The Google Quick Search Box comes equipped with search suggestions as you would expect. These suggestions range from apps and local files on your computer to web search and navigational suggestsions, as wel las items from your browser history, and contacts. Google says more types of results will become available in time.

"Once you’ve found the result you want, we wanted you to be able to DO something with it," Product Managers Ryan Tabone and KarenGrünberg explain. "To find out what you can do, select a result and press the tab key or the right arrow on the keyboard. Some examples of actions include instant messaging friends, playing a song, or emailing a URL. Just like the data you can search over, the list of actions you can perform will grow over time!"

To access he Quick Search Box, users simply need to push control+spacebar or Command twice. Shortcuts can be customized in the preferences panel.

"As you use the Google Quick Search Box more, it will learn which results you are likely to want," the product managers say. "The goal here is that we get you to what you’re looking for as quickly as possible. In the above example, if you chose Google Calendar, the next time you search for "cal", Google QSB will reorder the results so that you don’t have to arrow down to your desired choice. Instead, you can just type "cal" and press enter."

The beauty of the Quick Search Box being open source is that plug-ins can be created to improve features and functionality on a potentially massive scale. In fact, there is already a Twitter plug-in, that many users are likely to find helpful.

To use the gadget, you (of course) have to have Google Desktop installed. Then to use it just:

1. Download the gadget

2. Sign in to your Google Account

3. Select a subscription (your gadget will update automatically with new posts)

Clicking an item will open a larger view where you can see the item preview and star, share, and email items. Google notes that a technical limitation keeps you from being able to display full HTML feeds. But you can still click on a title to go to the original site in your browser.

The Google Reader gadget runs with the latest versions of Linux and Windows. It’s open sourced under the Apache 2.0 license.

"If you want to easily keep track of your upcoming appointments right from your desktop, this new version has a cleaner interface, fully supports Google Apps calendars, and includes three different viewing modes," explains Software Engineer Benjamin Schirmer at the Official Gmail Blog.

You can click on an event to see details, including a map of the location, a list of attendees, and start and end times. You can also easily create new events.

The Gmail gadget allows users to login to multiple Gmail accounts. I would have to assume that similar functionality is available with this one. The Calendar gadget runs with the latest Linux, Mac, and Windows releases of Google Desktop gadgets.

In March of 2004, Google launched its desktop software for PC users. Since then, Google has developed numerous gadgets for the client, and has unrolled several major upgrades to the application. All the while, Mac users have waited patiently for the folks in Mountain View to throw some love in their direction.

The Mac community can now breathe a collective sigh of relief; Google has finally come around.

The initial beta version of the Google Desktop software became available for download on Wednesday. At the Official Google Desktop Blog, the development team lets Mac users in on all the features they’ve been missing and what they can expect from the software:

Users also don’t need to remember whether the information they’re looking for lives on their Mac or on the web. By hitting the command key twice, users get a Quick Search Box that offers a single starting point for searching both the web and their desktop. As users begin to type, the Quick Search Box instantly begins displaying results, making it easy to quickly launch applications and find files.

And just like Google web search, each Desktop search result includes the file name and a brief snippet with the search term highlighted so users know they’re opening the file they want.

Google Desktop for the Mac is still in beta version and is only available in the English language so far. The client runs on both PowerPC and Intel machines with Mac OS X 10.4+ and is compatible with the Safari, Firefox, and Camino web browsers. 

Of course, as with most betas, new features will undoubtably roll out very quickly. That said, since I have no pressing need for the search feature I’ll pass on this one. As soon as the widgets roll out, I’ll download and add them to my OSX widgets (Chuck Norris will no longer be alone on my desktop).

Glad to be settling in here at Yahoo and finally returning to the blog. Berkely is quite different than I expected so the transition has been challenging, but not painful at all. Thanks for all the well-wishes!

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Not to be outdone, Google has updated its desktop application with a sleeker sidebar and redesigned gadgets. By improving the look and functionality of its sidebar and gadgets, Google is looking to present Vista users with their own alternative to desktop information management.

In addition to the cosmetic changes, the company has overhauled two key features of Google Desktop:

Desktop Search - Ever searched your computer and seen a row of results that looked almost identical – so you had to open file after file until you found the right one? Now there is a better way: preview search results from within Google Desktop. Don’t wait for an entire application to load, just click "Preview" and find the information you want right away. Finding the right file has never been easier!

Security - We take your security extremely seriously and have added new features to help make your search experience safer. Whether you’re clicking on links from documents, IMs and email or browsing the web, if we have information that the site you’re visiting might be trying to steal your personal information or install malicious software on your computer, we’ll give you a warning first so you can decide if you want to use the site.

Convincing users to run Google Desktop and various other widgets will still take some work, given the fact that these items have developed quite the reputation for sucking the life out of a system’s resources. If Google can continue to streamline the sidebar and gadgets to look better and run smoother, it will give Vista a run for its money for a user’s attention on the desktop level.

A page at the Google Desktop Help Center is dedicated to the topic, “My internet broke after I uninstalled Google Desktop.” Luckily, it seems to be a rare problem. Of the 83 comments on this page, very few documented any issues with the software. Of greater concern was what this development meant for Google.

“DarthFred” began the conversation by saying, “it leaves one wondering if this is a Microsoft-like tactic of breaking the system on uninstallation (as the uninstallation of Internet Explorer will break Microsoft Windows).” “dorian” simply remarks that this is “very disappointing from Google.” Most of the comments were more generous, though.

“tom6a” wrote, “I’m guessing it’s an honest mistake. They wouldn’t do this on purpose.” Most of the other respondents restated this belief, pointing out that the company, best known for its search engine, has made a solution available. That’s right, if uninstalling Google Desktop broke your internet, you can find the suggested fix here.

The page also notes that Google’s “engineers are currently investigating the source of this problem.” So perhaps there’s no cause for alarm after all. It would seem that the problem of Google “breaking the internet” is an unusual one that has been (mostly) addressed and resolved.

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Google Reader product manager Jason Shellen recently posted about a new feature in Reader. Users can share starred or labeled lists of RSS feeds from their accounts with other people’s Readers.

Shellen also said that labeled items can be shared too. So if a particular group of items have been labeled “hipster” or “tech,” to use Shellen’s example, the lists containing items with those labels may be shared with others.

Reader users can manage the sharing settings within the product. To enable sharing, they must visit the new Share tab in Reader and check the “shared” check box next to the desired items. Once sharing has been enabled for a list, users can email that list to others.

Users can also place a clip of headlines they are sharing on their sites or blogs. A wizard guides the user through the quick process of titling the clip, selecting a color scheme and the number of items to display, and whether or not to show item sources.

The Google Desktop team blogged that the enterprise version of Google Desktop has launched. The release includes group policy templates and instructions on centrally administering features on both the enterprise and consumer versions of Desktop.

Also, the team has added support for 15 languages to Google Desktop 3, as noted by software engineer Roy Ju: French, Italian, German, Spanish, Dutch, Brazilian Portuguese, traditional Chinese, simplified Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Swedish, Finnish, Danish, and Norwegian.

Besides those developments, the Desktop group also disclosed more on what is available for users:

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David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.

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As reported by the Mercury News, when you move a file around on your computer, Google Desktop Search doesn’t notice it. Since GDS only indexes when you install it, and adds new files to the index as you create / edit them. However, it doesn’t scan your hard drive, even when you’re doing absolutely nothing, so if it doesn’t catch your files in the first place, it never will.

This is a pretty annoying problem, and Google’s solution is just plain stupid. To reindex your hard drive, Google suggests you uninstall and then reinstall Desktop Search. Really? You expect to compete with Windows Vista with this?

MSN Desktop Search indexes your hard drive when you’re doing nothing. Why can’t Google do that, or during off hours, or at least have a button to trigger a reindexing? I’d think that reindexing was pretty important. Maybe Google wants to build that feature in before Windows Vista (and its robust, integrated desktop search) hits stores later this year.

(via Barry Schwartz)

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Nathan Weinberg writes the popular InsideGoogle blog, offering the latest news and insights about Google and search engines.

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