Confirming what you know and finding what you don't
When investigating companies and executives, digging for details means going beyond Google and trying specialized databases. Google is a great start for basic information, but due diligence requires a deep dive into the workings of your target company and how they operate – including the good, the bad, and the ugly. That’s why every serious […]
Google alternatives still reign as the most popular posts on this blog, so I’ve decided to share some more with you. And since Google eliminates features almost weekly, it’s a good idea to try some specialized search engines to handle what Google can’t. Yippy – Clustering results into topics helps with narrowing your focus and […]
I’m heading to the OSMOSIS conference for open source intelligence (OSINT) professionals where I’ll present a short “Bits and Bytes” roundtable session on asset investigations. When preparing for a lawsuit, conducting due diligence, or enforcing a judgment, you may need to evaluate a person’s or firm’s open, tangible, and hidden assets. But, without their permission […]
Whether you’re conducting an investigation or gathering intelligence, it’s becoming harder and harder to ignore social media. Companies and individuals are getting on board to promote their brand, share knowledge, or stay connected. And all those posts and the links they contain may provide pieces of information that make a huge impact. Unfortunately, social media […]
According to the stats, by far the most popular post on this site is My Favorite Google Alternatives. It seems that we love Google, but we’re still looking for a better search engine. While it’s size and broad scope make Google great, there are times when we need something smaller and focused. In light of […]
While doing some research for a recent post on alternative search engines, I turned to one of my usual sources for inspiration, search expert Phil Bradley. I found a useful presentation on Slideshare, Alternative search engines; Library 2.014 presentation, and – when I got to slide #34 – I laughed out loud! This slide “says” […]
In recent posts about search engines I’ve covered Google and Bing, but sometimes plain vanilla isn’t enough – especially when you need advanced tools or focused content. It’s times like these when I turn to alternative, or specialized, search engines. Here are some of my favorite Google alternatives and how I use them: DuckDuckGo – […]
Since I’ve been tied up with work and vacation planning, here’s one I posted on the old blog in October 2014. I still get so annoyed with this Google-Is-To-Blame mentality: An article on Salon.com, Google makes us all dumber: The neuroscience of search engines, really caught my interest. In my research and investigations, Google is […]
In the business of background investigations, the goal is to find as much information as humanly possible on your subject, while respecting the client’s time frame and budget. That’s why I use professional online tools that help me quickly target what I need within a vast array of sources. I also use Google, and I […]
Us vs. Google. It’s a common theme among info pros, and – frankly – I wish it would go away. Google is one of my favorite tools of the trade, and I can’t imagine not consulting this and other general-purpose search engines before and after heading to more specialized sources. You’ll find lots of sites […]