Searching the Net
2000//01/11
Yet another outdated page I have here. That's okay in this
case. I am still using
Copernic 2001 Pro. It does the job.
Dvorak has said good things about
Profusion. I should check it out.
2000//01/28
I have heard good things about a program called BullsEye
by Intelliseek, but never checked it
out. I see they now have a product called BullsEye 2. I really ought to check it
out. I see they also have another version called BullsEye
Pro. Not cheap at $149. Ouch!!
2000//01/28
I finally got around to buying Copernic
2000. I kept debating whether to
pay for the Pro or Plus or go with the free one for a while. I remembered how
much I liked Copernic99 and that my time was the real issue. This way I won't
have to mess with upgrading later.
I have some things to search for now and will give it a try. Just did!
Pretty nice. Wonder why more people don't seem to be using these tools. They
have done a good job.
2000//01/25
I have decided to go ahead and just buy and download the Pro version of Copernic
2000. I was very pleased with Copernic99 Plus and would have used it
everyday and all day if it weren't for the fact that I had a very unstable
install on my last machine. Things are working great on the new
machine and I don't foresee any problems.
I will let you know how the program performs, but unfortunately will not be
able to compare it to the Plus and free versions of the program as I don't have
the time to try them. Nor do I have time to research or test other software. I
guess I can use Copernic for the research.
Infoseek
Express, something I mentioned a long time ago was recently mentioned in
another magazine I am not even sure if I tried it out. Thinking that before I
shell out 80 bucks for Copernic 2000 I ought to give free stuff a try, I checked
out the site. That is a not a product. It's all about selling ads. They have a
special page for advertisers: See
what your eyeballs are worth. I am surprised that page is so easy to reach.
I am getting off-topic here. I'll have to pass on the purchase, download and
installation of Copernic 2000 for tonight. Probably a good time to sleep.
2000//01/24
I used Copernic99 last year and was very pleased with it. I am about to
install it on my new machine as I migrate my applications over. They have a new
version called Copernic 2000 and and it
comes in 3 flavors: Standard (free), Plus ($25.95) and Pro ($79.95). Of course I
want the Plus version, but I would rather not pay that much, at least
without shopping around to see what is new and improved out there.
Time to go check out BotSpot.
= = = Very old stuff below here = = =
1999/03/05
Downloaded Copernic99 a few minutes ago. May
get to it later tonight.
Search Engine Watch seems to be a nice
site for keeping up with this stuff. I subscribed to their monthly newsletter the other
day and the March issue
just arrived. Interesting stuff. Read up on something called Direct Hit.
1999/02/24
Two new software apps that I want to check out read about them in the March issue of PC Computing. I am in no hurry to try either of
them
Infoseek Express http://express.infoseek.com/
Transcom Software Beeline http://www.transcomsoft.com/beeline/
1999/02/23
Getting off topic a bit here, but I see that John Dvorak of
PC Mag
has created his own personal portal. This
really makes sense. No graphics, small fonts to pack a lot in and you leave it on your
machine so it loads a lot faster. I am going to work on something like this for myself.
I am also closer to tracking down the other app that I mentioned yesterday. Talked
to someone else today that stopped by their booth at Comdex. I have to wonder how serious
a company is about selling a product if the don't at least make sure they are listed at Yahoo!
I don't think I see them there.
The other booth that I stopped by was Inforian, which has Inforian Quest 99. I used it - an older version
that is - almost daily for about a month last year. Wonder what happened? I guess it must
have expired on me. <g> I wonder if anything has changed besides the number at the
end? I can't find a release date on their site. And I don't see a list of added features
or fixes. I guess I could try the 30-day trial. By the way, it supports
Japanese.
I was also trying to remember which program it was that uses your web browser as it's
interface. It's Copernic 98
I saw the screenshots at their site. (Wonder why more companies don't have
them?) Might be time to give it another look. And I will have to read what the Plus version has to offer. I think it
mainly allows you to search more places. I usually by the Plus/Pro version of any
program that I like, but I also like to think that there will be some future releases
coming up. It seems that this program hasn't been updated for a while. Last date in their Press Room is October 1998.
Just thought of something. Since I talked about this stuff at that meeting last year I
have found myself using a few more search sites that I may not have given much mention and
ought to add them somewhere. For now I will just put the names and URLs.
Ask Jeeves! http://www.askjeeves.com/
Inference Find http://infind.inference.com/
same as http://www.infind.com/ ?
Husky Search http://huskysearch.cs.washington.edu/
Northern Light http://www.northernlight.com/power.html
And a few not really tried:
Dogpile http://www.dogpile.com/
Google http://www.google.com/ Used
to be at: http://google.stanford.edu/
And it is probably about time that I took a look at what's going on with BotSpot. These guys used to send me a
newsletter, but I haven't gotten it for a long time. I may have unsubscribed last summer
before taking a trip. I see they now have a biweekly newsletter for $19.95 per year in
addition to the free monthly newsletter. Info is here.
Rereading my notes from last year and have a few comments. Alexa is up to
version 3.0.x. http://www.alexa.com/.
You don't hear much talk about them, but it is a useful tool for quickly getting some
information on a site and see some similar or somehow linked sites.
One relatively new program that I would like to check out is called Mata Hari
at: http://www.thewebtools.com/ At least they
have some screenshots
there. Hard to tell what it's like.
And nothing much new with NewsMonger, the newsgroup searching software
that I got excited about last year. (http://www.techsmith.com/).
But I am pretty impressed with the way Microplanet
Gravity, a newsreader, searches not only the headers, but also the bodies of newsgroup
messages. Why didn't anyone tell me about this? But here again, there has been no news on
their site for months.
Drifting and need some sleep.
1999/02/22
I remember stopping by a couple of booths at Comdex. I wonder if I can find these
companies. I think one of them was Inforian, the makers of Inforian Quest. I thought they were updating
there software, but it's hard to tell.
The other was a Canadian company that had a product that incorporated an atlas,
encyclopedia so you could search both. One thing I liked about it was that it used your
browser as the interface so you wouldn't have to switch back and forth between windows.
1999/02/21
I just went through some of these links. Can someone tell me why these programs seem
to be disappearing or not getting updated. Searching the Net seems kind of important to
me. I would think that there would be a market for a good offline search tool,
something that runs on your machine and checks a bunch of sites, checks the validity of
the links and is a lot faster.
A good one makes you more productive. I would be willing to pay for one. I want to spend
some time on this stuff and see what I can find. If you want to help me out, please drop
send me an email and I will try to keep plugging away at
it.
I certainly have spent a lot of time at the shopping comparison sites and some of them are
pretty nice.
Computers
http://www.pricescan.com/
http://www.killerapp.com/
http://www.shopper.com/
http://www.pricewatch.com/
http://www.kakaku.com/ (Japanese)
http://www.streetprices.com/
http://www.pricenetwork.com/
http://www.pricetrac.com/
http://www.deal-pc.com/
http://www.bigc.com/
http://www.cortix.com/
http://www.pdapage.com/
http://www.computershopper.com/
Yahoo
Books: http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Companies/Books/Shopping_and_Services/Book_Search_Services/Price_Comparisons/
For a quick start:
Search Engine Watch: http://searchenginewatch.com/
Online: http://www.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Companies/Internet_Services/Search_and_Navigation/ )
Software: http://www.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Companies/Computers/Software/Internet/Search/
Reviews: http://www.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Software/Reviews/Titles/Internet/Search_Tools/
Metasearches: http://dir.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Internet/World_Wide_Web/Searching_the_Web/All_in_One_Search_Pages/
Prices: http://www.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Companies/Computers/Retailers/Price_Guides/
Warning: Anything below this line is really old and just my notes that I put here to get at.
Old notes start here...
TPC - NetSearching 98/06 Meeting
Conclusion:
- what's for you? You decide
- try them, study them with usual caution
- a useful skill; you probably won't regret testing
- learning one helps with others
- check http://www.botspot.com/ and Yahoo, etc.
- future: search and buy, better sorting, you name, subscriber
- know what you are looking for and stay focused
My favorites:
- NewsMonger - worth it all for this one!!!
- Yahoo
- Inforian Quest 98
Get searched:
<META> tag that lets search engines know
the keywords that you want your page to be registered under