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Search engine Google sets sights on video
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Internet search giant Google's next target: video.
Monday night, Google (GOOG) introduced a test site that searches
closed-caption TV show transcripts (www.google.com/video).
What the site won't let you do is locate specific video clips,
even though some smaller video search engines offer that. Google
says clips will come in the next version. (Related: You are the
everything? Google hires Firefox engineer)
Rival Yahoo (YHOO) countered Google's Monday announcement by saying
it would incorporate closed-caption transcripts at its test site
video.search.yahoo.com by the end of February. Yahoo said it also
will add searchable news video clips - currently unavailable.
Google is working with transcripts from ABC, PBS, C-Span and Fox
News.
As more video goes online, the ability to search for it is the
next frontier, Internet search analysts say.
"Wherever the information exists, we want to get it to the
user," says Google Vice President Jonathan Rosenberg. "Last
year, we introduced tools to find it on the (computer) hard drive
and in e-mail. Now, it's video."
Users of Google Video can search for a phrase - say, Bill Cosby
discussing parenting - and find a link to PBS' Tavis Smiley talk
show. They will get a snippet of text, plus a visual from the show,
a link to PBS.org and listings of show air times.
Danny Sullivan, editor of the SearchEngineWatch online newsletter,
thinks many Net surfers will be disappointed with Google's service.
That's because, he says, they'll be expecting links to video clips
- what they can get now with smaller video search engines Blinkx.tv
and America Online-owned SingingFish.com.
Video clips of scripted TV shows aren't available for searching
because of copyright issues.
Much of the video on the Web comes from news organizations.
CNN and ABC News charge for watching most clips, while CBS, PBS
and NBC offer theirs free. British broadcasters have lots of free
video, as well, searchable via the Blinkx.tv site.
C-Span CEO Brian Lamb says he's delighted to get his public service
programming out to more people through Google.
"By making our material searchable, users can put their finger
on exactly what they want," he says.
Meanwhile, Google dismissed reports Monday from London that the
Internet giant was looking to expand into Internet phone calls.
Internet phone use is in the early stages of development, by such
companies as Skype and Vonage, and lets anyone with a headset and
Internet connection make low-cost calls from their computer.
"This doesn't fit in, in any way, with Google's mission of
organizing the world's information," Sullivan says.
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