Whenever I search for information about something - especially about a news event - Google returns me a lot of results from Australian sites. Any foreign sites come further down the list, sometimes even on the second page of results. I've never really paid much attention to this behaviour, beyond some occasional mild frustration at not being able to find local sources.

However, this came to a head this week when I was searching for a local US-based news article about something I'd read in an Australian news site, so I could post that local US article here on Tildes (I always try to get as close to the source as possible). But, try as I might, I just could not find any good non-Australian articles about this news! It was almost like Google was deliberately blocking my attempts to read non-Australian sites. I mean, it's possible that this news wasn't reported outside Australia, but that's unlikely, seeing as it was Uber's announcement about trialling electric aircraft in Texas and Victoria. That had to get American coverage. But I struggled to find it in my searches.

I then noticed something I've never noticed before: at the bottom of my Google searches, there's a small line which tells me my current location. It's as specific as my local council area, not just my state or the country.

Is this location affecting what Google shows me in my searches? If so, how do I remove this restriction?

For context: I use Chrome, but I only sign in when I'm accessing a Google service (usually the Calendar). After I've finished with the service, I sign out. So Google isn't tracking me as a person, it's just tracking my browser's search activity.

EDIT: Thank you all. I've already set up DuckDuckGo as my default search engine, and am trying it out.

• Who are the LGBTQ individuals you look up to or admire?
• In what ways do you find them inspiring or admirable?
• Has their example and influence helped you in your own life? If so, how?

Don't feel like you have to talk about someone famous: plenty of LGBTQ heroes are the people we know personally, and I would love to hear those kinds of stories. Also, feel free to include people who don't identify as LGBTQ but who still fit the criteria of a role model/hero for the community (e.g. Judy Shepard, Jonathan Larson, a supportive straight sibling, etc.).

So I've been messing around with the webp encoder cli tool and I really wish I could quickly achieve a workflow more similar to photoshop's previews. Is there a GUI tool out there where I can specify the arguments for an CLI executable then it lets me adjust the values and run the command. Ideally it would automatically let me view the output file, and define presets would be great.

What is the programming language you enjoy the most, or otherwise define as your favourite? Why is that particular language your favourite?

Bonus: add just a little bit of code in it that you think exposes its beauty.

Following this previous thread in which we shared our suggestions for the name of this group, you can now vote for your preferred name(s) on Survey Monkey.

Voting is by ranking. You will be presented with a list of 8 suggested names. You need to drag-and-drop these names into your preferred order, from top to bottom. (After you've dragged one name into place, the list will then number itself and you can manually number each option if you don't like dragging-and-dropping.) Put the name you like best at #1, the name you like second-best at #2, the name you like third-best at #3, and so on to the end of the list.

If you do not like an name and do not want to vote for it at all, tick the "N/A" box beside it. This will remove it from your submitted vote and give it a zero weighting in the count.

The names will be displayed in a random order for each person.

Make sure you click on "DONE". "OK" is only the first step. You must submit your response by clicking
"DONE" or it won't be counted.

Vote counting will be done automatically by Survey Monkey. The algorithm allocates a weighted number of votes to each option, based on its order in your list. If you vote for all 8 names by preference, your 1st preferred name will receive a weighting of 8, your 2nd preferred name will receive a weighting of 7, your 3rd preferred name will receive a weighting of 6, and so on to to your 8th preferred name which will receive a weighting of 1. Here is an explanatory video for anyone who's interested.

The survey prevents multiple responses from the same device. However, I've set it to "anonymous" so that IP addresses are not included in the results (why would that even be an option?).

Here is the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ZKD76FS

Happy voting!

What have you been watching and reading this week? You don't need to give us a whole essay if you don't want to, but please write something! Feel free to talk about something you saw that was cool, something that was bad, ask for recommendations, or anything else you can think of.

If you want to, feel free to find the thing you're talking about and link to its pages on Anilist, MAL, or any other database you use!

12 Minutes
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition
Age of Wonder - Plantetfall
Age of Wonders: Planetfall
Animal Crossing New Horizons (Gameplay))
Apex Legends Season 2
Arizona Sunshine - The Damned DLC
Ary and The Secret of Seasons
Astral Chain
Baldur's Gate III
Battlefield V
Battletoads
Battlewake
Beat Saber: Imagine Dragons Music Pack
Black Desert
Blair Witch
Bleeding Edge
Borderlands 2: Commander Lilith & the Fight for Sanctuary Official Trailer
Borderlands 3
BRAWLHALLA Adventure Time
Cadence of Hyrule
Carrion
CastleStorm II
Chivalry 2
Circuit Superstars
Code Vein
Collection of Mana
Commander Keen (Gameplay)))
Conan Chop Chop
Contra Anniversary Collection
Contra: Rogue Corps
Control
Corpse Killer: 25th Anniversary Edition
Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled Grand Prix
CrisTales
CrossfireX
Cyberpunk 2077
Daemon X Machina (Gameplay)))
Deathloop
Disgaea 4 Complete+
DOOM Eternal (Multiplayer)))
Dragon Ball Z Kakarot (Gameplay video)))
Dragon Quest Builders 2
Dying Light 2
El Hijo
Elden Ring
Elder Scrolls Online Elsweyr
Empire of Sin
Empire of Sin
Enter the Gungeon: House of the Gundead
Evil Genius 2 - World Domination
Fall Guys
Fall Guys
Fallout 76 Nuclear Winter (Battle Royale Mode)
Fallout 76 Wastelanders Expansion
FIFA 20
Final Fantasy VII Remake
Final Fantasy VIII Remaster
Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
For Honor: Shadows of The Hitokiri
Forza Horizon 4: Lego Speed Champions
Gears 5 (Escape trailer)))
Genesis Noir
Ghost Recon Breakpoint (Gameplay)))
Ghostwire Tokyo
Gods & Monsters
Greedfall
Griftlands
Halo: Infinite
Just Dance 2020
Kingdom Hearts III ReMind DLC
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Sequel
Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Lost Oasis
Lost Words: Beyond the Page
Luigi's Mansion 3 (Gameplay)))
Madden NFL 20
Mario & Sonic at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order
Marvel's Avengers
Microsoft Flight Simulator
Midnight Ghosthunt
Minecraft Dungeons
Mosaic
My Friend Pedro
Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch Remastered
No More Heroes III
ONINAKI
Ori and the Will O' The Wisps
Outriders
Panzer Dragoon Remake
Per Aspera
Persona 5 Royal
Phantasy Star Online 2
Planet Zoo
Pokemon Sword & Shield (Gameplay)))
Psychonauts 2
Rad
RAGE 2
Rainbow Six Quarantine
Remnant: From the Ashes
Roller Champions
Romancing Saga 3 & SaGa SCARLET GRACE: AMBITIONS
Samurai Shodown Rimururu
Shenmue III
SMITE Olorun
Sniper Elite: VR
Songs Of Conquest
Spiritfarer
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
Starmancer
State of Decay Heartland
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Dragon Quest
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Banjo-Kazooie
Tales Of Arise
Telling Lies
Terraria: Journey's End
The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics
The Last Remnant Remastered
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III
The Legend of Wright
The Lord of the Rings: Adventure Card Game
The Messenger: Picnic Panic
The Outer Worlds
The Sims 4
The Surge 2
The Walking Dead: Onslaught
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Complete Edition
The World of Dragon Quest Builders 2
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege – Clutch Royale
Tom Clancy’s The Division 2: Year 1
Tom Clancy's Elite Squad
Torchlight II
Trials of Mana
Trials Rising Season 2
Unexplored 2
Valfaris
Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines 2
Vermintide 2: Versus
Warframe: Empyrea
Wasteland 3
Watch Dogs 3: Legion (Gameplay)))
Way to the Woods
Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot
Wolfenstein: Youngblood
Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair
Zelda: Link's Awakening
Zombie Army 4: Dead War