At Google I/O this week Google introduced spoken search results, which mimic Siri’s functionality on the iPhone. Siri had been a major point of differentiation between Android handsets and the iPhone, despite Google’s preexisting voice search. The new Google female voice actually sounds less like a machine and more natural than Siri. And there are […]
Microsoft is closing down their toll-free voice search program named Bing 411. I have confirmed the Bing 411 service is closing by calling the service and hearing immediately the message: Bing 411: On June 1st, we are discontinuing the Bing 411 service. There were reports of this via LiveSide where they said they “received a […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: 6 Key Findings From The 2011 Local SEO Industry Survey If you ask any local SEO what the nature of our industry is like, you’ll get a range of answers from […]
Voice search all began for Google several years ago with the now-shuttered, free directory assistance service GOOG-411. After the underlying infrastructure had matured Google introduced it on Android devices and in its iPhone apps. More recently, in July, the company put the same voice search capability on Google.com on the Chrome browser for the PC. […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: IAC Revises And Re-Ups Its Deal With Google IAC, the parent of Ask.com, the Daily Beast and Citysearch, today announced it has amended and extended its distribution agreement with Google through […]
Marchex announced this morning that it was buying Jingle Networks, operator of free directory assistance service 800-Free-411, for $62 million in cash and stock. Founded in 2004, Jingle Networks also has a pay-per-call mobile ad network. Jingle’s 800-Free-411 competed with GOOG-411, which was closed down last year, and Microsoft’s Bing-411, which is still operating. However […]
Yesterday Google announced that it was shutting down 800-GOOG-411, the free directory assistance (or voice search) service it launched in April, 2007. Back in those days the mobile landscape looked very different than it does today. It was challenging to conduct searches on most mobile phones and the iPhone was in its infancy. The first […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Time To Think Carefully About Which Country Hosts Your URL Shortener In my “how to choose a URL shortener” article last year, I warned that the country domain that a shortener […]
Google announced they are discontinuing 1-800-GOOG-411, a voice activated local search service they launched in 2007. The service will go offline on November 12, 2010. Google said they offer many smart phone search options now, including voice search, voice input and voice actions. Google promised to put “all of our resources into speech-enabling the next […]
Perhaps yesterday’s tweet by Google CEO Eric Schmidt put it best. Hell has indeed frozen over. Google has run its first major television ad, during the Super Bowl, no less. Below, the ad, how it has been received, how it compares to other search engine commercials from rivals and some questions about why market leader […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Finally, Yahoo 360 To Be Shuttered In July More than 18 months after first saying that Yahoo 360 would close, the company has finally announced a date: July 13, 2009. Why […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
How many people are familiar with Microsoft’s Voice Search tool “Live Search 411?” It’s a powerful yet not well-known way to do local search from any phone (1-800-CALL-411 or 1-800-225-5411). Conceptually, it’s exactly like Goog-411 but has more considerably more content and capabilities. Built on the Tellme infrastructure it can provide: Local business search Driving […]
Maybe that headline overreaches a little but not entirely. For those that have been wondering whether Google’s GrandCentral acquisition, which the company made in mid 2007 and thereafter seemed to neglect, would suffer the same fate as Dodgeball or Jaiku . . . wonder no more. Using the GrandCentral infrastructure, and currently only available to […]
This year is the 200th anniversary of naturalist Charles Darwin’s birth. I bring that up because Google’s approach to product decision-making has always struck me as “Darwinian.” The company introduces new products and services, generally without much promotion, and then it’s a version of survivor or “survival of the fittest.” Another appropriate metaphor here is […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Google is rolling out voice search on the Android platform via the new software update happening this week. That’s also supposed to add a virtual keyboard apparently. The G1 has only a physical keyboard. CNET points out that the central difference between the iPhone version of voice search and Android’s is the inability to simply […]
The Yahoo-Microsoft-AOL soap opera continues. (You expected otherwise?) At AllThingsD, Kara Swisher was pretty adamant Monday that Yahoo and Microsoft are not in secret talks right now about a new search partnership, and she called the weekend report from The Times (UK) “inaccurate.” Part of that UK story had Ross Levinson and Jon Miller taking […]
Yesterday, arguably the top tech story of the day was Google’s introduction of voice search for its iPhone app. As of this morning, the updated app still isn’t available in the iTunes store (that’s not Google’s fault). I spoke yesterday afternoon with Google’s Mike Cohen and Gummi Hafsteinsson about the app and how it would […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
The New York Times reports in Friday’s newspaper that Google’s iPhone app will be updated with voice search capability. The move should come as no surprise: The launch of Goog411 in 2007 brought immediate speculation that mobile voice search was on the way, and Google tells the Times that data collection from the Goog411 project […]
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) covers Google’s slow, ambivalent move toward traditional marketing. During its first 10 years, the company grew almost entirely on user word of mouth and PR-driven news coverage. That has helped create a culture that is somewhat biased against traditional advertising. Yet we’ve seen more traditional ad buys from Google in […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Google is introducing an Elections Search Gadget that allows users to search transcripts of political speeches and videos that appear on YouTube candidate channels. The speech recognition technology (also shared with Goog411) produces a transcript of the videos, which can then searched by users of the Gadget to find precise phrases or keywords in speeches […]
Today I got my iPhone and I decided to do a quick pictorial on using Google’s Mobile App for the iPhone. Here is my walkthrough:
Today Google announced a download that enables voice search for Google Maps on Blackberry devices. This is very much like the existing Windows Live Search for Mobile service with voice or Tellme for Blackberry devices (also Microsoft). Yahoo also recently integrated Vlingo’s speech technology into oneSearch.
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Photo by Mike Blumenthal. Used with permission. People tend to squeal with delight or its opposite when they see advertising in the wild for Google the company. It has happened precious few times: for Google Checkout, Goog-411, and most recently Google Transit, among a couple of other isolated cases. AdAdge covers Google advertising for Transit […]
Other than discussion of online advertising revenues, it’s an all-Google day for Search Biz: rumors of Google Mini being replaced by a hosted solution, a “public art” protest about Google doing business with the Chinese government, and speculation about the future of consumer marketing at Google.
Verizon is formally launching an ad-supported free directory assistance/voice search product in the US called 1-800-THE-INFO. It joins an increasingly crowded field that already features Google, Microsoft, and AT&T, among others. As I said yesterday in my post about the launch of a new voice search offering from ChaCha, most consumers are still unaware of […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Human-powered search engine ChaCha launched in late 2006 to somewhat mixed reviews. It sought to entice users to search with expert guides in real time via IM chat windows. It also offered algorithmic search but the human-guided search was the hook. The concept was great but the practical experience was often uneven. In January ChaCha […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
There are roughly 250 million cell phone users in the United States and more than ten times that figure around the globe. Approximately 42 million (or so) people use the “mobile Internet” in the US, with varying degrees of frequency. The number of people texting constitutes at least 100 million more on top of that. […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
I conducted a very informal, online Search Engine Land reader survey several weeks ago on a range of high-level topics pertaining to mobile search. The ultimate number of responses from SEL readers was a small sample of 77. Mike Blumethal, a contributor to SEL who writes the Understanding Google Maps & Yahoo Local blog, thought […]
Many people I speak to still ask the familiar question, “Is this going to be the breakout year for local?” while expressing frustration or disappointment that “local hasn’t yet lived up to expectations.” But local is a marathon, not a sprint. It’s also more complex than the general search market, which features an ecosystem built […]
Social search engine ChaCha, which has struggled to gain traction and usage on the desktop, is introducing a new text-based mobile service called “textChaCha” (short code: 242242). The same human “guides” who provide assisted search on ChaCha.com answer potentially any question from mobile users. Accordingly, it’s broader and more flexible than free directory assistance (DA) […]
Each month, I compile Search Month — a recap of all the stories that have happened relating to search, categorized by topic. I thought it would be fun to take all the Search Months over the past year and produce this edition of Search Year 2007. It was far more work than I imagined, but […]