Google doodle

As we expected, Monday and Tuesday's playful Google doodles were teasers for showing off a bit of the technology behind Wednesday's announcement of Google Instant, the new interactive search results.

The doodle's animated elements showed off color changes and movement that reacted to movement of the cursor, and with Wednesday's announcement at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, we are seeing just how constant this change really is.

Speaking to a theater full of press, swooping visuals and ambient sounds, Marissa Mayer showed us the next big thing in search. We have real time, we have relevant results, and now, we have predictive queries.

It's "as you type, not after you type," said Mayer. Google knows what you want before you want it, all part of an intuitive search that cuts down on time and typing, a smarter search that Sergey Brin called a step toward making Google the "third half of your brain."