Ask Jeeves has today announced the launch of its proprietary image search technology. Ask Jeeves’ first internally-created index of Web images is pitched as a ‘truly unique image search offering’, fundamentally different to its competitors.

What’s interesting about the free Web tool is that is has relatively powerful indexing and relevance capabilities and is the only engine in the marketplace to offer ‘Zoom related search’ queries.

The new technology can also be used with the personalised MyAskJeeves service. Collectively, these improvements are designed to help you find the pictures you are looking for on the Web faster.

The Ask Jeeves Zoom related search gives you suggestions on how to narrow or expand your search. Originally introduced as a Web search tool in 2005, it has now been expanded and tailored for use with image searches. These topics are visually represented on the right side of the results page under the categories: Related Names, Expand Your Search, and Narrow Your Search.

For example, with the query ‘Alton Towers’ within ‘Pictures’, zooming in with Narrow Your Search returns ‘Rides at Alton Towers’ and ‘Hotels near Alton Towers.’ Alternatively, by zooming out with Expand Your Search, suggestions include ‘Thorpe Park’ and ‘Blackpool Pleasure Beach’ and ‘days out’ to help you clarify what you are looking for. Additionally, Related Names is able to isolate ‘Drayton Manor’ and ‘Warwick Castle’ as relevant suggestions.

The free service is available at http://pictures.uk.ask.com.

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BIOS, Jan 27, 06 | Print | Send | Comments (0) | Posted In Internet