Looksmart downloads

Marketers could send updated Web pages to the index to refresh it for a fee--or what's known as paid inclusion. Search engines, including Inktomi and Fast's AlltheWeb, already use such a service to keep indexes of product-related sites and catalogs fresh and to augment revenue.

Pulling in participants So far, only about volunteers are participating in the test to donate their computer's processing power to crawl the Web. They do so by downloading software to their PC.

The company's success will hinge on the number of people it signs up to donate computer resources to the cause. As part of the project, Grub promotes the benefits of "local searching," in which Webmasters can index their own sites and submit changed pages to the Grub directory, a process that can help save on network resources.

LookSmart also plans to introduce a Web application programming interface API , with which Webmasters will be able to query documents contained in the registry. King said that projects such as Seti Home , a distributed computing search for extraterrestrial life, have a built-in "geek factor" that draws Web surfers to donate their computer resources to the cause. Similarly, Intel hosts a project to research cures for cancer, luring people who have been touched by the disease.

Although he doubts that Web indexing would be a big attractor, King said that it could be a good application for distributed computing. But this is the kind of thing that will be successful only as long as they can inspire interest and keep it. Be respectful, keep it civil and stay on topic.

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LookSmart bets on distributed computing The Web search company plans to use unused processing power on volunteers' PCs to build an index of billions of Web documents that can be updated daily. Stefanie Olsen. March 21, a. More on search engines LookSmart is hoping to spin a small acquisition into a big project that will use distributed computing to improve its Web search results. Our video platform guarantees higher viewer engagement through added interactive features with social media links, surveys, polls and infolinks.

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The proprietary system handles robot functions previously left to partners such as LookSmart and Inktomi. As the software giant continues to make the search technology a more significant piece of its overall strategy, analysts think the tool could also threaten Web search providers such as Google.

LookSmart said it would remain dependent upon Microsoft for licensing revenues in the remainder of and reported that it believes the licensing portion of its current agreement could still be renewed into However, the company admitted that such a renewal would likely deliver a smaller amount of licensing revenue than does its current deal.

One ray of hope for LookSmart is Microsoft's indication that it would also test a range of different search configurations over the next several months, some of which would still drive clicks through LookSmart listings. The company reported that some of the implementations could even "preserve a majority of paid clicks and listings revenues. Be respectful, keep it civil and stay on topic. We delete comments that violate our policy , which we encourage you to read.