Yup, Google Launches Video Search

Google has quietly added a video search to their labs. The labs are at http://labs.google.com , the video search is at http://video.google.com/ . And as always, the interface is simple; a query box and that's about it.

I did a keyword search for Enron. I got 71 results. The results included a thumbnail of the program (in this case mostly reporters), hyperlink (more about that in a minute), a description, source, date, and duration (all the ones I saw were either one hour or 30 minutes.) Here's a fun search to do! "paid programming" . Heh.

When you click on the hyperlink, you do not get the video immediately. Instead you get a page of information about that particular program, including time marks of when your keyword was spoken, the context in which it was spoken, and a screen shot of when it was spoken (either interview shots or reporters again.) Currently video is not available, apparently because the product is so new. The left side of the page shows when the program will next air, a link to upcoming episodes of the show based on the zip code you specify in the preferences (more about that next paragraph) and a link to a Google Web search about that program.

There are a couple of advanced search options. title: is a functioning advanced search syntax ( title:chris ). Channel allows you to search by network ( channel:cbs ). A preferences page at http://video.google.com/videolineup allows you to get a listing of shows and times based on zip code (you'll need to have both cookies and JavaScript active for this to work.)

This is brand spanking new. Content, as Google admits in their about page, is limited and not very deep (the indexing was started in late December 2004.) There are several things I'd like to see here: an alert of some sort. An RSS feed. The ability to sort by date (not too meaningful now. Six months from now INCREDIBLY meaningful.) But in the meantime, wow. I really like the keyword markers.

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