Matteo, my biz partner, used to assemble the best images of food and food-related products he found on Veedow for a while. You know, being Italians we like to cook and treat us well in the kitchen :) So, after a couple of nights of editing the result is this very nice video:



[if you have problems watching the video click here]

The best thing is that Matteo didn't put that much effort into finding these cool products because they were all delivered to his personal Veedow page in the past few weeks! He found great stuff - whether delicious, funny, smart, stylish, etc. - without searching for it.
In fact one of Veedow's core principles and beliefs is that discovery can be far more effective than search under certain circumstances and depending on your own objectives. Wow, sounds like a statement taken from a schoolbook! So, let's dig a bit deeper into this concept...
For example, if you want to buy a book, a dress, a pair of shoes, a dvd, etc. and YOU ALREADY KNOW WHAT YOU WANT, than a traditional search tool of some kind is what you need. Whether that search is performed on Google, Amazon, Kelkoo, HMV or any other website it's just a matter of who do you trust more and what kind of product or service are you looking for. On the contrary, sifting through the sheer amount of information inside these websites could be pointless - or at least not optimal - when you only have a vague idea of what you'd like or not even a clue about it.
I hear you say, if I don't have a specific need or don't know what I'd like, why should I bother looking for something?. This objection is true to a certain extent, because it's also true that people like to do some window-shopping, they like to dream about things they fancy, they like to check out new products, share their taste and so on...
Everyone has some interests and Veedow offers personalised recommendations and inspiration about those interests, so even if you don't have a specific need you can get valuable advice from the service, whether you'll end up buying something or just indulge in some window-shopping.

In our opinion StumbleUpon is the best example of online discovery so far. They make you discover websites, pictures and videos while Veedow makes you discover products, but the core proposition is very similar. Inspire people through the discovery of great things they would have hardly found otherwise. If you apply this to music you have Last.fm and Pandora for example. If you apply it to books you have Shelfari and aNobii and so on.

What's your opinion about discovery vs. search?

-Fabio & the Veedow Team