If you’re in search for two things of major importance each day, they undoubtedly are 1) food, and 2) a roof. Which is why a search engine by the name of Circos, which we spotlighted briefly back in January and has just been re-launched, is so compelling. The items on which it pays focus are twofold: restaurants and hotels. That’s all. For now, at least.

What’s most interesting is the way Circos is organized. It can be used as something of an arbitrary, emotion-based search utility. It provides a menu of checkboxes for users to specify as a personality match. Once a choice is made, a click of the ‘Go’ button near the center of the page takes you to a list of results. The accuracy of the engine when used in that manner is of course dependent on one’s location, which Circos determines automatically, so if you’re scouring Small Town, America, what follows might be considered lacking. Or, if you have trouble taking the keywords for what they’re worth, you can customize a search via the box at the top of the page. Enter a city name, type of food, type of hotel (“luxury,” “cheap,” etc.), and proceed to the next page.

For each result you can see short quotes from reviews on sites like TripAdvisor and Yahoo Travel, plus an option on view what people speak of when they discuss a particular place. Click through to a specific page and you’ll see a graphical view of what people have said. And if you chose to observe tags in “word view,” and you specify one label or another, the corresponding reviews will emerge in kind.

Granted, such options are a bit more playful than some users might like. But the overall objective is achieved, I think. It’s a less clinical option for discovering places to eat and/or stay than services which deliver massive amounts of information to sift through, chock-full of figures, dollar-for-dollar comparisons and so forth. If you want to take a public opinion-influenced approach to your search for restaurants and hotels, Circos is something to consider.

It isn’t just visual appeal that Circos provides. It’s really quite useful. Other engines will do more. Some, much more. But it’s a pleasing alternative.

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