The Times: Tech column - Google alternatives
By David Rowan
THOSE BRAINY people at Google are edging closer to world domination. Not content with extending web-search into news, pictures, chat forums and shopping catalogues, they have quietly been adding dozens of other useful services - letting you track your parcel in real time (type "FedEx" and the parcel's number), monitor US flight delays (type "airport" plus the airport's three-letter code), or even narrow a search down to a particular town (at labs.google.com/location - again, still limited to the States). But Google's latest innovation most starkly explains why established businesses, both online and offline, are watching with trepidation as a simple search site evolves into the world's primary information provider.
The printed book is Google's latest target. It has archived thousands of titles, with sample texts available at the click of a mouse. Google does not yet want you to test it (which is why "print.google.com" currently returns a blank page), but you might try Googling your favourite author alongside the phrase "site:print.google.com". Alongside an extract, you are invited to buy the book at a partner site. You can easily imagine how, after books, the company will be striking deals to archive (and sell) everything from movies to pop songs. As it audaciously tells those inquiring further: "Google's mission is to provide access to all the world's information and make it universally useful and accessible."
If you are starting to find the firm a little too powerful, the good news is that you have a choice. Google may be the most useful all-purpose search tool, but plenty of others want to be No 2. Here are three that have been attracting a fair amount of praise lately. Try them, compare the results with Google's and see if they suit you more.
Vivisimo (at vivisimo.com) is one of the better "metasearch" engines -offering simultaneous results from several search engines. It is fast, cleanly designed and usefully presents information in "clusters" that narrow your search. Type in "Hutton report", for instance, and it offers sub-folders titled "Kelly", "inquiry" and "admits errors" (the latter about Andrew Gilligan). You can also restrict searches to publications such as The New York Times, business sources and even auction sites.
All The Web (at alltheweb.com) claims to search 3.2 billion pages as opposed to Google's 3.3 billion, but also offers easy searches of audio and video files. It proved less effective for our "Hutton report" search (could we really "Find Hutton on eBay?"), and placed amateur weblogs and local papers far ahead of more relevant sources. Still, it may help you to locate a Madonna track.
You might also try Teoma, owned by Ask Jeeves, helpful in refining complicated searches and promising to lead you to "expert resources". Alas, it thought the Hutton report was primarily something to do with General Custer's last stand, but you might fare better. If you want excellent guidance to other search sites, Search Engine Watch is the place to start. You can, of course, find it via Google.
+++
Two hopes for 2004: first, that the mainstream media stops reporting computer games purely in the context of violence or angst-ridden teenagers. The UK gaming industry brought in £2 billion in 2003 and deserves to be taken at least as seriously as our domestic film industry. Secondly, that IT companies stop penalising UK consumers on price when the dollar is plunging.
Apple, you were out of order last week suggesting that the new mini iPod would cost Americans $249 (around £137) but around £199 here. After protests, that now seems to be under review -but in a global market, why do we Brits always pay more?
(The Times, January 13 2004)
THOSE BRAINY people at Google are edging closer to world domination. Not content with extending web-search into news, pictures, chat forums and shopping catalogues, they have quietly been adding dozens of other useful services - letting you track your parcel in real time (type "FedEx" and the parcel's number), monitor US flight delays (type "airport" plus the airport's three-letter code), or even narrow a search down to a particular town (at labs.google.com/location - again, still limited to the States). But Google's latest innovation most starkly explains why established businesses, both online and offline, are watching with trepidation as a simple search site evolves into the world's primary information provider.
The printed book is Google's latest target. It has archived thousands of titles, with sample texts available at the click of a mouse. Google does not yet want you to test it (which is why "print.google.com" currently returns a blank page), but you might try Googling your favourite author alongside the phrase "site:print.google.com". Alongside an extract, you are invited to buy the book at a partner site. You can easily imagine how, after books, the company will be striking deals to archive (and sell) everything from movies to pop songs. As it audaciously tells those inquiring further: "Google's mission is to provide access to all the world's information and make it universally useful and accessible."
If you are starting to find the firm a little too powerful, the good news is that you have a choice. Google may be the most useful all-purpose search tool, but plenty of others want to be No 2. Here are three that have been attracting a fair amount of praise lately. Try them, compare the results with Google's and see if they suit you more.
Vivisimo (at vivisimo.com) is one of the better "metasearch" engines -offering simultaneous results from several search engines. It is fast, cleanly designed and usefully presents information in "clusters" that narrow your search. Type in "Hutton report", for instance, and it offers sub-folders titled "Kelly", "inquiry" and "admits errors" (the latter about Andrew Gilligan). You can also restrict searches to publications such as The New York Times, business sources and even auction sites.
All The Web (at alltheweb.com) claims to search 3.2 billion pages as opposed to Google's 3.3 billion, but also offers easy searches of audio and video files. It proved less effective for our "Hutton report" search (could we really "Find Hutton on eBay?"), and placed amateur weblogs and local papers far ahead of more relevant sources. Still, it may help you to locate a Madonna track.
You might also try Teoma, owned by Ask Jeeves, helpful in refining complicated searches and promising to lead you to "expert resources". Alas, it thought the Hutton report was primarily something to do with General Custer's last stand, but you might fare better. If you want excellent guidance to other search sites, Search Engine Watch is the place to start. You can, of course, find it via Google.
+++
Two hopes for 2004: first, that the mainstream media stops reporting computer games purely in the context of violence or angst-ridden teenagers. The UK gaming industry brought in £2 billion in 2003 and deserves to be taken at least as seriously as our domestic film industry. Secondly, that IT companies stop penalising UK consumers on price when the dollar is plunging.
Apple, you were out of order last week suggesting that the new mini iPod would cost Americans $249 (around £137) but around £199 here. After protests, that now seems to be under review -but in a global market, why do we Brits always pay more?
(The Times, January 13 2004)
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