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INSIDETECHNOLOGY |
Thursday 09
September 2010 |
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Google
Touts
'Instant'
Search
Google
has
stepped
on its
internet
search
accelerator
by
adding a
feature
that
displays
results
as soon
as
people
begin
typing
their
requests.
The
change,
called
"Google
Instant,"
is the
closest
the
12-year-old
company
has come
yet to
realizing
its
founders'
ambition
to build
a search
engine
that
reads
its
users'
minds.
The
achievement
wasn't
lost on
Google
co-founder
Sergey
Brin,
who
jokingly
told
reporters
that the
company's
lightning-quick
computers
are
morphing
into the
"other
third"
of
people's
brains.
"I think
it's a
little
bit of a
new dawn
in
computing,"
Brin
said
Wednesday.
The
shift
means
Google
users
will
begin to
see an
ever-evolving
set of
search
results
appearing
on their
computer
screens,
potentially
changing
with
each
additional
character
typed.
That
means a
satisfactory
set of
results
could
take
just one
keystroke.
As an
example,
a person
who
types
"w" in
Google's
search
box
could
see the
weather
results
in the
same
area as
where
the
request
was
entered.
Google
will
also try
to
predict
what a
person
really
wants by
filling
out the
anticipated
search
terms in
gray
letters.
Below
that, in
a
drop-down
box,
Google
will
still
offer
other
suggested
search
requests,
as the
site has
been
offering
for the
past two
years.
The
feature
will be
gradually
rolled
out
throughout
the US
this
week and
will be
offered
in other
parts of
the
world
later
this
year.
It's
designed
to work
on the
latest
versions
of the
major
web
browsers.
The
instant
results
only
will be
displayed
on
Google's
standard
website
(Google.com),
which
features
little
more
than its
logo and
a search
box.
They
won't be
shown to
users
making
requests
on
individually
designed
"iGoogle"
pages
that are
usually
already
covered
with
different
decorations
and
programs
plugged
into
other
online
services.
Google
will
begin
rolling
out
Instant
to
everyone
in the
US in
the
coming
days.
People
outside
the US
will be
able to
use
Instant
Search
through
Google.com.
Google
hopes to
roll out
Google
Instant
in
Australia
and New
Zealand
(google.com.au
and
google.co.nz)
in the
coming
weeks.
People
who
prefer
Google's
basic
website
and
don't
want to
see
instant
results
can turn
them off
by
clicking
on a
link
next to
the
search
box.
To
minimize
the
chances
of
offending
people
or
inadvertently
exposing
children
to
inappropriate
material,
Google
has
programmed
the
instant
results
to block
websites
deemed
to be
pornographic,
violent
or
hateful.
That
restriction
may
trigger
complaints
that
Google
is
stifling
freedom
of
expression
or
unfairly
screening
out some
sites
that
were
improperly
blacklisted.
Because
Google's
search
formula
draws
heavily
upon
common
search
requests,
the
instant
results
also
could be
biased
toward
featuring
major
brands
and
companies
during
the
first
few
characters
of a
request.
That
factor
conceivably
could
hurt
smaller
merchants
if
people
stop
typing
after
the
first
few
keystrokes
and
accept
the
results
that
show up
the most
quickly.
Despite
those
potential
pitfalls,
Google
search
executive
Marissa
Mayer
hailed
the
instant
search
breakthrough
as a
quantum
leap
akin to
Bob
Dylan's
switch
from an
acoustic
to
electric
guitar
in 1965.
"It's a
fundamental
shift to
search
and how
people
think of
search,"
she
said.
If
nothing
else,
Google
is
hoping
that the
innovation
will
help it
to
maintain
its
dominance
of the
lucrative
search
market
as
rivals
Yahoo
and
Microsoft
team up
to mount
a more
formidable
challenge.
Currently,
Google
processes
about
two-thirds
of
internet
search
requests
while
Microsoft
and
Yahoo
handle
most of
the
rest.
Google
rose to
popularity
mainly
because
it
focused
on
delivering
search
results
within a
few
seconds.
But Brin
and the
company's
other
founder,
Larry
Page,
have
perpetually
pushed
Google's
engineers
to make
the
search
engine
even
faster.
By
speeding
up its
search
results,
Google
believes
it will
keep its
users
happier
and
possibly
encourage
people
to make
even
more
requests.
That's
important
to
Google
because
each
query
presents
another
opportunity
to
present
another
one of
the ads
that
generate
most of
the
company's
nearly
US$30
billion
(NZ$41
billion)
in
annual
revenue.
As part
of its
quest to
speed
things
up,
Google
figured
out that
the
average
search
request
takes
nine
seconds
to type
and then
users
spend an
average
of 15
seconds
to
decide
which
result
to pick.
With the
new
instant
feature,
Google
expects
to
reduce
the time
spent on
search
by two
to five
seconds
per
request,
collectively
saving
its more
than 1
billion
weekly
users
about
350
million
hours
annually.
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Costa Rica's Daily English News
Source
Apdo. 2133-1000, San José, Costa
Rica
Tel: (506) 2231 3205 / (506) 8399
9642
Fax: (506) 2232 6337
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