http://blogs.nsls.info/searcher C. Brian Smith, information and knowledge seeker, treads water and still attempts to throw you a lifepreserver in the information maelstrom, highlighting developments in the arena of searching and finding on the Web. He writes for <a href="http://www.cyberskeptic.com/cs/"><i>CyberSkeptic's Guide to Internet Research</i></a>. Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:14:22 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Google Wave, the real-time communication and collaboration tool, is available for limited preview. Unfortunately, I have not been able to test drive it. I have, however, been reading up about it as well as watching YouTube explanations of this much-hyped service: In short, " A wave can be both a conversation ... http://blogs.nsls.info/searcher/2009/10/google-wave/ According to the official Google blog, Google News Archive has quadrupled in size. "News archive search provides an easy way to search and explore historical archives. Users can search for events, people or ideas and see how they have been described over time. In addition to searching for the most ... http://blogs.nsls.info/searcher/2009/08/google-news-archive-now-4x-the-size/ Microsoft and Yahoo! finally join forces, according to USA Today. In short, Microsoft will assume search responsibilities while Yahoo! will concentrate on sales and advertising. Here's an excerpt from the article and trenchant remark about MicroHoo: "Even with Yahoo's help, Microsoft still has its work cut out. Combined, Microsoft and Yahoo ... http://blogs.nsls.info/searcher/2009/07/microsoft-and-yahoo-allies/ Twitter has radically redesigned its home page. The popular microblogging service brings search to the forefront, realizing that indexing people's "tweets" is a goldmine of data, current awareness, trends, news, and real-time phenomena. Not only does Twitter allow users to share, but also it facilitates "discovery," in the company's words. ... http://blogs.nsls.info/searcher/2009/07/twitter-facelift/ CNET reports that Wikipedia, the collaborative encyclopedia, plans to add video to its entries. Apparently, Wikipedia will include a link to "Add Media" in a few months, which will allows users to search for copyright-free video content, which, in turn, can be added to Wikipedia articles. Perhaps you'll soon be ... http://blogs.nsls.info/searcher/2009/06/video-in-wikipedia/ Google - - perhaps in response to Bing and Wolfram Alpha - - has created a page called Explore Google Search to tout its cool features and tools. The page highlights using Google as a dictionary, calculator, unit converter, and more. Video tutorials and graphical examples are provided. See, for ... http://blogs.nsls.info/searcher/2009/06/explore-google-search/ Right on the heels of the release of Microsoft's Bing, another tool surfaces that also claims to be a "decision engine". It's called Hunch: "In 10 questions or less, Hunch will offer you a great solution to your problem, concern or dilemma, on hundreds of topics." To take full advantage of its ... http://blogs.nsls.info/searcher/2009/06/hunch/ Google has added a tool called Google Squared to Google Labs. Might this feature be a response to the recent release of "computational knowledge engine" Wolfram Alpha? Who knows. Anyways, Google Squared presents data in tabular format, almost like a spreadsheet. The best way to learn about Google Squared? Check ... http://blogs.nsls.info/searcher/2009/06/google-to-the-second-power/ The Guardian delivers this provocative thought piece about search engines and how it's important not to solely rely on one company for search. Essentially, the writer, Cory Doctorow, is asking the following: Why couldn't there be an open source search engine that follows the collaborative style and process of, ... http://blogs.nsls.info/searcher/2009/06/561/ Microsoft released Bing, its "Decision Engine," two days ahead of schedule. To its credit, the service has a more memorable name than MSN Search, Windows Live Search, Live Search, etc. Will the phrase "Just Bing it" become part of our cultural lexicon, though? In any case, Microsoft has produced this ... http://blogs.nsls.info/searcher/2009/06/bing-is-live/