Fujitsu Laboratories of America announced Xurch, a new Web search browser plug-in that makes Web searching easier. Once users install the Xurch plug-in into a Firefox(R) or Internet Explorer(R) browser, a "Xurch Cloud" appears when performing searches on a growing number of search engines and popular websites. The Xurch Cloud box, or tag cloud(1), provides users with suggested words for refining their searches, letting them quickly iterate through several refinements and zero in on the information they are looking for.

In addition to making it easier for users to find information when using popular search engines, Xurch's search facilitation(2) technology is being customized for popular third-party websites, including news and shopping sites.

News Highlights

• Xurch is not a search engine. It facilitates searches performed using popular search engines and websites.
  
• The Xurch Cloud is an example of the innovative technologies being developed at Fujitsu Labs of America. It leverages the Yahoo! Search BOSS (Build your Own Search Service) open search platform and proprietary algorithms developed at Fujitsu Labs of America. These technologies work together, suggesting the best possible words to help users refine their searches. Combined with a novel user interface, the Xurch Cloud's capabilities are easy to use and available on many websites.
  
• Search Facilitation: After performing a search, the Xurch Cloud appears around the query box whenever the cursor is moved to the box. The Xurch Cloud offers several possible query refinements, and with a single click on one of these suggestions, the new word is added to the query and the search is run again. The new results are displayed with a new set of suggestions for further refinement. For example, after searching for "planting bulbs," which results in over a half million results, Xurch suggests "blooms," "containers," "how to," "spring bulbs," "summer bulbs" and more to make it easy to narrow the search.
  
• Third-Party Sites: Unlike other search facilitation solutions, Xurch travels with users to a growing number of third party sites. The suggestions Xurch provides can be customized for individual sites, such as news and shopping sites. For example, after searching for "elections" on the State of California homepage, Xurch offers "ballots," "candidates," "primary elections," "California Secretary of State" and more. Xurch currently supports several dozen popular sites, with many more to be enabled soon. For a list of supported sites, please visit: www.xurch.com.
  
• Platforms: Xurch supports Firefox running on Microsoft(R) Windows(R), Mac OS(R) X, and Linux(R). Xurch also supports Internet Explorer v6, v7, and v8.
  
• Pricing and Availability: The beta version of the Xurch plug-in can be downloaded for free at http://www.xurch.com.