Ever wondered what was the difference between a point-and-shoot and a DSLR camera? How about the difference between ‘http:’ and ‘https:’? Or how about something that eludes many: the difference between ‘cute’ and ‘hot’? Now you can find out just by typing the related terms into a search bar on DifferenceBetween.net. It’s a new kind of search engine that has big plans to answer a whole lot of unanswered, or difficult-to-answer, questions.
The Canadian site has a wealth of knowledge, with a vast array of subjects covered, from technology, to science, to business, to language. Each page contains a unification of multiple reliable resources for a single topic.
Also interesting to check out are the top differences between that have been searched of late, providing some fascinating insight into popular misconceptions. Some of the top differences right now include ‘laptop’ vs. ‘notebook computer’, ‘animal’ vs. ‘plant cells’, ‘Windows XP’ vs. ‘Vista’, and ‘Tylenol’ vs. ‘Advil’.
It’s also possible to contribute to DifferenceBetween.net, but be warned –t here are stringent quality guidelines. There is even a revenue-sharing model, which could see more popular articles generating the author a bit of income on the side.
The site was started up by Seralathan Kamalanathan, who graduated electrical engineering at McMaster University earlier this year, and Sanmuganithi, a life sciences graduate in 2007, from the same university.
The two were inspired when they were performing a search for the differences between Diet Coke and Coke Zero one day. They thought up the idea to create a site where people could find all kinds of such information in one place. After an investment of less than $1000, DifferencesBetween.net was born.
“Everybody has wondered what the difference is between two things at some point in their lives,” said Sharmila. “But most of us don’t have the time or energy to start tracking down definitions and explanations. So we’ve done that work for them.”
The number of articles on the site is quite limited, but the two developers have plans to create 1,500 pages of content for their site. Since they’ve only recently monetized it, one can hardly blame them for not working on it 24/7.
Users who really take a liking to the site can sign up for a DifferencesBetween newsletter, and receive the newest differences in their e-mail inboxes as they are published. It’s also possible to score some free content for your website – in the resources section, the authors have provided a code snippet that, when embedded, shows a new article every day.
One comparison missing from the site is the difference between the two biggest search giants: Microsoft and Google, but it is likely that it’s another one that’s on the way.
Kaila Krayewski is a freelance journalist with a passion for all things internet. Having worked for nearly two years as the public relations manager for an internation search engine optimization company, and publishing hundreds of articles (how-to, informational, and otherwise) on SEO, she knows a thing or two about the field. Furthermore, having just started up her own website blondetraveler.com, she is doing her best to keep one step ahead of the search engines in order to keep the traffic flowing.
Read other articles by Kaila Krayewski
