13 May 2010 | Author: J. Morton News Editor
Launched 12 May 2009, Google Squared, currently still in beta, has had several of its features injected into the primary Google search, but has also received a few additional upgrades of its own from the techies at the Mountain View wonderland.
Originally launched as an advanced fact-finding arm to the traditional Google search, Squared now brings up simple facts, such as significant dates in history, birthdates of important people or 'Who's the prime minister of Canada?' (A: Stephen Harper)
"Three months ago we began using Squared technology to highlight answers for these types of searches in snippets," wrote technical lead John Provine in an official Google blog posting. "Today we're expanding that effort so that when you're looking for this kind of simple fact in search, we give you more accurate answers right at the top of your results, sourced from across the web."
This would mean, then, that users searching for simpler queries would be more satisfied with first-page results, possibly doing away with the need to click through to further web pages.
Whilst not fully functional on its Google.co.uk portal, the blog posting said that a sources list would be available, where users could also verify a fact's validity across a number of channels.
A second feature added to the main Google search is a "Something Different" option, where a search can be opened up to include things similar to that previously searched.
As an example, Provine said a particular user might be looking for zebras, and "just as Google Squared can put together a table of zoo animals, with 'Something different' we automatically find other entities in the same category, such as gazelles and rhinos.
"This helps for times when you want to browse a broad topic using Google, rather than dig for a specific bit of information."
The Google Square Labs version also gained a few new features for its anniversary, where it is now able to sort data, and search results can be exported to a file.
Google Squared bounds ahead on its one-year anniversary
Launched 12 May 2009, Google Squared, currently still in beta, has had several of its features injected into the primary Google search, but has also received a few additional upgrades of its own from the techies at the Mountain View wonderland.Originally launched as an advanced fact-finding arm to the traditional Google search, Squared now brings up simple facts, such as significant dates in history, birthdates of important people or 'Who's the prime minister of Canada?' (A: Stephen Harper)
"Three months ago we began using Squared technology to highlight answers for these types of searches in snippets," wrote technical lead John Provine in an official Google blog posting. "Today we're expanding that effort so that when you're looking for this kind of simple fact in search, we give you more accurate answers right at the top of your results, sourced from across the web."
This would mean, then, that users searching for simpler queries would be more satisfied with first-page results, possibly doing away with the need to click through to further web pages.
Whilst not fully functional on its Google.co.uk portal, the blog posting said that a sources list would be available, where users could also verify a fact's validity across a number of channels.
A second feature added to the main Google search is a "Something Different" option, where a search can be opened up to include things similar to that previously searched.
As an example, Provine said a particular user might be looking for zebras, and "just as Google Squared can put together a table of zoo animals, with 'Something different' we automatically find other entities in the same category, such as gazelles and rhinos.
"This helps for times when you want to browse a broad topic using Google, rather than dig for a specific bit of information."
The Google Square Labs version also gained a few new features for its anniversary, where it is now able to sort data, and search results can be exported to a file.
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