How Google knows when you're likely to get the flu
Google Trends is a fun way to compare the popularity of search terms, but the technology behind it can also be put to some important uses. Google.org, the nonprofit arm of Google, is using Trends to generate a flu tracker, showing the prevalence of flu outbreaks across America. Flu-related search terms are tracked to estimate when and where the flu happens, with data going back to 2003. The ...
Everybody knows that Alexa, Compete, and other web services that track web site traffic are inherently flawed. Because they compile third party data instead of looking at your actual server data, you can never be sure that the statistics you're reading are accurate. But hey, if you really want to see whether Engadget is more popular than Gizmodo, they're the only game in town, right? Now there's ...





