Search is everywhere and the future is search

Thu 20 August 2009 15:00, Bas van den Beld

You can easily say 'search is everywhere'. And search is much more than just Googling. As Dave Naylor pointed out in a tweet this morning we are now also searching on Twitter or Facebook, making the term "Googling" less relevant every day.

Search goes beyond the standard search engines like Google or Yahoo. Even with Bing entering the battle its not just about 'regular search' anymore. Search is more, a lot more. And the future is search.

Search is more, take a look at realtime search for example. Something everybody is talking about. Real time search is progressing rapidly. The discussion on whether or not its an new way of searching or not is an interesting one. As far as I'm concerned real time search is here to stay. But we should look at it with care.

Realtime search useful for some kind of searches, like news-related ones, but not for all searches. When doing research on products or 'how to's' you might not want to be interfered with a coincidental Tweet someone just wrote. A quick search result doesn't always have to be a good one. But the tone is set: we want realtime, we want to see what is going on now.

But as said, search is more, and so is realtime search. Wikipedia is search, so is Flickr and so are tools like RSS Readers or even forums. Even Social Media is search. And let's not forget services like Streetview or Google Earth. They are all places we go to search for the information we want. Just presented in a different way.

In that matter, an interesting search-angle is mobile search. And with that I don't mean Googling on a little screen. I mean augmented reality and applications for phones, with iPhone apps now in the lead.

Last week in the Netherlands, Layar launched their latest version of their "Reality browser". On your Android phone you can now look through your camera and discover information on what you can find in the neighbourhoud you're standing in. Point to the left and you will find the ATM you were looking for, point to the right and information on that historic building can be called up from Wikipedia or you can see how much that fantastic house would cost you.

Take a look at their video:A great service which also will become available on the iPhone soon. But you know what: this also is search. This is the new search. Layar is a 'realtime' search engine in extremis.

Finally the iPhone-apps. There is a lot of rumour about the rules Apple has when it comes to whether or not allowing certain apps on the phone. But if you look at the appstore. There are a lot of search engines in there. You can search for books, search trough iTunes (also a kind of search engine!), find videos and more. Take a look at the video below. This is an iPhone app called Paris 3D. With this application you can see Paris in 3D. Streetview but maybe even better. It guides you through Paris and you can find a lot of information about the city.Again, this is search. That's why the future is search. But maybe in a different way than we can imagine.

<Tonight: the Searchcowboys radio...

Wie o Wie (Whoozy) updates their...>

Comments (1)

- Barry Adams
- [website]
I'm a huge fan of Layar and rejoiced when it was available in the android market in the UK. I've already used the Qype layer a few times with great success, and the more layers are added to it the more vital a tool it becomes. :)

Thu 20 Aug 2009, 15:40

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