The new voice-activated “conversational search” that was displayed at this year’s Google I/O conference is up and running on the Chrom 27 build. The soft-launch of the feature is a tad hidden, but you can start accessing it now.
The new search mechanic was only announced earlier this week but it has already found its way onto Google Chrome (if you have version 27). Clicking on the small microphone icon in the omnibar will activate the feature. One of the other large parts of Google’s search improvements this year was the idea of “follow up questions”, which is also live. This means that Google will assume that you are still asking about the initial topic when asking questions immediately following search results.
If you ask Google who built the Brooklyn Bridge for example, Google will tell you that it was John A. Roebling Sons Company, ask how long is it and Google knows “it” means the bridge. The service has been under a lot of strain this morning, giving us “no internet connection” pretty regularly. The service is still stretching its legs, give it some time.
