Ex-Google Employees Launch 'Cuil' Search Engine

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RENEE MONTAGNE, host:

NPR's business news starts with a new challenger for Google.

The reigning colossuses in the world of search has plenty of upstart challengers, and a new search engine is getting attention because it was founded by a breakaway group of top Google employees. It's called Cuil - spelled C-U-I-L. The name comes from an ancient Irish word for knowledge, according to the company. Naturally, it claims to offer faster and broader searches than Google. Cuil.com also claims to offer more privacy to users by not storing personal information or selling users' surfing patterns.

Still, some tech analysts say Google's name has become so synonymous with search, it's hard to imagine a time when Internet users start saying they're going to Cuil a topic to see what they can find.

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