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A9 Search Engine Launches Yellow Pages

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the picture-perfect dept.

vmalik writes "The A9 search engine has launched a Yellow Pages service, and the listings in major cities include photographs of the storefronts. The site also contains information on how they did it. It seems to be pretty good with lots of store images and driving information from MapQuest."

3 of 157 comments (clear)

  1. nobody uses A9 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful


    A9 is like Google and Claria combined, with webbugs, click tracking and paid inserts all tied to your Amazon cookie which is tied to your credit card
    it only exists to maximise Amazon and their partners (those who pay the most) revenue

    at work we classify A9 as a "severe privacy threat" and therefore it is blocked at the firewall

    1. Re:nobody uses A9 by cgenman · · Score: 4, Insightful

      it only exists to maximise Amazon and their partners (those who pay the most) revenue.

      So... how is this different from most businesses? Not to be a free-market fundie or anything, but at least one of the motivations for all businesses is to earn revenue. A9 has decided to earn revenue for it's owners by providing better features to and tighter tracking of it's customers. However, I fail to see how what A9 is doing is different than the paid inserts or supercookie that Google uses, or for that matter the wealth of info that Yahoo keeps on it's customers. Some businesses can be said to only exist to increase revenue for their owners. Look at all of the old software that is "supported" for the sake of businesses at extortionist rates and without any updates. Compared to them and a lot of other software businesses, A9 is pretty customer-focused.

      I hate to say this, but if people keep spouting words like "severe privacy threat," when actual severe privacy threats (like Claria) arise, people won't listen.

      --
      The ______ Agenda
  2. Slow.... by MasterOfCeremonies · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I agree, the project is insane. It is inherently inaccurate and unmaintainable in the long term. A9 certainly has some very nice features, my problem with it is that these features slow the whole thing down so much (at least over the lake here is Australia). After being used to the lightning speed of Google I find myself impatient with A9.