Now we’re talking. A9 hasn’t made a wrong move since it launched its search/answer engine. Now, A9 has shifted into a higher, Google-like gear and is hurtling straight toward the future. Trumping Google just three months after G acquired satellite imaging company Keyhole, A9 has assembled a system whereby it can collect millions of photos and incorporate them into its local search. Search for coffee in zip code 10010 (New York City), and you see the image shown here (along with the usual search results and local map). That’s not all. Amazingly, all the images in any locale’s database are stitched together so you can virtually walk around the whole neighborhood, covering every square inch of storefront, by merely running the mouse cursor over thumbnails. This is off the chain, kids. If there is a problem, it is that you generally must do quite a bit of “walking” to find the actual location of your search result; for some reason, A9 dumps you down only approximately, even though it knows the exact address. It’s like a malfunctioning Star Trek energizer, but hey—I’m on the pad, dude. Beam me down.
Wonderful!
