The online community has been monitoring any movement by Google, from the typical and obvious product launches to the more intimate ones like the playground inside Googleplex or massage. So every news (including hints and rumors) about the search engine giant generates interest to many people, me included. One interesting development in Google's ever growing list of products and acquisitions isn't necessarily a new feature, but perhaps a reincarnation of a useful service that was unceremoniously two years ago.

Google Blogoscoped reported the existence of Google Guru on some countries notably Thailand (see below)

A few days ago, Google launched its real-time search feature. This means Google will now be able to display search results of web content that has just been published. Think of it as like adding a Twitter search form that spits out what people are talking about at this very moment. Traditionally, Google displays search results only after a page has been crawled and indexed. With the popular presence of social media tools, it is hard to ignore featuring real-time search. This feature is clearly screaming to be added when Twitter added this feature into its homepage.

So that explains the existence of Google's real-time search capability.

Real-time search enables us to discover late breaking news the moment they happen. That's even before editors get hold of the news for fact checking and publishing. When you use Google to search for something, you may find results from Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and a few other partners on search results. But it should be understood that not all terms will yield results of these search partners, as Google only focuses on "hot topics".

Certainly sounds good but what benefits and risks do we expect from this latest Google feature?

In light of the move by News Corporation's Rupert Murdoch to make news a commodity online -- making readers pay to access accurate and timely news reports on the web -- Google also made an adjustment by offering a new feature called First Click Free.

As the name implies, Google allows web and news publishers to set up a facility to show content preview free but subsequent access to pages may need login access. This application tries to help achieve these two goals:

a) Include highly relevant content into Google's search index

b) Provide opportunities for publishers to promote pages with restricted content

Not too long ago, news was accessible via the morning paper, prime-time newscast or radio. But the Internet changed the way we get updates on local and international news. No need to wait the next morning paper, nor watch the news broadcast later tonight if you want to know more details about breaking news that happened now.

The good news is that websites, social media and search engines connived to provide Internet users better access to news and information. The bad news is that news sources are unable to make money out of these conveniences they provided. The sagging subscription numbers and dwindling advertising earnings have prompted layoffs and magazine closures (see Bloomberg, Time Inc and PCMag. Print magazines and newspapers have folded for good (Time, CosmoGirl and Seattle Post-Intelligencer as examples. Focus has now been towards their online presence and now, Rupert Murdoch, the media magnate who heads the News Corporation, is out to change the business model and make visitors pay as they access content.

A possible impediment? News content is freely searchable through search engines, notably Google News. By virtue as the most popular search engine worldwide, Google is now the target of Mr Murdoch as he wants all news content of his web-based media property websites delisted from Google search results. He can then promptly ask readers to pay to access content.