Watch Google’s search wall
Google’s dazzling, multi-colored
search wall (bit.ly/wall321) shows you trending searches in the UK in real
time. Google urges you to go full-screen to experience the ‘biggest purest eye
candy”. Click the top-left icon to reduce the size of the grid and the menu at
the bottom to view search trends in a different country.
Search the web with Google using just
your voice
Chrome now lets you search Google
using your voice. Click the microphone icon to the right of the search bar then
allow Google to access your PC’s microphone. The results are a bit erratic, but
it’s an interesting glimpse into the future of search.
Search for flights in Google
Earlier this year Google launched
its flight search tool in the UK (www.google.com/flights).You can filter searches by airline, stops, duration and price, although
results don’t currently include Ryanair, Lufthansa. easyJet, Thomas Cook and
Aer Lingus. Click the bar-chart icon in the top-right corner to see the lowest
fares for a particular period.
Search
instantly in Google’s Street View
Instant Google Street View (www.instantstreetviewcom presents
instant results as you search in Street View, like a visual equivalent of Google’s
instant search service. Start typing ‘Buckingham Palace’, for example and you
whizz through Buenos Aires. Bucharest. Buckinghamshire and other locations
before arriving at your destination, It’s a fun, random way to see the world.
Find
out how search works
How Search Works is an interesting
new site from Google that explains the complex search process that leads to
your simple page of results, “from algorithms to answers”. It does so using a
long info graphic called The Story, which combines facts, colorful
illustrations and pop-up windows of relevant information. You can view live
examples of the type of spam pages Google removes. Other sections cover how the
search engine crawls and indexes trillions of documents and its policies for
deleting content.
