visual-search 8

I just put together this little demo that scrapes John Lewis’ site and creates a MediaRSS file out of it. CoolIris has got to be the best way to shop. Apart from being really pretty, it’s quite useful when you know what something looks like, but don’t quite know how to search for it. For example, I was trying to look for a headphone-microphone (you know, the ones that connect into an iPhone or a Blackberry). I didn’t have a clue what it’s called. (TRRS, if you’re interested. I found out later.) The only way I could get it was to browse the wall… ...

Determine a sex by name. If you don’t know if a name is male or female, just search for the name on Google images. (e.g. “Priti”) Comments Umasuthan 18 Apr 2006 5:36 pm: That is not always true. Try ‘Kiran’ S Anand 18 Apr 2006 10:17 pm: You’re right. The article does warn of unisex names!

Live Plasma. An interesting way to explore music and movies. Great visual design too.

Retrievr. You sketch out what you want to see and it tries to make a match on Flickr.

A9.com Maps. Provides photos of building elevations of location!

There’s software that can locate where you are using a photograph of buildings.

Kartoo has an amazing Flash interface for a search engine. I’m not sure how to use it effectively, but I’m sure someone’ll take this idea up and make something really useful out of it.

Room102 is a search engine that previews websites.