Google

Just like Dan Firger, I’m a student that uses google daily. I use it to look things up, I use it to watch videos, I use it to find directions, etc. But really, what student doesn’t use Google daily? It’s most certainly becoming a part of our daily lives because it’s a huge source of tons of information. However, I haven’t fallen completely fallen into the google trap of using it to chat with people, and applying all sorts of  (perhaps unnecessary) google apps to my ipod and phone.

While a huge part of me loves google and thinks it’s really useful, I get a little creeped out with the advertisements. It is constantly updating what advertisements show up on all of my websites. For example, I looked up TOM shoes earlier today and since then, there has LITERALLY been a TOMS shoes ad on every website I’ve been to. Its like it’s their way of undermining us…by advertising things that they think we like so we don’t realize that the advertising is so obnoxious. The Google home page is so simple and so clean that it tricks you into thinking it’s not an advertisers dream search engine. It’s weird how much google is taking over nowadays and I feel like I don’t know even 1/8 of what they actually own.

Before reading that ridiculously dense article about google and aptocracy (which I had to read three or four times to grasp) I had no idea what aptocracy meant. But it’s clear that google is quite aptocratic. I mean, they base the order that websites are listed on certain numbers and approvals. It has to be a good enough website to get on the first page of google search results. It’s all about the numbers…if a website has gotten a lot of hits then it must be a quality website, right? I don’t know how I feel about aptocracy completely and I don’t know how I feel about Vaidhyanathan’s statement, “But the Aptocracy has transformed America largely for the better over the past forty years. It has also created the environment in which Google could gestate, grow, thrive, and dominate.” I just don’t know if I buy it. Maybe that has something to do with I also don’t believe standardized testing is a fair measurement of intelligence. Then again, maybe I just don’t completely understand this notion of aptocracy and maybe I’m passing unfair judgment. 

The first thing that pops into my mind when asked about what happened to yahoo? “Like Apple, Google has lured the young and the early adopters by making the utilitarian — say, Gmail — seem hip. Part of the allure stems from the clean Euro-minimalist design of its applications.” I don’t think I would go as far as “HIP”, but whatever. I like my macbook because of it’s simplicity. Just like I like google for it’s simplicity (on it’s home page). Everyone goes to the google homepage and is relieved, because FINALLY, a webpage without trending celebrity news and advertisements. It’s homepage is simple and clean cut. Yahoo’s homepage is the complete opposite. It’s busy and is constantly trying to sell you things. I still have a yahoo email address, simply because I’m too lazy to switch everything over to gmail. I’m guilty of reading the dumb little Yahoo headlines every once in a while (NOT the horoscopes!) , but I still get annoyed with them. I have to agree with Travis, Yahoo doesn’t even look like search engine anymore. I’m not even sure what it looks like anymore.