The Good NET Guide

Archive for August, 2009

Over the weekend, we wrote about Google’s slow transition to AJAX search results. It’s currently testing the feature on its “Caffeine” results pages, and some users are starting to see it live on regular Google. The rationale behind such a shift is obvious: If Google can show results faster, people have more time to do more searches. But we’re talking factions of a second in terms of speed increases; to most users it won’t be noticeable. If you want something noticeable. You have to check out this page.

Called “The Real Live Search,” Long Zheng, the blogger from istartedsomething, has created an amazing search experience using Bing’s AJAX search APIs. While it’s not clear how scalable the functionality is, the results are something that really need to be seen to be believed. What the screen recording I took below to see it in action, in case the traffic we sent slows it down. At full speed, I can’t state enough how amazing it is.

If Bing (or anyone else for that matter) wants to make seriously inroads against Google search dominance, this is the way. It’s relevant results, including rich media full populated in a timeframe noticably faster than anything Google offers. The fact that this is built on top of Bing’s AJAX API is very promising, but again, it’s hard to know just how scalable this speed would be.

The results definitely slow down the more words you add to a query, damping the effect. But as a demo, using one or two words, this is pretty killer. Watch the video below.

[thanks Andrew]

Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.

I wanted to love this remote. The Harmony One has a great form factor, and I was hoping that Logitech would add its current RF system to the mix. But that didn’t happen with the $400 Harmony 900.

Originally posted here:
Review: Logitech Harmony 900 universal remote

It’s no secret that Apple’s App Store has been leaps and bounds more succesful than Android’s comparable Market, but it isn’t often we get concrete data that shows just how poorly Android’s store is faring in comparison. Today Android developer Larva Labs has posted some of the sales figures for its top applications, and the results are not impressive: Larva has two apps in Android’s top paid apps list called Battle For Mars and RetroDefense, ranking #5 and #12 respectively, and between them the company has raked in an average of $62.39 per day over the last month. Ouch.

Larva’s Matt Hall attributes this poor performance in part to Android’s shoddy App purchase flow. Unlike the iPhone’s integrated App Store, Android Market doesn’t have screenshots of apps, forces you into the browser at times, makes you use Google Checkout, has some unintuitive navigation issues, and a handful of other problems. These issues are widely known — you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who thinks the purchase process is as smooth as it is on the iPhone — but they’ve been around for quite a while.

Hall also points out the poor sales of the smash-hit iPhone game Trism, which pulled in hundreds of thousands of dollars on the App Store. On Android, it has seen fewer than 500 downloads. Granted, there’s no guarantee that lighting will strike twice when there are many other games available for both markets, but that isn’t exactly an encouraging statistic.

Hall also writes that the rumored Android market size of $5 million a month (which still pales in comparison to the App Store’s) is likely an overestimate. He concludes that if Larva is considered an average developer, then half the other developers on the platform would have to be seeing similar sales figures to reach that figure, which isn’t likely.

This news comes at a time when many developers would be happy to leave Apple’s troubled App Store, with its ridiculous approval policies and poor treatment of developers, in favor of greener pastures. With a slew of new devices coming out this year and policies that are much friendlier to developers, Android has the opportunity to give these apps a new home — now it needs to build out a marketplace that gives the App Store a run for its money. Google has said improvements will be coming soon, likely with support for PayPal, credit cards, and carrier billing; let’s just hope these come sooner rather than later.

Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors

Yazzem, the simple topic creator for Twitter or FriendFeed, has launched version 2 of their online service. Yazzem allows you to start topics about anything you want, basically creating a new way to interact with both Twitter and FriendFeed. Once the topics have been created, anyone can join your topic to connect and discuss about it in 140 characters or less. Yazzem launched in June 2008, and has picked up quite a user base for a very specific core audience.

Launching in version 2 of Yazzem is a redesign of the Yazzem site, themes that users can choose from for their page, and latest activity streams for all your friends. Also launching with this version is subscribers, which is similar to Twitter followers or FriendFeed subscribers. Another key feature that is launching is user stats, so now users will be able to see information like number of subscribers and activities a particular user has deciding whether or not to subscribe to them.

Yazzem also launched a new mobile version of Yazzem which is basically just a redesign of the old mobile version that fits much better for iPhone and iPod Touch users when browsing on the go.

It’s unclear how Yazzem will make money, but for such a young company, Yazzem does show some promising features and a future. Yazzem was started by Zachary Collins and Dustin Snider, who are both 14 years of age.

Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors

Help me understand this. Toyota today announced some sort of anti-drunk driving “gadget” (more like a complete system, including a digital camera and a breathalyzer) that prevents a car from being turned on if it detects a certain amount of alcohol in your system.

View post:
Toyota’s anti-drunk driving gadget elicits comparison to, yes, Nazi Germany

Are you addicted to FriendFeed? Can’t get enough of Robert Scoble’s incessant posts? Want to keep up with them even when you’re on the go? Are you praying to the heavens that Facebook doesn’t screw up FriendFeed post-acquisition? Then Stir (iTunes link) might just be for you. Created by StructLab Stir is an iPhone app that allows you to get your fill of FriendFeed anytime, anywhere. You can use it in the bathroom at work (guilty), while watching a lame chick flick with your girlfriend (guilty) or if you’re on the couch and don’t want to walk the 10 feet to your desk (umm, yes, guilty).

Of course, it is hardly the first FriendFeed app for the iPhone, but it’s the first one I’ve looked at and it’s pretty damn good. Mind you, I only started using FriendFeed last week. Twitter is still my micro-blogging platform of choice, but I quickly noticed that FriendFeed has some obvious benefits. And Stir takes advantage of all of them.

We just wrote about the dominance of number of .com domains and we’ve also reported that .com domain registrations were starting to turn around again after a poor 2008. Today, another .com domain passed the million dollar mark, with Call.com selling for $1.1 million via domain brokerage Sedo to an undisclosed buyer.

The domain was sold by Live Current Media , which had sold, then reacquired the domain over the past years. Live Current apparently sold the domain as part of a package of domains including Makeup.com, Automobile.com, and Exercise.com. Part of the deal was that Live Current would get royalties from any revenue earned from the domains. The company ended up buying back Call.com in 2006, and nullified the royalty stipulation. According to Domain Name Wire, the value of the royalty stream was $250,000 in future revenue, which makes the $1.1 million sale a good bet. Live Current also recently sold Cricket.com for a cool $1.75 million. Last year, Live Current experienced some financial difficulties and was looking to raise cash to survive by liquidating its domain names.

Other large domain purchases this year include the sale of Candy.com for $3 million, ToysRUs’ acquisition of Toys.com for $5.1 million, the sale of Fly.com to Travelzoo for $1.8 million, and the sale of Ad.com for $1.4 million.

Image via Flickr/greggoconnell.

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

On its iGoogle Developer Blog today Google issued a warning to developers: Optimize your gadgets for speed, or we’re labeling them as “slow” in the directory.

Starting in late September, Google says that any widget that doesn’t meet a speed requirement, will get a nice “slow” badge attached to its directory listing. The only detail it gives about the requirement is that it will get the badge if it’s “slow enough to cause speed-related user dissatisfaction.”

That sounds pretty arbitrary, and that it could lead to a lot of developers complaining that their apps aren’t really slow, but are labeled as such. But we all know how much Google loves speed, so this move isn’t all that surprising.

To make sure your gadget doesn’t get the Scarlett Letter, check out these optimization tips from Google.

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

Casio is recently best-known for their Exilim FC100 and FS10, the compact cameras capable of shooting 1000FPS , among other things.

Excerpt from:
Casio lets loose a couple budget Exilim cameras

Man, Rockstar is bringing the thunder today. A little bit after dropping word that Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is being developed for the iPhone (and iPod Touch), it also announced that Beaterator would be coming to the iPhone (and iPod Touch)

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Beaterator also heading toward the iPhone (and iPod Touch)