On the Frontier of Search

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AUDIO Exactly when in the movie did Clark Gable say, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn"? Blinkx.TV can track down that video clip in a matter of seconds. Speech-recognition technology is improving so rapidly that the company founded by 27-year-old Suranga Chandratillake can capture the audio tracks of videos and turn them into searchable text--making any recorded spoken words immediately searchable.

Atlanta-based Nexidia has developed technology that can phonetically map human speech, and it may ultimately recognize individual voices. So far, Nexidia is selling its system to government intelligence agencies and telephone customer-service centers. Outsourcing companies with call centers can use the software to search for phrases such as "Can you repeat that?" and "I don't understand you," then listen to the entire call to troubleshoot. Much of the company's work is classified, but Nexidia says its Arabic language model is in wide use today in Iraq. Helping compensate for the shortage of Arabic linguists in the U.S. intelligence community, Nexidia's technology can "listen" to audio and alert linguists to phrases that are of concern.

SATELLITE Online maps are widely available but now, because pictures are easier to understand than maps, satellites are changing the game. Since buying Keyhole last fall, Google has launched Google Earth, which offers searchable satellite views of the planet. A9.com Amazon's search subsidiary, sent trucks around 22 U.S. cities with digital cameras linked to laptops to photograph every street. So far it has 35 million pictures, which will be overlaid on maps. Microsoft is combining the approaches from the air--its Virtual Earth project is flying planes over cities to take pictures. The aim is to have views from all directions so users can circle buildings onscreen--a bit like being in a video game. "This is going to a fully immersive virtual-reality experience," says Erik Jorgensen, general manager of MSN Local Search and MapPoint.

PERSONALIZED One of the hottest and most controversial new areas is designing software that will get to know individuals' interests, mostly through their search history--the clickstream. Findory, a Seattle-based news-search site launched in January 2004, provides access to news stories and blogs. As you start searching for certain types of stories, the site gradually learns about your preferences, and the home page evolves to mirror your interests. Google includes a similar feature in its most recent desktop search tool, called Sidebar, which was released last week. The technology makes some consumers uneasy: How much do you want your computer to know about you?

It may be too late to worry about that. Search has already changed our lives. After all, who you are on a Google or Yahoo! search pretty much defines who you are these days. Search is "forcing us to reconsider what it means to be a public person," says John Battelle, co-founder of Wired and author of The Search, due out in September. "Search is everything and will be everywhere." Coming soon to a chip near you. --With reporting by Amanda Bower, Laura Locke/San Francisco