Tech Tuesday: Google Instant Search Conference Reveals Cool New Tools

I postponed today's blog post last night in anticipation of the Google Instant Search press conference which was streamed live from San Francisco this morning.  I'm glad I did, because they revealed three seriously cool new tools.

1. Instant Search Using Voice : 

How Voice Search will appear.
Click to enlarge.

Now you don't even have to type your search queries.  Just clicking on the microphone button in the search bar will enable you to speak your search request.  This is helpful when you don't know how to spell the words or more likely, the names of who/what you wish to search for.

It should be noted that this feature was already available and popular for mobile devices, but now is coming to your desktop on the Chrome browser.  Google's voice search traffic has risen six-fold in the past year, an increase that speaks to the popularity of speech recognition on mobile devices. It will be interesting to see if desktop and laptop PC users show the same enthusiasm for voice input.


2. Instant Search Using Images enables users to drag-and-drop, copy-and-paste image URL, or upload the image from the desktop into the search box. They can also use a Chrome or FireFox software extension to add images to the search. 


Google said the search-by-image feature will be available in most countries and regions over the next few days to Chrome users, noting that it will not collect and store any images that users use.

3. Instant Pages pre-renders Websites when it's confident you'll click on the top result of a query. In a demonstration today, pages loaded immediately when using Instant Pages, while an old version of Google search took an extra three or four seconds. Even when pages don't load immediately, they load a few seconds faster using Google Instant Pages.

The feature will be available today in the developer version of Google's Chrome browser, and this week in Chrome's beta version. Instant Pages will come to the stable version of Chrome and mobile browsers in the coming weeks. Because the code is open source, developers can build Instant Pages extensions for other browsers as well.  

"Uh... that's cool, but what does this have to do with theater ideas?"  

Good point.  Let's imagine.

Image Search-

You're a costume designer and have finished the latest round of sketches for the cast of A Streetcar Named Desire.  After scanning them into your computer (unless you work primarily on a drawing tablet already) you drag the sketch into the search bar.  Immediately, shopping results for vintage clothing that look exactly like what you sketched Blanche in pop up, and you're able to find the best deal.

OR

You're a theater director in Oregon planning on touring a production of Shakespeare's a Midsummer Night's Dream in an outdoor setting in Virginia.  You want to scout a location that has the same curving trees and ground cover as your neighborhood park.  You take a photo of the Oregon location, drag it into the search bar, and find a great match at a Virginia country club complete with booking information.

OR

You're a location scout for a film project and you need to find a building in town that looks enough like the high school the script is based on 100 miles away...  

You see where I'm getting at.

Voice Search and Instant Pages provide more general conveniences.  Instant Pages save seconds of time, but they add up.  Perhaps that time saved only allows a person to make one extra search each day, but that search might be for you.

Voice Search is mostly useful when you don't know how to spell something, like the name of the Russian actor you're supposed to locate for your theater's next production of Uncle Vanya.  To be honest, when Voice Search allows me to go completely hands free and talk to my computer like a Star Trek character while I'm hand stitching a costume, I'm going to get far more excited.  

-Danielle Loebs

PS.  All information in this article was obtained from the notes I took while watching the Google Instant Search conference.  The images are courtesy of Google Instant.

TED Talk Thursday: Janet Echelman Takes Imagination Seriously

Spring is finally warming up here in Rocklin, California and the weather is gorgeous!  With the weekend so close at hand, I thought I’d write a companion post to a TED Talk about imagination, public art and the beauty that results from the synergy of ideas.

About the speaker:

Janet Echelman builds living, breathing sculpture environments that respond to the forces of nature — wind, water and light— and become inviting focal points for civic life.

Exploring the potential of unlikely materials, from fishing net to atomized water particles, Echelman combines ancient craft with cutting-edge technology to create her permanent sculpture at the scale of buildings. Experiential in nature, the result is sculpture that shifts from being an object you look at, to something you can get lost in.
–TED.com

Here’s the Talk:

If you don’t have nine minutes to spend, here are some takeaways:

The Value of Synergy and Collaboration

“Fourteen years ago I searched for beauty in the traditional things in craft forms.  Now I combine them with high tech materials and engineering to create voluptuous billowing forms the scale of buildings.  My artistic horizons continue to grow.”

Echelman’s art is made possible through the design technology of architects, engineers and sail designers.  Combining a variety of disciplines with a shared goal, the team was able to create giant sculptures for everyone to enjoy.  Additionally, an organic collaborator (the wind) is ever present to change the way that the sculpture moves.

Free Sharing to Reach Untapped Markets

“ An attorney in my friend’s  office in Phoenix who had never been interested in art, never visited the local art museum, dragged everyone she could from the building and got them outside to lie down underneath the sculpture.  There they were in their business suits lying in the grass, noticing the changing patterns of wind beside people they didn’t know and sharing the rediscovery of wonder.”

Rather than keeping her ideas behind museum or gallery glass, Echelman shared her work with the public for free.  Earlier in the talk, she revealed how creating one public art piece lead to the commission of another and that one to another, etc.  By putting a moving, changing piece of art in the public sphere, Echelman was able to reach out and connect with untapped markets for her work.  

When You’re Stuck, Improvise

Echelman’s entire technique of sculpture never would have been invented had her paints arrived in India in time for her show.  Without the art supplies she was used to working with, and with the deadline for creation fast approaching, she used the supplies at hand, improvised, and invented something new, unique and beautiful.

-Danielle Loebs

PS. While we muse on this, I’ll leave you with an open ended discussion question: how can we apply these lessons to our daily lives?   Feel free to tell a little about yourself in the comments below, or, if this just made you wonder, share this post or click the +1 button below so that others may be invited to wonder along with you.

Image of courtesy of echelman.com.