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December 04, 2006
Google and SearchMash - Kissing Cousins or Squabbling Sibs?
Rumor has it that Google has released a new search engine based on the Google database, but using a different search algorithm and ranking. The new searchengine is named SearchMash, which I interpret to be a reference to mashups.
For myself, at the top level, I see only slight differences in the rankings and retrieval. I notice more differences in the display and "features". SearchMash seems to be more a place to see what Google might be doing in the future. Definitely not a full-featured search engine, but as a testbed for new ideas, hopefully a place to watch.
I tried a number of searches in both for comparison. Here is one, just for your amusement.
Google: (inurl:library OR inurl:lib) aids hiv site:.edu
SearchMash: (inurl:library OR inurl:lib) aids hiv site:.edu
So, different? Perhaps not a great deal. Flavor of the day seems to be that Google is beginning to offer some of the custom limits as checkboxes, like A9 used to do. A nice touch, especially if they take it farther. Meanwhile, SearchMas doesn't seem like either a kissing cousin or a squabbling sib, but more along the lines of a baby who gets left behind by the big kids, but every now and then does something absolutely amazing that the big kids couldn't.
Posted by pfa at December 4, 2006 07:58 PM