A Search Is Not Just A Search

For nearly fifteen years, search has been stuck in a pretty familiar presentation mode: A blinking cursor inviting your query, and after a split second, a refreshed page featuring ten blue links, more or less.

In the past few years, a significant new feature has crept into the results portion of this otherwise predictable interface. Called “universal search,” the idea is to incorporate more than simple HTML pages into the results. A search for “London restaurants”, for example, might bring up maps and local results, as well as videos, images, organized reviews, and of course web pages. Every major search engine, from Google to Ask, has incorporated some kind of universality into its search results.

But while universal search points the way toward a new approach to getting you the answers you seek, it’s a half step at best. The results change, somewhat, but the process is pretty much the same. You enter a query, you get a set of results. Not particularly new. Read the rest of this entry »

Rich Skrenta — who, aside from creating the first computer virus, is more notable to search as a cofounder of the Open Directory Project and the Topix news search engine — has announced he’s founded a search start-up. A stealth one, as TechCrunch puts it. Don’t we already have several stealth search start-ups? Yep. Here’s a guide to who’s who. Read the rest of this entry »