Re: Y! BOSS Search

Hi Hannes, I haven't forgotten about this issue and I've been looking at it on and off. Unfortunately, I do not see how to use either the BOSS API or YQL to filter by arbitrary data - only by full-text keyword search. It is possible to limit BOSS results to those pages that contain specific microformats; however, you cannot search specific fields within the microformats. In other words, the search still applies to the entire page. Using YQL you can query against microformats at a particular URL, but not across an entire site. YQL also supports querying against a search.web table, but it does not appear to expose any additional functionality over and above what is provided by BOSS. In other words, it is also limited to fulltext search. The technology that TechCrunch used to build their custom search is called "BOSS Custom" or "Vertical Lens" and does not appear to be publicly available: "BOSS vertical lens is currently available to certain Yahoo! partners – but we're working to share the technology more openly through the BOSS API. If you are interested in building a search product using BOSS vertical lens technology, please email us here." http://www.ysearchblog.com/2008/11/26/search-the-web-through-a-vertical-lens/ Not sure if we want to contact Yahoo or not. It sounds like the future of BOSS is rather uncertain due to the Microsoft/Yahoo deal: http://www.techcrunch.com/2010/01/07/yahoo-boss-doj/ Cheers, Stew