AMAZON

SEARCH AMAZON AND THE WEB SIMULTANEOUSLY

The Annoyance:

It drives me crazy when, after I buy a book from Amazon, I find the information I needed on the Web. Why can't I search the Web and Amazon simultaneously, so I can decide whether it's worth buying the book in the first place?

The Fix:

You can, and Amazon makes it possible, thanks to its oddly named A9 search site at http://www.a9.com. At first, it seems like any other search sitetype in your search term, and you get web results. But click the Books button on the right, and you'll see a list of books on Amazon that match your search results as well (see Figure 8-17). Click a listing, and you're jetted over to the appropriate Amazon book page.

Figure 8-17. When you search on a term using A9, you also get a list of books on Amazon related to your search.

When you click a book listing on the A9 site, all of Amazon's usual features (such as searching within a book) will become available to you. If you're a registered Amazon user and have your cookies set so that Amazon recognizes you when you visit, A9 will recognize you as well.

Get the A9 Toolbar

Enamored of the A9 search site? Then get the A9 Toolbar, available at http://toolbar.a9.com. It installs directly in Internet Explorer, and it lets you search A9 no matter where you are on the Web. Like the Google Toolbar, it also includes a pop-up blocker. For now, it only works with Internet Explorer, but other browsers may be supported in the future.

AUTOMATICALLY SEACH AMAZON FOR HIGHLIGHTED WORDS

The Annoyance:

When I browse the Web, I often come across a topic I'd like to look up on Amazon. But I hate having to head to Amazon, then type the word into the search box. There must be a faster way.

The Fix:

There is. With a few tweaks, you'll be able to highlight any word on a web page, right-click it, choose Search Amazon from a pop-up menu, and get Amazon search results in a new browser window. The trick involves writing a little bit of JavaScript code and editing the Windows Registry. (Before you do this, make a backup of the Registry. Select Start Run, type Export. Make sure that the "All radio button at the bottom of the Export Registry File dialog box is selected. Then enter a name for the backup, such as "Registry Backup 1-5-2005", select a destination, and click OK. When the export is done, exit the Registry Editor.)

To create the JavaScript, open Notepad and enter this code:

     <script language="JavaScript">     var searchURL = new String("http://amazon.com/exec/obidos/external-search/     mode=blended&keyword=");     var w = window.external.menuArguments;     var d = w.document;     var s = d.selection;     var r = s.createRange();     var term = new String(r.text);     window.open(searchURL + term);     </script> 

Save the file as AmazonSearch.html in a folder called C:\scripts. (If the folder doesn't exist, create it.)

Now that you've created the JavaScript, you need to edit the Registry to tell Internet Explorer when and how to use it:

1. Exit Internet Explorer and run the Registry Editor.

2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\MenuExt.

3. Create a new key underneath MenuExtright-click MenuExt, select New Key, and name it c:\scripts\AmazonSearch.html in the "Value data" box, and click OK.

4. Right-click the Search Amazon key, select New DWORD Value, and name it 10 in the "Value data" box. Make sure the Decimal radio button is selected, and click OK.

5. Exit the Registry and restart Internet Explorer. When you highlight a term and right-click it, you'll see a Search Amazon item on the menu. Click it, and you'll do a search of the highlighted term on Amazon.

PEEK INTO THE FUTURE WITH AMAZON

Want to peer into the future? At least when it comes to books? Publishers tell Amazon what books they'll be publishing many monthsand sometimes yearsin advance. So if you want to find out what books will soon be published on a given topic, or what your favorite publisher is up to, head to Amazon's Advanced Search page. On Amazon's front page, click the Books tab, then click the Advanced Search link at the top of the page. Enter what you're looking for (author, title, subject, and so on), scroll down the page, and, in the "Publication date" dropdown, select "During the year." In the box to the right, enter a future date (such as 2006). Scroll back up and click the Search Now button, and you'll see the future unfold before your eyes. For example, in mid-2004, I entered "food" in the subject line, specified books published during 2005, and got a list of 120 forthcoming titles.