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28 Jul 2008
A new search engine dubbed Cuil is hoping to offer a rival to the likes of Google, Yahoo and Ask.
Cuil is pronounced 'cool' and comes from an old Irish word meaning 'knowledge'.
The site has indexed 120 billion web pages, which it claims is three times more than any other search engine, and results are organised by ideas rather than just rankings. Cuil also boasts complete user privacy.
The new search engine will attempt to analyse the context of each page and the concepts behind each query, thereby grouping similar results together and sorting them by category.
These groups are divided by tabs which aim to clarify subjects, offer images to identify topics and search refining suggestions.
"The web continues to grow at a fantastic rate and other search engines are unable to keep up with it," said Tom Costello, chief executive and co-founder of Cuil.
"Cuil presents searchers with content-based results, not just popular ones, providing different and more insightful answers that illustrate the vastness and the variety of the web."
However, it seems that the new site has been more popular than its makers had anticipated, as the servers seem to have buckled under the strain.
Many users trying to access the site are seeing an error message which reads: "We'll be back soon ..."
"Due to overwhelming interest, our Cuil servers are running a bit hot right now. The search engine is momentarily unavailable as we add more capacity. Thanks for your patience," the notice says.
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Do you agree?
Yahoo, Google, Cuil and Live
Yahoo.com: 40,300 for " Solar Towers" Google.com: 11,000 for "Solar Towers" Cuil.com: 2,569 results for "Solar Towers" Live.com: 7,630 results Yahoo.com: 1,260,000,000 for iphone Google.com: 240,000,000 for iphone Cuil.com: 53,670,701 results for iphone live.com: 174,000,000 results
Posted by: Sergio Eurico 31 Jul 2008
Not ready for Prime Time yet!
I searched CUIL for "Solar Tower" with ZERO (0) hits. I searched Google for "Solar Tower" with 800,000 hits. No editorial needed
Posted by: diogenes 29 Jul 2008
can't be up and working yet...surely not
I just did several routine searches and Cuil found nothing - nada. No mention that the site wasn't working, just that it didn't have any search results. I was hoping for a more comprehensive response than google which only returns 2 sites on my search string. The problem is that I work with a part of an academic program and know for certain the name is listed on close to 20 websites. I need comprehensive responses in order to better refine page structure, target audiences.
Posted by: sydney foote 28 Jul 2008
Oh dear
Well, apart from the slowness, which can be fixed, there is the weirdness of the search results - obscure pages pulled up and popular/important ones ignored. Ghastly user interface too - all that BLACK. All in all, not cool - or even cuil.
Posted by: Karen 28 Jul 2008
Cuil - Google Killer or Killed by Google?
Cuil is ok. Not as amazing as hyped up. I did a bit more research and wrote about it today on the blog, shortly after discovering it. They seem to over index and under deliver. I'm sure it'll improve in time. $33 million in funding, with ex Google employees and a great concept. But will it kill Google? lol... i v much doubt it!! Vince (HongKongWong.Com)
Posted by: Vince 28 Jul 2008
check this
http://www.cuil.com/search?q=APPLE do need to speak. check for urself.
Posted by: john 28 Jul 2008
missing pages
As a simple test of Cuil comprehensiveness, I entered my family name VIDEBECK and got no hits, In Google I get 1000's.
Posted by: Richard Videbeckv 28 Jul 2008
Not Too Cool
Indexing 120B pages is one thing....but returning a timely SERP is another. The design for Cuil is also decidedly uncool, reminding me of a gaming site.
Posted by: Jeff 28 Jul 2008
Do we need another average search engine with another interface
The worst search engine startup so far, even live search is better than it quality wise, not mentioning the continuous down time, if those guys left Google to start this below-average site then its the biggest mistake of their life.
Posted by: Sam 28 Jul 2008
Is it fully working yet?
I just went to this site and tried a few searches....it seems I am getting LESS results on many searched than I get through Google....some terms even come up with "no matches found" when there are clearly pages out there that both Yahoo and Google can find. What gives?
Posted by: Vedauwoo 28 Jul 2008
Interesting
Google gets me what I need right now, not sure why I need Cuil...
Posted by: Dave 28 Jul 2008
CUIL
I've tried this engine and it appears to work ok so long as you're searching for something of US origin or nature. Searches that target international items of interest are embarrassingly empty.
Posted by: What a waste of time and effort 28 Jul 2008
FORWARDING.
I DIDN'T FIND IN THE CUIL SITE A "FORWARD TO FRIEND" OPTION. I WANT FRIENDS AND FAMILY TO LEARN THIS IS NEW AND TO START USING RIGHT AWAY. CAN THE HOME PAGE ADD THIS FEATURE?
Posted by: JUAN FERNANDEZ 28 Jul 2008
Nowhere near taking on google
A simple search for one of my favorite mma fighters (Gina Carano) and cuil didn't have any....ANY results....they should have at least picked up on Gina's wikipedia page, or myspace page, or numerous videos on youtube...but at last...nothing...NOTHING.....They have allot of work to do.
Posted by: taharqa 28 Jul 2008
Cuil doesn't work
I read the news about Cuil today, and it doesn't work. Beyond the extremely slow server preventing the page from loading, I searched on the term "cigars" and it came back that no results were found. Not a Google killer afterall.
Posted by: C 28 Jul 2008