Oingo is just more proof that on the Internet, there is less friction. Less friction between what you want to do and doing it. Less friction between buyers and sellers, broadcasters and viewers, and between today and tomorrow.

Los Angeles-based Oingo is a fledgling search engine company that joins in the race for more "meaningful" search. Hence their slogan: "Oingo - We Know What You Mean."

Try a common search term, such as "portal" or "Genesis" on a conventional search engine, and while you may, with some work, find what you need, you'll be forced to wade through entries you have no interest in. Rather than learning about web portals, you'll be looking at sites talking about a fantasy game that contains a "portal to the universe," or reading news stories about a company called Portal Software. Rather than delving into the innermost thoughts of Genesis band members Collins
and Banks when they wrote a rambling ode to "Sarah Jane," you'll be getting info about Genesis, Tennessee, and a long list of biblical passages.

So what do you really mean? Oingo uses a lexicon to break down words into their most common meanings so that you only search for the one you want. Search hits, furthermore, are broken down into strong, medium and weak matches. The startup has a team of linguists working full time to assist with this process. According to co-founder Eytan Elbaz, the search engine is 85% robot and 15% manual. The goal is to become more automated and more scalable over time.

Currently, the underlying directory for Oingo is the Open Directory. Lycos is one of a number of major portals that use the Open Directory as well. The use of a classified directory such as this is a big help in the process of tapping into meaningful search results. The "15% manual" method of building up a lexicon for meaning-based search works well in conjunction with the Open Directory (although Oingo is clearly still in development), but when it comes to scaling Oingo to the entire web, Elbaz concedes, more automation will be needed as manual solutions become unworkable.

During the beta period I have been making a few suggestions to improve the quality of the search. The company would be delighted if users would try out Oingo and enter their feedback, to help them build a better lexicon. Some of the improvements could come relatively easily, in my opinion. For example, a partnership with RealNames would allow Oingo to hit more directly on many searches for specific company or product names. It's also going to take awhile to build up databases of things like universities, lesser-known geographical locations and so on. (Reader feedback welcome!)

Some of my other suggestions, such as a TV commercial involving the Spice Girls (tell me what you mean, what you really, really mean), and setting up web-cams so the world could watch Oingo employees thinking meaningful thoughts (hey, these people may be working hard enough already for their money, but this is a proven revenue model!), are just too valuable to reveal. (Whoops, too late!)

So what was I rambling about earlier about there being so little friction between "today and tomorrow"? Just this: On Internet time, it seems, young entrepreneurs are already writing their memoirs by the time they're 30. To do this, they have to be mentally writing Chapter One as they go along. But the details are already getting fuzzy, because things are moving so fast.

Scarcely a year ago, Oingo could have been described as "five bachelors who moved into a house, working 24-7 on this business idea." After a period of development with the help of just under $1 million in seed funding, this group of young Net entrepreneurs now has a pretty interesting product that they hope will catch on. So they prepare for Internet World, an industry trade show, hoping that they can make it to the next level and get a bit of attention.

As so often happens, the Oingo folks were floored by the attention they garnered after their public launch at Internet World. Winning "Best of Show" in the Internet Services category didn't hurt. Soon after, they received write-ups from major media outlets, including MSNBC.

Oingo's founders no longer have to dream about getting noticed. In the space of a couple of weeks, the site is flooded with curious onlookers from all over the world lured by the promise of finding more meaningful search. Chapter Three of the memoirs is already being mentally composed.

Oingo is currently in talks to license their service in what Elbaz describes as "relatively modest" deals. But he feels that it's only a matter of time before the meaningful search results promised by the Oingo method are enough to catch on in a big way with one of the top 10 portals. Don't bet against it. On the Internet, tomorrow is always a day away. Sometimes, it's even closer than that.