A9.com

I've been using Amazon's A9 as my main search engine for a few days, and I must say I haven't seen so much innovation in a website for a long time. I'm a very fast computer user - anyone who's ever saw me using computers would agree. The problem is that I go through so much stuff very quickly, especially when using Google, that I end up spending more time sorting through stuff I found than actually finding them. One other problem is that since Google is so efficient, you find lots of useful stuff and would want to save them all. Soon enough you'll end up with a gigantic bookmark (like mine) that takes 5 minutes to open. A9 solves all that.

I'm an avid fan of Amazon. Living on this little island thousands of miles away from other civilization (Australia doesn't count. We're talking about CIVILIZATION here! ;) ), the only way I can keep my demanding spirit from dying from total boredom is the DVDs and books I get from Amazon. Plus I really like playing with their recommendation system, I enjoy tweaking it so it keeps coming up with stuff I already own but bought from somewhere else. Frankly speaking, if all marketing information gatherings work as well as Amazon, I wouldn't object them at all! Which leads us to another feature of A9 - it incorporates your searching activities with your Amazon recommendation. For an average person this would be a great idea, but for professionals it could be a nightmare. I do lots of my research with internet, so I put in lots of academical and technological terms into A9. I have already observed some bizzard effects from this. Just yesterday I logged on to Amazon, and found a textbook on quantitative financing on top of my recommendation list! I also noticed something strange, as there's a π/2% sign at where the Amazon logo used to be. I clicked on it and Amazon told me because I'm a regular user of A9.com, all my Amazon purchases are qualified for a π/2% discount! That is 1.57% for the uninitiated.

So there you go. A great search engine AND additional % off your Amazon orders!