Google just made searching easier with Shortcuts feature
GOOGLE
wants to make it easier for you to find answers and recommendations on
smartphones without having to think about what to ask its search engine.
Its
new feature, called “shortcuts,” will appear as a row of icons below the Google
search box. Where now you’d have to ponder and then speak or type a request, the
shortcuts will let you tap the icons to get the latest weather, movie
showtimes, sports scores, restaurant recommendations and other common requests.
The
shortcuts will begin appearing today in updates to Google’s app for iPhones,
Android phones and its mobile website.
The
Android app will also include various tools such as a currency converter, a
language translator and an ATM locator, which you can also summon with a tap.
Those
tools may eventually make it to the iPhone as well, although Google says it
doesn’t know when.
These
shortcuts are the latest step in Google’s quest to turn its search engine into
a secondary brain that anticipates people’s needs and desires.
The
search engine gleans these insights by analysing your past requests and, when
you allow it, tracking your location, a practice that periodically raises
privacy concerns about Google’s power to create digital profiles of its users.
Based
on the knowledge that Google already has accumulated, its shortcuts feature may
already list your favourite sports teams or recommend nearby restaurants
serving cuisines you prefer.
Shortcuts
also show how Google’s search engine has been adapting to its audience, now
that smartphones have become the primary way millions or of people stay
connected to the internet.
Since more than half of requests for Google’s search engine now come from
smartphones, the Mountain View, California, company has adapted its services to
smaller screens, touch keyboards and apps instead of websites.
Early
in that process, Google tweaked its search engine to answer many requests with
factual summaries at the top of its results page, a change from simply
displaying a list of links to other websites.
Voice-recognition
technology also allows you to speak your request into a phone instead of typing
it.
The
transition is going well so far. Google’s revenue rose 20 per cent last year to
$US89 billion ($115 billion), propelled by digital ads served up on its search
engine, YouTube and Gmail.
Although
shortcuts won’t initially show ads after you tap them, Google typically sells
marketing space if a feature or service becomes popular.
Source | http://www.news.com.au/
Regards
Pralhad
Jadhav
Senior
Manager @ Knowledge Repository
Khaitan & Co
Upcoming Event | MANLIBNET 17th Annual
International Conference on 15-16 September 2017 at Jaipuria, Noida, India
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