Ever wondered how Google’s search works? The company launched a new website Friday, appropriately called How Search Works, to give you a behind-the-scenes look at the process from start to finish.

“Here you can follow the entire life of a search query, from the web, to crawling and indexing, to algorithmic ranking and serving, to fighting webspam,” Google Product Manager Jake Hubert said in a blog post announcing the page.

“The site complements existing resources, including this blog [Google’s Inside Search blog], the help center, user forums, Webmaster Tools, and in-depth research papers. We hope the site helps to illuminate the split-second journey from algorithms to answers,” he added.

On the site you can check out an animated explanation of search, as well as take a closer look at Google’s major search algorithms and features. A live slideshow gives you a glimpse at how Google removes spam, and complementing graphs show the spam problem and how Google is fighting it.
Search enthusiasts can also read an included 43-page document on how Google evaluates its search results.

You can check out How Search Works here.



Image courtesy of Flickr, Robert Scoble; Screenshot courtesy of Google































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You can access plenty of service online when learning to code: Codecademy, Skillshare, Treehouse, Code School, Learn Code The Hard Way, Udemy, General Assembly, Udacity and the list goes on. Some charge per class or by monthly membership, while others are free or accept donations.

But still, learning anything outside traditional education requires personal initiative. For many people, it will involve setting aside time outside of a regular day job in which you do something other than programming. But as our world is more and more influenced by what we're able to accomplish with code, being a maker of such programs gives a person an advantage in nearly any industry.

Here are a few apps made by people who had just learned to code. Some have gone on to do greater things, while others might stick around and build their basic prototype into a full-fledged product. At least one is generating enough revenue to make a living on apps he built.

Have you tried to learn to code? What would you want to build? Tell us in the comments.

1. SimpleTax


SimpleTax is a program to help people in Canada file their taxes. Right now, you can sign up with your email address to be notified when the program is live — but while you're waiting, try out the tax calculator, which is already functional. This app is being built by Jonathan Suter, who learned to code with Codecademy.

2. Sworkit

Sworkit is a mobile app that gives users circuit training workouts they can do anywhere. Some example workouts target core, upper body or stretching, and the app also includes cardio workouts and yoga.

Army veteran Ryan Hanna built Sworkit in 2012 as a project to help him learn programming. He used Codecademy lessons to teach himself to code.

3. Open Office Hours



This app lets anyone post office hours along with where they'll be, whether it is a physical location or on Skype. It's also a great place to browse interesting people you might want to meet — and if they are available, you can easily set up that meeting.

Nate Westheimer, executive director at New York Tech Meetup, built the app after learning to code. He explains in a blog post how frustrating it is to work at startups as the product person without being able to build prototypes yourself.

4. BrideBook

This app helps soon-to-be brides keep track of the important things while planning a wedding. Once signed up, you can put in your fiancé's name, the wedding date and other details, including the budget, a guest list, tasks alongside timeframes and businesses, such as the caterer or floral arrangement shop you plan to use.

BrideBook was built by Manuel da Costa, who learned to code through One Month Rails on Skillshare, Michael Hartl's tutorial and Codeschool. Right now the app is tailored for use in the UK, but even without logging your "real" location — features such as the wedding countdown and task lists are still useful. Da Costa is getting user feedback and testing the business model now, and will consider expanding internationally in the future.

5. Reminder Apps

After learning to code through Treehouse, Jordan Garn built three iOS apps, all paid, and now earns $2,000 each month from sales.

One app helps users create an exercise or diet plan, with reminders. Another is focused on good habits, and allows you to track progress (after all, it takes 30 days to build a habit). The last is more general — for any kind of reminders.

6. Major Finder



This app isn't quite finished, but we can already tell it could become quite useful. For anyone who took months, or years, to finally pick a major: What if there was a place to browse and ask people, at schools from all over, what studying for their major was like?

Major Finder was built by a One Month Rails Skillshare student.

7. BusNear.me

This app will ask permission to check your location, and assuming you're in New York, it can indicate which buses are nearby. It's simple, designed for a mobile browser and laid out very simply.
BusNear Me was built by Jonathan Werbell, who took a class at Skillshare and works at Bloomberg Philanthropies.

8. Instacurate

Instacurate uses a hashtag or Twitter user to generate a Pinterest-style layout of links — curated, if you will. When you're looking for the latest news on a trending topic, it might be a fun way to browse.

The app was built by David Bauer, who completed Codecademy's CodeYear. After initially signing up, he took a six-month break before returning to the coding lessons. With his project, he says that the community at Github was helpful with the trickier portions of the app.

9. Worst Best Hairy Chest



Remember the old grade school fable: "First the worst / Second the best / Third the one with the hairy chest"? Well, one Skillshare student, Joshua Beckerman, built an app that passes judgement on who or what is good, bad or plain weird. Right now the site shows a few examples but doesn't seem to be accepting new ones.
Mashable composite. Images via iStockphoto, leluconcepts









































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For the last year or so, Java seems to have spawned a never-ending flow of security bugs, partly because of the software environment's invisibility to end users and partly because of the system access it allows.

In January alone, two different Java vulnerabilities were attacked by widespread browser exploit kits. At least one of those Java flaws led to the recently disclosed network penetrations of Apple, Facebook and Microsoft, and may have also been involved in the compromise of 250,000 Twitter accounts.

Because of these dangers, many security experts recommend that users disable Java browser plug-ins, or even to take the more drastic step of uninstalling the underlying Java Runtime Environment (JRE) entirely.

Those recommendations may make sense for many, but they are not blanket solutions for all users with Java installed on their machines.

Caffeinated World

The problem is that Java, in one form or another, is still used for a lot of things that people want and need to do. It might be an essential element of running programs that you never considered.

If, for example, you are one of the millions of people who enjoy playing Minecraft or RuneScape, you'll need Java installed on your machine. If you play "World of Warcraft," getting rid of Java might leave you without the use of the game's launcher.

If you're a creative professional, Adobe's Creative Suite, which includes applications such as Photoshop, Illustrator and Premiere, relies on Java to exchange information among applications. If you're a user of free office software like OpenOffice and LibreOffice, both programs use Java.

None of those applications normally access websites, so leaving Java installed on your computer while disabling it in your Web browsers will let you use those pieces of software while minimizing your exposure to malware.

Unfortunately, that isn't possible with many web-facing business applications that absolutely require that Java plug-ins be active in a browser, such as web-conferencing software like Citrix's GoToMeeting or Cisco's WebEx.

Let's Be Careful Out There

For some people, turning off Java in the browser is simply not a realistic option. So what can you do to mitigate your risks when using Java on the Web?

The first thing is to follow information-security best practices, which will make it harder for malicious code to infect and damage your system.

"Use anti-virus, anti-malware software and a firewall," said Ross Barrett, senior manager of security engineering at Boston-based Rapid7. "Browse with a user account that does not have administrator privileges.”

There are also some basic Java security precautions that you can take to make sure that you are limiting your risks.

"Java users should stay up to date with patches and software revisions. When an update comes out, apply it immediately. This drastically lowers your surface of exposure and ensures that you have the latest built-in protections," Barrett said.

"Turn up [Java's] security settings," he added. "This will mean that you'll get frequent warning messages and alerts while you browse — don't ignore them."

Twice the Fun

End users may want to try a "double browser" strategy.

“If you do rely on websites that require Java, consider installing a second browser and turning Java on in that browser only," said Richard Wang, senior security manager at the British anti-virus firm Sophos. "Use it for your Java-based websites only, and stick to your Java-disabled main browser for everything else."

For businesses, people who work at home or anyone with an abundance of sensitive data to protect, a beefier version of this strategy can keep Java security problems from becoming system-wide issues.

“You should make a list of all the tools you use on a regular basis and that require Java. Then, run these tools in a virtual machine or other isolated environment," said Tim Erlin, director of IT security and risk strategy for San Francisco's nCircle, referring to software-based computer emulators that essentially "live" inside other computers.

"If you find that you need Java for many of your routine tasks," Erlin said, "it might be time to consider evaluating alternate tools that don't require Java."

Will these strategies be a silver bullet that will protect you from all of the security problems that have been plaguing Java on the Web? No, but in IT security there are no guarantees. You can only mitigate your risks and take reasonable precautions.

After all, Java is not the only browser plug-in that can be exploited to install malicious code. If you uninstalled or disabled every possible risk, then the Web would lose the majority of its functionality.

Practical security is about playing the odds and getting the best possible protection without putting everything on lockdown.











































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MWC gadgets

Gadgets at the Mobile World Congress























BARCELONA — Alongside announcements from big companies, there are dozens of startups trying to push their products at the Mobile World Congress each year, usually under the umbrella of smaller shows such as Showstoppers or Mobile Focus Global.

The shows always provide a nice overview of mobile trends, off-beat gadgets and yet-to-become mainstream technology — and this year was no exception. In nearly seven hours of browsing through countless companies' stands, Mashable found quite a few that caught our eye (although many of these products already debuted at the Consumer Electronics Show last month in Las Vegas).

Similar to last year, waterproof gadgets and rugged cases seem to be a big trend. Standout companies include: Australia-based Cygnett, which makes fashionable iPhone, iPod and Galaxy S III cases, Lifeproof, which makes everything-proof gadget cases, and Kyocera, which showcased their nearly indestructible Android phone called Torque.

'We're very good at making cheap Android phones, and we're good at making rugged gadgets. Now we've connected the two," Kyocera said. At its stand, the company featured a rugged iPhone case that costs around $70. Their Torque phone, equally rugged, costs $99.

Audio gadgets are also popular this year. Jabra showed us their Vox in-ear earphones, which feature a unique magnet-equipped cord that prevents them from getting tangled inside your pocket. The company also had the Revo corded and wireless headphones, both constructed from an aluminum frame and memory foam ear cups.

Zagg showcased a unique two-in-one speaker system that has a large module and a small one. Users connect their phone to the smaller module, which is battery-powered and has a speaker, via Bluetooth. To get a louder sound, they can plug the smaller module into the larger one. At 249 euros, the Origin portable speaker is not exactly cheap, but it's definitely versatile.

And if all that's not enough, Olloclip exhibited its 3-in-1 iPhone camera lens (now also supporting the iPhone 5), which quickly and easily adds fish-eye, wide-angle and macro capabilities to your iPhone camera.

So, there you have it: With a few hundred dollars to spare, you can add some serious audio and video features to your iPhone or iPod touch (most manufacturers also support the Galaxy S III, but few venture further into Android-land) — not to mention protect them from almost anything.

Check out photos of 10 gadgets at the Mobile World Congress that can supercharge your phone in the gallery, above.










































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Can’t wait to get your hands on Google Glass? You might not have to wait much longer.

In an interview, Google Glass product director Steve Lee told The Verge that it plans to have a “fully-polished” version of Glass available for consumers by the end of 2013. Even better? Glass will be priced at less than $1500 when it goes on sale.

Google took orders for an Explorer Edition of Glass during its developer conference last year. Restricted to developers who were attending the conference, Google said at the time that the Explorer Edition would be $1500. It’s expected to be in developers' hands early this year.

The company opened up additional pre-orders for the device earlier this week, requiring those interested to tell Google “what you would do if you had Glass” on Twitter or Google+ using the hashtag #ifihadglass.

A patent for Glass made public this week showed that the company may have plans for more than one design of the unique device.

Are you looking forward to the release of Google Glass? Let us know what you would do #ifihadglass in the comments.

Photo by Pete Pachal, Mashable

Google Glass: The Patent

Google Glass, Alternate Design 1

Although Google Glass has been shown as an minimalist eyewear frame, Google suggested other designs in its patent, including this normal-looking pair of eyeglasses. Google says either lens could be used as the "projection system" and component 118 is the CPU.



Alternate Design 2

This take on Google Glass resembles cheap 3D glasses, but that's probably just a coincidence. The patent says elements 128 and 132 would be scanning lasers for projecting images and text right on the lenses.



Alternate Design 3

Although this is another full-lens design, it's closer to the current execution of Google Glass, with the active-display area confined to one part of one side of the wearer's field of view.



Frame Design

This design appears to be depicting Google Glass as it exists so far. Element 203 is the only "lens," which overlays computer graphics on the wearer's POV.



Network Schematic

This is a diagram of the computer network infrastructure for Google Glass. The actual device (Part 310) doesn't necessarily need to be a headset -- Google suggests a heads-up display in the patent. The connection to remote computing power (330) via a wireless connection (320) would be essential, and it could be achieved on the device or via a cellphone.



Google Glass Hardware

Here's more detail in how the hardware will be configured. Note how one of the arms contains all the electronics: Google describes elements 70, 72 and 76 as potentially touch-based inputs. Element 80 contains the battery, and 82 is a charging port.



Hardware, Alternate Angle

Another view of the hardware



Display Housing, Exploded View

This diagram gives more detail on the how the camera/display mechanism will work. The circular elements, (62, 66) could allow the wearer to rotate just the display.



Controls With Display Housing

Here are the touch controls (70, 72 and 76) close up. Element 68 is a hard button locking the device or engaging sleep mode.



Display Prism, Angle

This shows how the display will work when positioned at an angle to the center of the wearer's eye, as it is in the current version of the device.



Display Prism, Straight
Here, the display is at or close to a right angle to the wearer's vision, which Google says is for "optimal viewing."



Display Prism, Translational Positioning

This diagram shows how the wearer would be able to adjust the horizontal position of the prism (between P1 and P2 positions), so the display is aligned with the eye.



















































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A new report from product Q & A site FixYa found that the iPhone was more reliable than smartphones made by Motorola, Samsung and Nokia.

The study looked at data from 722,558 problem reports listed on the site, and combined that information with market share data from StatCounter to create an ultimate reliability score for each smartphone manufacturer.

Apple scored a 3.47 on FixYa’s Reliability Reporter — roughly three times more than Samsung’s 1.21 — and 25 times more than Motorola.



“Smartphones are consistently being compared on a case-by-case basis, but no one has looked at the overall trends across a manufacturer's entire smartphone line,” said FixYa CEO and founder Yaniv Bensadon in a press release announcing the results of the study.

“Our newest FixYa report looks at lines like the iPhone, Galaxy, or Lumia, and through a careful analysis of issues versus market share, we’ve been able to directly compare manufacturers using a reliability score. The result is an accurate and fair method of a scaled approach to fairly compare these top companies to truly see who is the most reliable, and who is barely even competing.”

Deeper than just comparing one model of phone to another, FixYa’s report looks at the brands' product lines as a whole, noting common complaints for each one.

Apple users, for instance, complain about the device’s battery life, lack of new features and customizability, and issues connecting to Wi-Fi.

Samsung smartphone users have entirely different problems, with issues surrounding the microphone and speaker on the phones as well as battery life. Samsung customers also complain that their device gets hot.

Device temperature was also an issue for Nokia customers, who complained about not only the device getting hot, but also laggy response time, a poor app ecosystem and poor battery life.

Motorola owners, who ranked the least satisfied with their handsets, were the only ones who didn’t complain about battery life (perhaps due to the fantastic battery on the Droid Razr and Droid Razr Maxx). Instead they had issues with the device’s camera and speaker quality, as well as problems with the touchscreen. Motorola owners were most dissatisfied with the apps that came preinstalled on their devices.

You can check out FixYa’s complete report now on its website.

Image via iStockphoto, krystiannawrocki






































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FIFA, soccer's global governing body, confirmed this week that goal-line technology will be used at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

That will mark the first time the planet's biggest single-sport event uses the high-tech method of determining whether or not the ball crosses the plane of the goal.

Goal-line technology was used at the Club World Cup in December and will be used again at this summer's Confederations Cup — a World Cup preview of sorts held in the big event's host nation one year before the World Cup.

High profile soccer matches have been beset by a number of did-he-or-didn't-he scoring controversies over the years. Judging controversial goals in soccer is especially difficult, because scoring requires the entire ball to completely cross the goal line. That can make it quite tough for referees to judge an iffy shot unless they have an optimal angle and line of sight.

"After a successful implementation of Goal-Line Technology (GLT) at the Club World Cup in Japan in December 2012, FIFA has decided to use GLT at the 2013 Confederations Cup in Brazil and the 2014 World Cup in Brazil," a FIFA statement read this week. "The aim is to use GLT in order to support the match officials and to install a system in all stadia, pending the successful installation, and pre-match referee tests.

There are a number of similar products out there, however, and just which one makes it to Brazil remains to be seen. According to the BBC, products called GoalRef and Hawk-Eye, along with additional bids from a pair of unnamed German firms, will be considered. FIFA is expected to make a decision by some time this April.

While GoalRef and Hawk-Eye both achieve the same ends, their respective means of doing so rely on differing technological approaches.

Hawk-Eye, which is owned by Sony, uses high-speed video cameras positioned at different angles to determine the ball's precise location via triangulation. GoalRef, which is produced by the German company Fraunhofer, uses magnetic sensors to determine whether or not a goal was scored.

Do you think goal-line technology should be included in the 2014 World Cup, or is a bit of uncertainty just part of the game? Give us your take in the comments.
































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