Specialty Search Sites Bloom | eweek

Specialty Search Sites Bloom

Specialty business-to-business Web sites have been gathering and categorizing content on specific industries and topics since the late 1990s. The major search engines also have created some targeted search categories, said Nate Elliott, an analyst with Jupiter Research, a division of Jupitermedia Corp., in New York. Google, for example, has sites where users can search on specific topics such as universities, Linux and Microsoft. It appears to be filtering its broader Web search results, Elliott said.

Few B2B sites, though, have created their own Web indexes of a specific set of Web sites, he said. B2B sites that draw from general Web search tend to more closely filter the results to match their topics or industries.

"In some cases, it makes a lot of sense," Elliott said. "If it's very technical information, for example, where there's a lot of noise in traditional search engines, then a specialty search engine might give you more targeted results."

Designs on desktop search

Designs on desktop search | CNET News.com

Some major Web portals are trying to get an edge in the competitive Internet search market by thinking outside of the browser.

What's new:
Major Web portals are considering broadening their search businesses by providing access to online queries through a "taskbar" displayed to the side or at the bottom of a PC screen.
Bottom line:
Staking out a place on the desktop could become increasingly important for Microsoft rivals, as the software giant begins to flex its search muscles.

Found in translation: Microsoft tool talks pretty

Found in translation: Microsoft tool talks pretty | CNET News.com
By David Becker , Staff Writer, CNET News.com

EWW is meant to assist people who know a fair number of English words but need help mastering the often arcane and seemingly contradictory patterns that govern how they're put together.

"It's a tool to help users select the correct words according to the context," Zhou said. "If you say 'book,' you need to know how to use it. Is it being used as a noun or a verb? Non-English users find it very difficult to use words like that correctly."

EWW works by analyzing English words in relation to each other. The software looks at the words surrounding "book," for example, to gather clues on whether the word is meant as a noun or verb. It then suggests alternative phrasing based on the analysis.

Zhou said one advantage of the software is that it helps users achieve a more natural and pleasing writing style by suggesting new English usages.

Patent problems pester penguin

Patent problems pester penguin | Perspectives | CNET News.com
August 5, 2004, 7:45 AM PT
By Dan Ravicher

The patent system is in crisis--something the former Patent and Trademark Office director himself acknowledged just last year.

The system is supposed to encourage technological innovation. Instead, it rewards those who have the knowledge and resources to work it to their advantage. Although many are beginning to recognize the problem, not enough is being done to fix the broken system--to the detriment of software users.