Sphere: Balancing Power and Simplicity
http://www.adaptivepath.com/ideas/essays/archives/000614.php

Freitas, Ryan
Adaptive Path
2006

Abstract:

The Sphere team had already put a lot of work into returning fresh, relevant search results, and had several ideas about how to evolve the standard search experience. Filtering results appropriately (to let users easily get at the exact result they were after) would be paramount. Deep context for results would also be offered, along with related items (from traditional media to podcasts).