Posts Tagged ‘DeTeMedien’
Immowelt.de: Maps with local information from suchen.de
7 Jul. 2008 | Author: 
The result of a cooperation between the Real Estate portal with the local search engine suchen.de, Immowelt.de announced the launch in a press release.
For many properties, it is possible to see their location on a map, and also their surroundings (by clicking on the “Umgebungsinfos” (en=Surroundings info), and discover where to find nearby bakeries, kindergartens, doctors or restaurants. In addition the searcher can select various categories (such as Health, Shopping, Training or Recreation) from a pop-up menu, or enter a special key word in the search field. The results of the research are generated a results list, and can also be viewed on a map in map-mode or aerial view. One can also sort the generated results by distance or relevance, a feature already enjoyed by suchen.de users.
Posted in Local Search per PC, Local Search, News, Local Search Engines | 
Tags: DeTeMedien, Immowelt, Immowelt.de, lokale Informationen, suchen.de, Suchmaschine, t-info, Umgebungsinfos, Local Search | 
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Media Directory Association awards “Branch Oscars”
The Association of German Information and Directory Media (VDAV) recently presented the German Directory Media Prize 2008.
As reported by the VDAV, the winner was announced during the VDAV-BranchMeet, a congress of the German directory media industry, which took place from 18 -20 June 2008 in Bremen. The ‘Branch Oscars’ were assigned in three categories for especially innovative products and applications.
In the ‘Electronic Directory Media’, the victor was the free mobile phone navigation Ö-Navi, a product of DasÖrtliche. This free software has been on offer by the telecommunications directory portal since mid-2007, with which one can effectively convert a mobile phone into a navigation device. Financed entirely through adverts, the user receives not only a route description, but also has access to the entire online-database of DasÖrtliche, therewith all private and business addresses and is able to connect this data to the navigation interface.
The decision of the award for second place was deemed problematic by the 6-person jury, resulting in a tie for 2nd place. The first of the ’silver’ prizes went to the mobile version of meinestadt.de. The mobile version of the town-portal was praised by VDAV, according to its operators Allesklar.com AG, especially for its wide-spectrum offering of local information, including their mobile ’situations vacant’ section and the ability to receive job training classifieds, via free SMS.
The 2nd ‘Silver’ trophy went to the online-cooperation between the association “gesundheitstadt berlin” (en=’health city berlin’) and the branch portal “gewusst wo” (en=’knowing where’). The operators of gewusst-wo.de, the publications group Beleke, announced this in a press release.
Alongside the digital sphere, prizes were also awarded to print media and marketing-events. All prize winners can be found on the VDAV website.
Posted in Local Search on the go, Local Search per Mobile phone, Local Search, News, Practical features |
Tags: dasoertliche, DeTeMedien, Handy, Handynavigation, lokale Informationen, meinestadt, meinestadt.de, mobile lokale Suche, Navigation, Navigationsgerät, Ö-Navi, Städteportal, VDAV, VDAV-Branchentreff, Verzeichnisdienst, VerzeichnismedienPreis |
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Euro 2008 Specials on local search services
The soccer Euro2008 has started. Many local search services are offering their users special Euro 2008 features, in honor of this grand event.
The city portal meinestadt.de for example, in its local online event calendar, lists times and locations of live TV broadcasts on large screens in public places (a.k.a. “Public Viewings”), as well as broadcasts and Euro 2008 parties in pubs or beer gardens, with listings of start times, locations and contact details. According to a press release, all schedules are also available for download via the portal’s mobile version. In a Euro 2008 Special, one can also check out the game schedule and much more.
Google has also put together an additional Fan portal. Accessible via google.de/23tage, the user can find, among much else, a Fan Map with lots worth knowing about Euro 2008 (e.g. teams, players, games and stadiums). A press report by Google Deutschland, posts also a personalized iGoogle Fan start page with loads of information about the contest, the participating teams and even a YouTube Fan Diary that one can add to.
Internet online directory YellowMap offers soccer fans a special Guide to the festivities, in cooperation with online-portal Raumobil, the Mitfahrzentrale [en=Ride sharing] and Quoka. Offers include information about the game-cities, with aerial views of the eight stadiums, a ‘tip’ game and a route planner. In addition, one can reserve hotels and accommodation in Austria and Switzerland, or nearby the hotels where the teams are bunked, and even offer or search for rides to the games.
On the City24 city portal, one can find the games schedule along side with stacks of news about this pan European sporting mega event. Here too, one can find the locations and details of public viewings or parties on offer. Further, users may personally add local parties and events around Euro 2008, using the so-called ‘CityScout’ feature.
The participation of users is also found as expected on Qype. The local search and rating platform, in its own blog, calls for users to add listings and reports on public viewings or sportsbars. Find these under the Groups search term “euro2008” or the Guides listings.
Sharing soccer-mania with other fans is made possible by the local search machine suchen.de. Here, one simply enters search phrases “Public Viewing” or “Sportsbar” plus a location, to discover where the games are to be broadcast in public places or bars.
Extensive listings of Public Viewings and Sportsbars are also to be found on the online directory DasÖrtliche.de and DasTelefonbuch.de. Both services offer a special search feature on Euro 2008, in cooperation with “Premiere Sportsbar”. DasTelefonbuch.de also allows its users to participate ‘virtually’ in the festivities – using the so-called “Virtual-Kicker League“. Whoever participates and wishes to ‘appear’ against other online-soccer players, can register online and receives a Player-Pass. According to DasTelefonbuch-Servicegesellschaft, the virtual game schedule parallels exactly the real Euro 2008, including all preliminary games. The parallel victories and defeats will run alongside the actual events.
Posted in Local Search per PC, Local Search, News, Local Search Engines, Practical features |
Tags: City24, DasTelefonbuch, DeTeMedien, EM-Features, EM-Special, Europameisterschaft, Fan Map, Google, google maps, GoYellow, lokale Informationen, meinestadt, meinestadt.de, Public Viewings, Sportsbar, Suchdienst, suchen.de, t-info, YellowMap |
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Leaner and faster: the mobile version of DasTelefonbuch
DasTelefonbuch [essentially ‘White Pages’ for Germany] recently remodelled its web-presence (see our report). The latest addition to this site is the mobile-version of this address directory.
This was announced by DasTelefonbuch-Servicegeselleschaft in a press release. The new mobile version, named DasTelefonbuchmobil.de, has been trimmed down in time for the re-/launch at the beginning of April 2008, and is thereby faster and more comfortable to use.
Searching here now is concentrated on the two main fields – Name/Telephone Number and Place. The results are now easier to scan, and can be utilized with the minimum number of clicks. Especially practical is the use of the WTAI function (Wireless Telephony Application Interface), which allows a direct interaction between the WAP-browser and the mobile device. For example, this allows for direct dial of telephone numbers, using the generated search results. Route planning is also enhanced, by allowing generated routes to display in both map and satellite views.
Also new: along with German, English, and French, the mobile service is also accessible in Turkish. Further languages are planned, according to the company.
Existing features of the first generation service have continued into the new version. For instance, it is still possible to download contact details of generated results, in vcf-format. And inverse searches are still provided for the research of a name to link to a known telephone number.
The free service functions using all WAP or internet-ready devices and providers. The system automatically recognizes the device being used, and adjusts the display criteria accordingly. The service even offers an “iPhone-Ready” function which will no doubt please the growing user community of this cult phone.
Posted in Local Search on the go, Local Search per Mobile phone, Local Search, News, Practical features |
Tags: Auskunftsportal, Branchenbuch, Branchenverzeichnis, DasTelefonbuch, DasTelefonbuch-Servicegesellschaft, DasTelefonbuchmobil.de, DeTeMedien, lokale Informationen, mobile lokale Suche |
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suchen.de wins award for local advertising feature
The local search engine suchen.de managed to take home an award at the Innovation-Prize 2008, for its localized click-based advertising functionality.
Local online search machines and web-directories are an effective advertising platform, especially for small and medium-sized companies. The advertising capabilities of suchen.de were found to by particularly useful by ‘Initiative Mittelstand.’ The management of the local search engine suchen.de, t-info GmbH, received the award for Innovation, in the category “Internet Services” for their advertising facility.
As announced on the website of Initiative Mittelstand, t-info has been honored for tailoring click-based advertising (a standard feature in virtually all the major search engines) to the local search sphere. This means the user only sees an ad, when the content is relevant to his local search query, whether locality, service or product specific. (See our post.)
The advantages serve both the user and the advertising enterprise – the user only comes across relevant search and advertising hits, resulting from his search, and the advertiser is able to target location-specific potential clients, as a result of clear market need (as reflected by the user’s search criteria). Through this specificity or target-group, wasted revenue is reduced and accordingly advertising costs to the companies.
Launched in 2004, the annual Innovation Prize honors the most innovative and relevant products, solutions and services, specifically for the small and medium-sized business sector in the arena of information and telecommunications technology. In 2008, submissions for consideration for the awards topped the 1600 mark, eclipsing all former submissions [see Press Release].
suchen.de is now accessible via SMS
t-info, the proprietors of the local search engine suchen.de, has added to its locality-based SMS-Service.
This service, known as “SMS-Filialfinder” [en=SMS-BranchFinder], has been offered by t-info for several years– its selection opportunities were however not as rich as now on offer. The mobile-phone user is now able to access the entire local index of suchen.de, which hosts more than five million addresses. This was announced by the company in a press release. Additionally, one can use almost any imaginable search keyword, in using this function.
For those wishing to use this new feature, one sends a search word/string per SMS to the SMS-address 84636. Wherever one finds oneself at that moment, will according to t-info, be relayed via the mobile network to the server. For the first use of this service, the user needs to accept the Terms and Conditions, as to specifically whether t-info may determine the coordinates of the user’s actual location. Once agreed to by the user, the appropriate address(es) and telephone number(s) gathered as a result of the searched terms, will be sent to the user, specifically for their current location.
Especially practical for users without internet-ready cellphones, every received SMS costs €0,69. And the user receives for every search request a maximum of two addresses. If one then requires further search results, one then needs to reply to the first message with the letter ‘M’ (for ‘more’), and then will receive up to two further suggestions.
More information about this service can be accessed at http://sms.suchen.de
Phone directory “DasTelefonbuch” gets a new look
The telephone online directory DasTelefonbuch has pepped up its web presence and can be found sporting some new features and an updated interface.
Relaunched in March, above all the design of the portal has been changed. On the start page, the search fields take a stronger central focus than before. Links that were previously more prominent, such as Area Codes and Postal Code Finder, as well as Themes such as Emergency numbers, are now to be found somewhat smaller, placed under the entry field.
Also new: on searching, the user already receives a preview of all available content, in the generated results list. Using this new feature, it is possible at a glance, to scan available additional information (e.g. e-mail or URL) using the detail preview, in addition to the standard details like phone number and address.
This detail view, accessed by clicking the name or the “All Information” link, serves to make the site much more user-friendly and accessible. Previously one was already able to print, e-mail, fax or sms a selected entry, but this functionality was not clear and was easily overseen. This has now been remedied. The new ‘look’, using attractive and easily recognizable icons, placed on a dark grey background, now displays these former practical features under the “Use Contact” section, where one can also find a map-view and a route planner.
A press release also lists other features offered by the website, including the uploading of business adverts, photos or videos, and additional information about products, services or hours of operation.
