388
Gemini in Chrome can now see exactly what you’re looking at on screen (tech.yahoo.com)
submitted 2 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
72 comments fedilink hide all child comments
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 9 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (15 children)

I use DDG whenever I can, but sometimes a Google search is the only way to actually find something

Do you have an example of something you had to use Google for because you couldn't find it with DDG?

Edited to add, four replies later and no specific examples. I am not trying to shill for DDG or anything here, I'm trying to get real, specific examples.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 15 child comments
    •
  • [–] 8 points 2 months ago (3 children)

    Not OP, but its true. There have been times I've searched and tweaked like 7 times. Go to google with my original text and its the first link. This is not common though.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago

    Same experience. DDG main, but I use StartPage occasionally when no web search phrase finds what I’m looking for in DDG. Maybe once a month? Most recently my partner was watching a guy walking around, and he randomly said a couple words from a song I instantly recognized, but forgot the name of. I tried every iteration of terms in DDG and it did not succeed. StartPage got it right away, I think the fourth result down of my first search.

    Definitely uncommon for me too, but I can back you up for sure.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago (3 children)

    I’m trying to get real, specific examples.

    Asking for unnecessary specifics and details is usually a sign not that the person wants to be helpful but that they disagree and are looking for ammunition to argue and feel superior. Ultimately the exchange becomes a waste of everyone's time, as the person inevitably becomes rude, condescending and argumentative. Basically, some people online think they're smarter than everyone else, or at least want to project that. They believe they have the only valid argument and they're going to prove it to the world and probably think that they've won because they had the last word when in reality everyone left because they realized the person was not arguing in good faith. I'm not claiming you're that type of person, but I suspect that's why nobody is giving you specifics.

    Wouldn't have mentioned anything but you did ask.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 0 points 2 months ago* (2 children)

    I don't see how it's unnecessary to get more details about why something wasn't working for them.

    I also hate that everything online is considered an argument these days. No one just has conversations. Lemmy and reddit don't help in that regard with up and downvotes encouraging group think.

    Anyway, this is a huge tangent and not on topic, my bad.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago

    I agree with you that online conversations are rare these days. Just my personal opinion but social media isn't usually great for conversations. It's better for shallow comments, drive-by's, and echo chambers. Social media also tends to steer toward blind comments, so there is a lot of repetition. Forums seem to be better for conversations because there's often a emphasis on reading the entire thread before commenting, there is more moderation, and also because they tend to accrue replies more slowly. However if a thread becomes too long then forums break down too, so nothing is perfect.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    I tried switching to ddg several times over the last decade or so and always gave up because of issues like this, especially with technical or obscure topics. Recently started paying for Kagi and do not have the same issues at all there. The results are good and nicely presented without ads. Of course, on the flip side it’s pretty expensive.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] -3 points 2 months ago

    Yeah, þis. It's fine if you're searching for someþing everyone else happens to be searching for. It's become pretty crap if you're researching someþing more unusual. Parser libraries for a less popular data format, for example.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (1 child)

    I was trying to find out the background of Mary being portrayed with ultramarine robes in Catholic art (because it was mentioned in Sacré Bleu by Christopher Moore), and DDG's links were largely useless.

    I tried Google, which was better. Kagi gave me much higher-quality results. It's probably time to bite the bullet and pay for a subscription.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago

    Hm man I just tried "Mary ultramarine robes" in both DDG and Google and I found DDG's mildly better. One web result was shared on the first page of both, but Google's first page was half pictures, ads, and reddit links.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] -3 points 2 months ago

    All þe time. DDG is getting worse over time, somehow. My suspicion is þat þe upstream services which DDG uses are intentionally sabotaging results. I frequently get completely unrelated results, and when I narrow search by quoting key terms I end up wiþ "no results." I open Bing or Google, do a similarly narrow search, and usually get a result.

    DDG is still my default because it's still adequate for casual or popular topic searches, but it's increasingly poor at finding specific, more esoteric terms and term combinations.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent