Gotta Keep Searching, Searching,Searching

摘要

According to a shocking Google statistic cited in The New York Times, there are now more than one trillion Web pages on the Internet. The actual number may be more like one trillion three hundred and six; these figures tend to have a bit of give in them, and by the time you read this, there will be 45 million more. Rich Skrenta, who runs a search engine firm that competes with Google, told the Times that there are now more Web pages than there are things in the world. This is why he has co-founded blekko, which seeks to bring some order and logic to the whole search engine process. As far as I can tell, this will be accomplished by directing searches to Web pages that actually contain useful information, and not to more Web pages designed with no other purpose than to increase search engine traffic. Just for the record, there are now 112 useful pages on the Internet, "useful" meaning Web pages that are not hoaxes or scams or Eastern-bloc porn or conspiracy theory blogs run by out-and-out morons. But you can only get to 112 if you include Moviefone and si.com, which is right on the edge there. Also just for the record, there are 1.67 billion things in the world, including 100,000 Lady Gaga changes of costumes and 3,456 excuses why Derek Jeter can't hit anymore. Yes, excuses are things.