August 17, 2009

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Google lifted the lid a bit last week on a once-secret project, called "Caffeine," to improve its search engine.

Caffeine doesn't look any different from the old Google search engine, but it ranks results differently.

The search giant says the new architecture, which isn't finished yet, will "push the envelope on size, indexing speed, accuracy, comprehensiveness and other dimensions." Most users won't notice a difference, but developers and power searchers were invited to give it a spin and provide Google with some feedback.

The new engine is at www2.sandbox.google.com/ and anyone can give it a try. A search for "Bing" with Google's current search engine produced a full page of results about Microsoft's search engine, while a search with Caffeine produced more of a mix, mostly about Microsoft's Bing, but with results for Bing Crosby and Bing Nursery School at Stanford.

However, searches with the current engine and with Caffeine for the word "caffeine" produced similar results: a mix of items about the kind of caffeine found in coffee beans and other items about the new search architecture. Only the super searchers will notice a big difference, though based on this sample of two searches, Caffeine may produce results that are more diverse.

Source:-http://www.postandcourier.com