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Amazon's A9.com Search Engine Goes Live

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the competition-benefits-everyone dept.

scapermoya writes "Today was the official launch day of Amazon's A9.com search engine, which has been in public beta for some time now. It uses results from Google, and adds some personalized features, like bookmarks and search history. Its Java-heavy inteface reminds me of Gmail, which is nice. It doesn't seem like it was designed to supplant Google, but rather to flesh out some things that a certain demographic of people might like."

12 of 196 comments (clear)

  1. No Toolbar For Gecko Users by DrunkenTerror · · Score: 3, Informative

    The A9 toolbar only works in Microsoft Internet Explorer.

    A9 bowls a Googly


    Karma: Coma, mostly due to Massive Attack

  2. java!=javascript by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    not the same thing, not even nearly.

  3. Get a 1.57% discount at Amazon too! by bgarcia · · Score: 5, Informative
    If you log into Amazon, and then go to a9.com and do a search, you will then get an automatic pi/2 discount on every purchase you make at Amazon!

    More details available here

    --
    I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar.
    1. Re:Get a 1.57% discount at Amazon too! by DrEldarion · · Score: 3, Informative

      Some people seem to be having trouble getting the cookie. Going here helps.

  4. Java-heavy interface? by jpkunst · · Score: 3, Informative

    Its Java-heavy interface

    You mean Javascript-heavy interface?

    JP

  5. Old News by moofdaddy · · Score: 4, Informative

    Didn't we already read about this a couple of days ago?

    --
    Be better in bed. Wikiafterdark!
  6. Re:Two problems... by ClippyHater · · Score: 4, Informative

    Unclick the Images button on the right side. Problem solved. And since the service seems to cater towards personalization, perhaps it'll remember that you don't want images included in your results?

    The books button was not automatically selected for me, so you actually have to actively be looking for info in books, it doesn't just serve up Amazon results.

    So, in conclusion, pick the results you want.

  7. Re:The wrath of Google? by Eriky · · Score: 3, Informative
    You can use google commercially like this if you pay them. You can actually use google with the use of API's for free, for non commercial use.

    See Google APIs for details

  8. search for "amazon" by coshx · · Score: 3, Informative

    A search for "amazon" gives me the ad:

    How to Cheat Amazon

    and a search for "used books" doesn't even show amazon on the first page of results.

    so either:
    1) they're being fair and not taking advantage of their position (yet)
    2) they're not business savvy enough

  9. JSP = Java; Re:java!=javascript by g_braad · · Score: 4, Informative

    But the page IS made on Java Server Pages/Servlets. So the reference to Java is correct. That it also uses Javascript is very normal... (Still, Sun and Netscape made the first implementation of Javascript together (First Netscape named it LiveScript). Javascript would 'supplement' Java applets. Javascript looks even a little similar to Java itself. Netscape even had a project to write Java dynamically in the form of Javascript: LiveConnect)

    --
    F/OSS & IT Consultant
  10. Go Anonymous by GeorgeH · · Score: 4, Informative

    If you don't want Amazon tracking your searches, use http://generic.a9.com/, which doesn't look like it even sets any cookies.

    --
    Why can't I moderate something "Wrong" or at least "Grossly Misinformed"?
  11. generic.A9.com by starling · · Score: 4, Informative
    From the same policy:

    If you would prefer not to be recognized on our site, we recommend that you use our alternate service located at generic.A9.com. On generic.A9.com, we will not recognize your Amazon.com cookie and we will not save any information stored in your A9.com cookie other than your column preferences, which are stored in your A9.com cookie and used by generic.A9.com. Information we gather on generic.A9.com will not be used in our data analysis (other than to detect abuse) and will not be used to personalize the services we offer you.


    That seems anonymous enough.