A new version of Exalead’s image search engine went online April 19th. This new version with one billion images indexed (which carried the more information out of two billion images initially indexed) and new functionalities, including some proposed by the Exalead feedbackers.

Our teams had the pleasure of collaborating with LTU Technologies, a company specializing in image recognition and searching, on one of the most exciting new features, search refinement by content type, commencing with a filter for faces.

This new « Face » filter enables you to narrow your search results to images containing faces (permitting you to more easily find close ups of your favorite stars like Brad Pitt or Monica Bellucci).

The “Content > Face” filter joins the other handy filters on the unique “Narrow Your Search” panel:

• Size: Find the right size image for your presentation.
• Wallpapers: Discover background images just right for your monitor’s resolution.
• Image Color, Layout, File Type: Filter the results of your search by useful criteria such as black & white vs. color, landscape or portrait layout, or file types like JPEG, GIF or PNG.
• Related Terms, Search within Results: Refocus your search using an automatically generated list of related keywords (“Related Terms”) or narrow your results by adding additional keywords of your own choosing (“Search within Results”).

All these options make it easier than ever to find the precise images you are seeking, whether they be stills from the first King Kong film or specific canvases from Van Gogh’s self-portraits.

All you have to do now is go forth and experiment with all the advanced image search functions, and enjoy the results. And don’t forget to try out a different background color for the viewing the images!

We hope you’ll be thoroughly pleased with this latest version of our image search, and we look forward to sharing new product enhancements with you again soon!

The Wikipedia search option, our latest feature (with plenty more to come!), has been released in a beta version in English, German, French, Spanish, Italian and Dutch.

With a new presentation of the search results and a completely new “Narrow your search” panel, this research module offers an intriguing new access to the famous online encyclopedia. Not only can you easily find the Wikipedia article you’re seeking, you
can also refine your search by tapping into the rich cascade of ‘tags’
in the “Narrow your search” panel, choosing among language, geography,
famous people, names of organizations, related keywords or Wikipedia
categories to refine your search.

In addition to the “Narrow your search” tags, each search result listing
offers instant access to:

• The Wikipedia categories associated with the article,
• Famous people mentioned in the article,
• The organizations and geographical locations associated with the article (available by clicking on the “Show images, text and extra info” icon at the top right-hand side of the results).

Follow your curiosity from one click to another as you explore the riches of the Wikipedia encyclopedia with an ease, simplicity and efficiency never before possible.

We send out our special thanks to our feedbackers who helped make this new feature a reality, and who keep us working night and day . Don’t hesitate to join us at http://feedback.exalead.com.

Happy Searching!

The Web Team

Exalead has added a new function to your search refinement toolkit: the ability to narrow your results to just blogs or forums.

This new functionality will help you to:

• Obtain the very latest information,
• Find pertinent product information without getting lost in a sea of advertising and price comparison sites,
• Easily access the opinions of other consumers: What is the best digital camera on the market? Where is a good bargain hotel in London? What should you expect when you’re expecting twins??
• Discover new forums and blogs you may otherwise never have found, and much more.

Alternatively, you may choose to exclude blogs and forums from your search if these sites do not carry the type of information for which you are looking.

Bravo to our feedbackers for suggesting this feature, and to our Exalead engineers for developing the advanced classification algorithms capable of determining if a site is a blog or forum, of automatically refreshing blog and forum indexes, and of optimising the classification system to more
efficiently manage this new process.