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January 26, 2005 10:45 PM
News: A9 Debuts "Yellow Pages" - Now *That's* Local
A9 has debuted a neat new local search product today, which I am covering for Business 2.0 (the actual story will post shortly, this link is to a blog entry about the story on B 2's blog). This is a big deal for A9, and for Amazon - a blending of search and commerce models that has some interesting implications. Excerpt:
In short, Manber and co. (urged on by Jeff Bezos, who Manber says was "very involved") strapped GPS-enabled digital video camera-cum-terabyte server rigs to the top of a bunch of SUVs, then drove them around the commercial areas of major US metropolitan areas, recording what then became composite still pictures of entire cities, one address at a time. A9 took more than 20 million images of 14 million+ businesses across ten cities (more are coming soon), then created a local search application they call Block View.
UPDATE: Here's the actual story I wrote....- Posted by John Battelle on January 26, 2005 10:45 PM
TrackBack
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference News: A9 Debuts "Yellow Pages" - Now *That's* Local:
» New A9 Yellow Pages Include 20 Million Images from Articles about link building and PageRank
The most powerful technology A9.com invented for Yellow Pages is “Block View,” which brings the Yellow Pages to life by showing a street view of millions of businesses and their surroundings. Using trucks equipped with digital cameras,... [Read More]
- Tracked on January 27, 2005 2:03 AM
» (almost a web service) from Olivier Travers
France Telecom has a very lousy core yellow pages service, but it comes with a fun extension. This site shows you a picture of where I live (2nd floor, just above the store). You can pick a place on the... [Read More]
- Tracked on January 27, 2005 2:14 AM
» Amazon A9's Visual Yellow Pages from Threadwatch.org
n/a [Read More]
- Tracked on January 27, 2005 2:20 AM
» Amazon launches Yellow Pages local photos from Aqute Research
Amazon's A9 has launched Yellow Pages photo search. This is very exciting. While we are all talking about the future of local search, and Google is off buying Keyhole, Amazon has quietly delivered it. It's not just photos - just [Read More]
- Tracked on January 27, 2005 8:06 AM
» A9 Yellow Pages are out, with pictures - Old concept, cool implementation from Software Only
Many posts around about A9 releasing an interesting implementation of Yellow Pages functionality. First post I read was Om's, with some comments from Techdirt and Russ, and a full story from CNET. John Battelle then pointed to the story he [Read More]
- Tracked on January 27, 2005 10:15 AM
» A9 udfordrer endelig De Gule Sider from Jacob M. Bøtter
Amazons søgemaskine A9, som jeg før har omtalt, har lanceret en helt ny tjeneste som ud... [Read More]
- Tracked on January 27, 2005 2:51 PM
» Amazon's A9 adds photos to YellowPages from you can sleep when you're dead
Specially outfitted SUVs with GPS equipment and digital cameras have been stealthily snapping shots of nearly every business in Manhattan, and 9 other major metro cities [ how'd they do that? ]. Tagging each photo with a GPS coordinate,... [Read More]
- Tracked on January 28, 2005 4:24 AM
» Visual Yellowpages from A California Beginning
Amazon has stepped into the brick and mortar business world in an ingenious way. Not only can you rate businesses... [Read More]
- Tracked on January 28, 2005 6:27 AM
» A9 Launches Online Local Yellow Pages (with photos) from Marketing Tom - Internet Marketing
A9 has just launched a new search product, in partnership with Yellow Pages, which gives users the opportunity to get address details, view maps and even photographs of business addresses. Coupled with the ability to view books (through Amazon), a sea... [Read More]
- Tracked on January 28, 2005 8:14 AM
» A9 Launches Online Local Yellow Pages (with photos) from Marketing Tom - Internet Marketing
A9 has just launched a new search product, in partnership with Yellow Pages, which gives users the opportunity to get address details, view maps and even photographs of business addresses. Coupled with the ability to view books (through Amazon), a sea... [Read More]
- Tracked on January 28, 2005 8:17 AM
» CRAPTACULAR NEWS FROM THE GOOD LIFE STATE from DiVERSiONZ
One of the reasons I blog is because I surf the internet a lot being that I live in the middle of nowhere, otherwise known as Nebraska. Actually I like Nebraska, it's quiet, the people are mostly nice and the... [Read More]
- Tracked on January 28, 2005 12:11 PM
» CRAPTACULAR NEWS FROM THE GOOD LIFE STATE from DiVERSiONZ
One of the reasons I blog is because I surf the internet a lot being that I live in the middle of nowhere, otherwise known as Nebraska. I mean, I am on the web anyway, why not log some of... [Read More]
- Tracked on January 28, 2005 1:39 PM
» A9 Launches Online Local Yellow Pages (with photos) from Marketing Tom - Internet Marketing
A9 has just launched a new search product, in partnership with Yellow Pages, which gives users the opportunity to get address details, view maps and even photographs of business addresses. Coupled with the ability to view books (through Amazon), a sea... [Read More]
- Tracked on January 28, 2005 2:27 PM
» A9 Launches Online Local Yellow Pages (with photos) from Marketing Tom - Internet Marketing
A9 has just launched a new search product, in partnership with Yellow Pages, which gives users the opportunity to get address details, view maps and even photographs of business addresses. Coupled with the ability to view books (through Amazon), a sea... [Read More]
- Tracked on January 28, 2005 2:45 PM
» (Almost a web service) from Olivier Travers
France Telecom has a very lousy core yellow pages service, but it comes with a fun extension. This site shows you a picture of where I live (2nd floor, just above the store). You can pick a place on the... [Read More]
- Tracked on January 29, 2005 2:31 PM
» Amazon A9 Yellow Pages with Map and Photos from LiewCF.com - Tech Gadget Blog
Amazon.com is mapping the streets of the United States in an ambitious digital photography project to drive people into local businesses. [Read More]
- Tracked on January 30, 2005 3:40 AM
» A9 Yellow Pages, teaching an old dog new tricks from Flashpoint
I would be remiss if I didn't pile on to the hubub about Amazon's new Yellow Pages search over on the A9 site. John Battelle's got the scoop on how it was put together.In short, Manber and co. (urged on [Read More]
- Tracked on January 31, 2005 12:26 AM
» Block View Mirror Image from Peter Kaminski
Hopefully you've seen the new Amazon/A9 yellow pages with Block View. Here's a Stupid Block View Trick: A9 SUV Self-Portraits. I came up with the idea separately from the other folks who posted pics -- but I'm jealous of the... [Read More]
- Tracked on February 1, 2005 10:28 AM
Comments
Now that's innovation!
This is somewhat similar (but more ambitious), to what is done on France Telecom's yellow pages, see for instance coverage in the NYT two years ago:
http://wwmx.org/docs/PagesJauneNYTArticle.htm
http://photos.pagesjaunes.fr
Jeff Bezos, Amazon, IMDB, Alexa, A9, Blue Origin...Can we connect the dots? Does Jeff Bezos want to index the real world? What's next?
"Blue Origin is a privately-funded aerospace company initially focused on sub-orbital spaceflight. The company is owned by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos and headquartered in a warehouse in Seattle, Washington, where its research and development is located."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Origin
I find it incredible sppoky that real people are also in those images. Do they know that Amazon has a picture of them walking out of these stores?
For instance, look at the people you see outside of this store: http://www.amazon.com/gp/yp/B00033JSIY/104-4193776-7754325?
I would not want my image next to there.
Re France Telecom, the experiment actually started back in 1999, with 7 cities. The company which developed the technology is France-based SNV (http://www.snv.fr). It launched the concept back in 1994, and took two years to develop the coverage of Paris. The co was bought by Wanadoo (the ISP arm of France Telecom) in 2000. And covered Madrid in 2001.
More information on their site (go to snv.fr, click on SNV and then history).
This is what should be concerning...Amazon spending cash to drive around taking pictures. Why? What is the model, other than more money for Google?
"We don't look at it with strategic intent," Manber responded. Never one to be drawn into competitive implications, he continued, "If I find a really great idea that can make a difference in search, and I can do it with a small team, I'll do it. This shows how search can be improved by anybody."
And the business model? For now, it's just Google AdWords, Manber told me. For now, anyway.
I find it incredible sppoky that real people are also in those images
The streets and anything in them are fair game for photographers
Make sure there are no Porsches, Maseratis or Lamborghinis in the shot!
The only innovation is the addition of the pictures.
MetroBot (www.metrobot.com) has them beat with IMHO a far better user interface sans pictures.
When I heard the news I thought Amazon had bought them and added pictures. After looking at A9's implementation I realize it's a step backwards.
All these pictures deservedly catch attention. But the service still have much to desire. I searched for Cinema in my area. DANG DANG... here comes a picture of a big bus.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/yp/B0004D9IH4/102-1133661-0159352?
Turns out the goof may be a blessing ;) Otherwise it might have embarrassed users for landing them in front of a porn cinema!!! I fool around with the search interface more, never able to find the Cinema I'm really looking for.
By the way the web site below is an art project to photograph a continuous street sence. The hand edited picture are looks really nice. I hope he will finish the project one day.
http://www.seamlesscity.com/project.html
Many people may be interested in but not aware of Ed Ruscha's "Every Building on the Sunset Strip", an artist book printed in the 1960s. I've seen many stories written about the A9 yellow pages but none have mentioned Ruscha. He paid a guy to drive a pickup truck slowly along Sunset Boulevard with a still-camera in the back that fired every second. It has gone on to become a classic photography/art book (The 400 copies he produced for $3 now sell for $2000+ each). It is always great to see life imitating art, but forgive me for raising an eyebrow at "Now that's innovation". Someone enterprising should see if they covered the same ground.
Hello! I have launched a new BLOG for the yellow pages industry and would like to invite any interested parties to visit the site and leave feedback. I hope to build a site that is of use to industry personnel as well as business owners that may be thinking of using or improving yellow pages advertising. Thank You!
How'd you like to be forever cached in Amazon's servers as the guy on the cell phone in front of Peepworld
A9 sucks. Paris tour is great!
Here is another nice tour of San Francisco:
http://www.virtuar.com/ysf2/
You can navigate right inside the picture.
There is Golden Gate Bridge, Fishermans Wharf, and Alcatraz
Igor Polk
Following up on my Ruscha comment above, Eric Etheridge has done a nice post about it. Get some kultcha into ya.
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What for me I do not need any other search engine but Google. And anyway no one has the same search power especially newly organized search engines.
John, I haven't been able to find any news stories about this, but I think the recent move to use Windows live results in a9 has killed the Block View stuff. Make some calls, shake a press release out, etc!
It does appear that the amazon yellow pages stuff, including Block View, remains accessible at yp.amazon.com.
Of course, all the launch links point to an a9 URL that's gone.:)
What for me I do not need any other search engine but Google. And anyway no one has the same search power especially newly organized search engines.
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