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Try Switching to Kagi

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Re: Try Switching to Kagi

#151

Post by drabbiticus »

Ezhik wrote: post #15

Kagi is so nice. Amazing that it's the first search engine I've seen that lets me do something as obvious as customizing ranking for certain websites. And, of course, the ability to block websites from search results entirely. It even passes my personal search test - it shows reasonable results and not pages and pages of junkware when I search for "avi to mp4". I think my only annoyance with it is that it shows me sh…

Just curious if you have a screenshot or a list of the top n results for "avi to mp4" when using Kagi so that there is a bit of a data point for comparison captured in thread?

Re: Try Switching to Kagi

#153

Post by bigstrat2003 »

pookieinc wrote: post #13

For those of us who have moved the vast majority of our Google searches to ChatGPT / only use Google periodically for one-off questions, is there still a reason to switch to Kagi?

If you believe ChatGPT is good for such usage, no. But personally I think it sucks at that and have no idea how anyone can stand it.

Re: Try Switching to Kagi

#155

Post by HanClinto »

neogodless wrote: post #110

About a year ago, I tried the free 300 search trial. I liked it, but wasn't ready to commit to the expense. This year, they offered me a free 30 day unlimited trial, so I'm about 10 days into that. I've only used 128 searches so far. What I seem to find is that I use it, get to what I'm looking for, and move on. So it's not really on my mind. But it's subtly refreshing to spend less time fighting search to get what I…

YMMV, but because search is my gateway to the web, I think of my Kagi subscription less like a charge for an optional service (like Netflix / Hulu), and more like paying an ISP to be my access to the web.

Re: Try Switching to Kagi

#156

Post by bigstrat2003 »

ChocolateGod wrote: post #95
evertedsphere wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

how do you tolerate the sheer latency of running the "vast majority" of your web searches through an llm

The LLM can read through the results quicker than you can and provide the information you were looking for.

Well, it provides something at any rate. Whether or not it's the information you were looking for is very much a matter of luck.

Re: Try Switching to Kagi

#157

Post by _aavaa_ »

coldpie wrote: post #114
_aavaa_ wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can blacklist whole domains (or subdomains) as well as upranking or downranking specific sites. This lets you avoid the seo spam (particularly bad for programming sites). For example. Say I want to know more about python’s built in sum() functions. A google search for “Python sum function” produces results on the first page from: - w3school - GeeksforGeeks - real python - programiz - code academy And only after d…

Thank you. Sounds like the search results are not actually much better on Kagi, but the features around search such as blocking domains is where you find the value. That would explain why I didn't see much of a difference when I tried it out without doing any customization.

I don't agree with the distinction you're trying to make. Google also tries to customize your results for you, but does not offer you any control (don't know about ddg). I think of it as the same thing with Kagi, expect I have explicit input into the results.

Some of these changes are subjective. E.g. I have blocked all of Pinterest since it just clutters my results, but other people explicitly want Pinterest in their results. (not I don't know who would want the seo'd programming sites, but that's a different matter).

Re: Try Switching to Kagi

#159

Post by Terretta »

jrmg wrote: post #119
neogodless wrote: post #110

About a year ago, I tried the free 300 search trial. I liked it, but wasn't ready to commit to the expense. This year, they offered me a free 30 day unlimited trial, so I'm about 10 days into that. I've only used 128 searches so far. What I seem to find is that I use it, get to what I'm looking for, and move on. So it's not really on my mind. But it's subtly refreshing to spend less time fighting search to get what I…

Watch out - I got the email offering a new 30 day free trial, and at the end of the month they did nothing to inform me and started charging the credit card they apparently still had on file from when I subscribed for a month or two a few years ago. I guess with other companies I would’ve expected something like that and monitored the time more closely, but with Kagi I expected better - especially since the email off…

On the contrary, they are the rare SaaS that proactively avoids charging you any period you don't use it.

Re: Try Switching to Kagi

#160

Post by Terretta »

watusername wrote: post #129
sylens wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious, I just tried it for the first time. Install Kagi Extension for Safari from the App Store, open up Safari, go to Manage Extensions, turn it on. Then tap it in the extensions menu and accept permissions. Then it works. Not one click but by no means a byzantine process

This extension is a big ugly hack: It redirects result pages of built-in search pages to Kagi, sometimes _after_ the original page has fully loaded. This doesn't occur on my M4 MacBook Pro, but happens all the time on my much slower 12-inch MacBook [0]. If this doesn't scare you already, I'll rephrase: Your queries may be sent to the built-in search engines even if you think you're only using Kagi! It does not actual…

Yes, use ecosia.
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