Lark Birdsong's List: Search Engines

Social media of all kinds are a source of huge amounts of fresh information about news and events, likes and dislikes. But the signal-to-noice ratio is not good: Much, maybe most, of the material posted is personal and it can be hard to find the pertinent information. You need help to sift and sort the items, so why not try one of these five great real time search engines.

Google and Bing are the dominant players, yet it might be a mistake to think that their position is uncontested. In fact, as Google has said themselves, "competition is just one click away" and Forrester research in 2008 reported that users are in a permanent state of readiness to switch.

Two new items that were recently posted by W|A.

1. Science: "Following the Sun’s Unique Path"

Explanation and examples (with screen caps) for finding the sun path for a specific location and date.

2. Business: "Exploring Trends in U.S. Retail Sales"

"Ann Smarty gives Firefox users three ways to see instant search results without having to go to the search engine. These all work for Google and some others. "

the one place to find everything new from Google

"I just spent an hour kicked back watching Qwiki, the winners of this year's TechCrunch event, after the site opened up some beta accounts today. The company says it provides an "information experience" but for now, it's mostly a fancy photo slideshow and a text to speech engine reading Wikipedia entries. That's pretty entertaining though! "

"But wait, here's another: Blekko, whose name means, according to CEO Rick Skrenta, Our naming firm sucked, so we went with this instead.

Blekko's technology is quite clever, and the economics of search are such that it might actually work as a business and pay back the $24 million that's been invested in the company so far. Blekko's challenge is not to unseat Google but to simply not fade into obscurity. "

"I'd like to share a few thoughts about how I'm planning on using Blekko, based on the strengths and weaknesses of Google Custom Search. But first some assumptions:

* I'm going to assume that you work in a field where high-quality information is valuable.

* I'm going to assume that you can imagine the value of first mover's advantage, when it comes to information."

continued

"Yes, Yahoo! now uses Microsoft’s Bing to power its web searching, but the company continues to make the case that it will continue to innovate in web search. Yahoo! has been adding new features and interfaces to a variety of its search products. One recent example is Yahoo! Clues, which launched in mid-November 2010. While it is just in Beta and in its early stages, Clues offer unique information not readily available from other sources."

"Zazzle is the world's leading platform for quality custom products. Zazzle’s proprietary technology enables individuals, professional artists, and major brands, including Disney and Hallmark, to create and offer billions of unique products for customers worldwide. Zazzle’s rapidly expanding product base covers every topic imaginable and includes t-shirts, business cards, invitations, in addition to a variety of custom gifts. Upon creation, products are instantly and accurately visualized on the site and offered in the Zazzle marketplace. When ordered, each product is made on-demand, typically within 24 hours. Launched in 2005 and based in Redwood City, California, Zazzle’s vision is to redefine commerce, powered by the world’s imagination."

"Google has run a sting operation that it says proves Bing has been watching what people search for on Google, the sites they select from Google’s results, then uses that information to improve Bing’s own search listings. Bing doesn’t deny this.

As a result of the apparent monitoring, Bing’s relevancy is potentially improving (or getting worse) on the back of Google’s own work. Google likens it to the digital equivalent of Bing leaning over during an exam and copying off of Google’s test.

“I’ve spent my career in pursuit of a good search engine,” says Amit Singhal, a Google Fellow who oversees the search engine’s ranking algorithm. “I’ve got no problem with a competitor developing an innovative algorithm. But copying is not innovation, in my book.”

Bing doesn’t deny Google’s claim. Indeed, the statement that Stefan Weitz, director of Microsoft’s Bing search engine, emailed me yesterday as I worked on this article seems to confirm the allegation:"