News

Yahoo launches beta of Search Gallery

By Tim Conneally | Published June 5, 2008, 1:51 PM

Based upon the SearchMonkey platform, Yahoo users can now enhance their searches with developer-created apps.

The enhancements (there were 39 available as of 1:00 pm EDT today) available in Search Gallery highlight specific sites in results such as public domain book text from Feedbooks, Last.fm song and artist information, and Yahoo Local data.

Under the "Customize" tag in the Yahoo search window, the user can add any of these applications to tailor their search results.

Apps that users will find installed by default upon signup are Yahoo Video ("Discover new content for your media-hungry mind! Watch music videos, news, sports, comedy, movie previews and more - right from your search page"), Yahoo Travel ("Looking for place to stay when you travel? The Hotel Infobar application shows you detailed hotel ratings, pictures, price ranges and more so you can find the best hotel for your next trip), and Flickr ("Flickr loves Search! View fun, interesting photos from other Yahoo! users for image-related queries.")

Unfortunately, the whole thing works best in theory so far. After I added enhancements from Amazon.com, eHow, Feedbooks, and Last.fm, all of my search results were unchanged. It wasn't until I added the Stumbleupon infobar that my results window was visibly affected.

Yahoo's Search Gallery

By typing in "Curtis Mayfield," I intended to see what information about the famous R&B songwriter would turn up in Yahoo's results. The 100 pages of results I was provided carried with them the Stumbleupon ratings bar which puts user-supplied ratings and reviews under search results. Granted, only a single result from the 100 pages actually had a user review, but it was the first enhancement I tried that provided an unmistakable result every time (even if that result was the "Enhancement failed" notice).

View comments by with a score of at least

Google rolls out real-time search, Near Me Now, extended personalization

Over time, searches from PCs and mobile phones will grow even "more personalized." But what about user privacy and search results that give you "the truth"?

Intel's marriage of CPU and GPU not ready for prime time

Although there will be an Intel component this month that can compute and plot in parallel, Betanews was told today, it won't be based on Project "Larrabee."

An alternative to Research in Motion's enterprise e-mail? There's an app for that

Good Technology today released an iPhone app compatible with its enterprise e-mail solution.

Playing catch-up in 2010: Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, and Symbian

Microsoft, RIM, and Nokia are each working on improved mobile operating systems. But could these efforts add up to too little, too late?

Google Goggles: Hands on with the Shazam of the Real World

Google today unveiled Goggles, its visual search lab for Android devices that identifies objects by sight.

Microsoft: Windows 7 Family Pack wasn't 'pulled,' it just sold out

If you hurry, you may still be able to find the last Family Pack upgrade editions hanging around retail store shelves, but probably not so much online.

Clever iPhone game returns after being bumped over a name dispute

The game's simple concept and multitude of platforms and puzzles manage to pull off a retro, 8-bit style that's reminiscent of an old Atari game given a modern makeover.

Report: Microsoft to randomize Europe's browser screen choices

The fact that "A" is for "Apple" was apparently at the heart of browser vendor objections to Microsoft's alternative to listing IE first.

Will Nokia's plans further alienate American consumers?

A look at Nokia's plans for the coming years does little to shine up the company's increasingly dull image.

Bing bonked by service outage Thursday, Microsoft configured the wrong server

It's always nice to have a backup, but it's even nicer to remember which one is the backup. That's the lesson Bing's admins learned yesterday evening.

Survey reveals there are more women than men, including on social networks

If you think you can market your products and services online as though you're selling car batteries in the middle of halftime, think again. And again.