S. Samuel
Rap veteran MC Hammer is once again making headlines, but this time it is for his announcement of launching an upcoming new search engine that could compete against Google and Yahoo.
Appearing at this week’s Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, Hammer broke the news.
On stage at the conference Mr. Hammer announced a new Web service called WireDoo: a search engine that adds relationship information to search results. For example, if someone searches for the word “car” on WireDoo, they will see results for topics related to a car, including insurance, pricing and consumer safety ratings. Searching a stock symbol will show related investors and mutual funds. Mr. Hammer said WireDoo, which is currently still being built and not available to the public, is not trying to compete with established search giants like Google, but hopes to offer a “deeper type of search” that can show relationships to queries. (New York Times)
The 49 year-old’s work in progress will primarily rely on building off keywords.
WireDoo, with it’s tagline of “Search once and see what’s related”, is all “about relationships beyond just the keywords,” according to Hammer. A Google search does take into account keyword relationships, but, following two years of designing, Hammer is certain WireDoo will prove to be more useful as it focuses on relational searches, bringing up related topics and concerns. The question is, can it take on Google, or will it just disappear? (Computer Weekly)
Hammer is reportedly known for his presence at tech events.
MC Hammer is “known as a very active figure, angel investor and promoter of young companies” in Silicon Valley. “You could always make things better, create the next version,” Hammer reportedly said during his WireDoo announcement, adding “No one’s playing for singles in the Valley anymore,” at the end of his presentation. (IB Times)
Last year, Hammer sparked a feud with rap mogul Jay-Z by releasing his “Better Run Run” diss music video.
“At the end of the day he’s just another rapper,” Hammer said in an interview about Jay. “Let me frame it for you, he’s just another man. I think that phrase is better. At the end of the day he’s just another man. Men still gotta be men. He’s not above being addressed…I feel victorious because my point was awareness of the issues. In anything that you are doing, the messaging is important, at least if that’s what your goal is. My goal was – two main issues. One – in the last five/six years however many it has been, you have taken the position that my faith is joke. That my faith is something that you can use in my videos and something that you just wanna dress the walls up with. Run a quick photo by it of Jesus with bullet holes on the side of it.” (All Hip Hop)
Check out some past MC Hammer footage below:
