I just realised there is another ‘competitor’ to Google that is worth a mention. The site is called Mahalo. It’s a human-powered search engine that looks oh so nice. I just had a play with it for a couple of minutes, to develop a first impression and I like it. I like it a lot. The reason I like it so much - if first impressions are anything to go by - is that it works like an expansion of Wikipedia. I tend to search for most things - like iPod Touch - by typing ‘iPod Touch wiki’ into Google. This ensures Wikipedia is the top search result and I go in from there. I guess I could search directly through Wikipedia but it’s not so friendly toward typos.

Mahalo has a touch of this. It is a Google-esque search engine that is loaded with good stuff. Stuff that has been vetted by humans and not tricked by algorithms written by inhumanly clever geeks. First thing I like is the Guide Note at the top-right which gives you a a brief definition/explanation of the search topic. Below this is some Fast Facts - 2-10 short facts about the topic-, again, a very intuitive, helpful feature.

The meat of the result page begins with a Top 7 section which generally starts with an official website of the topic searched. If you were to search, say, Jason Calacanis, founder of Mahalo, next you will find a section called Professional Profile - very Linkedin. I won’t go on an explain all the other features as it takes all the fun out of it for you. But I will paste what Mahalo has listed as the key features of Mahalo:

* Edited By Humans: Every search result you see was painstakingly handcrafted by a Guide in our workshop in sunny Santa Monica, California.

* Spam-free: Humans detect spam. Computers don’t. Our Guides keep your search results free of spam.

* Warnings: Tired of clicking on links full of pop-ups, information in a language you don’t speak, full of Flash animation and auto-starting music, or other problems? Mahalo Warnings tell you in advance. Just hover your cursor over the Warning Symbol Warning symbol to know before you click.

* Guides Choice: This symbol ( Nicole Gustas: It’s a shaka, used in Hawaii as a greeting) tells you which sites our guides especially liked. Hover your cursor over it to find out why.

* Fast Facts: We provide 2-10 quick facts about most search terms.

* Email This Search Result: If you’ve found a search result useful, you can email it to yourself, or someone else. See the sidebar.

* Recommend a Link: Think the search results page you’re looking at is missing an important resource? Click on the “Recommend a Link” in the Top Submitted Links section of the right-hand sidebar to tell us about it.

* Message Board: Discuss our search results with other people interested in the topic by clicking on the Message Board link to the right.

* Today’s Top 20 Searches: Look in the “Today’s Top 20 Searches” in the right-hand sidebar to find out what’s hot right now!

I read today that Co-founder of Topix, Rich Skrenta is looking at taking on Google with new search engine, Blekko. I discussed this with a few people at work today and the response seems to be very negative. The responses I got: “Sif!”…”As if anyone can compete with Google”. To be critical of yet another so-called competitor of Google, I believe, is rational. It’s been tried before and giants like Yahoo! and Live haven’t even managed it. So what is so good about Blekko?

Well, one of the problems I think Skrenta and his team are trying to fix is when you type in a word like “Kylie Minogue” you get many pages of results: images, news, scholar, books, et al. Not to mention the hundreds of pages of search results. I feel, Blekko is trying to achieve a more integrated Google. One page and summaries of what you actually need (want) to know. And apparently no PageRank algorithm.

I’m really excited to see what Blekko has in-store. I am, admittedly a Google-aholic but I am also open to better ways of doing things. For example, I am looking at making the move from iGoogle as my home page to PageFlakes as the latter looks and moves a lot better, whilst still being integrated with the likes of Gmail.

Apparently, Blekko will not be live until 2009. At the moment by going to the domain you get a picture of some cute, puppet-looking creature. I wonder how cute and fun Blekko is going to be…

In reply to Valleywag’s 25 Predictions for 2008, I shall do my own version. Well, lets make it 6 Predictions for 2008.

Telstra:-

I don’t think Sol Trujillo will be at Telstra by the end of 2008. Who replaces him: I don’t have the foggiest. I think Telstra will chip away at extending the reach of its HSDPA network and the other carriers will try their best to match all but its remotest coverage. Telstra won’t win the iPhone contract. I feel Vodafone will: the two align much better than Mac-unfriendly Telstra.

Apple:-

Hopefully Apple will release the iPhone to Asia by the end of 2008. It will be a 3G model and the battery issues will be worked out. The 13″ Macbook Pro will be announced at Macworld Jan. 08 (please let this be true).

Google:-

Google’s share-price will hit $800 (I agree with Valleywag on this). They will go on an acquisition-rampage.

The Internet:-

The whole Web 2.0 movement will charge ahead and brilliant ideas will continue to rise, survive and/or die out of Silicon Valley. Social networking will continue to be dominated by Facebook, MySpace and Linkdin (in order). There will be loads of consolidation and acquisitions in this space.

Telecommunications:-

All I have to say is one thing: ULL.

Pajago.com:-

We shall continue to tap-away at the keys - hopefully - producing content that you, the readers, enjoy to read. Again, feedback and suggestions is important for us to continue to produce quality. Contact us here: suggestions@pajago.com

Done.

P

Ok, lets say I just told somebody at a party (what a geeky party) about this cool site called Wikipedia. They go home, and settle down at the PC and type in Wikipedia.com, right? Right. We have come to realise, how ever unconsciously that .com is a generic top-level domain. This testifies the value of using a .com rather than a .org, .info (etc) domain. For more information on this topic, see this website on .com domains.

Obvious other types of domains have their place. For instance, geographical domains play their part at both a functional and conscious level. Here in Australia, if I give out my BigPond email address which ends in .com most people are adamant that I mean .com.au. I am unsure how people react to .us, .co.uk and .ca.

I feel that geographical domains are more significant at an offline level. From what I observe, people that source a domain offline are likely to think of its geographical orientation. Whereas online, standard .com plays a greater role.