A few weeks ago I posted (as did P.L.) about being able to search for emoticons (smileys) and getting definitions on Ask. Today, more new stuff.
1) Hurricanes and Tropical Storms.
The post is here:
http://blog.ask.com/2006/09/ready_reference.html
Example one of several here.
http://www.ask.com/web?q=hurricane+warnings&qsrc=1&o=333&l=dir
In this example, it's a combo of a "reference shelf" of key resources PLUS a real time feed of advisories from the National Hurricane Center.
2) Searches like domain names or ICANN will bring the latest news from ICANN.
http://www.ask.com/web?q=domain+names&qsrc=1&o=333&l=dir
3) The Anti-Phishing Working group suggests a database from the UK for the latest phishing and online scam news.
Now, a search for scams or phishing scams gives you the latest examples as they are noted and released.
http://www.ask.com/web?q=scams&qsrc=1&o=333&l=dir
4) The National Academies of Science here in the US is prestigious organization that provides FREE FULL image and text acess to all of their books. A search for new science books will give you the latest listings.
http://www.ask.com/web?qsrc=2102&o=333&l=dir&q=new%20science%20books
5) Finally, the Online Books Page at the University of Pennsylvania is a great site. This new feed on a web results page lists some of the new full text books as they become available.
http://www.ask.com/web?q=new+ebooks&qsrc=1&o=333&l=dir
Again, all of this at the top of the web page, before the paid listings.
Finally, I might have mentioned this in the past (not sure). With our blog and feed engine (Ask.com version vs. Bloglines version, same dbase, diff features) a user can search and the subscribe to the feed with one-click using a number of tools including Google Reader and My Yahoo. The same is true for sharing a post with del.icio.us, digg, and others.
http://www.ask.com/blogsearch |
A lot of very nice stuff there. I especially like the blog search that you finish on. But I still wont use Ask.com web search.
I have just played around with it for a while and I think the reason why is that I value my vertical screenspace too much. There is a gray bar at the top of results pages. No use for me at all. Then there are 4 ads in a vertical line. It is just too much. |
Sam, thanks fo the kudos but sorry web search doesn't work for you This is why it's good to have options. I'll share your post on Monday with the rest of the team. Btw, Ask now also has its own image crawl of the web. Paid listings are move to the bottom.
As well documented last year,
http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3524756
Ask cut back on the total amount of ads on a results page.
We use the right rail to aid the searcher with options to narrow and focus their search.
One thing you learn in library school is that people often need help with what they are looking for. So, we use the right rail to assist with suggestions to narrow, expand, and in some cases suggest related names.
This is a good example:
http://www.ask.com/web?q=rolling+stones&qsrc=0&o=312&l=dir
The gray bar itself is home to our My Stuff service (save/share urls, images, etc.) In fact, I recently learned that you can upload imaged direct from your mobile phone direct to My Stuff.
http://sp.ask.com/en/docs/about/my_stuff.shtml#uploadimg |
