Search

A new defense tactic in an obscenity case: use the popularity of sexually-explicit search terms in Google to show that actual “community values” are different than what people claim.

John Battelle (John Battelle’s Searchblog) and Danny Sullivan (Search Engine Land) are writing a series of posts on The Future of Search. From the first post:

What I find interesting are entirely new approaches to the interface of search. What happens when search is no longer driven by the command line and the blinking cursor? What happens when, for example, your query is informed by where you happen to be, or who you happen to be, or what you happen to be doing at the time of the request? To explore these ideas, it’s best to step outside the current box of a web browser on your PC, and think about mobility.

As Battelle says in his announcement the themes will look familiar to folks who’ve been following search for a while, but it should be an interesting series regardless.

Google just added support for the Treo 600, Treo 650 and Treo 700p to their Google Maps Mobile software (a client application that runs on your phone). Looks pretty good, and includes the ability to see the current traffic conditions along your route, which ironically the main Google Maps software can’t do. (Thanks to GirlPurple for the link, via Jill!)

Google just launched a page for searching through publicly-posted source code (including the ability to search by regexp, language and licence), and Kottke.org has compiled a list of some interesting searches people have uncovered, including password files, backdoors, inside jokes and kludge alerts.

(Thanks to Rawhide for the link!)