A group of former Google engineers has launched a rival internet search engine, Cuil, saying it is an improved version of the world's most popular search tool.
As well as the former Google employees, Cuil's management team includes CEO Tom Costello, who comes from Drogheda, Co Louth.
Cuil's founders are taking aim at their former workplace, claiming they out-search Google when it comes to depth and breadth on the rapidly expanding internet.
“The internet is getting bigger and more disorganised every day,” Cuil's founders said in a posting on the website that went live yesterday at www.cuil.com
Cuil says that unlike Google, which reportedly ignores seldom visited or obscure websites in its index, Cuil doesn't discriminate and has packed 120 billion internet pages in its index.
'Size matters because many people use the internet to find information that is of interest to them, even if it's not popular,” Cuil said.
As well as Mr Costello, Cuil's founders include former 'Googlers' Anna Patterson, Russell Power and Louis Monier. Patterson and Power worked on Google's 'TeraGoogle' search index and Monier specialised in search engine design.
Google dominates online search with more than 60 per cent of the market.
