The Google index has been caffeinated. Basically, just like I might enjoy a fresh cup of joe, Google likes everything to be fresh in their index filled with thousands of sites. When you make a Google search, sometimes you’re presented with old content. Not anymore. Google’s explanation:
Our old index had several layers, some of which were refreshed at a faster rate than others; the main layer would update every couple of weeks. To refresh a layer of the old index, we would analyze the entire web, which meant there was a significant delay between when we found a page and made it available to you.
With Caffeine, we analyze the web in small portions and update our search index on a continuous basis, globally. As we find new pages, or new information on existing pages, we can add these straight to the index. That means you can find fresher information than ever before—no matter when or where it was published.
So everything you search for stays fresh, full of caffeinated coffee, and always hyper. Hmm. And here’s Google’s mind-numbing, brain twisting numbers for how much more space this uses in their data centers:
Caffeine lets us index web pages on an enormous scale. In fact, every second Caffeine processes hundreds of thousands of pages in parallel. If this were a pile of paper it would grow three miles taller every second. Caffeine takes up nearly 100 million gigabytes of storage in one database and adds new information at a rate of hundreds of thousands of gigabytes per day. You would need 625,000 of the largest iPods to store that much information; if these were stacked end-to-end they would go for more than 40 miles.
Boom. Wow.
Do you feel you’re being monitored while performing Google searches? Do you feel the almost stupid need to have it in SSL format? Google’s got you covered: a secured version of their web search using SSL. While this locked-up version of the world’s favorite search engine doesn’t seem as nifty as its open cousin, there’s no doubt a lot of Googlers will be Googling without getting their searches Goggled on by third-parties. Here’s what they had to say about the latest Google beta feature:
The day has finally come for Skyfire 2.0 to launch on Android phones running 1.5, 1.6, 2.0, or 2.1 firmwares (multitouch only works in 2.0+ handsets). First off, remember when you couldn’t play Flash video? Yeah right! Huzzah, with the new “SkyBar” that sits on the bottom of the screen, you’ll get to view Flash video converted into easy-to-digest formats like HTML5. Since all of this is done in the cloud, your battery won’t fizz out and your data connection won’t cry for help either. Other new features include “Explore” which lets you find more content on what you’re viewing, and a sharing feature for social networks. So in the meantime, check out the Skyfire action vid after the cut, and download it for free on the Android Market.
The “Downright Simple Poll” is something that I think I’ll coin and use occasionally. Basically it’s asking a question so simple, it’s stupid. So here’s our first “downright simple poll.”
Kudos to Google. They’ve created 
You read that correctly. Opera says that they will reveal Opera Mini for the iPhone next week at Mobile World Congress. Let’s absorb that for a minute: Opera Mini on the iPhone. Either Opera has completely lost its mind or Apple has lost all control of the App Store.
