Picsearch
Encyclopedia
Picsearch is a Swedish
company which develops and provides image search
services for large websites. The image search
services developed and provided by Picsearch power several major Internet companies, such as Lycos
. Other Picsearch customers include regional search portals in Germany, Turkey and an Arabic language portal. Customers outside the sphere of search portals include telecoms, entertainment sites, e-commerce, sport websites, yellow pages and communities.
Picsearch also develops and provides a Online Video Platform under the brand name Screen9 which is used for video communities, vlogging (video blog), video reviews on e-commerce sites, corporate video presentations, news videos and virtual showings on real estate portals . Picsearch video streaming service includes flash player, upload, transcoding, hosting and streaming. Some features of the service are flexible quality (bitrate, resolution, codec), user interaction (action buttons, ad support, rating etc) and branding possibilities (logotype, off-site embedding, player branding, mobile support etc).
by two engineering students Nils Andersson and Robert Risberg who were working on their Master of Science
in Applied Physics
and Electrical Engineering
. Their goal was to improve relevancy, create a larger index, and to introduce family-friendly and spam
filtered results. The company was launched in 2000, and the first public version of the image search engine was available in September 2001, around the same time that Google
launched its services. Ditto.com was the first public image search engine.
and better family-friendliness.
and violence
is removed by an automatic filter. Picsearch also offers an image removal service for those wanting their images removed.
, Chinese characters, Cyrillic alphabet
, Arabic alphabet
, Indic scripts (Brahmic family
), Hangul
, Greek alphabet
and Hebrew Alphabet
.
The policy consists of four steps:
. Introducing the filter on Picsearch and other search services, the police authorities are trying to make it more difficult for users to find child pornography. The initiative has sparked some discussion in Sweden
and Japan
as to whether or not the police authorities are extending their powers, whether the filter threatens freedom of speech
, and whether the real reason for introducing the filter is to establish a precedent for denying access to other information as well.
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
company which develops and provides image search
Image search
Image meta search is a type of search engine specialised on finding pictures, images, animations etc. Like the text search, image search is an information retrieval system designed to help to find information on the Internet and it allows the user to look for images etc...
services for large websites. The image search
Image search
Image meta search is a type of search engine specialised on finding pictures, images, animations etc. Like the text search, image search is an information retrieval system designed to help to find information on the Internet and it allows the user to look for images etc...
services developed and provided by Picsearch power several major Internet companies, such as Lycos
Lycos
Lycos, Inc. is a search engine and web portal established in 1994. Lycos also encompasses a network of email, webhosting, social networking, and entertainment websites.-Corporate history:...
. Other Picsearch customers include regional search portals in Germany, Turkey and an Arabic language portal. Customers outside the sphere of search portals include telecoms, entertainment sites, e-commerce, sport websites, yellow pages and communities.
Picsearch also develops and provides a Online Video Platform under the brand name Screen9 which is used for video communities, vlogging (video blog), video reviews on e-commerce sites, corporate video presentations, news videos and virtual showings on real estate portals . Picsearch video streaming service includes flash player, upload, transcoding, hosting and streaming. Some features of the service are flexible quality (bitrate, resolution, codec), user interaction (action buttons, ad support, rating etc) and branding possibilities (logotype, off-site embedding, player branding, mobile support etc).
History
Picsearch was developed and founded 1999-2000 at Linköping UniversityLinköping University
Linköping University is a state university in Linköping, Sweden. Linköping University was granted full university status in 1975 and is now one of Sweden's larger academic institutions. Education, research and PhD training are the mission of four faculties: Arts and Sciences, Educational...
by two engineering students Nils Andersson and Robert Risberg who were working on their Master of Science
Master of Science
A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences including the social sciences.-Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay:...
in Applied Physics
Applied physics
Applied physics is a general term for physics which is intended for a particular technological or practical use.It is usually considered as a bridge or a connection between "pure" physics and engineering....
and Electrical Engineering
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
. Their goal was to improve relevancy, create a larger index, and to introduce family-friendly and spam
Spamdexing
In computing, spamdexing is the deliberate manipulation of search engine indexes...
filtered results. The company was launched in 2000, and the first public version of the image search engine was available in September 2001, around the same time that Google
Google
Google 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...
launched its services. Ditto.com was the first public image search engine.
Features
The Picsearch service is slightly more expensive than Google and Yahoo, but according to many of its licensing partners, provides a higher relevanceRelevance
-Introduction:The concept of relevance is studied in many different fields, including cognitive sciences, logic and library and information science. Most fundamentally, however, it is studied in epistemology...
and better family-friendliness.
Coverage
Picsearch is notable for providing one of the largest searchable indexes, providing over 2 billion images. This compares with Google (2.2 billion images) and Yahoo (1.6 billion images).Family-Friendliness
Family-friendliness implies that all sexual nudity, pornographyPornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
and violence
Violence
Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...
is removed by an automatic filter. Picsearch also offers an image removal service for those wanting their images removed.
Localization
Picsearch services include localization features to tailor the search service to regional markets.Language Support
Picsearch currently supports the following languages: Latin alphabetLatin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
, Chinese characters, Cyrillic alphabet
Cyrillic alphabet
The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...
, Arabic alphabet
Arabic alphabet
The Arabic alphabet or Arabic abjad is the Arabic script as it is codified for writing the Arabic language. It is written from right to left, in a cursive style, and includes 28 letters. Because letters usually stand for consonants, it is classified as an abjad.-Consonants:The Arabic alphabet has...
, Indic scripts (Brahmic family
Brahmic family
The Brahmic or Indic scripts are a family of abugida writing systems. They are used throughout South Asia , Southeast Asia, and parts of Central and East Asia, and are descended from the Brāhmī script of the ancient Indian subcontinent...
), Hangul
Hangul
Hangul,Pronounced or ; Korean: 한글 Hangeul/Han'gŭl or 조선글 Chosŏn'gŭl/Joseongeul the Korean alphabet, is the native alphabet of the Korean language. It is a separate script from Hanja, the logographic Chinese characters which are also sometimes used to write Korean...
, Greek alphabet
Greek alphabet
The Greek alphabet is the script that has been used to write the Greek language since at least 730 BC . The alphabet in its classical and modern form consists of 24 letters ordered in sequence from alpha to omega...
and Hebrew Alphabet
Hebrew alphabet
The Hebrew alphabet , known variously by scholars as the Jewish script, square script, block script, or more historically, the Assyrian script, is used in the writing of the Hebrew language, as well as other Jewish languages, most notably Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic. There have been two...
.
Environmental policy
On the 22nd of March 2007, Picsearch implemented a new environmental policy making them the first carbon neutral search engine in the world. The Picsearch initiative was followed by promises from Yahoo in April and Google in June to go carbon neutral by the end of 2007.The policy consists of four steps:
- Picsearch plants 1000 new trees for every gigawatt-hour consumed.
- Picsearch buys and holds in trust 2 acres (8,093.7 m²) of old growth forest for every gigawatt-hour consumed.
- Picsearch only uses electricity that is carbon free and follows the highest standard of production.
- Picsearch buys carbon credits equivalent to all the energy that Picsearch consumes.
Censoring child pornography
In July 2007 the Swedish National Criminal Police started working with Picsearch to incorporate a special filter, which will block the visibility of 4000 websites with commercial child pornographyChild pornography
Child pornography refers to images or films and, in some cases, writings depicting sexually explicit activities involving a child...
. Introducing the filter on Picsearch and other search services, the police authorities are trying to make it more difficult for users to find child pornography. The initiative has sparked some discussion in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
as to whether or not the police authorities are extending their powers, whether the filter threatens freedom of speech
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
, and whether the real reason for introducing the filter is to establish a precedent for denying access to other information as well.