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moki · Oct 17, 2003, 05:57 PM

Rochester, NY -- October 17, 2003 -- Knowledge may be power, but in today's information-saturated world, finding the knowledge you seek is both challenging and vital. Today Ambrosia Software, Inc. announced the release of iSeek, a searching tool that gives you the power to sift through the Internet effortlessly, like grains of sand cascading through your fingertips.

Look up a word definition in the dictionary, or a synonym in the thesaurus, or even famous quotes that reference the word. Search for information on Google, in popular news sites such as the BBC News, The Economist, MacNN.com, or even search for software on MacUpdate.com or VersionTracker.com

iSeek is an indispensable tool that allows you to instantly search for anything on the Internet, no matter what program you're running at the time. iSeek puts a familiar search field in your menu bar, always at your beck and call, needing just a click or keystroke to start your search. No lengthy startup times, no cumbersome interface to navigate, just streamlined Aqua goodness.

Check it out here:

http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/utilities/iseek/

Spliff · Oct 17, 2003, 08:26 PM

Moki,

I think you need to make a minor change to the iSeek weblinks submission form ("Add Link" button at the top of the webpage).

The form that pops up has a site URL field that begins with "http://". This suggests that only the website's homepage URL be submitted, from which Ambrosia will extract the iSeek search URL and post it.

I suggest that you remove the "http://" from that field and replace it with "iseek://" to make it clearer.

I incorrectly submitted a site because of this.

D'oh!

RooneyX · Oct 17, 2003, 08:43 PM

15 bucks for what I already have? This should be donationware.

thePurpleGiant · Oct 17, 2003, 09:13 PM

Originally posted by RooneyX:
15 bucks for what I already have? This should be donationware.

I disagree. I think the point is that if you 'already have it' then you certainly don't need this app. If you want a convenient way to search heaps of sites, no matter which application you are in - then you might feel inclined to pay the money.

Try it out though - it's much more useful than you would initially expect.

zigzag · Oct 17, 2003, 10:11 PM

Congratulations, moki - looks like a nice idea. Seems to me to be a further integration of the browser and OS. Ironic that this is partly what M$ got sued for.

Nice work.

TheIceMan · Oct 18, 2003, 02:10 AM

Moki: I use PathFinder instead of Finder and iSeek does not work if Finder is disabled. Is there anyway around this? I really hate Jaguar's Finder.

moki · Oct 18, 2003, 02:24 AM

Originally posted by TheIceMan:
Moki: I use PathFinder instead of Finder and iSeek does not work if Finder is disabled. Is there anyway around this? I really hate Jaguar's Finder.

hrm, when you say it doesn't work, can you be more specific? What goes wrong?

moki · Oct 18, 2003, 02:26 AM

Originally posted by zigzag:
Congratulations, moki - looks like a nice idea. Seems to me to be a further integration of the browser and OS. Ironic that this is partly what M$ got sued for.

Nice work.

Thanks. Sure, let's be honest here, iSeek is all about convenience. You can do the same thing by setting up a massive array of Bookmarks in Safari, but it really just isn't as convenient.

iSeek is something I've always wanted, and something that is approachable by people who are not incredibly computer savvy, as well as folks who use Terminal daily.

As far as I'm concerned, anything that saves me time repeatedly throughout the day is absolutely worth it, even if it is "just a convenience"

Leia Shoots Like a Girl · Oct 18, 2003, 03:02 AM

I am more interested in your hard drive icon! Where you get it?

TheIceMan · Oct 18, 2003, 03:50 AM

Originally posted by moki:
hrm, when you say it doesn't work, can you be more specific? What goes wrong?

Sorry, should have been more specific. I think that iSeek requires that the Finder is "active". Well, PathFinder has the ability to Quit Apple's Finder. And when the Finder is Quit, iSeek does not appear on the menubar.

iOliverC · Oct 18, 2003, 05:36 AM

Just a few quick things.

Im an interface fiend and have a thing where i wont buy an app that doesn't keep to atleast Interface Builders guides.

iSeek in some cases doesnt and I have some suggestions (which probably arent the best but I think they look cleaner).

iSeek preference pane:

Notice the button in the bottom left corner, it should be big like the ones opposite, it should also be the right height above the bottom.

My suggestion:

Jan Van Boghout · Oct 18, 2003, 07:25 AM

Originally posted by Leia Shoots Like a Girl:
I am more interested in your hard drive icon! Where you get it?

http://www.rad-e8.com/

Do you live under a rock

joelcpa · Oct 18, 2003, 08:53 AM

Originally posted by RooneyX:
15 bucks for what I already have? This should be donationware.

You clearly have not tried out this sweet piece of software. The google search capabilities are the tip of the iceberg.

WJMoore · Oct 18, 2003, 09:57 AM

Originally posted by iOliverC:
Just a few quick things.

Im an interface fiend and have a thing where i wont buy an app that doesn't keep to atleast Interface Builders guides.

iSeek in some cases doesnt and I have some suggestions (which probably arent the best but I think they look cleaner).

iSeek preference pane:

Notice the button in the bottom left corner, it should be big like the ones opposite, it should also be the right height above the bottom.

My suggestion:

I kind of agree with the using IB rules, but I'm not quite as pedantic as to not buy software for that reason alone. Anyway, please tell me you are not advocating the use of those horrid square buttons and that instead they are only there because you couldn't be bothered recreating the rest of the interface.

moki · Oct 18, 2003, 12:52 PM

Originally posted by TheIceMan:
Sorry, should have been more specific. I think that iSeek requires that the Finder is "active". Well, PathFinder has the ability to Quit Apple's Finder. And when the Finder is Quit, iSeek does not appear on the menubar.

Interesting. I don't know why that would be actually -- perhaps it is because of the URL handling abilities that iSeek needs?

moki · Oct 18, 2003, 12:54 PM

hehe -- here is an interesting but fairly useless iSeek URL:

AT&T Text to Speech

iOliverC · Oct 18, 2003, 01:02 PM

Originally posted by WJMoore:
I kind of agree with the using IB rules, but I'm not quite as pedantic as to not buy software for that reason alone. Anyway, please tell me you are not advocating the use of those horrid square buttons and that instead they are only there because you couldn't be bothered recreating the rest of the interface.

Exactly right

Leia Shoots Like a Girl · Oct 18, 2003, 02:31 PM

Originally posted by Jan Van Boghout:
http://www.rad-e8.com/

Do you live under a rock

Nifty.

tabarnak · Oct 18, 2003, 05:03 PM

Originally posted by iOliverC:
Im an interface fiend and have a thing where i wont buy an app that doesn't keep to atleast Interface Builders guides.

that is the most pretentious comment i ever read here! hahaha! you moron!

thePurpleGiant · Oct 18, 2003, 10:44 PM

Andrew - is there a way to add the MacNN Forums to the iSeek search list?

I tried doing it myself, but the address didn't seem to contain the search query at any point. Am I doing something wrong?

i would love to be able to search these forums quickly - i usually find my Mac-related answers much quicker than on Google.

moki · Oct 18, 2003, 11:38 PM

Originally posted by thePurpleGiant:
Andrew - is there a way to add the MacNN Forums to the iSeek search list?

Ask and ye shall receive!

Here's the MacOS X forum search

Here's the Software forum search

...for MacNN.com's forums. You can easily make searches for other forums, by just changing the forumchoice= number

Here's the Global (all forums) forum search

...enjoy

moki · Oct 18, 2003, 11:47 PM

...there are a boatload of iSeek search sites for your perusal here:

http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/iseek/weblinks.html

Feel free to add your own if you create any!

thePurpleGiant · Oct 18, 2003, 11:54 PM

Originally posted by moki:
Ask and ye shall receive!

...enjoy

Cheers big ears

moki · Oct 19, 2003, 12:31 PM

Originally posted by thePurpleGiant:
Cheers big ears

Sure thing. Let me know if there are any others you're interested in, I can try to make 'em. Also do visit that web site, because people have added all sorts of iSeek URLS you can add just by clicking.

moki · Oct 19, 2003, 12:43 PM

One important thing to remember about iSeek is that it is flexible. You can form the iSeek URLs any way you like, and URLs are a very powerful data type that are not limited to HTTP://

For instance, I just added an iSeek URL to log me into one of our AppleShare servers. AppleShare URLs look like this:

afp://USER

[email protected]/

So for iSeek, in the Prefix field, I put: afp://andrew: -- then in the suffix field, I put @woof.AmbrosiaSW.com/ -- and now all I have to do to log into that AppleShare server is select it from the iSeek menu, and enter my password in the iSeek search field.

Similar things can be done with other protocols, such as ftp, or any URL, for that matter...

Brien · Oct 19, 2003, 01:18 PM

Cool

dmcnickle · Oct 19, 2003, 04:10 PM

How is this going to work with Panther?

Do you have a screenshot of iSeek with the new Panther finder?

I am interested in trying in but would like some info about this if possible.

Thanks

acollins · Oct 19, 2003, 04:19 PM

Moki,

I posted this over on the Ambrosia Boards, but I thought I'd ask here as well.

Does iSeek work for site like this: Portuguese Online Dictionary?

If it does, how can I configure it?

Thanks,
Andrew

moki · Oct 19, 2003, 05:54 PM

Originally posted by dmcnickle:
How is this going to work with Panther?

Do you have a screenshot of iSeek with the new Panther finder?

iSeek works great with Panther -- but unfortunately, I can't make any screenshots available until Apple has released it to the public.

moki · Oct 19, 2003, 05:59 PM

Originally posted by acollins:
Does iSeek work for site like this: Portuguese Online Dictionary?

I tried making it work, but they appear to be doing something funky with ASP, and in the few minutes I mucked around with it, I couldn't quite make it work.

Perhaps drop a note to the webmaster there, they might be able to tell you how to do a search externally.

moki · Oct 19, 2003, 06:00 PM

Originally posted by brien:
Cool

Yeah, it's kind of neat. You can do the same thing with ssh:// or even mailto: links if you want...