Ask.com recently released their updated interface, and I have to say it's quite amazing. The initial screen is nice esthetically but it seems like any other search engine, however once you submit things begin to change rapidly from google and yahoo. A three paned page emerges with search modification options/suggestions on the left margin, and then paid and natural search results emerge in the body pane. Then, depending on what your searching for the right pane will either not appear for obscure searches, or will present a depth of content for broader searches. If you search for a band you will see images first, followed by music (with samples built in) powered by iLike.com, then it will show videos (which begin playing in place when you hover over them), or encyclopedia listings from wiki. The new interface is pushing google to launch a similar change in the near future where search results will be a mix of videos, images etc. since google users have been avoiding using the tabs/categories...even after google recently made the menu bar like approach common through most of their applications.

But the most impressive thing is that the new ask.com turned me onto iLike.com. For a while I've heard music geeks like myself complaining about missing one of their favorite bands when they were in town, or being out of touch with new music since they only listen to their iTunes... iLike uses the facebook platform with a plugin for iTunes and contact importing from the major web email providers to make one of the most holistic social music sites out there. Right away you send invites to your friends, then you install the iTunes plugin and populate what kind of music you like and your favorite artists. From there the fun begins, all of those artists you imported from iTunes are now displayed when you want to find out who is going to be on tour in your area...and it's directly connected with ticketmaster. The other really interesting feature is that it's tied into garageband.com so when you're listening to some of your old standby artists it will recommend similar new artists and let you download their mp3s for free. Compared to the other social music options out there...I like iLike.

How all of this will come together and who may or may not buy iLike and whether the new ask.com interface will grow their 5% search share are TBD...but I know the data implications are amazing for whomever may snatch up iLike considering the advertising opportunities...and the search behavior on Ask.com as well as video advertising opportunities could be quite revolutionary.