Posts Tagged ‘t-info’
Live Search Maps: another update
23 Apr. 2008 | Author: The German-version of the local search engine Live Search Maps, operated by Microsoft, has recently been pepped up with several improvements.
These new features are described by Toni Pelg, a Business Manager at Microsoft, in a post on Windows Live Blog.
The search results – generated by suchen.de – are now sorted according to the distance from the entered location. Additionally, duplicate results have been reduced significantly. These measures should increase the search speed and the overview clarity.
Not only the search performance has been improved, but also the content has been updated and tweaked. Users are now able to find more German towns and cities, using the Bird’s Eye view [de=Vogelperspektive). Pelg listed the newly updated locations as including Düsseldorf, Essen, Koblenz, Neuwied, Neuss, Detmold, Gütersloh, Gummersbach, Nordhorn and Paderborn.
The most extensive improvements concern the Route Planner. One can now link directly to this page, and use the facility without entering start and finish locations, according to Pelg. This allows the Route Planner results to be added to bookmarks/favorites. Website operators are now also able to embed the results in their web pages. Further it is also possible to print out the generated route plan, by selecting the printer icon (in the menu bar, on the right) and then decide whether to choose the instructions in Text form, Map form or both of these for the printed output.
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
KennstDuEinen.de cooperates with eins.de
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This in essence means that other portals are now able to embed the recommendations of KennstDuEinen.de into their own websites, according to the management of KennstDuEinen GmbH in a press release. For marketing partners this provides the possibility of increasing the attractiveness of their offerings and customer connectivity. As a result, KennstDuEinen.de is hoping to extend its reach and raise its profile throughout the German-speaking region.
The first partner enrolled in this scheme is the social city portal eins.de. As announced by both firms in another (joint) press release, though this cooperation, the members of eins.de will enjoy direct access to the ratings portal. Using this new functionality, users of eins.de will be able to search for and rate local service providers and businesses. Their ratings will subsequently be displayed on both portals. KennstDuEinen already lists 5 million such entries on offer, mostly generated through the local search machine suchen.de (operated by t-info).
eins.de users can find this new feature on the start page in the left-hand navigation section under ‘Service’.
Posted in Web Communities, Local Search per PC, Local Search, News | 
Tags: eins.de, KennstDuEinen, Städteportal, Stadtportal, t-info, User Generated Content, web2 0 | 
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