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SHOWDOWN NEWS
The Search Engine Showdown Online Newsletter
June 16, 1999 Vol. 1 No. 1
By Greg R. Notess, Search Engine Showdown
http://www.notess.com/search/
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Welcome to this first issue of Showdown News. This online newsletter features search engine news for the information professional. It will include news such as updates to Search Engine Showdown, new search features, changed search features, inconsistencies and problems, new search engines, and recent search engine literature.

SEARCH ENGINE SHOWDOWN NEWS:

Search Engines by Search Features page lists specific search features followed by the search engines that support that feature. This should be a useful supplement to the Search Engine Chart.
<http://notess.com/search/features/byfeature.shtml>

The AltaVista Inconsistencies Page aims to document both ongoing and short-lived inconsistent behavior on AltaVista. It includes an option on the bottom of the page to add your reports. Currently it includes sections for time-outs, counting problems, case sensitivity, diacritics, and field searching. Similar pages will be added for other search engines as inconsistencies are reported or discovered.
<http://notess.com/search/features/av/inconsistent.shtml>

Several reviews have been redesigned and expanded with sections for strengths, weaknesses, and default operations. So far, the reviews of AltaVista, Fast, Google!, Excite, and Lycos have been thus updated.
<http://notess.com/search/reviews>

Search Engine Showdown has been expanded to include more communication and discussion opportunities. In addition to this newsletter, there is the search-l email discussion list and the Search Engine Showdown Forums. I have also started a listing of other search engine-related email lists, forums, and communities.
<http://notess.com/search/lists>

SEARCH ENGINE NEWS:

Inktomi announced their collaboration with AOL on AOL search products. Does this mean NetFind will switch to Inktomi?
<http://www.inktomi.com/new/press/aolsearch.html>

Inktomi also announced a new product: their automated directory engine. The directory engine is supposed to automatically categorize Web sites and build an automated directory. The process sounds a bit like Northern Light's custom search folders, but there is no product yet available to view
<http://www.inktomi.com/new/press/directory.html>

DejaNews has had a facelift and is accessible at a new URL: www.deja.com. New additions include Deja Ratings, Deja Shopper, and Deja Tracker. Deja Tracker is an email-based alert service for tracking specific threads or searches. Tracker sends an email alert when something new shows up on Deja. Use of Tracker requires free registration as a My Deja member. Otherwise, the underlying DejaNews database of Usenet news articles and the search interface remain basically the same.
<http://www.deja.com/info/>

Infoseek introduced new features. It now highlights search terms on the results page if they are displayed in the title or extract. Infoseek also offers suggested phrase searches listed as "Similar Searches." This is very similar to AltaVista's Related Searches. Also, Infoseek's directory topics listed at the top are now called 'Matching Topics' and their display can be collapsed or expanded by clicking on the small green box in the upper right-hand corner.
<http://infoseek.go.com>

On June 7th, Lycos unveiled the "Invisible Web," a collection of 7,000 searchable database entries added to their directory under Reference. Lycos does not search these databases, but it gives links to the databases. The Invisible Web Catalog comes from IntelliSeek, makers of BullsEye.

SEARCH ENGINE ARTICLES

Greg R. Notess. "Searching for Current News." DATABASE 22(3):57-60, June-July 1999.
This On the Net column takes an in-depth look at the databases behind the news search engines. It compares them in terms of depth of coverage, number of hits, and how frequently they are updated.
<http://notess.com/write/archive/9906.html>

Greg R. Notess. "Internet Search Engine Update." from the forthcoming July ONLINE is available online.
<http://www.onlinemag.net/OL1999/engine7.html>

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Showdown News: copyright © 1999, Greg R. Notess
This may be forwarded to others as long as it is forwarded in its entirety including this copyright notice.
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For more information about Showdown News,
including subscription information,
see http://www.notess.com/search/lists/news.shtml
Questions or problems? Email greg@notess.com
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