Although Wikipedia can be a good starting point for research, there are many other alternatives, including the seven sites listed here. As Wikipedia's detractors grow in numbers, so will online encyclopedias with better business models and editorial staffs.

In the search engine list below, Search Engine Watch provides a guide to the major search engines of the web. Why are these considered to be "major" search engines? Because they are either well-known or well-used.

Google is always dabbling in new adventures and ways to increase their profit margins. Their most recent endeavor is providing search engine results on live TV! Currently, Google is in the testing stages with Dish Network to create an exclusive TV programming search engine service.

Google Goggles is a visual search app for Android phones. Instead of using words, take a picture of an object with your camera phone: we attempt to recognize the object, and return relevant search results. Goggles also provides information about businesses near you by displaying their names directly in the camera preview.

The web is the sink for every sort of document and publicly available PowerPoint files are also not beyond the reach of search spiders. So how do we search them out--using search engines of course. PowerPoint presentations make a good tool for conveying our interest and findings to others in a clean and simple way.

If you are on the Web, I will find you. I know I’m not the only ‘friendly stalker’ out there. If you are looking for a long lost love, forgotten family member or are just curious if your first grade teacher is still alive, here are some tools to help!

The mighty search engine has allowed us to do so many things. “Mighty” is the operative word, as these same search engines can also curse us all.

If you think about it, any schmuck can find out more about you than you’d like by typing only your first and last name.

Social media has created an explosion of information online. People are writing on blogs, tweeting, bookmarking, sharing, commenting, etc.

You no doubt want to tap into this wealth of information and learn what people are saying about you, your business, your competitors and the topics you’re interested in.

The challenge is: how to find, filter and process the information you need – the information that will help you do what you want to do.

I touched on the topic of social media monitoring (also known as buzz
monitoring) in my Superlist of Social Media Metrics. Here I’ve gathered a more comprehensive guide to a wide range of resources, websites, services and
advice that will help you find, filter, and monitor the information you need
more effectively.

Google has rolled out a dramatic new feature called “Personalized Search." This new feature impacts all users, even if they are logged out, on the most popular search engine in the world.

Google’s Personalized Search attempts to tailor the search results for a query to each individual based upon the information Google has previously collected for that user. Collected information includes, but is not limited to a user’s geographic location, past search history and websites visited.

Google announced Monday the fruits of its earlier deal with Twitter, showing off how it has decided to present real-time Internet content within search results.

Amit Singhal, Google fellow, introduced the real-time section during an event at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. "We are here today to announce Google real-time search," Singhal said, calling it "Google relevance technology meets the real-time Web."