Tags: googling, xerox

Top 10 worst tech predictions of all time

With the changing of the calendar, everyone becomes a Nostradamus, expounding their tech predictions for 2008. In order to put this flood of prophecies into some context, here are some of the worse predictions of all time.

• Xerox's smarter search tool: Don't look for it

  With its FactSpotter, Xerox wants computers to "understand text like a human being", but the company isn't making it available to the public.

• Google wants people to stop googling

  Google has said it intends to crack down on the use of its name as a generic verb, in phrases such as "to google someone."

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  The do-it-yourself Web emerges

  New services from fledging start-ups enable people to build Web applications themselves, which pundits say will unleash creativity.

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  Google joins Xerox as a verb

  Though you may have been "googling" people for years, the verb you were using was technically slang, until recently.