Google's fight to keep search a secret
The debate isn't new, but it's growing: Should Google be forced to open up about its search technology to assure everyone it's operating on the level?
Can Google keep a secret?
Conspiracy theorists disinclined to read any further, fire away about the NSA and Wi-Fi-gate. The actual topic of this discussion is more basic to Google's core identity: should it be required to disclose how its secret recipe for organizing the Internet is put together as to assure regulators and Internet publishers that it isn't gaming the results?
The New York Times fired the first salvo--at least this week--suggesting in an editorial Wednesday that "the potential impact of Google's algorithm on the Internet economy is such that it is worth exploring ways to ensure that the editorial policy guiding Google's tweaks is solely intended to improve the quality of the results and not to help Google's other businesses." That was quickly followed by an opinion piece in The Financial Times credited to Google's Marissa Mayer, vice president of search products and user experience, defending Google's need to keep that formula secret because "if search engines were forced to disclose their algorithms and not just the signals they use, or, worse, if they had to use a standardized algorithm, spammers would certainly use that knowledge to game the system, making the results suspect."
It's just the latest headache for Google when it comes to federal regulation both at home and in Europe, which is probably why it chose to place its op-ed piece in the FT. Simply put, there are a growing number of regulators, agitators, and regular people who just don't trust Google when it comes to the integrity of its search results.
For years it was enough for Google to proclaim its independence and the public took it at its word, especially because of the quality of its search results compared with alternatives and the benefits those results brought to most businesses on the Web. But suspicion has grown ever since Google's 2007 move to introduce universal search technology that shone a brighter spotlight on its own vertical search categories, highlighting results for images, maps, products, and news within the main search results page.
There is a clear argument for keeping Google's algorithms behind closed doors, even for a company that loves to work the word "open" into nearly every public statement it makes. It's one that acknowledges the dark side of the Internet: billions are already spent in hopes of gaming Google's search results, and spammers, hucksters, and criminals intent on doing damage will have a far easier time doing so if they have educated knowledge as to where to place their bets.
In addition, if Google's algorithms are revealed, then why shouldn't Yahoo's or Microsoft's also see the air? Or even Ask.com's? After all, if Google were to become the MySpace of search engines, overrun with spam and generally unpalatable, traffic would flow in to those other companies and the entire process would just repeat itself elsewhere. The end result would not be good for the Internet.
Yet even though Google has done a great deal of good for the world, it's still a for-profit corporation controlled by just three men. Google is the front door to the Internet for hundreds of millions of people, and while it has been instrumental in bringing the benefits of that medium to the world it would be unwise to assume that any corporation will always act in the interest of the public good until this world crumbles.
This is a harder dilemma than it may seem, and it's probably one that can't be solved with an algorithm. Google needs to figure out a way to shore up the public's confidence in its integrity while continuing to stay one step ahead of those who are dying for the chance to exploit its search technology for their own benefit.
Otherwise, someone else will make that decision for them, resulting in either ham-handed regulation with any number of unintended consequences or the decline of Google's effectiveness as the links between the world's questions and the world's answers. Those turned off by Google's arrogance may celebrate that in the short term, but don't expect any rivals that fill Google's shoes to avoid one day traveling down the same road.
Get Back 15GB of Gmail Storage Space for Free
Inbox zero is possible, and you don't have to delete all your old messages to get there.
If you can't decide which of your thousands of old messages are worth keeping, this hack will let you keep everything without paying for more storage.
You've got mail -- but your inbox is full. If you've had your Gmail account for a few years, you're probably close to using up the 15GB of free storage. Even if you delete a few spammy emails or unsubscribe to those newsletters you stopped reading, you might still have thousands of unread messages. And if the idea of cleaning out your Gmail inbox fills you with dread, and you don't want to start paying for extra storage, read on: We'll show you the easiest way to get your account back to inbox zero while keeping all your old email.
All you need to do is create a second Gmail account to store all of your current messages. There's no restriction on the number of free Google accounts you can own, which means you can set one up as a dedicated archive account, and then transfer all your old emails to it.
Transferring your Gmail messages is also a great strategy if you have a school or business Gmail account that you won't be able to access permanently. Most universities and businesses will deactivate your account once you are no longer a student or employee, so if you want to view your old messages and files, you'll have to port them to a personal account before you lose access.
Completing the whole process of transferring your Gmail messages to a new account doesn't take too long, but it will be dependent on just how many messages you have. We'll walk you through the simple process of transferring your emails from your old account to a new one (including the important step of backing everything up first).
For more about Gmail, learn about its new AI summaries or how to use emoji reactions.
How much data can you store on Gmail?
Fifteen gigabytes of free storage may sound like a lot when you make a Gmail account, but it gets filled up quickly. For starters, the 15GB isn't just used for email: it also includes the files you've saved in your Google Drive and Google Photos.
If you frequently send or receive messages that contain large files such as videos, or if you find yourself uploading a lot of pictures and videos to your Google Photos, then it won't be long before you'll see the "Account storage is full" notification. This means that you will no longer be able to send or receive emails on this account, so you'll want to do something ASAP.
The quickest solution is to upgrade to a Google One account. Even if you opt for the least expensive plan -- 100GB for $20/year -- you'll still end up paying money to store old emails that you might not even need anymore.
If you don't want to buy more storage, you can always delete your old emails. You can get back a surprising amount of storage space by putting large files in the trash. Gmail makes it easy for you to identify and delete files by size. Even so, that option might seem tedious; maybe you don't want to spend hours sifting through correspondence from a decade or more ago, deciding which memories to keep and which to get rid of forever.
There's always the option to download large files to your desktop before you delete them from your Google account, but at some point, you'll probably run into the same issue with your local files and have to manage the storage space on your device.
This brings us to our "nuclear option:" Transferring all your emails to a new Gmail account.
How to transfer your Gmail messages to a new email account
Before you start the Gmail transfer process, we recommend that you back up your emails. You can do this by downloading your emails either to your computer or an external hard drive. You can delete the backup after you finish transferring the emails to your new account if you like, but it's always a good idea to have an extra copy stored locally.
To back up your Gmail messages, go to Google Takeout. Using our test Gmail account that held about 75,000 messages, we got a download from Google Takeout in about 2 hours.
Once you've saved a copy of your emails, you're ready to begin transferring them. Here are the steps you need to take:
1. Start by logging into your original Gmail account, clicking the "gear" icon in the top right and clicking See all settings.
2. Select the Forwarding POP/IMAP tab, and then select the option Enable POP for all mail (POP stands for Post Office Protocol).
3. You'll have several options under When messages are accessed with POP. To automatically delete the emails from your original account after the transfer, select delete Gmail's copy.
4. Select Save Changes.
Now it's time to create your new account and transfer all your messages there:
If you haven't already done so, create your brand new, inbox-zero Gmail account -- we'll call this your archive account.
1. Login to your new archive account, click the gear icon at the top and select See all settings.
2. Select the Accounts and Import tab at the top, and then select Add a mail account next to Check mail from other accounts.
3. In the pop-up window, enter in the name of your original Gmail account. Select Next.
4. Select Import emails from my other account (POP3), andselect Next again.
5. Enter the password of your original Gmail account. You might also be required to create a Google app password (see note below).
6. Select 995 under Port.
7. Check these 3 boxes: Always use a secure connection (SSL) when retrieving mail, Label incoming messages, Archive incoming messages (Skip the Inbox)
8. Select Add Account.
You'll probably need to create a Google app password to transfer Gmail messages
We tested this Gmail message transfer process twice, and both times the standard password for the Gmail accounts did not work. After a bit of research, we determined that we'd need to create a temporary "app password" to sync the accounts.
Google app passwords are 16-digit passcodes created for "less secure" apps or devices to access your Google account. They work exactly like your Google password.
If your regular Google password doesn't work for syncing Gmail accounts, visit https://myaccount.google.com/apppasswords to create an app password. Simply create a name for the password -- we used "Transfer Bulk Email" -- and then hit the Create button. You'll get a pop-up window with your new 16-digit passcode.
Once you've created the app password, return to step 6 of the instructions above and use that new app password instead of your usual password.
Important: Google will only display your app password once. After you've created it, you can't ask to see it again, so be sure to write it down or otherwise record it after it's been created.
Google's own Help Center mentions that "app passwords aren't recommended and are unnecessary in most cases." So once you're done transferring your Gmail messages, we recommend deleting your app password.
What happens after my Gmail accounts are synced?
Once you've successfully linked your new Gmail archive account to your original account, your emails should begin to transfer automatically. The process could take several hours or days, depending on how many emails you have.
In our test account with about 75,000 messages, we found that it took Gmail about 2 full days to transfer all of them from the original account to the new archived mail account.
Important: After transferring your Gmail messages to your archived mail account, your original Gmail account will place all those messages in the Trash folder, which you'll need to empty manually. Clearing out those 75,000 messages from the Trash took about an hour.
Before transferring Gmail messages, our test account was using a little more than 12GB, or 80%, of Google's free 15GB. After transferring, the account was only using 0.66GB, of which 0.06GB was from Gmail.
What Gmail messages won't be transferred?
We found that Gmail transferred all of our messages except for two categories -- Drafts and Spam.
You'll need to decide what to do with your Drafts manually. Spam messages are automatically deleted every 30 days, so you can let Gmail handle that, or go into the Spam folder yourself after transferring your mail and delete or forward those messages.
Once all of your emails have been imported to your new account, enjoy the experience of inbox zero. You've given your original account a new lease on life.
At this point, there are two last steps: you'll want to stop the automatic transfer process so that you can continue using your original account, and you'll want to delete that app password if you had to make one.
1. Login to your new account, go into your Settings and select See all settings.
2. Select the Accounts and Import tab, and then select delete for your original account (under Check mail from other accounts.)
3. When prompted to Confirm delete mail account, select OK.
If you had to create a Google app password and want to delete it now, go back to https://myaccount.google.com/apppasswords and click the trashcan icon next to the password you created.
Congrats, you're done.
One important final note: Google will delete accounts that have been inactive for more than two years. So make sure you don't completely ignore all your old emails after transferring them. If you don't plan to regularly use your archive account to send email, you can still keep the account active by signing in at least once every two years.
Daylight Saving Time Is Almost Over. Here's When It Ends
The annual time change is almost upon us. Here are some tips on how to handle the transition as you turn back the clocks this fall.
Fall is officially here, and it's almost time to turn back your clocks (and mentally prepare yourself for the darkness to arrive in the afternoon.) So get ready to bust out Cher's If I Could Turn Back Time, the unofficial soundtrack to the annual ritual of daylight saving time coming to an end.
The return of standard time happens in autumn and involves turning clocks back by an hour -- earning it the punny motto "fall back."
It can be a discombobulating experience as people across most of the country shift clocks and try to adjust to a new schedule. Here's what you need to know about the fall time change.
When does daylight saving time end?
In the US, DST ends on the first Sunday of November at 2 a.m. local time. For 2024, that lands on Nov. 3. Put a reminder on your calendar to change over any clocks that don't automatically make the switch. Many people find it helpful to change clocks right before bed rather than the next morning. While you're making calendar updates, pencil in Sunday, March 9, for the start of DST in 2025.
It's a little different across the world -- in the UK, daylight saving time ends on Oct. 27, and on the other side of the world where it's now spring, daylight saving time has already begun, with the clocks going forward an hour on Oct. 6 in much of Australia. Here's a handy list of countries that observe DST, and when it ends and begins in 2024.
Standard time vs. daylight saving time
The Time.gov website shows official US time and where the time zone boundaries are located.
The standardization of time in the US has a long and complicated history. The growth of railroads in America triggered the creation of time zones in 1883. DST was formally introduced in 1918, but it went in and out of favor and was applied inconsistently across the country until the arrival of the Uniform Time Act in 1966. "Motivated by transportation improvements, this act mandated standard time within the existing time zones and established a permanent system of uniform DST, including the dates and times for twice yearly transitions," the Bureau of Transportation Statistics said in a history of time zones.
See also: Does Daylight Saving Time Help With Energy Bills?
Arizona (with the exception of the Navajo Nation) and Hawaii stay on standard time year round. The rest of the country has to deal with the impact of biannual clock changes. It's not just sleep schedules that can suffer. There are many ways the changeover to DST affects your health.
The specific dates for DST and standard time can shift with each year. Daylight saving time starts on the second Sunday of March and ends on the first Sunday of November. The National Institute of Standards and Technology crunched the numbers and reports that DST is in effect for 238 days, or about 65% of the year. That might make DST seem more standard than standard time, but we're stuck with the historical terminology.
Will we ever get rid of time changes?
Time changes are controversial. Many people struggle to make the transition, especially when an hour disappears in the spring with daylight saving time. Here are some ways to restore your rest after losing an hour of sleep. Proponents of DST say it saves energy in the warmer months and provides longer "usable" daylight hours for outdoor activities. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine, however, has called for year-round standard time to best align with human circadian biology.
Politicians have made efforts to put an end to time changes nationally, but nothing has made it into law yet, and there's a debate as to whether daylight saving time or standard time would be better. The US Senate passed the Sunshine Protection Act -- a bipartisan bill that would make daylight saving time permanent -- in 2022, but that's as far as it went. "This ritual of changing time twice a year is stupid," Sen. Marco Rubio, a co-sponsor of the bill, said in 2023. Rubio continues to push for the legislation, but it shows no signs of moving forward in 2024.
Dealing with the fall time change
The "fall back" time change is usually seen as the good one because it seems like you're getting an extra hour of sleep. That only works if you're able to ignore your usual wake-up time and sleep in on Sunday.
Check out these tips for combating fatigue after a time change. Building good sleep habits shouldn't be reserved for time changes. Work on having a healthy sleep routine year-round and those pesky clock switches won't drag you down so much. Unless Congress gets into gear, we're stuck with spring forward and fall back for the foreseeable future.
When will daylight saving time be back?
Already sick of the early darkness? The long nights peak pretty soon, on Dec. 21, during the winter solstice. After that, it'll start getting gradually lighter each afternoon until daylight saving time finally comes back to the US on March 9, 2025.
Daylight saving returns to the UK on March 30 and ends for Australia on April 6.
I Tested the iPhone 16 Pro Max Cameras vs. the Galaxy S24 Ultra's; Here's My Discovery
Apple's new iPhone has a trio of rear cameras, but Samsung's S24 Ultra has one more, doubling up on the telephoto with 5x and 10x options. Here's how the two phones compare.
- Named a Tech Media Trailblazer by the Consumer Technology Association in 2019, a winner of SPJ NorCal's Excellence in Journalism Awards in 2022 and has three times been a finalist in the LA Press Club's National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards.
Which phone camera comes out on top?
The iPhone 16 Pro Max has been out less than a month and includes several improvements to its cameras, including a new shortcut button. Despite the fact that the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has been on sale for 9 months, it's likely Apple's biggest rival when it comes to photography. If you're a creative type, like a photographer or filmmaker, choosing which phone camera is best can be a tough decision. So I decided to test both phones against each other to find out.
It's always a fun challenge to see how two of the best smartphone cameras stack up. I spent a week shooting photos and videos with the iPhone 16 Pro Max and the Galaxy S24 Ultra to compare everything from sharpness to color contrast to zoom capabilities. Both phones certainly pulled their weight, but there were moments when each stole the spotlight.
Let's start off with some specs. The iPhone 16 Pro Max has a 48-megapixel main camera with a wide-angle lens, a 48-megapixel ultrawide camera and a 12-megapixel telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom. It also has a 12-megapixel front-facing camera. The iPhone 16 Pro Max can shoot up to 4K video at 120fps.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra, meanwhile, sports a 200-megapixel wide camera, a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera, a 10-megapixel camera with 3x optical zoom and a 50-megapixel telephoto lens with 5x optical zoom. It also has a 12-megapixel front-facing camera and can shoot up to 8K video resolution.
It's important to note that more megapixels don't automatically mean better photos, as a phone's software plays an important role too. The best way to get the full picture is to test out the cameras in the real world. Also, while I'm comparing photos taken at the default setting on each phone, customization is becoming a bigger focus through tools like the new Photographic Styles feature and tone mapping on the iPhone. That way, you can bump up saturation or contrast however you'd like.
Price-wise, the iPhone 16 Pro Max starts at $1,200 for 256GB of internal storage, while the Galaxy S24 Ultra will cost you $100 more for the same storage amount.
What's new on this year's iPhone lineup is the Camera Control button, which sits on the right side of the phone and lets you trigger the camera, snap photos and swipe to change settings like exposure, aperture and zoom. I've enjoyed using it as a shortcut to summon the camera, but don't yet see the appeal of doing much else with it, especially when using the touchscreen (the old-fashioned way) works just fine. (My colleague Bridget Carey has similar thoughts.) Thankfully, iPhone case makers like Speck and Otterbox have quickly developed cases to make that new button easily accessible, if you're like me and are trying to warm up to the concept while keeping your phone protected.
Now, let's get into the photos.
Favorite iPhone 16 Pro Max photos
Before jumping into the comparison, here are a few shots from the iPhone 16 Pro Max that really show how it shines.
An afternoon stroll at Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco. Notice the reflection on the water.
This nighttime shot is one of my favorites because of how crisp and vibrant all the colors are, and how rich the dark sky looks in the background too.
The best opportunity to test the 5x optical zoom was from the nosebleeds of Oakland Arena during a Hans Zimmer concert. It did not disappoint.
Another one with that 5x optical zoom, because I love how the golden hour light illuminates this shot at Lake Merritt.
iPhone 16 Pro Max vs. Galaxy S24 Ultra photo comparisons
To compare the cameras on these two phones, I toted them around San Francisco, brought them along on nighttime strolls and used them to shoot concert videos.
During an afternoon walk at Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco, the iPhone 16 Pro Max and Galaxy S24 Ultra both captured this satisfyingly crisp cascade. The S24 Ultra image is slightly brighter throughout, especially among the trees and shrubs in the background.
iPhone 16 Pro Max takes crisp photos, even with elements in motion.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra produces slightly brighter results.
These shots of a mural show a slightly higher overall brightness on the iPhone 16 Pro Max photo and deeper shades of each color on the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Both are beautifully eye-catching, and I'm impressed with how little variation there is between them.
iPhone 16 Pro Max delivers consistent results with vivid colors.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra's color photos show a bit more richness.
My favorite way to test portrait mode is by photographing a plant to see whether the camera picks up on any stray leaves of flowers and keeps them focused in the foreground. In this comparison, each phone does a comparable job in that regard, but I like how the S24 Ultra brightens the overall image and reduces a lot of those harsh shadows.
High contrast is typical in bright settings with the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra softens the shadows, in contrast.
Applying Portrait mode to pictures of people, these shots of my colleagues Faith Chihil and Jessica Fierro demonstrate that same brightness in the S24 Ultra photo, and the telephone booth in the background is a more vibrant red than in the iPhone photo. I actually prefer the iPhone 16 Pro Max image; the colors are darker but more true-to-life, bringing richness to the image by playing up the black of Faith's shirt and the blue of Jessica's jeans. Both photos feature a clean background blur.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max provides more realistic lighting in this photo.
You get slightly more brightness with indoor photos taken on the Galaxy S24 Ultra.
One of the features I was most eager to play with was camera zoom. The iPhone 16 Pro Max has .5x, 1x, 2x and 5x optical zoom, while the Galaxy S24 Ultra has .6x, 1x, 3x, 5x and 10x optical zoom.
The S24 Ultra's 10x zoom really is quite impressive, as it preserves the quality of the shot and its sharpness. The 5x zoom on the iPhone 16 Pro Max also showcases stunning detail and crispness. In these images of a skyscraper captured at a distance from Salesforce Park, the S24 Ultra again brightens up the overall shot, while the iPhone 16 Pro Max brings a sharpness that can best be seen by looking at the more defined windows of the building ahead.
.5 zoom on the iPhone 16 Pro Max results in higher sharpness.
1x zoom on the iPhone 16 Pro Max retains sharpness without distortion.
2x zoom on the iPhone 16 Pro Max, still with crystal clarity.
Even at 5x zoom on the iPhone 16 Pro Max, the detail impresses.
.6x zoom on the Galaxy S24 Ultra distorts perspective a bit but is brighter.
1x zoom on the Galaxy S24 Ultra with higher contrast between light and dark.
3x zoom on the Galaxy S24 Ultra with decently clear results.
Although not as crisp, the 5x zoom on the Galaxy S24 Ultra performs comparably.
The 10x zoom on the Galaxy S24 Ultra provides impressive range.
Flipping to the front-facing cameras, the biggest difference is in color, as the S24 Ultra brightens up my face and black shirt a bit more, while the iPhone 16 Pro Max depicts deeper colors throughout, from the green of my couch to my complexion. Even the wall behind me takes on more of a beige hue, as opposed to the grayer, more muted shade in the S24 Ultra image. Both photos are pleasingly sharp and focused.
More richness achieved with the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
Targeted brightness improves my complexion with the Galaxy S24 Ultra.
One of the areas in which I feel the iPhone has significantly improved over the years is with nighttime shots, and the iPhone 16 Pro Max did a great job of brightening up low-light images and making them pop. I still prefer this nighttime shot taken on the Galaxy S24 Ultra, since the sky is a more vivid blue, but the colorful lighting is similarly punchy in both photos.
Big improvements have been made to the iPhone 16 Pro Max's ability to take night photos.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra produces richer colors at night.
I brought both phones to Hans Zimmer Live to test out not only the quality of video footage but also zoom capabilities as I sat way in the nosebleeds. Both delivered crisp footage, despite all the flashing lights and my distance from the stage, but the S24 Ultra really came in clutch with that 10x optical zoom; I could clearly see Zimmer's face even from so far away. Other folks had their binoculars, I had the S24 Ultra.
The iPhone 16 Pro lineup introduces 4K slow-motion recording at 120fps, while the S24 Ultra has a UHD slow-motion setting at 120fps. That 4K setting on the iPhone brings a crispness and higher level of detail that makes these videos pop -- even if you don't really find yourself recording in slow motion all that often.
In other, more everyday instances, I still prefer video on the iPhone 16 Pro Max, as footage looks sharper and colors are more true-to-life. You'll get smooth shots, especially when set to 60fps, on both devices.
Both the iPhone 16 Pro Max and Galaxy S24 Ultra have their strengths.
Final thoughts
Given the iPhone 16 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra are some of the best camera phones you can get your hands on today, which images are "better" often comes down to personal preference.
I've always admired the vibrancy of photos captured on Galaxy phones; the higher saturation and brightness can offer richer-looking images, especially out in nature and with photos of people. I also admire the sharpness of photos and videos on the iPhone, and how images tend to appear more true to real-life colors.
Night mode used to be something that clearly set the Galaxy apart from the iPhone, but Apple has upped its game in recent years, and images shot at night on both devices are almost indistinguishable in terms of quality. Portrait mode also matches up more on both devices, as the iPhone used to be leagues ahead of its competitors in that regard. Both devices offer impressive zoom capabilities, though the S24 Ultra still takes the cake with that 10x optical zoom. Selfies are equally flattering -- despite minor color differences -- on both devices.
All this to say, no matter which phone you choose to spend your hard-earned money on, you hopefully won't be let down.
