Google announces product rollout bonanza

11-05-2006

by Charlie Taylor

Google has launched a number of new search products and beefed up its popular Google Desktop application.

First out of the hat is Google Trends, which is a handy little tool that enables individuals to look at what internet users around the world are looking for. Previously, the company has compiled lists of popular search terms, trends and patterns via Google Zeitgeist, but the new tool essentially allows users to find out how popular a particular search term has been on Google over time and see the relevant news articles that ran on that subject.

Another new service announced on Thursday is Google Co-op, which is aimed at making search results more relevant to users by enabling them to label web pages that are specific to their areas of interest. Alternatively, individuals or organisations can create specialised links to which others can subscribe too.

Once a user has subscribed to a provider's content, all of the provider's labels and subscribed links are added to the user's search results for relevant queries. These contributions serve as meta information that helps Google's search algorithms connect users to the most relevant information for their specific query.

As a first step, Google has partnered with a number of providers to annotate web pages related to health and city guides and to offer subscribed links to specialised content such as restaurant and movie information. However, the company hopes that in the future, internet users themselves will begin to build topic areas and links that will help improve people find more relevant information online.

Next up is Google Notebook, a personal browser tool which enables users to clip text, images, and links from the pages they're browsing and save them to an online "notebook" that is accessible from any computer and can be made available to others.

As if all of that weren't enough to keep internet users busy, the company has also released a new version of its Google Desktop tool which allows people to search for files on their PCs. Google Desktop 4 comes with Google Gadgets -- mini-applications that reside on users' desktops and deliver a variety of personalised information such as games, weather and news.

Google's previous version of Desktop, which was launched in February, came with a "Search Across Computers" option that enabled users to check for files on other people's PCs. However, following criticism from a number of privacy activists, most notably the Electronic Frontier Foundation which advised against its use, Google has included an option to disable this function on Desktop 4.