A9.com
Encyclopedia
A9.com is a subsidiary
of Amazon.com
based in Palo Alto, California
that develops search engine technology
. A9 currently has over 100 employees in its Palo Alto, Bangalore, and Dublin offices.
A9 has worked in 3 areas over the years.
.
search engine
from Amazon.com
. Its results derive from Bing, supplemented by Alexa
, Amazon.com, and other engines for specific search types.
A9 has many features which many popular search engine
s lack. In addition to generic web searching, A9 has the ability to search the book results from Amazon.com that include "Search Inside the Book" (as long as a user registers with Amazon.com). Its interface allows users to combine search results together, allowing side by side comparison of results.
When the standalone A9 search engine was still operational, A9.com made use of various search engines for specific uses:
Over 400 additional search services can be added.
The release of A9 was met with some controversy, since it records all of a user's searches and links them to the person's Amazon.com
account. A9's privacy statement says:
Some have speculated that A9.com will use data mining
for targeted advertising (similar to Gmail
). People who worry about their privacy can use Generic A9, which does not record personal information.
In January 2005, A9.com added its "BlockView" feature to the Yellow Pages and Maps searches, allowing users to view photos of businesses on many streets in over 24 major U.S. cities after searching for a business name in that city (as of January 2006). Users can also scroll up and down the street view (i.e., up and down the block
, hence the name of the feature) in order to see images of other nearby businesses and the areas surrounding them. A9.com planned to continually add new images from a large number of U.S. cities, however the company is no longer offering BlockView to the public.
As a result of the cutback the support for OpenSearch
was moved to a community process at OpenSearch.org.
As of February 2010 the standalone A9 search engine has now disappeared. A9 is now a specialist technology firm supplying solutions to e-commerce sites, especially Amazon.com
.
Subsidiary
A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...
of Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
based in Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...
that develops search engine technology
Search engine technology
Modern web search engines are complex software systems using the technology that has evolved over the years. There are several categories of search engine software: Web search engines , database or structured data search engines , and mixed search engines or enterprise search...
. A9 currently has over 100 employees in its Palo Alto, Bangalore, and Dublin offices.
A9 has worked in 3 areas over the years.
- The Amazon Product Search department was moved to A9 in 2003.
- ClickRiver is an advertising program for service providers.
- As a research facility in many areas of search, the a9.com website teams have come out with innovations such as OpenSearchOpenSearchOpenSearch is a collection of technologies that allow publishing of search results in a format suitable for syndication and aggregation. It is a way for websites and search engines to publish search results in a standard and accessible format....
.
Product Search
A9 Product Search is responsible for the search engine driving the shopping experience for Amazon.com and its partners. Sites such as Target, Marks & Spencers and Endless also use the same platform. The search engine serves the search boxes, the category browsing experience, searching within books, and the Look Inside feature of searching through pages.Clickriver Ads
Clickriver is a portal that allows advertisers to easily advertise on Amazon.com. The interface is similar to Google's AdWordsAdWords
Google AdWords is Google's main advertising product and main source of revenue. Google's total advertising revenues were USD$28 billion in 2010. AdWords offers pay-per-click advertising, cost-per-thousand advertising, and site-targeted advertising for text, banner, and rich-media ads. The AdWords...
.
A9.com Website
A9.com, which went live on April 14, 2004, is an InternetInternet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
search engine
Search engine
A search engine is an information retrieval system designed to help find information stored on a computer system. The search results are usually presented in a list and are commonly called hits. Search engines help to minimize the time required to find information and the amount of information...
from Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
. Its results derive from Bing, supplemented by Alexa
Alexa Internet
Alexa Internet, Inc. is a California-based subsidiary company of Amazon.com that is known for its toolbar and Web site. Once installed, the toolbar collects data on browsing behavior which is transmitted to the Web site where it is stored and analyzed and is the basis for the company's Web traffic...
, Amazon.com, and other engines for specific search types.
A9 has many features which many popular search engine
Search engine
A search engine is an information retrieval system designed to help find information stored on a computer system. The search results are usually presented in a list and are commonly called hits. Search engines help to minimize the time required to find information and the amount of information...
s lack. In addition to generic web searching, A9 has the ability to search the book results from Amazon.com that include "Search Inside the Book" (as long as a user registers with Amazon.com). Its interface allows users to combine search results together, allowing side by side comparison of results.
When the standalone A9 search engine was still operational, A9.com made use of various search engines for specific uses:
- Bing performed general web and news searching (from April 14, 2004 to April 30, 2006 GoogleGoogleGoogle Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
performed general web and image searching) - AlexaAlexa InternetAlexa Internet, Inc. is a California-based subsidiary company of Amazon.com that is known for its toolbar and Web site. Once installed, the toolbar collects data on browsing behavior which is transmitted to the Web site where it is stored and analyzed and is the basis for the company's Web traffic...
provides "site info" for general web searches - Amazon.comAmazon.comAmazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
Product Search offers "Search Inside the Book" - Answers.comAnswers.comAnswers.com is an Internet-based knowledge exchange, which includes WikiAnswers, ReferenceAnswers, VideoAnswers, and five international language Q&A communities. The Answers.com domain name was purchased by Bill Gross and Henrik Jones at idealab in 1996. The domain name was acquired by NetShepard...
looks up reference databases - WikipediaWikipediaWikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
(via Answers.com) for encyclopedia entries - ZoominfoZoomInfoZoomInfo is a vertical search engine focused on people, companies, and the relationships among them.-Overview:Zoom Information Inc. was founded by Jonathan Stern in 2000 as Eliyon Technologies. The company’s investors include Venrock Associates and Vulcan Capital.The site powers people searches for...
for people summaries - IceRocketIceRocketIceRocket is an Internet search engine which specializes in real-time search. Based in Dallas, Texas, it launched in 2004 hoping to market itself solely through word of mouth....
blog search - The Internet Movie Database offers movie searching
Over 400 additional search services can be added.
The release of A9 was met with some controversy, since it records all of a user's searches and links them to the person's Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
account. A9's privacy statement says:
- "We may, from time-to-time, employ other companies and individuals to perform functions on our behalf. Examples include sending e-mail and analyzing data. They have access to personal information needed to perform their functions, but may not use it for other purposes."
Some have speculated that A9.com will use data mining
Data mining
Data mining , a relatively young and interdisciplinary field of computer science is the process of discovering new patterns from large data sets involving methods at the intersection of artificial intelligence, machine learning, statistics and database systems...
for targeted advertising (similar to Gmail
Gmail
Gmail is a free, advertising-supported email service provided by Google. Users may access Gmail as secure webmail, as well via POP3 or IMAP protocols. Gmail was launched as an invitation-only beta release on April 1, 2004 and it became available to the general public on February 7, 2007, though...
). People who worry about their privacy can use Generic A9, which does not record personal information.
In January 2005, A9.com added its "BlockView" feature to the Yellow Pages and Maps searches, allowing users to view photos of businesses on many streets in over 24 major U.S. cities after searching for a business name in that city (as of January 2006). Users can also scroll up and down the street view (i.e., up and down the block
City block
A city block, urban block or simply block is a central element of urban planning and urban design. A city block is the smallest area that is surrounded by streets. City blocks are the space for buildings within the street pattern of a city, they form the basic unit of a city's urban fabric...
, hence the name of the feature) in order to see images of other nearby businesses and the areas surrounding them. A9.com planned to continually add new images from a large number of U.S. cities, however the company is no longer offering BlockView to the public.
Service cutback
On September 29, 2006 Amazon discontinued several of the components of A9, including A9 Instant Reward, the A9 Toolbar, A9 Yellow Pages, A9 Maps (including Block View), as well as all other personalization features including the diary, bookmarks, and history.As a result of the cutback the support for OpenSearch
OpenSearch
OpenSearch is a collection of technologies that allow publishing of search results in a format suitable for syndication and aggregation. It is a way for websites and search engines to publish search results in a standard and accessible format....
was moved to a community process at OpenSearch.org.
As of February 2010 the standalone A9 search engine has now disappeared. A9 is now a specialist technology firm supplying solutions to e-commerce sites, especially Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
.
See also
- List of search engines
- David L. TennenhouseDavid L. TennenhouseDavid Lawrence Tennenhouse was the Chief Executive Officer of A9.com, the search subsidiary of Amazon.com, from February 2006 through September 2006. He was previously an executive at Intel, a senior employee at DARPA, and a professor at MIT. He is currently on secondment to the Defense Advanced...
, CEOChief executive officerA chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
, February 2006 to September 2006