Search engine alternatives
TO MAKE the search process efficient a new crop of search services are surfacing. The salient features of a few of them are examined here.
In the past, many netizens used to think that Web was the entire Net and IE was the only browser. Now they realise that Web is just one of the services on the Net and IE is just one of the tools for accessing it. Likewise, for a while, such search engines/directories as Altavista and Yahoo were the main tools used by netizens for locating Net resources. But, with its brilliance and terrific performance, Google made all of them fade into cyberspace. Now for many netizens, a search service means Google and nothing else. By taking several pro-active measures, Google regularly enriches its service base and still continues to be the undisputed leader.
Though Google is quite effective, we should not forget that it also has shortcomings - for example, many irrelevant links turn up in its search output. In this context the attempts to create search engines that can produce more optimised output become quite timely and worth noticing. Here we will go through the features of some of the new search engines being floated on the Net.
Eurekster
Many irrelevant links creep into a search output because the search service simply scans its database for the occurrence of the string and presents the links of all the pages that contain the search string. It has no mechanism to filter out the results so that the output is tuned to the requirements of the person who initiates the search. For example, if through some mechanism a search engine knows that the searcher is a physicist it can use this information to filter the search output before presenting it to her. One technique to understand a searcher's background is to know the interests of her friends or her friends' network.
Another possible optimisation strategy that can be incorporated into a search tool is to provide the user with some feedback mechanism, which enables the search service to learn more about his interests. Next time when the searcher invokes the service it can produce more relevant results using the intelligence gained from the feedback.
The new search service Eurekster (http://www.eurekster.com/) attempts to use the strategies discussed above to filter out the search output for giving the user a more personalised output. The search engine learns about you from your inputs/your friends' behaviour on the web, alters the search output based on this information and presents an optimised, personlised output. Eurekster, which is certainly a search engine to be watched closely, also provides a toolbar that can be attached to your browser — unfortunately, currently the toolbar is available only for IE.
Vivisimo
Another search service, which has gained much attention recently, is the Vivisimo (http://vivisimo.com/) meta-search engine that presents a clustered search output. Vivisimo sends the user's query to all the search services selected by him, collects the results, organises them into various categories and displays the clustered results in the left pane. As the search results are displayed under different groups, the user can move to the cluster that resembles his subject and avoid wasting time by looking into other irrelevant sites. As per its site, the categories are not pre-defined ones; its cluster engine builds/chooses the categories on-the-fly "from the words and phrases contained in the search results.''
Kartoo
Kartoo (http://www.kartoo.com/) is another search engine designed to provide an organised, homogenous search output instead of plainly listing out all the results mechanically. This meta-search engine collects the search output from several search engines and presents the output on a map. In the map sites are represented as pages with varying sizes. The size of a page determines its relevance- bigger size means more relevance. If you move the mouse over a page, you will find its details displayed on the left frame.
Babieca
Babieca (http://www.babieca.com/), which is a many-in-one product with such services as search engine, search directory and meta search is another tool worth a look.
Fontifier
Want to create a document in your own handwriting? Try out the on-line service Fontifier (Font based on your handwriting), created to generate fonts that resemble your own handwriting. To create the font, download the template file, print it out, fill-up the printout with the specified characters, create a `GIF' file by scanning the filled-up template and submit it the to the service. At this point the service will immediately generate a font file with characters in your own handwriting. After downloading the font file, install it on to your system and use it whenever you want the text to be in your handwriting. If you don't have a scanner, fill-up the template with the help of a drawing program like Paintbrush. The service, which is in the testing phase, is currently available for free. For more details: http://www.fontifier.com/
Dodgeit
In spite of the proliferation of many tools to control them, spammers are still able to hit our mailbox with junk mails. As mentioned in an earlier column, one solution to minimise the impact of this menace is not to make your e-mail id public. Towards this end, it would be better if you use a throwaway e-mail id whenever you have to submit an e-mail address to avail of a service that requires it. We have already seen the e-mail service Mailinator (http://www.mailinator.com), designed to create a throwaway e-mail address. Recently this author came across another similar e-mail service called Dodgeit (http://www.dodgeit.com/) (A receive-only e-mail service) that also allows you to pick a throwaway e-mail address. The service lets you create an e-mail id of the form any-name@dodgeit.com, whenever you need it. The significance of this service is that when somebody sends a mail in this address, Dodgeit generates an RSS feed that contains the text of the mail. That is, apart from accessing the mailbox through the web interface, you can read it with a news aggregator also.
J. Murali
Email the author at:
murali27@satyam.net.in
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Business
