Tag: Arabic Search

Bayarat, An Arabic Online Media Content Search Engine

MMM 5 Comments

BayaratBayarat is a new media search engine that was recently launched in its alpha version catering to the Arab world and aiming to make it easier to search for and find Arabic media content online.

Bayarat is currently only indexing video content from around the web and across online video sharing portals, with plans to add more types of media content in the near future.

A translation layer is integrated into the search engine in order to enable it to search for the same term in Arabic, English, French and Spanish; to broaden the search and return all relevant results.

One of the integrated features to enhance the search experience is an Arabic spell-checker, that suggests corrections for misspelled words that users type into the search box, in order to help them find better results for their searches.

Bayarat

The search engine has already crawled and indexed over 3 Millions videos ever since its launch just about a month ago. The site’s interface is available in both Arabic and English.

Bayarat was created and launched by Monther AbuShaikh, who previously brought us TweetShell, and is also CTO at Ikbis, the popular Arab video and photo sharing service.

Ayna Organizes “Ya Hala Ramadan” Competition

MMM 2 Comments

AynaOne of the main challenges Arab search engines face is driving users to try out their service and then convert them into regular users. With Ramadan just a couple of days away, Ayna is trying to lure Arab internet users to its search engine through a Ramadanesque competition.

During the holy month of Ramadan, “Ayna” is organizing a religious and cultural competition called “Ya Hala Ramadan”, and offering valuable prizes for winners.

Participants can search Ayna to find the answer for a multiple-choice question asked daily throughout the period of Ramadan. The competition is only available in Arabic language.

Participants in the competition should meet the following conditions:

  • Have a registered user account at “Ayna”.
  • Be a resident of one of the Arab countries.
  • Participate in the competition once daily and choose only one answer.

The winner of the competition is the one answering correctly the highest number of answers. In a multi-winner scenario, a draw will take place to choose the winner.

Valuable prizes will be awarded to winners; from round-trip plane tickets, to digital cameras and frames, to MP3 players and USB devices.

The competition begins on the first day of the month of Ramadan and lasts for the whole month; the names of the winners will be announced on the 8th of October 2008 and notified later by email.

Those wishing to participate have to visit “Ayna’s” competition page.