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Google unveils speedier search engine

London, August 11 (ANI): Google Inc. is working on a new test version of its search engine, which the company claims will be faster and more relevant than ever before.

The company has dubbed the new search engine "caffeine".

Look-wise, the new engine doesn't appear different, but its developers hope that the technology they have used will noticeably index new content faster.

Google engineers are said to have invited web developers to test the new search engine, and give their feedback.

Matt Cutts, a principal engineer at Google, and Sitaram Iyer, a staff software engineer, have posted an entry on the company's webmaster central blog, appealing to developers to try the newly improved service and send them some feedback.

"For the last several months, a large team of Googlers has been working on a secret project: a next-generation architecture for Google's web search. It's the first step in a process that will let us push the envelope on size, indexing speed, accuracy, comprehensiveness and other dimensions," the Telegraph quoted them as having written on the blog.

"The new infrastructure sits "under the hood" of Google's search engine, which means that most users won't notice a difference in search results. But web developers and power searchers might notice a few differences, so we're opening up a web developer preview to collect feedback," they said.

A Google spokesperson added: ""Google is always working on new technologies to improve the quality of our search services. We hope this new system will improve search in the areas of speed, accuracy, and comprehensiveness."

Martin McNulty, director of search marketing specialist, Trafficbroker, who has tried the new version, said: "Google's caffeine is undoubtedly faster, almost twice as fast at times.

It's like a Google GTi. Caffeine may be 'under the hood' but with this noticeable injection of speed it won't remain under the radar for long. As for accuracy, it's hard to say at this early stage but Google is clearly upping its game by including real-time results and more breaking news, as well as updates from the likes of Facebook and Twitter." (ANI)

Where The Jobs Are: Information Technology Professional

As the worldwide economic crisis grinds on, companies continue to hire information technology professionals.

"Now more than ever, companies have to focus on efficiency," says Yazad Dalal, vice president of North American sales at the New York-based job search Web site Vault.com. "The primary way to do that today is through technology." Vault predicts that the number of IT jobs will increase by 50% over the next six years. "You don't need to be a technology company to need world-class IT professionals on your staff," Dalal adds.
Jobs can range from desktop support to network systems and data communications manager or analyst. The minimum requirement: a bachelor's degree in computer science. IT pros with 10 or more years of experience under their belts command the most elevated positions, which can pay as much as $100 an hour.

In Pictures: Where The IT Jobs Are

The biggest cluster of IT jobs is in New York City, says Dalal. Even though the financial sector has been battered by the recession, banks and investment houses like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase are actively hiring in their IT departments. "We're hiring in this area globally," says Andrea Rachman, a Goldman spokeswoman.

At the same time, New York is home to so-called Silicon Alley, an area stretching between Midtown and Wall Street where a number of new-media and technology companies live. Tech companies are also in hiring mode, says Dalal. Those businesses, which include the New York offices of large Internet concerns like Yahoo! and Google, are willing to pay high Manhattan rents in exchange for proximity to their clients and for the "little bit of spark," in Dalal's words, that comes with a SoHo or Bryant Park address.

Another hot town for IT jobs: Washington, D.C. The plethora of government contractors there explains this phenomenon. Lockheed Martin and Booz Allen Hamilton, for instance, have offices in D.C., and they need good IT folk running their systems.

Texas is an IT hot spot thanks to the plethora of banks in the state. Matthew Ripaldi, senior vice president for Ajilon Consulting, in Houston, which handles IT staffing and strategy, agrees with Dalal that IT jobs nationwide should grow by at least 50% over the next half-dozen years.

From Ripaldi's perspective as a staffing consultant, companies are increasingly hiring IT employees on contract, either for a fixed length of time, like six months, or for the duration of a project. Pay for contract work can range from $20 to $100 an hour.

For full-timers, entry-level salaries start in the $36,000 to $48,000 range, says Dalal. Those jobs go to college grads who've majored in computer science. For an IT pro with experience, pay can rise as high as $122,000.

Although IT is more robust than other hiring areas, it's still suffering a hit from the downturn. According to Edward Koc, director of research for the National Association of Colleges and Employers, which links employer recruiters with college career centers, computer science is the college major with the second strongest hiring record this year, behind accounting. Even so, less than half of computer science grads--48.7%--landed jobs in 2009 (and only 53.1% of accounting majors did).

Ripaldi points out that IT job applicants must not only be computer whizzes; they need to be able to communicate well with human beings too. It's also very helpful, he says, to know the latest computing frameworks, like Microsoft's .NET Framework. "There are some skill sets with IT that have zero unemployment," he observes. Being up-to-date in .NET is one of them.

On the ground at a school, Manny Contomanolis, who runs the Rochester Institute of Technology's career services office, says computer science majors there did well this year. His office is still compiling its final 2009 tally, but he estimates three-quarters of the students found jobs this year. A strong showing, but not as impressive as pre-crisis 2008, when Contomanolis says 98% of Rochester computer science grads landed employment.

In Pictures: Where The IT Jobs Are

Susan Adams, Forbes.com