Cuil

Yet another Google-Killer search engine was launched this month. There have been lots of previous great hopes like Hakia, Mahalo, Search Wikia, Gigaweb and Exalead. None have come even close to denting Google. Now there is Cuil. Unlike the previous contenders Cuil was set up by some ex-Google natural search bods from TeraGoogle (Google’s search index side).

Just before the launch of Cuil Google had a press release to say it tracked more than 1 trillion URLs, taking the wind out of the sails of Cuil who claimed 120 billion. This reminds me of the ‘indexed pages’ wars of the late 1990’s where the search engines of the time continued to boast of the number of indexed pages on their databases. This was eventually dropped as it dawned on most users that relevancy, not size, matters.

Having a look at it Cuil I have to say I like the ‘magazine’ style lay out. But doing some searching I found it very US based. Cuil claims to use Web page content as its main measure of relevancy in a way that goes beyond Google’s link analysis. This strikes me as a retrograde step as link analysis is what catapulted Google forward when they started. It will be with improving link analysis, amongst other factors, that will take search technology forward

We look forward to seeing our first Cuil related traffic figures on our client sites.

Google Street View to be Launched in UK

Google Street View is coming to the UK. If you haven’t had a chance to use Street View have a look at Google Street View found on Google Maps on one of the major US cites such as New York or San Francisco. For those of you who are not familiar with it, Google Street View is a feature of Google Maps and Google Earth that provides 360° panoramic street-level views and allows users to view parts of selected cities and their surrounding metropolitan areas at ground level.

Earlier this year black VW Beetles were spotted on the streets of London and more recently in Belfast with camera mounted on the roof. I can report no sightings in Chichester yet!

There have been complaints and possible legal actions in the US regarding issues of privacy. Google will remove pictures if you are caught on camera and complain but whether this will be enough to satisfy the courts has yet to be tested.

Here in the UK the Information Commissioner’s Office who has been investigating complaints are satisfied that Google has put in place adequate safeguards. Although Google hasn’t commented directly on the ICO’s statement the UK version is likely to be launched in the next few months. 

Martin JetPack

I love gadgets and this has to be the ultimate. A New Zealander by the name of Glen Martin has developed a strap on personal flying machine. Glen designed and built this over a period of seven years in his garage. It was demoed this month at the Oshkosh ICO flight expo in the US.

Unlike the JetPacks I remember from the Los Angeles Olympics and the James Bond films this one has twin turbo fans. This eliminates the problem with the early JetPacks as the exhaust gas was over 700 degrees C and burning backsides were always a possiblilty!

The Martin JetPack runs on good old two stroke petrol and sounds rather like a lawn mower but it was built in a garage after all. You can see it in action on http://www.martinjetpack.com/.