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Ask.com gets a major overhaul

Ask
Search engine Ask.com has launched a new site design. When you first navigate to the website, you'll see a clean page with a search bar and a couple of icons representing different types of searches (web, images, city, news, blogs, etc). It's a bit like Google, if Google had icons next to its search types.

But once you enter a search term, things are very different. First off, if you pause for a second after typing your term, suggestions will pop up. For example, when you start to write "download sq," Ask will recommend "download squad."

When you get to the results page, you can preview listings by scrolling your mouse over the binoculars button. Or you can click the + button to bookmark a page if you register for an account.

Account holders can also customize their results by selecting locations or setting up filters. You can also modify the start page with skins. Right now, that means choosing from a list of images, but TechCrunch reports you'll eventually be able to upload your own images.

[via The New York Times]

Featured Time Waster

Civiballs is a beautiful, soothing physics puzzle Time Waster

CiviballsI have an absolute weakness for physics games, and while Civiballs isn't the strongest physics-based game, what it lacks in the physics department it makes up for a few times over in style and fun.

In Civiballs, you are presented with a few colored balls, and your goal is to get those balls into the same-colored urn on the level. The "civi" part of Civiballs is that there are 3 sets of levels to play, each representing a different civilization. While the civilization doesn't affect gameplay, the artwork for each level is beautifully themed to it's appropriate era.

To play the game, you are given only one tool - a sword with which to cut the chains that are holding the balls. The puzzle part of the game is in figuring out what order, and with what timing to cut each chain. Do it right, and all the right balls end up in the right urns, with no stray balls entering an urn (a no-no). Do it wrong, and you get to start over again.

Civiballs is not terribly deep on gameplay; the entire game can be completed in about 15 minutes. But if you enjoy this type of game, it will be a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

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