Google is celebrating the 15th of Google Search with a few updates, including a new search algorithm called Hummingbird, and some key updates coming soon to its desktop and mobile search apps.
For example, you can get more “Knowledge Graph” details from Google without even visiting a second website. Ask it to compare two things or provide filters to existing results from the search screen.
Some of the biggest updates are coming to mobile devices — particularly iOS.
Google Search for iOS will soon get support for notifications, bringing a bit more Google Now magic to the iPhone and iPad. For instance, you can ask Google to set a reminder for you, and the Search app will send you a notification when it’s time for your appointment.
Google is also adding support for cross-platform notifications, so you can set a reminder using Google Now on your Android tablet and get results on your iPhone (or vice versa).
The company recently rolled out an update to its iOS app that lets you ask follow-up questions using pronouns. You can ask a question like “who is Michael Douglas?” and follow it up with “how old is he?” without repeating his name. That feature is coming soon to Android.