Also from Google Labs today is a useful new addition to image search: The ability to find and compare similar images. Similar Images helps you narrow the images found based on, you guessed it, similarity to one another. TechCrunch provides a nice example, using apple as a search term–you might be looking for Apple the company, or maybe apple the fruit.
(via TechCrunch)
Google is currently experimenting with some new options for displaying search results. Google Blogscoped outlines these features, including filters to only show specific kinds of results or only show results created within a certain timeframe. The most compelling new feature, though, is one called the “wonder wheel.”
The wonder wheel presents your query with several related search terms. As you click a related term, a new wheel starts from that term, with new spokes to explore further. As you explore the wheel, relevant search results appear in the column to the right. Below is a search I began as “university of kansas”–see how it’s expanded from there to a search of famous athletes from KU.
This video demonstrates the new features–the wonder wheel demo begins about 50 seconds in.
Want to check out the wonder wheel yourself? The aforementioned article on Google Blogscoped includes a bit of Javascript code to copy and paste into your browser’s address window. It looks a little technical, but it’s not difficult. Give it a try! (Note: I’m currently using Safari 4 beta as my primary browser and had problems getting this to work. No problems with Firefox, though.)
Although it’s currently an experiment, I could see the wonder wheel being a useful tool in helping students explore concepts online. What do you think?
