It's worth mentioning that this is NOT the first time Google offered answers directly below the search box. In April 2005, Google QnA was launched. However, the actual announcement makes no mention that this concept is five years old at Google. True, the technology might be different to create and deliver the answers but the concept is the same.
Important! Remind users (and yourself) to pay close attention to the answer and the source. This is not just a Google "thing" and it's nothing new but it's is key to info literacy and with Google Squared (beta) and other answers on results pages it becomes an imperative. The question, is Google Squared ready for prime-time? Until recently, Google Squared was only accessible via Google Labs (it still is) and the company was clear they have/had more work to do. However, with some plain ol' Google searches in the main search box, Google Squared is now automatically triggered. Would a typical "just Google it" searcher have any idea that this product, although one year old on the Google Labs site, it appears to to need more work.
Here are a few examples of the answers a user would most likely use/share if they didn't pause, just for a moment and consider the accuracy, currency, etc. of what they were reading. Perhaps when it comes to important issues and topics it might be a good idea to get a second opinion (aka verify using another source?) This is not only true for Google but all of the major engines.
Another "cell" or "square" notes A Chorus Line was directed by Sir Richard Attenborough. Again, according to the official site he was not the director when the show opened in the 1970's and is not the director with the current production in Houston. In fact, Sir Richard was never on Broadway with A Chorus Line or any other production according to two sources (one biographical and the other focusing on Broadway shows.
The description refers to the 1964 motion picture with Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke. The current Broadway version is directed by Richard Eyre. So why is Robert Stevenson listed as director? You are correct. He directed the 1964 movie.
If you look closely at many of the squares/cells, the data is coming from the Internet MOVIE Database. Perhaps it's not the best source for Broadway theater info. However, there are several excellent sources about shows, awards, bios, etc. plus most current productions have their own web sites loaded with facts, bios, etc.
Finally, here's one that has been an answer found directly at the top of Google results pages for some time. The search: Prime Minister of Israel. It continues to list Ehud Olmert. Wrong. Even the source Google uses for the info and also links to (CIA World Leaders) lists Benyamin Netanyahu. He has been PM for over one year. It makes you wonder how often some of this info is updated when you can't even keep up with the primary source you use for information.
There is something to be said for algorithmic selection of sources, at least at this point, Remind the "just Google it" crowd to look closely at the answer. In an academic or business setting it might take turning in a paper or giving outdated statistics at a meeting or in a speech. These days and even more so in the future, being able to quickly judge and decide the quality of an answer (accuracy, currency, reputation of source, etc.) is essential and while we are using Google's results page answers to illustrate, the concepts apply to all sources, free or fee.
One of the popular features of Google Translate is the ability to hear translations spoken out loud (”text-to-speech”) by clicking the speaker icon beside some translations, like the one below.
We rolled this feature out for English and Haitian Creole translations a few months ago and added French, Italian, German, Hindi and Spanish a couple of weeks ago. Now we’re bringing text-to-speech to even more languages with the open source speech synthesizer, eSpeak.
By integrating eSpeak we’re adding text-to-speech functionality for Afrikaans, Albanian, Catalan, Chinese (Mandarin), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Latvian, Macedonian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Swahili, Swedish, Turkish, Vietnamese and Welsh.
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