Cynics Unlimited

I’ve added a search link to the sidebar for a great new search engine called iBegin. A living travel guide of sorts, iBegin allows users to search for commercial locations and other points of interest in their local areas using plain english search phrases like “Japanese Restaurants on Eglinton” or “Clubs on Richmond”.

Searching for “Clubs on Richmond” using traditional (keyword-based) search engines like Google or Microsoft MSN returns all kinds of unpredictable and irrelevant results:

• Clubs on Richmond streets around the world will be listed (even if you add “Toronto” to the search string)
• Clubs from cities names Richmond (eg Richmond, Virginia) or clubs with the name Richmond may be included
• … and of course only Clubs with their own websites or that paid for commerical web exposure will be listed

iBegin overcomes these technical limitations by focusing on localized establishments and returning context-sensitive results for searches tied to street name or region. Thus, keying in “Clubs on Richmond” returns full listings and information for Dream Lounge, Money Nightclub, and other popular spots – complete with phone numbers, addresses, maps and ratings.

Directory content is user driven. People who sign up for iBegin can add establishments to one of several categories (Hotels, restaurants, retail, Entertainmment, Residences, Bars/Clubs, Misc) and submit ratings for existing entries. Content ratings can be cross-referenced by user and there are even some MySpace style social networking features for users.

Currently, this service is only available for Toronto but will soon roll out to Ottawa then other municipalities. But enough talk – try a few Toronto-based queries in the search box below. If you know of a good (or bad) commercial location that should be added, sign up for iBegin and let Toronto know what’s hot/not.