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Saturday, December 16, 2006
Search Engines
Is anyone else finding Google less and less useful? For a few years, it used to be my sole source of searching information on the internet. But nowadays, I use Wikipedia for things I know they will have information on (say, a definition in math), and Clusty for genuine searches. I've been comparing Google and Clusty lately on searches, and Clusty has won (ie, had more relevant and useful results) every single time. The main reason could be because of how Clusty gives you "clusters" of results to search through - check it out, it's really quite useful.
Google, on the other hand, hasn't seemed to improve their basic engine or interface for years. This may have to do with the fact that they have a million other products in the works (such as Blogger), but that doesn't excuse updating their main cash cow. I switched to Google (way back when) because it gave better results; I think it's time to switch again.
What Linus Bruckman Sees When His Eyes are Closed
Besides being a great title for a game, is also bloody brilliant. It's a one-room adventure game, sort of like a Myst or some such, but with an ingenious idea: the screen is split in two, with the top half being a story of myth and legends, quite serious, and the bottom a comedic story of a futuristic fast-food restaurant. The ingenious part is that both halfs of the screens are controlled at the same time, and dialogue happens in both at the same time. The contrast is strangely delicious, and the puzzles themselves, requiring you to figure out how to manipulate both halves with the same controls, is also fascinating.
Also worth mentioning is that one half is in Japanese, the other in English, and as you "finish" one half, the translation for the other in the opposite language is unlocked. As I said above, bloody brilliant.
Knytt
Another interesting little downloadable "game". It's very much Seiklus-inspired, more of exploration and "atmosphere" than anything else, but quite fun to run around in. It's also quite nice and relaxing.
Is anyone else finding Google less and less useful? For a few years, it used to be my sole source of searching information on the internet. But nowadays, I use Wikipedia for things I know they will have information on (say, a definition in math), and Clusty for genuine searches. I've been comparing Google and Clusty lately on searches, and Clusty has won (ie, had more relevant and useful results) every single time. The main reason could be because of how Clusty gives you "clusters" of results to search through - check it out, it's really quite useful.
Google, on the other hand, hasn't seemed to improve their basic engine or interface for years. This may have to do with the fact that they have a million other products in the works (such as Blogger), but that doesn't excuse updating their main cash cow. I switched to Google (way back when) because it gave better results; I think it's time to switch again.
What Linus Bruckman Sees When His Eyes are Closed
Besides being a great title for a game, is also bloody brilliant. It's a one-room adventure game, sort of like a Myst or some such, but with an ingenious idea: the screen is split in two, with the top half being a story of myth and legends, quite serious, and the bottom a comedic story of a futuristic fast-food restaurant. The ingenious part is that both halfs of the screens are controlled at the same time, and dialogue happens in both at the same time. The contrast is strangely delicious, and the puzzles themselves, requiring you to figure out how to manipulate both halves with the same controls, is also fascinating.
Also worth mentioning is that one half is in Japanese, the other in English, and as you "finish" one half, the translation for the other in the opposite language is unlocked. As I said above, bloody brilliant.
Knytt
Another interesting little downloadable "game". It's very much Seiklus-inspired, more of exploration and "atmosphere" than anything else, but quite fun to run around in. It's also quite nice and relaxing.
Comments:
oooh -- maybe I should download "What Linus Bruckman Sees" to improve my Japanese...plus, I love puzzle games!
Ya, I was thinking while playing it that you might really like it. Give it a try!
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