Google Sets

I don't know how long this has been out. I think it is brand new. Google Labs has something called Google Sets. Type in a few things in a series, and it guesses the rest. For example, you type 1 2 3, and it fills in 4 5 6 7 8. You type in Pontiac, Chrysler, Ford. It fills in Oldsmobile, Mercury, Jeep.

Pretty cool technology. I'm not sure what practical use it has, but it might be a useful case study for Alexa's Related Links technology. For example, if I type in a series of sites, can it suggest related ones? I tried, and it couldn't. Maybe creating related links is harder than I thought. Link to Google Sets.

Yahoo Goes Desktop

And then, there was desktop search... Like some commandment from the heavens, all of the search companies have jumped into desktop search. They must all visit the same psychic. "He who controls the desktop will control search...." Now Yahoo has joined the fray.

So, let's see. First there was Google desktop search. Then Ask. Then MSN. Then Yahoo. Is there anybody else? I wonder what the psychic is going to instruct these guys to build next?

Rather than do good investigative journalism, I have decided to leave it to the pros. Slate.com has a pretty good round-up of the pre-yahoo desktop search applications. Surprise winner: Copernic. Yes. Copernic. If you haven't heard of them, they have had a downloadable meta web search application for years. But I don't know anybody who has ever used it. Personally, I use Google and find it to be great. Link.

Can Open Directory/Wikipedia Model Work for Search?

Just discovered this new search engine Wikia. It is attempting to build a search engine the same way Wikipedia built an Encyclopedia... with the participation of users. Users submit links and rate results. I have no idea if it will be any good. Right now it is worthless. No results. But it is kind of neat anyway. Check it out: Link.

Spyware, Spyware Removers, and Alexa

We get this question a lot: Is Alexa spyware? The question stems from the fact that a lot of spyware removers say we are. And the situation isn't helped by that fact that we were sued for our privacy policy and investigated by the FTC back in 2000 during the Internet bubble. Alexa settled the suit (the terms are publicly available) and the FTC dropped the investigation, but the damage was done.

Now a lot of spyware remover programs have made their fortunes on Alexa's back. Alexa's "Show Related Links" feature is built into almost all IE browsers, allowing these programs to "find" spyware on almost 100% of all machines they scan. But it is a trick, and dishonest, and perhaps worst of all, these programs often make a mess out of the computers they claim to fix.

But it is not all gloom and doom. Like most things Internet, the first wave of programs come out and they are junk, and they are followed by better programs -- in this case, more honest too. This new wave of spyware remover programs are not calling Alexa spyware. Microsoft, has finally gotten into the game with their own spyware remover. Yahoo has one. Symantec has one (but it is still identifying Alexa as spyware.) It seems that most of the spyware removers I install now-a-days don't identify Alexa as spyware. The tide has turned. Honesty and credibility are factors in the game now.

Want a list of who's good and who's bad in the spyware remover game?

The good:
Microsoft
Yahoo
Computer Associates/Pest Patrol
Anonymizer
Spybot
NoAdware

The bad:
Lavasoft / AdAware
Symantec

I haven't had the time to compile a comprehensive list, so if you know of others, let me know and I will add them here.

RocketNews API

Folks are predicting that Google won't release an open API any time soon... why bother, right? But Microsoft will, because they need to compete. Along those lines, it looks like Rocket News is releasing an open API for their news search. Press release here. The funny thing is, you have to e-mail them to get info about their "open" API. At least they tried.