Going even further off-topic, the sheer speed of Google's updates is one reason why I have felt that the pain-point of "real-time search" is overrated.
There's a difference between searching for a unique phrase (the document is the only exemplar, therefore it ranks #1) and searching for the best page on a breaking topic.
That said, it's not clear to me that humanity actually needs real-time search. Maybe there's some advertising value in winning the race to be #1 for "hudson plane crash" but is there really a business here?
You can sort by date in a google search. Click on "Show Options" just below the search field, and about 15 lines down in the left bar, "Sorted By Date."
I think it's a fairly recent feature, but it's there.
