Search gets smarter

TECHNOLOGY: Here's a new start up that allows you search without actually connecting to the Net.

Here's a dream come true for all information seekers. Now you don't have to be online to be able to conduct a search on the Net.

A new startup called Webaroo allows you to search the web from your laptop or handheld, without actually connecting to the Internet. Amazing, don't you think? "No, it was the logical way for search technology," Webaroo officials respond with an obvious shrug.

While biggies like Google, Yahoo and MSN are busy sweating it out to get people online, this Bellevue-based startup fills in the gap for those who are not yet online. Webaroo was conceived when Rakesh Mathur, now the CEO, found it hard to deal with dropped signals and treacherous Internet connections on his mobile.

The CEO, who is also the founder of junglee.com, partnered with Brad Husick (ex-Hewlett Packard and Apple) and Beerud Sheth (of Elance and MIT research) to launch an offline mobile search technology.

Rakesh Mathur would like Webaroo to be the window to the web for every mobile user. "We rant and rave about always-on connections covering the planet," says Chirag Jain, vice president (Indian operations), Webaroo, "but the reality is that we are still a few years off from a world where we will always be plugged in."

Wi-fi hotspots, although growing in number, are sporadic, 3G networks still a dream and inflight Internet access is a novelty available on a handful of international flights.

Webaroo has developed a technology that allows consumers to download the most relevant pages from the Internet to their desktops or mobiles.

"We give a connected experience but in an offline form, and this might sound outlandish to many," says Jain.

Webaroo makes use of a set of proprietary search algorithms that pare the million gigabytes of information (on the Internet) down to manageable chunks on the hard drive.

"We keep adding to our menu of web packs on specific topics "" for example popular websites, news summaries, music, Wikipedia and the like," says Jain.

Underlying the search technology is a software designed to capture and compress the information, giving the user a reasonable sample of the information instead of yielding thousands of answers (like a Google or Yahoo search).

Webaroo's servers scan the virtual world and analyse web pages in terms of quality, coverage and size, to throw up a meaningful set of answers, claim the founders.

To get started, users need to download and install a 5 megabyte-sized Webaroo software and then sync up with the company's service site to refresh the content in their topic-specific packs.

Webaroo caches can be synched to smaller mobile devices, such as PDAs and phones; however, only Windows Smartphones are supported at the moment and then only Windows Pocket PC 2003 Second Edition, with Mobile 5.0 support well on the way, but there's no sign of anything for Symbian.

The desktop/laptop running the caching service must also run on Microsoft Windows 2000 SP4 or XP, so no Linux or OS X support.

The young entrepreneurs remain upbeat. Beerud Sheth, founder and chief technology officer, Webaroo feels, "Webaroo mobilises the web and can deliver web content and applications like websites, blogs, shopping and social networking to mobile devices from a low-end Rs 1,000 phone to a high-end one to laptops."

Obvious benefits of Webaroo include: an offline search that is faster as there's no need to wait for a connection; you don't have to be near a hotspot to browse the Net; and most important, it's completely free.

So, how does Webaroo make money? "Right now we are bleeding," says Jain, but this Internet start-up hopes to rake in moolah by selling advertising. The idea is to let advertisers reach customers through laptops and mobile handsets even when they are not connected to the Internet.

By next year, the company plans to start offering even more customisable web packs that can be automatically updated on each Internet connection.

Acer, a renowned personal computer maker, has agreed to bundle the application on its laptops as a global distribution deal.

Also, the company will soon announce similar deals with few other mobile and laptop manufacturers, says Jain. Lots to look forward to.