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Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) is accelerating its search engine by displaying the results as soon as users begin to type in their requests.

"Google Instant can save 2-5 seconds per search," Google says.

"Google Instant is a new search enhancement that shows results as you type," the search engine giant says in a blog announcing the enhancement. "We are pushing the limits of our technology and infrastructure to help you get better search results, faster. Our key technical insight was that people type slowly, but read quickly, typically taking 300 milliseconds between keystrokes, but only 30 milliseconds (a tenth of the time!) to glance at another part of the page. This means that you can scan a results page while you type.

"The most obvious change is that you get to the right content much faster than before because you don’t have to finish typing your full search term, or even press ‘search,’" Google adds. "Another shift is that seeing results as you type helps you formulate a better search term by providing instant feedback. You can now adapt your search on the fly until the results match exactly what you want. In time, we may wonder how search ever worked in any other way."

The new "Instant Search’ introduced Wednesday means people will start to see an ever-evolving set of results in the middle of the page with each character they type into the search box. The new feature will gradually roll out throughout the rest of the day.

Highlights from about "Instant.:

Faster Searches: By predicting your search and showing results before you finish typing, Google Instant can save 2-5 seconds per search.

Smarter Predictions: Even when you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for, predictions help guide your search. The top prediction is shown in grey text directly in the search box, so you can stop typing as soon as you see what you need.

Instant Results: Start typing and results appear right before your eyes. Until now, you had to type a full search term, hit return, and hope for the right results. Now results appear instantly as you type, helping you see where you’re headed, every step of the way.

Instant Search grew out of Google Inc.’s quest to deliver search results as quickly as possible. Google believes this feature will enable its search engine to anticipate what a person is looking for with just one keystroke.

Google is counting on the latest innovation to help maintain its dominance of the lucrative search market as rivals Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp. join forces.

Google milks animated doodle mystery on Twitter

For a dozen years, Google Inc. has been occasionally swapping its everyday logo for a "doodle," a sketch celebrating holidays, inventions, artists and sporting events, and showcasing designs from contest-winning students.

Usually, Google makes it clear what’s being celebrated, using the doodle as a lure to teach Web surfers more about the topic — artist Nam June Paik on his birthday, for example, or the history of China’s lantern festival, to pick just two of more than 300 past designs.

But Google has so far left Tuesday’s doodle a mystery, prompting people to speculate about the meaning of this mass of blue, red, yellow and green bouncing balls that skitter across Google.com as if allergic to the mouse pointer before settling into the familiar logo pattern.

Google’s official statement says merely that "today’s doodle is fast, fun and interactive, just the way we think search should be."

Adding to the intrigue, the company also tweeted on Twitter, "Boisterous doodle today. Maybe it’s excited about the week ahead…"

So what’s happening this week? Online, some folks speculate that the doodle marks a celebration of Google’s September birthday. Others believe it’s a way to show off emerging Web coding technology that, among other things, will speed up animations like this one. Yet more curious searchers note that Tuesday marks the day a television pioneer transmitted an image electronically for the first time.

Regardless of how the Google doodle caper shakes out, one thing is clear: In the U.S., at least, the Tuesday after a long holiday weekend is the perfect time for a bouncy distraction.

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