T H E F I R S T D I S C O V E R Y E N G I N E

AMBIENTLY

Ambiently

Startup company

Houston, Texas

2009

Discovery engine

How to use it

Click ‘Ambiently Page’ from any website

Ambiently will generate a search based on key terms within the website

It directs you to page with list of links to relevant sites

Not a search engine…

Google, Yahoo – type in your own search terms

But also different from other applications…

Stumble Upon- taken directly to websites based on ratings of other sites and recommendations of like-minded users

GOOGLE RESULTS FOR“mind body physical effects meditation”

Meditation to relieve stress

Transcendental meditation

Meditation training

Meditation sharpens the mind

The effects of meditation on the body

Meditation lowers heart rate

Meditation as medicine

What do users have to say?

“Do you remember the old days of doing academic research… when to find content related to what you were reading you looked in the book’s bibliography. Ambientlytakes that concept and applies it to web research.”

“Instead of jumping back and forth from a search results page, students can just click the Ambient button and have related content right in front of them.”

“I’m a scientist… Instead of trying a large number of search terms looking for the best one, I just have to go to a page that looks interesting, and let Ambiently do a more general search, and I can see a number of result.”

However…

No filters

Can’t edit search options

Lots of results that just lead you to same article, but on different site

Not helpful for broad searches

New Google tool to supersede it?

In conclusion

Ambiently is simpler than a search engine- just click a button!

Looks at a lot of keywords on website, turning any page into an automated search engine

Good for unique and specific topics when you’re having trouble using traditional search engine

Especially helpful for research fields like Psychology