Google Search

SAN FRANCISCO — Google Inc. stepped on its Internet search accelerator yesterday by adding a feature that displays results as soon as people begin typing their requests. The change, called “Google Instant,’’ is the closest the 12-year-old company has come to realizing its founders’ ambition to build a search engine that reads its users’ minds. The achievement wasn’t lost on Google cofounder Sergey Brin, who jokingly told reporters that the company’s lightning-quick computers are morphing into the “other third’’ of people’s brains.

NEW YORK - Google excels at responding to search queries with links to public Web pages, but those have become old-fashioned. These days, the company has concluded, Internet users want to find conversations and photos posted by their friends on the social Web. Yesterday, Google took its biggest step yet toward incorporating social networking posts from its Google+ service into its search results. Google says the new feature, Search Plus Your World, is one of the biggest changes it has ever made.

THE FILTER BUBBLE By Eli Pariser Penguin $25.95, 294 pages Google (and to a lesser extent Facebook) is supposed to be an antidote to the most close-minded, prejudiced aspects of human nature. Whatever your views, after all, when you run a Google search for, say, “George W. Bush,’’ Google returns a sorted list of terabytes of data, much of it created by people whose views bear no similarity to your own. The results are ranked based on the popularity of the sites in question, not their ideological content — maybe a really well-written defense of Bush will rise...

Google is sifting through the photos and commentary on its blossoming social network so its Internet search results can include more personal information. The additional personal touches that began to roll out Tuesday mark another step toward one of Google's most ambitious goals. The Internet search leader eventually hopes to know enough about each of its users so it can tailor its results to fit the unique interests of each person looking for something. Different people should start seeing different search results more frequently now that Google Inc. is importing content from...

When Google unveiled its new social networking venture a month ago, the first hurdle for early adopters was understanding the name: Google+. The brain trust in Mountain View could have called it "Google Plus," but instead they have staked their claim to the plus sign itself (which is, ironically enough, quite difficult to Google for). In fact, the Googlers had already been making use of the plus sign since March, when they introduced the "+1 button," their equivalent of the Facebook "like" button.

NEW YORK - Google excels at responding to search queries with links to public Web pages, but those have become old-fashioned. These days, the company has concluded, Internet users want to find conversations and photos posted by their friends on the social Web. Yesterday, Google took its biggest step yet toward incorporating social networking posts from its Google+ service into its search results. Google says the new feature, Search Plus Your World, is one of the biggest changes it has ever made.

Google is sifting through the photos and commentary on its blossoming social network so its Internet search results can include more personal information. The additional personal touches that began to roll out Tuesday mark another step toward one of Google's most ambitious goals. The Internet search leader eventually hopes to know enough about each of its users so it can tailor its results to fit the unique interests of each person looking for something. Different people should start seeing different search results more frequently now that Google Inc. is...

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - Google Inc. is giving Web surfers a few more ways to refine their search results, signaling its resolve to ward off rival Microsoft Corp.’s campaign to lure traffic. The changes require clicking on a “show options’’ link above Google’s search results. The feature has existed since May, making it possible to focus on videos, discussion forums, reviews, or books. Now, news and blogs are joining the list. Microsoft introduced similar features as part of a June upgrade that renamed its search engine Bing.

WASHINGTON - Google Inc. is breaking a promise it made to antitrust regulators who approved its purchase of ITA Software Inc. this year by ranking its new flight information service ahead of competitors, according to Expedia Inc. Google, which introduced its own flight search service Sept. 13, "excludes any link to online travel agencies, which are key options for comparison shopping," according to testimony by Tom Barnett, Expedia's outside counsel, prepared for delivery today at a Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee hearing on Google's business practices on the...

Fenway Park celebrates its 100th birthday next month, and it was exactly halfway through that timeline, in the summer of 1962, when I first stepped foot in the place. It was a weekday afternoon game, Los Angeles was in town, and Angels outfielder Leon "Daddy Wags" Wagner ripped a line drive down the right-field line that kicked up a cloud of white dust and ruined an otherwise sensational day of hooky from Miss Kellert's third grade class. I've never been a Strat-O-Matic baseball guy, but it was right around that same time that Hal Richman, born and raised in Great Neck,...

Google "Scott Brown" and the first thing that pops up isn't a recitation of his Senate accomplishments or an enunciation of his reelection platform. Instead it's an ad for a website in which the Massachusetts Republican fights against his critics. "Help Scott Brown - Fight Misleading Attacks," reads the headline. It links to an offshoot of his campaign website, a page for his "Truth Squad" aiming to discredit a pro-Democratic group that itself is intent on discrediting Brown.

WASHINGTON - Google Inc. is breaking a promise it made to antitrust regulators who approved its purchase of ITA Software Inc. this year by ranking its new flight information service ahead of competitors, according to Expedia Inc. Google, which introduced its own flight search service Sept. 13, "excludes any link to online travel agencies, which are key options for comparison shopping," according to testimony by Tom Barnett, Expedia's outside counsel, prepared for delivery today at a Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee hearing on Google's business...

When Google unveiled its new social networking venture a month ago, the first hurdle for early adopters was understanding the name: Google+. The brain trust in Mountain View could have called it "Google Plus," but instead they have staked their claim to the plus sign itself (which is, ironically enough, quite difficult to Google for). In fact, the Googlers had already been making use of the plus sign since March, when they introduced the "+1 button," their equivalent of the Facebook "like" button.

THE FILTER BUBBLE By Eli Pariser Penguin $25.95, 294 pages Google (and to a lesser extent Facebook) is supposed to be an antidote to the most close-minded, prejudiced aspects of human nature. Whatever your views, after all, when you run a Google search for, say, “George W. Bush,’’ Google returns a sorted list of terabytes of data, much of it created by people whose views bear no similarity to your own. The results are ranked based on the popularity of the sites in question, not their ideological content — maybe a really well-written defense of...

Google’s global privacy counsel says he’s surprised by how few people choose to control what ads are steered their way — a tool which the Internet search giant launched, albeit with minimal fanfare, over the past year. Paris-based Peter Fleischer said yesterday that the tool — which enables users to prevent targeted ads or alter the parameters used to steer ads their way — was visited by tens of thousands of people per week. That’s a tiny fraction of the user base of the world’s largest search engine.

SAN FRANCISCO — Google Inc. stepped on its Internet search accelerator yesterday by adding a feature that displays results as soon as people begin typing their requests. The change, called “Google Instant,’’ is the closest the 12-year-old company has come to realizing its founders’ ambition to build a search engine that reads its users’ minds. The achievement wasn’t lost on Google cofounder Sergey Brin, who jokingly told reporters that the company’s lightning-quick computers are morphing into the “other third’’ of people’s brains.

Google "Scott Brown" and the first thing that pops up isn't a recitation of his Senate accomplishments or an enunciation of his reelection platform. Instead it's an ad for a website in which the Massachusetts Republican fights against his critics. "Help Scott Brown - Fight Misleading Attacks," reads the headline. It links to an offshoot of his campaign website, a page for his "Truth Squad" aiming to discredit a pro-Democratic group that itself is intent on discrediting Brown.

For the past six months, state police Trooper Andrew Canata has been pounding the pavement between regional libraries and cemetery plots. But his tireless detective work has not been a pursuit of a murder suspect or a dangerous drug dealer, but rather an effort of compassion to help three fallen troopers and their families find honor and peace. Because of Canata's efforts, and the support he received from fellow police and community members, these men who died in service were scheduled to be honored on Wednesday as part of National Police Week.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - Google Inc. is giving Web surfers a few more ways to refine their search results, signaling its resolve to ward off rival Microsoft Corp.’s campaign to lure traffic. The changes require clicking on a “show options’’ link above Google’s search results. The feature has existed since May, making it possible to focus on videos, discussion forums, reviews, or books. Now, news and blogs are joining the list. Microsoft introduced similar features as part of a June upgrade that renamed its search engine Bing.