Google is rolling out real-time search with Twitter, Facebook and mobile

Microsoft brought out Bing to guess what you want. Google is one-upping Microsoft with real time searching results.

When you Google a topic with frequent updates, such as Obama, a real-time window opens at the top of the list to scroll the very latest stories in real time.

Before this latest innovation, the results of a Google search were static. Even Latest only showed results change on refresh.

It’s Twitter time on Google. If you want the latest second by second story on Tiger Woods, they roll onto the screen one after another.

The feature is cute but might be annoying when most stories are repeats which don’t add new information to the story. It is like Twitter searching the Internet. Latest results is being rolled out and may not be available in all areas and right now covers only hot topics.

Real-time search part of the whole world view Google wants its users to have – Google Maps with Street View, Google Earth.

Google Maps with Street View is amazing. When I was in Toronto I rented at 47 Cheritan Avenue. Click on it and see a street view then enter an address – your own, someone you know. Clicking on the red droplet in the center of the screen activates the Street View. The technology allows you to walk up and down the street, look up down sideways. You literally feel in the spot.

Google Street View covers many of the larger cities. Not all cities are covered. Charlottetown, PEI doesn’t have Street View but Halifax, Nova Scotia does. Google Maps is almost everywhere.

CBC reported it covers “Victoria, Nanaimo, B.C., Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Sudbury, Ont., London, Ont., Sherbrooke, Que., and St. John’s, N.L. They join larger cities such as Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.” CBC: Google Street View adds 9 Canadian cities

Near Me

Google is rolling out Near Me Now to give mobile phone users ideas on restaurants and businesses that are located where you are right now. The feature is already working on some Google Android phones with the title “What’s Nearby”. Google Maps calls a similar feature “What’s nearby”.

3G mobile phones are in reality small computers now. Features like Near Me Now that allow you to find a nearby business will be very useful.

Google earns advertising dollars from all of these “free” services but since that is transparent to users no one seems to mind. It does change the advertising model from static marketing and buy messages to high level of utility for people.

Google Street View is not real time: someone had to take the pictures. That opens an opportunity for photographers to post their own related shots of Street View scenes using Panoramio. Self publication will allow creative people to post their words on Blogger, videos on YouTube and pictures on Google Earth and Street View. That’s pretty cool and Google earns the money.

With stories from ComputerWorld: Google turns on real-time search and BBC: Can Google now see, hear and search in real time?