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Desktop search declined for the first time in 2012, report says

Looks like those reports last year suggesting that desktop search is in decline were correct: Total searches dropped 3 percent in 2012, according to a new report from ComScore.

The main reason for the decline, according to the report, is that individuals are searching less: about 7 percent fewer searches per user. That's enough to cause the decline, even though the number of searchers is up 4 percent.

Of the major search engines, only Bing saw an increase in searches per user: 6 percent, ComScore said.

ComScore names two possible reasons for the decline: the move toward vertical search … Read more

Montana for badasses? The USA according to Search Assist

Poor Missouri. The Show Me State is also "The Worst State," according to Yahoo Search Assist, as compiled in the above map by FlipCollective.

We've seen other such fun stabs at merging Google's autocomplete with digital cartography, but the results gathered from FlipCollective's methodology are the most entertaining and nonsensical yet. For example, while I have no idea why Yahoo thinks my home state of New Mexico is best described as "stretching," it does explain why I've been feeling so limber lately.… Read more

Google adds 38 ski resorts to Google Maps; more on the way

Getting lost on the ski slopes just got a bit harder, thanks to an update to Google Maps that offers information for 38 new resorts in the United States and Canada.

Squaw Valley, Big Sky, and Okemo are among the resorts featured in the first set of slopes to be included in Maps. It's the latest in a series of improbable things to be mapped by Google's team, following the Grand Canyon, North Korea, and the Great Barrier Reef.

Taken together, the unusual maps send a message to Google's competitors: Nobody takes this more seriously than we … Read more

Set defaults for home and work addresses in Google Maps

Do you use Google Maps for directions often? How about when you're looking for a new apartment or even school for your children? Almost every time you'll probably wonder how far away the selected place is from your home or work. Luckily, Google Maps allows you to set these addresses so you don't have to type them in each time.

Here's how to get started:

Step 1: Open your Web browser to Google Maps. Make sure you're signed into your account.

Step 2: Click the My places button near the upper left-hand side of … Read more

Bing rolls out five apps for Office 365 and Office 2013

Microsoft launched five new free Bing apps for Office 365 and Office 2013 today. These apps are geared toward integrating work templates with search functions. The apps include Bing Finance for Excel, Bing Maps for Excel, Bing Image Search for Word, Bing News Search for Word, and Bing Dictionary for Excel and Word.

The software giant released its 2013 version of Office and its subscription-centric version of Office -- Office 365 Home Premium -- just this week. The latter of these two products is downloadable and can be locally installed on versions of Office 2013. Users are charged annual or monthly fees … Read more

Hike the Grand Canyon via Google Maps

You can now explore the Grand Canyon without even being there.

Thanks to Google Maps, panoramic images of the famed canyon went online today, displaying more than 75 miles worth of trails and surrounding roads.

Just by moving your mouse or swiping your finger, you can wend your way through any of the trails to marvel at some of the amazing images captured by the Google Maps team. One view guides you along the Blue Angel Trail, another takes you past the Colorado River, and a third pops you a couple of hours away to gaze at Meteor Crater.

The … Read more

'Citizen cartographers' help Google update maps of N. Korea

Maps of North Korea's landscape have for decades been largely empty, but thanks to "a community of citizen cartographers," Google Maps has managed to fill in some of the blanks.

Tapping input submitted to its Google Map Maker tool, the Web giant has added more detailed, up-to-date information to its maps of the reclusive nation, including streets, names, and other points of interest.

Jayanth Mysore, Google's senior product manager of Map Maker, discussed in a company blog post the effort behind assembling the new data:

To build this map, a community of citizen cartographers came together … Read more

Google Map of handgun owners posted online isn't exactly accurate

Is there anything more difficult than an emotional reaction on an emotive topic?

So many marriages have dissipated in such circumstances. Facts become cudgels and recollections have all the accuracy of a plasticine Lugar.

When the Journal News, a local New York newspaper, thought it might be a good idea to post a Google map depicting all the local handgun owners and their addresses, voices and arms were raised.

One imagines that the editors of the Journal News had both good intentions -- it was very soon after the Newtown massacre -- and some inkling that this posting might raise … Read more

Apple: Some Maps fixes out already, more this year

Apple offered some minor details on how it's beefing up its troubled Maps app, which became a running joke last year for misplacing landmarks, skewing landscapes and misleading travelers.

"We've made a number of improvements to Maps," Apple CEO Tim Cook told Wall Street analysts during the company's first quarter earnings call this afternoon. Some of those include improved satellite and flyover imagery as well as local information for businesses, he said.

Cook said that people are using Maps "significantly" more than they were before iOS 6, which added Apple's controversial mapping … Read more