A new search engine launched yesterday has been causing quite a buzz.
Cuil (pronounced “cool”), was founded by a couple of ex-Google employees and does a few things differently than other search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Microsoft (the big-three have about 90% of the search market). As you can see below, successful searches will return not only return results in a slightly different format (I like the columns with images), but the user also gets a set of tabs to the right of the results page. These tabs allow the user to explore the general category in greater depth. Pretty cool [sic].
Cuil Sceenshot
While I’ve only spent a few minutes exploring Cuil, so far I’ve been generally impressed. Other library bloggers have also been positive and the about page at Cuil has a nice overview of how this search engine works. If you’re interested in a starter list of search engines, Gleeson library has one posted here.
July 29, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Interesting! But I don’t think Cuil is quite ready for prime time yet. I “cuiled” myself and got nothing about me, but a bunch of links about others with the same last name. When I used quotation marks around my name the results were better but didn’t include anything current, mostly some old listserv posts. There are colorful graphics but none of them were related to me or anything about me.
In contrast, the first result when searching my name on Google without quotation marks brings up my current profile on a professional networking site. A Google image search came up with some images related to events I’ve been in, and again a bunch of unrelated stuff. Not surprising since there aren’t many photos of me online.
As a trained information pro I know we should always try alternate search engines but I confess Google is always my default and often sole search buddy. Cuil and others who want to take on Google have an uphill battle.
July 29, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Good points Debbie. I think you’ve been kind, compared to many other who have commented on Cuil elsewhere….
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/29/how-to-lose-your-cuil-20-seconds-after-launch/
Google has been at it for 10+ years… catching up for anyone will be difficult, if not impossible.