Sometimes it is hard to forget that there are thousands and thousands of search engines beyond the big ones we are mostly aware of like Google, Yahoo!, Windows Live Search, Ask.com etc. If you ask people, maybe if they are 'in the know' might call out ChaCha, Mahalo, or Hakia but most likely those will only sound like exotic gelato flavors to them.For almost a year, the AltSearchEngines blog - member of the Read/WriteWeb blog network- has been covering hundreds of alternative / niche search engines and it is one of the places i go to to get the 'scoop'.
Charles Knight is an industry analyst and Editor of AltSearchEngines. From their About Page: "While the editorial attitude will not be “anti-Google”, it will certainly be “pro-alternative search engines” - a showcase of cutting edge innovation. Our goal for AltSearchEngines is to make it the definitive destination for everything related to alternative search engines - over 1,000 of them!"
The site is nicely divided into the following categories:
On a recent post, Knight writes that they are planning to start a Database of search engines which will be great so you can quickly drill down to all the information that has been gathered via the postings.
I also just noticed this evening that they also have a new subscription based forum that offers a one month free trial which i just signed up for- although there doesn't seem to be too much activity right now.
Flickr Gelato image by Klara Kim
3 comments :
Daniela,
Thank you very much for that great review of AltSearchEngines. In the first half of 2007 alone, we published the Top 100 Alternative Search Engines every month (the March 2008 list is now on the blog) with 227 search engines appearing at one time or another.
We also posted in the categories you mention daily and globally.
It is true that the forum is new - it will take time to pick up steam and we welcome all suggestions.
The database and "voting rights" for the Top 100 are coming very soon.
We warmly welcome your readers at anytime.
Thanks again,
Charles Knight, editor
AltSearchEngines.com
ReadWriteWeb Network
thanks for stopping by Charles! You provide a great eye-opener service in the space.
Finding a picture of gelato on the Web, possibly via a search engine, isn't a completely satisfying experience, is it? Rather, Daniela, your gelato photo serves as a nice reminder that search and information retrieval aren't everything by any means. However many search engines there are out there, they're not going to deliver that gelato.
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