Designed- sort of, I suppose- to cut down on users having to perform multiple searches of different type (news, image, web)- Google Squared returns search results in a spreadsheet-like form that leans more toward dada than dynamic content.

Creative soul that I am, I looked about for something common to search and get an idea for how results were returned. I tried coffee (first thing in my line of sight) and received a bunch of random results that didn’t really seem to serve any conceivable quest for coffee knowledge. Undaunted (and still apparently low on ideas), my eyes traveled to my browser window. Inquisitr, I figured, might return something more judgeable… Alas, no, just a random collection of articles from the site and no information that would be of any use to me if I hadn’t already visited the site.

“Aha!” thought I, cleverly adding my own (somewhat uncommon) name to the search query box. Surely being clearly a person’s name, with a date of birth and location attached, it would return some worthwhile results. Not the case- amid random license numbers (not attached to my name and with no clear connection to my search) were a few entries on “Computer Literacy,” “Consumer Science,” and a random picture of the food pyramid.

Are you trying to tell me something, Google? At once I felt fat, stupid, unlicensed and wholly irrelevant.

Reaction to the new Google product seems to be a chorus of “meh.” To save you the clicks, I performed a sample search on “your mother.”

Ha, ha! Okay, on to the results:

As you can see, results contained several references to How I Met Your Mother, the reality guilt-cruise Intervention (illustrated with a cute but ostensibly not-related web comic) and references to a sex act involving Maple Syrup. (Is your mom Canadian?)

The real downside to this initiative, I suspect, is the relative ubiquity of Google already. Power users have tweaked and shortcutted their way to a real Google dependence (google-fu even shows up on resumes) and won’t want to learn a new system even if it is really funny when you’re high. Less web-savvy users like your parents and the dude you share a cubicle with already use their AOL mail for everything. So Google Squared might have a hard time catching on with either segment.

But Google is quick to point out that Squared still needs a lot of tweaking- it may prove relevant. Continued usage may make the content less ethereal, but for now, it’s a little like a Google-based Magic 8 Ball. Amusing, but not really real-life useful.

From the “if it ain’t broke” files: Google Squared is a post from: The Inquisitr

Google has launched Google Squared, a rich search feature that is meant to take the good fight to the over hyped and under delivering Wolfram Alpha.

Google Squared attempts to group search results based on a query, for example American Presidents. The results are delivered in a dynamic spreadsheet layout that can be built upon, or edited. The benefit is the delivery of easy to digest results.

Many have speculated that Google Squared was meant to be Google’s play at Wolfram Alpha, but it’s a different tool. Squared has a better depth of results because results are based on Google’s extensive search index, vs Wolfram Alpha’s requirement that data be added to the system. Wolfram though has better depth in terms of refined queries: if it has the data, you can break it out far better vs Google Squared, and you can do a lot more with it.

The surprise comparison is one to Microsoft’s Bing. I still can’t replicate the results in the Bing ads here in Australia (I’m still not sure if that’s geo-related), but I can group hotels for example in Google Squared. The Google results don’t offer usable price and star ratings (very hit and miss), but at least it does group without a fuss. Here’s a comparison:

Google Squared on “hotels in New York”

Bing on “hotels in New York” (notably with Bing set to United States)

I’m not enthralled by Google Squared because it’s not that exciting, but likewise it could become a useful tool for users that require grouped data.

Google Squared: a reasonable start is a post from: The Inquisitr

Understanding Google Squared

Google Squared goes beyond tracking down Web pages about any given topic. Rather, it puts together a virtual dossier of facts from numerous sources based on your search query.

Search for “small dogs,” for example, and Google Squared would give you a table on various small dog breeds. Data ranging from the animals’ heights to weights would be included in (what’s designed to be) an easy-to-digest, organized format. From there, you could click onto any section of the table to get more information from its specific source. You could even save the custom table for later use.

“It is something that pushes search in an entirely new direction,” stated Marissa Mayer, Google’s VP of search products and user experience. “It is a hard, computer science problem to take this unstructured information and present it in a structured way.”

Google Squared is expected to be made widely available within Google Labs before the end of May.

Google Search Options

Google is also previewing an upcoming feature called Search Options that lets you customize queries in greater detail than what’s currently available. The Search Options panel will allow you to set search filters based on time or type of site.

You can see more about Google Search Options in the video below.

Search Gets Organized With Google Squared is a post from: The Inquisitr