Molu is something that started as a hobby for H. J., but is gradually turning into a goal; a goal to change the concept of searching the Internet. Molu is just the second step after its predecessor, the Alpha version. There are a huge differences in the styling of the web pages that will be visible at the very first site, but look carefully, there are many surprises waiting for you to be identified in the functional aspects as well.

Q: So, we have to ask, why ‘Molu?’

A: There are two answers; Molu was the name of my dog, and Molu is the name of the search spider.

Q. What is Quest?

Law.com’s Quest is a new search tool from Law.com. Their aim is to bring legal professionals relevant results from across the Law.com network and the legal web.

Q. What does Law.com Quest search?

Law.com Quest searches the Law.com network of sites, including the New York Law Journal, The American Lawyer, The National Law Journal, Law Firm Inc., the U.S. Supreme Court Monitor, and more publications and resources from ALM Media. Law.com Quest also brings results from hundreds of hand-picked law firm websites and prominent legal blogs, and they are adding new sites all the time.

Q. How is Law.com Quest different from other search engines?

Law.com Quest is just like the search engines you’re used to, in that you start a search on Law.com Quest by simply typing a keyword or two into the search box. The difference is that instead of returning hundreds of thousands of results that you have to page through to find what you’re looking for, or requiring you to construct elaborate Boolean queries, Law.com Quest starts with an index of relevant sites and lets you filter your results by category to help you quickly zero in on the information you need.

Q. Why should I use Law.com Quest and not just go to Google™?

Google™ searches the entire web returning a wide range of items that may not be relevant or from reliable sources. They believe you’ll find value in their targeted list of sites specifically geared toward legal professionals.

SearchCrystal is a visualization tool, the goal of which is to present the results of a search in the most useful way possible. I’ve taken the tour, and I call it KoolTorch on steroids. KartOO and Quintura , our Search Engines of the Month, are also experimenting with different ways to display search results.

So, SearchCrystal is a search visualization tool that enables you to compare, remix and share results from the best web, image, video, blog, tagging, news engines or RSS feeds. You can embed SearchCrystal as a Widget on your site or blog to share personalized crystals, or use it to find out what is popular on Wikipedia or use the Search Analytics Toolbox in your browser as a competitive intelligence tool.

SearchCrystal is an advanced program best suited for researchers and “power users,” whereas KoolTorch, Quintura, and KartOO aim more for ease-of-use and a broader user base. SearchCrystal is in beta, so please leave any comments, questions,  or feedback after this post.

Balihoo, a vertical search engine for advertising media, announced today that it has launched a broad Beta program.

The Balihoo search engine enables advertisers and agencies to search for media properties that are most relevant to their advertising campaigns, gather and analyze information about those properties, and interact with media owners to build and execute media plans. Balihoo works across geographies and on any media type including TV, radio, print, interactive and out-of-home.

About Balihoo
Balihoo, based in Boise, Idaho, has developed a vertical search engine. The web-based platform changes the media industry landscape by enabling the discovery of media and advertising opportunities across any medium. With a database of advertising opportunities, Balihoo simplifies the media landscape, helping advertisers and agencies to sort through the number of available media properties. The Balihoo search engine lets users zero in on media opportunities based on variables including demographics, geographies, keyword and specific media types.

I love Skweezer. There, I said it! When it comes to Mobile search, the sites that you are taken to fall into three categories: 1) The site has a mobile version designed to look good on a mobile device (like my T-Mobile Sidekick3). 2) There are those sites that have no mobile version, and look like you-know-what on a mobile device. And then 3) there are the state-of-the-art hybrid sites that have both versions, and they return the appropriate one depending upon whether it is a PC or a PDA calling. Well, Skwezer is option 4) It takes a regular web page, and by taking out images and unnecessary stuff, “skweezes” it down to a mobile-ready size.

Now, they have released Skweezer 4.0; here are a few things that are different:

• Dynamic Images. By determining the client device’s screen size, they are able to re-size images and send the smaller, optimized version.
• New search engine. Before, they detected search queries (as opposed to direct navigating to a website) and would skweeze a search engine’s results page. Granted the user could choose the default search engine, but it was less than ideal. Now that they’re using third-party APIs they can exert more control of the output, which means search results are more mobile-friendly.
• Find in page and phone numbers. On the first page of your search result destination, you can skip to the first occurrence of any search term, which will be highlighted. If you’re browsing through a phone that they support, they will try to link 10-digit phone numbers.
• New directory. More sites and languages and a better back-end system will allow faster turnaround to incorporate suggestions, although currently “suggest a site” is behaving oddly.
• Japanese UI. One of the newest members to their team recently translated the UI into Japanese, and this is just in time since Japanese usage has been growing.
• Mobile site bypass. For sites that are already mobilized, Skweezer should leave them mostly intact. They now send through the original user agent, so for sites that present a mobile alternative, this will let them do so.
• Self-explanatory desktop interface. It is difficult to describe the function of Skweezer in five words or less. If you visit Skweezer on your desktop browser, however, you’ll see the new narrow interface, and it should be more obvious what’s going on.