Mountain View gets boxed in with Google Squared

Google has released an experimental tool allowing users to test out search results that are automatically arranged into the familiar rows and columns of an ordinary spreadsheet.

The search prototype, which is dubbed Google Squared, made its public debut as a Google Labs offering on Wednesday.

The semantics-based tool was first demonstrated at Google’s Searchology shindig last month. It finds web pages that have been indexed in the same way as for a regular search, but it then presents them in a spreadsheet-style format.

"It essentially searches the Web to find the types of facts you might be interested in, extracts them and presents them in a meaningful way," said Google.

"If your square isn't perfect at the beginning, it's easy to work with Google Squared to get a better answer."

However, the results are at best mixed, and the tool is certainly not all that useful for more ambiguous search queries.

Google agreed, pointing out that the technology behind Google Squared "is by no means perfect".

So, you may wonder, what happens if you search for Bing?

The result given - think bald guy, White Christmas, etc - suggests that Microsoft’s revamped search engine was just a bad dream. ®