Search engines

[B Reiss]

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/08/enough-is-enough-i-dumped-googles-worsening-search-for-kagi/

Interesting article. Maybe at the next meeting, we can discuss what search engines people use, and what privacy/functionality/performance tradeoffs people make.

Also browsers and maps. I've been using maps thru Duck-Duck-Go, but will often resort to google maps for something in particular.

Bruce

[Jeff Liebermann]

You can get rid of almost all the Google search garbage by adding  %udm=14  to the search string.

For example, searching for the best web browser with Google search using no parameters results in this mess:
https://www.google.com/search?q=best%20web%20browser

However, with  %udm=14  appended (or prepended) to the search string, the garbage goes away:
https://www.google.com/search?q=best%20web%20browser%udm=14
There's no AI, no ads, no "help", no recommendations, no videos, no clip art, etc.

Google added this feature at the same time they started adding search garbage and advertisements to the search results.  My guess(tm) is 14 was added to placate the irate purists who fail to appreciate Google's "improvements".

Or, you can select which search garbage features you want to see:

"Every Google &udm=? in the world"
https://medium.com/@tanyongsheng0805/every-google-udm-in-the-world-6ee9741434c9

For USA:
#2: Images
#6: Learn
#7: Videos
#12: News
#14: Web
#15: Attractions
#18: Forums
#28: Shopping
#36: Books
#37: Products
#44: Visual matches
#48: Exact matches

-- 
Jeff Liebermann                 je...@cruzio.com
PO Box 272      http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272
Skype: JeffLiebermann      AE6KS    831-336-2558