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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009
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 WEBSITE REVIEW 
7

'Search Engine for Fun' Delivers Mixed Results

Goby great for finding activities in cities, not so hot on small towns

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(Newser) – A search engine for stuff to do is a great concept but Goby has plenty of kinks that still need to be worked out before it can be the go-to site for people with time to kill, writes Katherine Boehret. Users type in the "What, Where and When" of things they'd like to do or see and the site delivers hundreds of options gleaned from trawling its hundreds of chosen Internet sources, Boehret writes in the Wall Street Journal.

"With very little effort I found things in Washington, DC, that I've never heard of in the 7-plus years I've lived here," she writes, but the results dived in quality when she tried searching for options in smaller towns. The site has only been up for a few weeks, and its makers say results will improve as more people use it and bugs are worked out. One thing that would make it incredibly useful, Boehret notes, is a mobile app.

A sample page of results from Goby.
A sample page of results from Goby.   (Goby)
Goby
Goby "tries to be simple enough so that you can get some ideas and start doing the things you want to do rather than wasting hours in front of the computer," writes Mossberg.   (Goby)
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If you get lucky with Goby, you'll find activities that let you do as its name says: Go, be and enjoy your surrounding area. But the site's results need to be much more accurate for me to start relying on it full time. - Katherine Boehret

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7 comments
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cochiserocks
Oct 21, 09 9:57 AM CDT
I prefer stumbleupon, but good idea. Reply
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Yourself
Oct 21, 09 10:24 AM CDT
stumbleupon helps you discover other websites, Goby isn't in that market at all! they're trying to help you discover REAL sites in cities, not on the web. Goby could become something of good use if they can just fine tune it a little more.
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crissywidjaja
Oct 21, 09 3:08 PM CDT
this actually sounds like a great idea - i could definitely use this everyday... Reply
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DarkFrancis
Oct 21, 09 4:08 PM CDT
Lucky i have things to do already, because going for a swim in Galveston this weekend is not really an option for me in the Southern Hemisphere. Reply
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-1
plstyle
Oct 21, 09 4:19 PM CDT
Forget Goby, go Yelp. Yelp.com Reply
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