Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Find And Tell Everyone!

I love getting on the xanga front page. I have no idea how that happens. It's cool though. I will sacrifice a cyber virgin to the xanga gods every full moon until it happens again. I love how I get so many more people commenting (some really interesting takes on what I wrote in the last post.... some that didn't seem to actually read my post but gave an opinion anyway, it's all good).

Anyway, back to the show. I wanted to tell everyone to stop using google. Why? Because my cousin put together a much better search engine that is aimed at local business searches like restaurants and clubs. Right now, I think it's still in beta format so it's only useful if  you live in New York. But if you live in New York, it is VERY useful.

Check it out at http://www.findntell.com

Here's the official press release:

Find&Tell, New Local Search Engine, Launches

Service Focused on New York Area to Redefine Category

New York, NY. 3/24/08 – A new era in local search begins today with the launch of Find&Tell, a local search engine (www.findntell.com). F&T’s proprietary, powerful search technology is uncovering and capturing the details of local businesses, both large and small, throughout Manhattan in New York City. Unlike the goliath search engines which put limited resources to local search, F&T’s service focuses only on local search. It reaches an untapped pool of businesses whose presence was limited or nonexistent on the Internet.

“When I wanted to find the best Manhattan restaurants in my neighborhood, I was always dissatisfied with the results of the big search engines.  I found myself looking for what I wanted among hundreds of other restaurants outside of my neighborhood, with results even reaching as far as New Jersey and the outer boroughs.  I needed something better than what existed, something with more precise and accurate results.  So I decided to build it myself,” says Eugene Kang, F&T founder and developer.

Mr. Kang isn’t alone in being frustrated by limited local search offerings on the Internet. According to results of a recent survey conducted by Harvest Digital, 78% of Internet users are unhappy with the online local search results they receive.

F&T stands out from competitors in local search by allowing users to customize searches.  It gives users full control of their experience by providing filters that can be applied on top of the searches, thereby returning the most accurate results.  F&T’s automated crawlers and local experts who validate the data deliver only relevant data for any type of local business. These results are as pure as possible and are freed from the volumes of misinformation that normally taint the results on big search engines. F&T is designed for all user types, from users on the go, to those on a budget and looking for deals and coupons, to those seeking upcoming activities and events.

Spending on local search services was valued at $1.7 billion in 2007 and is expected to grow by $4 billion by 2010 according to Borrell Associates. “I feel that F&T’s launch puts us in the right place and time to give search-savvy consumers the service they need but currently lack,” says Kang.

Find&Tell is a subsidiary of New York-based Meck Technology, headed by its founder and CTO Eugene Kang. Mr. Kang, 30, has a BA from Cornell University and is currently pursuing a Masters degree in Information Systems at New York University. Meck Technology, founded in 2003, is currently privately funded.