Use Google Image Search as in the old times

Although Google Image Search new interface is not available yet, as we were mentioning here there are some users who already criticize it. Luckily, there’s a solution for those who can’t get used to it or find it useless and wish to go back to the previous version of this browser.

Google Image Search’s new interface, which is very similar to its Young competitor Microsoft Bing, can be restored to its old view mode by changing the URL of the image search results. To do this, we must add “&sout=1” (without quotation marks).

So, if we have this link as the result of an image search:

http://www.google.com.ar/images?q=jim%20morrison&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:es-ES:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&hl=es&tab=wi

we only need to add &sout=1. This is what it should look like:

http://www.google.com.ar/images?q=jim%20morrison&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:es-ES:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&hl=es&tab=wi&sout=1

Although it is not very convenient since the user must change the URLs manually, it is a helpful tip. Google itself will surely release a customized option or some kind of add-on for these users if the complaints continue.

New Google Image Search

Google has made one of the biggest changes in its search interface by updating Google Image Search. From now on, the image search results will be displayed in a different way. The new interface is very similar to that of Microsoft Bing.

In the first place, Google Image Search results will be bigger. If we hover over the image we will be able to see a larger preview.

Then, if we click the link to see the image in its context, Google Image Search layout will not be on top but on the right of the screen. Also, the small preview of the image will be much larger (and, depending on the image, it can even be displayed in full size).

Finally, within Google Image Search innovations, there will be many more search results. Instead of having to move to other pages, we will be able to see more and more results as we scroll down the same page.

This new interface will be made available little by little, as Google updates its servers. On the other hand, Google Image Search’s new interface will not be available for all browsers. First, it will be available for Internet Explorer 7 and 8, SafariGoogle Chrome and Mozilla Firefox 3.

Goggle, the new Google search engine for mobile phones

Google just announced the launch of Goggles, which if continues to be developed, without a doubt it’ll change the concept of internet search. For now, it’s only available for the Android systems, and it can be bought over the phone accessing AndroidMarket.

This new application “recognizes” a photo taken with the mobile phone camera and starts an automatic search regarding the content, with no need to introduce any word. Using different tools to explore the image, the program will immediately give us the most relevant searches.

As regards places, Goggles doesn’t even need the photo. With only focusing the camera on the place from which we want information, whether it is a monument or a store, and leaning on the GPS, this tool will provide us with all the information.

At the moment, Google Goggles has a limited use to places, books, contacts information, works of art, monuments, whines and brand logos, but in the future, it is estimated that it will identify food, animals, plants, and even suggest chess moves, taking into account the disposition of the pieces on the table.

This is a new effort by Google to keep on innovating. Regarding the images, it was already launched during the current year, Similar Images and then Image Swirl, which is a search engine that gathers the results based on the contrast similarities, color and the position of the objects.

The new technology, especially its potential more tan its current use, has caused more than one to be alert. Based on the assumption that Goggles will evolve till being able to identify people, many wonder what is the limit. Although the information collected by Goggles is protected by Google’s privacy policy, it can’t be assured how the giant internet uses it or will use it.

This way, Google adds to Google Maps, Froogle, Google Book Search, Google Earth, Google Scholar, Talk, Video and News, a new application that promises revolutionize the way to search on net of networks, even when it will cause a lot of controversy what will be the use of the information given.

Spezify.com, the search engine to "find" what you are looking for

Search engines market is constant evolution and sometimes we obtain a never-ending list of unwanted results. One original option to avoid this problem is Spezify.com, a new search engine that uses the information posted by users on different networks, such as: Amazon, Yahoo, Twitter, YouTube, MSN, blogs, Flickr and other secure sites. The most outstanding feature that differentiate it from others search engines is that it shows the results in a mix of images, videos and text boxes.

Inspired in iPhone ´s visual interface and unlike the traditional organized list we usually obtain when using any search engine, Spezify.com gives us a pleasant tile-graph results. This is a cool and original option to gather all the websites information in one screen.

Although this service cannot fulfill users’ need when obtaining specific results in their searches, it is a great option to consider, and even differs from Google images and Yahoo Search Image, to “find” what we are looking for.

Spezify.com is another possibility that web 2.0 offers us, since it show us the results and information that others users loaded in the web (photos, newspaper articles, videos, etc.) relate to our search in a dynamic and visual interface.

Without a doubt and depending on the word we are looking for in Spezify.com, our search result will have images, and an attractive screen. Nevertheless, if most of the results are texts boxes, it is probably that this tool lost it’s attractive and offers us something similar to news collection than a tile-graph result. Despite this inconvenient, Spezify.com is still very useful since it allows us to enlarge and see the contents of each box (photo, video or text) with a simple click and without leaving the home page.

In addition to this, Spezify.com already exceeded its trial version and allows you to make customize some specific sites. It is expected that in a short period of time, in addition to adding sounds to the results, this search engine will offer the possibility of performing other types of set up, such as: choosing between different views.

This service, that is a mush-up of social sites, has not being able to define as a powerful search tool or a simple “gadget” to analyze the impact a word or a particular term has on the web. All things considered, we can say that Spezify.com is a good alternative to visit and experience another way of searching much more interactive and enjoyable than the traditional one.

Yahoo switches to Bing search engine

What were initially juicy offers on behalf of Microsoft to acquire Yahoo! -though no deal was ever made- an agreement was finally reached between the two companies in order to fight the Google effect. Yahoo´s search engine steps asides and welcomes Microsoft´s own search engine: Bing, which will develop and offer publicity services, and of the other hand will provide content for Yahoo´s homepage.

The news was announced in a press conference by Yahoo!´s CEO Carol Bartz and Steve Ballmer from Microsoft, who stated their plan to compete with Google and benefit from the merge as well. In this way, their bet seems simple yet promising. They manage to seek a large-scale movement regarding web traffic, ads and services.

As for Yahoo!, this agreement outlines their homepage revamp strategy.

As some of you may recall, last week Yahoo! dropped its concept of content service providers, thus providing more useful services to Yahoo! users. For this reason, this alliance was made to provider Yahoo! users a more significant value- add feature, according to CEO Carol Bartz.

Microsoft in particular, provides Yahoo! with its own powerful search engine called Bing. MS improved and re-launch Bing over the years, managing to reach the third place in the search engine battle. Yahoo! Search will use Bing for 10 years now, and will manage ad sales (keeping 88% of the profit) and will also provide content for its portal.

Being a commercial-strategic merge, spokespersons of both companies made sure this agreement “offers an alternative to advertisers so they don´t feel obliged towards a company that dominates more than 70% of web searches”.

From the user viewpoint, the merger with Bing will bring an excellent choice when it comes to customizing Yahoo´s profiles and performing more accurate searches –without exiting the current page.

This is, without a doubt, a business strategy that will enables Microsoft and Yahoo! to join forces and stand up against Google´s dominating search and internet ads market.