9 October 2004
Google ueber alles
Google is out of control. First they come out with an SMS search utility. You can send a specially abbreviated search to 46645 (gah! apparently not supported by my phone) and get targeted results back. Now, they're taking on Amazon, Amazon, with a full text book search engine.
Users enter the SMS search strings in simple forms defining keywords and locations. "Starbucks 30309" will probably return my local coffeteria catty-corner to home. They have a few examples and pointers for those of you with SMS-supported phones. Curses. I could have taken advantage of this here in Las Vegas.
Google's book service is a completely different tool. Instead of the cheap, fast, local information of SMS, Google Print provides a true Library of Alexandria. The Search Engine Journal has a good article on this new tool in which the author poses an appropriately critical question: What’s the procedure for universities and other institutions which already have books indexed online? How can they add their books to the Google Print index? A Google rep tells me there’s no program for those institutions at this time [yet] [t]here is a program for publishers to add content.
Truly, with already-existing sites such as Project Gutenberg, why isn't an effort being made to combine services? I'm sure there's more to come.
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