With the wonderful workd of AI, I was really hoping for a search engine that was helpful.
If I asked "Find be an aircon unit for less than £700 that is in stock within 50 miles of home"
It would either reply "Not a hope sucker, there's a heat wave" or show me the places within 50 miles that had aircon units.
Has anyone found a search engine that is vaguely useful and doesn't just return eleventybillion pointless results?
Meaco MeacoCool MC12000CHR Pro Smart Air Conditioner
Has anyone found a search engine that is vaguely useful and doesn't just return eleventybillion pointless results?
Welcome to the ongoing enshittification of the internet. Search engines now are little more than sponsored results and (usually wrong) AI-generated "answers"; the actual useful info is buried 2 pages in and even then you have to be careful not to click some viral link or promoted YouTube short from some random influencer.
In short. No.
This was one of my complaints in the disproportionately cross thread.
Search for almost anything now and you get reams and reams of vaguely related stuff, so you have to search within your search and try to get past all the random sponsored shit that's not what you're after.
Search for a specific type and size of bolt for example and you'll get many, many bolts. It's rare that any are anywhere near what you're after. 🫤
Grinds my piss and boils my gears.
I asked that question to the AI search engine I use (Perplexity) and it gave a good answer (I won't copy/paste the whole response because I find these tedious to read). I copied/pasted your query but changed "home" to "Durham" and it gave Bush 7K, MeacoCool MC Series Pro 9000BTU, Quattro Commercial 9000btu and LOGIK LAC12C24 at a selection of Argos/Currys and B&Q near Durham (locating the stores too). The recommendation was the Bush because it had the best price (at Argos) and was more likely to be in stock. I guess it might depend where home actually is, and whether you write "home" or an actual place.
With the wonderful workd of AI, I was really hoping for a search engine that was helpful.
If I asked "Find be an aircon unit for less than £700 that is in stock within 50 miles of home"
It would either reply "Not a hope sucker, there's a heat wave" or show me the places within 50 miles that had aircon units.
Has anyone found a search engine that is vaguely useful and doesn't just return eleventybillion pointless results?
I gave up/never use google a while ago for search/email and now use duckduckgo, works fine enough for my needs
You don't need a search engine, you need an agent. I reckon OpenClaw could get pretty close - search for shops, check locations, check stock. I've only played a little with our preview agent that's built on OpenClaw and it's pretty impressive.
if everywhere local to you is out of stock then a better search engine ain't going to change that... 😁
"I can also do a live search of Argos, Currys, Screwfix, B&Q and Costco stores within 50 miles of Southampton and tell you exactly which branches have stock available for collection today."
that's a pretty useful search, if you ask me.
Can also go through all the ebay listings to see if there's anything local, which is pretty hopeless on Ebay itself. And filter out which are advertised as aircon and are just water cooled fans.
But as Cougar says, if there ain't anything, even AI can't help ya.
AI-generated "answers"
Stolen information re-presented as authoritative and accurate, irrelevant of if it is accurate more like it.
Reading is getting a new 72MW datacenter at the Microsoft campus.
That's about 3x more electricity than the entire domestic usage of the whole town.
I'm normally very left wing and pro-green, etc but I'm ceasing to see the point. I may as well just burn tyres in my back garden for warmth for all the good remembering to turn off the bathroom light will do.
if everywhere local to you is out of stock then a better search engine ain't going to change that...
I agree, so why can't it just bloody tell me that?
The aircon was just an example, it happens on any search,
Me : "I want a Widget X for my Mercedes"
SE : "Here are Widget A, B, C for VW, Ford and Honda, and we have also included links to buy a new EV and some house planys"
Me : "For the love of God, just tell me if you can find what I have asked for?"
SE : "Looking for religious instructions, consider these books, this frdige and perhaps these pairs of shoes?"
