This month I thought I'd talk about something different. It's not a gadget or even a form of technology, it's a book. The publication in question is titled "The Search" written by John Battelle, actually the full title is The Search, How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture. A rather lengthy title and one that might make the book sound less like an enthralling read and more like a techy bible.

While sat at a meeting of ICRA (the internet content and ratings association) before Christmas, this book was mentioned and a many of those present scrawled down the title, I wonder how many like me picked it up to see if it was worthy of the high praise it received.

In essence this is a story not just about Goggle but of internet search in general, from the days when there were only 130 sites on the web, to the many billions online today. It was once thought that humans could catalogue the web and the very first page of Yahoo was a human edited directory of websites, fairly easy when you have only 130 to check. Battelle takes you step by step through the evolution of Google and also Yahoo and the backgrounds of their inventors at Stamford University, the first few chapters concentrate on how Search engines started and a little on how they work.

However the meat of the book and the reason I would strongly recommend it, is that it brings into focus the way the internet and each has changed our lives, almost all of us use a search engine at least once a day to find information or to purchase items. This may hardly seem surprising, but in times of crisis when we in the UK are supposed to turn to the BBC or other broadcasters, we are increasingly turning to the web and in particular to Google. When the Tsunami hit on 26th December 2005 search query's mirror the thoughts of millions of surfers, who want to know more about the area and how Tsunamis are formed.

This data, a "click stream" as Battelle calls it is possibly the most valuable information, it is a real time database of intent, our wants our needs and what we are currently thinking about, harnessing this click stream would allow companies and organisations to serve up what users want, when they want it. Then take this one step further than Amazon's recommendations (you bought this, you may like this?) and link up many forms of media, Video, Audio, Websites and you start to see either a connected utopia or an Orwellean vision of big brother.

Either way Battelle manages to convey what on the face of it is a technical and perhaps less than exciting subject with real passion and accuracy and leaves me wanting to know more and with many more questions and an urge to work out what next?

What is possibly more pleasing is that a book can make this old techy realise that not everything worth having is online, the pleasure of finding a good book is still something special.

Until next time take care, LP

You can purchase the Search with Amazon.co.uk here

Highlights

	Garmin Nuvi Review There's a new SatNav system in town and he's slimmer and sexier than those who went before, plus he's packing the latest GPS chipset for improved accuracy. We spend a week with the Nuvi 300 Garmin's latest offering.
	NEC 343i Review It may look uber sexy and almost a little iPod Nano like but does this NEC mobile have any of the technical prowess of Apples baby? We test the 343i with iMode to find out.
	Zen Vision Review A portable media player that looks great in black and terrible in iPod white! Enough of the fashion statement we want to know if Creative's PMP provides a picture worthy of its reputation.
	Actiontec Chatterbox VOIP A VOIP gadget for under 20 pounds! The latest Actiontech Skype accessory is a simple yet effective audio extender perfect for those who want to make hands free calls while using a laptop.
	Sony XDRS20 Not an image we're sure the king of gadget cool would want for their product. However the latest Sony DAB radio has all the styling of a 1950's wireless and will appeal to fans of the Archers.

"All You Can Store"

As part of LP's day job he's been looking at online video and audio storage and during his hunt discovered Streamload. This service allows users to store large amounts of data online for free, you just pay to download or send what you store In fact the storage is unlimited for free!

You can even get up to 100mb of downloads free as a "freeloader" before needing to upgrade and pay $4.95 a month for 1gb of downloads right up to a massive 60gb a month for $39.99.

What attracted us to Streamload was the ease of use and varied features, you can upload almost any multimedia file and then edit it (resize pictures etc) or change its format (WMA- MP3) and then either download / stream or send a link to someone else.

 This last feature is really very useful as you can send a link to a bit of video or audio and the 3rd party gets an email and a link to view the media, ideal for sharing tracks for band members or Videos for a production unit.

Of course you could just store all your MP3 tracks for free and then be able to get to them on any machine with an internet connection at anytime.

All in all a nice service with a lot of free space!  www.streamload.com

Competition

This month you can sit back and relax in the hope that you'll be the lucky winner of a Talex Speed Camera System, the draw is on 6th February and all our newsletter subscribers are automatically entered, we'll notify the winner by email.

Featured Section - MP3 Players

The world of MP3 is changing and it's not just Apple who make great personal audio players, we take a look at the best of the rest.