Search Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

What Siri foretells for the future of semantic search

by Kelly Hodgkins (Jul 31st, 2012)

Siri is a step forward for iOS users who can use the virtual assistant to set reminders and send messages, but for developer and entrepreneur Ndav Gur, Siri represents more. "Siri has made strong headway into literally understanding you (voice to text) but more importantly about deriving ...

Top 10 subtle Mountain Lion features (and a few more)

by Mike Schramm (Jul 30th, 2012)

Lifehacker has put together a list of what they call the "top 10 secret features of Mountain Lion." That's not quite right -- these features aren't secret, because it would be pretty silly to release an OS update and not tell anyone about it. But they are subtle, and this is a nice list of ...

Apple alters App Store algorithm yet again

by Kelly Hodgkins (Jun 29th, 2012)

Apple tinkered with its App Store algorithm last week and changed the search position of some apps by ordering results based on user ratings and an app's description. This morning a report from TechCrunch suggests the Cupertino company has tweaked the algorithm again to add some weight back to ...

Orbitz profiles Mac users with pricier hotels, here's how to block

by Michael Rose (Jun 26th, 2012)

Let's try a little Gedankenexperiment here. Imagine that you sell widgets of all kinds; some are drab and functional but cheap, while others are shiny and a bit more expensive. You're looking to improve the sales of your shiny, high-margin widgets by getting them in front of the type of consumers ...

Apple removes Android app searches from Chomp

by Michael Grothaus (Apr 28th, 2012)

Just over two months after Apple acquired the app discovery service Chomp, the company has removed features that allowed users to search for Android apps in addition to iOS apps. Chomp is a search tool that lets users to search for an app based on what it can do, instead of by the name alone. ...

Future iOS update in China may adopt Baidu search, drop Google

by Kelly Hodgkins (Mar 26th, 2012)

According to The Next Web, Chinese website Sina Tech speculates that Apple may roll out an update in China that'll drop Google search from iOS and replace it with Baidu, a Chinese language search engine. Though unconfirmed, this move makes sense as Baidu commands more than 80 percent of the ...

FTC Subpoenaed Apple over Google search on iOS

by Kelly Hodgkins (Mar 14th, 2012)

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission subpoenaed Apple as part of a Google antitrust inquiry says Bloomberg. The FTC asked Apple to hand over documents that detail its search agreement with Google. Google has been the default search engine for iOS since the iPhone launched in 2007. Rumors suggest ...

Google adds search history to iOS

by Kelly Hodgkins (Mar 6th, 2012)

Google is making it easy for iOS users to access their recent searches on their devices. Starting this week, Google will push your search history to your iOS device if you have Web History enabled on your Google account. So the next time you search for TUAW on your desktop and then hop over to ...

Stephen Colbert exposes Siri biases

by Megan Lavey-Heaton (Dec 2nd, 2011)

Stephen Colbert, America's indispensable authority on absolutely everything, decided to put Siri to the test on the Colbert Report to see if he could find an abortion clinic in Manhattan. Not only does he claim he can't find one, but he says it can't understand foreigners either. Well, Stephen, ...

Debunked: Ridiculous claims of 'pro-life' bias in Siri (Update: Apple responds)

by Chris Rawson (Nov 30th, 2011)

Update: The New York Times has a response. Natalie Kerris, a spokeswoman for Apple, told them: "These are not intentional omissions meant to offend anyone. It simply means that as we bring Siri from beta to a final product, we find places where we can do better, and we will in the coming ...

Google Search app gets new look on iPad

by Chris Rawson (Nov 21st, 2011)

Google's search app just got a big update on the iPad. The interface has been overhauled, and the app has added enough new features that it's finally replaced Mobile Safari's built-in search feature as my go-to source for internet info. The differences in the interface may seem subtle at ...

Daily Mac App: Tunesque

by Samuel Gibbs (Nov 2nd, 2011)

Apple's app and media world is pretty extensive -- music, videos, books, apps and games. Tunesque makes searching both the iTunes Store and the Mac App Store a breeze, right from your menu bar. It has to be said that searching for things within either the Mac App Store or iTunes isn't the ...

Daily iPad App: Seahaven GT

by Erica Sadun (Oct 24th, 2011)

Seahaven GT ($0.99) offers a simple iPad adaptation of Free Cell solitaire. I first encountered Seahaven GT a few years back and thought it was a terrific implementation of a basic card game. It is fun to play and has really satisfying interaction elements. Then a few months ago, I noticed it ...

Google updates its search page for the iPad

by Kelly Hodgkins (Jul 29th, 2011)

Google is rolling out an update to its google.com search page that'll make it even more tablet-friendly. Text, buttons and other page elements are now slightly bigger and easy to touch with those big, fat fingers. Like it or not, the page now shares that Google+ look as well. The improved ...

Yahoo goes after app discovery with AppSpot

by Michael Rose (Jun 16th, 2011)

We do the best we can around here to help you find the most interesting and helpful apps across the iOS landscape, but the job is too big for anyone to tackle alone. That's why it's nice to see Yahoo's pair of products aimed at the app discovery challenge, the brand-new App Search site and the ...