What's been ticking people off about Google Search lately? The fact that they can't tick down to whatever they need to be reminded of. It's all thanks to the recent and sudden breakage of the "set a timer/stopwatch" text commands that opened up an actual timer (or stopwatch) right on the search results page. Users have been complaining about this feature failure for the past week and a half or so, wondering if the timer's just broken or long gone? We do have an answer.

The answer comes from Google Search Liaison Danny Sullivan who has been fielding some of the flak for the timer's absence. He's been "looking into it" for the past several days. This morning, however, Sullivan switched lines.

So, it looks like Google Search users with a one-track mind will once again be able to put in "set a timer for 15 minutes" or "set a timer for 3:15pm" or "start a timer" and have that pop up on the browser.

The command still works if you dictate a voice query to your phone, either through Google Search (which likely will launch you into your clock app of choice) or Google Assistant. They're just different places on different form factors with different levels of mission criticality.

This feature hasn't been the only Google property that's been declared dead before its time. In fact, Stadia took full advantage of the media circus around it by trolling a troll.