June, 2005 Archives | Homepage
Blinkx Expands to Include Podcast and Vlog Searches
TechWeb reports that Blinkx, a video search tool, has expanded to include searches of both podcasts and vlogs. The company says it is biggest Podcast repository online and that they are currently tracking over 20,000 podcasts. There are not nearly as many vlogs on the web as podcasts but the number is expected to climb as better software and editing tools come available to consumers. TechWeb has more on Blinkx's plans.
Blinkx's site focuses on TV video, which it searches and shows through partnerships with content providers, such as CNN and Fox News. In order to gain access to content not available for free over the web, Blinkx, like other video search engines, has to negotiate agreements with the content providers.
In the case of podcasts, which are programming created by individuals; or video blogs, the multimedia version of weblogs, the content is available directly on the web, and therefore searchable by Blinkx's web crawlers, Suranga Chandratillake, founder of the company, said.
Blinkx decided to start searching the new forms of web content because of demand from people using its service and the fact that the company has seen a 25-fold increase in the amount of the material available on the web, Chandratillake said. Podcasts make up 95 percent of the content, and video blogs 5 percent.
Posted on June 30, 2005
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Google Launches Google Earth
Search Engine Watch reports that Google has launched its Google Earth search tool. Google Earth combines local search tools with maps and satellite images.
Google Earth is a standalone application that's essentially an enhanced and upgraded version of its Keyhole 3D satellite imagery product. As Google has done with several of its past acquisitions, the company has also made the application free to all users, dropping its annual subscription fee for the basic version. Google Earth Plus with additional features will cost $20 per year.Google Earth is a desktop application that needs to be downloaded from the Google website or order to work. Google says it works on both PCs and MACs, but that older machines, or a notebook computer that does not have 3D graphics capabilities, may not be able to run the application. Here is some information about just how detailed the 3D mapping tool is from Google Earth's faq:
Are there cities covered in detail worldwide? Or just in the US?
The whole world is covered with medium resolution imagery and terrain data. This resolution allows you to see major geographic features and man-made development such as towns, but not detail of individual buildings. Additional high-resolution imagery which reveals detail for individual buildings is available for most of the major cities in the US, Western Europe, Canada, and the UK. 3D buildings are represented in 38 US cities (the major urban areas). Detailed road maps are available for the US, Canada, the UK, and Western Europe. And Google Local search is available for the US, Canada, and the UK.
Posted on June 29, 2005
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Mamma.com Launches Health Specific Search Engine
Mamma.com has a new health specific search engine called the Deep Health Web Search Engine. The search engine provides health information in the form of definitions, causes, symptoms, treatments, news and web search results. For example, if you search flu you will get an explanation of the flu, information about flu symptoms and treatments, recent flu news and links to websites about the flu. (Via SearchEngineHerald.com)
Posted on June 28, 2005
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Create Web Commands With YubNub
YubNub.org is an interesting new web surfing tool that bills itself as a social command line for the Internet. YubNub allows users to enter simple commands that can be used to do things like search Google, make calculations and bring up dictionary results. For example, you can perform a quick Google search on YubNub.org by typing g followed by the keyword you want to search. You can also make your own commands with YubNub. We made a quick command called surf to search this blog on Technorati. For example, if you type "surf search" on YubNub.org it will bring up all the Technorati results for the keyword "search" that appear on surferssurf.com. We also created the command "blogsearch" which will search our bloggersblog.com postings using Technorati. YubNub.org can also be added to your browser so you don't always have to go to yubnub.org to perform the command. There is also a YubNub Google Group and blog for those who want to keep up-to-date on the new service.Posted on June 27, 2005
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HomeFixated.com Launches
HomeFixated.com has launched as a home improvement blog that provides news, tips, product reviews and resources for home improvement, home repair and DIY. HomeFixated.com is run by Marcos Nunes, a home improvement enthusiast and entrepreneur. Marcos says he is an avid blog reader and that he is dedicated to working on and researching home improvement projects.Posted on June 24, 2005
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Web Calendars Making a Comeback
A News.com
article says that online calendars are making a comeback and
Trubma.com is one of the companies making calendars easier for web users.
Trubma.com makes calendars easy to update with online forms allow users to
input information and import data. Trumba also allows users to share
calendars with each other for group activities. The company hopes that
people will be willing to be a subscription fee to use the service.
Things look good for Trumba now, but they will have to compete with
the big dogs for marketshare:
Trumba isn't the only company eyeing online calendars as a potentially important market. Industry observers say it is only a matter of time until Web search leader Google of Mountain View, Calif., adds online calendar services to its online search, e-mail, calendar, blogging and shopping services.
The other two big players in online calendar services, Microsoft's MSN and Yahoo of Sunnyvale, Calif., have also continued to offer Web-based scheduling as an integrated part of their online e-mail services.
Posted on June 23, 2005
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Oodle Offers Classifieds, Home and Job Searches
Crain's New York Business reports that a search engine called Oodle.com has launched a beta test. Oodle starts with local search tools for major cities like Chicago and New York. Oodle allows users to search regional classifieds, home listings and job listings from newspapers and web databases like Craiglist.
The company was started in 2004 by Oodle Chief Executive Craig Donato, who had become frustrated with searching multiple sites for products and hoping he'd reach the seller before the listing expired. Mr. Donato told NewYorkBusiness.com that oodle.com users can sign up for specific job or product alerts that are delivered the moment they are listed on Craigslist.org and other local sources.
Posted on June 22, 2005
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Mercora Music Search
Mercora.com has launched a new music search engine that searches live music. Mercora says it searches over 25,000 active channels. Searches can be run for artist, genre or DJ. Biography, photograph and podcast searches can also be run from Mercora. (Via B2Day)Posted on June 20, 2005
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Gataga.com Searches Social Bookmarking Sites
Gataga.com is a new search tool that searches several social bookmarking websites. The search engine, which is currently in beta mode, currently searches the following social bookmarking tools: del.icio.us, blogmarks, blinklist, jots, spurl, furl, simpy and connotea. (Via BloggersBlog.com)Posted on June 19, 2005
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Yahoo! Search Subscriptions Launches
Yahoo has launched a new search tool that lets websurfers search recent subscription-only content. Yahoo! Search Subscriptions has searchable content from subscription-only publications like the Wall Street Journal (30 days worth), FT.com (60 days worth), Consumer Reports and TheStreet.com. Although you can search the content from free, you will still need a valid subscription to the publication to view the complete articles.Posted on June 17, 2005
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Password Search and Storage Tool
Search Engine Watch has an article discussing a new search tool called Roboform that also helps you keep track off your passwords. Roboform says it will securely store your online passwords and can automatically log you into passworded websites that you are registered for. Roboform can also create complex passwords with its password generator. You can also store your non-internet passwords like ATM and Call Notes passwords with Roboform.Posted on June 15, 2005
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Blinkx and iFilm Announce Search Deal
Search Engine Watch reports that Blinkx has cut a deal with iFilm to allow it to search iFilm's collection of clips and short films. Blinkx runs a video search engine. The search currently only search metadata but will search through spoke words in the video clips in the future according to Search Engine Watch:At the moment, a BlinkTV search for iFilm content is searching only metadata. However, a Blinkx spokesperson told me that in the next month or so a transcription search of iFilm content will become available. In other words, every word spoken in a video clip will be searchable. BlinkxTV uses speech recognition technology to create a searchable transcript.
Posted on June 14, 2005
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Yahoo Browser?
The Denver Post reports that Yahoo chief executive Terry Semel indicated that a Yahoo browser might be possible someday:"You could look to Yahoo to do most everything that makes sense on the Internet going forward," Semel said in an interview in New York. Developing a browser may make sense "at some point in time," he said.There has been endless speculation about an upcoming Google browser but so far a Google browser has not been launched.
Posted on June 13, 2005
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Google Hackers Find Multiple Uses for Google Maps
Google hackers is a name for people that use search results from Google's various services to create interesting new web features. There are even books out on the subject like Google Hacks. CNN has an Associated Press article about some people who have been manipulating data from Google Maps. They include Adrian Holovaty who used it to create a map of crimes in Chicago. A website called Floridasexualpredators.com combines Google Maps with data about local sex offenders. Cheap Gas grabs data from gasbuddy.com and Google Maps to show cheap gas prices nationwide. And Housingmaps.com combines Google Map data with listings from Craiglist to offer information about home prices and locations.Posted on June 10, 2005
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Google Plans 3D City Maps
Siliconvalleywatcher.com reports that Google Maps plans to go 3D by using trucks equipped with photographic equipment. The project will include major US cities beginning with San Francisco:Google plans to use trucks equipped with lasers and digital photographic equipment to create a realistic 3D online version of San Francisco, and eventually other major US cities.The online mapping services battle expanded last week when Microsoft announced plans to launch an online satellite mapping service called MSN Virtual Earth later this summer.
The move would trump Amazon's A9 service, which offers two-dimensional photos of buildings on US city streets.
The trucks would drive along every San Francisco street using the lasers to measure the dimensions of buildings, to create a 3D framework onto which digital photos can be mapped. This would complement the mostly top-down view of San Francisco available through Google's Keyhole satellite photo application.
Posted on June 9, 2005
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Shopzilla Solds to Scripps
The Search Engine Journal reports that Shopzilla, a shopping comparison and search tool, has been sold to EW Scripps, a large newspaper publisher and media company. This follows eBay's recent acquisition of the Shopping.com website. And some new shopping search engines have also been launched recently like Become.com and BrilliantShopper.com. Search Engine Journal also reports on a couple independent shopping search tools that are still left:Product review engine Become.com recently received US$7.2 million in funding. The "shopping vertical" -- though shopping isn’t really a vertical—is heating up. And there are still a few independent properties out there: PriceGrabber and NexTag among them.
Posted on June 8, 2005
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Google vs. Yahoo! Interface Design
Functioning Form has an interesting blog post that compares the major features offered by Google to the major features offered by Yahoo. The blog post compares mapping features, search interface, alerts, news, image search, blog tools and more.As Google and Yahoo! continue their volley of product offerings, I thought it would be useful to compare the interface design solutions each company employed to solve similar user needs. In other words: how does Yahoo's version of a product (Maps, Local Search, Image Search, etc.) compare to Google's? Though some product offerings are virtually indistinguishable (Web Search, Image Search), others differ significantly (Groups, Product Search).
Posted on June 7, 2005
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MSN To Launch Virtual Earth This Summer
Microsoft has announced plans to launch MSN Virtual Earth this summer, an online satellite mapping tool that will compete with Google Maps. Search Engine Watch reports that MSN Virtual Earth will offer the following features:Satellite images with 45-degree-angle views of buildings and neighborhoods Satellite images with street map overlays Ability to add local data layers, such as showing local businesses or restaurants
Posted on June 5, 2005
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Ask Jeeves Adds New Features
News.com reports that Ask Jeeves has added new features to its search engine including a feature called Zoom that lets users zoom in on search results to get to more specific subjects:
One new feature builds on Ask Jeeves' long-standing clustering technology, which parses search results into concepts or ideas related to any given query. Called Zoom, the new feature lets people narrow or broaden the field of search results, as well as view results for related concepts. For example, for a search on the term "cancer," visitors can narrow it to types of the disease, or they could expand it to related illnesses.Another one of Ask Jeeves plans is to launch a major blog search engine sometime this summer through their Bloglines division. BloggersBlog.com has more on the Bloglines search engine.
Posted on June 1, 2005
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