Top Technology Trends Committee

Tool Kit: What's New?

In response to user requests, here is a log of recent changes in the Tool Kit for Expert Web Searchers.

December 3, 2004: Under "Search Engines," updated the description for Google; removed MSN Search and AlltheWeb since they are Inktomi-based, and Yahoo Search, which I added, now provides that information better. Under "News Searching," updated URL for RocketNews and removed AlltheWeb News Search, since it is now the same as Alta Vista - News, which is better presented. Under "Metasearch Engines and Search Engine Collections," added Clusty. Under "Global Searching," removed CNET Search.com - International because it's no longer available. Under "Multimedia Searching," added Yahoo! Search - Images. Under "Search Engine News," updated the name of Research Buzz!, updated the descriptions for The ResourceShelf and Search Engine Watch, and removed About Web Search due to its change in focus. Removed InfoMinder at the bottom of the page because it now seems to be a pay service.

February 2, 2004: Updated URL for the Internet Scout Project under "Subject Guides." Restored lost name and link, and updated listing, for AlltheWeb News Search, under "News Searching." Under "Metasearch Engines and Search Engine Collections," removed Metor Search, since all of its useful features have been removed, and Fossick.com WebSearch Alliance, since it hasn't been sufficiently updated. under "Global Searching," also removed Fossick.com WebSearch Alliance, and removed Search Engines Worldwide due to lack of updating. Under "Multimedia Searching," removed Fast Multimedia Search because it uses the same database as Alta Vista, which provides better search features; removed Friskit Music because it is no longer publicly available; and removed Fossick Online Multimedia and Digital Image Search since it is insufficiently updated. Under "The Invisible Web," removed the link to a definition and its related site listing, since InvisibleWeb.com no longer exists. Also removed Direct Search - Search Tools and Directories because it is no longer updated, and Internets because it no longer exists. Updated the description of FirstGov. Updated the URL for GPO Access. Updated the description for INFOMINE. Removed A Collection of Special Search Engines due to lack of updating. Removed Search Adobe PDF Online since it doesn't seem to be up-to-date and this format is now searchable on other search engines. Under "Search Engine News," updated the description of The ResourceShelf and Search Engine Watch. Added WatchThatPage as a possible change tracker for this page.

March 5, 2003: Under "Search Engines," updated AlltheWeb description, removed HotBot since it has changed drastically in functioning, and added MSN Search and Teoma since they seem to have improved. Under "News Searching," updated Alta Vista - News and RocketNews descriptions, removed Northern Light Current News Search since its future seems to be too unstable, and added Google News. Under "Metasearch Engines and Search Engine Collections," updated name and URL for Search Online, removed iBoogie MetaSearch Engine due to deteriorating performance, and added ez2Find. Updated Alta Vista description under "Multimedia Searching." Under "Search Engine News," updated name, URL, and description for The Virtual Acquisition Shelf and News Desk, and added About Web Search -- About still has too many pop-ups, but for this specialized area, I'll give it a chance. Removed Spyonit.com from tracker links at bottom of page, since it has been inactive for a long time.

October 10, 2002: Removed all links to About.com -- all or part of it was listed under "Subject Guides," "Global Searching," and "The Invisible Web." A once-mighty search tool has fallen -- the commercial aspects are overwhelming, and one of its entries took me to a page with a virus. Changed Moreover listing under "News Searching" to Alta Vista - News, since that tool searches Moreover, and Moreover no longer makes it easy to search directly at their site. Updated Yahoo! News name and description under "News Searching." Under "Metasearch Engines and Search Engine Collections," modified Vivisimo's description and added iBoogie MetaSearch Engine. Under "Global Searching," updated name, URL, and description for CNET Search.com - International, as well as removing link to part of About.com. Under "The Invisible Web," removed WebData.com, which no longer seems to exist, as well as removing link to part of About.com. Under "Search Engine News," updated Search Engine Showdown description.

July 17, 2002: Updated Google and AllTheWeb descriptions under "Search Engines" to reflect fluctuating sizes. Added Search Online to "Metasearch Engines and Search Engine Collections."

June 5, 2002: Updated URL for Direct Search under "The Invisible Web."

May 2, 2002: Updated Alta Vista description under "Multimedia Searching." Removed mention of Lycos Searchable Databases from InvisibleWeb.com entry under "The Invisible Web." Updated URL for The Virtual Acquisition Shelf and News Desk under "Search Engine News."

March 6, 2002: Removed MSN Search and substituted HotBot under "Search Engines." MSN's implementation of Inktomi is giving inexplicable results in some areas that may be affected by commercial interests. See Are Search Results for Sale?. Also, try searches for "pc games" and "books."

February 19, 2002: Removed reference to iLOR, since they no longer use Google.

January 11, 2002: Removed NorthernLight from "Search Engines," since that function will no longer be available to the public. Added NewsNow to "News Searching." Removed MindIt from suggested tracker links at bottom of page, since it's defunct, and added two that are free, don't require software downloads, and were recommended in an article I read -- InfoMinder and TrackEngine.

December 6, 2001: Removed WiseNut -- database is too outdated. Removed "Precision Searching" category; Excite is changing too much, and it's not worth keeping the category for what's left; also major search engines are doing a better job at this now. Added "News Searching" section. Changed FASTSearch to AllTheWeb, except under "Multimedia Searching," where it still applies. Removed specifications of search engines covered under "Metasearch Engines and Search Engine Collections"; it changes too much. Added Singingfish and Friskit under "Multimedia Searching," and updated some descriptions in that section. Added One World to "Global Searching."

September 6, 2001: Major overhaul -- I even refledged the flodge-hoisters! Under "Search Engines," updated Google, FASTSearch, MSN Search, and Northern Light listings to reflect current size estimates, and added WiseNut. Under "Metasearch Engines and Search Engine Collections," updated Ixquick, Metor Search, and Vivisimo listings to reflect current search engine choices. Note that Google is back to not working on Metor Search. Under "Global Searching," removed defunct Alba36.com, and added European Search Engines. Under "Multimedia Searching," added Google Image Search. Under "The Invisible Web," removed CompletePlanet and Alphasearch, and added GPO Access, Internets, and A Collection of Special Search Engines. Under "Search Engine News," removed About.com's Web Search, and added TVC Alert and The Virtual Acquisition Shelf and News Desk.

June 14, 2001: Reversed the entry order of this page -- it occurred to me people might want to see the current changes first! Duh! Added ILOR to Google entry under "Search Engines." Several changes to "Metasearch Engines and Search Engine Collections" -- listed Google as being searched by Metor Search, since it works now. Removed QBSearch and Search.com, due to their high percentage of pay-for-placement results. Added Vivisimo.com and ProFusion.com. Under "Multimedia Searching," updated instructions for Alta Vista.

May 18, 2001: Fixed some HTML. In "Global Searching," removed Chris Sherman's name from Regional Search Engines... since he is no longer the Web Search guide. In "Search Engine News," removed Chris' name from About.com's Web Search and updated entry.

May 3, 2001: Added "What's New?" feature. In "Search Engines," dropped Iwon and NBCi, added MSN Search.