May 22, 2002

Amazon.com has books, DVDs, electronics, lawn & garden items, airline tickets, cars, and... pizza? Dog nail clippers? Seeds? Vintage tires? Wedding stationery? Disectable frogs in packs of 10? Photoionization detectors?

Amazon.com has launched a (beta) service to compete with Google Catalogs. Thousands of paper catalogs scanned and OCR'd, completely searchable and browsable. Search all products and if Amazon doesn't sell it directly, you'll be directed to a company that does. Your search terms are highlighted on the page. Plus: searchable restaurant menus in six major cities!