CONSTANT BETA

I tried a few new search engines today. I just googled, "new search engines." Ironic, no?

• Chacha, a new search engine based on a human-assisted search model. My take? Cool feature. I did manage to get an accurate result albeit it was not Google-quick. But in an age when we are expecting technology to simplify online search, will we end up relying on humans?
• MsDewey, was my amusement toy for a while. But I quickly outgrew her. Search be simple – not annoying.
• Quintura, still in beta, but I quite liked it. I’m so used to scrolling down a couple links on Google search results that I was slightly surprised when Quintura nailed down my search with it’s first response. Give it a try. The interface is simple, no gimmicks. Plain old search. How will it compare with google?
• SingingFish, an audio/video search engine. Too many of those out there now.
• Tiltomo, visual search. Again.

Yet another look at what the coming year will bring in terms of innovation in technology. Wikipedia’s next big innovation is apparently in improvising search technology. Sometimes the number of technology companies that launch everyday make my head buzz.

A hundred itsy-bitsy pieces and widgets on my desktop, a few add-ons on my browser and a couple other things on my computer– this should all make my life easier. Instead, it only gets complicated. So distracting. And half of these cool tools are plain useless. Web 2.0 – a bubble or the myth of the bubble?