Despite Yahoo's latest efforts to defragment its mobile offerings, on Thursday the company released a mobile version of its Inquisitor search tool for the iPhone. Unlike its desktop version, which plugs into the search box built into Apple's Safari browser, this version exists as a standalone search application.
Before your eyes glaze over, it's worth a mention that this application is ridiculously fast. Search results stream in without chugging down the iPhone's processor, or slowing down your keystrokes. More importantly, it lets you start typing in a query less than four seconds after launching it, which in my testing was about two seconds faster than Google's voice-powered search app, and slightly faster than starting a cold search from Safari. Is this a huge difference? No, but if you're in a hurry to look something up quickly this is genuinely helpful.
Another big difference from some other search applications on the iPhone is that you can view the results in an integrated Webkit browser without it kicking you back to Safari. Google's iPhone search app doesn't do this and it drives me absolutely nuts, since if it's not a page you were looking for you have to start a brand new search from Safari's search box--which means more typing, or exit the browser and head back to the search app (Update: reader Commenter46 notes you can set the Google app to do this via a top secret settings menu).
You can see quick descriptions of search results along with site favicons. Results also open up in an integrated browser.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Each search result gets its own summary, complete with a favicon. If you come across a result from a site that has a notable favicon, it jumps out immediately. I also like how when it's loading a page in the integrated browser, it keeps the site's title and description in the lower half of the screen, which sure beats staring at a loading page.
In addition to standard Web results it also throws in related news stories that get thrown in at the top of the heap. It also provides suggested search results as you type, as well as sticking them on the bottom of the search so you can go back and revise your search without re-typing. These are both very user-friendly features which make it easier to make quick refinements or skip a few keystrokes.
Of course two big things missing from this application that iPhone search applications from Google and Vlingo have is voice-activated search and location-filtering. If you don't care about these two things, I think this is a really solid replacement, especially if you find yourself doing a lot of searching from your iPhone's home screen. Hopefully Yahoo's relaunch of its mobile service later this month will bring this same level of speed.
Previously: Yahoo plug-in gives brains to browser search
Yahoo's Inquisitor adds new abilities to the search box of Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari.
(Credit: CNET News)Yahoo has released a plug-in called Inquisitor that gives some new horsepower to the search box in Internet Explorer (download), Firefox (download), and Safari (download).
Inquisitor is designed to help people get to information faster, according to a Yahoo Search Blog posting Wednesday. It suggests search terms as people start typing, showing an updated list of possible Web sites below the search box. The results are individualized too: it spotlights Web pages a person has already visited and customizes search results according to previous searches.
In addition, on Internet Explorer, Inquisitor can help retrieve sites a person has bookmarked.
Inquisitor got its start on Apple's Safari, but Yahoo brought it to the top two browsers after acquiring Inquisitor in May.
After the acquisition, Yahoo rebuilt Inquisitor to use its own BOSS (Build Your Own Search Service) technology, the company said.
Inquisitor is an example of the increasing intelligence that Internet companies are trying to build into computers. The search engines from Yahoo, Microsoft, and Google all suggest search queries as users start typing them in, for example. And in the browser, Firefox 3 offers an "awesome bar" that suggests Web sites that a person has bookmarked or already visited, while Google's new Chrome uses its bar to perform online searches directly.
The year 2007 might be one of the biggest years for Apple in recent memory. Certainly a lot of great products have been released over the years, but none had the anticipation or the media fervor as did the iPhone. The new iPod Touch, the release of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, and the funny Mac vs. PC ads we're seeing these days only added to the hype with more people starting to "Think different" than ever before. With Macworld just around the corner and promises of new Mac hardware on the horizon, the future of all things Apple looks bright indeed.
Working with the Mac library of software at Download.com, I saw a huge number of titles come through our system over the course of 2007. Certainly the big-name apps like Adobe Photoshop CS3 come to mind, but there were also a lot of great apps that may have flown under the radar for many users. To give these great apps their due, I decided to put together a list of my favorite apps for 2007. Though they might not be on par with apps like Photoshop, they're the kind of programs Mac users will appreciate and use without having to drain their bank accounts.
Without further ado, here are some of my favorite Mac apps from 2007!
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CNET Networks)
Apple's Spotlight search feature is one of the great things about OS X because it gets you where you want to go on your Mac immediately--giving you results as you type. Inquisitor is like Spotlight for Safari. Adding the same functionality to the Safari search box means getting to your favorite Web sites, Google searches, and doing your shopping online that much easier. The black, sleek interface is definitely a selling point, too. Did I say selling point? It's free.
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CNET Networks)
As streaming video gets better across the Web, we're going to see more and more apps that make viewing and managing videos easier. Miro is one of the best yet for browsing through channels, finding popular videos, and creating a starting point for your personal favorites. You'll be able to subscribe to video podcasts, video RSS feeds, bittorrent feeds, and video blogs making it easy to watch the latest videos about your favorite subjects.
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CNET Networks)
Ever wanted to take your digital photos and turn them into comics? With an incredibly easy to use interface, Comic Life offers layout tools and templates to make it easy to organize your photos into a story line. From there, use talking and thought balloons, stylized graphics, and other artistic tools to create your personalized comic. Those searching for a new way to use their digital images will love this app.
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CNET Networks)
Online Tower Defense games hit it big in 2007 as an addictive casual gamer pastime. Recently released Hordes of Orcs takes the concept to the next level with a downloadable version adding extra features for even more fun. In addition to fighting off wave after wave of Orcs, you'll be able to upgrade your towers, cast specialized spells to slow the onslaught, and zoom in to the action in full 3D.
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CNET Networks)
With the growing wave of social sites sweeping the Internet, the Mozilla folks capitalized on the opportunity by making a browser that caters to the social set. Flock is a full-featured Social Web browser that integrates extremely well with sites like Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, and YouTube. Cool features help you keep track of your friends and post to your personal blog from within Flock. If you've caught the online social networking bug, Flock offers everything you need to keep track of all your friends and sites with tools and utilities specifically made to rein them all in.
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CNET Networks)
Sometimes simplicity is best, and when it comes to recording audio, WireTap Studio takes a simple, but powerful approach. With this app on your hard drive, you can discretely record audio from any app, record whatever is coming through your system (like streaming audio), and you can use the line-in to record from external sources. What's more, its completely lossless and you can play with the untouched files using WireTap Studio's lossless editor. Audiophiles have been waiting for a long time for a low-cost lossless editor, and this one is worth the registration fee ($69).
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CNET Networks)
Need an image editor that isn't going to break the bank? Acorn offers several common filters for your images like sharpen, stylize, and blend, along with the ability to use layers, gradients, and color-correction tools you might find in some of the more (a lot more!) expensive image editors. What might be the best thing about Acorn is that it's so easy to use; you won't need to read any documentation to get started right away. At $39.95, it's tough to pass up this simple, but powerful, app.
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CNET Networks)
If you're the type who likes to monitor what's going on under your Mac's hood, you'll love iStat Menus. This well-designed utility sits in your Menubar for easy access and offers tons of system information you can view at a glance. Monitor CPU and RAM usage, your Bluetooth status, network traffic, and much more, all as a pull-down from your Apple Menubar. Getting your Mac stats has never been this easy.
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CNET Networks)
Do you collect things? Maybe you like DVDs, or have a big library of books, or maybe video games are more your speed. The only problem with having a huge collection of something like DVDs is how hard it is to keep track of everything. Delicious Library is the perfect tool to keep track of your books, DVDs, video games, and music, with a visual representation of shelves to make it easy to find anything. You can even scan bar codes to import your titles. Anyone with a vast library of items will enjoy cataloging with Delicious Library.
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CNET Networks)
Certainly one of the greatest releases of 2007 was Apple's mega-popular iPhone. Unfortunately, one of the only things it didn't include, was a way to use your own music as a ringtone. iToner eliminates the need to deal with iTunes or pay for new music by offering a simple method to add (and remove) ringtones on your iPhone for free. What's more, this app is perfectly safe with your iPhone system software (no Jailbreak required).
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CNET Networks)
Just about everyone gets around the Web using one search engine or another, with most using Google or Yahoo as their preferred search sites. We've come a long way from when sites would display information and we would obediently follow their recommendations on the Web (think AOL). Now we'll think of something (a vacation destination, a person, a product, etc.) and enter it into a search engine to find out more. There have always been search sites, but I really think the concept of the term "Google it" is what transformed our Internet use into what it is today. With most people using a search engine as their home page these days, it's no wonder Google and other search engines are doing so well now.
Several browsers capitalized on search-engine use by adding a search box to the browser's interface. I use the search box in Safari all the time, but today I found a little application that makes Safari's search box even more convenient. ... Read more
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