• The Guardian (UK) et al., Wednesday, September 8, 2010 11:13 AM

Eric Schmidt's remarks Tuesday in Berlin about automating search might hint at what the company is set to announce with Marisa Mayer, Ben Gomes and others speaking at MOMA in San Francisco Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. ET. And there is no end to the guessing games being played this morning, most of them attempting to read the tea leaves of the past two interactive Google Doodles.

"Another day, another animated Google logo -- and with it, a big question: What will Google announce Wednesday to improve the way people use its engine to search the Web?" wonders CNN.

"Our doodle is dressing up in its brightest colors for something exciting coming very soon," Google hinted on Twitter.

Tuesday's "spheres" logo broke apart when moused over, and trailed the cursor around the screen. "On Tuesday Google was evasive -- rather like its logo -- about the purpose of the 'bubbles' version, saying only that it is 'fast, fun and interactive, just the way we think search should be,'" writes the Guardian (UK). Wednesday's austere greyed-out (or Chrome?) logo, colored in as one typed a query, using the predictive technology Ajax, points out the Guardian.

The San Francisco Chronicle also thinks the logos are hinting at more interactive search results, and says there has even been a beta group testing a likely new product. "For the past few weeks, some users have been seeing search results that update as the user types," writes the paper. "This isn't simply Google Suggest ... which suggests search queries as you type; instead, the full results page appears as soon as you start typing, and updates as you add more text."

The Register (UK) concurs, and notes that Google's predictive type tool Scribe, debuted recently, also seems to be going in the same direction. And, says the Register, it all "chimes with the company's boss Eric Schmidt, whose view is that people want Google 'to tell them what they should be doing next.'"

The small icon that displays in the browser bar has also changed -- from a "G" to a globe -- though only on Chrome, prompting some to posit that whatever changes Google announces will only work on its house operating system.

Read the whole story at The Guardian (UK) et al. »