Pro-Tip: Get Quick Search Results through IM

If you’re anything like me, I spend my entire work day with either GMail or Google Talk open on the side.  This means I’m constantly connected to my contacts and can quickly jump in to ask a friend a question, make plans, or just kill time shooting the shit.  Now I can turn my idle time into productive time.

Last Tuesday (March 29th), Google Labs released a new product called Google Talk Guru.  The service (which is a slightly less powerful version Google SMS) offers users quick search results to a number of subjects by simply sending an IM to “the Guru”.  While the concept may seem silly (hey, those nanoseconds add up over a lifetime), it has actually provided some benefits over traditional browser searches.  Particularly in my case, since my office is plagued by truly terrible internet connectivity.  There are times when I have no connection except Google Talk.  With the Guru service, if I want to check the a score of a game I can just type “score Dodgers” and instantly the result returns.

There are some downsides to the service, all times by default are set to GMT and measurements are returned in centigrade/metric format.  As for now there’s no way to alter the units, but it really doesn’t detract from some of the other services like translator, dictionary, or the calculator.

Setup is easy, just add guru@googlelabs.com to your Google contact list, wait a few moments, and you’ll have access.  Even if you don’t use the service, at the least, you’ll always have a friend online.