Take ‘Inside Search’, a Google event I attended this week, at which search guru Amit Singhal, known simply as a ‘Google Fellow’ (the equivalent of Jedi in Google terms), announced a series of search innovations.
He introduced voice search for the desktop (meaning you can now holler your requests at the search engine while at work) and Google Instant Pages (which speeds up searches by two to five seconds, while the engine pre-empts which web result you will click on and pre-loads it) and search by image.
Search by image meanwhile wonderfully allows you to drag and drop any photo, including old snaps which you cannot remember anything about into the engine and it will locate any information it can for you.
Googlers and some journalists at the event, who I believe were mostly of the American persuasion, actually whooped out loud with joy each time one of these announcements was made.
Set in a huge darkened room, only lit up by the stage, an enormous LED screen and several life-sized test tubes filled with red, yellow, blue and green water, to match Google’s trademark colours, it was pretty hard not to get excited by these innovative announcements.
And why not? As a journalist, my role is to question all developments these companies announce on behalf of the consumer, to check that people will not be taken advantage of, or their privacy compromised. But what if, just occasionally, we were to forget our British sensibility and simply enjoy it when we see something new that could actually enhance our lives?
Most technology developments from these consumer-facing giants, do not erode our privacy or endanger us in any way. In fact developments such as search by image are pretty amazing.
There is often a gap between perception and reality in the technology world. Google, Facebook and others, are often miles ahead of delivering what the consumer doesn’t actually know that they want and need. Instant Pages is a great example of that.
Singhal said he wanted search to be as fast and as easy as “turning the pages in a magazine”, and guess what? So do we. We always want everything to be faster and smoother. Google, and its contemporaries are taking us towards a faster, more useful and socially-powered internet.
It’s important to keep these powerful companies, who have access to so much of our data, in check. But equally sometimes it’s necessary to appreciate and acknowledge the positive impact the advancements they are making, such as voice search, could have on our lives.
