Of all the new specific search engines out there, this is one of our favorites. We love the way it does such a better job of answering our questions. Not perfect, but a lot more on target than any of the big search engines. And already live, even though still in test phase, unlike PowerSet, their competitor which gets lots of press coverage, but doesn't work (yet).

Now we like the fact that they have a unique short name, and we have to admit it might grow on us. But in the meantime, what is the story behind it or meaning or sound? Please, it is not enough to say it is a pure abstract word with no meaning in any language. We are humans. We want to relate. We want to love and promote our search engines.... they end up having life and personality (except those from Microsoft) when we use them a lot.

So how do you pronounce it? Hack kia ? Hah kia ? Hack ear ? Hack here ?

Made us wonder if this is a hack job and just a temporary name. But then we noticed that it is already a registered trademark with big VC dollars behind it.

The name construction is definitely biased to a Scandinavian, Finnish or Hebrew style, and we do have to confess we have become very used to Ikea and Nokia (which both have a story behind them), though it could also be Japanese or Korean. So is Hakia the opposite of Nokia or the opposite of Hakai (Japanese for destruction)? Or maybe short for a new Highly Advanced KIA car?

We gave the presentation rating an extra point for being properly registered as a trademark and using the ®, but it only scores a 5 otherwise since it is in lower case. Isn't a name a proper noun? Haven't people learned yet what a major pain it is to use a lower case company name in proper grammar in any language? It is time the wordsmiths took back control from the graphics artists.

Do real world searches and get good results at www.hakia.com. You won't drown in results, but you will be closer to what you are probably really seeking.