Wannabes like Powerset or Cuil belied expectations to be the next Google.
Well, I guess there is a new, tough google competitor. Qimaya!
This spring I met one of the founders: Roy Uhlmann. Actually our meeting was originally about another shrewd idea (currently I'm still working alongside on an execution of it). So while talking he let me in on the idea of Qimaya. No doubt a very worthwhile conversation.
What it comes down to is, Qimaya is a neuronal search engine.
A search engine imitating how the brain works.
You may say: That is hardly partical without a quantum computer!
Roy blogged (German only) how they solve the problem of intensive RAM and memory usage of suchlike applications. Quite recently there was a second blog entry (German only) by Klaus (co-founder) giving another insight into their work. Of course he does not give away the secret of Qimaya, but if you are able to read between the lines you may spot the potential of it.
Finally I have to say, that I'm curious about the further evolution of Qimaya.
If you are curious, too, have a look at a presentation of Qimaya.