searching

Google has released a new Gmail Lab that adds a search box for regular Google Search within Gmail. When you turn on the lab (simply called Google Search) , you'll get a search box on the left side of your inbox that looks like this:

Google introduced a new lab for Gmail today that improves the search feature. The new Search Autocomplete lab is basically like Google Suggest for your inbox. Start typing in the searchbox, and it gives you suggestions.

A new way of searching is on the way, and will come under the label Wolfram Alpha. This is a "knowledge engine" built by Stephen Wolfram, which allows users to ask questions and receive a single definitive answer rather than a page of results pointing to pages that may or may not have the answers they are looking for.

While online holiday shopping remains popular one of the key promotions retailers use to grab customers attention is free shipping.Hitwise has an interesting analysis of consumer searches for the term "free shipping" during this holiday season.

Go to a retailer like Target early some morning, and you'll likely find a group of non-employees waiting to be let in.  When the doors open, a race to the electronics department ensues, and the cashiers get busy.  So since gamers are so willing to spend money, two new reports take a look at where their interests lie.

Microsoft's Live Search has been the object of some criticism lately since rumors have been swirling about a possible rebranding. That will likely continue in part due to the "instant answers" the Live Search team is touting today.

Google has started integrating audio indexing or "GAudi" (Google Audio Indexing) into video search. The company hopes to eventually apply it to all YouTube videos, but so far it is only limited to a narrow selection. The experiment began as an iGoogle gadget for political videos, but has now become a Google Labs project, though it is still only being applied to the "Politicians" channel of YouTube.

Actor Brad Pitt has surpassed Paris Hilton to become the most dangerous celebrity to search for on the Web according to Internet security company McAfee.Users searching for "Brad Pitt," "Brad Pitt downloads," and Brad Pitt wallpaper, screen savers and pictures have an 18 percent chance of having their PCs infected with online threats, such as spyware, adware, viruses and other malware.Cybercriminals are also using names and images, like Beyonce and Justin Timberlake, to attract Internet users to bogus web sites that look legitimate.