The larger search engines are also now starting to look more deeply into differentiating their algorithms - this time the focus is on the emerging content types of the web (images, audio, and video). News.com reports on the rising challenges for multimedia content producers as they seek representation in search engine listings. This snippet sums up the dilemma:

Stefanie Olsen

[from News.com, Search engines try to find their sound]

"Our site is primarily full of rich audio, and we want people to find it when it's relevant," Thomas said. "The big search engines' technologies don't have the ability to get inside the audio or video. With the little bit of text we have on NPR, it's not always good enough to find our content, and reference the page."

Consumers armed with broadband connections at home are driving new demand for multimedia content and setting off a new wave of technology development among search engine companies eager to extend their empires from the static world of text to the dynamic realm of video and audio.

The result of this demand has been a growth in specialty search systems, much like SpeechBot, that fill the gap. These upstart projects/companies may serve as serious competition for the leading search engines in the years to come. However, the majors are not standing still. Lycos and Altavista have already had systems in place and Google is already working with NPR and others on their multimedia indexing.

One interesting find was StreamSage, an audio and video technology provider. They have released a site, CampaignSearch.com, that allows users to search the political speeches of the upcoming US Presidential candidates. It's a great preview of how valuable this form of search will be.