Instant Search, an Optional Feature in Google Chrome

Last month, I mentioned that Google Chrome tested a feature that automatically loads web pages when you type in the address bar. Since then, the feature has been added to Chrome Labs in the Dev Channel and has already graduated from Chrome Labs.

A recent Chromium build added instant search to the Options dialog, but the feature is disabled by default. Here's the official description:

"Instant lets you view web pages and search results faster than ever. With Instant enabled, most web pages begin loading as soon as you type a URL in the Omnibox, before you hit Enter. In addition, if supported by your default search engine, search results appear instanly as you type queries in the Omnibox, and in-line predictions help guide your search. Becasuse new search results are requested each time you press a key, anything you type into the Omnibox may be logged as a search query by your default search engine."




While instant search is useful for frequently visited pages (for example, you only need to type "m" to load Gmail), the feature doesn't work well if you want to type a new web address or a query. If you frequently type Gmail's address, but now you want to go to http://mail.yahoo.com, Chrome will first load Gmail and then Yahoo Mail.

Chrome Labs includes many other experimental features that will be officially released in the coming months: side tabs, tabbed options, remoting support, disabling outdated plug-ins, XSS auditor, background web apps, proxy for Cloud Print and GPU accelerated Canvas 2D. Most of the features can be enabled in Chrome Dev Channel if you type about:labs in the address bar.

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Google Webmaster Tools Promotion

Google displays a special ad if your query includes the site: operator, followed by a domain name: "Do you own domain.com? Get indexing and ranking data from Google."

Many webmasters use the site: operator to check the number of pages indexed by Google, so it's a good opportunity to promote Google Webmaster Tools.


This isn't a regular AdWords ad, since it's labeled as "Google promotion". From what I know, it's not even possible to create an AdWords campaign for all the searches that use the site: operator.

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Google Shuts Down GOOG-411

Google announced that GOOG-411, the free directory assistance service launched in 2007, will be discontinued next month. GOOG-411 is available in the US and Canada, where it was launched as a free alternative to the expensive services provided by telephone companies.

The service has helped Google build a large database of voice samples and improved the voice recognition technology. Here's what Google's Marissa Mayer said about GOOG-411:

"The speech recognition experts that we have say: If you want us to build a really robust speech model, we need a lot of phonemes, which is a syllable as spoken by a particular voice with a particular intonation. So we need a lot of people talking, saying things so that we can ultimately train off of that. ... So 1-800-GOOG-411 is about that: Getting a bunch of different speech samples so that when you call up or we're trying to get the voice out of video, we can do it with high accuracy."


2007 was also the year when iPhone and Android were launched. Smartphones turned out to be better suited for voice-powered search because the service was easier to use and it could integrate with the phone. Google launched a mobile voice search app for iPhone in 2008, a built-in search app for Android in 2009, followed by voice input and voice actions this year. The mobile Google Maps app for Blackberry, Symbian and Windows Mobile added support for voice search, which now works in more than 10 languages.

Google no longer focused on GOOG-411 and decided to discontinue the service. "Our success encouraged us to aim for more innovation. Thus, we're putting all of our resources into speech-enabling the next generation of Google products and services across a multitude of languages," explained Google.

A good alternative to GOOG-411 is BING-411 (1-800-BING-411), Microsoft's service that gives you turn-by-turn driving directions, traffic conditions, and weather reports. The service is only available in the US.

Here's one of my favorite Google promotional videos:

{ Thanks, Bill. }

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Google's John Lennon Doodle

Google's doodle that celebrates the 70th anniversary of John Lennon's birthday doesn't seem special until you click on it.


Google embeds a short animated video for John Lennon's "Imagine". After using bigger doodles, image animations, particle simulations and JavaScript games, it's time for video doodles.

Unfortunately, clicking on the YouTube video doesn't send you to the search results page for [John Lennon], but Google used a trick: after playing the video, you're automatically redirected to the search results.

If you don't see the doodle on Google's homepage, go to Google Australia or Google India.

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Google News Tests Twitter Sidebar

Google News experiments with a new feature that shows Twitter messages from your friends.

"Friends is an experimental section in the side column that helps you find news articles that your friends are sharing on Twitter. In the open text box, enter your Twitter username and click "Save." Google News will refresh, and you will see a list of updates containing news articles shared by the people you follow. Please note that Friends only shows you articles that can be found in Google News. If someone you follow has shared an article or a link that cannot be found in Google News, then you will not see that update in the Friends section."



Maybe in the future Google News will use your Twitter timeline to customize the list of news articles displayed on the homepage or to annotate news clusters.

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Google Latitude's Desktop Site

Until recently, the only way to use Google Latitude on your computer was to add an iGoogle gadget. Now you can just go to www.google.com/latitude and see your Latitude friends on a map, add friends, view your Latitude history and change the settings for other applications that use your location.


If you use a browser that supports geolocation (Chrome 5+, Firefox 3.5+, Safari 5+, Opera 10.6+) or a plug-in that adds support for geolocation (Google Toolbar, Google Gears), you can share your location. "Automatic location detection requires wireless access or access to a WiFi access point," explains Google.

Hopefully, Google will also launch a desktop site for Google Tasks, so you can quickly check your to-do list without opening Gmail, Google Calendar or iGoogle.

{ via Google LatLong }

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Gmail's Security Checklist

Gmail's support site has a security checklist that's useful if you want to make sure that your Gmail account is secure. There are some obvious tips like updating your operating system and your browser, but Google also posted some advanced tricks:

1. "Check the list of websites that are authorized to access your Google Account data. Make sure that the list of authorized websites are accurate and ones that you have chosen. If your Google Account has been compromised recently, it's possible that the bad guys could have authorized their own websites to access your account data." To edit the list of authorized websites, go to this page.

2. "Check your browser for plug-ins, extensions, and third-party programs/tools that require access to your Google Account credentials. Plug-ins and extensions are downloadable computer programs that work with your browser to perform specific tasks. For example, you may have downloaded a plug-in or extension that checks your Gmail inbox for new messages. Google can't guarantee the security of these third party services. If those services are compromised, so is your Gmail password."

3. "Confirm the accuracy of your mail settings to ensure that your mail stays and goes where you want it to. Sign in to your account and click on the Settings link at the top to check the following tabs:

* General: Check Signature, Vacation Responder, and/or canned responses for spammy content
* Accounts: Verify your Send Mail As, Get mail from other accounts, and Grant access to your account are all accurate.
* Filters: Check that no filters are sending your mail to Trash, Spam, or forwarding to an unknown account.
* Forwarding and POP/IMAP: Ensure your mail isn't sent to an unknown account or mail client."

4. "Check for any strange recent activity on your account. Click the Details link next to the 'Last Account Activity' entry at the bottom of your account to see the time, date, IP address and the associated location of recent access to your account."

5. "Use a secure connection to sign in. In your Gmail settings, select 'Always use HTTPS.' This setting protects your information from being stolen when you're signing in to Gmail on a public wireless network, like at a cafe or hotel."

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Google Tests Search Preview

Google experiments with a new feature that previews search results when you mouse over them. Benjamin Rubin, who sent the screenshots, has more information about this feature:

"Starting this morning, I started to get a highlighted-box mouse-over effect along with that magnifying glass icon on most of my search result entries. Clicking on it toggles a preview image with some text highlighted as well. The image preview differs slightly depending on where the aforementioned text appears on the page."



The feature seems to be inspired by Ask.com's Binoculars, but it's a little more clever because it highlights relevant snippets, so you can quickly find them when you visit the page.

{ Thanks, Benjamin and Andrea. }

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Google Goggles for iPhone

Google Mobile App for iPhone started to become a bloated app, just like Google Toolbar. Instead of developing new applications, Google adds extra features to the Google Mobile App.

The latest new feature added to the application is Google Goggles, a visual search tool that helps you identify objects in a picture. "Computer vision is a hard problem and Google Goggles is still a Labs product. It works well for things such as landmarks, logos and the covers of books, DVDs and games. However, it doesn't yet work for some things you might want to try like animals, plants or food," explains Google.

Google Goggles is available in the Google Mobile App if you use an iPhone 3GS running iOS 4 or an iPhone 4. Goggles is also a standalone Android application.

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Google TV's First Apps

Google announced some of the initial content partners for Google TV: Turner Broadcasting, NBC Universal, HBO, Netflix, Amazon. The list is far from impressive, but this is just the beginning.

At launch, Google TV will run Android 2.1 and will include Chrome 5.0 and Adobe Flash 10.1. Google will pre-load a few high-quality apps like Pandora, Netflix, NBA, while the Android Market will be available early next year, after Google releases the SDK.

The good news is that web apps could work well on a TV if they are properly designed. YouTube Leanback is a great example of web app optimized for Google TV. Since it's not easy to develop web apps for TVs, Google offers some guidelines: TV interfaces should be simple, navigation and content are very important, the app should take advantage of the wide screen.

Google TV has an Apple-esque site and will start to be available this month on devices made by Sony and Logitech. "One of our goals with Google TV is to finally open up the living room and enable new innovation from content creators, programmers, developers and advertisers," says Google's Ambarish Kenghe.

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Google Instant and Special Characters

Google usually ignores special characters from queries, so you can't search for :) or x^2. There are some exceptions: popular terms that include special characters (c#, c++).

Google Suggest is less smart than the search engine and doesn't offer relevant suggestions if you type c# books. Google ignores the hash sign and shows the suggestions for c books. To find results for your query, you need to press Enter or to select the last item from the suggestion list.


Another example: type $1 and Google shows suggestions for 1. Instead of showing relevant results for the query, Google displays the search results for [1 corinthians 13].


Bing's suggestions are actually useful:



While Google Instant helps you type popular queries faster, sometimes it's slowing things down because it shows the results for a different query.

{ spotted by Sundararajan S. }

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Google Acquires BlindType to Improve Android's Virtual Keyboard

Google bought BlindType, a service that allows you to type faster and more accurately on a virtual keyboard. "With BlindType, users can type on the touch screen the way they are used to, but without the traditional need to constantly focus on the keyboard. Although this would typically lead to countless spelling mistakes that would be impossible to autocorrect, BlindType predicts what the user intended to write with a success rate not previously seen on any other system."

Singularity Hub found that BlindType's application "knows what you meant to type, even if you make mistakes. Lots of them. In fact, you can type without looking at the screen at all."

Unfortunately, the application is not available in the Android Market or the iTunes App Store, but it will certainly be used to improve Android's virtual keyboard.



{ via Mashable }

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Gmail Tests Recent Buzz Section

Gmail experiments with a new sidebar feature that shows a list of recent Buzz messages from the people involved in a conversation. Google.org.cn (English version) says that this feature is currently available for Google Trusted Testers.


Gmail should show more useful information in the sidebar: related conversations, related news, options that let you highlight and annotate some excerpts from a message.

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Google Chrome 7, Ready for the Web Store

If you read the blog post from Google Chrome Releases, you might say there's no significant new feature in Google Chrome 7 Beta. It's the first major version after Chrome's team changed the release cycle to 6 weeks, so the engineers couldn't add too many new features. "A lot of the work that's being done in 7.0 is largely not user facing and in some cases is a legitimate work in progress," admits a Google Chrome developer.

So what's new in Google Chrome 7?

1. Web apps are enabled by default, just in time for the Chrome Web Store launch.

2. Web apps are synchronized, like regular extensions and themes.

3. A slightly updated new tab page, with support for web apps.


4. "Click to play" for plug-ins. If you disable plug-ins from Chrome's settings dialog, you'll see a placeholder and a new message every time you visit a page that requires plug-ins: "Click to run this plug-in". (Update: this feature will be released in Chrome 8.)


5. about:labs, a new page that includes experimental features. The Windows version includes a single feature: "side tabs", which lets you move the tabs to a sidebar.

Did you spot any other new feature?

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More People Can Buy Apps from the Android Market

If there's one thing that Google should do to improve Android, it's developing a better Android Market. Google's app store has a lot of limitations, it still doesn't have a desktop interface, applications are priced in multiple currencies, and it's not easy to find new applications.

Android Developers Blog announced that people from 18 additional countries will be able to buy Android apps. The new countries are: Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Israel, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Sweden, and Taiwan. Google says that paid apps will be available over the next two weeks. Android Market's paid apps will be available in 32 countries and Google promises to bring them to even more countries in the coming months.

Now that many other companies develop Android app stores, Google has to improve the Android Market if it doesn't want to see too many Android phones without the market.

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