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!

It’s the silly season so it’s time to have a little fun. Oh, and it’s the season of sharing and love. Thus, I shall share with you all, something… I shall share my RSS subscription list. Isn’t that a kind gift?

Well, I don’t know about you but I love reading things like this. Peoples favourite books, music, RSS subscriptions (of course), restaurants, sock colour (?), etc.

Just to get started. I use Google Reader for all my RSS viewing. To be quite honest, I have never used any other similar tools so wouldn’t know if there are better viewers out there but use Reader simply because it’s a Google product (I love Google of course) and it ties in with all my iGoogle widgets. Now for the fun stuff:

At Ease - This is a Radiohead fan site. Probably the best of its kind on the web - in my opinion. Importantly, with a World Tour on the cards I have to keep up to date with the latest Radiohead news.

Ben Metcalfe - I forget how I found out about Ben Metcalfe. I don’t know much about him or his work either. I think he’s done some work with MySpace so thought he’d be an interesting chap to follow. He hasn’t added much new content of late - probably working hard at MySpace as presumed - so I will be patient with this one.

Branding Strategy Insider - Well, as a marketing major it sort of goes without saying why I am subscribed to this feed. Always interesting stuff on branding to be found here.

Carbon Planet - I love - or should that be <3 - Carbon Planet. Their purpose in society; their website; they blog; their people; they building - all mighty fine! David Sag, Carbon Planet’s CEO is always very interestingly read and covers the pressing issues. Very Australian focused but very relevant, globally.

College Startup - Always full of helpful stories for a budding blogger like myself. It has a nice for-students feel about it too, surprisingly.

EJ - Entrepreneurs-Journey by Yaro Starak is without doubt, one of the best Internet Business blogs/sites on the entire WWW. I must admit, his site has gotten a little commercial of late with stacks of ‘product reviews’ overtaking informative articles but they are starting to get interesting too as my knowledge and interest in the topic expand.

Gearfire - I have no idea what this blog is about from face value. I will keep you posted I guess. It must be on my list for a reason.

Official Google Blog - Australia - I don’t think I have to say much about this one. I think it would be foolish not to keep up with Google’s Australian focused news.

ifoApple Store - This is a news and information blog about Apple’s retail stores. Very much a narrow, underservied niche and I am sure one that could use just the one site - this one. It’s nice to be able to follow the development of cool Apple concept stores across the globe.

Internet Outsider - Another site I don’t know much about. I will have to keep an eye on it and see how it fares.

Naomi Simson - I have been following Naomi for a few years via BRW magazine in which she has featured a few times. Naomi runs Red Balloon Day, a highly successful gift/adventure/experience booking business. She’s very much a motivater and leader. I love this blog - she’s one experienced woman.

Official Google Blog - This is the worldwide Google blog and it’s more active than it’s Australian offspring. I read it for the aforementioned reasons.

Pajago - Well, as if I wouldn’t have my own blog on my RSS list. I do this primary to see how my posts look in Reader. Just to ensure they don’t go funky and all.

ProBlogger & ProBlogger Jobs - Only added these this morning. Can’t really say a lot yet.

Radiohead News - This is an auxiliary to At Ease - just incase one or the other crashes…

Ok, I am going to call this post 1 of 2. This post has turned out longer than I expected.

Stay tuned for part 2 which will be posted tomorrow during the week.

PJG