Google on Wednesday started to
try a new search feature which would enable its web search engine
results to integrate information from users' personal email accounts
such as Gmail.
"Sometimes the best answer to your question isn't available on
the public web -- it may be contained somewhere else, such as in
your email," Amit Singhal, Google's senior vice president in charge
of search, wrote in a post on the company's blog.
"Starting today, we're opening up a limited trial where you can
sign up to get information from your Gmail right from the search
box," he said.
Singhal noted that the new feature is an attempt to make Google
's search results to be "truly universal."
As an example cited by Google, when singed up users search for
"my flights" on Google's public web search engine, they will see
their flight confirmation emails for any upcoming trips right on top
of the search results.
Google said the field trial of the new feature is now only
accessible on its search website google.com in English.
Singhal also announced that an enhancement to its search service,
called Knowledge Graph, will now be extended to users in every
English-speaking country after its launch in the United States in
May 2012.
With the Knowledge Graph, users will see a panel on the right-
hand side of the Google search results page, which provides a
summary of key facts about users' search with the most useful and
interesting information related to the particular topic.
According to Google, the Knowledge Graph feature is based on its
database which now includes more than 500 million real-world people,
places and things with 3.5 billion facts about and connections among
them.
In another update to its search engine, Google on Wednesday said
that it will soon offer voice search in its search applications for
users of Apple's iPhone and iPad following the availability of the
function on devices running Google's Android operating system.
