Google Instant: Search results before you've stopped typing

Google has introduced Google Instant, a way of searching for results before you've finished typing. Instant seems to be the inspiration for Google's interactive logos of the last two days.

If you go to the Google home page, you'll now notice the difference that Instant makes. The search engine will take what you've typed already, predict the most likely completed version, and deliver the results in real-time. Google said on its blog that Instant delivers "interactive, predictive and powerful" search.

Google said it needed a host of new technologies to achieve predicted results, such as new caching systems and the ability to control the rate at which it showed results pages.

"In the end, we needed to produce a system that was able to scale while searching as fast as people can type and think -- all while maintaining the relevance and simplicity people expect from Google," wrote Google's Marissa Mayer.

Mayer stated that the main benefit of Instant is saved time, with testing showing that it saved an average searcher 2 to 5 seconds per search, which all adds up.

Instant is now the core search method on Google's UK site. Brits with Instant-capable browsers can use it now. Those browsers include Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer 8.

Google also launched another predictive technology recently: Google Scribe. It's a predictive text system for your computer, giving you a drop-down menu of completed words as you type.

Have you tried this new way of searching, and what do you think of it? Have those Google boys and girls struck gold again? Lay it on us in the comments section below.