positive input that webmasters and publishers have given. "

All signs indicate that Caffeine will apparently be arriving soon. The thing is, you might not notice at first when it does. Caffeine's improvements to Google Search are all under-the-hood, focusing on faster, more accurate results. There probably won't be an overhaul of the iconic design of Google's search pages to go along with it.

Filed under: Google, Beta, Search

Google unveils Caffeine: Next-generation search tech


Google is turning to the public (or rather, web developers) for help testing its next-generation search infrastructure, code-named "Caffeine." The changes have to do with the way Google crawls the web and indexes content, so you shouldn't notice any changes int he search engine interface.

In order to try out the new version, visit www2.sandbox.google.com, and start searching. You can share feedback with Google by hitting the "Dissatisfied? Help us improve" box at the bottom of the page and sending a message with the word "caffeine" in it.

Overall, the search results look pretty similar, but there are a few minor changes. Some items may be ordered a little differently, while the text descriptions of some pages look different.

If you aren't particularly interested in testing the new technology to help Google out, here's another reason to give it a try: As far as I can tell, there are no ads on the Caffeine interface. I've conducted a few dozen searches, and so far I haven't seen a single sponsored result. Of course, that'll change by the time the new code is integrated into Google's main product. But it's nice while it lasts.

What other changes have you spotted? Let us know in the comments.

Filed under: Business, Fun, Productivity, Web services

Death by Caffeine

death by caffeineThink coffee helps you stay productive through the day while you bang away at your keyboard? Ok, so it does. But how would you feel if you knew the exact amounts of coffee or caffeine it would take in order to stop your heart?

The online "death by caffeine" tool calculates your weight with your beverage of choice and serves up some stats on how many cups it will take in order for you to drop dead.

They have also put together a caffeine database chart that compares how many MG's of caffeine are in a drink. Ok, enough writing, its time for my 4th cup of Starbucks. 30.86 more to go.

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So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

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