Google and Yahoo Are Extending Search Ability to TV Programs

By SAUL HANSELL
New York Times
January 25, 2005

"Google and Yahoo are introducing services that will let users search through television programs based on words spoken on the air. The services will look for keywords in the closed captioning information that is encoded in many programs, mainly as an aid to deaf viewers."

Advanced Search Techniques using Natural Language Processing

by Tony Rose, FreePint Newsletter 172

"Most readers will, no doubt, be familiar with Google and other
Internet search engines: type in a few key words to describe your
information need, hit return and within a second or two you are
presented with a list of links to documents that you hope will be
relevant to your query. Evidently, a proportion of them will indeed be
relevant (we refer to this measure as the 'precision' of the search
engine) and, if you are lucky, you may also find that all the known
relevant documents will be in the list somewhere (we call this measure
'recall'). Of course, on the web we can never really calculate a true
recall figure, as there is simply no way of ever knowing just how many
relevant documents there are out there. But for a fixed collection
such as a library or corporate database, the recall figure can be a
very important measure of a retrieval system's effectiveness."

New Personalized Features at RocketNews

"RocketNews, the news and blog search engine (about 11,000 sources) is online with a new look (layout and color scheme) and some new features. Today, RocketNews launches the My RocketNews Portal where your five most-recent queries are saved and viewable on your MyRocketNews homepage." SearchEngineWatch Blog

Mobissimo Officially Launches

"A press release this morning alerting us to the news that travel search engine, Mobissimo has officially launched. We've blogged about this travel metasearch tool (it simultaneously queries more than 80 travel sites) several times and also linked to this Business Week profile." SearchEngineWatch Blog

My Yahoo! on Your Desktop

Yahoo! Search blog

"When we first launched My Yahoo! in the summer of 1996, it didn't take long before we wanted to do even more with it. Back then, not everyone spent hours a day in their browser, so later that year we launched the My Yahoo! News Ticker to deliver the same personalized news, weather, sports scores and stock quotes directly to the desktop. (gosh, that was over 8 years ago)
Well, now the new My Yahoo! is here and it allows people to stay up to date with any of the millions of RSS feeds out there--from craigslist to Jeremy's Blog to The New York Times. And again we asked ourselves the same question: how can we make it easy for users to get their information on the desktop?

Answer: The Return of My Yahoo Ticker - this time with all the new good stuff."

What Happened to Google's Ten-Word Query Limit?

ResearchBuzz
January 19, 2005

"Google now has a 32-word limit.... It looks like Google News may continue to have a limit. You can type in more than ten query words, and Google will not give you an error message, it just won't count the extra words."

Yahoo Provides Access To Library Records

"Via the Yahoo Search Blog, news that a special version of the Yahoo Toolbar now allows you to search across two million library holdings through a cooperative project with OCLC, the Online Computer Library Center." SearchEngineWatch Blog

Handy Invisible Web Chart

by Gary Price, SearchEngineWatch

"David Whelan at Forbes has put together a handy chart that does a nice job expaining the Invisible Web. It's based on the book that Chris and I wrote more three years ago."

Popularity Doesn't Always Equal Usefulness (or Importance) of a Search Tool

"Some numbers from Hitwise were released the other day about the traffic smaller web engines tools have been getting some press attention." SearchEngineWatch Blog

Searching for Quick Answers To Odd Questions

By Mary Ellen Bates, Guest Writer, SearchEngineWatch

"Looking for an obscure fact, and need the answer right now? Forget search engines: Specialized search tools can help you track down offbeat information in a flash."

Tuning up your Skills in the Web Search Garage

By Chris Sherman, Associate Editor, SearchEngineWatch

"Every now and then a book comes along that's a must-read for every serious searcher, and Tara Calishain's Web Search Garage falls squarely into that category. I'm not given to hyperbole, but it's no exaggeration for me to call Tara Calishain one of the world's foremost experts on web search. She not only sports the technical chops, she also has an insatiable curiosity and proclivity for experimenting with search tools to push them to the limits. And in Web Search Garage, Tara gives us an inside look at her own search 'workshop,' providing an intimate glimpse of an artisan practicing her craft."

Firefox, Google and Web Search

By Chris Sherman, Associate Editor, SearchEngineWatch

"Mozilla Firefox has Google, Yahoo and other search tools baked in, but they are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to search capabilities available with this innovative new web browser that launched its first official version today."

Mozilla Firefox: The Searcher's Browser

By Chris Sherman, Associate Editor, SearchEngineWatch

"Firefox has emerged as the first browser in years to seriously challenge Internet Explorer - with good reason. Firefox has superior security and anti-scumware features, it works on Windows, Linux, MacOS X and other operating systems, and it's free. Best of all, Firefox offers lots of goodies for searchers, both through a built-in Google search toolbar, as well as dozens of free extensions created by an active open-source developer community."

John Battelle's Searchblog: Can We Please Bury the Netscape Metaphor?

"Thanks to the pending launch of MSFT's search technology, today the press is full of easy comparisons - 'Is Google the Next Netscape?' is a typical headline. The mainstream press has just woken up to the 'Microsoft is going to crush its competition' meme, and it's tiring to see this easy thinking splayed all over the mediasphere."

Microsoft Unveils its New Search Engine - At Last

By Chris Sherman, Associate Editor, SearchEngineWatch

"After months of speculation and two 'preview' releases, Microsoft has taken the wraps off of its new MSN search engine, the first major competitor to join the big leagues of web search in nearly a year."

Puns Galore

"There are subject indexes for everything else. Why not puns? Puns Galore allows you to search or browse for puns under a variety of topics, including Shaggy Dog Stories, Groaners, and Tom Swifties. If you have a strong constitution you can also ask for a random pun, though I hope for your sake you don't get the one about the horse which hunted moose. There's also a brief list of humor sites and a couple of available mailing lists. Worth a look." ResearchBuzz

An Exceptionally "EEVL" Search Resource

By Gary Price, News Editor, SearchEngineWatch

"One of the most respected engineering gateways on the web has just released four new databases providing free access to hundreds of online scientific and technical journals."

Microsoft Blogger Scoble Sticks With Google -- Though MSN Deserves A Break

"He might work for Microsoft, but blogvangelist Robert Scoble says he's sticking with Google over his company's own search engine for now. Two reasons -- too many ads above the fold and disappointment with the results of a search on 'microsoft blog.' See his Just a little search comparison entry for more." SearchEngineWatch

Shopping Search Update 2004, Part 1

By Chris Sherman, Associate Editor, SearchEngineWatch

"Here's a look at new and interesting developments at the major shopping search and comparison sites that happened during 2004. Today: BizRate/Shopzilla, Froogle, and MSN Shopping. Tomorrow: NexTag, PriceGrabber, Shopping.com/Dealtime and Yahoo Shopping."