Viewzi Search Engine Is Beautiful, Convoluted

Viewzi, the new image-based Internet search engine, isn't in competition with Google. Nothing is in competition with Google. It's simply an alternative to the generic text-centric Web searcher, relying on—guess what!—images.

Viewzi has 15 different search options with 15 distinct "views":

1. mp3 Search
2. Album View
3. View x3 View
4. Site Information
5. 3D Photo Cloud
6. Basic Photo
7. Simple Text
8. Four Sources
9. Web Screenshot
10. Celebrity Photo (?)
11. Everyday Shopping
12. The Weather View
13. Recipe View
14. Amazon Book View
15. TechCrunch

Most of these don't necessarily apply to a run-of-the-mill search you might do on a Monday morning but seem great for a Friday afternoon breeze.

Naturally, I Viewzied myself (that has a nice ring to it) to see what would pop up. In the photo above, you'll see my personal blog (replete with my three sentence obit for George Carlin, rest in peace) lined up in a series of sliding frames. One might think the big arrows on the left and right are used for cycling, and you're 50% right there; maddeningly, you can also cycle by flicking your mouse in a general direction, making the browser shutter and jiggle all over the place, never allowing you to anchor down exactly what you want.

Then I Viewzied Bob Dylan. He came up in the Album View but oddly, not in the "celebrity photo" view. All I saw were pictures of the cast of I'm Not There. You'd think an iconic musician whose career has spanned over 40 years might deserve one or two snaps, but who am I to say?

Obviously this will never replace Google, and, I'm thinking, won't even stick around for very long. What do you think? Noteworthy? Toiletpaperworthy?

[Viewzi Homepage via Web 2.oh ... Really?]