Iterend is a new blog search engine (still in private beta) that hopes to steal Technorati’s lunch money, but first they have to beat Google’s Blog Search to the punch. In this showdown, we’ll perform a search test on all three services and compare the results. Checkout the screencast as well.

Technorati has been king of the hill for a long time when it comes to blog search but as happens with all monarchies, they’ve grown complacent and stopped innovating which has opened the door for other potential heirs to the throne.Enter iterend and Google Blog Search which recently hit the streets. The initial reviews of Google’s foray into the blog search arena has been mostly positive.

Before checking the results of the showdown, here’s a little bit about iterend which presents a busy home page with a flood of recent phrases as tags along with the top stories in the past twenty four hours. At the top of the page is their search bar which you can adjust to search for a different time frame such as the last hour, last week, anytime, etc. Here are some other features of note.

-  All articles are linked to structured wikipedia information, which makes it possible to search by categories.

- Search results are clustered and you can search on sentence level, post level or blog level.

- Next to the search results, relevant phrases and categories are displayed, so you are able to restrict your search or get an overview over the information you are looking for.

- You can search for related posts to a given topic, url or cluster

The Test Results

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As you’ll see in the screencast, the old dog Technorati still seemed to provide the best and fastest results when searching for the same exact keywords. We used a post from Mashable for this video just to show how different the search results were for all three search engines. In most cases, Technorati provided the most recent blog posts.

While Google’s Blog Search impressed with its sheer extensiveness, Technorati seemed to include far less unseemly characters in its search results. Both Google Blog Search and Iterend appeared to include far more spammers, sploggers and other things you usually find hiding under a rock. Over all, Technorati is still the top dog for blog search while Google’s Blog Search and Iterend are worthy challengers that will surely improve with time.

Source:Mashable!

Remember when we told you about Google’s new satellite, GeoEye-1, which should bring highest resolution commercial imagery available to Google Maps? Below, you can see the first image that the satellite captured. GeoEye-1 captures images at .41 meters in black and white and 1.65 meters in color; for real life reference, that means crisp enough to read license plates.

Google, however, will receive imagery in 50-centimeter resolution because of a government restriction and the fact that it’s not the only customer who benefits from GeoEye-1. They’re sharing it with National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency; which collects and analyses geospatial data in support of national security. Translated, that means they get the really good stuff. Real spies probably have their own, even more advanced satellites, though. Speaking to Wired, Mark Brender, GeoEye’s vice president of communications and marketing, said that GeoEye-1 is

“the opposite of a spy satellite. Spies don’t put info on the internet and sell imagery. We’re an Earth-imaging satellite, and we can sell our imagery to customers around the world who have a need to map and measure and monitor things on the ground.”

The important fact is that GeoEye-1 is up and running, collecting imagery for Google Maps which will soon start looking like the image below. Time for a new round of mapspotting!

—Related Articles at Mashable | All That’s New on the Web:Bumpy Map Mashups with Google TerrainGoogle Offers Easy Embed Code for MapsGoogle Maps in (Almost) 3DGoogle to Get New Satellite Imagery From GeoEyeGoogle Earth and NASA Complete ProjectGoogle Maps Hangs Up on Click-to-CallYahoo Maps: More Color, More Zoom

As we noted late last month, Google affixed its name to the GeoEye Inc’s GeoEye-1 satellite, in order that the Web giant get dibs on some high-resolution imagery produced of our little planet in orbit. Well, today marked the blastoff sequence, followed by a successful launch.

According to the AP, it started fighting gravity at 11:50 AM today from vertical stasis at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Video posted to the GeoEye website marks the occasion.

GeoEye isn’t just a rudimentary upgrade to satellite photography of typical Google Maps-like order. It’s designers regard it as having “the highest resolution of any commercial imaging system,” with the capability to show detail within one square foot or so. And of course, Google isn’t the exclusive name to share space on the cylinder of GeoEye-1. Boeing Launch Services provided the rocket, and its purpose will be “environmental matting to agriculture and defense.” Nonetheless, Google will reap fruits of the digicam’s labor. The data begins to flow in 45-60 days’ time, said Google’s Kate Hurowitz in late August.

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DETROIT - Coming soon to a minivan near you: Satellite television. DaimlerChrysler AG’s Chrysler Group on Thursday announced limited satellite TV service for its 2008 Dodge and Chrysler minivans and several other models, continuing its plan to turn the family cruiser into a living room on wheels.

The company, which invented the minivan, is teaming with Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. to bring three channels — Nickelodeon, Disney Channel and Cartoon Network — to the next generation of minivans, as well as the 2008 Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger, Dodge Magnum, Jeep Commander and Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Chrysler said it has the channels exclusively through the 2008 model year, after which Sirius can offer it to other partners.
The feature comes with a price tag, though. It costs $470 and will be packaged with Chrysler’s rear seat entertainment system and Sirius Satellite Radio. The cost includes the first year of service, after which the TV channels will cost $7 per month, plus the satellite radio fee of $12.95 per month.

It’s possible that in the future, more channels and even full satellite service could become available, but for now, it’s limited by bandwidth allocated to satellite radio, said Frank Klegon, executive vice president of product development for Chrysler.
Sirius, he said, has figured out how to send a limited TV signal within the airwaves allocated to satellite radio. "I think there’s certainly some potential in the future for expansion of additional channels," he said. Klegon also said satellite TV is the latest step in a continuation of information technology moving from home to vehicle.

But Tom Libby, J.D. Power and Associates’ senior director of industry analysis, questioned whether people would be willing to pay for it. His company recently found that the average new vehicle price has passed $28,000. With the initial cost plus the monthly bills, he wonders whether the feature might only appeal to high-end customers.

Still, he said the feature would be attractive for people who travel with children, and it will help Chrysler differentiate its minivans in an extremely competitive market. "Any advantage they can get, they’ll try to use," he said.

Sirius spokesman Patrick Reilly said the new TV service would have no effect on the company’s audio programming. However, he declined to say how many more channels, if any, Sirius would have the capacity to transmit. "We’ve got the three channels we want there," Reilly said. "We’re programming it for the demographic of the back seat, which is children, and in the cars that will carry it." The TV service has been in the works for several years, and Sirius has demonstrated it at trade shows in the past.

Sirius’ satellite radio rival, XM, is exploring backseat video with its automotive partners but has no plans for an announcement, spokesman Chance Patterson said. "As soon as there is a market opportunity, we will take it under consideration," Patterson said.

Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Thomas Eagan said the video should help Sirius grow its subscriber list, but could have the potential of causing a glitch in Sirius’ plans to combine with its rival XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. Sirius and XM have been blocked from merging under licenses granted to them a decade ago, but the companies argue that there are now many forms of competition for audio entertainment, including MP3 players, Internet radio as well as terrestrial radio. "My concern is that one consequence could be that regulators could define the market more narrowly and conclude that broadcast radio is not a competitor," leading them to block the proposed combination, he said.

Chrysler and Sirius ran a demonstration of the service Thursday morning in New York’s Times Square. In a Dodge Grand Caravan, the TV system easily was able to switch channels, with a slight delay, and delivered good quality sound and pictures. The driver or front-seat passenger can switch between the TV service, Sirius satellite radio’s audio service as well as regular AM and FM radio via a small video screen installed in the dash. That system, which also includes a navigation service and a hard drive for playing music from MP3 files, is called the MyGIG. The vehicle has three screens — two 8-inch screens for the rear-seat passengers, and the smaller screen in the dash.

Having the Sirius TV service installed in the vehicle requires an additional antenna in order to improve reception, and also a separate video tuner in addition to the satellite radio tuner for audio signals. It also works on a screen in the dashboard, but don’t think for a minute that you’ll be able to watch SpongeBob while driving. For safety reasons, the TV channels won’t show up in the front unless the vehicle is in park.

By MAY WONG, AP Technology Writer