For those who follow search it was initially one of those "WTF moments": Walmart acquiring erstwhile Google challenger Kosmix. However AllThingsD reports that the price was $300 million-plus vs. $55 million raised. So the founders and investors get a seemingly nice exit. Kosmix will now become part of the newly established "@WalmartLabs." When it launched in 2006 Kosmix was building a better search engine that organized results by category and added numerous filters allowing users to drill down for more relevance and control. Below is an early Kosmix search results page (via DailyTech [...]

Related Topics: Search Engines: Health & Medical Search Engines | Search Engines: News Search Engines | Search Engines: Other Search Engines | Search Engines: Personalized Search Engines | Search Engines: Shopping Search Engines

Avvo, the popular lawyers' directory, is expanding into the medical industry today with a new directory of US-based doctors. The company says its new services launches with profiles of more than 800,000 doctors, as well as a forum where consumers can trade questions and answers with participating doctors. The most noteworthy -- and possibly controversial -- element of the new directory might be the inclusion of an Avvo Rating for each doctor listed. When Avvo's attorney directory launched in 2007, many in the legal profession were critical of Avvo's proprietary ratings system and some sued. [...]

Related Topics: Search Engines: Health & Medical Search Engines

Chances are good that you've searched for health-related information via Google, Yahoo, Bing, or some of the other health-specific portals. Both Google and Bing continue to expand the amount -- and quality -- of content they show in response to our health searches. But, based on a recent study, the medical industry says we should be cautious when relying on the Internet for health-related information. The study, published in the July 2010 issue of the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, examined the top ten search results on Google and Yahoo for ten common sports medicine diagnoses -- phrase [...]

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Google can do a lot of things, but a new study says it can't estimate flu activity across the United States with a high degree of accuracy. A University of Washington study says Google Flu Trends is about 25% less accurate at estimating flu rates in the U.S. than the Center for Disease Control's (CDC) national flu monitoring programs. Dr. David Ortiz, who led the university study, says search activity isn't necessarily the best way to gauge the flu's spread. "Internet search behavior is likely different during anomalous seasons such as during 2003-4," explained Dr. Ortiz. "We hypothe [...]

Related Topics: Google: Trends | Search & Society: General | Search Engines: Health & Medical Search Engines | Top News

Move over Google, Yahoo, and Bing; blended results or not, personalized search, Twitter results and OneBoxes ... you guys are just too predictable for this article. There's a new breed of search engines out there, and they're letting users search and find some utterly crazy stuff. And by "crazy," I mean a lot of things: unique, cool, awesome, and downright strange. Sometimes all of the above. A search engine that lets you find (and buy) discontinued soda pop? Check. A search engine that helps you find cheap Amazon.com items so you can get free shipping? Sure! A search engine to locate misspell [...]

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