Ixer writes;
It is now common parlance : when we search on line we "google" something. With the rise of user data tracking by Google, Bing and Yahoo, as well as ever changing privacy T&Cs, you may want to try alternative search engines. Here are five search engines we have tried, starting with our winner alternative to the big three:
1. Our Favourite: Duckduckgo.com
This search engine does not track your searches and user privacy is a key feature. (Image removed)It is also very quick and less cluttered; the design is clean and ads kept to a minimum. You get results for websites, images, and video. Refining your search is easy. It reminds me of the Google of old - no maps, ad words and other items you may not want for general searches.
2. ASK or ASK Jeeves in UK (Image removed)
This is an older engine, but still useful. Its great feature is that it still will "answer" a question typed into the search bar. It reminds me that there are different ways to get the content you are looking for and get you there in a few clicks.
3. Blekko is another clean interface (Image removed)Blekko allows you to add a slash within a refined search. For example you may search "diving" and with the forward slash /scuba Blekko will only show those relevant results without for example references to pool diving or cliff diving. Quite handy if you are specific and will narrow down the results.
4. Ixquick is simple in its proposition: The world's most private search engine and they neither collect not store user data. Results are displayed in a clean, simple list. There are ads at the top, but these are also clearly marked.
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5. Dogpile is a meta search engine. It returns results from searching other engines such as Google and Yahoo. It eliminates duplicates and finds those results which are more common and thus more relevant to your search.
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And finally:
I once heard (or read or thought) this line:
"The Internet is great - like a gigantic library. It is has all the information you could want at your fingertips - problem is it's all in one room and all the books are in a heap on the floor" If it wasn't me then please let me know who it was.
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