There’s a new player in the search engine game, and its name is Cuil (pronounced “cool”).

It’s built by former Google masterminds, and claims to index more of the web than Google can.  The big claim to fame for Cuil is their ability to index the world’s websites and return search results to users in a much speedier manner than Google and the other engines… which saves tons of money.  It’s been estimated that Google spends billions every year just paying for their index and search functionality.

Cuil is also displaying a unique–some would say “mind-boggling”–new interface.  Instead of a single column of results, Cuil displays search results in a three-column layout, making it feel more like a magazine format.

The real problem, though, is that their results aren’t particularly good yet.  Now, they’ve only just launched, and the site is still in a beta-testing phase (though it is open to the public).  For instance, if you search for “keystone business solutions hendersonville”, Cuil says it can’t find any results.  On Google, we come up #1.

They’re taking a beating for this in the press, but honestly… you have to expect a brand new search engine to take some time ironing out the kinks.  While the first impression isn’t all that lovely, I’m personally quite excited about this.

Someday soon, someone has to step up and offer a real challenge to Google’s dominance in the search marketplace.  They simply have too much power and control right now (and I love Google!).  For the consumers to get the maximum service, there needs to be competition.  And who better to compete with Google than a team of former Googlers?

Check back down the line for more updates on what’s happening with Cuil.