• by Derek Gordon , August 16, 2010

Last week, a team at Kent State University announced it had solved a vexing question for lovers of the famous Rubik's Cube: from any starting position -- no matter how mixed-up the Cube may be -- how many moves should it take to solve the puzzle?  We now know for certain that that number is 20.

It's called "God's Number" by Rubik's geeks.

Why is this impressive?  There are 43 quintillion starting positions (a quintillion is a billion billion... so that would be 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 possible starting positions) in the Rubik's Cube. 

In order to solve the problem, the research team needed a really powerful computer, so Google stepped in.  (You see, they have a really, really powerful computer at their disposal.)  Apparently this computer was able to solve the problem in pretty short order (it would've taken your desktop computer something like 35 years of non-stop processing to get at the solution.)

If 20 is God's Number, one has to wonder what other things important to God Google might be able to solve.  For instance, I imagine world peace is really, really important to God -- but that's just a guess.  (Maybe Hillary Clinton should apply to Google for some solutions?)

At any rate, the point of these musings is to address an issue less important to God (again, I'm guessing) and more important to Google shareholders and those of us toiling in its ecosystem, which is: Is there a second act to search, and if so, what might that be?

While Google is adept at solving problems like the former Rubik's conundrum, it seems less skilled about its own second act.  When I consider many of the inventions Google's put forward in the last couple of years (Buzz, Wave, etc.), each one looks like a bust.  While it has been really, really good at acquiring and assimilating, Borg-like, others' technology (Applied Semantics, Picasa, Keyhole Technologies, Android, YouTube, DoubleClick, Grand Central, AdMob and a couple pending acquisitions, including Slide and ITA Software), it's had a rather mixed track record at inventing search's next big thing. 

To be fair, Google Search is a marvel and keeps getting incrementally better. And it remains wildly profitable.  Still, with Facebook, Twitter and even LinkedIn nipping at its heels in the social sphere, Google is under increasing pressure to figure out how to better compete, even as its core search business hits its inevitable plateau. 

I advise a start-up that serves mainstream and social media publishers, and has been using forms of search and semantics to instantly compose elegant pages of topical content based on the expressed preferences of a publication editor.  Its systems don't require an express daily search query to deliver what you're looking for... it just seems to know it.

Similarly, a very cool new app for the iPad called Flipboard looks at your social graph, how it is you navigate the Web, and a number of other digital fingerprints to intuit and compose a personalized magazine.  Again, the pages elegantly compose into a highly readable, incredibly personalized package that reflects your interests and passions.  No search box is required.

Moreover, my own experiences regularly using Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn demonstrates over and over again that I can usually find all the information, news, entertainment and unanticipated delights I might need (not to mention products and services) by merely paying attention or by asking a question (which is like a search query but is in fact crowd-sourcing, a very social construct.).

Google needs to figure out its answer to the search-and-social mash-up that looks to be slowly replacing Search 1.0.  Perhaps the rumored and much-remarked upon Google "Me" social network will be that second act Google's stakeholders (and maybe even God himself) is looking for.  Or maybe the upcoming GoogleTV will hold some answers.

Still, given Google's track record lately, it may be better served acquiring something (snap up LinkedIn before its IPO!) Or maybe it can turn to that really super computer for the answer.  In any event, those of us who care about Google and respect its abilities would love to see a strong second act.