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Search site aims to rival Google ( Called Cuil, from the Gaelic for knowledge and hazel, )
BBC ^ | Monday, 28 July 2008 12:33 UK 11:33 GMT, | BBC Staff

Posted on 07/28/2008 11:05:40 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach

Search site aims to rival Google

Screengrab of Cuil homepage, Cuil
The Cuil homepage is even more sparse than Google's

Former workers at the web giant Google have launched a rival search engine.

Called Cuil, from the Gaelic for knowledge and hazel, its founders claim it does a better and more comprehensive job of indexing information online.

The technology it uses to index the web can understand the context surrounding each page and the concepts driving search requests, say the founders.

But analysts believe the new search engine, like many others, will struggle to match and defeat Google.

Hard fight

Cuil, pronounced "cool", says it uses more than 120 billion webpages to build up its index of the information it finds on the web.

It claims this is more than Google uses though the search giant has stopped reporting how much it indexes. Without revealing numbers Google claimed its index was still bigger.

The founders of Cuill are former Google engineers and they obviously have a fiercely competitive attitude to their former mother-ship

Rory Cellan-Jones
BBC technology correspondent


Cuil claims that its technology moves away from the methods that have driven Google's success.

Instead of just looking at the number and quality of links to and from a webpage as Google's technology does, Cuil attempts to understand more about the information on a page and the terms people use to search. Results are displayed in a magazine format rather than a list.

The company is also trying to set itself apart from Google by not retaining any information about what people search for.

Cuil founders, Anna Patterson, Russell Power and Louis Monier are former Google staffers. The other founder Tom Patterson worked for IBM and others on search and storage technologies.

By declaring its aim of taking on Google, Cuil joins a long list of others that have tried and largely failed to dent the search giant's market share. Other contenders include Teoma, Vivisimo, Snap, Mahalo and Powerset.

"The time may be right for a challenger," said Danny Sullivan, editor in chief of Search Engine Land. "Competing with Google is still a very daunting task, as Microsoft will tell you."



TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: cuil; google; search
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To: sionnsar
Hey, I'm chiming in with Dwelly's (the old and HUGE if completely antiquated dictionary) and MacLennan's - which basically says the same as MacBain's.

Hazel - as the third letter of the alphabet (a nice touch of Dwelly's) - is "Coll". He marks it as "obsolete". It can also mean "neck" or "destruction", but it doesn't mean "knowledge"! A "Cuil" without the accent mark, acc. to Dwelly, is short for "cuileag" and means "fly" - as in a housefly, or a fishing fly.

I get the idea that these characters don't actually SPEAK Gaelic . . . or even read it very well.

21 posted on 07/28/2008 4:25:28 PM PDT by AnAmericanMother (Ministrix of ye Chase, TTGS Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment))
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To: AnAmericanMother

Thanks! I was at work and had only my electronic copies available.


22 posted on 07/28/2008 4:36:58 PM PDT by sionnsar (Impeach Obama |Iran Azadi| 5yst3m 0wn3d - it's N0t Y0ur5 (SONY) | UN: Useless Nations)
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To: dajeeps
I use Scroogle.
23 posted on 07/28/2008 4:43:29 PM PDT by shorty_harris
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To: AnAmericanMother; LibreOuMort
Their website says: Cuil is an old Irish word for knowledge. For knowledge, ask Cuil.

Some sharp comments -- but I had to laugh a little at the post heading: our Gaelic society newletter is called "Am Bradan Fhiosa"

24 posted on 07/28/2008 4:44:11 PM PDT by sionnsar (Impeach Obama |Iran Azadi| 5yst3m 0wn3d - it's N0t Y0ur5 (SONY) | UN: Useless Nations)
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To: shorty_harris

Scroggle is good. I like Alatvista and Dogpile

Google is part of the leftoid establishment and the enemy as far as I am concerned.


25 posted on 07/28/2008 4:48:27 PM PDT by free_life (If you ask Jesus to forgive you and to save you, He will.)
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To: free_life

That’s Altavista


26 posted on 07/28/2008 4:48:56 PM PDT by free_life (If you ask Jesus to forgive you and to save you, He will.)
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To: sionnsar
Oh, yeah, and knowledge is "fios" - as in "tha fios agam" - I know.

When it's an obscure question, I always check Mr. Dwelly. The frontispiece - of the Great Man himself - alone is worth the price of admission!


27 posted on 07/28/2008 4:56:29 PM PDT by AnAmericanMother (Ministrix of ye Chase, TTGS Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment))
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
I tried it this morning and it didn't bring up my company website. My current search wagon is CLUSTY
28 posted on 07/28/2008 5:12:37 PM PDT by tubebender (Why does a round pizza come in a square box?)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

seems to be working pretty good now. I like their content rather than popularity perspective....by by google.


29 posted on 07/28/2008 5:23:04 PM PDT by Tainan (Talk is cheap. Silence is golden. All I got is brass...lotsa brass.)
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To: free_life; shorty_harris
Scroggle is good. I like Alatvista and Dogpile

You might take Ms. Dewey for a spin, sometime.

30 posted on 07/29/2008 12:13:19 AM PDT by HKMk23
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

I tried it — one thing I saw right away that I didn’t like: When you know the name of a website you want to go to, in Google, you can type: yadayada.com, and it will take you directly to the website. I tried that in Cuil, and it won’t take you there directly.


31 posted on 07/29/2008 6:44:26 AM PDT by Babu
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To: mnehrling

Same here. It might get better, but for now it’s a mess.


32 posted on 07/29/2008 7:56:29 AM PDT by steve-b (Intelligent design is to evolutionary biology what socialism is to free-market economics.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

I just did my first search on cuil and of course my first search was ANN COULTER. I like it better than google for sure.


33 posted on 07/29/2008 6:46:52 PM PDT by fkabuckeyesrule (I knew there was a reason I supported Phil Gramm in 1996!!!!)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Pronounced 'kew-ill'
34 posted on 07/29/2008 6:50:43 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Are you ready to pray for Teddy?)
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To: tubebender

I think I tried that one too....Google seems to be pretty far ahead of anyone else just in the resources that they have working....


35 posted on 07/29/2008 8:52:15 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (No Burkas for my Grandaughters!)
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