Diller Kicks-Off SES with New Ask.com
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Written By Reprise Media | February 27, 2006 | Share This
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Barry Diller, the media impresario turned Chairman and CEO of interactive conglomerate IAC/InterActiveCorp, started off the Search Engine Strategies conference in New York today by talking up China, the Department of Justice, and oh by the way the new and improved Ask.com (an IAC/InterActive subsidiary).
Diller described the recent stories about tech companies and their behavior in China as “overmediated,” saying that such issues as local censorship laws are political questions, not business questions. And although it was noted that Ask.com was not a target of the DoJ’s search information subpoenas, Diller unequivocally stated that they would have resisted. “If you have people’s information…we have an absolute obligation to protect it,” he said. “If you don’t you’re going to lose your customer.”
But the big story was the new Ask.com. When asked if the engine had considered an operational mantra similar to Google’s ‘Don’t be evil,’ Diller joked, “Be evil.” Kidding aside, he said that while businesses often do things that not everyone likes, they rarely behave in ways that can truly be described as evil, adding, “as a mantra [’Don’t be evil’] has a lovely connotation when you’re not in business, but when you’re in business it’s a bit pretentious.” As an Ask.com slogan, he suggested something more along the lines of ‘Use tools, feel human.’
We’re not sure if that’s official, but a glance at the new Ask.com explains the emphasis on tools; the cleaned up site features a selection of 20 search tools in a collapsable right-hand sidebar. Ask’s VP of Product Management Jim Lanzone walked the audience through a quick tour of the site’s improved components, which include encyclopdia search (powered by content from Wikipedia, Houghton Mifflin and Columbia), web-based desktop search (Ask is now the only engine to offer both web-based and stand-alone desktop search applications), and a very cool new map feature.
Their Ajax-powered map is draggable and the aerial view uses photographs taken from planes rather than satellites, making for higher resolution. The directions tool is pretty impressive; up to 10 addresses can be pinpointed and added to an itinerary by right-clicking on the map, and the pins can be moved around. For people who live in areas (such as cities) with a lot of one-way streets, directions can be optimized for walking or driving.
As for the now-retired Jeeves character, Diller seemed apologetic, calling the butler a nice emotional touch, but lamented that he’d become associated with Ask.com’s somewhat dated identity as the engine that returned results based on questions written in natural language. Won’t longtime fans miss the butler? “They’ll get over it as they get engaged using [the new] Ask,” said Diller.
Topics: Conferences & Events |