Yahoo launches Notebook-like Search Pad for search research

February 4, 2009 | Anthony Ha | Comments | |

Yahoo is rolling out a new product to some users for testing today. It’s called Search Pad, and it’s supposed to help users save web pages and other information found while doing research online.

Gee, doesn’t this sound awfully familiar? Microsoft is testing a product called Thumbtack with a very similar goal, while Google has stopped active development on its comparable project, Google Notebook (competing notebooks are still going strong). Perhaps the coolest product in this area is “brain-aiding software” Evernote, which helps save data from the physical world, too, not just stuff you find online.

So does Yahoo really need its own “me too” offering? I haven’t used Search Pad myself, but judging by this demo video, it presents a very different approach to the problem. Whereas Thumbtack and the various notebooks function as more-or-less standalone products, Search Pad is closely integrated with Yahoo Search and can be seen as more of an extension of the search tool. Basically, it tracks your Yahoo search activity to see if it looks like research and automatically creates a document with all the pages you’ve visited, so you don’t have to manually record everything. At the same time, you can paste in other information you find online and take your own notes.

The automation could definitely make Search Pad a lot more handy (unless, of course, you do your searching with Google), but I’m still not convinced these products are much more useful than just copying and pasting into a word processing document. Then again, anyone who’s worked with me can attest to the fact that I forget things all the time, so maybe it’s time to give Evernote or Search Pad a try.

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About the Author, Anthony Ha

Anthony is VentureBeat's assistant editor, as well as its reporter on enterprise technology, cloud computing, and tech policy. Before joining VentureBeat in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.

  • mas2124
    Search Pad immediately sounds like a good innovation because of the automation. Sure, it may not be "much more useful than just copying and pasting," but it does allow you to research continuously without having to immediately pick and choose what may be of interest to you later. Anyone who does research on the internet knows you do not always know exactly what you are looking for, even when you come upon it.

    Anthony, you do, however, make another very good point with your not-so-subtle parenthetical: (unless, of course, you do your searching with Google). Obviously, the majority of us do our searching on Google, but isn't that the point? Is Yahoo not forced to come up with the new and unseen in order to even attempt to compete with Google?

    When Microsoft promised layoffs of 5,000 workers, they also noted that they will continue to invest in their Search endeavors. Yahoo and Microsoft are down, but they are not out. I'll be interested to see how Search Pad fares once it emerges from the testing stages.
  • All good points.
  • It sounds interesting, but certainly not worth all the press coverage its received (it's on 3 other blogs i've visited today). I may try it out sometime.
  • Uh, has Yahoo ever done a product release that at least four blogs didn't cover? Though in this case, I had no idea who else would cover, since I wrote the post in advance, under embargo.
  • Google to give up:) Google is doing this job well.
  • Not sure what you mean.