Over at Google Operating System’s Blogspot (an unofficial Google new site) there is an interesting tidbit on Wikipedia’s plans to create a search engine, using the same user-aided approach as their flagship creation.

Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, plans to launch a search engine code-named Wikiasari in the first quarter of 2007. Following the model of Wikipedia, the new search engine will have user-editable search results.

“Google is very good at many types of search, but in many instances it produces nothing but spam and useless crap. Try searching for the term [Tampa hotels], for example, and you will not get any useful results,” said Jimmy Wales. Well, maybe the example is not very good, because I see mostly useful results.

Mr. Wales did the impossible by creating an excellent resource of information with the support of a community. Now he wants to repeat the success, but this time the project will be supported by advertising.

“Essentially, if you consider one of the basic tasks of a search engine, it is to make a decision: ‘this page is good, this page sucks’. Computers are notoriously bad at making such judgments, so algorithmic search has to go about it in a roundabout way. But we have a really great method for doing that ourselves. We just look at the page. It usually only takes a second to figure out if the page is good, so the key here is building a community of trust that can do that,” added Wikipedia’s founder.

I think the main job of a search engine is to understand how relevant a page is for a particular query. To scale, a search engine should that algorithmically. While people have a better ability to decide if a page is relevant, that doesn’t mean spammers won’t try to push their sites.

But the main reason for creating a search engine is that he thinks search is broken “for the same reason that proprietary software is always broken: lack of freedom, lack of community, lack accountability, lack of transparency.” Google, for example, won’t become open source because it uses proprietary algorithms, other search engines could copy its code and people could tweak their sites to abuse it.

It will be interesting to see if a search engine based only on human intelligence really works.

So, you’re sitting around saying to yourself, “ya know, do I really need two kidneys? Maybe someone would like one of mine.” Or something to that effect. If you are, then head over to this unique search engine of sorts, matchingdonors.com .

Here, patients in need of organs can list their location, what they need, and their current situation. It is the season to be sharing, so if you’ve got a spare kidney, part of a liver, or even a lung you think you can live without, take a look to see if someone in your area could use it. Who knows, you could even save a life. That would get you on Santa’s permanent “nice” list.

Are you a young child and need to make sure Santa is making his way to your house?

Maybe you’re a physicist trying to do some analysis on how Santa gets around the world in just one night while dragging every imaginable gift along with him (without losing any of that weight)?

Either way, once again, you can track Santa’s journey from the comfort of your own home.

Google allows you to track him and his sleigh through Google Earth Santa Tracker.

Norad is also doing their traditional tracking, but this year they seem to have teamed up with Microsoft’s Virtual Earth.

Hope Santa brings everyone what they want. And Merry Christmas to all of you readers.

The end of the year has arrived and so has Google’s yearly round up of what we’ve been searching for: Google Zeitgeist 2006

Let’s see here… Most of the stuff in the top ten searches seems pretty normal. Wikipedia still going strong. MySpace is still attracting attention whoring teens and others looking to hook up. Video is still hot. And of course, Bebo tops them all.

Wait… what in the hell is Bebo?

Ah, apparently it’s some kind of social networking MySpace-alike. Well, damn, I feel so out of the loop. I’ve never heard of this place. And it’s based out of San Fran, so I can’t claim ignorance due to it being from out of the country. Maybe I had heard about it and somehow blocked it out of my mind for having such a dumbass name as Bebo.

Google’s blogging system, Blogger.com has just been given a major face lift and has had some huge modfications added. Blogging is now even easier, and with these changes, they have basically eliminated any need to know html and css code.

Here’s the rundown from Google’s blogpost:

Blogger has always been the easiest-to-use blogging software around, but it just got way more powerful. We’ve added a bunch of new features, which you can check out in the new version:

- You can add stuff to your blog (cute cat photos, lists, feeds) without needing to know HTML.
- You can also make a completely unique template that has just the color scheme you want, without knowing any CSS.
- Don’t want your mom to read your thoughts? Make a private blog.
- Label your posts, to group related ones together.
- Use one of our new templates.
- You can now sign in to Blogger using your Google Account.
- Naturally, this is still a work in progress, and more exciting features are in the pipeline. Try it out and send your feedback!

If you are new to the blogging world, don’t forget to add your blog to the directory at Today.com once your blog is up and running.

Today, we look at yet another new “niche” search engine, thise time revolving around Omgili.com which plans to create a search engine that looks for specific content-rich returns for its users.

The engine will scour forums and websites for knowledge rich returns based on what you are looking for. It will also connect you to other users who are searching for the same thing.

Site creator Ran Geva notes “I came up with the idea for Omgili from the need to find a better way to search for knowledge in the world of discussions and opinions.” He goes on to add “Usually making a search on Google/Yahoo/MSN will return about the same type of results, [but] using Omgili you find relevant results but from users like you and me.”

I took a few test runs on the site, and was mixed on my feelings with the returns. On a more generic subject search, the top few sites returned were forums and sites that I often frequent related to the topics at hand. But when I got down to some more specific searches, and utilized quotes, I hardly got anything back on what I was looking for, while I know that google or yahoo would have given me exactly what I was looking for.

It is possible that Omgili.com’s spiders and cachings programs have not yet fully digested the web, and that in time Mr. Geva’s plans will come to fruition. For now though, it is just another search engine clamoring for attention, and will most likely remain unheard over the roar of the Google and Yahoo monsters.

Wired has posted about a new search engine, Pluggd, which is currently in beta testing and available as a demo to test out.

The basic principle behind the new site engine is explained by Wired’s Eliot Van Buskirk:

“First, the company uses parallel servers to churn through audio, performing a speech-to-text analysis of each file at faster-than-real-time speeds. The company also maintains what it calls a “concept map,” a database that tracks associations between words by analyzing Pluggd’s speech-to-text transcripts and looking for words that often show up in the same contexts. This tool also studies text web pages, so the concept map learns to associate words faster than Pluggd can analyze audio files.”

As podcasts, digital radio broadcasts, and audio in general exponentially grow across the web, a search engine like this will become vitally important in finding recorded information. Programs that can analyze audio have been around for a while, but if Pluggd succeeds in its mission, it will be like nothing else available on the web (until someone else builds a mirror of it).

Google has just posted that Picasa Web Album is getting some great new additions just in time for the bustling and potentially embarrassing holiday season. Now, you can order prints for your photo albums and to share the technically uninclined. You can also upload video clips!

Google has released their beta version of Google Patent Search. This specific sub-search engine of the uber-powerhouse that is Google searches through the full text of the U.S. patent corpus and find patents that interest you. You can also used the Advanced Patent Search page to search by criteria, including patent number, inventor, and filing date, as well as viewing images of original patents online.

The Google Patent Search uses much of the same technology that powers Google Book Search, so you can scroll through pages and zoom in on text and illustrations just like you can with books.

Google states on their official blog “It’s a natural extension of our mission to make this public domain government information more easily accessible using Google’s search technology. We’re pleased to have started with over 7 million patents granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and look forward to expanding our coverage over time.”

Google Finance isn’t one of the Google services I use very often, but for you stock market freaks, here is a list of the recent updates to the service:

All fascinating and useful stuff, I’m sure, but not typical to Google releases, there was a strange video attached to the update.

I guess the Google Finance guys had a burning desire to break from from their mostly serious work and express themselves artistically. Or, you know, someone was bored, had some animation software lying around and decided to kill an afternoon making that. Yes, it is also on YouTube instead of Google Video.

This was really the reason I posted this. Poor unloved Google Video… I know they own both, but YouTube’s interface is still horrible.