Two amazing new search engines have been launched in the last few months. Both very different, but both giving the user a new, way of searching.

SearchMe.com is a visual search engine. Just like Google or Yahoo, you type in your query, but the results displayed are the actual pages themselves, rather than the page title followed by a meta description. This can save the user from going into a site, finding it’s not quite what they want and come back out and trying the next and so so…

WolframAlpha is not so much a search engine as a Computational Knowledge Engine. Search for something like ‘water‘ and it’ll give you it’s chemical formula, a 3d molecular structure, basic properties, thermodynamic properties and a phase diagram. Search for a company like ‘Apple‘ and it will give you it’s turnover, current share price etc, but search for ‘Apple IBM‘ and it will return comparisons of the two.

Try these new ways of searching and remember that Google isn’t the only engine out there…

I saw this about 2 or 3 weeks ago, but didn’t think it would be available for a while. This is truly amazing stuff, and has been picked up by the big boys (GE, Toyota, BMW etc) and I’m sure will be the next big thing.

Augmented reality works by combining real-world objects with computer generated data. By using your webcam and a printed ‘barcode’ black and white image, you’re able to view a 3d hologram on your mac or pc. You can rotate the paper (or as I’ve discovered, you’re iPhone) to turn the object and view it from all perspectives.

The toyota iq augmented reality is probably the most visually appealing, but there are sure to be some massive leaps in how this can be utilised in the coming year or so.

Take a look at the video below and then have a go yourself…

So searching around the interweb and found this company that recycles and converts old shipping containers into useful outside rooms, and also makes them into pieces of art too.

http://www.bullmans.co.uk/container-modifications-conversions-images11.asp

Now I like this for 2 reasons. Firstly, they’re innovative enough to change the use of something which is normally used for something bland; basically being a big box. Secondly, they could be in their new uses, just functional, plain shipping containers, but these have star quality. They’re modern industrial sculpture in a way. The use of lighting brings the corrugated effect to life.

What they’ve done already is good, but the potential is amazing for building outwards and upwards. How about putting an open top container on it’s end? Let me know your ideas on how these shipping containers can be used…

In a new post by Google’s Maile Ohye, she re-iterates something that most people in the SEO world already knew, but something that a lot of “black hat” search marketers didn’t want to hear…

“…Inbound links are links from pages on external sites linking back to your site. Inbound links can bring new users to your site, and when the links are merit-based and freely-volunteered as an editorial choice, they’re also one of the positive signals to Google about your site’s importance. Other signals include things like our analysis of your site’s content, its relevance to a geographic location, etc. As many of you know, relevant, quality inbound links can affect your PageRank (one of many factors in our ranking algorithm). And quality links often come naturally to sites with compelling content or offering a unique service.”

Matt Cutts, Google’s head of web spam, also recently gave a short interview with USA Today about simple ways to drive traffic to your site and increase potential sales

After reading this article on LogoDesignLove,  this weekend I thought it would be a good idea to see what branding there is around me. I made a conscious effort to notice the everyday branding that would normally pass me by, or that I usually see subconsciously. I’ve by no means captured everything in the last 2 days. Maybe you could do something similar?

So, in no particular order, from when I got up to when I went to bed, these are the results: