Google's intention with Realtime Search since they first introduced this feature last December was to bring the freshest information on the web. Yesterday, Google introduced new tools to find us find what we need.

For starters, Google Realtime Search has its own dedicated landing page now; http://www.google.com/realtime?esrch=RealtimeLaunch::Experiment.

On the new homepage there are also options to refine you search. Firstly, there is the Custom Location tool - allowing you to find news near you, or in a region you specify. So if you're heading off to London this bank holiday weekend, you can find out what's going on in London, apparently.

Google have also added a conversations view to Realtime Search, helping you "follow a discussion" on the web. In other words, another aid for stalking your friends and foes alike. You can view this feature in action by clicking the "full conversion" button and browse the entire conversation in a single glance. Or as I used it for, seeing how busy my boss is this morning:

For now, these searches aren't live. As you can tell in the London screenshot, Google is 41 minutes behind on live searches.

You can also set Google Alerts for these realtime searches.