Google Instant, designing great presentations & more (Weekly round-up Vol. 72)

Posted by Lesley Hays

Last week saw the launch of Google Instant – Google’s new real-time, predictive search. Right now, you might only be able to see it when you’re logged into a Google account (it’s being rolled out slowly) but you should come across it in the near future. Here’s a quick wrap-up:

• Mashable’s live notes from Google’s launch presentation
• Reload Media’s response to what Google Instant means for SEO
• Mashable talks about the different results for single letters (eg. “w” brings up weather results before you keep typing)

My initial thoughts are that it will be a toss up between speed and visual disturbance from the constantly shifting results. It will be very interesting (and exciting) to see how useful it is once it’s fully rolled out!

Designing Great Presentations

You can see the presentation slides for the Google Instant launch in Mashable’s article. Pretty visual and simple, aren’t they? Design Shack has put together 10 tips so you can make beautiful slides, too! They’re effective and useful suggestions, and should be helpful for designers and non-designers alike.

10 Tips for Designing Presentations That Don’t Suck
Part One & Part Two – Design Shack

More!

5 Indie Films that Couldn’t be Made Without Social Media – Mashable
An animated Indian legend, to Lord Of The Rings, to Batman – independent films thrive on the sort of networks social media afford, to generate funding and to get views. Check out these trailers and see if you wouldn’t want these films in cinemas!

11 True Stories Behind Tech’s Top Names – Mashable
Ever wondered what a “twitter” is or why there are four squares? Well, here are the stories behind the big names, from Android to Yahoo.

What’s the story behind “Bluewire Media”, you ask? Well, maybe that’s a blog post for another day!

If Google Maps were real…

What if you wanted information on an address and it appeared in a huge info bubble in the sky? Or you had to dodge giant yellow Street View men on your way to work? Take a look at this artist’s impression of that world!