FindForward:
Really neat in a voyeuristic sort of way. Search IRC chat logs with FindForward, the Uber Engine. Another Google on Steroids release.
Summary of features.
*
Normal Search: This goes through all of the Google-indexed web pages available via the Google Web API. You can use the full Google syntax. This covers phrase search via quotations (e.g. "Abraham Lincoln"), the minus operator "-" to exclude something, the tilde "~" to search for synonyms, and the OR operator.
*
- Only your language: This will reduce the result set to pages in your language only.
*
Ask Question: You can ask any question, like When was Einstein born?
Shorter questions will take less time.
*
Amazon: This will search Amazon and return books as well as reviews which you can expand. If you want to search for other media than books you can append your search with the keywords dvd, vhs, and music respectively. Example: jaws dvd.
*
- Amazon RSS: The results are the same as when searching using the "Amazon"-option, but the page will be delivered as RSS feed to be included in newsreaders.
*
All-around: This search option not only returns normal results, it will also query for related pages. This option is useful if you want to let your mind wander around the whole scope of a topic, including related areas you may not yet know about.
*
Search Grid: You will see a two-dimensional grid with results for phrases created out of two-word couples. You can enter up to 5 words. E.g. if you enter free love hippies results for "free", "hippies", "free love", "free hippies", and so on will be shown.
*
Chat Search: With this option only chat logs from IRC (the Internet Relay Chat network) are crawled. You get a feeling for what people are talking about regarding a certain word.
*
Weblog Newsfeed: This will only search blogs (weblogs/ daily journals) or blog-related information available via RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds.
If you'd like to see your RSS included here, please let me know.
*
Exclude Weblogs: This excludes blogs or blog-related information from the result list.
*
Get Questions: As opposed to the Ask Question option, Get Questions will deliver not answers, but potential questions. For example you can enter Einstein, and you will find pages like "What was Einstein's estimated IQ?".
*
Global: If you want to search a topic's manifestation around the globe, this option is for you. A map with the link relevant to a specific country is displayed.
*
Person Info: This search collects information on any person. You can also enter your own name, but naturally, the more popular the person, the more there is to find online.
*
Thing: Like Person search, but for everything else (including concepts).
*
Image: Similar to Google Images but with different result. Enter any search term, e.g. Bill Gates and this search will directly deliver full-size pictures.
*
Just Files: On purpose or not, sometimes people leave their Web directory browsable. So that when you enter example.com/files/, instead of a default HTML page the list of files in this directoy is shown. The Just Files option searches files within those directories only.
*
Meta Search: This combine the result of several search engines on one page.
*
Backlinks: Want to know who links to a certain URL, like your own homepage? Enter the web address and choose this option to get several backlinks checker on one page.
*
1900-1950: Interested in how important a term was in a certain year? With my Centuryshare algorithm (based on the Googleshare/ Mindshare algorithm) you are presented a Zeitgeist of the years from the first half of the last century.
*
1950-2000: This is like the 1900-1950 search option but for the second half of the 20th century.
*
Directory: This is based on the Open Directory of DMOZ.org, a human-edited collection of sites. You can leave the search query empty when selecting this option to be taken to the start page.
*
Old Pages Sometimes you might want to research older (mid to late 90s) Web pages discussing a certain topic.
*
Lucky First This option simply takes you straight to the first result. Just like Google does with its I'm Feeling Lucky button.
*
Wildcard Word: This searches for parts of a word as well. Try a search like phil to get philosophy, philadelpha, and so on.
You can also search for go*d to find gold, godsend, and so on.
*
Wildcard Phrase: The Wildcard search will find the most popular word within a phrase, for example "I like to drink *" would find Cola 10%, Pepsi 6%, Milk 3% and so on. You can use the asterisk "*" anywhere within the phrase. (If you don't submit an asterisk, the last word of that sentenced will be searched for.)
*
Randomize: Need to be inspired? This option will add a random word from a dictionary to your query and directly display search results. Everytime you hit "Find", a new word is added, making for less and less results, until no more results are available. There will also be a random pick from a quote database on top.
What is the "Comments" feature?
Below every search result you will find a "Add Comment" link. If there are any comments on this URL, they will be directly shown under the result. To add your own comment on this website you can just follow the link and type a comment. The comment can range from "This site is spam" to "Great blog" to everything else you can imagine. This way, all FindForward users can reflect on search results, inform or warn others, and directly communicate within the search results.
