Jan / Feb 2004 ~ Online Magazine ~ p.14 " Internet Search Engine Update " by Greg R. Notes

Gigablast
-added spelling suggestions to searches
-plans to have hardware that can handle a 5billion document database
-updated its database of over 250 million records
-now has the ability to default to an AND search

Google
-started doing some automatic stemming of certain search terms
-some words in query will have their grammatical variants (inc singular and plural forms) searched along with the version entered in the query…only for English

Google Print
-http://print.google.com/print/faq.html is now in beta
-this project includes records and extracts from published books in Google's Web Database
-doesn't include full text…just shortened version..then link to online book seller

Google Short Cuts
-www.google.com/help/features.html
-direct access to Web numeric databases
-shortcuts available for US patent numbers, UPS tracking numbers, FedEx tracking numbers, USPS tracking numbers, FCC Equiptment Identification numbers, FAA Registration numbers, UPC codes, Telephone area codes and automated vehicle ID (VIN) numbers
-airport weather info is available by entering the 3letter code followed by the word "airport"
-flight status is available by entering the airline followed by the flight number

LookSmart
-has relaunched Find Articles, expanding coverage to 700-full text publications

MSN Search
-exploring launching a news search engine

Northern Light
-set to return but not as a free search engine
-launching the Business Research Library available by subscription
-first to business in Jan and then to individuals in March