Combine Google, Yahoo and MSN in one to get LeapFish

Any given search engine can only search as far as its own database goes. LeapFish acts as a search aggregator. Type in what you're looking for and it will deliver results from Google, MSN, Yahoo and other Web properties without you having to visit those individual sites yourself.

California-based LeapFish launched a new style of search engine last month, offering users a multi-dimensional search aggregator that combines several features to provide more focused results. This one deserves a prominent spot in your browser bookmarks.

Similar to the Gogimon Search Channel, which launched last month as well, LeapFish has a look and feel that enhances users' comfort levels with Google, Yahoo and MSN. Simply clicking one of these three search engine buttons -- they appear above the LeapFish search bar -- displays that engine's results for quick comparison.

However, LeapFish goes a step further. It eliminates the need to click a search button after entering the search terms. Instead, it displays the changing results in real time as the search expression changes. Even adding an "S" to a search term -- "iPods" vs. "iPod," for example -- instantly presents updated search results.
Not a Replacement

To help ease new users into making the switch, the search window reads, "It's OK. You're not cheating on Google" until it's replaced with search terms.

Apparently, LeapFish's goal is not to race alongside Google or Yahoo. Instead, this company wants to leverage what is already working and desired online, according to Ben Behrouzi, president and CEO of LeapFish. The engine is designed to take what already works and lend more accessibility to what is already valuable on the Internet.

"Google and Yahoo are the kings of the indexers on the Web. They provide a relevancy. The problem is that there is just too much data, so relevance is not the only criteria," says Behrouzi.

Much of the information users need is usually found on a second or third results page. But typically searchers accept the idea that the most relevant information is on the first page of results. LeapFish's results are not ranked by relevancy or popularity. Instead, it aggregates information from additional sources such as blogs and YouTube and presents them based on its hyperthreading technology. It is not limited by the relevancy ratings of traditional search engine crawlers.

LeapFish is sleek and peppy. It combines the best of standard leading search engines along with an innovative graphical user interface (GUI). For instance, I typed "Windows 7 impressions" and got a plethora of results. I could browse around for topics in various search engines simply by clicking on the button for Google, Yahoo and MSN.

The search results filled the left half of the screen. The right half displayed what LeapFish calls "search widgets." These thumbnail-sized displays give up-to-the-minute news, images and videos on every search term. Click on any one to see it full-screen.

Under each widget is a link labeled "see more." Clicking the link gets a complete list of relevant results. Hover over a video image thumbnail to view it in a small window. Click on the thumbnail image to go directly to the Web site holding that content.

LeapFish also aggregates blogs, news, Q&A, videos, images and shopping results from major online destinations including eBay and YouTube, all related to the search term and conveniently organized into a single, easy-to-use interface.

LeapFish's concept of aggregating all related content is similar to what longtime portals such as Dogpile.com have done in gathering and presenting content. The similarity ends there, however. LeapFish has a fine-tuned interface that pulls search results from some 200 Web sources simultaneously.

The search engine is based on the latest hyper-threading technology to communicate with major online portals simultaneously to deliver the various search results from across the Web to users in a single search query.

"This technology will change the way things are done online from a search perspective. We're adding functionality that will change the search world," Mark Kithcart, director of marketing for LeapFish, told TechNewsWorld.

As the Web grows with more sites and utilities each day, end users have an increasingly hard time keeping track of it all. This forces users to jump around to numerous sites and use many different engines. There are just too many of them, he explained.

"The information is too fragmented. So LeapFish is a new solution. It doesn't just index the Web. It aggregates it. We have relationships through APIs in over 200 Web sites dealing with real estate, music, consumer products, traditional search engines," Behrouzi said.

Finding something in LeapFish gets the searcher not only the results available from Google or Yahoo, but also the most appropriate other destinations of information related to what was typed, he explained.

The real key to search success is what users find on the right-hand side of the display. This is where users find the blog results, YouTube results, images and Yahoo Answers.

LeapFish conveniently gives searchers what they did not know existed about the topic. Much of this content would only be exposed through separate, more time-consuming searches on several individual sites.

Think of the search widgets as a dashboard for search results.

Another key difference with LeapFish is how the company generates a cash flow. LeapFish.com is based on a relatively new revenue model.

The company makes money through regionalized category sponsorships. A sponsoring vendor can "own" a particular search category that gives localized search results.

So the same category can have different regional sponsors around the country. In essence, the sponsor owns the category hits like a domain name and can rent or sell it to others for a share in the money action.

"We're able to penetrate the market very well with annual renewal fees for the sponsors," said Behrouzi. This opens up the online real estate for more small vendors, he explained.


It is difficult for a new Internet search company to go up against the longtime big guys and survive. When a startup can tap into what these big search engine masters already provide and add their own twist to the mix, the newcomer stands a fighting chance.

That is the case with LeapFish.com. Its agreements for API support PEER1 Managed Hosting from over 200 online entities, plus its unique search widget interface, gives LeapFish.com enough innovation over novelty to grab and keep consumer interest.

Redefining the websearch with Yahoo Search Pad

Doing an in-depth Internet search often involves a lot of note-taking -- copying and pasting, saving URLs, keeping PDFs open, or even jotting down notes on actual, real-life, non-electronic, made-from-trees paper. Yahoo hopes its new Search Pad tool, currently in limited beta tests, will attract users by automating and tracking certain research activities.

Although the U.S. has a large Internet population, 79 percent of all Web users are now outside the U.S. Online retailers have viable options for entering into international expansion mode, particularly with respect to European markets.

Yahoo introduced a new feature Wednesday designed to help make online research easier. Dubbed "Search Pad," the new companion search tool will enable users to keep track of Web sites and take notes when conducting online research.

Currently in beta, Search Pad will allow students, information workers and Internet surfers on a mission to do away with cutting and pasting content to a word-processing document or email; bookmarking the search results or a bevy of sites; or simply writing pertinent results down on a sticky pad or notebook. These extra steps, in addition to being sometimes unwieldy, consume a good bit of time and can prove to be a distraction, according to Yahoo.

"One of the big time-wasters for information workers is cutting and pasting. What does that do in terms of time usage? We looked at how much time people spend looking for information, and it's roughly nine to twelve hours a week. That number has not changed since 2001, and that's just at work. One-third of that time is wasted looking for information and not being able to find it. Searches conducted from home require additional time," explained Susan Feldman, an analyst at IDC.

"Searching is an art as well as technology," she told TechNewsWorld.

Search Pad attempts to mitigate search time by "intelligently detecting users' research intent," according Yahoo. The feature automatically collects visited sites and provides users with simple tools to organize searches and take notes.

Once triggered, users can edit, delete and re-order notes they have taken about a particular search topic. That information can then be printed out or sent in an email to coworkers, friends and families. Notes can also be saved and accessed at a later date via a user's Yahoo ID.

Although this is not the first time a company has attempted to create an application to make saving search projects easier, said Feldman, this is the first time that all the components have been tied together.

"The problem has been that you needed to have [a feature] that tracks all different kinds of formats, including URLs, PDFs, documents, etc. It's got to have some collaborative capabilities; got to have embedded search because information workers are always looking for stuff, and once they find it they want to use it, share it, move it around, and you also need access to good content," she noted.

The new feature should help attract new users to Yahoo's search engine, and also help differentiate that aspect of Yahoo's business from competitors including Google, Microsoft Live Search and Ask.com.

Although some people classify Yahoo as a search engine provider, that's a misnomer, according Feldman.

"Unlike Microsoft Live and Google, Yahoo is a much more diverse company. A lot of people think of it as just a search engine, but that's a mistake. The potential for tying it across their other services is huge," she pointed out.

"Having a research tool that will allow me to go about my research and not have to worry about ... what is the right tool, cutting and pasting, and all that goes into research means we can do what humans do best and not be working until 12 midnight on a Friday night. What we're looking for today is aggregation and not being scattered and floundering during search projects," Feldman concluded.