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Filed under: Web services

Amazon A9 a shadow of its former self

Amazon A9Says the AP: "Amazon.com Inc.'s A9 search engine has dropped some of its most widely touted features, including the ability to remember everything a user has ever searched for and a service that showed detailed, street-level images of major cities." Can it be true? It can, and it is. Amazon yanked the features from the search engine on Friday. Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener explained the features' disappearance by saying the company is "shifting its priorities to areas where it can provide the greatest benefit for customers." Awhile back A9 dumped Google search results for Microsoft Live.com and is currently #39 in search engine market share. Amazon says it's still hanging onto customers' search histories and all of those street-level photos, but won't say when or how they'll be used in the future.

Filed under: Web services, Google, Microsoft

Amazon dumping Google for Microsoft

A9 Powered by Windows LiveSearch Engine Lowdown is reporting that Amazon appears to be dumping Google in favor of partnerships with Microsoft. In particular, Amazon's A9 search engine now draws results from Microsoft's Live.com, and Amazon subsidiary Alexa is doing the same. A9 and Alexa search results now sport a "Powered by Windows Live" badge. I'm most surprised by the A9 switch, since it has been powered by Google since its debut two years ago. There has been no official release from Amazon concerning the switch.

[Via Slashdot]

Filed under: Web services, Microsoft

Windows Live Local Virtual Earth

Windows Live Local Virtual Earth

Microsoft has unveilled a technology preview of a new part of its web-based Windows Live Local called Virtual Earth, which includes not only a satellite view like we're used to but also street-level photographs. It's a bit like A9's Block View, but has views in four directions instead of two, and it has a wild driving mode that lets you cruise around the streets like you're actually there. Sort of. It's definitely cool, but at the moment pretty impractical. When "driving" it's hard to stay on the streets and sometimes the views you get are unpredictable. Between this and the 45-degree aerial view that made its debut back in December, Microsoft is definitely up to some very cool stuff with Windows Live Local, but they've got a lot of kinks to work out before it crosses the line from cool into useful. However, in its current state it still might come in handy for people who navigate by landmark. Currently Seattle and San Francisco's city centers are the only areas covered by the photos.

Filed under: Internet, News, Web services, Freeware

Amazon unveils A9 maps

A9 take 2
This shouldn't be too surprising considering A9's highly publicized effort to drive around capturing images of every local business storefront in the U.S. -- they've just launched their A9 maps service. Right now they lack the depth of coverage of Google maps, so if your area doesn't have any Block Images (i.e. actual photos) it just reverts to a standard graphical map interface. But if you check out one of the cities for which the Block Images exist -- it's pretty darn cool. You can literally scroll up and down actual photos of the streets at eye level in many major urban areas.

[Via John Battelle]

Featured Time Waster

The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

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