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BTW, that quote was from TFA...

Anyway, some poking around on a search engine led me to this search
http://www.alltheweb.com/search?q=Michelin+Red+Gui de+restaurants
and specifically to the Michelin Red Guide to Restaurants...

It seems that it's not crazy Americans this time, but crazy Europeans... My bad...

Yeah, it sure is slick, at 92 kilobytes... In comparision, Google main page is only 9 kilobytes, of which 8 kilobytes is the logo. Result pages are upwards from 100 kilobytes. This includes bloated table-based design, some ugly javascript hacks of undeterminable usefulness, sign in for a search engine instead of anonymous cookies and a fucking diary!

While A9 may not win any bloat contests among search engines, calling it "slick" is a bit of a misnomer.

When I am in the mood for some indie searching, I'd rather use Vivisimo, Teoma or All the Web.

P.S. A9 may be great and all, but at 100KB per page I am not using it.

The interesting fact is that competing engines such as Vivisimo, Teoma, AllTheWeb and of course Yahoo are basically as good as Google.

Vivisimo in particular often works better than Google (for me, it may not for you). Many times I failed to find what I wanted because Google returned results (several pages) which are somewhat relevant, but not what a search for these multiple keywords should return. Vivisimo, on the other hand, usually had 100% relevant results near the top.

I believe not serving the user would be an exception, rather than a rule.

Sure. But that's true of commercial software as well.

Sure, they might not prefetch pages, but if they did don't you think a lot of websites might start to simply block Mozilla, because it sucks up all their bandwidth?

Yes, I think that would happen.

What are you talking about it will not display the alt attribute without a title attribute? I assume that would be part of the rendering engine and this bug would be shared with Firefox? This doesn't occur in Firefox.

Go to www.alltheweb.com and hover over the logo. You'll get a tooltip in IE but not in Firefox, because the text is in an alt attribute. On alltheweb.com, it makes sense for there not to be a tooltip, but there are some sites that have crucial information in tooltips and incorrectly use the alt attribute instead of the title attribute to create the tooltip. The alt attribute is meant to replace the image when it is not shown (e.g. for blind users, lynx users, and users who have disabled images). Alternate text tends to make poor tooltip text and vice versa. Read bugs 25537,74241,41924 (or just Hixie's comments in those insanely long bugs) if you're interested.

Also, I don't know where you got your browser, but my copy of Firefox's help menu has "Release Notes" and "About Mozilla Firefox".

I'm using a branch nightly build and I see those items. I expect them to be there in Firefox 1.0 Preview Release.

There is more to search than Yahoo, MSN or Google.
How about Vivisimo, Teoma and AllTheWeb. Diversity is always good. I will find with other search engines things that you will not find on Google alone. And additional search features like clustering at Vivisimo are great.

And you have also metasearchers, that not only search google, but also others. If you want almost the opposite of google in simplicity, you can try Kartoo, where you can have graphs with aggrupations on search results, flash animations and things like that.

Last, but not least, there are a search engine that you can use to find search engines very close to you. If its good enough, probably there is a Slashdot article on it, so slashdot search is a good first step if all the other search engines you know are down but you still can access slashdot.

I had exactly the same problem, but had a couple bookmarked:

Ended up using All the Web.

There's also HotBot

Think I'll be using All The Web for a while, you know you lose trust in something...

Actually, the International Biology Olympics are just over yesterday... And other sciences, like Informatics, Physics and Chemistry have them too...

While there are a lot of History olympiads there doesn't appear to be an international competition. And as for latin, there is a country which hosts a "National Greek and Latin Olympiad"

Infer from that what you will...

Actually, the International Biology Olympics are just over yesterday... And other sciences, like Informatics, Physics and Chemistry have them too...

While there are a lot of History olympiads there doesn't appear to be an international competition. And as for latin, there is a country which hosts a "National Greek and Latin Olympiad"

Infer from that what you will...

In case you haven't noticed, more and more search engines are jumping on the "simpler is better" bandwagon.

The "I'm feeling lucky" feature freaked me out the other day. I'd typed a search string into the address bar, expecting to be taken to a google search results page, but was instead broguht to (what seemed to be) a random webpage. I couldn't find any mention of address bar search functions in the prefs, so I explored some more... and when, after typing "web search" into the bar and being brought to a spyware site, I thought my copy of firefox had been infected somehow. Futher tests revealed the truth, but for a short while I thought the gecko safe-harbour had been invaded.

Just a shame that Google is one of the few search engines that are any good.

I always use All the Web when looking for any company or organisation I know the name of, but for more general queries I'm looking for a clean, fast, non-buggy alternative to the google giant. Preferably open source.

Any suggestions?

alltheweb.com!

i have memefected you!

Sure, here you go.

All The Web have alway been a clean site like Google (and they had news search first I think ("news", not "usenet")

The time sounds just about right. I was paging through a search at about 15 sec/page, hit the next button and went "wtf is this?" I figured I'd hit a wrong link or had accidentally searched with goofle or noogle or doodle or something, looked at the url, hit the back button, turned off evil javascript, tried again and finally decided that they had changed their look.

The strange thing is that I feel like I've seen the look before and I believe that looks like a previous face of alltheweb , who also changed their look a while ago.

Fun new one to try: Mooter

Why don't you step over to alltheweb.com Like google without the spam. As many pages are indexed. The only difference I can see is that they don't cache.

Google by far beat Yahoo the first time, because Google has a simple interface,

While I agree with everything you said, I disagree with this:

For people just interesting in searching with Yahoo! (for whatever odd-ass reason they have...), can use http://search.yahoo.com/

The fact of the matter is, most people just don't use Yahoo! for searching, they use it for whatever other banal crap they use Yahoo! for, the search feature just makes it so they don't have to move their mouse ALL THE WAY up to the address bar and type in google.com

As for a google replacement, AllTheWeb was a nice suppliment, but never really a replacement...Teoma.com is looking better every time I use it, and I think has been mentioned here before.

Google has had the last few years virtually unchallenged as the #1 search engine, because nobody has yet come out with anything that's better than PageRank.

But, five years is a long time to sit on an innovation without making it better. It gives the competition time to catch up. Furthermore, since PageRank doesn't seem to have seriously changed much, it's actually slipped backwards a bit as more and more people have figured out how to "beat the system" by posting nonsense sites with links to the site they want on top. Google's clearly trying to fight this, but that's an uphill battle.

Meanwhile, Yahoo now owns three distinct web-crawl based search engines, AltaVista, AllTheWeb, and Inktomi. They also own Overture, which begain life as GoTo.com who was the first to associate real search results with targetted ads. Put all these pieces together. Yahoo also has the original mega-directory site, which Google tries to duplicate by presenting the Open Directory Project on their site. In short, Yahoo's got all the resources to launch a brand with everything that Google has going for it... and when you look at AltaVista and AllTheWeb they feel quite a bit like Google already. Clearly, Yahoo's gearing up to issue a challenge to Google.

It really seems like Yahoo is making sure they have all the tech in place right now. When they're sure that they're better to Google, I fully expect to see a marketing campaign claiming that and inviting people to do head-to-head searches.

Google, as it stands now, is going to look pale in such showdowns. They've got to seriously modify PageRank so that the link spammers get downranked before Yahoo issues that challenge, or else Yahoo could reclaim the search market under it's "Google-killer" product line, and then direct people back to the original Yahoo site for their other portal needs.

AlltheWeb Audio Search

I use alltheweb when not using google. Between those two I generally find what I want.

Alltheweb is a bit more international than google (I believe its hosted in Europe somewhere) and is owned by Overture who sells google lots of search info.

About us page here.

They also seem to have a knack for lowering the importance of weblogs, which seems to be a big issue with some people nowadays.

I use alltheweb when not using google. Between those two I generally find what I want.

Alltheweb is a bit more international than google (I believe its hosted in Europe somewhere) and is owned by Overture who sells google lots of search info.

About us page here.

They also seem to have a knack for lowering the importance of weblogs, which seems to be a big issue with some people nowadays.

...but I really wish SOMEONE would do some "duplication and evolution;" maybe THAT would light a fire under some asses at google.

slurp has been inktomi's name for years preceeding google.

all the google love in this place.. sheesh, the algo has fallen apart over the past year, teoma.com, alltheweb.com and now, likely, yahoo.com, will all provide better search results.

spammers love google for pr hyping their massive index, cus it keeps their huge cloaked spam sites in there just a little longer.

Both Google and Fast have image and picture search. They're all right. But I have had more luck with Lycos.

What are your experiences?

Of course, none of these services search in the image data itself. They search filenames, special features (like image size), and the content of the pages they are found in.
What is the state of searching in images today? Facial recognition systems have existed for a while, but they are made for a specific purpose.

How long before we can take a picture of that piece of your IKEA furniture and find the same model in pictures of celebrity houses, Babylon 5 sets and crime scenes? Or taking a picture of that familiar-looking person walking down the street, searching for her, and remembering that she was in that "reality" series two years ago.

This is going to be a big dissappointment for fans of LOTR expecting more of the same from Peter Jackson.
Indeed. Like the TTT and ROTK were a huge disappointment for fans of FOTR (although the majority ate all three).

The LOTR trilogy contains a beautifully realised fantasy world and an epic story with way more material than you need for a movie.
Nothing of which happened because of PJ.

Why not come up with a new idea instead of remaking a fifty-year old idea?
Because he doesn't have [m]any original ideas and he run out of classic books which were not filmed yet.

Not to deride Peter's directing talent, but without the genius of Tolkein's story-telling I don't think his genius with directing is going to make the 100-foot monkey movie fly.
Exactly. The best thing about LOTR movies were the source material, Alan Lee's illustrations and 300 mln $$$. In my opinion, directing (or screen-writing) talents of PJ never entered the equation, which should be obvious to anyone who saw ROTK and observed the averageness of all actors shining in every scene.

I read somewhere (sorry no link) that as animated characters become more realistic, they reach a stage where they are so realistic that it's disturbing and (paradoxically) seems more unrealistic. The gollum character got around this because he was supposed to be disturbing... or something... anyone find the link for that? Anyhow, how would they achieve the same effect with king-kong?
Just google for uncanny valley. But the truth is that we are already over the valley in CGI in regards to everything, but close-up scenes. And doing a giant monkey is nothing particularly complex today.

Don't forget what a flop the remake of Godzilla was.
I hope the new King-Kong flops just as badly, so that anyone can see that the king is naked. :)

I have found useful results at AllTheWeb

Apparently, according to MS lawyers the use of MikeRoweSoft.com was. Again, it matters not what you or I think, the legal experts think so.

I thought so - you didn't do what I asked. I ask you again, please name JUST ONE product or service, which "Microsoft" stands greater-than-zero chances becoming a generic name for. Just name a product, such as "fresh apples are a product that Microsoft may become a generic name for" or a service, such as "helping old ladies cross the street is a service that Microsoft may become a generic name for". As simple as that, just name one, don't jump around pretending that some irrelevant quote are an answer.

What do you think of this?: Google Tells Booble to Cease and Desist. Is this the 'Evil' Google suing?
First, in this case there is actual "competition", since Booble is a search engine. Second, Booble is a parody and so is somewhat protected. And third, yes, Google is quite "evil", like any monopoly, although not as evil as Microsoft. I use AllTheWeb, since it doesn't filter my search results. And fourth, they are specifically evil for overzealously protecting their trademark, including trying to spot "google" becoming a generic verb (but at least they have some point here, unlike MS, because "google" might actually turn into a generic name for "do an Internet search").

Apparently, according to MS lawyers the use of MikeRoweSoft.com was. Again, it matters not what you or I think, the legal experts think so.

I thought so - you didn't do what I asked. I ask you again, please name JUST ONE product or service, which "Microsoft" stands greater-than-zero chances becoming a generic name for. Just name a product, such as "fresh apples are a product that Microsoft may become a generic name for" or a service, such as "helping old ladies cross the street is a service that Microsoft may become a generic name for". As simple as that, just name one, don't jump around pretending that some irrelevant quote are an answer.

What do you think of this?: Google Tells Booble to Cease and Desist. Is this the 'Evil' Google suing?
First, in this case there is actual "competition", since Booble is a search engine. Second, Booble is a parody and so is somewhat protected. And third, yes, Google is quite "evil", like any monopoly, although not as evil as Microsoft. I use AllTheWeb, since it doesn't filter my search results. And fourth, they are specifically evil for overzealously protecting their trademark, including trying to spot "google" becoming a generic verb (but at least they have some point here, unlike MS, because "google" might actually turn into a generic name for "do an Internet search").

Teoma has an algorithm which is not as susceptible to link/link text spam as Google. Its results are used by Ask Jeeves but adulterated with sponsored listings and trusted feed results. AllTheWeb has a big index and a pretty good algorithm, although it's been neglected somewhat by its new owner Yahoo. I'd love to see a serious open-source effort take on Mammon, but the server farms and bandwidth required seem prohibitive.

> so tomorrow's cpu uses 150w. two light bulbs.

Hey! If we combine this fact with yesterdays news we might just have solved that whole heatsink problem: just let the CPU produce light instead of heat, and then cut rectangular lightsink holes into the case to let the light dissipate..

I think that this is a good example of the way the way google has become corrupted, because if you do the same search on alltheweb, the first non-commerical hit, right there at number one, is a full in-depth review. You're right that thinking before you search makes the process a lot more efficent, but in more difficult cases it can be hard to know exactly what to use as an alternative. It's much better if it just works.

Some claim Alltheweb is better than google, but I find its about equal.

Some other experimental engines I've seen have alot of potential, especially the ones who come up with narrowing suggestions and do accurate self-categorization. Teoma is a good example of that.

Now that Yahoo's decided to switch beyond, maybe it'll be time for Google to improve its database import spiders so we don't see spam in their db. You know what I'm talking about, erroneous results like http://electronic-store.tanks4all.com/ that comes up when you search for 'speaker review car'

All the spam domains I checked into last November came up registered by the same people, too:

Venera Pictures, LLC
Samantha Dayk (samdayk@msn.com)
+1.14107857078
FAX: +1.-
1170 S. Chelton Rd.
Colorado Springs, CO 80910
US

Gateway Traffic, LLC
Sean Der (seander@verizon.net)
+1.4107857078
FAX: +1.-
102 Hunts Bluff Road
Sparks, MD 21152
US

If they add a Bayesian algorithm on incoming pages (comparing link farm pages to ham, and determining it's spam), and keep track of the whois informatin for domains (all the spam domains I found using random search queries led back to those false names in the whois database), Google's results could probably stay non-erroneous for some time.

It's really a tragedy that advertisers feel they can skip paying Google, and instead wreck Google for users and other advertisers, causing people to move on the potentially greener pastures. We've had IM partially ruined by spam, email almost ruined, and places like Google ruined. When will laws be passed so that purposefully attacking online systems is as illegal and easily prosecutable as defacing buildings?

As a side note, relevant to yesterday's article on Vivivisimo, it was voted number one in meta search.

AlltheWeb has this nifty feature too: Last 10 queries

Some really amusing queries there ;)

"Yahoo! is focused on meeting the needs of these individuals [daily web searchers] by providing them with high-quality, relevant search results"

It would seem that the relevance of Google results is declining, precisely because so many people are working 24 hours a day to get their site ranked higher, and Kelkoo in particular seems to have done very well at that. www.alltheweb.com looks a lot like Google but isn't suffering at the moment from database pollution. I've seen it mentioned before on Slashdot, I think we'll be seeing it again. However, the plot thickens - if you click the "About" link on the AllTheWeb homepage you'll see that "AlltheWeb is a business of Overture Services, Inc." Now we know that Yahoo! acquired Overture back on October 7, 2003 ... and so there's no need for them to keep paying Google I guess. Especially not with a company that has a similar looking site!

What Google said at the time of Yahoo! integration of Google results:

"This is a significant milestone for Google and a strong validation of our business strategy"

The warning bells are ringing, since Yahoo! leaving - having been the loudest validation of the original Google business model - is terrible news in my opinion. It is of note that the Wall Street Journal (and not cnet news or CNN online or ZDNet, etc) picked up on this. The IPO is starting to look less rosy. What I would like to know is whether in the Yahoo! boardroom there was a long debate about the timing of this decision, and indeed what kinds of money were changing hands with Google for provision of searches and whether the price was set to go up for 2004!

I think Google's search results are worse after their "Florida" update.

alltheweb.com has pretty decent search results.

AlltheWeb, Altavista, Ask Jeeves, Teoma, WebCrawler - all of them redirect the search results through their servers (and no doubt log it), but not Google (altough it did that couple of years back for a few weeks IIRC).

In adition to using non redirecting search engine one should be blocking their cookies too to get you little bit more privacy.

And BTW, MSN search doesn't redirect too, how scary is that 8o
Something wicked is going on in MSN land...

I conceive of cyberspace in a fashion where there are at least 3 independent time frames, and there is constant interaction between the physical and abstract. A schematic showing the conception is here

From here we can now see different levels in which economic activity can be generated.

1. a) person to person
2. b) person to document
3. c) person observing person-to-person, i.e. person observing a)
4. d) person observing person-to-document, i.e. person observing b)
5. e) person oberving c) or d), and so on.
6. f) person observing advertisers, and advertisers observing persons

The business model that will encourage the movement of data and information across the physical and above mentioned levels, about the physical and above mentioned levels, and allow the data and information being generated to be easily created and managed, will be soundly based. In addition if the business model allows the data and information to be transformed into knowledge and action, it will have a sustainable competitive advantage.

I have more about the cyberspace model here . It is an old article but lays down the visualization.

More about the data & info & knowldege & action relationship is described over here. Sorry but it is in MS word format (about 35 KB). Don't have the tools to convert it with me right now ...

(Of course, helps that I switched the Offensive Content Filter to 'on')

I'd hope it would be Alltheweb, but I know they are unknown in the real world, even if their results are nearly google-level in quality.

I fear it would be a great opportunity for Microsoft to seize yet another market...

For a while, I've been looking at alternative search engines. I still use Google as my primary engine, but I hate having such a strong reliance on a single tool. Any tool I don't own and keep locally could go away at any point or change and become useless to me.

The closest thing to Google I've found to date is AllTheWeb.com. AllTheWeb started out as an experimental second site by Lycos, with the apparent goal of being a Google clone. The thing matured quickly, being an objective and statistics-driven search site, unlike Lycos' own site where sites buy placement. AllTheWeb was later purchased from Lycos by Overture, even more famous for paid placement and (IMHO) slimy advertising tactics. But for the six months or so since they made the purchase, they seem to have left it alone. They may well also be trying to clone Google completely. And if Google suddenly sours as a search tool, this may well finally pay off big for them.

Give AllTheWeb a try. I'm not petitioning anyone to switch over and start using ATW as their only engine, but make sure you know that alternative is there and - more importantly - make sure Google's new owners know that you're aware of an alternative. It just may be enough to keep them honest.

It may not be new, but iTunes was the first one that worked. Say what you will about originality, in the end, it's not worth a hoot if nobody uses your product.

Is the list called "Coolest Consumer Products of 2003"? I though it was called "Coolest Inventions" and if so, iTunes hardly qualifies, because it is not one. It might be a cool innovative product, but it is not an invention.

Who do you think invented the radio? It was Popov, not Clear Channel, even though radio was not really used that much in 19th century and so does not qualify according to your definition.

As an aside, has anyone else noticed that Altavista and AllTheWeb have turned their websites into Google-clones?

This is a good thing; less cruft -- more searching.

As an aside, has anyone else noticed that Altavista and AllTheWeb have turned their websites into Google-clones?

This is a good thing; less cruft -- more searching.

They aren't looking for Jeeves, I can guarantee you they want another of their products... Teoma which is already the most google-like competitor out there. (besides AllTheWeb which isn't hurting)

Imagine what would happen if Google were to vanish tomorrow. It would drastically reduce productivity of organizations the world over, and not necessarily those that are related to computers.

Only if there does not exist any equivalent. There does. http://www.alltheweb.com