Yahoo acquires Oddpost, a webmail company.

Yahoo has acquired Oddpost, a web based paid e-mail service that has some special features. It's a webmail application that has many of the same features that other webmail has, but the one thing that stick out is that there is an integrated RSS client.

From the Oddpost web site:

"Wasting time each day checking news sites and blogs for fresh content? Oddpost’s integrated RSS client delivers all the latest news and blog entries straight to your mailbox. "

There might be something proprietary or patented related to this integrated RSS delivery to an e-mail inbox. One of the other nice feature that Yahoo could get with this is the ability through it's webmail service, to have up to 6 other mailboxes.

Once again from Oddpost.com:

"You can retrieve email from up to six external mailboxes, import your address book, and even customize your from and reply-to addresses so that you never have to send out another embarrassing change of address message."

These are a couple of small things that might help make Yahoo mail better to compete with Google's GMail which will probably come out in the future. This kind of acquisition doesn't directly affect web site owners and how they go to market, but it shows that Yahoo is going to be the serious contender to Google in every area and can't be ignored. What bothers me most about the new search engine wars is the way they're all going in the same direction on this. It's amazing how each company operating independently, is going to have a very similar package to offer the searching public. One would think there would be some new ideas that might be different from each other. Or at least, you might think their marketing campaigns might be different, but all seem to be on the same page to where search is going.

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Need help with Google? Here's the cheat sheet.

Many people don't know it, but Google does a whole lot more than just web searches. It can function as a calculator, do a safe search and find more information about what you're looking for. You'll find what you need to know on the Google cheat sheet. It gives you all the shortcuts to getting the information you need. It's surprising how useful Google really is. Try a few of these "cheats" and you should have your search experience enhanced.

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Everyone thinks they can challenge Google.

I read recently an interview with Mark Cuban and how he's invested in IceRocket.com, a meta-search engine. I like IceRocket and think that they're doing some things right for sure, but the article states that it could be a challenger to Google. There are many search engine companies making these kinds of claims these days. I wonder if Mr. Cuban believes that if he talks it up enough people may start to believe it? There isn't any amount of talking, no matter how influential you are, as I think Mr. Cuban is right now, that's going to prop up something that is good, but is no Google.

First off, let's look at what IceRocket is. It's a small meta-search engine with a few bells and whistles to add to the search experience. They don't have an algorithm for indexing the web, they use others. That's fine, but unless you have an algorithm, crawl the web, a team of researchers, the general good feeling of the public, then you will never be a challenger to Google. That's like someone's little java notepad saying that they are competing against Microsoft Word. How silly.

I do like their search engine though and it's got some good features. I'm sure they'll be adding more in the future. But a little humility regarding this would actually maybe cause people to take note. Saying you're a Google killer these days is not a good strategy. It gets said so many times per day that it's meaningless. People like their Google and don't want it killed. A better strategy would be to use the old Avis line, "We try harder."

Keeping it real...for marketing, RealWebMarketing.com

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The IceRocket blog on what makes them different.

IceRocket.com is a new meta-search engine and I've talked about it before. They have some good tools and I find that I get some good results using them. One of the ways they might be different from other search engines is the personal touch. The owner actually responds to e-mail as written in their blog.

Now I know this isn't a huge meta-search engine, but it has some qualities that make a more personal experience. I notice that they don't do any paid advertising yet, but I know that they will be doing that as traffic increases.

Being real for online marketing, RealWebMarketing.com

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The future of search, no one knows right now.

I read a blog in which Jerry Yang was asked about the future of search. Jerry is one of the founders of Yahoo and is still active in the company. It's interesting that whenever the captains of the Internet are asked about the future of search, they invariably talk about what they just released. So it was on the blog I read. He talked about local search and personalized search as being future trends and that may be true, but those are also products Yahoo offers right now. That really isn't the future of search.

The truth about the future of search is that it doesn't lie in what's happening right now, or it wouldn't be the future, would it? I have certain beliefs about search in the future that I'm sure I'm wrong about, but why can't these guys at the top tell more about the future. If anyone would know, they would, right? I think the reason they rely on answering with what they're working on right now is that they have no idea. Over and over again, these tech guys as brilliant as they are, have been wrong about future trends except for maybe Steve Jobs, who seems to have a better feel for what's really going on down the road. Remember all those silly quotes Bill Gates made in the 80's and early 90's? No one knows the future of search, even these guys.

So as a result of no one knowing any better than anyone else what the future holds, then let me make a couple of bold predictions on the future of searching the internet.

• Search will be more intrusive and personalized. It will be available throughout your computer seamlessly to the internet. It will cause privacy problems.
• Search companies will supply their technology to companies that repackage it to promote their own business. Search will be a wholesale item for resellers if you like.
• Search engines will try to assert themselves with more future control, pushing out competition, but won't be able to.
• Paid ads will go the way of the banner ad as people will get sick of them. Something else will replace it.

I know these are very general, but I think that over the next few years, this is what we will see. It couldn't be any worse than anything anyone else has said so far.

Being real, being humble, enjoying marketing online...RealWebMarketing.com

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The search engine's double standard on advertising.

Have you ever noticed that with the proliferation of toolbars, one of their main functions is to do pop-up blocking? That's one of the main feature of toolbars. No matter who provides it, it's to block pop-up ads as well as search. People got sick and tired of pop-up ads so much, they ran to get toolbars that could block it. They eagerly installed them to get rid of this evil ad menace. The search engines readily agree that pop-up blocking is a good thing and it should deter this kind of advertising.

But what about search engine's own advertising? Aren't they becoming just as bothersome as pop-up ads ever were? Let's face it, they're taking up too much space on the page and most people only go to paid ads out of desperation. What if search engines offered ad blocking for those people who really don't want to see it or toggle results between natural results and natural results with paid ads? Shouldn't people be given a choice. Searchers aren't always looking to buy something, somtimes they just want information.

If search engines thought that pop-ups ads were bad and they could solidify their searcher base by providing a block, then why won't they block paid ads from their very own results? I'll tell you why and you already know the answer. Without paid ads, their business model doesn't work. Their paid or contextual ads are real okay, while those wicked pop-ups are evil. What's the difference? When you get down to the basic essence of it, there is no difference. I'm not against paid ads, I think they're fine. It's just that every stinking search is getting too crowded in with paid advertising and it's cluttering the web and making search engines look bad.

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MrSapo.com, another multiple search site.

MrSapo.com is one of the new search tools which gives people the opportunity to search multiple search engines as once. What makes MrSapo.com a good choice is that it gives many more choices of search engines than anything I've ever seen before. It goes in the category of meta-search but doesn't deliver all the results, all at once. You select which search engine you want to query with the search term you gave.

This type of search is becoming more popular as people begin to see what it can do for them. What a great way to search! Instead of searching just one major search engine hoping to find what you want, why not search many search engines? Makes sense to me and I'm going to be using MrSapo.com because it has so many more choices than the regular meta-search engines. I think this trend of all-in-one search is huge and will become more popular than some of the search engines that feed this type of search tools. All they really do is have a framed site and put the search engine in a shell and query by the search term. Delightfully simple yet effective in bring everything together in one place.

The trend in search will probably move away from the major engines and it will be more important as how a total search can be packaged for maximum stickiness. A9.com has been showing how this can be done and so do search tools like this. I find it funny that search engines spend all that money on research and can be framed into someone else's site that uses it for their own gain. It's this secondary search market that is bound to get bigger as people desire to get better results. What better way than to draw from all search engines at once? You're bound to find what you're looking for by doing that than just using one major search engine.

Web marketing on the real side, RealWebMarketing.com

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Google killers and other fantasies.

If you've read any news releases regarding new search engine products out on the web, you'll see references to this product or that product challenging Google or being a Google killer. It's so much nonsense. Google has gained it's reputation as a trusted search engine that does deliver relevant search results. This has been going on for a few years and they were the first ones to really master this kind of relevant search. Because of that, they have the position of being first in people's minds. They've been adopted as a part of our internet culture. That's why no one is going to kill Google, only Google could do that.

The better mousetraps in search engines are only incremental improvements over what technology is out there now. Without Google some of these companies would not even have been developed at all. There was a place for Google at the right time with the right product. Before Google there wasn't very good search tools. There was Altavista which was pretty good but not to the relevance level of a Google. Incremental improvements by it's competitors will never dethrone the mighty search engine that is rolling along now.

I like Google for the results it brings, but there are some things I don't like. The ability for a search engine to reveal too much about ourselves to the world is a problem. If any other search company wants to be the next Google or push the search king off the throne, then this would be one of the areas it might be done. Other than that, this search engine is dominant and even Microsoft will have problems taking over the search world. They too will only have small search improvements, but nothing earthshaking that will convert users instantly. When something works pretty well, people generally don't make changes, that's human nature.

Web marketing with a dose of reality, RealWebMarketing.com

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Linspire OS introduces Hot Words.

I don't talk about Linux products very much, but I should change that as more Linux people come to our website now that Mac users do. Linux is becoming more user friendly and probably one of the best Linux operating systems is Linspire. They've come out with something called Hot Words. You can point your mouse to a word and click on it and a Google search will come up using that word. It's a part of what they call the Linspire Interent Suite.

This is similar to GuruNet on the Windows XP side. It's not as complete as GuruNet as far as the depth of what it searches, but has some good features. GuruNet is more in-depth on search and gives reference works that are very deep.

Both are good tools, one for Linux and one for Windows. Either way, this type of search is an up and coming way to do search. People in the future will do less with typing in what they want to find and more point and click like these tools have.

The real deal for better online marketing, RealWebMarketing.com

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Google buys Keyhole Corporation.

Google has made another company purchase buying Keyhole which has digital mapping software. The software is able to take satellite digital images an give you a view of a small are with digital photos. Evidently, it can tile photos from a satellite so it looks like one continuous image. I don't know how small the image can detail, but if you're familiar with satellite imagery they can probably define objects of 6 feet or maybe less. It's going to probably be used to provide a mapquest type service where someone sees directions with a real picture.

What does it mean for the average person or privacy? It might mean that you have less privacy when someone can look at your street and see where everything is. I hope that they're not going to go all out on this online. I think criminals will use it and possibly terrorists if this is shown to give detail previously only available to the governmental authorities. Once again, Google has me a little spooked. I'm getting ahead of the game here. They haven't said yet why they bought it, but what other reason would you other than to give photographic detail of what's on the ground?

Web marketing for real world results, RealWebMarketing.com

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Yahoo releases a mobile search.

Yahoo is now has search for mobile users at mobile.yahoo.com. It's nice to see that Yahoo is going to stay up with Google on this type of searching. Now people will be able to search Yahoo from a mobile device. They can get results from the web, images, local search and maps. This is a good thing for local searching as people will be able to find information about a company within their community while they're in transit.

This kind of search will become more and more popular over the next few years as mobile devices are better connected.

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Yahoo & Adobe to share web capabilities.

There is an agreement bewtween Yahoo and Adobe where each respective company will offer some of their respective visibility for mutual benefit. It doesn't seem like a big deal as Adobe is offering a Yahoo toolbar with a Acrobat Reader update button and Yahoo will have capabilities in the future to create PDF's from web pages.

I'm not sure why this would even be worth wasting time over. Adobe Acrobat is a electronic publishing standard that everyone has by now. And the Yahoo toolbar? Just another toolbar in a sea of search engine toolbars.

The New York Times has an article on this.

Real for the web marketing, RealWebMarketing.com

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Info.com, meta-search with some extras.

I've been talking about some meta-search tools lately, the type of search engine that gets results from many search engines. I read an article about Info.com and decided to check it out. I think this is one of the best organized meta-search engines around. Not only do you get great results from all the best search engines but it has a tabbed index, so you can go from one tab to another for the search you just did. It has a clean front page and it's as easy as it gets.



There is an additional plus that it has that many other meta-search engines don't. It separates natural search results from paid search results. It puts the natural organic search listings on the left and the paid listings on the right. There is no tricky way that they try to frame natural results in paid results ot anything like that. Left is natural web results, right is paid results. How nice! Many of the meta-search engines mix them up into the same column and like most people, I would like to know what kind of result it is. If you're like me, you probably click on the natural results 90% of the time over paid ads.

Info.com is a nice offering and makes searching easy. It almost reminded me of A9.com for it's well organized appearance. This once again illustrates my point that the organization of these search engines will bring them more popularity with searchers and have increased say into how search is done on the web.

The real deal in web marketing, RelaWebMarketing.com

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No Google browser, for now?

There is an article in the Financial Times, where Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt says there is no Google browser being built. He quotes that. He also says that Google will not be turning into a web portal like Yahoo or MSN.

This is an important step for Google, to decide to stay true to it's search only interface. The old idea of a web portal is getting old, but perhaps there will be a new way of doing something similar. With all the money to be made on portals, it would seem that Google will be looking for a way to tap into all those ridiculous headlines, celebrity crap that seems to draw people in. I think old style web portals are stupid in a day when you can find exactly what you're looking for in seconds.

No matter what they plan to do, their brand has strong appeal for now and they've pretty much had a free ride in the press and online. Things will change when the full force of Microsoft has been applied to this marketplace.

Getting better web results id our business, RealWebMarketing.com

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A9 is hiring big in 2005.

In an article from BusinessWeek Online, there was talk about Amazon's performance on Wall Street, but the most interesting part of the news was that A9 is going to be hiring big in 2005.

Here's what it says:

"Amazon is hiring hundreds of computer scientists and engineers this year to work on a number of new efforts to beef up the site. One is its new search subsidiary, A9, which recently launched its service. Another is new technology to help other merchants sell on Amazon more easily.Even though those projects are one reason operating profits are forecast to grow more slowly than sales, Chief Financial Officer Tom Szkutak says Amazon is committed to them. Says Szkutak: "Those are things that will help our future."

It shows that even A9 which is much smaller than the major search engines, believes that search is worth putting this much effort into. Of course, they wouldn't abandon something they just started, but they're not standing still. A9 is an excellent search tool with all the extras it provides and the easy interface, it's hard to beat. I believe A9 is ahead of the trend, maybe too far ahead, which is the aggregating search technology for the marketing advantage of your company. I know I'm probably sounding like a fool, but as search technology becomes itself a resold product, then companies will see the advantage of creating niche search engines that help them retain a customer loyalty. They will buy the search technology and marry it with their special offering.

Real results for the real web, RealWebMarketing.com

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A comparison of desktop search engines.

There have been several companies putting out their unique versions of desktop software. This article from ZDNet UK gives a nice comparison about each offering.

There are all of a sudden several choices for desktop searches and I believe that these are going to become as common as search toolbars are right now. Icould see a company coming out with a licensed desktop search which can be private labeled by a company or organization. Although no one has suggested going that way yet, there is going to be fierce competition in this area of search. In the comparison, Microsoft is not yet in the race obviously, as they have not released their version which is coming very soon. None of these comparisons means a whole lot until we see what Microsoft has to offer.

I will say that of the offerings listed in this article, Copernic makes the most sense. It has a clean interface, very logical and it doesn't blur the line between desktop search and internet search. It does desktop search with one program and web search with another. I like this separation for privacy concerns. With Copernic, it's all a matter of choice. This is the main question for these companies and for the searching public at large. Is it good to combine desktop search results with web results? Right now, that's the intellectual battle going on. But it all depends on the searching public and how guarded they want to keep their private information.

This new frontier of search only plans to heat up as various companies see themselves getting closer to users through the desktop, therefore securing a more profitable future. That is the thinking anyway, but who knows which way the searching public will take this.

Keeping it real...for marketing, RealWebMarketing.com

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Dowser - a web search tool that's free.

If you're into the open source software movement, then this kind of news item should interest you. There is this free program called dowser which can do meta-searches and keep browser history archived as well as pages you want to keep as they were when you found them. As with most open source software, it doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles. But it will do a good job of keeping track of web searching not unlike what these Google-type desktop searches will do. It keeps a database that you can refer to all the searching you've done.

Here is an article which talks about this program further.

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Dogpile, meta-search includes sponsored results.

Dogpile is a meta-search engine that has been in existence since 1996 and has been a good one at that. It gets results from the major search engines, Google, Yahoo & AskJeeves. I wonder if they will include MSN when they introduce the new search engine algorithm? They also return results of sponsored listings which I believe is Overture and a couple of minor offerings.

When doing a search for "laptop computers" in Dogpile, I get a preponderance of sponsored search results. Which is as it should be. Most likely, people who want to buy a laptop computer might search this way. When typing the search term "laptop computer help", I get a spectrum of results which includes mostly natural web search results and less of the sponsored results. There is a lot of competition for the term "laptop computers" and even meta-search engine reflect this.

Dogpile returns some good results and is a useful tool that I use on occasion. There are some things I find there, that I haven't found anywhere else. If you're doing a news search on Dogpile, I found it to be almost worthless. It's better to stick with Google News or Yahoo News for something like that.

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Jux2.com filters out dulpicates from different search engines.

You might want to take a look at jux2.com, which is a meta search engine that delivers results in a different way. It looks at three main search engines, Google, Yahoo and AskJeeves and gives you the top results as overlapping results from any two of the search engines. The idea is to not have to list overlapped results but once.



It's explained on their website this way:

"If the search engines are providing top results that are very different from each other, then by using only one search engine, Internet searchers are potentially missing relevant results."

Another aspect of this search technique is that the websites listed high on two search engines are probably a pretty safe bet as to what you might be wanting to find.

These secondary search engines are aggregating results for a better overall result. This is what I believe will become the next major trend in search. In the information overload that people experience, they're going to look for solutions which offer the best results more quickly. I don't think the future is populated with major search engines, but many different small entities which tailor results to a specific audience of search.

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BlowSearch, a good meta-search engine with PPC.

I've been taking a look at using meta-search engines for most of my searching lately and there are several that have good results, but one I like to use is BlowSearch.com. Like other meta-search engines, it takes results from several search engines and displays the results. What's great about BlowSearch is that it takes results from 20 search engines at a time instead of a relative few that others use.



These days, relevant search results vary between the search engines and it works great to see a wider spectrum like you see with BlowSearch. In the results it shows where it pulled the web listing, whether it was through their own pay per click program or from a web search engine itself. Another nice feature is that it gives you a related search list which can help you dig deeper to find what you're looking for.

The yellow and white pages options for searching will also give you a local angle to any search you might do. The reason it's newsworthy is that as people become more search savvy, they will want a broader range of results, not just from one search engine. With all the changes to the world of search, people want reliable results and it's best to get that from a search that draws the best from all. There may come a day when meta-search is the preferred method and the major search engines become feeders of search results. There's room for another tier in the search world as search engines themselves become more complex. People are looking for simplicity in their lives and these kind of meta-search tools can offer this to the searching public.

Easy, effective web marketing strategies...RealWebMarketing.com

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A non-critical review of Google Desktop.

For those of you who implicitly trust the search engine companies with a child-like innocence, I refer you to a New York Times article that you might like. This article is almost silly in it's review of Google's Desktop search. The starry-eyed enthusiasm for the new product is just what these search engines want you to have. They don't want you to fret about privacy concerns, oh no, they just want you to marvel at the technology of desktop search.

This kind of promotional piece isn't an indictment of Google, but rather the New York Times. What I can't believe is that some of these writers aren't taking a critical view of desktop search. There are problems with this whole idea in the first place before someone should ever talk about what it can do. You know what? It doesn't matter what it can do, because it can reveal too much about ourselves and there are so many conceptual holes too. The fact is true that you should never use a PC that isn't your own to access web mail, Google's Desktop will record it and others will be able to see it. The only thing critical this writer said was that it didn't index PDF files, it can't index non-Internet Explorer web browser pages and a few other things.

But that's the New York Times these days, very little investigation, this was just a regurgitation of the Google product promotion. There are some serious questions regarding Google Desktop search, why isn't the mainstream press taking a closer look at what it does and doesn't do. I'm not saying desktop search technology couldn't be valuable, but the current incarnation leaves a lot to be desired. It's almost as if the whole search industry is rushing to get this product out and I'm not sure of the ultimate value, neither are they. Most of these companies want to be known as the first, the best, the ultimate to get more ad revenue and that's all there is to it. There isn't a big premium put on your personal privacy. You would think the New York Times would care more about such things.

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Yahoo buying another e-mail company.

It looks like Yahoo has bought another e-mail company with the idea to use the technology to search web e-mail. Right now, that capability isn't a part of the Yahoo offering like Google's Gmail. Webmail is something used by people in offices to check their personal e-mail or used in a variety of other ways too numerous to mention.

It's amazing how these search companies all seem to be swimming in the same direction right now!

It's real, it's marketing, it's RealWebMarketing.com

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Privacy, a new search engine concern.

With all the rush to adding desktop search to search engine's web based search, there has been concern about privacy. If you're looking to stay up on this topic, might I humbly suggest checking out my privacy news blog. I've taken a special interest in the whole topic of privacy with the desktop search push which will only get more crowded with the addition of Microsoft's offering by year's end.

Privacy has been getting a lot of press lately with the problems with ID theft. People are more aware than ever that the things they considered private are getting harder to keep that way. This new desktop search idea is going to be a privacy problem unless individuals take personal responsibility for the own private lives. None of these big companies are going to do it for you.

Did you realize that the new Google desktop search can retrieve e-mails from an index on your computer even after they've been deleted? Did you know that you can take the index off a PC and transfer it to portable mass storage and drop it onto another PC and there all the information will be? These are aspects of desktop search to be concerned about and I'm not sure anyone has really thought it through before rushing to market.

I think Google makes some good products, but they, Microsoft and others going into this market need to make sure people have security & choices if it's going to work. For now, I won't install Google Desktop search for some of the reasons I've stated.

What's real in web marketing? RealWebMarketing.com!

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Google stock price or anyone's doesn't matter.

I suppose you've seen all the excitement over Google stock in the news recently. The stock price has gone up and there's some good news for them right now. I still think the stock is inflated and will come back down to earth soon. The bottom line for website owners is not Google stock or how it's doing, it's how you're doing! If you're marketing a web site, what you care about is more people finding what you have to offer. That means that no matter what the market does, you have to find avenues to better expose your offering over the web.

People are like lemmings when it comes to successful companies or when it comes to the latest business trend. In the area of search engine marketing, there can be a similar effect. People believe that Google must be a great search engine because of the stock. Some people are going to think this! Nothing could be further from the truth. Google, as a company must innovate and provide services that the searching public deems valuable, or die. This search engine market is still very volatile and the fortunes of online search can change overnight.

What should search marketers do? Keep creating websites that are valuable to the searching public, making them better for people to dive into. It's doesn't matter what the financial markets do, it's what you're focused on doing yourself.

No marketing jargon, just what's real...RealWebMarketing.com

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If you thought search was about big cash.

Well, you would be right. Search engines are into making themselves a revenue generator like any other business. I think it was silly, some of the early altruistic views of Google or any other search engine. They may have sounded like just these nice guys creating search technology for the huddled digital masses, but it was always about the cash.

This article about the financial aspects of Google search tells the story. Some of the ways Google operated in the past will most likely be given up for the quarterly push to meet Wall Street's expectations, just like any other company. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for it, but why don't they use some honesty in this area. You should never look at technology companies as an enlightened angelic entity, they're in it for the cash, dude.

Making more cash online for your website...RealWebMarketing.com

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Desktop search engines, only Outlook?

I'm one of those different people, I don't use the Outlook e-mail client. Instead I've been using a program called The Bat for a few years. It handles e-mail better than Outlook and has a smaller program footprint and was searchable a couple of years ago. It's put out by RitLabs.com and it's been a great product. For those of us who use something other than Outlook, these desktop search tools don't do us any good right now when it comes to e-mail. There are many other products like Eudora and my more obscure favorite as has been mentioned.

Will desktop search be able to go beyond the standard Microsoft offerings? I see e-mail as one of the more critical search areas as that is the hardest to find anything. Thousands of e-mails equals confusion. I don't really want to use Outlook just to get some benefit of desktop search. By the way, I won't be installing Google's desktop any time soon, I still believe there are some privacy issues and until they address that, I won't be using it.

Web marketing on the real side...RealWebMarketing.com

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Copernic desktop search, a reprise post.

I am doing this post as I was misinformed about the availability of Copernic desktop search. Thank you, Martin Bouchard, Co-Founder, for bringing this to my attention!

Copernic.com has a tool for doing desktop search. I believe it's been around for some time but it's not something I was familiar with. It allows you to search for files on your computer including e-mails, PDF's, Word documents and more. It even indexes documents in the background while you do other things. They claim that it can find what you're looking for in seconds. I'm sure it's not any different than any of the search engines, but it is scaled down for the desktop.



I haven't tried it yet myself but I will. I think this is the kind of thing that MSN, Yahoo and Google are striving for along with their suite of other web search and products.

If this can be done apart from these entities, then why hasn't someone done it yet? Also, the question is if this is the holy grail for all these companies, then why haven't people already flocked to Copernic? It stands to reason that if the market is really hot for this like the search engines tell us, then why hasn't this been all over the media? I'm sure there is some ignorance on my part, but I will be checking it out and report on it.

I hope to get further information about how Copernic is diffent than Google desktop and what the security issues are.

Search marketing help for real web results...RealWebMarketing.com

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Copernic search engine, a clarification.

Have you tried Copernic search? What it does is a comprehensive search of many search engines for the term you use then aggregates them, filters and makes them into relevant results. I 've tried this tool and I really like it although I still think some sponsored results come through at the top of the search results.



It keeps a history of searches and can even capture web pages for future use. There is also a nice feature which gives you the ability to find certain results in the results you found. It doesn't give you a page with thousands of potential results, it brings it down to a manageable few. It makes sense, how many times do we actually go past the second page of Google search results? Not very often, so it's a good thing to limit the results and from the most relevant found in various search engines. Because they draw from many search engines, the chances of finding what you need are better than standard engines. This is the best type of search to come along in quite some time, you should try it.

What it means for web marketers is that a high ranking will mean more than ever when it comes to software like this bringing it all together.

It is a software download, but the basic package is free.

Web marketing for the real world....RealWebMarketing.com

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EWeek, in-depth topics including search.

As I've been doing search engine news and opinions, I'm finding that one of the most excellent sources of information has been Eweek. It's a weekly news magazine which is free and the website mirrors a lot of the internal content, but not all of it. Eweek is for IT professionals but some of the information provided definitely pertains to how we can better market products and services based on technology. I find it to be an interesting read notwithstanding a fair amount of technical jargon.

Some of the articles have been some of the most revealing when it comes to search and software research, better than almost anything else I've seen.

Keeping it real...for marketing, RealWebMarketing.com

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AskJeeves for kids.

As I was checking out AskJeeves as I do on a regular basis, I noticed a nice search tool for kids that they offer, AJKids.com. From the AskJeeves website here is some explantion of what the offering is:

"Ask Jeeves for Kids is primarily an educational Web site that kids can use for homework help and research for school projects. But we also include fun games and activities.

Each Web site included in Ask Jeeves for Kids is carefully selected by an editor. We include only "G-rated" pages and those written specifically for children. We select sites for the quality and depth of their content, and for safety."

Isn't it nice that there is a service that your kids can be safe using? Some of the kid's testamonials are great, it seems like something they can really use for school study or just general information!

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Google has corporate search technology.

Google has rolled out corporate search which is their Google in a box solution. This uses the same search technology that is used elsewhere except that this will index an intranet and make corporate documents easy to find.

It looks to be a good option for many larger companies. This isn't an internet thing, but it does show how portable search technology is becoming and how well it can do the job. The ability to find information quickly is what the world wants it seems, even if it means giving up some privacy. There is one negative, indexed files could be easier to find and be pilfered potentially.

I remember seeing this yellow Google search box a few years ago, I wonder if it's the same thing rolled out in a new marketing campaign.

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IceRocket has a couple of new services.

The IceRocket search engine has a couple of new offerings. They now have a toolbar, big surprise, everyone has a toolbar now. Do you suppose that toilet seat manufacturers will someday have a search toolbar? I believe it's coming! Anyway, I'm going to try the IceRocket toolbar because I like what they've come up with in the past.

Another offering is that they've linked to a blog of sorts which has what they call phone pics. It's an interesting set of blogs & pictures where people are posting more candid shots of whatever. It looks like a service that anyone could use apart from IceRocket, but I like the way they've included it on their homepage. IceRocket continues to grow and it's been fun to watch. It's not a Google or Yahoo killer or anything like that. I'm sure it's search numbers are relatively small, but it has a clean interface and some good tools that are useful.

Internet marketing with a gentle twist of humbleness, RealWebMarketing.com

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HotBot's Desktop search is another offering.

Desktop search is going to get crowded not unlike personalized search. It's funny how one entity comes out with this type of technology and pretty soon everyone will have it too. It's just like toolbars, everyone has one. The HotBot Desktop is a lot like Google's, did they license it from Google? Anyway, it has the ability to index your computer files, do online searches, keeps a history search and searches RSS feeds. I think that this last statement I just made will be applicable to every new desktop search coming, so I'll just plug that into every new one I find.

HotBot doesn't have near the popularity of a Google or a Yahoo but they do have a networks and millions of searches. There was a time where HotBot was a very hot search engine, but really isn't anymore. The results are relevant and concise. Once again, the question is whether the public will accept desktop search with all it's privacy issues?

I think that sometimes the techies who run these companies never ask any questions like this. They believe that technology for technology's sake is good. I don't understand why they don't ask the deeper marketing questions regarding desktop search. But they feel that they must keep up with the other search engines or die, especially in the case of an older search engine like HotBot.

Web marketing for better online results, RealWebMarketing.com

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Privacy issues with Google Desktop search.

Here is an article which goes over some of the problems with Google's Desktop search. All of the problems you can imagine could come true with Google Desktop. Probably one of the worst privacy scenarios is using a public terminal of any kind that has it installed. Here's what the article states:

"If it's installed on computers at libraries and Internet cafes, users could unwittingly allow people who follow them on the PCs, for example, to see sensitive information in e-mails they've exchanged. That could mean revealed passwords, conversations with doctors, or viewed web pages detailing online purchases. "

One of the people cited in the article calls it a "perfect spy program". As for me I'm never installing it on anything I have, I don't care how nice it is to find something buried on my hard drive. It's not a question am I doing anything wrong, it's question of keeping our lives private. In a country that believes in privacy rights of an individual, why would any willingly relinquish such privacy just to find a file on their computer?

This whole idea of desktop search is a potential nightmare for people. This is the problem with this form of search. I predict the searching public will ultimately reject this version of desktop search over the privacy issue.

Keeping it real...for marketing, RealWebMarketing.com

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Just want I wanted, to be vulnerable at work.

Here is an article where the author works as a columnist and is just plain gushing about the new Google Desktop search. He talks about some of the pluses of the program and believes it to be valuable. For someone who is a columnist for a major newspaper and does a lot of research and writing, (although I'm not sure journalists do anymore!) it might be a helpful tool to find a note or reference quickly. What I get a kick out of is the final paragraph:

"If you install this program on your computer at work, keep in mind that you're providing colleagues and bosses who sniff around your computer (perfectly legally, in most cases) with an excellent surveillance tool."

Wow, thanks Chris for letting us know the entire flaw in this whole desktop search, privacy. I know that anyone can search your desktop at work legally but is that good for employer, employee relationships? Probably not. It breeds an air of suspicion of the whole organization where people might fell skittish about putting in some honest notes about someone's performance, even the bosses. This is how the whole concept falls flat on it's face, there is no privacy with it. I'm not like Chris here. This is an open door. Even if there is nothing to hide, it's still like someone potentially going through your personal items or a woman's purse. Is this what we've come to? There was a time when people were personally respected, their space respected, they were trusted. With tools like this, you won't feel free to be honest in your documents for fear of someone finding them quickly at a meeting or just sitting on your desk.

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A warning about Google from a competitor.

There are some privacy issues to be concerned about according to the CEO of Copernic, David Burns, a competitor to Google in this area. He contends that Google will know all about what is on your computer potentially. This would be true of any type of desktop search except for those that run as an independent application like I believe Copernic does. He underscores some of the things I've been saying about privacy. That's why I'm going to make a bold prediction. Desktop search will only succeed as a business model when it is run separately from an online search engine. When it comes to people's privacy, it's the only way to get what you want off your computer without the potential of search companies knowing all about you.

I'm going to be trying Copernic in the next few days and see how well it functions and report what I find. I would definitely like a desktop search tool, but I won't be using Google. Even if they were moral angels, there would still be a privacy question and since they are sinners like everyone else, I'll decline Google desktop search, thank you.

I'm excited for any technology that can deliver this, it shouldn't be a big deal at all to search a hard drive. There are excellent opportunities for companies to develop this type of product without the privacy issues.

Online marketing with a humble touch, RealWebMarketing.com

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MSN & Google bots seem most aggressive.

I know it's hard to tell from just one website, but based on the last several weeks, MSN and Google have been the most active bots crawling my site. The depth of the crawls seem to be very close. It's amazing how active they've been coming back more than once a day to crawl the site. There is a definite race to have the most complete index. A more complete index means that there is a greater likelyhood of getting searchers the results they need. That is why no one should count Microsoft out. It may seem like they're out of position, but that doens't mean they're not doing something about it. What you can't see right now is the internal working to get their search up and running. But what you can see is a very active search bot that is crawling websites heavily right now.

Getting online results for people, RealWebMarketing.com

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Stochasto intelligent search.

There is a search engine coming out in early 2005 that claims to deliver results based oon a question you might ask. Here is an article in Pandia that gives some background on the technology. From the article:

"Searching with this new technology is an interesting experience: Instead of getting a list of websites that might offer an answer to your query, you get to ask your question in natural language and are presented with an answer in plain English along with a link to the web site from which the answer originated."

Now AskJeeves had this kind of concept before and it brought them some success. As stated in the article, AskJeeves did this with a human edited directory. This new type of search from Stochasto will be an indexed search engine without human editing. This concept makes what comes naturally to us, a question, not keywords in a succession that might get you some of the results you're looking for.

As algorithms get smarter, this type of natural language search is going to be more available and more popular. Maybe the next thing to optimize a site won't be keywords, but an answered question.

Web marketing with common sense from RealWebMarketing.com

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Gurunet.com gives users a complete search.

I've written about GuruNet.com before and I decided to give the subscription a try for this next year. After all GuruNet has extensive resources that can be used for all types of research and search. GuruNet basically delivers complete reference / web search tools at your fingertips and with one click.



I remember when the Internet was just getting commercialized, many education or research type people bristled at the rush to make money online. They had a more altruistic sense of what it should be. I think GuruNet delivers this kind of choice. There are the reference tools which are many, while giving web results if you want them in a tabbed format. It really is impressive, the level or organization and ease to which you can find information. For those of us who runs websites and don't want educational / term paper questions regarding our products or services, this would be the alternative for people who want more background information on a subject.

Amazon is using Gurunet on the backend of it's A9 search engine, but it only offers some of what they have. When you subscribe for $30 a year, you get access to the complete search toolset which includes some things you probably haven't thought of. It even has a tab for a sign language video for a word you choose. The other nice thing is that is it very seamless. You don't have to jump from a search engine to an application or anything like that. When you download their software and install it, you simply press the Alt key and then at the same time click on any word you find and all the resources pop-up instantly. A9 doesn't use this part of the technology from GuruNet, that is strictly from them.

For those of you who don't want to spend the $30, the A9.com search engine from Amazon should work fine to get you some of the information you can find on GuruNet. In A9, that is the reference button.

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The place to keep an eye on Yahoo.

There are two different parts of the Yahoo website that are devoted to talking about what's going on for the future of Yahoo technology.

There is Yahoo Labs:



and Yahoo Next which talks more specifically about the next product release. In this case, it's Yahoo's personalized search:



Their sites are not very imformative as nothing at Yahoo is anyway. Yahoo seems to be more secretive that Google. Oddly, they seem more open about new technology that anyone in the market right now.

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Will the searching public embrace desktop search?

The big question in all this euphoria over desktop search by the technology companies is, will the searching public embrace it? No one knows for sure, it's a technology that is new and there are some ramifications that no one has had to consider yet. Is the availability of information on your hard drive in seconds what you really want? Suppose you use the product at work and you have some personal notes, nothing serious, but personal nonetheless. Do you want anyone who has access to your computer to find it easily? It could be a little embarrassing if you had a draft love note to your wife, which I've done. It's personal. Now I know there are those who say you shouldn't be doing personal things on company time. But I would put to you that everyone does it. How can they not do it? We are people that have lives outside of work and our breaktime is ours and sometimes that means handling some personal business. This is just one of the problems with desktop search. Now they say you can choose not to have certain files exempted from the indexing, and that may be true, but the novice user will not be so prepared.



What I think is that we're trading one set of problems for another, maybe a far more serious problem. The original problem is that I can't find something on my computer's drive easily which looks like it's being solved. Now the new problem is how will I keep information secure so that certain personal information will never been seen or indexed. According to Google, the indexing of your drive takes place continuously, so I don't see how you will be able to secure things you want private. Suppose someone steals your laptop and is able to get credit card numbers, social security number or anything else that has been indexed. This is the aspect of the desktop search that is worse than not being able to find a file.

I'm coming to the conclusion that desktop search won't be the big thing the tech companies want it to be because of privacy concerns. People want an online search that gives them some anonymity and a desktop search that doesn't track their every move. Do you see the power in this? These search companies have abilities now that are great for finding what you need, but they need to have safeguards and security that reflects people's fear of a big brother scenario.

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