Cool Ideas and Gadgets: September 2008

SearchCloud - A New Search Engine Set To Beat Google!

Almost everyone, including me, turns to Google for all our search queries; and though some of us have always been cribbing about a better search engine than one that just focusses on keywords, semantic search is not yet mature enough to compete with Google! However, looks like SearchCloud.net has gone one step further in enhancing keyword-based search. It uses weighted keyword search so that the results one gets are focussed more on the 'weight of the keywords' rather than the type or frequency of the keyword. It looks promising, but does it deliver? Read on to find out!

SearchCloud, a new search engine that launched on July 17, has a new take on search refinement that it hopes will make it a useful alternative to the likes of Yahoo and Google. Instead of simply entering multiple keywords, users can rank how important each term is to the search. Each term is placed in a "search cloud", where its weight is indicated by the size of the font.

The Homepage is a clean layout with a huge cloud box, and a bar to enter your keywords. For first-timers, there is a HO-To video at the end of the page. For example, you could enter the words "iPhone" and "Ideas & Gadgets" with the latter more strongly weighted to find articles about iPhone on this blog. Try this and it shows my site in the 3rd position (hooray!!:)) You can choose a "Standard" or a "Grid" view, but the Standard is much better!

To further refine the search, you can Edit your search cloud by adding or modifying search terms, e.g, you could enter other terms like "iPhone-apps", or "Free" with smaller font size to find more focussed articles, which are then displayed on the top of the search results, alongwith the other related results following them. Each listing displays the "relevancy" of the result, which helps you know how the search query was executed, and what you could revise to get better results targetted to your search. it is good that you can "edit" your weighted keywords rather than having to start a new search. But on the downside, I tried comparing a few queries between SearchCloud & Google, and the latter performed better 75% of the time!

SeachCloud uses Yahoo!'s BOSS technology, which allows an ordination of results, before returning them to users. The techology provided by Yahoo! is not, in fact, totally free of charge, as SearchCloud has to display some of Yahoo!'s ads without receiving part of the revenues.

Weighting keywords has the role of filtering the best results, which the team from SearchCloud assures the search engine does. "Your results will be better than with Google because the search terms were prioritized the way you wanted them to be," says one of SeachCloud's affiliates in a tutorial meant to show people how to use the new search engine.

It’s a nice concept that clicks as its more user-friendly, but then again, it works on a similar concept as Google (keywords-based-search) rather than a Semantic search, and hence, is not a huge leap! in fact, Ask.com has been providing similar features via their search engine facility too. But there is room to grow, and like any other new venture, it would be fair to cut them some time to enhance their tool as they expand their features and algorithm.

It is definitely not easy to challenge a tried-and-tested search giant like Google (or Yahoo and Microsoft would've done it by now!), but SearchCloud has gone one step further to make keyword-driven-search a more relevant and user-friendly experience. If it kicks off, Google may have to re-think its search-engine strategy too!

Another Affordable Web Host to Consider

Every website-owner, whether big or small, knows the importance of choosing a good and reliable web host. Names like Go Daddy have become legends, and even Google has partnered with a few domain-name providers to enable Custom Domains. Another player worthy of mention is "imhosted.com" Choosing an affordable web hosting can be a very daunting task at times, but it is also the most important one. I particularly like this new web-host, for its affordable prices and a bundle of services that they offer!

They offer domain names for as low as $6.95, and the smallest bundled package starts at $30. It uses powerful dual-quad-core enterprise servers with multiple GIGe redundant network connections,providing reliability and speed. Most web hosts just ell you the space, then disappear from the scene; you are left with the burden of designing everything yourself, or choosing from the simple sample layouts that they offer. But IMhosted is different - it provides everything you need to get your business or blog onto the Internet. From establishing your online presence on the Internet to hosting, storing, promoting, and maintaining an industrial strength eCommerce site, they have a comprehensive suite of services. it's especially good for newbies who have no web-development experience as a 24/7 live online support is always there to answer your questions!

They have a cool bundle of services, with packages like regular, Gold & Premium, for different needs. I really liked the Submit-Pro feature that they offer; it's often hard to get an initial page Rank for your site, but with their service, you can submit your website to some of the biggest search engines for a considerably small fee!

They also offer all the standard services that people have been used to like Credit-card procesing, E-mail, Online data storage, etc. Check out the detailed services for a better comparison. But what is important is that I found them to be extremely reliable, and offer great customer service. It's hard to start an online business, but its even more frustrating if you start running into problems as soon as you buy a new domain, and there's no one to answer your questions or reply to your emails! I have to say I've had some bad experiences with we-hosts before, but IMhosted.com made it less painful this time around!

Go take a look at their site - check out the list of their clients so you know what you are getting into. They may not be as big as Go Daddy, but they do look promising for their first-rate support and affordable web hosting solution! If anyone has used them, please feel free to share your experiences with us!

3G Mobile Internet Picks up in UK

The imminent rise of 3G technology in the UK over the last few years has been a sudden burst of fresh energy, but has also generated quite a flurry of activity! Unlike US, the 3G hype was merely seen as another mobile voice calling technology. However, looks like the people have become more adaptive about the 3G based mobile internet technology as it promises to become a viable alternative to traditional broadband for UK users. The rapid rise in 3G followers is nevertheless intriguing, and definitely worth a second look at the technology in question!

As Rory Cellan-Jones of BBC puts it "Mobile Broadband has really taken off!", supporting his statement with a graph showing how the amount of data crossing the 3G network has increased 14 fold in just six months! This massive increase in traffic is attributed e to what is referred as dongle - a plug-and-play USB modem that use High-Speed Downlink Packet Access or HSDPA technology (sometimes referred to as 3.5G) to enable laptops to use mobile broadband, which simply means "fast computer internet access without a land-line", in layman's terms.

The dongles are being offered with a fixed price plan (for example 3GB of data for £15 a month) which has triggered a price war in the UK market with other operators such as T-Mobile and Vodafone competing with similarly aggressive deals. It is estimated that as many as half a million new users have signed up to 3's dongle and now use mobile broadband with their laptops!

This means this is certainly the preferred choice for users in the UK, who are letting go of traditional wireless LAN or fixed broadband services, which often incur significant installation fees for new users andmay not be as cost-effective as the dongles. This also poses a serious threat to WiMax (or 802.16e), as the success of 3.5G/HSDPA based services may impact it's roll-out over the next few years.

Like anything new, people take time to warm up to an idea or concept, and same was the case for 3G. But now, after comparing their options, 3G technology and Mobile Broadband seems to have gained a significant foothold in the UK market. Whether it can maintain its winning streak, or lose to competing technologies like WiMax, only time will tell. Till then, I'm happy that we have found something that at the end of the day, is more beneficial to everyday users like you and me!