Access: http://www.searchme.com
Frequency: Once
Information: SearchMe is a visual search engine where the results displayed are actually images of the website that looks a lot like the Windows Vista AERO 3D Tabs. They say "Searchme lets you see what you’re searching for. As you start typing, categories appear that relate to your query. Choose a category, and you’ll see pictures of web pages that answer your search. You can review these pages quickly to find just the information you’re looking for, before you click through."
Query: Live Mesh and Amazon Elastic Cloud Computing
Evaluation: My first query on Live Mesh did not work out very well - there were a lot of results that were not too relevant and the visual search tool was tough to understand (SearchMe needs some higher-resolution images). I also really didn't understand how the pictures only related to the first result of about 20 new results - how were these results categorized? On the flip side, I had great success when searching Amazon EC2. Sites I was told to look at included Enomaly's info on EC2, ODE's original news release about EC2, and Web Strategist's guide to EC2. The information from SearchMe was pretty good, but the interface is gimmicky. It forces to click on links and it opens them in news windows, which is pretty annoying. SearchMe is a great example of something unique that is fun to visit but does not add value or efficiency. Score: 6/10
Miscellaneous: N/A
Please Note: The following resource evaluations are based off "Beyond Google"