The New York Times ran an article this weekend about an emerging company, Kosmix, that takes a whole new spin on search. The article describes the Kosmix experience quite well: “For a key word or topic that a user enters, Kosmix gathers content from across the Web to build a sort of multimedia encyclopedia entry on the fly. For many queries, the results are pretty satisfying and look as if they have been compiled by a human editor, not a computer.”
My ears always perk up when I hear someone mention a search competitor to Google that shows promise. Search is a tough market that Google has pretty well cornered. But a page with dynamic, robust information from a variety of multimedia sources (including standard search results) is not a competitor so much as a suppliment, and this one is definitely worth checking out.
I’ll share a personal example to highlight the comparison between Google and Kosmix. My doctor recently sent me a letter saying my Triglycerides are slightly high – which means I need to cut back on my sugar intake (unbeknownst to you, I am possessed by a dessert vacuum that eats any and all sugary foods in sight). At first I Googled, and came up with the typical list of sites to check: WebMD, About.com and Wikipedia.
But then I tried my search on Kosmix, and rather than having to click back and forth between a bunch of links, I had whole page of information to peruse. The Kosmix page had a wikipedia summary, articles, resources, videos, images, Q&A, blogs and even tweets! I was (and still am) thoroughly impressed. It’s like an instant Encyclopedia page, but on crazy-awesome Internet steroids.
Wanna try something scary? Try Kosmixing yourself (Yes, I just used that term as a verb).
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You’re right, that’s pretty cool.
Kosmixing myself definitely led to some interesting results. Definitely found a few things that I need to have picked off the Internet ASAP…
It’s definitely nice to have an aggregator that pulls all relevant links together in one place. I don’t know how/if this’ll take off in the general population, but I could see myself using this site fairly often.
Hey great post, I definitely hoover desserts too. BTW, we’re also starting to layer in customization onto the product. You can try it on the Kosmix homepage by moving blocks around or on the topic pages by adding bits of your own content to pages. Both are very early stage though.
@Patri – snap! Your Kosmix page is awesome…love the wikipedia entry and pictures at the top. We can all only aspire to have such a robust Kosmix results page…mine has bits and pieces about the real me – but some random stuff (like the Rockateer’s girlfriend) too. Glad to see you back commenting – missed you!
@TOPolk – lol, me too…my page had some results that definitely were NOT me – but overall, it’s a fun and innovative concept. Brings optimizing your search results to a whole new level.
@Saumil – thanks for the comment! And happy to know I’m not the only dessert hoover in town. I am seriously obsessed with the site – keep up the great work!
Wow! That’s so awesome. A pretty robust search — some things on there about me I didn’t even know were floating around the net. Haha.
Jenny, thanks for the info. This way cool.
An ego-search on Kosmix showed “Topics Related to Ben Casnocha” and the first listing was a book titled “The Sensuous Woman: Detailed Instructional Manual on Sexuality for Women.”
@Jamie I learned like 10 new things about you tonight! videos?! girl, you are holding out.
@Al – so glad you found it interesting…I find new fun features/functionality every time I use it. The search engine gift that just keeps on giving.
@Ben LMAO! That is classic. CLASSIC. I mean, I don’t know you that well, but clearly this makes you a leading expert on sensuous women. Next book perhaps?