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Google Trials A9 Style Image Search

Posted by samzenpus on Wed Jan 19, 2005 09:35 PM
from the be-careful-what-you-search-for dept.
Businesses Google The Internet IT
Grugnog writes "Google has started including images from it's image search on the main search page. This is similar to Amazon's A9 search engine. With Google kicking off Google Print (A9's other specialty) could A9 become redundant?"
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  • dumb question (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    google's finally copying someone else, and you wonder if A9 is redundant? Talk about google-fanboy!

    We should be happy that there's actually innovation happening. competition is good.

    • Re:dumb question (Score:5, Interesting)

      by l3v1 (787564) on Wednesday January 19 2005, @11:56PM (#11416662)
      You mean Google doing web search, A9 using Google's web and image search results to enhance (their word) the results, now Google doing search which you/they/whatever say it's a copy of A9's. Now, stop that, I'm spinning. From the beginning A9 was a results ripoff with it's own interface. If they have something really worth using, that should do us (users) just good and fine, a little competitiveness can never hurt (if you leave MS out of it, that is :P ).

  • A9 Seems Redundant Already (Score:3, Funny)

    by filmmaker (850359) * on Wednesday January 19 2005, @09:38PM (#11415720) Homepage
    With Google kicking off Google Print (A9's other specialty) could A9 become redundant?"

    Wasn't it always? I spent some time on A9 one day -- liked the inline images -- but overall wasn't impressed. I'm sure there are dozens of handy, idiosyncratic features I missed that I'll be informed of momentarily, but my first impression was "blah."

    I'd like to see more mixing of results onto a single page though. Seeing the first few images and the first few Froogle results would be a nice addition.
    • True, but you can get a small discount at Amazon if you use their A9 browser before making a purchase.
    • Something I liked with A9 was an easily accessible site info page with a site review and even rating, along with other misc. info like page ranking (from Amazon.com? Alexa?) The link was right next to the search result, like "show cached" is in Google.

      What would be nice is if Google had something like this that wasn't tied into Amazon.com like that, and gave graphs for PageRank history instead of whatever ranking technology they had used.

  • Ummm... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by keeleysam (792221)
    http://www.google.com/search?complete=1&hl=en&q=tr aktor&btnG=Google+Search [google.com]
    ummm... i'm not getting pictures....

    • Re:Ummm... (Score:5, Informative)

      by game kid (805301) on Wednesday January 19 2005, @09:54PM (#11415858) Homepage
      ummm... i'm not getting pictures....

      me neither. I, and certainly keeleysam, feel duped and disappointed.

      The posted link [grugnog.com] is not Google [google.com] though it seems genuine; its much larger home page [grugnog.com] is, in fact, a blog.

      Makes me glad to have a status bar on my browser.

      • Re:Ummm... (Score:5, Funny)

        by That's Unpossible! (722232) * on Wednesday January 19 2005, @11:21PM (#11416455)
        I... feel duped

        No, no, no... that comes later. Possibly as early as tomorrow.

        • Re:FAKE! FAKE! FAKE! (Score:5, Interesting)

          by LocoSpitz (175100) on Wednesday January 19 2005, @11:16PM (#11416422)
          Not necessarily fake. Here's why you wouldn't link to it: As noted by numerous posters in this thread, and also on a Slashdot FPP just days ago, Google oftentimes rolls out features only to specific subnets. If you're not in that subnet, you don't get to see the feature.

          Since the majority of people are unable to see this new feature, it only makes sense to offer a screenshot.

          Everyone who thinks this is an elaborate hoax, or that the mirror was intended to be seen as an actual Google.com page, is reading waaaay too much into this.
    • Do you have the magic cookie? Are you in the correct subnet? Did you read the previous google story?

      They quite often test new stuff on particular IP ranges. I think it was exodus or something that got "tested" on more often than others.
  • Does Amazon have a patent on any of this? After all, they do have the "one-click" patent...

  • Kinda.. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by krin (519611) on Wednesday January 19 2005, @09:39PM (#11415735) Homepage
    throws the whole feel of Google off. The less images the better.

  • NSFW (Score:5, Interesting)

    by kdark1701 (791894) on Wednesday January 19 2005, @09:40PM (#11415743) Homepage
    So what if pornographic images pop up? Say I search for my friend's name, and then there's porn thumbnails across the screen. Not good for those of us who use google in public.

  • A9 IS google image search... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by MadAnthony02 (626886) on Wednesday January 19 2005, @09:40PM (#11415744) Homepage

    I'm pretty sure that A9/Amazon is using google's image search in it's engine. The bottom of A9 says:

    Search results enhanced by Google. Results also provided by a9.com and Alexa.

    Also, from the faq [a9.com]

    Who provides web search results? A9.com's Web Search Results are enhanced by Google. Data provided by A9.com and Alexa Internet is also used for search history and Site Info.

    since it doesn't mention the images as from Alexa, and since I'm guessing the A9 stuff is Amazon's inside the book, it seems logical that the image search is from google.

  • Well Google Print may trump A9, but how does a dinky little 3 images at the top do much of anything? I mean I could have clicked the "Images" link before and gotten the same thing. In my opinion, nothing has changed in the image department. Google Print does look nice though, although it is at a different angle than A9's system, so I don't think it's completely redundant.
  • Searched for "traktor" on Google and Google Suggest (like in the example) and got nothing. Anyone got a live link as an example?

      • Re:Huh? (Score:3, Informative)

        by LocoSpitz (175100)
        Duped? Not necessarily.

        The HTML is from a different source because the guy just mirrored the Google page on his own site.

        Why? Because oftentimes Google offers new features only to certain subnets. As that may indeed be the case here, which would explain why some but not all Slashdot users appear able to use this new feature, it only makes sense to offer a mirror or screenshot; otherwise, most people could not see this new feature.

        And if the guy was trying to trick people into thinking his page was actual

  • elaborate scam? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by gl4ss (559668) on Wednesday January 19 2005, @09:42PM (#11415781) Homepage Journal
    *****************
    domain: GRUGNOG.COM
    owner-address: Owen Barton
    owner-address: 14 Parc Derwen
    owner-address: Glan Conwy
    owner-address: LL28 5BZ
    owner-address: Colwyn Bay
    owner-address: United Kingdom
    *****************

    when you use normal google there's no pics. then there's no explanation wtf is this grugnog.com

    and there's no pics on normal google... which is good. pics suck most of the time when you're looking for information in TEXT.

    • Re:elaborate scam? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by gl4ss (559668) on Wednesday January 19 2005, @10:00PM (#11415904) Homepage Journal
      flamebait? wtf? how is it flamebait pointing out that the SITE IS NOT GOOGLES? it's all public information anyways.

      the site might have worked for 10 secs, that i could admit. but it sure as hell has nothing to do with official google. such a search frontend, like a9, that included images as well would be pretty easy to implement with googleapi.

      so at best some guy coded his 'own' crappy version of a9, at worst he just hand made the html for whatever reason, maybe he's trying to score on the googleads there. ....but one thing is 99.99% sure: THE FUCKING NEWS POST IS FRAUDALENT.
      • Or maybe, just maybe, it's REAL and he's mirroring the results page, because Google doesn't always unveil new features like this to everyone all at once. Oftentimes new features are released only to certain subnets before they are put into wide release.

        Calm down, man.
        • you know, then he should have told us so that we would have known - and even then the story would have been unverifiable, he could have just as well said that google creates a mindmap out of every search.

          as now it only looks like he took some html and edited in pictures - with no explanations whatsoever.
      • i did not get pics on google.com when typing traktor there, not even on the google suggest beta site.

        local differences or whatever(but google suggest seems to use the same server anywhere..).. but the poster should have had the courtesy to link to GOOGLE, and not his own site pretending it's official google.
  • How long before one sues the other for stealing their 'patented' business plan?

  • i hate titling posts (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Knights who say 'INT (708612) on Wednesday January 19 2005, @09:43PM (#11415783) Journal
    But A9's results are provided by Google, so if Google manages to provide the same services A9 does, then A9 _is_ redundant.

  • Being taken for a ride? (Score:4, Informative)

    by PornMaster (749461) on Wednesday January 19 2005, @09:43PM (#11415786) Homepage
    Grugnog.com is some guy's page, and submitting anything in that search box just gives a 404. Is this the musing of a guy who posts stuff to slashdot that he doesn't even mention in his blog (on the root of the domain)?
    • maybe it's just a showing of how crap of a random job the editors take while combing through the potential news items.

      you can get anything on slashdot.
    • So what? Did you look at the submitter? He probably submits a story every day about random crap. Who says he has to blog that he submitted a story to slashdot? His blog entries are probably automatically generated from other news feeds or something anyway. Its clearly a site in development, and hes just used his site to host the image.
  • Tried searching "pussy", got no pics. Lame joke. Mod parent down to hell.
  • Damn it Slashdot, you ruined it! Half the fun of google is finding the new stuff hidden away

  • But will it be updated? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by BigDawgES (821410) on Wednesday January 19 2005, @09:54PM (#11415854)
    Remember when . . .

    There was a slashdot story about how you couldn't find any of the Abu Ghraib abuse photos on google image search, and people cried censorship only to realize that google simply hadn't updated its image database?

    Anyone have an idea about the current update schedule of google image search?

  • WTF? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by derEikopf (624124)
    This is stupid. It's not on Google's site, all other searches yield a 404, and if you click on "Images" then on "Web" again at the top, the images disappear. Editors, what were you thinking?

  • More info (Score:5, Interesting)

    by grugnog (45345) on Wednesday January 19 2005, @10:00PM (#11415902)
    For what it's worth, the magic word is trials. Google doesn't release a new feature to everyone at once - specific subnets will see the feature first. Even I only see this with a search for 'traktor' - other searches just look the same.

    Maybe others in the /. herd can verify if they get this?

    ...I am redirecting to mirrordot to avoid server meltdown :)

  • This is bogus (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Xoo (178947)
    Not to repeat what everyone else is saying, but this is definately bogus.

    Grugnog used the following URL to access the page in the first pic of his search for "traktor":

    http://www.google.com/search?complete=1&hl=en&lr=& safe=off&c2coff=1&q=traktor&btnG=Search [google.com]

    As you can see it shows the typical google search results page with the TEXT ads at top. After subsequent refreshes of my browser, I got the same thing.

    I browsed around Google Suggest, even the Advanced Options, and go

  • Strange... (Score:4, Funny)

    by bergeron76 (176351) * on Wednesday January 19 2005, @10:04PM (#11415934)
    I changed "Traktor" to read "Upskirt" and I got a 404 page.

    I hope google doesn't make this new behaviour permanent.

  • Something tells me new boy samzenpus will be looking for new job.

    Hopefully on google and not grugnog...
  • Every time there's a new Linux Distro, someone brings up an argument that it will kill all the others, and be the only one in existance... each one is deemed perfect, and makes the others look bad.

    Ends up each one has it's own strong points, weaknesses... each has a niche audience of it's own... who find it perfect.

    IMHO that's the direction search is going. A9 will specialize a bit more in print service (since Amazon excels in that). I wouldn't be suprised if Amazon gets into eCommerce...

    allow other co
  • I'm sure I'm not the first person to bet that goatse.cx will increasingly be ruining young minds when google image results is truly implemented in the main search page.

  • A friend saw this (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Captain Nitpick (16515) on Thursday January 20 2005, @12:55AM (#11416951)

    I was on IRC back on January 6, and a friend of mine got some images at the top of a particular Google search. Nobody else on the channel could reproduce it, and it wasn't appearing for him on any other search.

    His screenshot was identically formatted to these.

      • and always had a choice of what to drive.
        Are you suggesting that people do not have choice in what search engine to use? If that were the case, I don't see how Google could have ever become number #1 wrt the search market.

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