Google Search

Google has updated  its Goggles app for Android with support for the Russian language. The software also features a handy Google Maps integration and the little things such as the ability to view your search history on a map or the ability to automatically copy your findings to system clipboard. Since 2009, Google has only supported languages that use Latin characters. The latest update brings support for Cyrillic characters, making the Russian language one of the new options.

The new search history feature is especially useful: It lets you visualize on a world map the places where you’ve been (and searched using the Goggles service). The world map overview of your history is in addition to the standard list view. Lastly, Google wants to make it easier to share our findings by allowing people to opt-in to have their findings automatically added to the clipboard for easy and fast sharing. The update is available on Android Market.

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtELiwNmTSc]
Some people are claiming they’ve been participating in a design experiment by Google related to the look and feel of the search results page. Although we cannot tell whether the above clip is genuine, it sure strike us as the familiar Google search results. Looks quite nice and a bit easier on the eyes, too.
Notice how the links in the lefthand pane, which provide shortcuts to individual search silos, appear in gray rather than in multiple colors? By the way, where did the search button go? The “I’m feeling lucky” thing is also MIA.

via Search Engine Roundtable
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If you’re concerned about data people see when they google your name, you should check out a new section in your Dashboard, aptly named ‘Me on the Web’. It’s a one-stop shop for your online identity needs, Google says, stressing the section helps you “understand and manage what people see when they search for you on Google”. ‘Me on the Web’ features a useful at-a-glance overview of all the outbound links published on your Google profile, the stuff like your social profiles, YouTube and Flickr accounts and so on. There are also links to Google help files explaining how to manage your online identity and how to remove unwanted content.

More importantly, you can create custom search alerts for your own name to receive email notifications when your personal data is posted publicly. You can also set up additional alerts for your specific personal data, such as telephone number and address. In the example below, I’ve set up an alert for my author byline, allowing me to track in near-real-time when my posts go up or other people mention my name in references to my articles. You could have created those alerts before in Google Alerts, but now everything is in one place, which should appeal to non-techies.

Not sure how this one went unnoticed, it’s a lovely tweak to Google’s mobile search page on iOS and Android devices. It is also noteworthy as Google rarely alters the look of its mobile landing page. Now, when you visit google.com from your mobile browser, you’ll notice four big icons sitting right below the search field: Restaurants, Coffee, Bars and More (which includes shops, ATMs, fast food and attractions).

Each icon takes you to a location-based listing with corresponding places, taking the pain out of finding the nearest place to eat or have a quick drink, wherever you happen to be. You can browse places in either list or map view, as well as check photos, reviews, business phone numbers and star ratings from credible sources such as Trip Advisor.

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Search by Image breaks down source image into little blocks matched against Google’s vast content database

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could simply ask Google to analyze an image and return relevant results? Recently, I’ve been discussing this with my beer friends and we came away wishing a feature like that sooner than later. Before any of us could have dreamed of, however, Google at a San Francisco presser this morning took search to the next level with a science-fiction like enhancement. They call it Search by Image and that’s exactly what it does.

You simply drag an image and drop it on the search box to get matching results, just as if you manually typed in your query. Tapping Google’s advanced image recognition back-end, Search by Image works – and this is the cool bit – with offline images that Google has never touched and doesn’t have in its index.

On-stage demos were pretty impressive. One example included dropping a scenery image on the browser’s window, which returned a list of locations Google thought accurately represented what’s on the photo. Similarly  dropping a  logo returns the name of the associated company. There’s more…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t99BfDnBZcI&w=670&h=411]

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Google mobile search has been revamped for tablets, including Image Search shown above

Google this morning unveiled new search-related features during the Inside Search even at San Francisco where Amit Singhal and other engineers gave an under-the-hood look at Google search. The latest goodies include a revamped search interface that rolled out on mobile. Using Ajax, the new mobile search pulls local results right away. Moreover, query suggestions from your history now appear alongside your live suggestions from Google.

Another example included a search query for hotels in Russia. Typing “Hilton” returns a bunch of suggestion, each with the plus sign. This so-called query builder allows you to tap a suggestion you like in order to drill deeper. We’re just getting started. Go past the fold for more info and nice video tours…

Google Goggles translations are now available in Russian

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Google last week updated their mobile search page on Android and iOS devices with visual tweaks, including quick access to multiple searches via handy tabs, enlarged icons that provide an easier access to search silos and more. It looks like another face-lift has been recently rolled out. Now when you run a search at m.google.com, a small magnifying icon appears next to each item on the search results page. Tapping it takes you to full-screen so you can flip through big beautiful thumbnails one screen at a time. Each thumbnail is a live preview of what the site looks like and is accompanied by a shortened description that normally appears on the search page. It looks kinda cool, like a cross between Reader Play and Fast Flip.

Google has made it a little easier to find flights online by integrating flight information with their main Google.com search page. From now on, a quick summary of flights and airlines is displayed right on the results page for users in ten language markets (English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Dutch, Brazilian Portuguese, Polish, Russian, Turkish and Catalan). You can also browse a full time-table of non-stop flights and search for non-stop flights from a particular airport.

Even though flight data comes from their ITA acquisition, Google Search does not currently use ITA’s search technology, a Google engineer Petter Wedum noted in a post over at the official Google Search blog. Right now it’s just a schedule, but obviously the ITS deal will pave the way to buying tickets online. Try this example search for flights from San Francisco to Minneapolis.