There are literally thousands of specialized search engines each designed for a particular kind of search (unlike the generic search engines we've talked about so far. Some examples are:
The Internet Movie Database - search for the plot, any actors, directors, producers, or other staff members associated with any movie ever made
EveryRule.com - Rules for every sport and game imaginable plus rules of etiquette, etc.
ThisToThat.com - learn how to glue anything to anything else
How Stuff Works - thousands of descriptions of how machines or processes work
A relatively new development in search engine technology is free-form text search. A good example of a search engine of this type is Answer Bus (www.answerbus.com). With free-form text search engines you simply type in a question using normal syntax and the engine attempts to find answers to your question – sometimes with very interesting results
Other new developments include:
Intelligent Search Agents (Bots) which comb the web for specific information such as the lowest price on a particular item, the lowest air fares between two points, or the availability of a particular item on auction. Some examples can be found at The Bot Spot and Surf Bot. For a full discussion of bots, check out What's a Bot?
Personalized Searches Here, real live people volunteer to answer questions in their areas of expertise. You can be a volunteer, too. Examples of some of these sites are Expert Central and Karnak.com
Search Software. This is software which resides on your local computer and aids you in referencing specific information on the Web
GuruNet - A very useful program. Click on a word to get its definition, click on the name of a city to get census data, click on the name of a famous person to get a biography, click on the name of a company to get a current stock price, etc. ($5.00 coupon code JMaya76Dz72a)
Copernic - Save selected search engine results, sort them by topic, url, age, etc. Save search specifications to use again.