Google Search Changes Bring Great New Features

Chris Sully — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 17:21:54 +0000

Google has and (hopefully) will always be primarily a search engine. Sure, Google has an insane amount of tools and applications for everything from your computer to your television, but searching the web has always been it’s primary function. It all started with a simple site and a box. No advertisements. No sports scores. No world news. Just a text entry area and a few buttons.

From The Original Search Page Until Now

Over the years, that main Google page has not changed much, but now there is much more going on behind the scenes. “Googling” something has slowly evolved into a very intelligent, yet simple, way to find information on any topic imaginable. Over the last year, Google has introduced new search technology like Social Search and Location Aware Mobile Searching. And now, almost entirely under the radar, some new features have emerged from the Google Labs to further “enhance the experience of searching and help you find exactly what you’re looking for.”

Thanks to an update of the Official Google Blog, the latest updates to the Google search experience have been detailed and displayed for our viewing and surfing pleasure. Marissa Mayer (VP Search Products & User Experience) posted This week in search 6/6/10, in which she detailed the new Spelling Correction Features, Mobile App Results and Changing Your Google Background Image. I’ve taken some time to review these new features and here is what they have to offer:

Spelling Corrections

Have you typed in some keywords before, only to see that Google has caught your mistake and offered up the “Showing results for….” text at the top of the search? That search enhancement (shown below) was great, but meant that the mistake was not caught until you had already run your query.

Spell Check in Your Results

Now, “If you’re typing a query for which there are no search completions to offer, and yet some of your search terms do seem to be misspelled, Google Suggest will now offer a ‘Did you mean’ suggestion for your query—giving you an option to correct your spelling right away and get on with your search.”

Spell Check While You are Typing

Mobile App Results

Smart-phone and iPad/iPod Touch users out there have a new feature to ooh and aah over. As Marissa Mayer states “In an effort to make apps even easier to find, this week we launched a new feature for mobile search that helps users on Android-powered devices and iPhones find and download mobile apps. So the next time you’re looking for the latest action game, multimedia app or travel tool on your phone, we’ll show you a special result at the top of your mobile search results showing basic information about the app you’re looking for, including title, price and publisher.”

Search for "Weather App" on Android Device

This feature is fantastic because it will help introduce time-saving apps that we might never have found out about from “normal” channels. As demonstrated by the screenshot above, it seems that simply adding the word “app” triggers this Marketplace search on an Android device. A search on an iPod Touch/iPhone with the same keywords (weather app) resulted in similar results. The only difference was that the Weather Channel and Weather Channel Max apps appeared in those results.

Search for "Weather App" on iPod Touch

Background Image for Google Searches

An entire article, titled Freeze frame!, went up on the Google Blog last week to highlight this new feature. In short, you can now customize your searching experience with a favorite photo or image on the background of the Google homepage. Place your own photo or choose something from a Picasa Web Album/public gallery.

A Custom Background of Me at the MS150

From the Google blog: “To get started, head to google.com and look for the “Change background image” link in the lower left-hand side of the page. Keep an eye out for more fun announcements with this feature!” Who knows what wonderful features they have in store for us.

Start using these new features today and keep an eye on the Official Google blog for more updates on exciting search features and more.

Desktop Departures – Escape With a Wallpaper Change

Chris Sully — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 15:39:32 +0000

One of the most difficult things about returning to work on a Monday is the realization that you are going to be staring at that monitor for the next 5 days. You had a relaxing weekend with friends, family and fun and now here you are… trapped at a desk for a full week. Or maybe you are just in a bit of a rut and need something to spice up your daily routine. One of the easiest, and most entertaining ways, to provide yourself with a little “escape” is to change up that old desktop with some fresh new wallpaper.

Back in December, we brought you the article Decorating is Not Over – Time to Spruce Up That Desktop, where we highlighted 5 of the best wallpaper sites on the web. While the sites listed have some wonderful new images, we thought it was time to return to the art of desktop decorating and bring you some new ways of thinking about your wallpaper. Over the next few days, we will shed some light on the different ways that you can “skin” your desktop to provide both entertainment and functionality.

Part I: Multiple Displays

Monitor prices have dropped steadily over the last couple of years and many offices are upgrading their workstations to larger monitors or, if you are one the lucky ones, dual monitors. If you manage to convince your employer to pony-up the funding for that second monitor, don’t let the space go to waste. You can increase your productivity and take advantage of the added space by finding a dual-monitor wallpaper. These specially formatted desktop images span the two monitors (or more if you are really, really lucky) to form one, seamless image.

So, instead of wasting your space and staring at one wallpaper twice:

Dual Monitor FAIL!

You can search for and install a wider image that makes use of this wide-screen configuration:

Dual Monitor Wallpaper Win!

A quick search on Google will return thousands of images for you to choose from, but we have a few favorites for you to check out.

VladStudio has support for 2 monitor and 3 monitor setups and provides some of the most unique images on the web. **Unfortunately, these multi-monitor wallpapers require a membership (minimum is 3 months for $9.99)

VladStudio.com Examples

DeviantArt.com provides Multi Display images from various artists around the world. The images are all FREE and cover a wide range of categories/interests.

Multi-Display Images from DeviantArt.com

DualMonitorBackgrounds.com (DMB) is exactly as advertised and FREE. The site is very simple and easy to navigate, providing hundreds of wallpapers from 18 different categories.

DMB Provides Dual-Monitor Backgrounds

Desktop Image Considerations

Before diving in completely and making a decision on that new wallpaper, there are a few things you should consider:

Don’t download any installation files (.exe) or unknown file-types from web sites you are not familiar with. Only download image files, like JPG or PNG.
Check the resolution of your monitors (right-click on desktop/properties/settings) and choose images that are formatted to the same resolution/aspect ratio for the best quality. Example: if you have two monitors set at 1280×800, then will want to pick an image that is 2560×800.
If you have a hard time finding icons and important documents on your desktop, try choosing an image that is more of a solid color or pattern. Very light or very dark images make great, functional backgrounds.

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