Google Blogoscoped

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

Yahoo Mobile

The Yahoo blog boasts you can now use image and local search on your mobile phone. But wait – I can use pretty much any search engine on my Nokia 6600, using one of the different browsers (I prefer Netfront Access). Reminds you mobile phone technology is one of the rare areas where the USA is not leading the pack; Europe, Japan and others are at least one generation ahead. Of course it’s nice if a site thinks about mobile users and tailors content to fit a small device as well. All that is needed is simply less content. I tried to turn my own FindForward into a “find engine" for exactly this reason: sometimes (say, when you’re trying to resolve an argument in a bar) you’re looking for nothing but an answer.

Google Acquires Keyhole

Google acquired Keyhole, a company creating online satellite maps that let you zoom in down to street level of specific locations. From Google’s press release:

“With an Internet connection, users enter an address or other location information and Keyhole’s software accesses the database and takes them to a digital image of that location on their computer screen. The interactive software then gives users many options, including the ability to zoom in from space-level to street-level, tilt and rotate the view or search for other information such as hotels, parks, ATMs or subways. Unlike traditional mapping technologies, Keyhole creates a dynamic 3D interface for geographic information.”

You can get a 7-day trial version of this software at Keyhole.com.

Froogle’s New Merchant Rating

Andy in the forum reports Froogle added merchant reviews. When you perform a search, below the product description you will see a rating of up to 5 points for some merchants. Clicking on the rating link will take you to the merchant information page containing more reviews.

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