From the “hey, everyone else is doing it” handbook, Yahoo announced that it’s getting into the browser business. That’s sort of true, because the thing about Axis, Yahoo’s new search browser, is that it will install as an add-on to your current browser. It’s kind of like the Google search bar, except options like website and image previews without leaving your search page. You can download Axis as an app for iPhone and iPad (no word on Android or other platforms) and switch from one device to the other, all the while the app can track and save what you’re looking at. Pretty neat, although I have to say, after installing it on Chrome this morning, it kept opening new tabs. I felt like I was playing some kind of shoot-em-up game, trying to close the tabs as fast as they were opening, but maybe I just need to close my browser… OK that didn’t work.
Anyway, the Wall Street Journal says, “Yahoo is touting [Axis] as a way to instantly peek into different websites on a mobile device or computer without having to leave a primary search bar.” On your browser, Axis appears as a small search bar in the lower-left corner of your browser. Click on it and it expands to take up about a third of the bottom of your browser. The preview function seems helpful, and I like the idea of keeping your browser going across different screens. Hopefully the tab opening thing is just a glitch, because trying to close them is like killing gremlins in a rainstorm. Also, no word on whether Axis is as bold as or bolder than love.
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