Friday, November 19, 2004

Move Over Big G...Here Comes..... ...Empower. This is getting old, but I did predict it.... First line of the release: "Move over, Google ... a new player is giving you a run for your high-speed money." The claims continue: "The service, built on a platform that produces results almost four times faster than Yahoo.com, 11 times faster than Overture.com, and edges out Google.com on momentum, prides itself on both speed and variation of results." If "variation" = "terrible" then they've succeeded....the engine looks to be entirely driven by pay-for-play.... [John Battelle's Searchblog] 9:37:05 PM    comment []

Google Takes Another Step Toward Becoming Development Environment. Just got this note from Google PR on the beta introduction of the Google Deskbar API. Today, Google announced the availability of the Google Deskbar API (application programming interface). This technology makes it possible for software developers to build their own features, or plug-ins, for the popular Google Deskbar. For instance, a developer could use Google Deskbar APIs to create a movie search command that enables users to search their favorite movie site by entering a movie name into the Deskbar search field and typing a special command such as "Ctrl'M." Other examples include: - Locate and play a music play list on your hard drive - Solve algebraic equations - Send instant messages from the Deskbar (example: type "AIM - [screen name] [message text]") Results will be displayed within the Google Deskbar mini-browser which appears to the bottom right of the user's computer. New features developed with the Google Deskbar API will be displayed as an option in the Deskbar main menu. The Google Deskbar API is in the experimental, beta phase. We invite developers to use the service and encourage them to send us their input and feedback. Plug-ins can be written in any .NET language, such as C# or Visual Basic.NET. More information about the Google Deskbar API can be found here: http://deskbar.google.com/help/api/index.html.... [John Battelle's Searchblog] 9:36:38 PM    comment []