Opening my computer to surf the web leads me to the Google homepage. A blank, clean and clear page with the coluorful logo that is my window to all the web pages out there. I guess the Google homepage is the most used web page. If you ask my parents that web page is the internet itself, as they don't know any other way of accessing the information available. I renamed the browser name (in my case mozilla) with the word 'Internet' and they double click it and Google homepage appears.
I thought of looking for other search engines, engines that are not so popular, but do have something special in their search or appearance. I should mention from the start I am not talking about any of the less know but still very used: dogpile, altavista, alltheweb, aol, lycos and the list goes on. No, I wanted to find search engines that I have never used, came across or heard of.
The results were staggering, not only because of the sheer number of search engines I found, but because some of them are truly interesting and innovating. One of my personal favourites is Ms. Dewey, who is a delight to the eyes, but surely more funny and exciting than the very well known white page. I entertained myself by clicking on 'Best of Dewey' and I have to tell you the SERPs(search engine results pages) are very good. So, Ms Dewey is both good looking and intelligent.
You know when you like a band and you want to browse around listening to other tracks that you may like? I have seen this feature before on Amazon - it recommends you artists based on what you bought before and other people's choices. Well, What to Rent, Music Map, or Live Plasma are sites dedicated to your inquisitive mind and appreciation for the certain type of music, artist or movie. I believe the idea is extremely helpful in discovering music I've never heard of and that I may like or seeing movies that do not have the money to get big advertising budgets.
Some search engines will reward you for just searching with them. Search with the used says every click may get you a Used prize. Designed for mobile use, ChaCha is trying to answer any question you may have, no matter how weird it is or where you are. Therefore, you can call or text only in English and receive an sms back in a few minutes. They even hire ChaCha guides, so if you are really knowledgeable and want to share that, you may consider working for them. For mobile shopping there is Slifter, which shows you the local stores in which you can find the product you need.
Widexplorer surprised me with a completely new arrangement and return of results: being able to explore, all at once, the keyword results for: google, wikipedia, yahoo! answers, youtube, live search images, scribd and delicious. Its aim of providing an extensive choice of images, posts, definitions and user bookmarks makes your search seem well taken care of. Plus, instead of just scrolling down, you're also scrolling left. It makes me think I am browsing through old newspapers' articles in a library.
Instead of a vertical list of links, one above the other, KartOO and Quintura arrange the search results in a 2D model-like og the interconnected web sites. KartOO even shows you the links between the pages, which makes this abstract interconnectivity more tangible.
This list is by no means trying to cover eveything, but only offer a few alternatives to the big giant. There are so many ideas and projects out there and information is not just one Google click away.
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