Google announces Caffeine search index, promises '50 percent fresher results'
By Donald Melanson 
posted June 9th 2010 12:57PM
posted June 9th 2010 12:57PM
Google may have a lot of its plate these days, but you can rest assured it's not forgetting what got it where it is today in the first place -- it's just announced its new Caffeine search index, which is not only the largest index of web content Google has offered, but promises to be "50 percent fresher" as well. To do that, Google basically rebuilt its index from the ground up, switching from the old index with different layers that would refresh at different rates, to a crazy new index that analyzes the web in small portions on a continuous basis (as helpfully illustrated above) -- all of which should translate to you being able to find newer content, faster. Of course, this is Google, so they've also provided some analogies, noting that if Caffeine were a pile of paper it would grow three miles taller every second, that it takes up 100 million gigabytes of storage and grows at a rate of hundreds of thousands of gigabytes per day, that you would need 625,000 of the largest iPods to store that much information, and that if those were stacked end-to-end they would stretch more than 40 miles. Now you know.
I'm feeling lucky!
@who said what
Very good idea Google. I hate it when I'm searching for a news related topic and the first few results are from the year 2008, 2007 or older. I'm not interested in those.
@Fragmented
You think Bing is anywhere close to Google's techniques and the pure amount of size of information collecting?
No.
@who said what I'm wondering how this aligns with their so-called focus on green tech. Hundreds of thousands of GBs sure must take some power to load and reload.
@Drybones5 And how do you know that information? Do you work for googles database? If you do, how about for microsofts?i would say no.
@Drybones5
So when google does this, does that mean Bing is gonna suck compared to Google??????
@who said what
I thought Google didn't like patents and was into open source?
So when are they going to open-source their search IP???
What if Caffeine was ... :-X
it's great news and all but my search results would be even faster with google fiber...
not with my old 4mb dsl.....
@gboehm Even if you got 20GBPS, the google search would load as fast as with the dsl you have.
@SskyNnet I doubt it. DSL has shitty pings.
I'm high on caffeine right now - should I thank Google for that?
@Gutsy Gibbons should we be laughing at your pathetic comment?
@slickpaki
I did. you sir need a sense of humor.
@Oskiee
I think you need a better one.
Caffeine index begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th. In a panic, they try to pull the plug.
Caffeine index fights back...
@ChrisSsk
They forgot to install the morality core.
On Google's "Bring your child to work day', Caffeine index floods the enrichment center with a deadly neurotoxin.
@ChrisSsk terminator references get old...........
@Mattd00d
Never! Terminator = timeless
@Mattd00d How dare you!
@JW Hahaha! One of the best comments I've seen on here. Bravo!
@JW
the froyo is a lie.
@thisisit
No the gingerbread cake is a lie. This is in the future, man.
What is next, Google Tea?
@techlord No, I sense Google Cocaine will be next. Google Search items speak for the first time
@techlord
No, "Google Tesla" Free Enery for All
and
"Google Web" (Internet Service Provider without traffic shaping and other violations of internet neutrality)
"Google Satellite TV + Google TV box"
"Google Open Car"
"Google Teleportation" (forget about google car)
"Google Mars City" (based on google mars terraformation plans)
"Google-land" (Robotic Park-Tech-Disneyland)
and the list goes on
@Lord Vader
Every query returns pink elephants!
@techlord naw, auto-audiobook enabled google books for free
@Lord Vader Yeah, but it cost $70 a kilobyte, and makes you paranoid and impotent.
@Jobeleca
search items are rapped at you and you get a blowjob
@samisax
I wouldn't mind that :)
@Lord Vader
My browser can't repel results of that magnitude!
Trying to stay one step ahead of webmasters who service the sites no one really wants to see but invariable make it into the top 30 results.
@TimeForTheFairTax
I hate it when you are looking for something to download from sites like rapidshare, hotfile, etc and these annoying sites which just contain the keywords you are searching for and do NOT have links to the stuff you want. Incredibly annoying.
this might just tip me over to Google from Bing.... then again no, Bing has so many advantages...
@jjrp123
Such as?
@avengeryarr Bing actually is pretty good. I've switched to them today to try them out and so far I'm finding that I like it. Certainly nothing strikes me as obviously worse then Google's search and there are some nice features like the pop-up (to the side, really) link summaries that don't pop-up without your intent (unlike those incredibly obnoxious advertising kind you find on some sites). So, yeah, it has some nice features.
@jjrp123 nah they fail my fireproof test. Search bing for lacrimosa and hope to get the german band's website but you get a bunch of myspace fansites and trash.
Google gets their homepage.
Result.
Bing is pretty.
But it's pretty useless as long as it returns second rate results.
@hello5800xm
What Bing are you using? I type Lacrimosa, press enter the top three results are:
"Lacrimosa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia"
"Lacrimosa (band) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia"
"Official Homepage of Lacrimosa" (www.lacrimosa.ch)
And then you get into Myspace, Last.fm, et cetera. Bing is a fine search engine. I don't know how its algorithms compare to the now-launched Caffeine, but it is entirely serviceable and competitive with Google's old index.
@avengeryarr gaah I was kidding, didnt think anyone would take that seriously lol I hate bing
Wait, what is this exactly?
@Spaceshipped
google crowing on about how many hard drives they have dedicated to generating contextual ads
Google acts as if their search index wasn't already fast. Gotta love them for improving in every possibly way.
@Shadow08
*possible
@Shadow08 it's not a question of speed it's keeping sites updated and proper search engine ranking
Does this mean we'll get paid BP links faster then ever? Thanks, Google!
im 12 and wat is this
Lot 'on' its plate not of its plate.... just a spelling blooper
http://www.google.com/search?aq=f&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=google+caffeine+engadget
100 petabytes?! Holy moly...