A Search Engine For The Slower Net

Makarand writes "According to this BBC News article researchers at MIT are developing a search engine for people using the web on slower net connections. The software will e-mail queries to a central server and receive the most relevant webpages from the search results by e-mail in a compressed form. Since the program is too big to download over a poor net connection it will be mailed on CDs to libraries for people to borrow and install. They are also considering trying to persuade computer sellers in developing countries to install the program on machines."

Them Modem Linkers

[inertia187]

About them Modem Linkers,
ain't they kinda odd?
Goin' on the net,
with they little baud.
Look at all those Modem Linkers,
what a thing to see.
Web sites come up really slow,
get's lousy Voice/IP.
Internet at low bit rates,
what a dawgon mess.
Load a web site, take a break,
while 'pache mods compress.
How to be a Modem Linker,
don't need a ticket.
Get a local ISP,
dial up and link it.

Bah to that.

[grub]

Use lynx or w3m and search on google like the rest of us, ya Nancy-boys..

Slow people have rights too

[Anonymous Coward]

I know the Internet is complicated - but there's no need to pick on slow people.

A better idea

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe we could have all webpages categorized by a number, something like 800 for science or whatever, and then we could have a filing cabinet with index cards in it. Then, people could open the filing cabinet, see a number for the page they want and then go directly to the page.

Perfect for those people...

[fpp]

...still surfing the internet with their Commodore 64s and 300 baud modems!

Hmmm.

[teamhasnoi]

Seems like a long time to wait for porn.

http://www.mshiltonj.com/sr/

Hey!

[Quasar1999]

MIT guys! Why don't you put your brain into better compression technology? So we can deliver higher bandwidth to those still on crappy 56K lines?

And don't say it isn't doable... If I had the time, I could do it, and I'm a mere highschool graduate...

Finally! I can use Google...

[Anonymous Coward]

with my 300 baud modem.

In other news...

[sw155kn1f3]

They are developing the program which will replace web forums - you post a message to predetermined mail account and everybody subscribed will receive it very soon (patent pending).
File transfers and weather forecasts are planned in 2006.
This will make a difference.

and for those with no internet....

[vmxeo]

And for those people with no internet connection, you can mail your search requests to MIT (Please include self-addressed stamped envelope). MIT will then process your search request within 5 business days, and mail you back the results. You can then peruse the results and marvel at the wealth at information you'd be able to find... if only you had internet access.

Re:Because...

[panaceaa]

I tried to RTFA but MIT hasn't emailed it to me yet :(.

Free emulator

[gspr]

For those of you who want to try it out at home, just use one of your several hundred AOL CDs, and voila, you'll have a line slow enough to try it out.

Why not go all the way?

[Pac]

They should develop a program that strips images, animation, java aplets, ActiveX components and all HTML from Web pages, leaving only the text and the links. Then send it to the users. It could be called Gopher. Or Archie.

This just in...

[McD]

"MIT Reinvents Archie service from the early 90's."

Re:A better idea

[muffel]

Funny how there always seems to be a relevant Dilbert [dilbert.com].

Re:Because...

[donutello]

I can imagine your brainwaves are somewhere along the lines of:

[_______________________________]

Ok, you are obviously someone incapable of making a point without resorting to childish insults. In my experience this usually correlates well with inferior mental capacity so I would encourage you to read the below slowly:

Downloading the contents of 20 pages when one page is the one you're looking for is vastly inefficient.

Its very likely, that since the target is to use this for information, that the pages would be _highly_ compressed, either reducing image quality or removing many images altogether.


Ooh! High compression achieved by not downloading fancy images or code! That's absolute genius. We can only download the text and then the user can choose if they want a particular image to be downloaded. Someone should really inform the makers of lynx so they can put this feature in the next version. Maybe the makers of IE and Netscape can have an option where they don't download images by default.

And since you seem to be particularly dense, I will have to point out that the above paragraph is intended to be sarcasm since that functionality already exists.

Re:Hmmm.

[humming]

I remember how long it could take to get home porn through ftp-mail back in my university days... But it was worth it, dammit.

Ah, the time when we got USENET access... All those hours sitting and waiting for the 'You have new mail.' message was over and porn could be reached almost instantly at alt.pictures.celebs[*].

--H
[*] Name may not be accurate.