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Google Testing Instant Search Feature
adeelarshad82 writes "According to a recently released video, Google is currently testing an 'instant search' feature that changes search results as you type. The feature was first spotted over the weekend. At the moment Instant Search seems to be implemented on very few accounts. A Google spokesman could not confirm or deny the accuracy of the video saying that at any given moment Google is running 50 to 200 experiments."
So... incremental find for a search engine index? Might be one of the few new "experiments" from Google that turns out to be useful.
Freedom is drinking a beer in the park when you're supposed to be at work.
The video included in TFA looks nice, though not revolutionary. My first thought was that it would probably be easy enough to implement a client-side version of it -- basically refresh the search page every so often while the user is manipulating the query. Of course you'd have to do it in an AJAXy fashion so as not to interrupt the typing in the input field, which might be difficult. That requirement could be dropped if the user enters the query within the browser UI -- come to think of it, it's fairly rare that I use the input field in the Google HTML to enter queries, and I never hit the Google front page.
Switch back to Slashdot's D1 system.
Watch the video, it looks really interesting. I think it would be really useful during those times when you're not getting the results you anticipated.
I think it'll be more popular than Wave (okay, that was a low blow).
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
I see absolutely no point in this. While it looks cool, why would I want to see results for "chee", "cheese" or "cheese and b" when I'm searching for "cheese and biscuits"?
It may be 7 digits, but at least it's a semiprime
It's called incremental search and was introduced in the emacs text editor decades ago.
A better invention would be to return relevant search results.
Can someone tell them to turn off the BING image view. Sorry, we're in the third world of Australia, and searching images is no, just epic FAIL.
That would be a valuable addition.
Currently, many people rely on the word-completion from the search bar. For instance, one prefers to chose what comes from the propositions, since the results will be more numerous.
With this new feature one can adapt in real time the search pattern to converge towards the desired results.
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
You know how when you normally type in things, Google "suggests" what you might be looking for? And how, sometimes, those searches are, shall we say, "interesting" to say the least, or "NSFW" or just plain old weird? (For instance, try typing in "How do I" or "how do you" and see the odd results that occur... the ones I currently see are "get pregnant" and "start selling weed").
Now, imagine having the results of those show up as you're trying to search for something else entirely.
Frustrating, to say the least, and embarrassing or potentially job-threatening on some of those more risque searches.
"...at any given moment Google is running 50 to 200 experiments."
:) )
There is some guy saying developers should not have access to production servers..
It seems Google doesn't give a damn to that!!
As for orkut, I've seen bugs being fixed directly by the developer on the production server also. (Upon personal contact
I wish they'd do the opposite. Admittedly getting results for many searches in 1.342 seconds is cool but occasionally I'd prefer much more specific results even if it takes minutes or longer. If they had a service that charged a few $/month that allowed for complex regex and context based searches I'd probably pay it without a seconds thought.
Imagine the intermediary search results if I search for "ASSault" or "ASSigning a variable in Python" or "CUMmington" or "CUMmerbun" (yes, that's the correct spelling) or any other phrase that could be misconstrued by a company's internet filter as inappropriate.
I can see it now - I search for ASSertionError and get a screen full of butt at work.
Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
I've been looking for a new sextant for weeks now but have found myself too caught up in distractions. Now I now why.
Jesus had a UNIX beard.
Waste for people with smallish capped accounts, like on mobiles with data plans.
Searching for sextant will now become NSFW...
Could be scary if you are looking for "cocktail recipes" :-/
Searching for "vague" could also provide some... interesting results, especially considering how close "u" and "i" are. For those of you who are having this read out to you, I was referring to the letters "u" and "i" on a standard QWERTY keyboard.
I wonder if searching for information on God would result in finding giddy girls as a result of a typo.
Clearly, they should name this feature ITH - "Instant Typo Heaven".
My vote would be to tone it down a bit and just flash up the first three results of the predictive search below the bar just to give you the flavor instead of the whole result. I think there are ways to do this already with browser extensions but I'm cool with my search as-is at the moment so haven't investigated.
One could just make a little script that automatically presses enter every time you type a key in a google search bar and you'd have essentially the same thing. That actually sounds a little annoying but we'll have to see where they're going with it.
I don't know how many years on this Earth I got left. I'm going to get real weird with it. - Frank Reynolds
If you're going to be a spelling nazi then jeez louise get it right. Quote from above:
"CUMmerbun" (yes, that's the correct spelling)
Linked article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cummerbund
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
...for anyone doing a search on the term analyst.
Or searching for information about shitake mushrooms.
Or looking for the latest football results for Arsenal.
Or cocktail recipes.
People should not be afraid of their governments - Governments should be afraid of their people.
Does each ad that pops up during this phase count as an "impression"? This would really screw with the Advertisers.
I personally can't wait to see Google seizure between every word I type in. Great idea guys... How annoying would it be if someone tried to answer a question that you were asking after every word you said?
It has already been pointed out, by Schneier I think, that this misfeature allows anybody doing simple traffic analysis to discover exactly what you typed. That is because the reply traffic from typing 'a' is a slightly different size than the reply traffic from typing 'b', and so forth.
FATMOUSE + YOU = FATMOUSE
Changes Dungeons and Dragons Alignment as I type.
First its "Not Evil" then its "Lawful Stupid" then its "Chaotic Verizon Buttmonkey"
Nice features like this come at a cost. Google is a nice web site when using my web tablet, but I guess I'll have to turn Javascript off when using it in the future.
Feature-itis strikes a once-elegant interface. :-(
Mainframe/UNIX Bit Twiddler and long time Windows/Linux Hobbyist.
The Theorem Theorem: If If, Then Then.
It surprises me that no-one has mentioned Keyboardr, which offers this kind of live search functionality.
Hack your mind out of its sandbox.
If I know the first few letters of the word, the search engine will suggest accurate spellings as I type. If I really mangle the spelling, I type the whole thing in, then click search and hope google offers an alternative correct spelling.
How is this news. This has been happening to me when I use Google for several months.
Like any "feature", sometime it is very useful, sometimes not.
Big deal....
I think it's gone now. I guess I'm one of the lucky 50-200. Maybe Google likes me.
That video looks faked, or at least sped up. With all the network latency involved, there should be a slightly noticeable delay while new content loads, especially regarding the images.
No, I will not work for your startup
... to not use Google.
There is little in the world of SW that I find more disgusting than these "screw you around while you type" features, like, search as you type, autocorrect in wordprocessors, and now "Instant Search". I really hate it when producers of code think they can outsmart the user; programs are tools, tools are not supposed to take the initiative - the user should be in control. Just imagine your circular saw taking the initiative to remove that finger of yours, that is so obviously in the way.
You can always tell when people have been using the autocorrection feature, cause the text is full of correctly spelled, wrong words. The right way to use a spellchecker is to first write the text, then run it through the spellchecker, so you think about what is going on. And the correct way to search for things is to write your search expression, then perform the search.
Right, that's the rant for today, now get back to your work and stop slacking off.
I think it looks quite cool actually, they've tried a number of things messing about with their search engine but ever since autocomplete functionality launched in the Firefox search bar I've wondered where this kind of feature it's been all my web surfing life and when Google are going to roll it into their main search results. Can't wait for it to graduate from Labs!