Google updates Gmail chat, digg-style voting to experimental search

There must be something in the water over at Mountain View, because it seems that a day doesn't pass without at least a few significant Google updates. Today we've got enhanced emoticons in Gmail chat, support for group chats, and the company's also experimenting with the idea of letting users vote on search results.

The first update is pretty self explanatory. Pretty much every instant messaging application on the face of the earth (including Google Talk) has support for funny looking emoticons, so it was only a matter of time before you saw them start to pop up in email-based chat clients. If you've grown fond of Google's little rotating :-), fear not. It's still there as the default smiley.

You can also now initiate group chats with multiple Gmail or GTalk users by clicking the "options" button and entering a list of people you want to invite.

Google is also testing a new way to refine search results, by asking users to get involved in the ranking process. The project is part of Google Experimental, which means that you'll need to sign up for participation. Once you're signed up, you'll notice two little icons next to search results. Click the up arrow to indicate that you like the result, or the X button to bury it. Right now, the results will only be stored in your own settings, so you can consider this a step towards personalized search. But if this catches on, the Google of the future could use a combination of computers and real live people to determine the most accurate search results.

[via Googlified]

Tags: chat, emoticons, gmail, ranking