U Rank Got Shipped
I didn’t had the time to post this earlier (like two dozen of other half finished things in my drafts folder), but apparently the closed beta for U Rank has ended, and they’ve launched it about a week ago. About time too, because I really like the idea behind this. U Rank is a research project from Microsoft Research that is exploring how personalization, social context, and communication may be used to improve the search experience. It’s a search engine that lets you rerank search results, move results from one search to another, add notes, and otherwise edit searches. Not only will you see your changes again the next time you come back, but your friends will see the changes too. You’ll have to log in with your LiveID so the changes you make can be saved for your next session.
If you’d like to have a good overview of what U Rank can do to make the difference in your search experience, have a look at the examples set on this page. You’ll understand in no time at all how fun it can be to use this.