I read a piece in Boing Boing about how most of the companies who advertise on Japanese trains use a search picture, with an input box and pointer to show that you should search for the term. In contrast, most companies in the US seem to give a URL for you to enter into a browser. Most of the comments focussed on how this is going to be how things are done in the future and how URLs are slowly being phased out in favour of search. Many mentioned that people now don’t know how to enter a URL and instead use the search box to get to a site. I think the reason for these search boxes is different.

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