01/05/2006

SPIEGEL Surfs the Web

Sketch and Search

Most of us are too Google and Yahoo-addicted to even consider the idea of non text-based search methods. But a new service called Retrievr allows you to tap your visual and creative side as you search for Flickr images.

A new service called Retrievr, which uses the Flickr photo database and an experimental new technology, gives you a novel new way of searching for all those holiday pictures you've been uploading in batches to share with family and friends. Retrievr enables you to search for images by entering a rough sketch. So far, the technology is a bit rough -- quickly sketch a black car and you're more likely to get black and white portraits of people than a Peugeot. Still, the so-called Multiresolution Image Querying yields interesting results, and this is one of the cooler uses of Flickr we've yet seen.

An Internet Guide to Pet Squirrels

You've seen them in the park, you've seen them in your backyard. But have you ever thought about parenting a baby squirrel? An American couple has documented their adventures in squirrel-raising at Squirrelsforyou.com. You can watch Flash films of the couple caring for Sluggo, Maggie and Nibbles as they go from their first two weeks on Earth to maturity. The site also offers tips for raising your own litter. Prepare for cuteness overkill.

Norway's Four Seasons

In the movie Smoke, a tobaccanist photographs the same corner in Brooklyn every day for a year, then puts each picture in a photo album, for curious reasons. Eirik Solheim is a TV engineer in Norway who has photographed the view outside his window dozens of times throughout the year, and -- not for any particular reason -- strung them together to make a cool near-film of the Norwegian seasons. His site gives an explanation of the effect, but doesn't, unfortunately, set it to any Vivaldi music.

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