# The next thing I want from Google **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 31, 2010, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-thing-i-want-from-google/558960 "2010-10-31T07:36:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-thing-i-want-from-google/558960/1 "2010-10-31T07:36:41Z")
I am constantly amazed at new useful things from Google, but they are almost always limited to the web as it is _right now_. But often, I’m interested in stuff that used to be on the web, but is no longer. For those things, I have to use the Internet Archive and their [Wayback Machine](http://www.archive.org/web/web.php). The problem is the Wayback Machine only works for finding old versions of a known URL. It’s pretty much useless if you are searching for something that is no longer on the web, and you don’t know the URL. I want Google to partner with the Internet Archive. Give the Archive some of their vast resources, and allow me to search through the entire web at any point in time. So I could search and confine my results to stuff that was available before 1999, for instance. Or a display like Google’s “Fast Flip” that could allow me to scroll through the top results with a time line slider. ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-thing-i-want-from-google/558960/2 "2010-10-31T11:35:12Z")
If I’m reading this right, you want Google to cache the _entire Web_? And not only cache it, but store it permanently? The exponential mathemathics of that equation makes my face hurt. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-thing-i-want-from-google/558960/3 "2010-10-31T12:22:18Z")
> [@Gukumatz](#): > > If I’m reading this right, you want Google to cache the _entire Web_? And not only cache it, but store it permanently? > > The exponential mathemathics of that equation makes my face hurt. 😛 Next thing you know, people will be wanting Google to take pictures of every single house on every single street in most of the US, Europe, and Australia so we can simulate driving down a street in Sydney while we sit in Gary, Indiana. And cars that drive themselves! ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-thing-i-want-from-google/558960/4 "2010-10-31T17:13:12Z")
> [@Gukumatz](#): > > If I’m reading this right, you want Google to cache the _entire Web_? And not only cache it, but store it permanently? > > The exponential mathemathics of that equation makes my face hurt. 😛 Did you look at the link I provided? The Internet Archive is doing that right now. They take a snapshot of the entire web and update it constantly. You can look at older versions of most web pages. The problem is that you have to know what web site you are looking for. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-thing-i-want-from-google/558960/5 "2010-10-31T18:50:30Z")
I just want google to stop stealing my text input cursor every time I open my browser. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-thing-i-want-from-google/558960/6 "2010-10-31T19:05:13Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > I just want google to stop stealing my text input cursor every time I open my browser. Ummm…set your home page to something other than [google.com](http://google.com), or uninstall the Google Toolbar. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-thing-i-want-from-google/558960/7 "2010-10-31T19:14:13Z")
Back to the OP’s question, since they’re already working on [cars that drive themselves](http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6991ZE20101010), the next thing I want from Google is the oft-lamented flying car. I mean, it’s 2010 already. Where the heck is my flying car? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-thing-i-want-from-google/558960/8 "2010-10-31T20:18:31Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > Back to the OP’s question, since they’re already working on [cars that drive themselves](http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6991ZE20101010), the next thing I want from Google is the oft-lamented flying car. I mean, it’s 2010 already. Where the heck is my flying car? 🙂 Will a pony do? My OP was about a desire that would fit into Google’s existing business model. The self driving cars do, as they are dependent on Google’s existing road mapping, and traffic measuring. From what I understand, the cars communicate information back to Google - the more cars on the road equipped this way, the better they will drive. That is a significant future revenue stream. My desire fits into their model perfectly well - somewhere near the Deja News/Google Groups archive and their current web cache. Sadly, the Internet Archive appears to be in bed with Alexa, a crappy also-ran in the search business that has gotten into the tracking business in a big way. Imagine how useful it would be to turn your web browser back to any point in time and just read the web as it existed on that date. You can sort of do that with a single URL right now with the Wayback Machine, but it is far too limited. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-thing-i-want-from-google/558960/9 "2010-10-31T20:22:04Z")
I found the Internet Archive is getting worse. More and more sites are asking that their old versions be removed. I used to love to use it to look at “[Jumptheshark.com](http://Jumptheshark.com)” before it was bought and became a lame site. I used to be able to access old versions of that site, but now I am no longer able to get any version. As early as March of this year (2010) I was able to access it via the Wayback Machien. Now I can’t So now too many websites don’t want you to have old versions ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-thing-i-want-from-google/558960/10 "2010-10-31T20:50:55Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Ummm…set your home page to something other than [google.com](http://google.com), or uninstall the Google Toolbar. Can’t I just want them to stop stealing my cursor? I actually have to _do things?_ ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-thing-i-want-from-google/558960/11 "2010-10-31T22:52:51Z")
> [@Gukumatz](#): > > If I’m reading this right, you want Google to cache the _entire Web_? And not only cache it, but store it permanently? > > The exponential mathemathics of that equation makes my face hurt. 😛 Eh, when I worked in network operation at AOL (back around 2000) the head of the web department was fond of noting that his group had enough storage to cache the web. All of it. He had a ton of storage. Of course, AOL didn’t cache that much for various reasons, porn being a big one and the second was that site owners got mad because it’d screw with their metrics. Slee ---
**Author:** ![supergalactic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@supergalactic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supergalactic)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-thing-i-want-from-google/558960/12 "2010-10-31T23:03:49Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > Back to the OP’s question, since they’re already working on [cars that drive themselves](http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6991ZE20101010), the next thing I want from Google is the oft-lamented flying car. I mean, it’s 2010 already. Where the heck is my flying car? 🙂 We will never have flying cars. People can’t even drive cars on the ground. Would you really want a room-temp IQ soccer mom in a flying Suburban? I’ll pass. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-thing-i-want-from-google/558960/13 "2010-10-31T23:28:35Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Will a pony do? Hell yeah, I’ll take a flying pony. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-thing-i-want-from-google/558960/14 "2010-11-01T03:35:18Z")
> [@sleestak](#): > > Eh, when I worked in network operation at AOL (back around 2000) the head of the web department was fond of noting that his group had enough storage to cache the web. All of it. The FAQ page at the Internet Archive indicates that they are keeping up at the rate of 20 terabytes a month. That’s nothing. I really do want some Google engineer to adopt this project and give me a rewind button on the web. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-thing-i-want-from-google/558960/15 "2010-11-01T03:37:30Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > Hell yeah, I’ll take a flying pony. Tough. I have enough problems without your flying pony pissing on my head. ---
**Author:** ![palindromemordnilap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/db5fbb/32.png) [@palindromemordnilap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/palindromemordnilap)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-thing-i-want-from-google/558960/16 "2010-11-01T22:45:30Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Tough. I have enough problems without your flying pony pissing on my head. Really? Urine is your number-one concern? What’s number two? ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-thing-i-want-from-google/558960/17 "2010-11-01T23:03:55Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > The FAQ page at the Internet Archive indicates that they are keeping up at the rate of 20 terabytes a month. That’s nothing. > > I really do want some Google engineer to adopt this project and give me a rewind button on the web. I believe that Google has been storing every page it crawls. Google is so big on data mining from searches done on it, and I can’t believe they just delete cached pages off their servers. They may take them out of the index, but they have the files somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-thing-i-want-from-google/558960/18 "2010-11-02T00:55:20Z")
> [@supergalactic](#): > > We will never have flying cars. People can’t even drive cars on the ground. Would you really want a room-temp IQ soccer mom in a flying Suburban? Well, they won’t have to once Google gets done with 'em. Unless you need to go really fast or you hate the idea of not being aloft, flying cars aren’t going to be useful for much once we get computer controlled cars worked out. A tremendous amount of the inefficiency of driving vanishes when (a) you don’t have to waste the time in transit controlling the machine transporting you and (b) traffic patterns aren’t royally screwed up by having millions of high-latency non-communicative drivers. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-thing-i-want-from-google/558960/19 "2010-11-02T04:54:32Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > Well, they won’t have to once Google gets done with 'em. > > Unless you need to go really fast or you hate the idea of not being aloft, flying cars aren’t going to be useful for much once we get computer controlled cars worked out. A tremendous amount of the inefficiency of driving vanishes when (a) you don’t have to waste the time in transit controlling the machine transporting you and (b) traffic patterns aren’t royally screwed up by having millions of high-latency non-communicative drivers. …and when the “gaper’s block” can no longer happen. And when merging happens fairly. With computer controlled cars, we could have bumper to bumper traffic moving at 90.