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(http://www.yellowpages.com), Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia. org), and others. Power searchers will want to exploit Exalead’s advanced search features; these include phonetic searching, approximate spelling, and date limiters. When users execute a search, they’ll see thumbnail image results (i.e., previews) along with a plethora of options to refine their search by site type (e.g., blog, forum), media (e.g., audio, video), and other possibilities. To take full advantage of Exalead’s features, customizations, and personalizations, users may want to consider a free registration. Registered users can participate in Exalead’s feedback forums. Exalead also provides a desktop search client (http://www.exalead. com/download/exaleadDesktop) that combs emails and hard drive files. What’s more, Exalead has developed a toolbar for Microsoft Internet Explorer (http:// www.exalead.com/download/ internetExplorerToolbar). Users and fans can stay informed about Exalead by reading the official Exalead blog (http://blog.exalead. com/). Next is a specialized, vertical tool: ZabaSearch (http://www. zabasearch.com); it has dominated people search since 2005. Specifically, this site indexes United States residents and includes their first and last names, birthdates . . . as well as current and previous addresses. Users can search by telephone number (i.e., perform a reverse directory search) in addition to Social Security Number. Individuals can sign up to receive alerts when their own name is searched by others on ZabaSearch. Those concerned about their personal privacy can opt out, too. Unfortunately, this service costs $20. No doubt ZabaSearch quickly has become the darling of public records researchers, class reunion organizers, and, unfortunately, stalkers. (This writer was able to find himself in ZabaSearch at an address that he resided in another state more than a decade ago.) ZabaSearch even includes a list of the top 25 names searched (http://www.zabasearch.com/topsearches/), which includes celebrities such as Brad Pitt and Paris Hilton - - not to mention Average Joes and Plain Janes. Moving along . . .. Since 2002, Gigablast (http://www.gigablast.com) has provided a clean, simple interface and the following databases: Web, Images, Video, and Directory. The Directory, by the way, is none other than the venerable Open Directory Project (http://www.dmoz.org). The Advanced search allows for enabling and disabling Christian Computing® Magazine August 2008 32
a filter; turning on and off the clustering feature; and adjusting the number of summary excerpts. Also, Gigablast’s “freshness dating” claims to offer users the ability to find new web pages. Users can choose to find new material from the last day, week, month, and year. Another unique resource is Factbites (http://www.factbites. com). This Australian company claims to be a hybrid of a search engine and an encyclopedia. Its approach to information retrieval is to render results useful by providing meaningful content in the actual results. It actually generates results in sentences (as opposed to merely matching keywords). Execute a search on “extended metaphor,” for example, and discover the definition of this literary phrase in the results. To date, Factbites indexes some 800,000 topics. Last, Clusty (http://www. clusty.com) is a metasearcher that - - as its name suggests - - uses clustering technology to organize results into topical categories. Run a search on rock band U2, and results are organized in clusters such as pictures, lyrics, tickets, reviews, and more. This tool crawls the likes of The Open Directory Project, Gigablast, and Ask. A subsidiary of Vivisimo (http:// www.vivisimo.com), Clusty includes several default databases such as web, news, images, Wikipedia, blogs, jobs, shopping, and more. Users can limit searches to find results in a certain file format, including Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and PDF. To keep pace with search engine developments and resources, Web wayfarers may want to monitor sites such as Pandia (http://www.pandia.com) and Search Engine Watch (http://www.searchenginewatch.com), which offers an email newsletter called Search Day. These resources are available in RSS format, and, therefore, they easily can be added to a feedreader such as Google Reader (http://www.google.com/reader) or Bloglines (http://www. bloglines.com). Think outside of the Google box when it comes to search; experiment with a new tool each week. This writer has even come across a blogger who advocates for “No Google Fridays”. Forcing one’s self to use other search tools is the best way to learn and become familiar with tools beyond Google. Be forewarned that the Google addiction is a hard habit to break. A support and accountability group may be necessary! C. Brian Smith, freelance writer, resides in Illinois. Read CCMag’s Review of our LogosGiving Service!Visit www.ccmag2.com/logos/0205coverstory.pdf Christian Computing® Magazine August 200833
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