posted on June 14, 2006 09:19:25 PM
eBay Research Labs Shows Off New Search Technology
By Ina Steiner
AuctionBytes.com
June 12, 2006
The eBay Research Labs was on hand at the eBay Developers Conference over the weekend strutting off their brainy stuff. The labs are like Xerox PARC - think of a staff of geniuses (they wouldn't say how many people work there) thinking about the future of ecommerce and what it will look like in 3 - 5 years.
Senior Director Eric Billingsley, a nuclear engineer by training, explained that the labs are not charged with actual product development, but are more like a think tank brainstorming the future.
The eBay Research Labs is where Louis Monier worked before he left this time last year for Google.
Billingsley, Raghav Gupta and Adrian Cockcroft were demonstrating their new search technology. Currently, a search for iPod nano brings back many accessories on eBay.com. However, with the new search, it will bring back listings for actual iPod nanos. Users may be able to adjust the relevancy of the results with price point to give them more advanced searching options.
The new technology is already somewhat integrated into eBay Express, but won't be introduced to the core platform (eBay.com) until next year.
The three were also showing developers new search for mobile phones, something that is also forthcoming from eBay sometime in the future.
Just when you think things are bad...you see the potential (new nuclear engineer designed searc)for them to get WORSE!
posted on June 14, 2006 09:32:33 PM
So, I guess they've given up on trying to fix the present search function so it works properly, and are going to replace it with something radically different, untested, but looks good on paper. The concept of "think tank" sounds impressive, but closer examination reveals it's most often a group of guys sitting at a table in the darkest corner of a cocktail lounge, drunk on their asses, jotting down stupid ideas on the back of cocktail napkins.
If Murphy's law is correct, everything East of the San Andreas Fault will slide into the Atlantic
posted on June 14, 2006 10:07:44 PM
Road I'll lend you Kiki. He can slap em silly.
**************
I married my wife for her looks...but not the
ones she's been giving me lately!
