Google Squared Announced

Google is announcing a number of new search-related products at its second annual Searchology event in Silicon Valley today. Among them is a souped-up search option called “Google Squared.”

Understanding Google Squared

Google Squared goes beyond tracking down Web pages about any given topic. Rather, it puts together a virtual dossier of facts from numerous sources based on your search query.

Search for “small dogs,” for example, and Google Squared would give you a table on various small dog breeds. Data ranging from the animals’ heights to weights would be included in (what’s designed to be) an easy-to-digest, organized format. From there, you could click onto any section of the table to get more information from its specific source. You could even save the custom table for later use.

“It is something that pushes search in an entirely new direction,” stated Marissa Mayer, Google’s VP of search products and user experience. “It is a hard, computer science problem to take this unstructured information and present it in a structured way.”

Google Squared is expected to be made widely available within Google Labs before the end of May.

Via The Inquisitr

Verizon’s New Device Allows a Personal Wifi Hotspot

After a flurry of interest last December, the Mifi personal Wi-Fi hotspot is about to be delivered and thankfully, it’s coming from network coverage-king Verizon.

The Mifi is a tiny, battery powered EVDO modem which sits in your pocket and turns the incoming 3G radio waves into a small Wi-Fi network, enabling you to hook up your laptop, iPod Touch or anything else with a Wi-Fi radio. This last is pretty exciting on its own as it effectively turns an iPod Touch into an iPhone without a phone.

The difference with the Mifi is that it is so tiny and, according to the New York Times’ David Pogue, ridiculously easy to use. It’ll run for 40 hours in standby, much like a cellphone, and when you hit the single switch on the side it springs (or rather, stirs) into life, firing up a little 30 foot bubble of Wi-Fi around you. Once on, the battery will give five hours of surfing but can be plugged into the power as it goes to re-juice the batteries.

Of course, its a cellular modem, so you have some rather low data caps. The $40-a-month plan limits you to just 250MB (yes, megabytes) and jumping to $60 gives the industry-standard 5GB. You can share the connection with up to five devices, so if you’re generous with the neighnors on the Muni, for example, you could burn through that pretty quick.

Gripes aside, this looks to be an amazing device, freeing you from a specific connection for all of your internet-abled gadgets and just covering your personal space with a personal connection. I wonder if this will end up in Europe anytime soon — we have, apparently, excellent 3G coverage.

Wi-Fi to Go, No Cafe Needed [NYT]

Verizon Launches MiFi Hotspot Without Subscription [PCmag]

Via Wired