Search Briefs
Web Search–Google
Source: WSJ/CNBC
Video: Google CEO Eric Schmidt Interviewed on CNBC, Part One
++ Video: Part Two (Google and Microsoft)
While Schmidt is in London for a Google “Zeitgeist” Conference, Maria Baritromo talks with with the CEO about advertising, and “whether Google is becoming the next Microsoft.”

Q: Is there a plan “b” on where growth comes from now?
Eric Schmidt: I don’t know if there is a plan “b” beyond what you said [targeted advertising]. “It seems to me that Google as a business is in the targeted advertising business.”
NOTE: About a week ago Schmidt said that Google is the only player emphasizing search. A week early and again last week Ask.com CEO, Jim Lanzone told CNBC that Ask.com is also focusing on and emphasizing search.
Q: Is your goal to become a portal?
Eric Schmidt: It depends on what you mean by a portal. Many people use the word but mean different things. We prefer to think we want to get you to the information as quickly as possible. A lot of information is personal and a lot of that information is searchable. So, when we talk about search we talk about it in a very broad context. We mean not only the world’s information but your personal information.
Q: So it sounds like that is pretty much a portal.
Eric Schmidt: It’s the way portals used to be. Before portals became specialized content. The original portal in the early 1990’s, was simply a window to go through to get to that information. Indeed, Google will be that and will be a good one.
Other Comments
+ “We don’t compete with content companies because we don’t produce content ourselves.”
+ On the CNET issue from last year. Schmidt: “There is a difference between information being available and publicizing that information. The fact that personal information is around doesn’t mean it should be publicized.” Schmidt adds they’re working well with CNET now.
Note: The Google/CNET story was years ago (in Internet time) but it still seems odd (especially after these comments) that a legitimate news organization (CNET) runs into problems by using public information in a profile of a public figure. If the public only new what was easily accessible about them in specialty databases.

Google and Microsoft
Q: Is Google underestimating Microsoft
Eric Schmidt: We’re focused on our overall mission…Competition is very healthy. What people miss however is that this is a much much bigger space that the IT industry for example. Multiple choices, multiple choices may be successful. So, we believe that our strategy will be succesful and it may also be true that our competitors strategies will also be succcessful, at least for a while. I don’t think it’s a zero-sum game.

On MS taking search market share.
Schmidt: They need to ship the products first.

On Asia
Long-term, Asia is biggest opportunity.

On Click Fraud
Schmidt: It’s not a material issue. It’s a fight. We have it [click fraud] under control.
See Also: Schmidt Talks with Charlie Rose (4/2006)
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Enterprise Search
Source: ACM Queue
Search Considered Integral
Two people from the IT department at Morgan Stanley weigh-in on enterprise search. Lots of material on faceted classification (breaking down an entry into components), metadata, folksonomies (not very positive about them in the workplace, the same with user ratings), alerts, and more. Overall a good overview. Those of you who have read our blog for a long time know that we’re big fans of what faceted classification can offer. Two comments. 1) Sorry to see that information professionals (people with many years or metadata training (aka cataloging experience, were not mentioned). 2) If you want to demo a faceted search solution, try TheGateway.org or Indiana’s Smart Desktop. Both are databases of educational resources with technology powered by Siderean. Elegant, useful, easy, small, if any learning curve and faceted classification shows what the power of well constructed metadata can do. Btw, here’s another example of faceted classification/search in a news setting. Finally, for the non-librarians out there who love to mention Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC). You might be interested to know that DDC is a faceted classification scheme.
See Also: Have You Checked Out the Dewey Browser Project from OCLC Research? Cool!
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Web Search–Technorati
Source: Technorati
The Associated Press and Blog Search Engine Technorati Announce Agreement
From the announcement, “to provide up-to-the-minute links helping readers navigate between AP news coverage and recent blogs about stories on AP’s Hosted Custom News service for Web sites. When readers visit an AP member Web site that uses AP Hosted Custom News, they will see a module featuring the “Top Five Most Blogged About” AP articles. This module is dynamically powered by Technorati and within it, the reader will see links to a Technorati page that guides them to recent blog posts about that specific AP article. Additionally, when readers click on an AP article, Technorati will deliver “Who’s Blogging About That Article,” a listing of blog names with the date and time recent posts were made. The new functionality will be available to the more than 440 AP member Web sites in the United States that take AP’s Hosted Custom News.”

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