Little Engines That Can; Even Google can't think of everything. A host of start-ups are working to fill niches and capitalize on the search boom.(Industry Overview)(Cover Story)

Publication: Newsweek

Publication Date: 29-MAR-04

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Byline: Brad Stone

A Google search for the phrase "apple tree" draws 2.4 million results, all tucked into an endless, impenetrable catalog of blue links. Entrepreneur R. J. Pittman thinks that's a few too many. "Traditional search engines don't solve the information-overload problem," he says. His Sausalito, Calif., start-up, Groxis, is working on a solution. Its downloadable software tool, Grokker, sits on the desktop, plugs queries into the major search engines and uses home-cooked algorithms to analyze the pages and organize them into categories. Then it renders those categories on the screen in an easy-to-parse, graphical display of circles and squares. Grokker is available on the Net for $50 while the company tests a...

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