A Search Engine For The Slower Net

Makarand writes "According to this BBC News article researchers at MIT are developing a search engine for people using the web on slower net connections. The software will e-mail queries to a central server and receive the most relevant webpages from the search results by e-mail in a compressed form. Since the program is too big to download over a poor net connection it will be mailed on CDs to libraries for people to borrow and install. They are also considering trying to persuade computer sellers in developing countries to install the program on machines."

Comments

Cached searches

[T5]

Might be a nice way to preserve searches for later perusal. Unlike bookmarking, the returned search results are stored in an email.

This would be a good way to preserve stuff that may be the subject of removal due to court order, like xenu.net and other similar de-Googlings.

Google Voice Search

[GillBates0]

Check out the Google Voice Search page. This has been up for quite a while now, and though not directly applicable as is, to people with a slow internet connection, it's just another alternative to emails. They should design it to respond by phone though. But again, people with dialup connections would, more often than not, not have a second phone line to request searches by phone.

To try out this demo, please follow these simple steps:

1. Pick up the phone and call the automated voice search system at (650) 318-0165.
2. After the prompt Say your Search Keywords, say your query to the system.
3. Click this link and a new window will open with your voice search results.
4. Say another query, and the new window with the search results will be updated with the new results.