Sometimes, it is not necessary to have the best search results or huge amount of data in the search engine area. And you don’t have to compete with Google most of the time cause you can’t win. But you can do something else.

RedZee is a small but nice search engine. It isn’t the best competitor against Google, it doesn’t the financial power as Microsoft for Live.com, but it has something else. A cute, cute, cute mascot. Who would’ve thought that a company called RedZee will have a mascot a red zebra? Strange.
The mascot has a beautiful smile and charming look. Make sure to check the site and also if you have time you can see the commercial which shows more from RedZee personality.

Great creation and nice approach. Cheers!

From the start I will tell you that there is no such thing as the perfect search engine. But I will try to explain what is good in major search engines, and should exist as features in the next perfect search engine. I will start to list the search engines quoted in this topic. Some are familiar some are no names, but for sure all have at least one good feature. Here we go: Google, Yahoo, Microsoft Live, Ask, Quintura, Powerset, Wikia and Cuil.

First page features:

AUTOCOMPLETE: [Google, Yahoo, Ask, Cuil].
This is standard right now, because this feature helps the user select faster a certain search term based on initial letters. The drawback is that sometimes it can slow the user and confuse him at the same time.

PRIVACY / EULA: [All subjects have this feature].
I think that this feature is a must on the front page of any search engine. The user must know the legal limitations in order to decide whether the service is worth using or not.

WEB / IMAGES / VIDEOS: [All subjects have this feature].
One strong feature is diversity. If the search engine can provide different type of data, then the first screen should display this capability.

Results page features:

RELATED SEARCH: [Most of the subjects].
The user is undecided. Sometimes he doesn’t know in what category is the search result situated. So the related search will help him in narrowing the results and finding relevant data.

SEARCH TERM HIGHLIGHTED IN RESULTS:[All subjects have this feature].
I’m glad that this is a standard feature. It is very good to see how the search term is displayed inside result’s content. This also helps the user to stay on focus on a certain domain.

ORDERED RESULTS:[Quintura, Ask].
This is a feature that is not implemented in most search engines. I think it is a major drawback, because a simple number in front of the result will make the user remember easier the search result. Also this will give a certain structure to the overall look of the results page and it can sustain a better user experience.

Global features:

GREAT USER EXPERIENCE: [Quintura, Powerset, Cuil].
It seems like the newcomers have some advantages in this field through some innovation or improved features. Quintura for example has it’s own interactive tag cloud while Cuil and Powerset have other interaction features. Wikia has its own features but I don’t think that for now are in the search results benefit, except for the following.

SCROLLING ACTION: [Wikia].
This is a feature that I like very much. It is an automatic results display while scrolling. In this case you don’t have to press on a page number from pagination, in order to see other results. Awesome feature and pretty accessible.

IMPROVED RANKING ALGORITHM: [None so far].
There are many ranking systems but what’s the point? We need a ranking system based on quality not links quantity. Also a better system against copy/paste sites. This will make the search results more relevant and the users happier.

CONTENT:[We can combine all together].
The content is huge. But its quality is the problem. If the search engines can sort their data, then the search process will be less painful and more productive.

Overall there are some needed features and some standards to be implemented. Also I believe that it will take some time until a new competitive search engine will appear. Cheers!

You all know that I really like the search engine area. It is quite interesting because many players are coming to byte from Google’s cake. That is the part I enjoy - competition -, and also the fact that innovation is present.

This new search engine that I’m talking about, is developed by Stanford professor Tom Costello and his wife - former Google employee Anna Patterson. Cuil is the most recent player in the search engine area and today was the launch day. It was quite glorious and not. Well the good part was that the media coverage was awesome for this new search engine. While the users were curious about this new wonder, the servers were tired from the amount of traffic.

Regarding the features from this new engine, I am happy to see that design is coming home. This site has the goods regarding the user interface. Clean black frontpage with well displayed search results are some good features. Also the user has auto suggest feature which can be used to better narrow your results. But, there is a big but regarding the result. Although Cuil.com has a big index 121,617,892,992 pages, the results are quite a mess. I understand that they are in early stage and I will not say much, but Tom and Anna have to make a better algorithm for page importance.

Overall the search engine is good, has some features, has the interface and has the enthusiasm. I hope Cuil can stand up and claim some share.

PS: Do not mistype, because Culi is a hardcore sex site according to a Techcrunch post.

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You must admit that design is not the first thing that a search engine start-up will consider first. It is OK, because frankly this is not the most important thing regarding a search engine. But - there is always a but, the latest trend in web development and related fields is rich user interface. Another item that Powerset added to the list was Wikipedia + Freebase (free information). Did I said Powerset? Well then Powerset it is.

First we heard about this new search engine a couple of years ago. Everyone was excited and called it the next big thing … or something like that. Then it came with some delays but in the end the final product was very nice. I’ve made some tests in the beta version, which was very different, and I must admit that the live version is one UI/UX masterpiece.

Ready. Powerset. Go!
The starting page is quite unique, easy to remember and with good branding embedded. The graphics are well placed on the page and combined they make a good user interface. Regarding the user experience, I must say Kudos for the developers. This is a search engine where Javascript is used with moderation and in the user’s interest.

The fact that it searches only on Freebase and Wikipedia is not a bad thing. Because these two sites are the best open knowledge sources available. Maybe not so accurate but still they provide us with good information. It is clear that the search engine is still young and needs improvements but it is also clear that it has a solid foundation and approach.

Microsoft also saw the value in this product. A couple of months ago they offered $100 mil for the company but they are still free. And honestly we need them free. Competition drives innovation and innovation drives funds and revenue.

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I don’t know when was the change made, but it is positive. The redesign of the old Gigablast search engine comes with a fresh approach and with new color scheme. Although the redesigned is not pushed to the best limits it has some nice features.

For example the new structure with a left side bar from my opinion is awesome. I like the idea and also the nice features and options placed there. For a standard search engine, Gigablast covers the text data, image data and also video data. An additional feature is selecting your time range in order to have better results. Also you have an advanced search feature which helps you to narrow your results.

Regarding the redesign I like the fact that the old rocket was left behind. I do not quite understand the new graphic element from the logo but it will do. The font used in the logo (I think it is Microgramma) is a good one but not used properly. Overall the new face of this decent search engine is a good thing and I wish them the best luck.

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