I received a beta invitation to test iBegin about one month ago, but was immediately dissappointed in their service and could never build up the desired level of animosity to write a “First Look” for them. Luckily enough for iBegin a lot of others did take an active role in the beta test and they have turned their service 180-degrees in the oppposite direction.

iBegin is a local search engine, currently only Toronto is supported, that simply does local search right. The front page is focused on search, much in the way Google’s home page is - there’s nothing there to distract you from what you intend to do. Varying query types allow you to pinpoint exactly what you are looking for, no more searching for “Library” and finding that obscure nightclub across town named “The Library.” A quick toggle between listing view and map view allows you to take location into account.

iBegin is a great local search engine, if you live in Toronto, otherwise you’re screwed. This is my only fault with iBegin - their strictly Web 1.0 release method. The majority of iBegin’s listings are provided by the users themselves - take the popular (and successful) route and launch all city’s now and let the users make your search better.