The Indiepub Blog

Links of Note: June 24, 2007

June 24, 2007 10:27 AM Posted by mac

Google Image Labeler takes the tedious task of tagging images and adds equal parts distributed labor and competition. It's slick; they turned gruntwork into a game.

From the Image Labeler index page:

"You'll be randomly paired with a partner who's online and using the feature. Over a two-minute period, you and your partner will be shown the same set of images and asked to provide as many labels as possible to describe each image you see."

The Human Touch That May Loosen Google’s Grip (New York Times)

With Google maintaining its stranglehold on algorithm-based search, smaller companies like Mahalo are introducing the human element back into categorization. Dubbed "social search," the process relies on editors and user submissions to organize Web-based information.

Uh ... isn't this what Yahoo used to do before it became a search engine ... and then a portal ... and then a media company?

Sidenote: The New York Times piece briefly discusses the profit margins for search businesses. I knew they were good, but I had no idea they were this good:

"Profit margins in the search business are mind-boggling, and cannot be obtained in other segments of the technology world. Google's net profit margin last year was 29 percent. Amazon's was 1.8 percent -- yes, that is a '1' followed by a decimal point. Which business would you rather be in?"

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