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Search Cloudlet and Surf Canyon combine forces

Are two search tools better than one? Search Cloudlet and Search Canyon think so, and have combined their technologies into a single search tool.

Josh Lowensohn Former Senior Writer
Josh Lowensohn joined CNET in 2006 and now covers Apple. Before that, Josh wrote about everything from new Web start-ups, to remote-controlled robots that watch your house. Prior to joining CNET, Josh covered breaking video game news, as well as reviewing game software. His current console favorite is the Xbox 360.
Josh Lowensohn

If you take one search tool and combine it with another, does it make a better product? In the case of Search Cloudlet and Surf Canyon's new creation, the answer is yes.

On Tuesday the two companies put out a new custom search engine (cloudlet.surfcanyon.com) that uses both technologies, and allows users to do enhanced searches without having to download additional browser extensions. Previously both products required the use of add-ons to augment Google's search results.

The benefits of using this tool over Google alone are numerous. For one, you're still getting Google's standard results. You also get Search Cloudlet's sorting technology, which lets youfilter results by domain or keyword from its word cloud. You also get Surf Canyon's related results feature, which can recommend results from pages that appear deeper in a search. In my quick go, this was pulling up results from as deep as 25 pages (or 250 results from the top result) into a search.

Search Cloudlet and Surf Canyon's combined engine tweaks Google results with both tools. All without the install of browser plug-ins. CNET