Kosmix.com is a self-proclaimed “world class search engine that lets people search less, and discover more great stuff.” It attempts to return search results sorted into categories that the user can then inspect or ignore. But based on the results several test queries generated, Kosmix still has a few kinks to work out.
The site has a clever premise, and whoever wrote the “About Us” section admits that they’re “in the early stages of Kosmix.” Also, the word “beta” is clearly visible above the Kosmix logo on the home page. Even allowing for these circumstances, though, some of the search results were not entirely useful.
When searching for the University of Kentucky, I was offered results in the categories of “Causes,” “Symptoms,” “Treatments,” and “Preventions,” among other, more reasonable, selections. Still, the last time I checked, UK defined itself as an institute of higher education, not a disease.
Kosmix presented information in “Fitness” and “Written for Doctors – Expert Information” after I inquired about yellow scarves. Unless this form of neckwear has become a hot item at the gym, and then somehow led to injuries, I can’t see how these results are entirely relevant.
At issue is what appears to be search engine’s goal, as told to Micah Ailetcher by product manager Mark Johnson: “to categorize the entire Internet.” Unfortunately, they don’t have enough categories just now to make their search results look even remotely sane. Don’t give up, though-the site reports its “list is growing fast.” And in the meantime, at the bottom of every search page, you can report if you were “satisfied with these results” and offer feedback.
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Doug is a staff writer for Murdok. Visit Murdok for the latest eBusiness news.
