Alternatives to Google, Wiki, etc.

I've been thinking about the differences between parallel worlds, and one of the things that occurred to me was that if the split is far enough back there would be different online resources - different search engines with different strengths and weaknesses, and so forth. The ones that I think I might want to use in fanfic are a different search engine - there are still several around, so it isn't hard to come up with another - and a different online encyclopaedia. I don't need to describe it in any detail, but I'd like to give a different name and if possible mention different strengths and weaknesses to Wikipedia.

Were there any serious rivals to Wikipedia that worked noticeably differently? I don't think I want to go with proprietary encyclopaedias such as Encarta, I'm looking more for something that gets input from multiple sources but works differently. Any suggestions?

Two interesting bits of news (news to me anyway).

J.K. Rowling is writing scripts for Warner Brothers for a trilogy of Harry Potter spinoff films based on Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them; the first will be set in 1920s USA and released next year:

http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Fantastic_Beasts_and_Where_to_Find_Them_%28film_trilogy%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantastic_Beasts_and_Where_to_Find_Them

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3183660/

Interesting idea, if they don't mess it up, but I suspect they will.



And more horrifying than anything else - William Shatner is going to narrate the Clangers for the USA.

https://youtu.be/LFkoSXPguD0