SkyGrid – Search the financial world in real time

April 28th, 2009 by Charles S. Knight
Posted in Newcomers, Verticals | No Comments »

sky
SkyGrid filters the real-time web with high quality financial content from trusted sources. Founded in 2005, SkyGrid creates innovative technology that lets people have a simple way to see what information is having the most impact on the financial world at every moment of every day. SkyGrid members include people who are passionate about stock market news, business news, and financial information. SkyGrid is a privately held company with headquarters in the heart of Silicon Valley. Source: SkyGrid

Search for webcams with the new Webcams map!

April 28th, 2009 by Charles S. Knight
Posted in Unique Interfaces | No Comments »

logo5
We proudly present a new version of the popular Webcams.travel map.The new features include:


* Better distribution of webcam icons throughout the map
* Better viewing of the map because of more map space
* Easier access to webcam thumbnails on the map by just clicking on webcam icons on the map
* Easier access to webcam thumbnails nearby the map by just scrolling through the list
* Additionally, the webcam thumbnails nearby the map can be toggled hidden/visible by just clicking on the “X” button. This enables you to have a fullscreen map experience.

Despite all these improvements, if you prefer to view the old version you can still do so at www.webcams.travel/map/classic - the new map is available at www.webcams.travel/map.

Source: Webcams.com

Calling for guest posts!

April 28th, 2009 by Charles S. Knight
Posted in Guest Authors, News | 1 Comment »

announcementsAttention, AltSearchEngines readers! Since we began our hunt for every alternative search engine in the world, we have logged more than 2,750 posts in our first two years.

On June 1st, we want to launch into our third year with 3,000  posts under our belt.  But even with the help of Rafi, Hope, Mark, and this new guy Steffen, we can’t come up with 250 posts in one month.

We need your help.  Why not resolve to review one search engine in May and send it to us in an email (charles@altsearchengines.com)?

Together we can make it! Woot!

Wolfram|Alpha – the computational knowledge engine

April 28th, 2009 by Charles S. Knight
Posted in CEO Views, Innovations, Newcomers | No Comments »

header
So what is Wolfram|Alpha?

To begin, we’ve named it a computational knowledge engine.

The heart of Wolfram|Alpha is a computational engine able to draw on terabytes of curated data and synthesize it into entirely new combinations and presentations. The stock of systematic, structured data in the world is vast, but finite, and the efficient processes developed for Wolfram|Alpha have allowed us to make real progress towards the goal of incorporating all of it.

Our overarching goal, the “higher purpose” of this project, is to make all computable, factual knowledge available to everyone. What Wolfram|Alpha does is compute on top of those facts—answering questions, solving equations, providing insights, projecting future behaviors, and more.

We believe the result is an extremely powerful way of harnessing the world’s knowledge and making it possible for anyone to benefit from that power.

Read the entire description on their blog.

Research Buzz! und der Suchmaschine IceRocket

April 28th, 2009 by Charles S. Knight
Posted in Global, Reviews | No Comments »

plainlogoResearch Buzz! wies letzt auf die neue Option “big buzz” der Suchmaschine IceRocket hin, die eine Art Metasuche in Weblogs, Twitter und FriendFeed bietet. Weblogs sind eine bekannte Größe, Twitter ist mittlerweile als Mikroblogging-Marktfüher auch bekannt und FriendFeed ist ein Aggregationsdienst, mit dessen Hilfe man die Einträge aus verschiedenen Diensten der Sozialen Software an einer Stelle konzentrieren kann. – Und wenn sie dort konzentriert ist, kann man auch diese eine Stelle abfragen.

Alles in allem also recht interessante Neuigkeitenquellen, die eine gute Ergänzung zu Zeitungs- oder Newssuchmaschinen bieten können. Diese Suchoption von IceRocket stellt mithin eine Konkurrenz zur Neuigkeiten-Spezialsuchmaschine Addict-o-matic; Addict-o-matic dar. Doch während diese die Ergebnisse flächig in Widgets geordnet darstellt, bietet Icerocket für jede Kategorie – Weblogs, Twitter und FriendFeed – eine chronologische Auflistung, die ziemlich weit nach hinten gehen kann. So hat man die Möglichkeit, die Entwicklung der Diskussion eines Begriffes, einer Fragestellung nachzuverfolgen. Rechts hat man noch die Option, das Ergebnis periodisch auffrischen zu lassen. Und – eine Sache, die mir wichtig ist – es gibt die Möglichkeit, die Suche als RSS-Feed zu abonnieren, damit hat man die ganzen Aktualiierungen im Sack, kann sie an einer Stelle abfragen und muss nicht stets aufs Neue die Seite laden und die Suchworte eingeben. Nun hat man noch die Crux, dass diese Neuigkeiten bei der Eingabe von Suchbegriffen recht umfangreich sind.

icerocket_blog_searchIcerocket akzeptiert Boole’sche Operatoren (AND, OR, NOT), Phrasensuche (für feststehende Begriffskombinationen und Namen) und einfache Klammerungen. Ich kann also Suchbegriffe miteinander verknüpfen und damit eine spezifische Suche durchführen, beispielsweise in der Form (hunger or poverty) and “third world” oder (hunger or armut) and (entwicklungsländer or “dritte welt”). – Mit der Wahl der Quellen, der chronologischen Aufbereitung, der Abonnements-Option per RSS und der Möglichkeit einer sinnvollen Verknüpfung von Suchbegriffen bietet Icerocket damit eine attraktive Suchmöglichkeit nach von vielen Bloggern, Twitterern und FriendFeed-Nutzern gesammelten Informationen.

robot1Research Buzz! mentioned in the March “buzz” of IceRocket’s search engine, which offers a kind of metasearch in blogs, Twitter and FriendFeed. Weblogs are known, Twitter has become a micro-blogging market leader and is also known, and FriendFeed is an aggregation service, which allows users to concentrate the data from a variety of social software services in one place. And if the information is concentrated, they can also be researched at this location. All in all these interesting news sources are a good complement to newspaper articles, that news search engines can provide.

This search by IceRocket is therefore a competitor of the specialty engine Addict-o-matic; however, the results are presented in Addict-o-matic in widgets, in IceRocket the results in each category – blogs, Twitter and FriendFeed – are listed chronological, sometimes in a long range into past. So one has the opportunity to discuss the development of a concept, track a problem. IceRocket has still the option to refresh the results periodically. And – one thing that is important to me – there is also the possibility to subscribe the search as an RSS feed so you can get the updates in your feed reader, so you can check them in one place.

Now you have the crux that that a news search is rather extensive when entering simple search terms. IceRocket accepted Boolean operators (in upper cases) and parantheses (for phrases). So I can combine search terms and search specific, for example in the form (hunger or poverty) and “third world”. IceRocket offers with the selection of sources, the chronological listing of results, the subscriptions via RSS and the possibility of a meaningful combination of search terms an attractive search for information collected by many bloggers, Twitter and FriendFeed user collected information.