Battle of the Search Engines

I’ve searched the topic “famous restaurants in Melbourne” on all three search engines. Below are my findings.

Google

The search results were inclusive of an assortment of different restaurants, all of them diverse, in terms of the type of cuisine, which in return gives you more options. The address, map, direction, screenshot, contact details, links to the respective restaurants, review, score, and opening hours for these restaurants were also included in the search and displayed on the search page itself. This allows the viewer to get a brief idea about the restaurant before actually clicking on the website. Next, Google’s search loads faster and the results are both in-depth and straightforward. It is also more user-friendly. Conclusively, Google is easy to use and you’re bound to find what you’re searching for and more. It gets a full 5/5 stars.

DuckDuckGo

The results are very similar to the ones obtained from Google, however the results that came back are not throughout. Unlike Google, DuckDuckGo does not round-up or automatically search for specific restaurants. The search results mostly include blogs and websites that posts articles about famous restaurants. The viewer would have to click on any one of those sites and read through the article to find the mentioned or accredited restaurants then search for it manually again or, if applicable, click on the link in the post. Google saves time and effort by skipping the narrowing down process. On another note, the layout is simple and the search speed on DuckDuckGo is relatively fast but not as fast when compared to Google. In conclusion, DuckDuckGo is too simple and is not very useful when doing research. It gets 3/5 stars.

Instagrok

The layout was a wee bit complicated and the search results consisted of a mind map, a bunch of facts about Melbourne and Melbourne’s food industry, some websites about the topic, videos, images, quizzes and a glossary. I thought that Instragrok was not at all user-friendly as it took longer trying to understand how its available functions. Apart from that, the search speed on Instagrok is slower than Google and DuckDuckGo. To sum up, Instagrok is a better fit for research essays or those that are academic related. It gets 2.5/5 stars.

Ranking

1. Google

2. DuckDuckGo

3. Instagrok

Setting my default search engine

 

Google Alerts

I’ve recently set up three google alerts on the topics food, art and travel. Apart from finding out which airline has the tastiest food, I stumbled upon an article about the Paris airport and their latest attraction.

For those who travel often and in long distances, the airport could be a dreary place to be. And so, the Charles de Gaulle airport had come up with the idea, “art on the go“. What they did was built a gallery displaying original works, on loan from Parisian museums. A total of 50 works, including The Thinker and The Kiss, by the 19th-century sculptor were loaned. The reason behind the construction of this 250 square-metre area space is to give travelers a taste of Paris, specifically Paris’ art culture beforehand. I think this is a great way to advertise Paris’ art, especially to an audience unfamiliar with the subject.

The gallery, opened from the time the first flight departs the Charles de Gaulle airport and closing only after the last arrives/departs, is located at the heart of the airport and is free to all passengers who may be transiting through terminal 2E. Besides that, the gallery, chiefly targeted at international passengers, is expected to host two six-month exhibitions a year and with a record number of 61.6 million passengers having passed through the doors of Charles de Gaulle airport in the year 2012, the gallery expects to host anywhere between 1500 and 2000 visitors per day.