PodZinger: Search podcast content from Mozilla search bar

Filed under: Audio, Internet, Podcasting, Browser Tips

PodZinger: Search podcast content from Mozilla search bar

by Amber Rhea Sep 5th 2006

PodZinger is a search engine that lets you search for words and phrases within podcasts and videocasts. Yes, within the actual audio. And now there's a plug-in available that adds PodZinger to the Mozilla search toolbar.

I installed the plug-in, and a-searchin' I went. PodZinger uses some speech-to-text magic that is far from perfect, but cool nonetheless. Most of the time, the "amber" it supposedly found was actually something like "and in." However, it did find two actual instances of "Georgia Podcast Network." (Obviously I'm going to search for my name and the web site I run... what else would I search for?)

Even though speech-to-text technology is still in the very early stages, PodZinger is definitely a service to keep an eye on. This is the direction in which the web will be heading in coming years.

(Thanks, Jasmine!)

Tags: mozilla, podcasts, podzinger, search, search engines, SearchEngines, vidcasts

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Luis Moro said 5:24PM on 9-05-2006

Podscope.com has been doing exactly the same for more than a year now. Podzinger is just a good copy of Podscopes service.

Mark said 7:31AM on 9-06-2006

Podzinger works immediately and provides good results. Podscope stalled on me and I never saw any results. Can you guess what my conclusion is?

Featured Time Waster

Civiballs is a beautiful, soothing physics puzzle Time Waster

I have an absolute weakness for physics games, and while Civiballs isn't the strongest physics-based game, what it lacks in the physics department it makes up for a few times over in style and fun.

In Civiballs, you are presented with a few colored balls, and your goal is to get those balls into the same-colored urn on the level. The "civi" part of Civiballs is that there are 3 sets of levels to play, each representing a different civilization. While the civilization doesn't affect gameplay, the artwork for each level is beautifully themed to it's appropriate era.

To play the game, you are given only one tool - a sword with which to cut the chains that are holding the balls. The puzzle part of the game is in figuring out what order, and with what timing to cut each chain. Do it right, and all the right balls end up in the right urns, with no stray balls entering an urn (a no-no). Do it wrong, and you get to start over again.

Civiballs is not terribly deep on gameplay; the entire game can be completed in about 15 minutes. But if you enjoy this type of game, it will be a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

View more Time Wasters