Jun. 24--Mercury News

If a friend suggested that you check out an Internet search service called Kosmix, you might start by tapping kosmix.com into your browser -- or you might, as the saying goes, just Google it.

The options suggest what Kosmix and every other search startup is up against. With Yahoo puzzling over its strategy in the No. 2 position, and No. 3 Microsoft reportedly spending up to $100 million to market Bing as a "decision" engine, the odds of any newcomer succeeding in this land of the giants may seem slim.

But Kosmix founders Venky Harinarayan and Anand Rajaraman, say they know better than to take on Google or anyone else delivering those familiar lists of blue links. As the Web constantly adds information and images -- and as smartphones and social networks like Twitter and Facebook add new dimensions to search -- Kosmix, based in Mountain View, is getting attention for its efforts to differentiate itself as a better way to navigate the growing online clutter.

To look up, say, wonton soup on the search giants leads the user to a list of blue links, some with photos. Kosmix delivers a multimedia showcase. The page is topped by a Wikipedia summary, and a quick scroll leads to a sizeable window for how-to videos, blog commentary and conversations, nutritional data and more. A column on the right includes items like Chinese cookbooks on eBay and 24-pack instant wonton shitake soup

from Amazon. There are also a few "sponsored links" -- the advertising that is key to the Kosmix business model.

As one blogger described it, Kosmix delivers "an instant Encyclopedia page, but on crazy-awesome Internet steroids."

Some recent search startups such as Cuil and hakia have fallen far short of their hype, says Danny Sullivan, editor of Search Engine Land, an industry news site. Kosmix, he said, has had some success in the health field with a vertical search site called RightHealth. But it's not yet clear whether some if its broader initiatives -- the core Kosmix search and a personalized news service called MeeHive -- will win a mass following.

If search grows and evolves the way television did -- splintering from a few dominant channels to a multitude -- Kosmix and other search players may establish significant roles, Sullivan said.

Kosmix's founders say they they are patient. "We have a real long-term opportunity," Harinarayan said. He suggested that the Web is only in "inning two" of a nine-inning game.

Kosmix and its founders convey an almost serene sense of confidence amid the frenetic hustle of Silicon Valley.