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A tour of Google's new Experimental Search. Verdict: awesome

arstechnica.com — There's more information than ever on the web, and Google is testing some new ways to visualize it all. Ars evaluates Google's Experimental Search features which feature alternate views for search results and more.

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  • LukaszH, on 01/31/2008, -54/+1nice one :) could Yoou add me to Your friend list I'd like find more Your diggs
  • bjtitus, on 01/31/2008, -4/+66So.... since when is Google's Experimental Search new? They might have slightly changed the appearance, but I've been using these things for several months.
    • peterjmag, on 01/31/2008, -0/+14Yeah, it's been on Google Labs since May... http://labs.google.com/
    • PxCxG, on 01/31/2008, -1/+25Since when has anything on digg been new?
      • freddo, on 01/31/2008, -2/+2What's really surprising this time is that they're speaking of it everywhere since two days... I was feeling some "déjà-vu" effect like Neo, or there was a glitch in the matrix, or someone just rebooted the internet ~ I wasn't sure. At least until i read this comments thread. My guess is that it's a new don't-waste-the-food-like-movement but for the informations: "There's some pasta left from last year evening, want some for your lunch?". Or perhaps there's some marketing is going on here...
    • ajchavar, on 01/31/2008, -2/+9i don't frequent google labs(though i should. . .), so this is the first i've heard of it.
    • LetsGoHawks, on 01/31/2008, -1/+3Oh wow, your so cool and cutting edge. Can I sit by you at lunch so people think I'm better than they are too?
  • clintard, on 01/31/2008, -11/+2Google is amazing.
  • FadieZ, on 01/31/2008, -2/+20Experimental Search link: http://www.google.com/experimental/index.html
  • rockon4life45, on 01/31/2008, -20/+4Since would has google not made searching awesome?
  • Falldog, on 01/31/2008, -3/+8I used left hand navigation for a while but I disliked having navigation bar (which I never used) to the left of the main results. Before this I tried the alternate views experiment. The time line view is really cool, but sorta useless. (I would rather see a time line of popularity tied to pages and the dates when this occurred) Still haven't found a use for the info view.

    Looking back, I guess I would say most of these new features are pretty lame, in my opinion that is. Regardless, it is incredibly cool of Google to let use try out and use for ourselves innovative ideas which they are working on.
    • leodavinci, on 01/31/2008, -0/+1I like the idea of the time line. Just signed up for it, I guess I'll see how useful it actually ends up being.
  • flyers126, on 01/31/2008, -14/+4I was gonna vote Ron Paul for president, but i think i'll vote Google instead.
  • Errdoth, on 01/31/2008, -5/+96*****
    • Errdoth, on 01/31/2008, -1/+81What the hell? Is it just me or did my comment disappear?
      • FatPhizzle, on 01/31/2008, -1/+6so what were you trying to say?
        • Errdoth, on 01/31/2008, -1/+19Something along the lines of: "The only one I've found useful was search suggest, and that's been in the toolbar for a long time"
          *hopes digg is full from my awesomeness and doesn't have to eat another comment*
        • TheSnuffster, on 01/31/2008, -0/+5Surprised no-ones been shouting out "OMGZ Censorship!!" yet.
      • crakbot, on 01/31/2008, -0/+3Google did not approve and had your comment removed.
      • gummih, on 01/31/2008, -0/+3Well, should we search for it?
        http://www.google.is/search?q=Errdoth%27s+lost+com ...
        • BrokenVisage, on 01/31/2008, -0/+1Dugg, but almost buried for not taking advantage of a good spot to RickRoll people.
    • bstew22, on 01/31/2008, -2/+1i'm just replying to you hoping the same happens to me.... annnnnd.......*submits*

      Edt: Nope still here. *sad face*
    • tgunner, on 01/31/2008, -1/+2 .
    • pw378, on 01/31/2008, -0/+4Most intelligent comment on digg.. ever...++
  • crakbot, on 01/31/2008, -9/+7So is this going to be in beta seemingly forever then just fade away like everything else Google does?
    • myranttoyou, on 01/31/2008, -2/+3All signs point to yes.
    • obijohn, on 01/31/2008, -1/+10You mean like GMail? Or maybe you mean Google Groups? Or Maps? Yeah, I guess everything they do is pretty worthless.
      • doctordbx, on 01/31/2008, -1/+1Except Google Groups was DejaNews, and the Maps belonged to someone else too.
        As useful as GoogleLabs is, the greatest innovations for google beyond search were bought in.
    • mwalker05, on 01/31/2008, -1/+1google earth? google tools? android? google hasnt released anything new since their search engine, you are clearly right.
    • tecunx, on 01/31/2008, -0/+1why don´t you check out a couple of "betas" like sketchup and picasa.
  • TOMCRUlSE, on 01/31/2008, -8/+1Google will stop.
    Verdict: Guilty.
  • myranttoyou, on 01/31/2008, -2/+5Google suggest is the only decent one, and that has been in "beta" for years.
  • PxCxG, on 01/31/2008, -13/+14I don't know... doesn't look all that great to me. Personally, I think Google still gives good results, but I think ask.com's and yahoo's results pages are a lot better than google.
    Uh oh...did I just dis google? Guess I'll be buried into oblivion...
  • sillyelf74, on 01/31/2008, -0/+1I just gave the alternate view search results a try and was not blown away at first, but then I played with it some more and began to like it. I kept on playing around and I can see there really is some potential for narrowing down searches and providing new ways of looking at information. The map view could be handy if your searching for the types of things maps are good at showing, and the time line view can be very handy when your looking for information from a specific time period. I would not mind if Google integrated these search functions at all.
  • JusticeFriend, on 01/31/2008, -7/+5Google IS God. Period.
  • n1ce, on 01/31/2008, -0/+2I wonder how long before Google adds more customizations similar to what firefox users have with: customize google add-on http://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/743
    • acidandspatter, on 01/31/2008, -0/+1I love this plugin, especially for the auto-suggest and the streamed search results.
  • scaaven2, on 01/31/2008, -0/+2I, for one, would like to know what the red glare of google is.
  • EXreaction, on 01/31/2008, -0/+1I just wish search results were...smarter. Like prioritizing words (the first word I put in for a search should have a higher priority over any other words for example), and making results that have all the words in a row show first on the list of results.

    But, I've worked on a search system myself and know that something like that would be an absolute bitch to make...
  • lowhauler, on 01/31/2008, -0/+1Me, I'd like to see a "filter by" option, so I can eg. get the newest information relating to my search at the top of the pile.
  • odiedog, on 02/05/2008, -0/+1Good article, I tried to submit it myself.
  • attspin, on 03/26/2008, -0/+0Where's Google dashboard when you need your towering pile to fall in three dimensions?
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