In today’s modern Internet, search engines have full control over the web, they can make sites the center of attention or make them disappear in a flash. A web site that is not referenced by Google, Yahoo or MSN is virtually nonexistent to the average user.  It is also largely accepted that search engines cover only 20% of the Web today.

In other words, search engine algorithms dictate which web sites are ‘visible’ and which web sites don’t exist. There is nothing democratic about it, the search engines decide. Either you fit in the system, or you’re out of the game. No matter how good your web site is, no matter how good users think your web site is, machines decide if it is a good match for you or not. It could be full of junk for all you know, as long as it follows the rules of page ranking and other criterias set by the algorithms. Like it or not, there is a dictatorship of information, no matter how good the intentions of these companies are, they have control over what you see.

Who can better judge if a web site is a good match for your key words, if it’s not you ?

Aren’t you the one who should judge if a web site is right for you?

Umibozu attempts to address this problem by providing users the means to vote for web sites that they find interesting or useful, bringing more democracy to the web 2.0. In order to start off the process though, Umibozu brings together all the results of the major search engines in one place, then lets the user refine the results. After all, machines also have the right to vote.

Say you’re looking for the best pizza place in town, you should not take for granted whatever your good friend tells you, it’s always best to have several recommendations, no matter how much you trust this friend. Also, your taste and preferences are an important factor in your choice for a good pizza, and should be taken into account when looking for a good place to eat. This is why Umibozu combines the results of several search engines to offer you the best advice possible when voting for a site. Umibozu also lets you submit your own sites, and allows you to define priorities on the different search engines, so that the results reflect your personal preferences.

When you know a good place in town to have a pizza, you want to spread the word, and share it with friends and family. The same applies to web sites, Umibozu allows you to save your favorite web sites in a single click, and access them from any computer in the world via its portable bookmark system. Not only you don’t have to be in front of your computer at home to access your bookmarks, you can also share them with your friends and/or peers that share the same interests as you by enabling the sharing option and sending them the link to your portable bookmark.

This web site is a prototype, it is not a commercial product or a reliable service (yet, maybe one day). It could misbehave at any time. Please do not rely on it. Read the Disclamer and Terms of Service for more details. Source: Umibozu

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 21st, 2009 at 8:58 am and is filed under Newcomers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.