Daily App

We all have the search engines that we lean on time and time again when looking for stuff online. You know, your personal favorite. The one that you immediately turn to whenever you need to find information in a hurry. It’s almost like a trusted friend, or long-time companion. But what if you could switch – or try a new search tool from time to time? I know you want to be loyal to your favorite search engine, but there’s no harm in looking right?

Seekbert puts a collection of search tools in a single app, and puts them all front-and-center within the context of a single screen. This way, you can stick with your tried-and-true friend, or you can play the field a little, and see what else is out there.

It’s a great concept – and let’s stick to search this time, no more thinly veiled metaphors – from the app’s Home screen, and a single search bar, you can then look for information from any of 60 different sites that specialize in search, translation, and even online destinations like Amazon.com, eBay, Twitter and Facebook (Note: You need to be logged in to Facebook to take advantage of that one.)

All of the familiar names are there, including Google, Bing, Ask.com and Wikipedia. There are also plenty of specialized resources like the IMDb for entertainment information, and one called Discogs that I had never seen before (like the name suggests, it is all about music – the “discography”). You just enter the search term you’re interested in, and then tap one of the many icons for the resources available to you, and away you go. The results are presented via the mobile browser on your device, so do be prepared for airtime usage.

The cool part – well, one of the cool parts, anyway – is when you then go back and reapply the search using a different tool. So, a search on Sunday night for “Drew Brees” brings up one set of results for Google News where you can read about his MVP performance during the Super Bowl, but very different results when searched via Twitter to see the reaction from folks like you and me around the world.

The app also keeps a handy list of your recent searches, which can be viewed by clicking the little down arrow to the left of the search bar at the top of the screen.

There are so many choices, in fact, that you need to narrow them down within the settings portion of the app, so that you can concentrate on those tools you might use the most often. Perhaps it’s like speed-dating (I wouldn’t know, but I’ve heard) where you meet a lot of potential new friends at once, and then you try to decide which ones are the most compatible with you. (OK, I said I wasn’t going to go there … ) Any way, within settings, you can choose from all the big names in search, and most of them can be set to display in different languages, if you want, too (for instance, Google is available in English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, and even Croatian!). To remove a search function that you don’t want or need, simply tap on that name within settings, and a strike-thru line will appear over the title, removing that source.

And if you’re still not getting enough – from your search results! – you can add up to 10 different custom URLs to display within the Home screen of the app, as well as several different news feeds, if you want them. The choice is yours.

Go ahead, try Seekbert for yourself, and have a little fun playing the (search) field. We won’t tell your old search engine a thing.

More information about Seekbert is available from a microsite created by the developers.