The Melanie RoundUp

Track Tim in Google Earth

Tim works for and is wearing the product of a GPS tracker company, and he’s become a lab rat for tracking folks using Google Earth (no privacy implications here, of course). There’s also a New Yorker named Dave both wearing a live tracker and displaying images from a cam on the side of his glasses.

http://www.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2006/05/wheres_tim_trac.html

http://www.timhibbard.com/wherestim/default.aspx

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2006/04/real-person-real-time-google-maps.html

http://www.shakindave.com/index.php?flash=yes



Google Parses Top URl Search Result

Google tests more UI results, this time trying divvying the top result into its hierarchy, letting users choose relevant content within. The test occured at least in Dutch and French, categorizing into articles, links, forum, games, teaching lessons, etc… As SEL notes, “If this is something that becomes widespread your page naming conventions had better make sense and be accurate ;)”

http://blog.outer-court.com/archive/2006-05-01.html#n47

http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2006/04/new-google-test-more-from-top-result.html

PIC: http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7506/607/1600/google_serp_test.jpg

PIC: http://img502.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ss7gg.jpg

via http://www.searchenginelowdown.com/2006/05/google-serps-experiment-top-ranking.html

“The Most”: Search-Directed TV

Finally, TV becomes less dumb by letting search trends to determine news/entertainment content (yeah, Current does this, sort of…). Though the execution of the idea is has yet to be seen– this is a neat idea, something of a triumph of search potential and technology into the MSM.

(Perhaps a future trend, and places them in better competition with UTube/Digg and the like.)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12537219/

Yahoo! and MSFT, the Counter-Attack, Enough?

Business Week article on the tech overhaul of Yahoo! and MSN adCenter. Concludes that their changes may hurt rather than help, suggesting that advertisers want Google’s large audience more than a super-targeted small group. MSN’s targeted ads hope to used demographics on users, but Google prefers to continue improving the prediction ability of the few cached words it stores from individual search histories.

(Interesting juxtapose to your recent post) Also, MSFT to invest an additional $2 million in web services to compete.)

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_19/b3983079.htm

http://www.paidcontent.org/msft-expected-to-invest-another-2-billion-on-web-services-xbox

Grayboxx Local Search

How exactly is Grayboxx going to improve local search? Well, their algorithm is in the stealth stage, as their beta webpage says, so they aren’t revealing details yet. But it looks like a guerilla tactic approach to ranking local results, taking cues from tags in digital images and Outlook address books to create a local community rolodex of favorable votes “without imposing review-writing chores.”

http://www.grayboxx.com/

Rhode Island May Be First Wi-Fi State

http://searchviews.com/archives/2006/05/awwwamericas_sm.php



Swicki

An interesting mashup between search and community tagging, the new Swicki attempts to create a “cloud of buzz” by essentially providing communities ;with search histories (or so I gather from the demo).

(These could be useful for well-delineated, like-minded groups who share trust in knowing what each other is interested in. But many online communities are dynamic experiments, a game of musical chairs with very different-minded people potentially approaching the same subject (or search) in different ways. In other words, it could just be frustrating to a minority member of a given community–though for the rest a boon.)

http://eurekster.com/

Google Interactive, Integrating User/Expert Feedback

Matt Cutts calls it Google++, paying closer attention to user and expert feedback on product design. Recently used for the customization of Base and Talk, notes Blogscoped.

(This initiative is likely to become key to the future survival of Google–as it bloats– finding ways to insure that user experience remains a central driver in directing the company’s innovation instead of splaying in all directions.)

http://blog.outer-court.com/archive/2006-04-29.html#n83

Internet Archive sells extended archiving for organizations

Archive-It 1.5 provides subscription-based service that allows institutions to store, categorize history (at lower price) from their website and WWW. “Users are able to explore and access these text-searchable collections, without needing additional technical expertise.”

http://www.econtentmag.com/Articles/ArticleReader.aspx?ArticleID=15639

http://www.archive.org/

MySpace Videos Most Popular in Days

http://www.paidcontent.org/myspace-video-numbers-1-in-matter-of-days

And Yet More….



Utah Techie takes on Orrin “watchman state” Hatch with Open, Wired Campaign

http://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,70761-0.html?tw=rss.technology

WashPost Stops to Talk About ParkedPages

http://searchviews.com/archives/2006/05/google_wins_the.php

The Tech Market in Mega Churches

Wired article juxtaposes well with 2004 article, transition from “Churches wage war on Cell phones”

http://news.com.com/Is+Jesus+the+next+killer+app/2100-1025_3-6066157.html?tag=nefd.lede

From 2004: http://www.ciol.com/content/news/2004/104092203.asp

Google Lags in South Korea

http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2006/04/28/181274-google-fails-to-make-inroads-in-s-korea