Summary
MSN's newly-redesigned search engine has a number of new features, including the ability to search for local retailers, a toolbar that lets you search your own hard drive, and a feature to search by criteria such as the last time a site was updated. The new service also has a very high density of advertising, with ad banners at the top, side and bottom of every page.
Original source:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18499-2005Feb12.html
Details
Last week, Microsoft unveiled its new MSN Search site, which it says was rebuilt from the bits up to compete with Google and Yahoo, the two leaders so far in the Web-search business.
A nifty "search builder" tool offers users a sliding-bar control to focus searches by such criteria as the last time a site posted new content and how many people visit it.
MSN Search also now offers access to the full version of Microsoft's Encarta online encyclopedia, which until now was restricted to paying subscribers.
Google includes a list of text-only ads on the side of results pages, but MSN includes them at the top, side and bottom of every page.
For example, a search for sites about Thomas Jefferson yielded the ad byproduct of links to Netflix, Amazon.com and a company that sells Jefferson busts.
MSN Search may not get anybody to defect from Google or Yahoo.
But at least Microsoft's search engine -- previously a clunky Yahoo-driven relic -- will no longer actively drive people away.
According to Forrester Research, 20 percent of people who have MSN as their home page use Google as their primary search engine -- and if only for convenience's sake, some of them might switch back.
Speaking of Google, it has added another service to its Web empire, Google Maps.
Although this free site is still in testing, the direction seems clear -- Google wants to make it the go-to site for online mapping.
Major thoroughfares are highlighted in yellow, roads are clearly labeled, and push-pins and captions pointing to landmarks are set off from their surroundings by nifty 3-D shadow effects.
Enter "Ethiopian" and "Washington, DC," and Adams Morgan lights up with markers, including links to directions and businesses' Web sites, if available.
And speaking of directions, these are clear and easy to read without (so far) the ads of
Yahoo and MapQuest.
About the author: Mike Adams is an award-winning journalist and holistic nutritionist with a passion for sharing empowering information to help improve personal and planetary health He has authored and published thousands of articles, interviews, consumers guides, and books on topics like health and the environment, and he is well known as the creator of popular downloadable preparedness programs on financial collapse, emergency food storage, wilderness survival and home defense skills. Adams is an honest, independent journalist and accepts no money or commissions on the third-party products he writes about or the companies he promotes. In 2010, Adams launched TV.NaturalNews.com, a natural health video site featuring videos on holistic health and green living. He also launched an online retailer of environmentally-friendly products (BetterLifeGoods.com) and uses a portion of its profits to help fund non-profit endeavors. He's also the founder and CEO of a well known email mail merge software developer whose software, 'Email Marketing Director,' currently runs the NaturalNews email subscriptions. Adams is currently the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit, and pursues hobbies such as martial arts, Capoeira, nature macrophotography and organic gardening. He's also author a large number of health books offered by Truth Publishing and is the creator of numerous reference website including NaturalPedia.com and the free downloadable Honest Food Guide. His websites also include the free reference sites HerbReference.com and HealingFoodReference.com. Adams believes in free speech, free access to nutritional supplements and the innate healing ability of the human body.
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