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I’ve been working on a new research concept and prototype that will illustrate some future directions of search engines. New emerging technologies like the semantic web, RDF, the mobile web, and social media may open up unprecedented opportunities for controlling the ebb and flow of information. This control will be enhanced and increased as more powerful UI platforms like Adobe Flex and MS SilverLight continue to evolve. Accessing the WWW may become more akin to operating a customized application GUI than the linear browsing behavior we see today.

Key issues:

• So what will this new search/information retrieval look like?
• How will our web browsing experience change?
• How can users design a search experience? What types of tools and UIs will they need to manipulate and customize their information?

These are questions I’ll be addressing with the team at RDVO. More coming soon, and any interesting ideas or links would be helpful!

The recent launch of Cuil.com and Microsoft’s acquisition of Powerset.com has piqued some new interest semantic search engines. To deliver on their promise, these new search tools must provide a new experience for search, integrating a number of new paradigms and experiences.

In preparation for a new project, I put together a quick presentation that compares design approaches for a number of prominent semantic search engines, including Powerset.com, Sindice.com, Cuil.com, Twine.com, and hakia.com. Specific attention was paid to general presentation, input methods, display or results, and categorical results approach.

Worth a look if you’re interested in semantic search.

Bill Gates just unveiled some of the few features of Windows 7, due out sometime in 2009-2010. One of more intriguing features is new “multi-touch” functionality that allows users to interact with the screen similar to the CNN Magic Screen or iPhone interface. The video below shows a demo of the Windows 7 functionality.

Video: Multi-Touch in Windows 7

Multi-touch certainly has a lot of promise and a clear “cool factor”, although it’s difficult to imagine how this technology will actually be useful to the majority of users. I mean, how many times can you resize a photo?

I stumbled across this very interesting video while researching some of the new stuff Microsoft is doing in the multi-touch interfaces realm (check out Bill Gates’ keynote and the ‘Touch Wall’).

This video, which is from the team at Office Labs, provides some innovating and exciting new concepts in healthcare technologies, as well as some other tidbits like digital wallets and flexible displays. Well done!

HTC’s recently announce Touch Diamond smartphone is touting a new 3D interface that looks amazing.

Check out the demo:

The TouchFlo UI sits on top of Windows Mobile and offers a number of multi-touch features like list grabbing and “flicking” to control screen scrolling. The graphical styling looks top-notch.

There appears to be a number of functions and features “inspired” by the iPhone. The UI is presented in layers, allowing for some innovative techniques for screen maximization. The interface advances are enabled by a VGA screen.

Apple is not the only company creating innovative small-screen UIs.