Archive for the ‘Search Technologies’ Category

About half of all Germans search and purchase Christmas presents online. Nevertheless, about forty percent buy their presents in stores on-the-go – but many users wouldn’t mind having some assistance using location-based services while trying to find the perfect Christmas gift, according to a study from Gelbe Seiten with the market research institution Innofact AG. Just in time for the Advent season, several location-based services have release new services to help users find the perfect gift in local stores. We would like to present two of them: Read the rest of this entry »

Now you don’t have to just maintain virtual contact to all of your Facebook friends – with the new app from discounter airline Germanwings, “FriendFlights”, users can book flights directly to their friends throughout Europe. The app lists Facebook friends and calculates flights from your current position to their home. Read the rest of this entry »

The US-Patent Office has promised Apple a patent for location-based information services that may effect other providers of location-based services. The industrial property law with the code RE42,927 and the title “System and method for obtaining an using location specific information” is broad enough to affect all mobile services using location-based material. Read the rest of this entry »

The tantalizing scent of roasted almonds, waffles, and mulled wine is in the air and invites guests to visit the popular Christmas markets. Now a special local search app shows us where the nearest market is: the free Christmas market search application for Apple and Android smartphones from Das Örtliche. Read the rest of this entry »

There’s certainly little doubt that Google is the leading power for local search. But this doesn’t mean that there isn’t any competition. In fact, Google chairman Eric Schmidt seems to believe that Google is not immortal, as he writes in a letter to the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights. The giant’s biggest threat? Siri. Read the rest of this entry »

The search engine giant’s social network Google+ has launched a new service, der Einführung der Google+ Pages for Businesses, Parties, and Organizations, giving these the opportunity to present themselves to the community, inform them of new happenings, and directly connect with users. These new pages especially offer local businesses the chance to develop actively in the social media realm and to be discovered. Read the rest of this entry »

The free location-based recommendation app Alfred, developed by Clever Sense, now offers users “group recommendations”, displaying those locations that other people also enjoy in the latest version of the app, in addition to custom results especially for the users. Read the rest of this entry »

The 25 million user strong general interest online portal T-Online.de is now joining the local search bandwagon: as a response to the growing demand for local services and information, the service massively expanded its regional offering at the beginning of October. Users now have access to 346 city and county portals with regional to local news, information, and services available, according to a press release from the Deutsche Telekom, the carrier of the online portal. Read the rest of this entry »

Private programmers and companies can immediately begin integrating the local-search function of the online directory klickTel in their websites or mobile applications. According to the operator, Telegate, interested parties will begin receiving quick and free access to over 28 million telephone and business pages entries from the klickTel databank through the launch of the Open API, or the programming interface. Read the rest of this entry »

Android users can now enjoy the mobile Trover application to discover their current location or even the entire world with location-based photos. The start-up company Trover launched in July of this year with its iPhone app. Now the “mobile discovery network” has over 100 thousand users in 160 countries around the world, according to the site. With the new launch of the Android version, there is a lot of potential new customers. Read the rest of this entry »