My 10 Favorite Search Engines for 2009 – Part I

Name: Aqua

URL: http://aqua.livejournal.ru

Why I like it: Aqua streams – literally – in real time the entries published in LiveJournal. The size of the links is in inverse proportion to the length of the entry, i.e. the shorter the entry, the larger the font and the quicker the speed of the text. But they could do even more by adding color schemes or flashing text when preset keywords are found. And of course it could be another news source, or better yet a selection of news sources. Great potential.

Name: Aromicon

URL: http://www.aromicon.com

Why I like it: Any wine search engine can filter by region, rating, or price, but wine is a sensory delight. With Aromicon, you can search by flavors or aromas such as fruity, floral or hints of chocolate. You can also rank them by the intensity of a particular note such as cherries. What next – scratch and sniff screens?

Name:CamMap

URL: http://www.cammap.net

Why I like it: Do you ever get the feeling that you’re being watched? Well in today’s world you probably are. With CamMap you can go to your city and locate those traffic webcams and then look through them in real time. The possibilities as weather or traffic monitors are there, as well as pure vehicular voyeurism. Non-US cities are coming soon.

Name:ChaCha

URL: http://www.chacha.com

Why I like it: First of all, you don’t want to go to the ChaCha website. You call ChaCha at 1-800-2Cha-Cha and ask them a question on their VM. In a minute you will get a text confirming your question, and then a second text with the answer. You can ask ChaCha’s human guides any question at any time on any phone for any reason, for free. Try it and then save the number.

Name: Coloralo

URL: http://coloralo.com

Why I like it: A delightful search engine for parents of small children. Picture this, your child gives you a word, and Coloralo returns black & white sketches that you then print out for them to color. You could easily do a different picture each day, or print out a dozen copies for a classroom.

To see the other 5, click here.

To see the entire 100, click here.