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Nevermind complicated algorithms and personalized content streams according to past search patterns and the like - Google has, for only the second time in its history, decided to offer specific results, a sort of guidance, in response to select search terms. When users search for phrases such as "ways to commit suicide" or "suicidal thoughts", they now see the toll-free number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at the top of their results. We have to wonder - when will Google advise users buying cigarettes to seek help too? Sponsor The New York Times quotes Dr. Roni Zeiger, the chief health stategist for Google, as saying that the idea came from a Google user. "A mother wrote in a suggestion to us -- her daughter had swallowed something that she thought was dangerous, and she had a hard time finding poison control," Dr. Zeiger said. "Now when you search for poison control or similar queries, we make it straightforward to find the number for poison control." So can we be as callous here as to wonder where else the company might take this? Can anyone really take issue with a company offering the phone number of a suicide prevention hotline to those looking up phrases like "I want to die"? Perhaps this could be a new direction - rather than simply offering results directly related to a user's query, or looking to personalize content by looking at what friends and peers are looking at, or even looking at a users history, Google could offer up a Devil's Advocate set of results on every query. Looking for a brand new SUV? While you're at it, why not consider this beautiful, used bicycle that will help save the environment? Cheap cigarettes? Didn't you mean Nicorette gum? McDonalds? Why yes, we do have a few diet programs and some instructions on healthy eating. In reality, we think that this could be a great compliment to all those apps and engines out there that simply look to show you exactly what you're looking for before you ever even get to searching . Let's use the web to challenge ideas, not simply echo them. As long as results are clearly identified, is there a problem? While this is a loaded area to look at (questioning Google's action can be made to seem as if it were a promotion of suicide) we still think there are interesting implications to its actions that should be considered. Do we want Google to simply act as a firehose of data or can we expect it to tailor its results to do better for the world? And who's version of better will it go by if we do? What do you think? Discuss
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Google Gives Suicide Hotline Number For Certain Searches: Diets For Fast Food Next?
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You're looking at what might be the first published cartoon created on an iPad. (Certainly the first one published on ReadWriteWeb.) From the moment rumours about an Apple tablet got serious, I was eager to learn whether it could be a vehicle for actual cartooning. Much of the buzz wasn't promising, suggesting the device would be geared more to consumers than content creators. Sponsor Yet even a device as small as the iPhone has shown remarkable potential with the advent of software like Brushes , which produced artwork good enough - admittedly, thanks to a very talented artist - to become a New Yorker cover . So when Steve Jobs made his Jan. 27 announcement, I was hoping against hope to hear that the device might be a worthy competitor to my beloved (but heavy and unwieldy) Cintiq . In retrospect, that was wildly unrealistic, but I was still disappointed not to hear words like "pressure-sensitive" or "stylus". Yesterday, thanks to the heroic early-morning efforts of my wife , I got my hands on an iPad of my own. And after seeing what my daughter did with Doodle Buddy, I quickly installed Brushes and Autodesk's SketchBook Pro - two drawing apps for nominal grown-ups. After a little experimentation, I landed on SketchBook as my tool of choice for my first experimental cartoon. Still, I had a problem: my big ol' meaty index finger, which is not only a terribly imprecise drawing tool but also a very effective obstacle to seeing just what it is I'm drawing. I quickly found myself hankering for the fine-grained control of my Cintiq's stylus. That was when I remembered the Pogo Sketch ... and discovered it was sold at the same Apple store that sold us our iPads. The Sketch is a slender stylus ending, not in a thin nylon tip like a Wacom stylus, but a soft kind-of-rubbery material that does the same capacitive magic as your finger. And in conjunction with SketchBook Pro, it seemed to mimic pressure-sensitivity. (That's important to many cartoonists, who like the dynamic feel of a line that changes width as they draw.) Most important, it allowed a degree of precision and control I just can't get with my finger, and it allowed me to draw the cartoon you see here. I can't say it's the same quality as cartoons I draw on the Cintiq or with pen and ink... but it's infinitely better than anything I'd achieved on the iPhone. And to me, at least, it holds the promise - as I get a little more practice - of becoming a truly portable sketching, inking and coloring solution. I can see it coming in handy for liveblogging, rough sketches or, on the road, an alternative to more desperate measures . How about you - if you're planning on getting an iPad, will you be using it mainly to read, view and hear content, or will it be a creative outlet, too? And if so, what are you going to make? More Noise to Signal. Discuss
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Cartoon: iPad: Content Reader Or Creative Platform?
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What if we took the leading sensor-based products currently being developed or already on the market, put them all under one roof, and added a typical American family? Would they just be the techiest family on the block, or would it have a significant impact on their lives? Here are six ways this Internet of Things family can see their lives change. They exercise more, save energy and water, budget better, know where their kids are at any moment, and they'll always have the right lighting for activities in the house. Sponsor Bank Account-based Motivation We
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6 Ways to Better Living: Inside an Internet of Things Home
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