The List provides information about and links to Internet Service Providers.
Tutorials
Spending some time learning the rules of a search engine will increase the number of useful hits. Search engines are fast, but not very smart. They don't know what you mean by the words you use; they just search for a string of letters in the right order. For example, these commands: +word, -word, “words in a string” can be used in most search engines with these results:
(martin luther) finds all documents with either word
(+martin +luther) finds all documents with both words
(“martin luther”) finds all documents with both words together in that order
(+“martin luther” -king) finds all documents with Martin Luther but not Martin Luther King!
The Spider’s Apprentice has tips on searching the web, web search basics for beginners, an explanation of how search engines work, and tips on advanced searching with topics like “relevancy ranking.”
Google’s Cheat Sheet gives tips for using Google’s search engine effectively.
Search Engines
Google: This powerful keyword search engine is my favorite. The irresistible “I’m feeling lucky” button takes you directly to the site at the top of your hit list. Google’s Image Search is great, but remember that all images published on the web are protected by copyright. (Ask permission before republishing on your own website.)
AltaVista searches by keywords, and often finds things other search engines don’t. The search refining tools are powerful; you get better results the more you refine. AltaVista allows limiting by date and recognizes capitalization and proper nouns.
I love AltaVista’s Babel Fish Translator, which often gives totally hilarious translations.
AllTheWeb has a simple interface and is very fast.
Yahoo! is the way to go if you are looking for information in a category, like restaurants within walking distance of the New York City Opera. You can do a keyword search in the Yahoo index.
Ask.com (formerly Ask Jeeves) lets you type in a search query in the form of a question.
MetaCrawler allows you to search several search engines at once, and even lets you know which search engine provided each hit. If you can’t decide which search engine to use, choose MetaCrawler!
search.com also searches with multiple search engines.
Search Engines for Kids provides links to filtered search engines (which block certain sites) designed for kids.
Maps
Yahoo Maps and Driving Directions: allows you to save locations if you sign up for a free Yahoo account. These maps helped me find my way home from all of the PAUSD elementary schools.
Google Maps:
provides directions, interactive maps, and satellite/aerial imagery of the United States. This site is slow to load but it’s great fun to zoom in on your old neighborhood or next vacation resort.
Babel Fish Translator, which often gives totally hilarious translations. 