Yesterday I wrote about the new search engine Cuil.com and now Yahoo (or at least Yahoo VP of Platforms, Sam Pullara) created a search engine that looks and feels like Cuil. Since Yuil is using the Yahoo API it got much better results then Cuil (and the funny part is that Cuil is said to give better results then Google ).

I didn't have any chance to test the search engine myself since Yahoo took it down pretty fast . I would love to have a look and a chance to test it against Cuil ("The battle of *uil" ).

Since Yuil used the Yahoo API anyone can do the same again (but maybe change the design a little bit so Cuil don't get mad). If I get any time over I will simply just have to give the Yahoo API a chance (maybe even update XavierSeek.com ). One thing that I really like about the Yahoo API is the ability for developers to re-rank the results so it becomes more meaningful for just your purposes.

Read more about Yuil in Sams blog.

This Monday a new search engine had premier. It's called Cuil (pronounced "cool") and is created by two former Google employees Amanda Patterson and Tom Costello.

From the start they claim they have over 120 billion pages indexed:

We’ve created the world’s biggest index, and we’ve also developed useful features to help you search. They’re simple to use and help you explore the variety and complexity of the Web.

However a fantastic technology and a really big search index didn't help them at all on their first day because way too many reported problems accessing the site. They should have gotten more servers instead of more indexed pages . If you want to make a big impression you should make sure your service is working at least your first day

So what's to new and special with this new search engine? Well, to start with they have new technology that they claim will give better search results and I guess that's what we all want when we're searching for something. Already when you start typing for the thing you're searching you get a drop down menu where you get suggestions for what you can search for:

Another thing that's new with Cuil.com is how they show you the search results. The results are presented to the users in three columns (you can select to have only two if you prefer). Next to almost every result they also show a small picture found on the site (I think). I kind of like it, but still when I was searching for some information about the founders I went to Google.com. That's one of their biggest problems: they are way to different looking then the other search engines and people (at least most of us) like to have things the way they've always been

They also got something they call explore by category where you get a few keywords related to your search results which you can click on and get new search results for. When I searched for "make money online" I got a lot of Google searvices in the Explore by category box……

If they succeed they've done a fantastic job, but unfortunately I think they will have a hard time with a lot (and then I mean a lot) of work in front of them. But I'm going to do my part and add them into the WebPage Tool Bar as a new search engine in next update

What do you think of Cuil.com? Will they beat the crap out of Google?

Looks like it's not going to be any merger between Digg and Google because according to rumors Digg was notified on Tuesday or Friday that Google was not longer interested.

According to TechCrunch Google was in the due diligence stage of the deal, where they "digg" deep into Digg’s technology and financial records, when they aborted the deal….. I wounder what they found that made them turn down this deal. Personally I wouldn't pay anything for Digg due to the rumors about auto-burying of sertain articles and also their other problems.

TechCrunch is writing:

Two sources close to the companies suggested that some issue that came up during technical due diligence was to blame. One source said that the issue was more personality driven, and that Google decided after spending more time with Digg’s top team that there just wasn’t a fit.

If Google wanted a service like Digg they would be able to develop it in a couple of months so I'm surprised about everything in this acquisition.

TechCrunch got an article about previous deals with Digg which lets us know that the owners are extremely interested in cashing in on their creation, so once again: what do they know that the rest of us don't know? Usually when the owners want to cash in they know their creation is a "sinking ship", they are in the need of cash or they have just been tired of working for their creation. I wounder what it's in the case of Digg?

What do you think scared Google off?