Sherlock Update on the way

tommybrando

[quote] Apple is on the verge of adding new channels to its Sherlock 3 web services tool, according to internal emails accidentally posted to a public Apple mailing list. The new features mentioned in the messages were package tracking, White Pages, and Google search.

The company is also in the process of identifying bugs to fix by the next release. The next pre-release build is set for December 18, and these bug fixes and new features are targeted for release in a "Macworld milestone." It's unknown as to whether the updated Sherlock will be released as part of the 10.2.3 "Green" or 10.2.4 "Pink" minor OS X updates, or in another fashion.

The emails indicate that the new version will include support for a Google Internet search. While one of the two messages refers to "the Google channel," such a search could also, theoretically, be a part of Sherlock's existing Internet search channel. The current channel searches About.com, Ask.com, Best Site 1st, Looksmart, Lycos, Overture, and Sprinks. The Google search will clearly be a welcome addition.

The new version will also include White Pages -- complementing the existing Yellow Pages business search -- and a Packages channel. Beta versions of Mac OS X v10.2 "Jaguar" included a packages channel (screenshot) which tracked multiple packages from Apple, Airborne Express, FedEx, UPS, and the United States Postal Service, but the functionality was pulled in the final release.

It's uncertain what other features will be in the updated version of Sherlock. All of the future features described are already available in the shareware Watson utility.

The two messages containing these future details were inadvertently sent to the Sherlock Channel Development discussion list at about 10:00 AM Tuesday. While their message subjects remain in the archive listing at press time, the message texts have been removed from Apple's site. <hr></blockquote>



These features are great. Looking forward to it's release.

paul

link?

screenshots?

defiant

<a href="http://www.thinksecret.com/news/sherlockupdates.html"; target="_blank">http://www.thinksecret.com/news/sherlockupdates.html</a>;

producer

how come no one has written there own plug-ins for it yet?



anyway once konfabulator is released...I think that will be the talk of the town...

ghost_user_name

The plugin SDK has only been available for a couple of weeks, Producer. I suspect that in time some ingenius little hackers will start writing plugins for various web sites.

belle

To repeat a question first uttered a few months after Mac OS 9 appeared: Does anyone actually use Sherlock?

willoughby

[quote]Originally posted by Belle:

<strong>To repeat a question first uttered a few months after Mac OS 9 appeared: Does anyone actually use Sherlock?</strong><hr></blockquote>



I use it to get showtimes for movies, but thats about it.

luca

It's actually somewhat useful for finding stuff in your area using the yellow pages. The translation is also somewhat useful, once in a while. The main problem is that it's slow and not all that useful - especially with the eBay search, I'd rather log onto eBay and get 10x the search and sorting options at 3x the speed.



I would really like a package tracker. I wouldn't have to go through my emails whenever I wanted to track a package, I could just leave them all in there and check up on them periodically.



I am at least glad that Apple decided to separate Sherlock from Find. Finding needs to be fast and simple, which it now is. Internet searching is totally different from hard drive searching.



I do remember keeping Sherlock 1 around and deleting Sherlock 2 after I upgraded a computer from OS 8.6 to OS 9. Sherlock 1 is basically Find File with a simple internet search tacked on. Much better than Sherlock 2, or the version of Sherlock that came with pre-10.2 releases of OS X.

buonrotto

I used Watson a lot when I first got it. It has, however, been taken off my Dock in more recent times. I imagine Sherlock has suffered the same fate with others. It's not a bad way to search AppleCare, and while the maps are only OK (none online are that good really), it's convenient to use the Yellow Pages for some things. Using it to watch previews and find theater times is more of a demonstration item since I rarely go to the movies.

hobbes

[quote]Originally posted by Willoughby:

<strong>I use it to get showtimes for movies, but thats about it.</strong><hr></blockquote>



Same here. Occasionally for directions.



I'd use it more if I still worked from home. Since my full-time job started, my main machine has been OS 9, and it's during the day I do kinds of searches Sherlock specializes in.



(More than you needed to know, I'm sure.)

hobbes

[quote]Originally posted by BuonRotto:

<strong>I used Watson a lot when I first got it. It has, however, been taken off my Dock in more recent times.</strong><hr></blockquote>



Yup, Sherlock's Dock exile occurred only about a month after I installed Jaguar. But I did recently assign option-apple-F to launch it, as it does sometimes come in handy.



It's kind of fun deciding who gets to stay in the Dock and who gets to go.



BTW, it's a great relief having Sherlock and Find File separated again.



[ 12-04-2002: Message edited by: Hobbes ]</p>