Parents of Early Readers Find Search Engine that Filters Smut from Internet

A Red Zebra may keep parents from turning colors while their children surf.

RedZee.com - March 17, 2008

(PRNewsChannel) / Tampa, Fla. - Like many parents, Tina Ferruci has concerns about her children doing research on the Internet. Not long ago, she stood behind her 13-year-old son when he went on line to find a pair of shoes – only to be aghast at the inappropriate images that popped up after he typed in the name of a sporting goods store.

“It’s a huge concern for me and my family,” said Ferruci, a Tampa-area mother of two. “My son is doing research projects all the time and he has to use the Internet. Most times, a list comes up of all these sites, and you really don’t know what you’re getting. You have to click on all of them to figure out what they’re about.”

The Ferrucis aren’t alone. According to a University of New Hampshire study released in 2007, 42 percent of kids polled between the ages of 10 and 17 said they had seen pornography on the Internet during a 12-month period – and two-thirds of those said they stumbled upon the images accidentally.

As a father of a kindergartner, John Stewart believes he’s found one way to diminish the problem. He created RedZee Search 2.0, a Tampa-based search engine that not only filters out pornography, but uses a visual approach to searching on the web. Instead of the typical list of text-only results most search engines provide, RedZee instantly produces screen shots of actual web pages for users to preview. And they don’t have to worry that what they see will offend them.

“We wanted to make a search engine that isn’t just kid-safe, but more kid and user friendly,” Stewart said.  “With a more visual approach, you can see what you like rather than have to read a lot of unnecessary information before you actually find what you’re looking for.”

The search engine plays up its family-friendly theme on the redzee.com home page, where users are greeted by the company’s mascot, a red-and-white striped zebra that bounces and wiggles just above the search box. There’s also a link to the company’s upcoming animated commercial, which runs like a preview for a new Disney/Pixar flick starring the aforementioned claymation zebra.

Type in the word you’re searching – dinosaurs, for example – and an array of miniature webpages fanned out like books on a library table pop on the screen.  By dragging your mouse to the right or left, you can see what dozens of webpages actually look like before entering, and then double-click to see one full screen.

RedZee’s technology also produces the top 100 web pages matching a search, rather than displaying only the top 10 search results typically found on most text-based search engines. According to Stewart, research shows that almost 85 percent of searchers settle on what they find on the first page, when desired results might be buried deeper.

With more and more schools introducing computers – as well as that first “research project” -- as early as kindergarten, Stewart believes RedZee helps parents and children find age-appropriate websites and information quicker.

“There will always be people who like text-based search engines,” Stewart said. “But with a more visual approach, kids will find using the Internet for education less daunting.”

RedZee.com is free.  To give it a try, please visit http://www.redzee.com.

Contact Name:  Glenn Selig
Phone:  (888) 399-5534
Email: 
Web site:  www.RedZee.com

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Source Web Site: RedZee.com