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Updated Flyswat Search Has Better Aim

Free IE add-on brings linked information to you.

By Tom Spring, PCWorld   

Using a lexicon of more than a million terms, Flyswat 2.0 lets you click on any words on Web pages to link to related online material. In contrast to search services like AltaVista and Yahoo, you can search the Web on the fly without leaving the Web site you're browsing.

SWAT Team for Your Browser

Instead of amassing millions of indexed Web pages for later keyword searches, as traditional search engines do, Flyswat hones in on only 1000 top-tier Web sites. It analyzes these sites closely and generates millions of recognized terms and phrases.

When you surf, Flyswat matches terms and phrases at sites you visit with its own database. It highlights familiar words, creates a taxonomy of links, and points you to one of the 1000 Web pages it originally spidered.

Find the word "Boston" underscored, for example, click on it, and up pops a small rectangular Java-based window loaded with links to weather reports, tour guides, and books. When I clicked on "Kevin Spacey," Flyswat generated a selection of biographical links, fan sites, news links, and Spacey's filmography at the Internet Movie Database.

"Instead of having to go hunt for information, it comes down to you," says John Rodkin, Flyswat's founder and chief executive officer.

To run Flyswat, you download and install the free, 200KB Java program on your browser. Earlier versions supplied a toolbar to sit under the browser. The update embeds into your Internet Explorer toolbar. When you run a Flyswat search, a framed panel appears that lists links to search, shopping, and discussion groups. You can customize or deactivate it.

Still a Bit of Fly in the Ointment

Flyswat makes money by driving traffic to its partners and earning a cut from electronic commerce it fosters through linking. The company is also licensing its technology for private-label versions.

MySimon, for example, uses Flyswat to offer one-click comparison shopping. Think you've found the cheapest price for that Miles Davis music CD? Click the CD title, and up pops Flyswat inviting you to link to MySimon for the best price.

Flyswat still doesn't integrate fully with Netscape Navigator and works best with IE 4.0 and later. Netscape browsers can't show highlighted Flyswat terms, so you must ALT-click words to generate hyperlinks.

It's great that Flyswat is advertising-free. But I wonder whether links to sites owned by Flyswat partners result from unbiased searches. This begs the question: Can I trust Flyswat to point me to the best Web site, or just to Flyswat's partners?

Flyswat also seems to suffer from a limited vocabulary. The program didn't recognize magazine magnate "Steve Forbes" and other topical names and terms. When it doesn't know a word, it offers basic dictionary definitions. But the program's vocabulary is expected to grow as the company matures and adds hundreds of thousands of new terms and phrases each month.