There is an amazing piece of software, called Watson (http://www.karelia.com/watson/), that has changed the way many people use the internet. Watson, is dubbed as a Swiss Army Knife for the web. Basically, Watson works with sites like Yahoo, Google, Amazon and others to help you gather information easily. Whether that information is in the form of a search using Google, Movie Listings or Weather reports, Watson allows you to bypass your browser and collect the information that you are looking for quickly and effortlessly.

Here is how Watson and in turn Sherlock works.

• Watson is essentially a Web Browser, much like Internet Explorer or OmniWeb. But instead of being generic -- capable of viewing any Web page, it's targetted to some of the most useful Web sites. Think of it as a Web Browser with a predefined set of bookmarks.
  
  A Web Browser, running on your desktop computer, contacts another computer over the Internet that has made information available to the public. It fetches the data, formatted using a coding called HTML, and then displays them on-screen. Watson's main difference is in how it formats the data on-screen quite differently than a generic Web Browser does. (Watson also connects to "Web Services" -- web sites where the data is coded in XML instead of HTML.) -from the Watson FAQ.

Watson was released in 2001 and then Sherlock was updated to Version 3 with the release of MacOS 10.2 (Jaguar). While these two programs do basically the same thing, Watson is the undisputed champion and has received much press and publicity because of it. This has left Sherlock in the background.

Why is Watson better? Speed. Watson is very fast. I don't know why, I just know that it is. Tools. When you download Watson, there are a number of installed tools (19 in all). Each of which perform very well.

Now that you know what Watson is you may be asking yourself "Why would you want use Sherlock? Especially if it is slower than Watson and has less tools?" $$$ Watson is $29.00 for a single user and $39.00 for a household. Sherlock is FREE (provided you have already shelled out for MacOS 10.2). So, for those who are on a budget but want some of the same functionality...read on.

Preinstalled Sherlock Channels : Sherlock comes with 10 preinstalled tools or channels, as Apple has called them. They are Internet, Stocks, Pictures, Yellow Pages, Flights, eBay, Dictionary, Apple Care, Translation and Movies. Using these channels, you can search the web (Internet), browse eBay listings, look up words (Dictionary), find addresses (Yellow Pages), check filght times and more.

Adding Channels p1 : In order to make Sherlock more Watson like, we have to add channels. How do we add channels to Sherlock? Elementary my dear Watson. (I couldn't resist!) Go to Sherlockers.com. There you will find a number of Sherlock channels that have been developed by individuals. Here are some of the tools that are available:

• Billboard
• Mapquest
• MacUpdate
• Shop (Amazon.com)
• Weather
• iCalshare
• dotmac.info

In all, there are 33 sherlock channels available in nine categories.

Adding Channels p2 : Adding a channel to Sherlock is quite easy. Go to the web site (sherlockers.com), find the channel that you want to add and then click on the 'Click here to add the channel to Sherlock' link (see image below).

Clicking this will open Sherlock and ask you if you want to add this channel to Sherlock. Click on the Add button and you will see then new channel installed in the Sherlock Toolbar. To add other channels, simply repeat the steps above. You can also view the channel prior to adding it (by clicking on the 'Click here to just view the channel' link).

To remove the channel, right click on it in the toolbar and select 'Remove Item' from the pop-up menu. (see image right)

Sherlockers.com is not the only site for finding sherlock channels. Do an internet search for "Sherlock Channels' and you are bound to find more great, free sherlock channels.

Click here to view an image gallery of Sherlock Channels in action.

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