Nifty New Web Search Sites

It seems like every week I discover another way to do an Internet search.

For instance, I just found Lexxe, an ask-a-question site that would have made a good addition to a short piece I did on sites that promise answers to your natural language questions. (Search Sites Try to Give Instant Answers)

Lexxe did well on the same questions I used in the article. I tried it just now, asking Where is Antarctica, and it provided both specific links as well as a list of topic clusters. The only problem? The site's ponderously slow.

BTW, I ran out of room in the article, so I couldn't talk about Brainboost. If I had, I would have told you it wasn't worth bothering with. For instance, AskJeeves didn’t care if I asked a complete question (“What's the temperature in Paris now?”) or used shorthand (“temperature Paris now”); Brainboost, on the other hand, responded only to the lengthy version. Brainboost did have a handy preview window for grabbing a quick look at the contents of a recommended link, but had no way to set preferences, and it was the slowest of the sites I tested, often taking 8 seconds for simple questions.

Other Search Spots

Here are three other search sites I often use. Give them a whirl and see what you think.

• Jux2 overlaps three search engines: Google, Yahoo, and AskJeeves. You can find out what Google missed, found, and if you're hooked on them, Google-only results (the same goes for AskJeeves and Yahoo).

• Gahoo!Yoogle does a nice job of splitting a browser screen in two and showing both Google and Yahoo search results.

• The Free Dictionary includes nine dictionaries, including medical, computing, legal, and financial, as well as idioms and acronyms (it found BFD, so it's okay in my book).

Have one you like? Send me a note in Comments.

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