Google Gets Psychic With Google Instant

[Terminator02]

Who needs to think when Google can do it for you? That seems to be the premise of Google Instant, a "search enhancement" rolled out by Google this morning. The feature, which will be available for all U.S. Google users by the end of the day, instantly shows search results as you type.
There's no need to press return or hit search; Google Instant knows what you're trying to say. Google Instant transcends the physical speed of thinking, creeping eerily close to psychic territory. To put it another way, the feature doesn't search as you type--it searches before you type."It's not quite psychic, but it is very clever," explained Othar Hansson, Software Engineer in Search Quality at Google.
Typing "BP", for example, yields news on the Gulf oil disaster, Google ads touting BP's cleanup efforts, and the Wikipedia entry for the Deepwater Horizon disaster--all before pressing return. If we continue the query by typing "BPA", Google instantly offers up information on the chemical Bisphenol A.
One important distinction: Google Instant doesn't replace traditional search altogether. Searching for the first three letters of "Google" yields instant results about the search engine, but typing "Goo" and pressing return yields information about goo--not Google.

So why did Google do this? All in the name of efficiency. Google claims that the feature shaves 2 to 5 seconds off the approximately nine seconds it normally takes for someone to type a query. If everyone who uses Google were to start using Google Instant, it could save 3.5 billion seconds each day, or 11 hours every second.
Everyone in the world won't start using Google Instant immediately, of course. The product has yet to roll out internationally, and it won't be available on the browser-based Google search bar for a few months. But eventually, Google's new search feature could do more than just save time--it could lead to mass brain atrophy for a world that no longer has to think about what it's looking for.[/p]

Source (Fast Company)

It's so awesome, if you live in the US, go check it out

Edit: Official Google Instant Page
"Google Instant is starting to roll-out to users on Google domains in the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Russia who use the following browsers: Chrome v5/6, Firefox v3, Safari v5 for Mac and Internet Explorer v8. Please note, users on domains other than Google.com can only access Google Instant if they are signed in to a Google Account. We will continue to add new domains and languages over the next several months."

Found this (you'll prolly need to watch it in youtube to see it clearly):
plus a shortcut video:

 

[Slyakin]

So awesome, just tried it, and it really makes things faster.

Also nice that you can turn it off.

 

[Snorlax]

Aaawww, I

 

[RupeeClock]

I turned it off, it just got irritating having the auto-compete refresh the results all the time.
Google instant only works for results they've cached, you can't punch in just anything and have it work.

 

[Terminator02]

Google instant only works for results they've cached, you can't punch in just anything and have it work.

actually, it uses the search suggestions and automatically loads them up, it's not cache

 

[Hadrian]

I thought it already did this.

 

[Ferrariman]

I love this

 

[EpicJungle]

You'd think searching couldn't be more simpler :)

 

[RupeeClock]

Google instant only works for results they've cached, you can't punch in just anything and have it work.

actually, it uses the search suggestions and automatically loads them up, it's not cache

That's more or less what a cache is.
"In computer science, a cache is a component that improves performance by transparently storing data such that future requests for that data can be served faster."

They have a cache of search suggestions and use that to display their results instantly.

 

[Terminator02]

I thought it already did this.

as you're typing the search results instantly pop up below, not just the suggestions, and if it correctly predicts what you were trying to type, you can just click a result. it doesn't load a new page for results

 

[Sir Spanky]

Google (well the UK version) has had this active for at least 6 months now...

(unless I misunderstood!)

 

[Raika]

I noticed this when I searched earlier. It's awesome.

 

[Clookster]

This works with everybody who uses Google Chrome for about a year or so. I'm just surprised now that it's not common for others.

 

[dinofan01]

lol at the anti-pron. I guess its good for the kiddies. No images mean dont look!

 

[liquidnumb]

That is all.

 

[DeMoN]

It already had the prediction thing like most other search engines. This just makes it faster because you don't even need to hit enter to search.

 

[Terminator02]

That is all.

rofl, that's so... ANYWAYS i added a video so you can see the difference

 

[monkat]

It already had the prediction thing like most other search engines. This just makes it faster because you don't even need to hit enter to search.

qft.

 

[KingVamp]

Google Instant thing isn't working for me.

 

[Skyline969]

Google Instant thing isn't working for me.

Me neither. Oh well, it'll come eventually.