Amazon.com Search Service for Snow Leopard

NEW UPDATE — February 25, 2010

Have you ever been reading about a book, movie, or an album and wanted to find it quickly on Amazon.com? Now it’s as easy as clicking your mouse with Snow Leopard!

I think that the new Automator Services are among Snow Leopard’s best new features because, with a little elbow grease, users can extend the operating system in some pretty fun ways. For example, I’m always reading about things online that I want to remember to look up or add to my shopping cart on Amazon.

With this service installed, all I have to do is highlight the text that I want to search for and then activate it! I thought I’d share this PREVIEW release to see if it works for you as well!

Features

  • Once Installed, this service will allow you to Control-Click (a.k.a., “Right Click”) a highlighted passage of text anywhere that Snow Leopard’s Services are available and search for it immediately on Amazon.com!

    Contextual Menu

    Installed Services appear at the bottom of your Contextual Menu

  • Instead of opening up a new tab or window in your browser, a special preview window will appear containing your search results. When you’re done shopping, just close the window and you’re back to where you started — with no fuss!
  • Preview Window

    Easy to use Preview Window superimposes your results over the current window.

The Fine Print

(Otherwise known as “Stuff You Should Know Before Installing”)

  • THIS IS A BETA RELEASE! Errors will undoubtedly arise when you do something that I didn’t think of or test for! đŸ˜‰
  • **UPDATE** This New “Beta 3” Revision continues to try and fix installer-related issues that occurred on some systems. If you installed an earlier version and the service didn’t work, this revision should fix the issue for you!
  • This Service will only work in applications that support it. For example, Safari allows the use of services and Firefox (currently) doesn’t.
  • Veritrope.com’s Amazon Affiliate ID is included in the search, which means that I may receive a commission on items you find through the Search Service.
  • This service is being provided for the benefit of the Mac community. While it works wonderfully for me, I cannot take responsibility for any data you might lose (or if your laptop turns into a pumpkin or something…)
  • “Community” means “participation”. Please share with the rest of us how you think this service could be improved (and feel free to help someone if they don’t understand something!)

How to Install

  1. Download the ZIP file from the link below:
  2. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

  3. Once downloaded and unzipped, click on the installer package called “Amazon.com Search Service for Snow Leopard” and follow the instructions.

    PKG

How to Use

  1. Open Safari (or any other Services-Aware Application);
  2. Highlight the text you want to search for on Amazon.com
  3. Move your cursor over the highlighted text and Control-Click (Right-Click) with your mouse
  4. When the Contextual Menu appears, look toward the bottom of the list for the available Services
  5. Select “Amazon.com Search”. The Preview Window will appear in just a few moments and display your search results!

I hope you enjoy using it! Please leave any suggestions, comments, or “bug reports” in the comments below.

Interested in what other Services are available for Snow Leopard?

Click here to see the latest list!

4 Responses to “Amazon.com Search Service for Snow Leopard”

  1. big November 15, 2009 at 4:54 pm #

    How do you remove this install??

    I have installed the PKg and want to remove it to fault find.

    Thanks