ScreenGrabextension for firefox grabs the entire web page:
It, in case you hadn’t guessed, saves webpages as images by scrolling around and stitching the result together. In particular it also will save just a frame as an image
via lifehacker
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...This guy (site is in Japanese) created a google map of his face, complete with face/x-ray/hybrid view, panning & zooming, and the famed warnings (We’re sorry but we don’t have imagery at this zoom level for this region).
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...There been rumors flying around that Google wants to build its own classifieds vertical which could include personals, jobs, and more.
They could potentially build one using info that they have crawled but Google has quickly discovered how structured/feed data could be put to better use than unstructured/crawled data. They learned that with their local product which asked a number of providers for feeds of their data as well as their blog search product which crawls the feeds of blogs rather than the blogs themselves. It’s easier to slice and dice the data, allow multiple (re)sort columns, filtering on fields, and more. Additionally, I’m sure sites will not be happy if their content is used on other destination sites (not a search engine which takes you to another site but, instead, a site you use to get the information you want) and the consumers using this service, ultimately, do not go to their site…so Google would want to enter into a mutual agreement with these sites (read: Contract).
So it appears the cat was let out of the bag when Google started contacting classifieds sites, asking for feeds.
Is it your belief a product similar to their local product would benefit these sites (through increased usage…an increase in demand as we saw when people started using maps more often after Google Maps launched…or will we see these sites losing their traffic since more information and a more powerful product exists on Google? You figure Google would essentially serve as a meta search engine (more like a meta data engine since it would be powered by their own search). They tend to build products well (even though some products have taken time to build well)…I know what Citysearch saw when Google relaunched their local product based on this meta data…but what does the audience think?
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Famous Grave Search is a vertical search that “indexes millions of cemetery records.”
According to the FAQ it indexes 8.7 million records as well as solicits user-contributed data.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Ask.com started the “smart answer” craze which almost every search engine now has. Well, after others launched their versions and, in some cases, doing some things better, Ask.com improved their version.
The way most of these modules are triggered are through the use of specific keywords. How these keyword lists are built vary and impact the ultimate product. The way these things get triggered is usually to do one of the following:
In looking at the sites, you can see each one does it slightly differently and most have different partners that provide different sets of information. You can figure some of the partners out by conducting searches and looking for either attribution or clicking through to a site that is external to the one you’re on (press release searches could also help). Most search engines don’t just crawl a site and show the content there…those site owners would be quite upset and, for search engines of their magnitude (speaking of the top 5 here), it wouldn’t be worth the hassle involved.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...So, there has been a bit of a buzz around Yahoo crawling its own CPC-based ad network. Its purpose can be anything, including verifying the validity of the ads and the URL submitted, among other things.
However, the thing that came to mind for me was the data entered by the site advertiser. More often than not, the person submitting the ad info is either the site owner or someone acting as an agent for the site (SEM or employee, etc).
While the data may not be as unbiased as community-generated content, CPC engines are still collecting valuable information from these owner-agents. Superpages, for example, collects products and brands (see Staples). Google and Yahoo collect various bits of information, including keywords, geographies (identifying a site as local or national as well as a geography/geographies if it is local), etc.
Makes you wonder how:
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...O’Reilly Radar has provided a few links for Etsy tools.
Etsy is a new company (just a few months old) that helps inidivudal crafters sell their crafts.
Despite being a young company, they’ve put together some interesting tools
- Etsy ColorSpace
- The 3d Etsy Time Machine (I love that the clock runs backwards)
- The Etsy Geolocator
The geolocator interface is interesting but it crashed my Firefox/Mac browser (though they do say to “use at your own risk” on their blog…it is still in beta). The time machine also has a unique interface I have not seen before that shows items that have recently been sold. The most interesting concept I’ve seen is the “shop by color” feature. I’m not quite sure of its utility (I know people like matching color items but I don’t think that is their starting point when they search for clothes/quilts, etc…instead, I think they find what they want then search for the “right color”). Nonetheless, it’s a very interesting tool which may have better practical applications and someone might want to borrow. Of course, Etsy could prove me wrong and they could egt half their revenue from this interface alone. 
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Most everyone knows you can send SMS messages through email…but I don’t know who knows how each of the carrier’s emails should be constructed.
Here is a recap:
T-Mobile: phonenumber@tmomail.net
Virgin Mobile: phonenumber@vmobl.com
Cingular: phonenumber@cingularme.com
Sprint: phonenumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com
Verizon: phonenumber@vtext.com
Nextel: phonenumber@messaging.nextel.comwhere phonenumber = your 10 digit phone number
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...I’ve already mentioned how I love Google’s “Additional links” that list out some good, relevant links under some of the more common sites.
Well, it looks like yahoo is doing the same. It appears, from their post, that they are basing it on user behavior and what sections of the site the user visits the most…this could either be done by tracking which links users click on or by sending info back to yahoo from toolbar users.
Store sites (see Macy’s) list locators and popular site sections (corresponding to store departments)
Restaurants and other potential Yahoo Local listings get local info (such as the address, map link, and reviews link). They also get a “send to phone” feature which can send you the business name, phone, address, and map image/link. (As a side note, I can’t help but wonder how yahoo and google are using our phone numbers when we use their products and how they track where we are through area codes and such as they tie these numbers in to our user accounts).
I’ve noticed the links provided are not on as many listings as google has done and are usually for only the largest/most commonly searched for companies and, for some reason, the local links don’t exist for all local listings. Even when I type in exact names as they appear in Yahoo Local, many links still don’t provide these additional links. However, I did notice that the links provided tended to be more accurate than google’s links were.
Overall, these make for a better user experience on both sites. I like Yahoo’s accuracy but the compromise Google provides is a compromise I’m willing to take given the overall quality of the results.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...
Posting tweet...
Powered by Twitter.