If you thought Googlea4ぎa4г instant search was fast, but it&'s about to get even faster. Soon, with the company&'s push into &''contextual discovery&'', you wona4ぎa4д even have to type in a search query to get useful data.
Googlea4ぎa4г Marissa Mayer, now the head of consumer products, spelled out the companya4ぎa4г plans at the LeWeb a4ぎﾋ10 conference in Paris, France today, speaking with TechCrunch&'s Michael Arrington. With contextual discovery, Google will be able to look at a usera4ぎa4г browsing and location profiles to deliver relevant data without the need to search.
According to Mayer, a4ぎAThe idea is to push information to people.a4ぎ On a mobile device, for example, you could potentially see the menu of a restaurant when youa4ぎa4вe actually there. There may even be added social elements, like seeing which items on the menu your friends like. Google is still in the early stages with this concept. Mayer says that on a computer, it could potentially take the form of some sort of panel in your web browser.
The push towards delivering data before we even ask for it is to be expected &8212' after all, where else can Google go after unleashing its lightning-fast Instant Search Ita4ぎa4г also a natural move given that location data on mobile devices is now more readily available thanks to the proliferation of GPS-equipped smartphones. The real question is how contextual discovery will play out on actual computers &8212' I suspect it will rely more on the rich amount of browsing history we build up on desktops and laptops, rather than on location data.
Google has to play it safe when it comes to automatically recommending search results, though, lest it evoke memories of Microsofta4ぎa4г annoying (and now dead) Office helper, Clippy.
Find a transcript of Mayer&'s talk over at TechCrunch, and a video embedded below:
Next Story: Bebo co-founder Michael Birch buys back a piece of his baby Previous Story: Andreessen Horowitz writes big check for Factuala4ぎa4г data platform
Print Email Twitter Facebook Google Buzz LinkedIn Digg StumbleUpon Reddit Delicious Google More&8230'
Companies: Google
People: Marissa Mayer, Michael Arrington
Companies: Google
People: Marissa Mayer, Michael Arrington
Devindra Hardawar is VentureBeat's lead mobile writer and East Coast correspondent. He studied philosophy at Amherst College, worked in IT support for several years, and has been writing about technology since 2004. He now lives in Brooklyn, New York. You can reach him at devindra@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @Devindra.
VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters. Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.
Discuss Add this link to... Bury
Comments