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RSS Feed   Archives by Topic By Company   • AltaVista   • AOL   • Ask Jeeves   • Fast   • Google   • MSN   • Inktomi   • Terra Lycos   • Yahoo   • Alternatives SE Topics   • Search Tips   • Invisible Web   • PPC Engines   • Specific Search Tools   • Kids Internet   • Natural Language   • SEO & Spam Misc   • Blogs   • Browsers   • RSS   • New Websites   • Digitization   • Website Design   • Worldwide   Archives by Date   Links   • ResearchBuzz   • VAS&ND   • Library Stuff   • Pandia   • SE Watch   • NewsNow: SE   • Webmaster World   • Daypop Top 40     more links...     Fagan Finder's Blog Online information, search engines, and other net happenings. Updated frequently and organized by topic. Old entries are constantly updated so you can follow the whole story.   Internet Hockey Database The name says it all. The Internet Hockey Database has tons of information about players, teams, and trading cards. The minimalist design and no ads are nice. Via Library Stuff. Topics: New Websites Date: Saturday, June 29, 2002   |     |   permalink   Lycos Improves their Search On SundayLycos will unveil "Lycos Search 6.0," their new improved search. Most of the improvements they have had for a little while already (fresh database, 2 billion pages) because they use Fast's database. Their news search will also be upgraded, which means that they will begin to use Fast's database for news also. Apparently their shopping search will include only results chosen by their editors. According to SearchDay, Lycos says that soon they will also be revamping HotBot. Update: It seems that the new features are out already. The new news search can be accessed by searching from their main page and clicking on the 'news' tab, however news.lycos.com is still using their old search. Thanks VAS&ND. From PC World. Note that the article from ElectricNews.net says that Lycos is the second major search engine to launch a news search. Actually, AltaVista has had one for a long time, and less-popular AllTheWeb has too. • Lycos follows Google with news searches [article: ElectricNews.net, July 1 2002] • What's New at Lycos [newsletter: SearchDay, July 1 2002] • New Services for News Junkies [article: Washington Post, June 30 2002] • Lycos Updates Search Engine: 2+ Billion Docs [forum thread: Webmaster World, June 29 2002] • Lycos Updates Search Engine [article: PC World, June 29 2002] Topics: Lycos Date: Saturday, June 29, 2002   |     |   permalink   Overture Gets Short MSN Extension Microsoft and Overture extended their contract by 90 days for Overture providing search results to the Internet Explorer search pane. The extension will give them time to work on a longer-term contract. • Overture wins last-minute MS reprieve [article: ZDNet, June 28 2002] Topics: PPC Engines Date: Friday, June 28, 2002   |     |   permalink   Search Engines Should Disclose Paid Links In 2001, Commercial Alert, an advocacy group backed by Ralph Nader filed a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission about search engines which do not label paid links as they are. The FTC has sided with the group and is sending letters to AltaVista, AOL Time Warner, Direct Hit Technologies, iWon, LookSmart, Microsoft and Terra Lycos, asking them to clearly label their paid links. Note that Direct Hit no longer exists. Update: Follow-up on FTC Requests and Fast Endorses FTC Recommendations [note: no more links will be added to this entry]• FTC Wants Clear Ad Disclosure in Search Results [article: Traffick, July 4 2002] • Search engines warned to label sponsorship clearly [forum thread: Geek.com, July 3 2002] • Search engines hit back at bias claims [article: vnunet.com, July 3 2002] • U.S. Warns Web Sites to Label Sponsorships [article: New York Times, July 2 2002] • Internet search engines mull change in ad practices [article: Forbes (Reuters), July 1 2002] • FTC Warns Search Engines on Ad Placements [article: Washington Post, July 1 2002] • The US Federal Trade Commission criticize search engines for unmarked text ads [article: Pandia, July 1 2002] • FTC Warns Microsoft, Others About Search Engine Results [article: WinInfo, July 1 2002] • FTC Recommends Disclosure To Search Engines [article: Search Engine Report, June 30 2002] • Suchmaschinen bekommen Verwarnung [article: @-Web, June 30 2002, German] • Zoekmachines Op Vingers Getikt [article: Voelspriet, July 1 2002, Netherlands] • Sites told to 'fess up [article: SF Gate, June 29 2002] • FTC says search engines must make paid results clearer [article: Seattle P-I, June 29 2002] • FTC Rules on Paid SE Advertising [forum thread: Webmaster World, June 28 2002] • FTC Tells Search Engines to Disclose Paid Links [forum thread: Slashdot, June 28 2002] • FTC to search engines: Disclose paid links [article: CNN (AP), June 28 2002] • FTC Response [article: Commercial Alert, June 28 2002, PDF] Topics: PPC Engines Date: Friday, June 28, 2002   |     |   permalink   PC World Picks 'Best of Today's Web' PC World Magazine's August issue lists over 50 of their editors' top picks. They include Amazon, The Internet Archive, eBay, Google, Yahoo, FindSounds, Delphion, Britannica, HowStuffWorks, MSN, The Onion, etc. I personally disagree witht their portal choices; portals tend to be so-so at everything and excellent at nothing. • Best of Today's Web: Greatest Hits and Hidden Gems [article: PC World, August 2002 issue] Date: Friday, June 28, 2002   |     |   permalink   Introduction to Google Groups Software Development Online has an article about Google Groups, explaining how it is good resource. As they put it, someone has probably already asked whatever question you want the answer to. • Google Groups [article: Software Development, July 2002 issue] Topics: Google Date: Friday, June 28, 2002   |     |   permalink   Google's Back-End From October 2000, Jim Reese, Chief Operations Engineer at Google talks about how Google works, with a lot of information for tech-minded people. It is an hour-long audio file with a fifteen minutes of Jim answering audience questions. At the time, Google used about 6,000 Linux servers; now it is more like 10,000. Via Google Weblog. • The Technology Behind Google [link to audio: TechNetCast, Octover 19 2000] • Google Inside Part 2: Q&A Session with Jim Reese, Google [link to audio: TechNetCast, Octover 19 2000] Topics: Google Date: Friday, June 28, 2002   |     |   permalink   AltaVista Testing Google-Type Ads AltaVista is testing moving their ads from above search results to beside them, similar to the way in which Google displays them. • Altavista Plays With Text [article: ReveNews, June 27 2002] • Googlesque Ads in AltaVista? [article: ResearchBuzz, June 27 2002] Topics: AltaVista, PPC Engines Date: Thursday, June 27, 2002   |     |   permalink   Name History Behind the Name has information about the history and etymology of people's first names. Visit surnames.behindthename.com for the same for last names. Via ResearchBuzz. • What's in a Name? [blog entry: ResearchBuzz, June 27 2002] Topics: New Websites Date: Thursday, June 27, 2002   |     |   permalink   Overture Expanding to France & Japan Overture, a pay-per-click search engine, will be expanding into France and Japan this year and next respectively. • BizTech Article [article: BizTech, June 2002, Japanese] • ASCII24 Article [article: ASCII24, June 27 2002, Japanese] • C|Net Japan Article [article: C|Net, June 2002, Japanese] • Overture finally coming to Japan! [forum thread: Webmaster World, June 28 2002] • Overture Services To Start Net Search Ops In Japan [article: Yahoo! Asia (Nikkei), June 2002] • Overture Expands to Japan, France [press release: Overture (on Yahoo! Finance), June 27 2002] • Overture expands Web ads to Japan, France [article: ZDNet, June 27 2002] Topics: PPC Engines, Worldwide Date: Thursday, June 27, 2002   |     |   permalink   Introduction to RSS For those of you not yet into RSS, there is a good article in The Nando Times about it. • Web gadgets for news junkies [article: Nando Times, June 26 2002] Topics: RSS Date: Thursday, June 27, 2002   |     |   permalink   Portals to the World SearchDay reports on Portals to the World, a website from the Library of Congress which lists resources for 67 different countries. • Portals to the World [newsletter: SearchDay, June 27 2002] Topics: Worldwide, New Websites Date: Thursday, June 27, 2002   |     |   permalink   Google Compute Goes Public Google Compute is a distributed computer program which runs from within the Google Toolbar. Up until now it has only been available to some people, now anyone can turn it on. The program uses the idle time of your computer (when you are not using it), for example to help with cancer research. In the future Google may also use it to improve their search engine. Read more about it by visiting the first link. • Google Turns On Peer-To-Peer Computing App [article: ExtremeTech, June 26 2002] Topics: Google Date: Thursday, June 27, 2002   |     |   permalink   Too Many PPC Engines? An article on Revolution discusses whether the marketplace can support all of the pay-per-click search engines that are around today. • Is the search engine arena overcrowded? [article: Revolution, June 27 2002] Topics: PPC Engines Date: Thursday, June 27, 2002   |     |   permalink   International AllTheWeb From Webmaster World, a post about the breakdown in languages of Fast's index. Apparently it includes 47 different languages, the top five in order are English, German, Japanese, French, and Korean. • Language distribution in FAST's index [forum thread: Webmaster World, June 24 2002] Topics: Worldwide, Fast Date: Thursday, June 27, 2002   |     |   permalink   SK Telecom Likely to Buy Lycos Korea Korea's largest mobile carrier is in talks to buy (Update: they have now bought it) Lycos Korea, which is currently owned by Terra Lycos and Mirae Corp. • Terra Lycos retreats from Korea [article: C|Net (Reuters), June 28 2002] • Terra Lycos sells off stake in Lycos Korea [article: ITworld (IDG), June 28 2002] • SK Telecom to take over Lycos Korea [article: Korea Herald, June 28 2002] • Korea's SK Tel says close to buying Lycos Korea [article: CIOL (Reuters), June 27 2002] Topics: Terra Lycos, Worldwide Date: Thursday, June 27, 2002   |     |   permalink   Many Sites Against Vaccines The BBC reports that 43% of search results from several major search engines for "vaccination" and "immunisation" were against vaccination. Researchers in the study were concerned that these websites looked just as professional as the government's. They must have been sleeping for the last several years when it was realized that anyone could put anything on the internet. Many internet users use the web to look for health-related information. As this is an important topic, any fact should be verified by a number of websites including reputable ones, and anything very important you should still contact your doctor about. • Search engines accused of bias [article: vnunet, June 28 2002] • Web 'bias' against vaccination [article: BBC, June 27 2002] Date: Thursday, June 27, 2002   |     |   permalink   Google Answers has 500 Researchers Google's self promotion says that there are now five hundred researchers working for Google Answers. What they really need now are more questioners! I'll admit to being a researcher myself and having not yet answered any questions. There are currently almost 3,000 questions, and the frequency of new questions being asked is definitely increasing. Google has redesigned the front page for the third time already. The participating researchers having been doing an extensive job, often leaving extensive comments, which they do not get paid for. Many people predicted failure for Google Answers; so far it seems to be doing well. Topics: Google Date: Thursday, June 27, 2002   |     |   permalink   Google Innovation Roundup An article on ComputerWeekly which discusses quite a few of Google's innovations including Google API, Google Labs, and Google Answers. A good read for anyone who doesn't know about these things. • Google answers the future [article: ComputerWeekly, June 27 2002] Topics: Google Date: Thursday, June 27, 2002   |     |   permalink   Review of AllTheWeb MP3 Search Slyck has an article about AllTheWeb's MP3 search. The article recommends it for workers who aren't permitted to use peer-to-peer programs (shouldn't they be working?), but says that only about three in ten results will download properly, and that many searchers will not yield results. • AllTheWeb and MP3s [article: Slyck, June 26 2002] Date: Thursday, June 27, 2002   |     |   permalink   Worldwide This entry lists all entries relating to specific geographic regions, languages, or about the internet being global. Europe • Google's Success in France [July 10 2002] • Espotting Now on AltaVista France, Italy, & Spain [July 7 2002] • Overture Expanding to France & Japan [June 27 2002] • Lycos May Sell Nettavisen [June 25 2002] • Le Monde Interviews Google, Google Opens French Office [June 19 2002]Asia • Openfind Now the Largest Search • SK Telecom Likely to Buy Lycos Korea [June 27 2002] Engine [July 1 2002] • Overture Expanding to France & Japan [June 27 2002] Middle East • Persian Blogs on Blogdex [June 26 2002] • The Popular Sites in Israel [June 25 2002] Australia & New Zealand • The Popular Websites in Australia [July 27 2002] Mexico & Central America • Historical Mexican Newspapers to be Digitized [June 19 2002] Multiple Locations • Google Ads 3 Interface Languages [July 1 2002] • Portals to the World [June 27 2002] • International AllTheWeb [June 27 2002] Translation • Free Online Translators [June 27 2002]• Web-Powered Translation [June 21 2002] Date: Wednesday, June 26, 2002   |     |   permalink   Persian Blogs on Blogdex During the last day or so, Blogdex's top listings have been mostly Persian blogs written in Farsi. According to Blogdex, this is because an article on the BBC mentioning Blogdex caused a lot of Persians to submit their blogs (over 200). Farsi Blogs [blog entry: Blogdex, June 26 2002] Topics: Blogs, Worldwide Date: Wednesday, June 26, 2002   |     |   permalink   No More Google Challenge The Google Challenge, which I reported on several days ago, has been closed after Google asked it to end. See The (Unofficial) Google Challenge. Via Daypop Top 40. Topics: Google Date: Wednesday, June 26, 2002   |     |   permalink   Blogs Become Even More Connected Weblogs are probably the most connected part of the web; connectedness meaning the number of links between them. Yet another method of linking has been found: automatic reciprocal links. If a blog (or any website) using this is linked to, then the page that is linked to will automatically include a link back. Some other recent linking methods include Meta Linker, and linked-to similar-pages with the Google API. • Blogspace Under the Microscope [article: O'Reilly Network, May 3 2002] • Link to any article, and it will link back to you [article: Disenchanted] Topics: Blogs Date: Wednesday, June 26, 2002   |     |   permalink   Google Trickling into AOL Search Google, which reached a deal to provide search results to AOL Search, is slowly being integrated there. Google results began appearing on aol.co.uk about a week ago, and now appear on aol.de. • AOL UK search powered by Google [forum thread: Webmaster World, June 19 2002] Topics: Google Date: Wednesday, June 26, 2002   |     |   permalink   Overview of Google & Scientology Law.com has written a good article about the issue of Google, Scientology, and censorship. If you didn't hear about this back in March-April, it is a good read. For more information about this, follow the second link. Via VAS&ND. • The Google Way [article: Law.com, June 25 2002] • Google Erasure of Anti-Scientology Links [directory page: Open Directory] Topics: Google Date: Wednesday, June 26, 2002   |     |   permalink   Find Company Information with EDGAR SearchDay reports on upgrades to EDGAR, the US Securities & Exchange Commission's search tool. • SEC Upgrades EDGAR Search Engine [newsletter: SearchDay, June 26 2002] Topics: New Websites, Specific Search Tools Date: Wednesday, June 26, 2002   |     |   permalink   Logotype Free - Huge Logo Database Logotype Free has almost 50,000 different logos, which can be downloaded in EPS format. You can browse them alphabetically (may take a while...), or search. Most logos contain a word or two of description, and a link to the site of that logo's company. It is a very well done functional website. Via Library Stuff. Topics: New Websites Date: Tuesday, June 25, 2002   |     |   permalink   Specific Search Tools This entry lists all entries about search tools for searching specific types of information. News • Inbox Robot - New News Search Engine [June 25 2002] Government • Overview of FirstGov [July 8 2002] Health • New Tool Searches PubMed and GenBank Automatically [June 19 2002] Corporate Information • Find Company Information with EDGAR [June 26 2002] Date: Tuesday, June 25, 2002   |     |   permalink   Inbox Robot - New News Search Engine Inbox Robot is a new news search engine. The 'inbox' is because you can have search results or your own custom newsletters (up to five of them) delivered to your e-mail daily. Search results include the headline, date, and source, and are sorted by date. They claim to update their index hourly. It is amazing how many great news search tools there are now, compared to just a few good general search engines. Via Library Stuff. Topics: Specific Search Tools Date: Tuesday, June 25, 2002   |     |   permalink   Yahoo Closing Two Broadcasts Services Yahoo is closing their FinanceVision and radio channel. • Yahoo cuts down on web broadcasts [article: vnunet, June 27 2002] • Yahoo! to close FinanceVision and Yahoo! Radio [article: Europemedia.net, June 26 2002] • Yahoo to Discontinue Some Broadcast Operations [article: C|Net (Reuters), June 26 2002] • Yahoo! closes two free streaming services [article: Ananova, June 26 2002] • Yahoo drops two broadband services [article: ElectricNews.net, June 26 2002] • Yahoo! dumps free video streams [article: Silicon.com, June 26 2002] • Yahoo to shut Yahoo Finance Vision [article: CBS MarketWatch, June 25 2002] • Yahoo cuts some broadcast services [article: C|Net, June 25 2002] • Yahoo! to End Broadcasting Services [article: Washington Post (AP), June 25 2002] Topics: Yahoo Date: Tuesday, June 25, 2002   |     |   permalink   Google vs Teoma A thread has been started on Slashdot about Google and Teoma. My own thoughts are that while Teoma does have some good points, it will never achieve success like Google's. Teoma has good technology: the way it analyzes the structure of the web to find not just authorities, but hubs and communities. Google and most other engines search only for authorities. Google, however, has much more going for it: large and fresh database, multiple other tools and features, etc, etc. Even with the best technology, a limited database like Teoma's isn't much good. And their database isn't likely to grow that much: you've got to pay to get in now. • Comparison Of Google to Teoma [forum thread: Slashdot, June 25 2002] Topics: Google, Ask Jeeves Date: Tuesday, June 25, 2002   |     |   permalink   Interview with CmdrTaco C|Net has interviewed Rob Malda, who started Slashdot. Via Daypop Top 40. • Behind the Slashdot phenomenon [article: C|Net, June 24 2002] Date: Tuesday, June 25, 2002   |     |   permalink   The Popular Sites in Israel According to a Teleseker Internet Monitor survey, Walla! is still the most popular website in Israel. Hotmail and Google's popularity rose, while Yahoo and AltaVista's decreased. • Walla! still Israel's most popular Internet site [article: Globes-[online], June 24 2002] Topics: AltaVista, Google, MSN, Yahoo, Worldwide Date: Tuesday, June 25, 2002   |     |   permalink   Semant-O-Matic - Experimental Semantic Search Tool Semant-O-Matic is an experimental blog search engine. The index contains posts from eleven popular blogs for the last few months. The novelty is that it doesn't use just keyword lookup, it tries to determine which blog entries are conceptually close to each other. Read details on their about page. Via Daypop Top 40. Topics: New Websites, Blogs, Alternative Search Tools Date: Tuesday, June 25, 2002   |     |   permalink   Lycos May Sell Nettavisen According to Pandia, Lycos Europe has had offers for the Norwegian news and search portal Nettavisen. • Lycos Europe is considering selling Nettavisen [blog entry: Pandia, June 25 2002] Topics: Terra Lycos, Worldwide Date: Tuesday, June 25, 2002   |     |   permalink   Lots of Ways to Shorten a URL A short article on ResearchBuzz about three websites which turn long URLs into short ones by using redirections. • Make A Shorter URL -- And More! [article: ResearchBuzz, June 25 2002] Date: Tuesday, June 25, 2002   |     |   permalink   Big Portals Adopt Objectionable Content Tags Yahoo, AOL, and MSN have added offensive content information tags to most pages on their websites. These tags tell what sort of content is or is not on that page, such as nudity, bad language, etc. The adoption of the three major portals of these tags will likely encourage others to include them. The ICRA (Internet Content Rating Association) offers a free filter that lets parents choose what type of content their kids can view. Go to the ICRA site if you are a webmaster interested in adding these tags to your pages. • Big 3 add Content Labels to Web pages [forum thread: Geek.com, June 26 2002] • AOL, MS, Yahoo make sites kid-friendly [article: ZDNet, June 25 2002] • Online Giants Offer Kid-Friendly Web Surfing [article: Washington Post, June 25 2002] • Internet Content Rating Association [website] Topics: Kids Internet, AOL, MSN, Yahoo Date: Tuesday, June 25, 2002   |     |   permalink   The (Unofficial) Google Challenge The Google Challenge is a contest for bloggers, which is won by having your blog show up highest in the results for a weekly keyword. Essentially this means that the winner will be the one with the higher PageRank, although Google uses a number of other factors in ranking pages. One question which the creator himself points out, is "will the contest hurt Google?". Via Daypop Top 40. Topics: Google, Blogs Date: Monday, June 24, 2002   |     |   permalink   Vivísimo Receives More Funding Vivísimo, a popular meta search engine with clustering technology, is receiving a round of funding from Innovation Works. The funding will be used mainly for marketing and sales, not for technology. Via VAS&ND. • Vivisimo Receives 3rd Round of Funding [blog entry: VAS&ND, June 24 2002] • Vivísimo, Inc. Receives Third Venture Investment from Innovation Works [press release: Vivísimo, June 24 2002] Topics: Alternative Search Tools Date: Monday, June 24, 2002   |     |   permalink   Sentences Finished by Google The not.so.soft weblog put "blogs are" and "love is" into Google, and recorded the rest of sentences that began this way. The results and also the comments about it are interesting. Via Daypop Top 40. • Punditry for Dummies [blog entry: not.so.soft, June 2002] Topics: Google Date: Monday, June 24, 2002   |     |   permalink   Browser Plug-Ins An article on ZDNet about what browser additions it is important or useful to have. Their list includes Flash, QuickTime, Acrobat Reader, and of course the Google Toolbar. • Internet app plug-ins [article: ZDNet, June 21 2002] Topics: Browsers, Google Date: Sunday, June 23, 2002   |     |   permalink   Google June Update Google's June update has begun. For those of you who don't know, Google refreshes its database about once a month. The new database first appears on www2.google.com and www3.google.com, and shows up at the primary Google domain several days later. • Google June 2002 Update [forum thread: Webmaster World, June 23 2002] Topics: Google Date: Sunday, June 23, 2002   |     |   permalink   FreshBlogs.com - New Blog Tracker Fresh Blogs is a new tool for tracking updates on your favourite blogs. You can publish your list of watched blogs (the most recently updated goes to the top of the list) onto your own blog. The front page lists the top ten watched blogs. Topics: New Websites, Blogs Date: Sunday, June 23, 2002   |     |   permalink

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