Google Catalogs - Old fashioned mail order meets high tech searchWritten by Jakob Jelling
In addition to Google's Froogle shopping service (still in beta), which features a searchable database of online merchants, Google is also beta-testing their Google Catalog service. Google Catalogs provides a searchable central repository of hundreds of mail-order catalogs. The service includes full scanned contents of catalogs, not just a photo and subscription information. And these aren't database entries, but real high-quality images of catalog images themselves. When you are browsing Google Catalog search results, you will see user interface controls at top and bottom of each page. These are reminiscent of Acrobat and many other browser plug-in controls or common Windows print preview controls, and you can page through each catalog, zoom in/out, switch between one, two, and thumbnail views, jump to a specific page, and search within current catalog. As with other Google searches, an advanced search feature is also available.
| | Shopping from your cell phone with Froogle WirelessWritten by Jakob Jelling
Many surfers already know about Froogle, Google's shopping portal that is still in beta testing. Google has now expanded their Froogle service so that it is available on WML-enabled cellular phones. Most newer cell phones that can connect to Internet have this capability. Users just need to enter wml.froogle.com in their cell phone browser, enter their product search terms, and scroll through results to find what they're looking for. The biggest advantage of this Froogle Wireless feature for consumers is ability to comparison shop, no matter where they are. Most people who have shopped on Internet know you can often find significantly lower prices online if you are willing to wait for shipment. The problem in past was that it was difficult to comparison shop between virtual merchants and brick & mortar stores. As an example, when most of us
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