What's with the crazy bouncing balls google logo?

[BeBMan]

Today I only get some greyish 'Google' sign - WTF Google?

[Asher]

http://mashable.com/2010/09/08/google-color-logo/

Google’s Color-Changing Logo and What the Company Is About to Announce

The Google homepage is sporting a new logo that changes color as you type, and it’s likely a big hint as to what the company will announce at its “can’t miss” search event on Wednesday.

When you arrive on the search giant homepage today, you’ll be greeted with a gray Google doodle. When you start typing a search query though, the color magically returns to Google’s iconic logo. This follows yesterday’s logo, a collection of animated particles that react to the movement of the cursor.

As many in the media have noted, this week’s series of logos isn’t just Googlers having fun; it’s also a big hint for what the company will be unveiling at a press event occurring Wednesday morning in San Francisco.

If today’s logo is any indication, Google is about to unveil a real-time search overhaul. This is not about adding Twitter or Facebook results to Google search though; this is about search results that change as you type, a feature Google has been testing recently. Also likely to be announced tomorrow: AJAX-powered search results.

We’ll be live at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art to cover Google’s big search event. Until then though, feel free to speculate about what today’s logo means and what the company will announce in the comments.

[Asher]

Google Instant Search is live on google.com

Cool

[bc1871]

Nothing more than a creative marketing campaign by “Google”. After all, they now have the whole internet using populace discussing what the strange bouncing balls meant.

[N35t0r]

Not availiable here still, even when I log into my account :-/

[Imran Siddiqui]

WTF Google? The new instant search makes searching much slower if you have an older computer (like my work computer).

[EPW]

Instant Search causes seizures

[Asher]

WTF Google? The new instant search makes searching much slower if you have an older computer (like my work computer).

So turn it off.

[Al B. Sure!]

Was this really necessary? Does it provide any benefit? Or is it just a symptom of our incessant instant-gratification society?

[Asher]

It cuts down on the time most people need to search.

By google's calculations and data retrieved from their testing, it saves 2-5 seconds of search time per query. It's a total of 11 hours of human time per second when rolled out worldwide.

[Al B. Sure!]

It cuts down on the time most people need to search.

By google's calculations and data retrieved from their testing, it saves 2-5 seconds of search time per query. It's a total of 11 hours of human time per second when rolled out worldwide.

How so? I'll have to experiment and see if it's faster for me.

I can see the supposed logic in that you could start typing a search term and what you want might show up right there for you to stop typing and select it but it seems to me that this need to look at the instant results as you type to find that opportunity SLOWS people down.

[Asher]

Probably because they don't need to continue typing the query when the result is already on their screen. And yes, most people do type slowly.

[Al B. Sure!]

Check my edited post. You ****ing respond too damn fast and no one can tell when you're browsing.

[Asher]

Not my fault you
1) Are so slow
2) Can't get it right the first time

[Al B. Sure!]

Searching for "Apolyton" Now, I can type Apolyton in less than one second so there's no real difference between instant search and traditional search for me.

Now, let's say I were retarded and I systematically one-finger type A-P-O-L-Y-T-O-N, after each letter looking through the results for Apolyton's link...

A... straigh AOL comes up
P... bunch of Apple crap...
O... Apollo the Greek god and the Apollo Theater
L... no change
Y... Apolyton Civilization Site.

See my point. For retards to snatch up Apolyton at the instant it comes up would require them looking through the list. It's faster just to type Apolyton (or even Apoly) and go straight to the search results without looking to falsely save that precious second by getting the right search result at the right moment and in the process, actually going slower.

And if you search for things without knowing exactly what you want (ie- normal searching not searching for websites you are familiar with), the speed improvement vanishes since you need to look through the results anyway.