By Dan Satherley
Google today unveiled its latest innovation – Google Instant – which it believes heralds a "fundamental shift in search".
In a nutshell, Google Instant displays search results as you type, rather than waiting for you to hit enter.
Currently, Google makes real-time search suggestions based on what you have typed so far in a drop-down box.
Google Instant however displays real-time results as if the search had already been done, and tries to predict what it is you're going to type, instead of basing its results on what you have already typed.
"Our search-as-you-type demos were thought-provoking, fun, fast and interactive, but fundamentally flawed," Google's Marissa Mayer wrote in a blog entry this morning.
"Why? Because you don’t really want search-as-you-type (no one wants search results for [bike h] in the process of searching for [bike helmets]). You really want search-before-you-type – that is, you want results for the most likely search given what you have already typed."
On Twitter, Google described it as "faster than the speed of type".
Initially it will be rolled out as the default Google search function for users in the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, the US and Russia. It will work on Firefox, Chrome, Safari and IE8 browsers.
A quick test by 3 News shows Google Instant is available in New Zealand too, if you are signed in to your Google account.
"Over the coming weeks and months, we’ll work to roll out Google Instant to all geographies and platforms," says Mayer.
Google's last much-hyped innovation – Wave – was recently canned after widespread excitement was followed by confusion and ultimately, indifference.
3 News