The line between the Google experience on desktop and mobile is starting to blur as the company may introduce a Discovery Feed to its search engine for web browsers.
This piece of information comes from technical news site MSPowerUser, who recently discovered the update. The feed is similar to what you see Bing and the Google smartphone app, although this one adds a little more. In addition to displaying article headlines, on the right you get the local weather forecast, stock market information for three companies and sports scores. A Google representative told TheVerge this is nothing more than an experiment “currently being conducted in India”. No word if the redesign will make its way to other countries.
Potential limited
This wouldn’t be the first time the tech giant has tampered with the clean front page of its search engine. 9To5Google has an interesting timeline with several adjustments made to the front page. At one point, there was even a section dedicated to showing news stories about the COVID-19 pandemic. The biggest difference from the older styles is that they consisted of a few widgets at the bottom of the screen.
The current test contains content that takes up large portions of the screen, pushing the search bar to the top of the window. The layout becomes much messier.
This wouldn’t be so bad if there was a way to disable the feature, or at least adjust it. Unfortunately, this may not happen. Android Police in their report points out Google’s discovery feed on smartphones cannot be turned off or even adjusted. It is completely at the mercy of website owners who want their content to reach the right audience. The feed shows articles related to someone’s interests, but that’s in terms of customization.
If you can’t beat them…
Of course, there’s no guarantee the experiment will become official, although it’s an interesting insight into what Google is thinking of introducing to its search engine. On October 12, the company began testing an “image generation tool on the AI-powered Search Genative Experience (SGE).” Again, similar to Bing, it gives the search engine the ability to create images based on a text prompt.
It’s a bit funny to see Google chasing Bing in this way. For years it has always felt like Bing always played second fiddle, but now with the advent of AI the tables have seemingly turned. What else will Google acquire from Microsoft if it is willing to move on? We may soon see a Chrome version of Microsoft Copilot, although it will still be called Google Assistant.
Speaking of AI, check out TechRadar’s list of the best AI art generators in 2023.
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