GOOGLE THIS

Google is well on its way to becoming much a platform as it is a search engine. Two new services were announced this week: Googling by SMS and the ability to search of books, which Google says is "not quite" competition with the ability to do the same thing at Amazon.com.

On SMS, I Want Media reports:

Google has launched a beta version of Google SMS, a text-messaging service available to most wireless networks throughout the U.S. MobileMag.com reports that the service allows cell phone users to text "GOOGL" and gain access to business and residential listings, product prices and other information. The service is currently only available in English, with no set plans to expand globally

As for Google Print, I've come across mention of it at half-a-dozen sites, but the best overall report is from Good Old Media, in this case the NY Times.

The new service would allow users of Google's main search engine to search simultaneously billions of Web pages and the texts of hundreds of thousands of books for information on a given subject. They search works by looking for words or phrases in the scanned digital images of the pages of books that publishers have provided to Google.

According to the Times, the Google search results would show several pages of books found in the search and offer link to booksellers. Revenue would come from ads, not from book publishers.

I can't help but think the move into searching books, previously the sole preserve of Amazon.com, might be influenced a little bit by Amazon's launch of a search engine earlier this year (A9).

3:19:50 PM  LINK TO THIS POST  

PHOTO POWER

Haven't mentioned PhotoColumn for a while, but just got my e-mail notification of a new posting. Gerik Parmele's "Shine" is a great example of the journalistic possibilities for the photo column — a single, strong image and five short grafs that tell a nice little story.

This a format that works well on the web and that I'd like to see more of in the ink-on-newsprint world. It's no replacement for the compellingly-written feature or breathlessly-told breaking news story, but it's a marvelous way of getting smaller, personal stories into the paper in a highly-"readable" way.

10:51:57 AM  LINK TO THIS POST  

STUMBLING START

Snap.com is a new player in the already crowded Internet search field and it offers some intriguing ideas on user control. Bill Gross explains three innovations that make Snap.com different (shortened version of Gross's Why We Built Snap):

The first is user control, where you get to change the order of search results, refine search results instantly, and hone in on exactly what you[base ']re looking for.

The second new feature is user feedback. We take into account what happens after people click on search listings at our site and others, to use as feedback on the relevance, and get you better results up at the top.

The third innovation is complete and total transparency. We want to reveal every action and transaction at the site, so you know what we are doing and what other users are doing. We even are revealing our revenues.

I like the idea of more user control. Right now, searching can be a frustrating experience, even with advanced search features. Quite often I find I have to refine and rejig search terms three or four times to get to a usable list of hits.

User control is good, but how's the service? Not to so good. I searched for "Canadian submarine fire" and none of the Top 10 hits had anything to do with the tragic fire on the HMCS Chicoutimi. At Google, the first 48 hits (out of 53,000 in total) all linked to news reports about the Chicoutimi.

Still, I like what Snap is attempting to do for searching. I'll be keeping an eye on it.

SOURCE: J.D. Lasica's New Media Musings.

10:34:14 AM  LINK TO THIS POST