When I first Techerd (“TechCrunch read”…I techerd..u techer…did you techer?…) about Like.com launch a few weeks ago I was really intrigued. The service, powered by Riya, was described as “.. the first true visual search engine, where the contents of photos are used to search and retrieve similar items”.

Now this is not a post about investigative journalism. I happen to be intrigued as this coincided with my bi-annual search for my next watch. Sometimes this is just a fantasy search and sometimes real - a fact only other watch freaks will identify with. In any case, the search was on. The borders of this search were wide – off and online. From regular stores, through ebay, amazon and onto any place I could find something new and original to satisfy “DA’crave” (this time - large dial, vintage looking dive watches). So here comes like.com and provides me with an opportunity to genuinely test innovative search technology when all I have in my mind is a fixation for large dial, vintage dive watches. Go figure. But if you think of a Like.com real life scenario, this is a great way to start.

What you need when you search Like.com are visual anchors, in my case the likes are Vintage Omega or Panerai. All I can say is that the search was magical. The first big difference I noticed, and this is where innovative technology provides exciting results, is the fact I found watches and brands I would never have found otherwise. A kind of lateral journey that takes you to places you never visited, thus providing the true added value of internet search.

You start with the original visual anchor and get a ‘should be improved interface’. You then point to point to visual features that generate further search results. As a sidenote, Like.com can definitely invest more in usability. It starts easy and gets complicated – too many tuning dials and radio buttons to select from. Imagine searching in Google but always seeing the advanced search fields. Overkill. Keep a clean interface, provide the main visual search tool and hide the rest. But since it is an alpha, I let go. When come the gamma …I won’t (why doesn’t anyone launch a gamma?? :/ ).

Without that simplifying mass market appeal will be low and Like.com will be positioned as a high end search engine – and that’s too bad because it’s not. For most people on the planet (homo sapiens at least) visual search is as natural if not more natural then contextual.

Bottom line - Like.com is a clear winner. As a user I expect to use it more and more and let other people know about it because its very useful. In the context of the ‘industry’ I expect some interesting things to come. I see Google or Yahoo munching this small company up before their niche market hits the masses. Good luck and thanks for the ride.