Aug
16th

Oneupweb Reviews: Booshaka! Facebook Public Search

Posted by Adam D on August 16, 2010 at 3:17 pm

We all love Twitter Search because it gives users the ability to see what real people are talking about at any given moment. Twitter itself offers users the ability to set their profile to Public or Private. Public allows anyone to see your tweets, where Private only allows those who are following you to see them. This sounds a lot like Facebook to me, and Twitter has a search, so why shouldn’t Facebook? I mean, wouldn’t it be great to see what is trending on Facebook, just like Twitter? Well, we found a new Facebook public search engine that claims to do just that called booshaka!

Booshaka!.com

With booshaka! (laka)— so fun to say—you can search specific keywords. If someone’s profile is public, and they are chatting about that keyword, their conversation will show up in your search results. But if you just want to search a broader topic like news, music or sports, you can also search by category.

The biggest difference I’ve noticed between Twitter search results and booshaka! is the length of the results. With Twitter search results, it’s easier to get a snapshot of what’s going on because the results are only 140 characters in length. With booshaka! the posts are naturally longer because Facebook allows longer posts.

Twitter Search Results For Movies

booshaka! Search Results For Movies

So as you can see, there might be a little more scrolling going on while using booshaka!. Then again, who would want to scroll when Vin is the top post? He’s so… beautiful.

Another difficulty booshaka! might encounter is the privacy issues that Facebook has had to deal with. Services like booshaka! only make Facebook users more aware of how public their information is. Which, I maintain, would not be a problem if Faceabook would have operated without subterfuge concerning the Open Graph. Let people know up front that their information is public, and they won’t be so surprised when they find out it is. Seems simple enough to me.

booshaka! also offers the ability to sort search results by most popular, trending now, most buzz, and most recent—as seen below. Also seen below is Vin laughing. You’re so funny Vin, you always know how to make us smile.

booshaka! Filtering Options

The ability to search public Facebook posts for keywords that are relevant to the user is pretty cool. And I like the filtering options as well. For making it easier to stalk celebrities… I mean search Facebook for Vin Diesel related news… I mean, awe forget it. We give booshaka! a…

Oneupweb Review: Thumbs Up

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Jul
22nd

Oneupweb Reviews: Google’s New Image Search

Posted by Adam D on July 22, 2010 at 4:11 pm

Google’s image search has been falling behind the pack for a while. Bing and Flickr for example offer much more aesthetically pleasing options for viewing photos. It looks like Google agreed. And that’s why the search engine has released a new layout for its image SERPs.

Google’s image search used to display images that were too small, included irrelevant information, and were too few per page. Now images are large and include more images per page. Google remained consistent with the simplicity of the new image search results. In fact the pages are now even more simple than before.

Now when you click on an image you are taken to the image’s source page. But instead of the entire page loading, leaving you not knowing where the image is on that page, you are presented with an image overlay. Nice! These are just a few of the new key features in Google image search.

Here are the rest according to Google’s blog:

Dense tiled layout designed to make it easy to look at lots of images at once. We want to get the app out of the way so you can find what you’re really looking for.
Instant scrolling between pages, without letting you get lost in the images. You can now get up to 1,000 images, all in one scrolling page. And we’ll show small, unobtrusive page numbers so you don’t lose track of where you are.
Larger thumbnail previews on the results page, designed for modern browsers and high-res screens.
A hover pane that appears when you mouse over a given thumbnail image, giving you a larger preview, more info about the image and other image-specific features such as “Similar images.”
Once you click on an image, you’re taken to a new landing page that displays a large image in context, with the website it’s hosted on visible right behind it. Click anywhere outside the image, and you’re right in the original page where you can learn more about the source and context.
Optimized keyboard navigation for faster scrolling through many pages, taking advantage of standard web keyboard shortcuts such as Page Up / Page Down. It’s all about getting you to the info you need quickly, so you can get on with actually building that treehouse or buying those flowers.

Oneupweb Review: Thumbs Up

Have you had a chance to try the new Google image search yet? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

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May
5th

Oneupweb Reviews: The New Google

Posted by Adam D on May 5, 2010 at 3:51 pm

Over the past few weeks you may have noticed a different look and feel to Google’s search page. The reason being is that Google has been testing out a new and “improved” look, and today officially launched this new design. Let’s take a peek.

Besides the new look – the drop shadow and trademark symbol are no longer on the Google logo, the biggest change that Google has made is the sidebar.

There are several new filter options listed in the navigation. My favorite of these is the Timeline. Users can narrow down search results by specifying a date range.

Take a look at the Google-produced intro video below to get an overview of these changes.

Although the new look is a little childlike for me, overall the changes are a welcomed way to narrow down and filter search results. It takes time to become accustom to change, but I think users will embrace this new look with open arms.

Oneupweb Review: Thumbs Up

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May
3rd

Oneupweb Reviews: The New Google Places

Posted by Adam D on May 3, 2010 at 2:59 pm

Although Facebook is rising in popularity it isn’t the only place a business can build an online presence. Google Places (formerly known as Place Pages) has been around for a while now, but just recently added new features that make it worth a second look.

Google’s blog says that the new Google Places will be introducing the following features:

Service areas: If you travel to serve customers, you can now show which geographic areas you serve. And if you run a business without a storefront or office location, you can now make your address private.
A new, simple way to advertise: For just $25 per month, businesses in select cities can make their listings stand out on Google.com and Google Maps with Tags. As of today, we’re rolling out Tags to three new cities — Austin, Atlanta and Washington, D.C. — in addition to ongoing availability in Houston and San Jose, CA. In the coming weeks we’ll also be introducing Tags in Chicago, San Diego, Seattle, Boulder and San Francisco.
Business photo shoots: In addition to uploading their own photos, businesses in select cities can now request a free photo shoot of the interior of their business which we’ll use to supplement existing photos of businesses on Place Pages. We’ve been experimenting with this over the past few months, and now have created a site for businesses to learn more and express their interest in participating.
Customized QR codes: From the dashboard page of Google Places, businesses in the U.S. can download a QR code that’s unique to their business, directly from their dashboard page. QR codes can be placed on business cards or other marketing materials, and customers can scan them with certain smartphones to be taken directly to the mobile version of the Place Page for that business.
Favorite Places: We’re doing a second round of our Favorite Places program, and are mailing window decals to 50,000 businesses around the U.S. These decals include a QR code that can be scanned with a smartphone to directly view the mobile Place Page for the business to learn more about their great offerings.

Business owners can also navigate to the Google Places (Formerly Local Business Center) where, once a listing is claimed and verified, they can get access to all kinds of helpful data:

Impressions: The number of times the business listing appeared as a result on a Google.com search or Google Maps search in a given period.
Actions: The number of times people interacted with the listing; for example, the number of times they clicked through to the business’ website or requested driving directions to the business.
Top search queries: Which queries led customers to the business listing; for example, are they finding the listing for a cafe by searching for “tea” or “coffee”?
Zip codes where driving directions come from: Which zip codes customers are coming from when they request directions to your location.

Google is continuing to make itself a strong option for businesses. With the addition of several new features, Google is showing that it’s evolving with the changing trends. The new and improved Dashboard gives businesses more options to track traffic and help increase sales.

Official Oneupweb review: Thumbs Up

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Apr
14th

Oneupweb Reviews: Google Updates Twitter Search

Posted by Adam D on April 14, 2010 at 1:33 pm

In a blog post earlier today, Google introduced an update to its Twitter search functionality. Now not only can you view the most recent tweets on a topic, but you can view when something was tweeted, as seen below:

You can choose a range of time you would like to see Tweets from.

Once selected, the tweets that were posted within that time frame will be displayed. If there were no tweets at that exact time chosen, the tweets made closest to that time will be displayed.

This update looks very familiar to what we saw during the Olympics called the Olympic Tracker, only not as cool. But hey it’s definitely an improvement to the Google live search results.

Official Oneupweb Review: Thumbs Up!

You can try out Google’s live search results update here.

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Mar
18th

Oneupweb Reviews: Bing Maps & World Wide Telescope

Posted by Adam D on March 18, 2010 at 2:11 pm

Twenty years ago who would have thought that we would have a satellite view of just about any place on earth? A view so detailed we could see cars in the parking lots of our workplaces. Or that we would be able to navigate through the streets of towns and cities without ever being there. If you haven’t had a chance to check out Bing Maps yet, or its Streetside feature, I recommend it. Here’s a view of what that feature offers.

As you can see from the picture above Streetside view draws public photos (from Flickr) and overlays them on the map. You can also navigate through the streets as if you were really there, but I don’t want to spend too much time talking about streetside view. What I really want to highlight is a new feature Bing maps just released called World Wide Telescope.

Here’s the same view as above with Bing’s World Wide Telescope application initiated.

World Wide Telescope allows viewers, at street level view, to look up at the sky and see the stars, planets, and constellations. After you select your viewing location, you will see real time overlays of the celestial entities as you move through space.

You can also “Fly” to the planets that you are currently viewing in the sky, and then fly back to earth. This app also allows you to learn more about what you’re gazing at by clicking the question mark and dragging it over the object of interest.

Bing has been playing catch up with Google for some time now, but when it comes to maps features Bing seems to be leading the way.

If you’re interested in all of the map apps that Bing has to offer take a look. As you can see there are many to choose from.

Official Oneupweb Review: Thumbs Up!

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Mar
11th

Oneupweb Reviews: The New MSN Homepage

Posted by Adam D on March 11, 2010 at 12:54 pm

A few days ago MSN’s new homepage design was announced. This design will include some of the biggest changes ever made to MSN.com. The new design won’t be available to everyone immediately, but rather, it will roll out to everyone over the next few weeks. On MSN’s blog it states:

” The new MSN homepage cuts through the clutter with a clean, new design and offers search, news, local and social networking – all in one place.”

The main module on the new homepage includes popular news items, and the familiar rotating image carousel. Below that, there are Must-See, News, Money & Quotes, and Life/Style tabs.

Wouldn’t it be nice to a have all of your social networks in one place? MSN thought so too, so they’ve included them right on the homepage. You can use Facebook Connect and MSN’s Twitter app to sync your accounts to the site. And, you can post to your social channels directly from the homepage.

We like that MSN gathered over 70,000 pieces of customer feedback and then introduced over 30 updates to the new homepage design. They are also rolling out the homepage gradually, testing the waters, as opposed to Facebook releasing their homepage design immediately, which has earned Facebook some criticism.

The new sites design is visually appealing, clean, and functional. Of course, we’ll see over the next few weeks how users embrace the new design, but for me – so far so good. That’s why I give the new MSN Homepage Design an…

Official Oneupweb Review: Thumbs Up

Learn more about the new MSN Homepage Design’s Features.

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Mar
4th

Oneupweb Reviews: Google Stars

Posted by Adam D on March 4, 2010 at 1:33 pm

Have you ever wished you could reach out into the search universe, grab your favorite sites, and easily organize them for later viewing? The people at Google thought you might say yes, and that’s why they created stars.

Yesterday Google announced that in the next few days it would be releasing stars, which the search engine touts as a new way to make search more relevant and fun. Today let’s take a look at Google’s latest release to see if it soars, or goes super nova.

According to yesterday’s post on the Official Google Blog:

“With stars, you can simply click the star marker on any search result or map and the next time you perform a search, that item will appear in a special list right at the top of your results when relevant. That means if you star the official websites for your favorite football teams, you might see those results right at the top of your next search for [nfl]. Here’s what the new ‘Starred results’ feature looks like:”

Are Google stars really necessary? Adding a site to your favorites, or bookmarking, is obviously something you can already do to save the sites you like best for easy recall. You can even display your favorite sites on a browser toolbar, and it’s located much higher up than Google stars. (Maybe they should have called them satellites instead.) And you can do both of these without having to be logged into your Google account, like you do with stars.

Official Oneupweb Review:Oneup-Thumbs-Sideways

I won’t give this feature a thumbs down because I appreciate a clean browser interface, and you could replace your bookmarks toolbar with stars. Once you get too many bookmarks, they can be difficult to keep track of, or easily forgotten. But with stars, these forgotten bookmarks will be at the top of your search results.

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Feb
26th

Oneupweb Reviews: Google Adds Nearby Search Option

Posted by Adam D on February 26, 2010 at 2:32 pm

Just yesterday we reviewed Google’s real time search feature, and today Google released yet another feature, nearby search. Let’s take a look.

Whenever you search from Google it takes into account your location. Up until Nearby search was implemented it was difficult to tell exactly how local your search results were. More often than not, if you searched for a restaurant for example, you would get search results including local business results. When I used Google to search for Oneupweb it returned the following. I received our homepage, Twitter, some news pulled from our blogs, and finally some real time search results. I didn’t get back any local results though.

Here’s how to use nearby search. After searching for your term select + Show Options
Under All results you’ll see Nearby.

After selecting the Nearby search filter your page will refresh with the newly aggregated search results.
Google’s blog says, “One of the really helpful things about this tool is that it works geographically — not just with keywords”
So say you’re thirsty for some Northern Michigan beer. You could search beer and enter TC’s zip code, under Custom Location, 49684, and your results will look something like this.

Official Oneupweb Reviews: Oneup Thumbs-Sideways, leaning towards up

Like the settings on a digital camera, auto is most likely good enough for most. I think the same applies here. My guess is that most search engine users will not use this function. But if you like options Google delivers. What are your thoughts on this feature, do you think you will use it?

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Feb
25th

Oneupweb Reviews: Facebook Page Content in Google Real-Time Search Results

Posted by Adam D on February 25, 2010 at 4:18 pm

Google’s real-time search has been implemented for a couple months now but as of today this feature will include Facebook Page status updates in search results, as well as content from MySpace, FriendFeed, Jaiku and Identi.ca.

Today we will introduce you to Google real-time search and review the newly added status updates from Facebook Pages.

If you are unfamiliar with Google’s real-time search, it’s basically search results that include content pulled from sites such as Twitter, FriendFeed, and now Facebook, as well as headlines from news sites and blog posts published just seconds before. This means the search results represent “real time,” more so than a website that is only updated once a month.

In order to view these real-time search results you will need to take a few steps.

First, go to Google and type in your desired search term:

When you receive your search results click + Show options…

Next, select Latest under Any time and you will begin to see real-time search results.

As you can see below you will get search results from Facebook as they become available.

Official Oneupweb Review: Oneup-Thumbs-Up

If you are an information addict like most of us at Oneupweb then you will love this feature. And since Google is now including content from Facebook, MySpace and other social networks, this feature just became a whole lot more comprehensive. Choose any subject you’re interested in and from there you can keep up on what’s happening in real time.

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