More on search engines

Most of you probably know about the big players like Google, Yahoo and now Bing and you probably use them everyday. There are others out there though! Check them out and you may be surprised with their usefulness. Once engine I just stumbled upon is kosmix. So, what is different about this engine when comparing it to the big players? Several things.

There is not just a search box like Google or Bing. The search box is at the top of the screen and below it are groups(basically widgets) of related items such as videos, blogs, web,  etc. When you type a query, there results are displayed in those groups (web, videos, images, etc). The results list looks more like a social media site with information coming from mlive, meehive, digg, facebook, wikis, etc. Grouping the information by type is very helpful because there is more organization  instead of looking at a big results list or limiting the search through a tab. The group boxes can also be moved around the page so the user can change the look of the site. 

I found the “related in the kosmos” group to be very useful. A simple search of Lansing, Michigan will yield results in the “related in the kosmos” section for Ingham and Eaton Counties and sports and education in Lansing.