Archive for the ‘Search’ Category
Araby Search Engine Launches Redesign And New Features
Mohamed Marwen Meddah | October 8, 2008 – 10:44 am |
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Arabic search engine “Araby“, which is a subsidiary of Maktoob Group, just launched a new design and a number of new functionalities and services to make it easier for users to reach what they’re looking for faster.
Among the new services is a thematic search feature, where the most used keywords on Araby are grouped and categorized by theme; these themes cover all tastes and interests, from sports, to technology, to Islam, to women’s issues, to art and celebrity news, to finance and business related topics, and more. The themes are displayed on the homepage with their most popular keywords, that are clickable, enabling users to directly access their search results.
Other new features include auto completion of search keywords as the user types in the terms he’s looking for, refreshing the list with suggested popular user searches with every typed letter.
Another new addition is the search help section that displays a number of searches that are related to the one entered by the user, to provide other options for them to take their search further and find results of interest to them.
Ayna Organizes “Ya Hala Ramadan” Competition
Mohamed Marwen Meddah | August 30, 2008 – 12:53 pm | 1 Comment
One of the main challenges Arab search engines face is driving users to try out their service and then convert them into regular users. With Ramadan just a couple of days away, Ayna is trying to lure Arab internet users to its search engine through a Ramadanesque competition.
During the holy month of Ramadan, “Ayna” is organizing a religious and cultural competition called “Ya Hala Ramadan”, and offering valuable prizes for winners.
Participants can search Ayna to find the answer for a multiple-choice question asked daily throughout the period of Ramadan. The competition is only available in Arabic language.
Participants in the competition should meet the following conditions:
- Have a registered user account at “Ayna”.
- Be a resident of one of the Arab countries.
- Participate in the competition once daily and choose only one answer.
The winner of the competition is the one answering correctly the highest number of answers. In a multi-winner scenario, a draw will take place to choose the winner.
Valuable prizes will be awarded to winners; from round-trip plane tickets, to digital cameras and frames, to MP3 players and USB devices.
The competition begins on the first day of the month of Ramadan and lasts for the whole month; the names of the winners will be announced on the 8th of October 2008 and notified later by email.
Those wishing to participate have to visit “Ayna’s” competition page.
Ayna Launches Beta Of Online Map Service for the Middle East & North Africa
Mohamed Marwen Meddah | July 29, 2008 – 12:27 pm | 5 Comments
A few days ago, Arab search engine Ayna launched a beta version of Ayna Maps, a service that provides interactive maps of places and businesses for all major Arab capitals in the Middle East and North Africa region.
Ayna is one of the first Arabic search engines in the region, and now aims to grow its search services by providing more types of information like its new street level map service covering 26 cities in 17 countries and presented in Arabic and English.
Ayna maps aims to provide detailed street level mapping that is not available through any other online service, including Google, Yahoo, and MapQuest; in order to give businesses and individuals alike the possibility to easily locate and add points of interest. As of the launch, Ayna Maps are preloaded with over fifty thousand searchable points of interest available in Arabic, English and French to meet the needs of local audiences.
Businesses will be able to mark their physical location on a map to guide their customers, and easily embed the marked map in any web site along with their contact details, such as name, address, phone, email, and a descriptive summary.
Cities covered by Ayna maps include: Beirut (Lebanon); Damascus (Syria); Baghdad (Iraq); Amman, Aqaba (Jordan); Riyadh, Jeddah, Mecca, Madina (Saudi Arabia); Kuwait City (Kuwait); Doha (Qatar); Manama (Bahrain); Dubai, Abu Dhabi (UAE); Muscat (Oman); Sanaa (Yemen); Cairo, Alexandria, Sharm El-Sheikh, Hurguda (Egypt); Khartoum (Sudan); Tripoli (Libya); Tunis (Tunisia); Algiers (Algeria); Rabat, Marrakech (Morocco).
Ayna Maps future releases include providing routing and directions, updating map data, and publishing submitted points of interest for businesses in the region. A mobile version of the map service will also be launched soon.
The idea is a very useful one and really needed in the region, and for an initial beta release it is pretty good; Hopefully future versions will have more detailed and revised maps, with more integrated points of interest.
