Ubuntu / Linux news and application reviews.

Google has been working on a new search infrastructure and you can now test it if you visit www2.sandbox.google.com. Don't expect new features or better search results, but if you find something interesting, post it in the comments.

"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 new infrastructure sits "under the hood" of Google's search engine, which means that most users won't notice a difference in search results," mentions the Google Webmaster Blog.

Google claims most of the changes are aimed at faster page indexing and it may involve some changes in how the search engine determines authority so web masters should get ready for different rankings:

"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 new infrastructure sits "under the hood" of Google's search engine, which means that most users won't notice a difference in search results," mentions the Google Webmaster Blog.

Still, there are changes on the user side as well; for one there are significantly more results in some of the searches, though going from 600 million to 800 million results is pretty much moot. One change that may have the greatest impact is the emphasis on real-time results, which the new engine seems to have, as Google has admitted that it's getting outmaneuvered in this area by services like Twitter or the recently acquired FriendFeed.