Webstractions - Web Development & Design News
Commentary on new events and information concerning web development, design practices, search engines, SEO, tools, news story headlines and what's new at WebStractions.
Qoogle Video offers an improved search for video clips on YouTube. Result pages display 20 clips in four columns of five rows. No ads, quick display, no distractive banners. Clean pages.
Each clip result includes 3 snapshots and a link to view the clip without having to visit YouTube. My only disatisfaction with the display is that the columns are too close together, outside of that, this is a pretty fast search utility.
Returned results were very satisfactory in my opinion. And with more results to a page, I don't think that I could use YouTube search ever again.
Extras at Qoogle
They also have a Firefox plugin for Quoogle, supposedly. I think it is only good for versions prior to Firefox 2.0 -- have not checked it out yet. If anyone does, drop me a line to confirm.
The neatest feature, as if the search wasn't enough, is that they have a download utility page where you can snag the videos with. But there is also a Firefox extension called the VideoDownloader that will handle YouTube, as well as 60 plus other sites including Google, Metacafe, iFilm, Google and many, many others. This extension actually works by extracting the information from the embedded Html code -- normally you could do this by viewing the source and hand-typing the source file into your browser.
Video presentation ideas
The YouTube format is .FLV (flash video), but if you change the extension to .AVI then you can edit, take snapshots, or whatever with most video editing software. I have not tried this, but that is what I have read in a few spots.
Ideally, if you prep your videos and grab screenshots, then run them through something like Slide -- you could present your video content a little more different than the same old boring YouTube fashion. Slide has many options for displaying image clips (blinds, fades, turning pages, and those irritating MySpace slideshows too).
Technorati Tags: quoogle, youtube, video, search, slide, presentation, firefox, plugin, download
Each clip result includes 3 snapshots and a link to view the clip without having to visit YouTube. My only disatisfaction with the display is that the columns are too close together, outside of that, this is a pretty fast search utility.
Returned results were very satisfactory in my opinion. And with more results to a page, I don't think that I could use YouTube search ever again.
Extras at Qoogle
They also have a Firefox plugin for Quoogle, supposedly. I think it is only good for versions prior to Firefox 2.0 -- have not checked it out yet. If anyone does, drop me a line to confirm.
The neatest feature, as if the search wasn't enough, is that they have a download utility page where you can snag the videos with. But there is also a Firefox extension called the VideoDownloader that will handle YouTube, as well as 60 plus other sites including Google, Metacafe, iFilm, Google and many, many others. This extension actually works by extracting the information from the embedded Html code -- normally you could do this by viewing the source and hand-typing the source file into your browser.
Video presentation ideas
The YouTube format is .FLV (flash video), but if you change the extension to .AVI then you can edit, take snapshots, or whatever with most video editing software. I have not tried this, but that is what I have read in a few spots.
Ideally, if you prep your videos and grab screenshots, then run them through something like Slide -- you could present your video content a little more different than the same old boring YouTube fashion. Slide has many options for displaying image clips (blinds, fades, turning pages, and those irritating MySpace slideshows too).
Technorati Tags: quoogle, youtube, video, search, slide, presentation, firefox, plugin, download
Labels: download, Firefox, plugin, presentation, quoogle, search, slide, video, youtube
Breaking down language barriers in search is a goal for Google, and they just launched a new translation search page to take, hopefully, a giant step in that direction. The page allows you to enter your search phrase, the language you speak and the language that you want to find results in.
As you know, I am a big Serebro fan and they are 100% homegrown Russian girls. So let's put this baby to the test. Now I know that Google's Russian translation machine is in Beta, but hey, they have it listed in the drop down menu. Right.
My first crack at this was to see if it can find the MTV Russia page where I saw some kind of online chat session between MTV and the girl trio. So I enter in "serebro MTV chat", enter. Ah, results -- two columns of them. One for the original language and the other for the translated page.
Well MTV is at the top, but it lands on the home page at MTV Russia and it does not look any different from the original. Sigh. I can see the link for Serebro though. Don't need to understand Russian if it is written in images! And if there is one language I can read, that is Serebro.
Interestingly enough, some of the other results were about unclothed celebs and live internet, something or other. And here I thought the US was the pRoN capital of the world. Boy was I mistaken, Russia has some goods on us there. And some mighty fine goods indeed.
Something seems to be broken on the new search page. If you were to use the ol' tried and true Translate Text box on the original Google Translate page, the translation is not too bad. Even for Russian. I was able to piece together parts of the conversation between the participants. Albeit, it is a tedious one. I just don't understand why this is not wired into the new page correctly.
Anyways, I just broke the tip on the end of my scissors and almost out of school paste. Probably should get up to Walmart before the storm rolls in tonight.
Technorati Tags: google, translate, russian, english, web, pages, foreign, language
As you know, I am a big Serebro fan and they are 100% homegrown Russian girls. So let's put this baby to the test. Now I know that Google's Russian translation machine is in Beta, but hey, they have it listed in the drop down menu. Right.
My first crack at this was to see if it can find the MTV Russia page where I saw some kind of online chat session between MTV and the girl trio. So I enter in "serebro MTV chat", enter. Ah, results -- two columns of them. One for the original language and the other for the translated page.
Well MTV is at the top, but it lands on the home page at MTV Russia and it does not look any different from the original. Sigh. I can see the link for Serebro though. Don't need to understand Russian if it is written in images! And if there is one language I can read, that is Serebro.
Interestingly enough, some of the other results were about unclothed celebs and live internet, something or other. And here I thought the US was the pRoN capital of the world. Boy was I mistaken, Russia has some goods on us there. And some mighty fine goods indeed.
Something seems to be broken on the new search page. If you were to use the ol' tried and true Translate Text box on the original Google Translate page, the translation is not too bad. Even for Russian. I was able to piece together parts of the conversation between the participants. Albeit, it is a tedious one. I just don't understand why this is not wired into the new page correctly.
Anyways, I just broke the tip on the end of my scissors and almost out of school paste. Probably should get up to Walmart before the storm rolls in tonight.
Technorati Tags: google, translate, russian, english, web, pages, foreign, language
Labels: English, foreign, google, language, pages, Russian, search, translate, translation, web
After seeing Carsten Cumbrowski's search goodies for BUMPzee and they only supported Internet Explorer, I took it upon myself to write a search plugin for Firefox. Go to my BUMPzee search plugin page which has a one-click installation regardless of what version of Firefox you are using.
Firefox 2.0 and beyond supports the new OpenSearch format, while previous versions used Sherlock. The script will detect which version you are using and install the corresponding plugin for you.
Labels: bumpzee, extensions, Firefox, opensearch, plugin, search
Want to know what you can charge for a simple text link? It is all dependant upon many factors and there is a simple tool that can let you visualize (and explain) how all the pieces fit into place.
The Text Link Ad Calculator is a slickly packaged Web 2.0 device that will open up many of the secrets behind selling or buying links. The creators of the tool provide a descriptive essay on how this tool actually operates. Pretty unusual for a tool of this magnitude.
In light (or wake) of Matt Cutts announcement that Google will be taking a closer look at paid links, this is a bold and provocative move from TextLinksAds. I am sure they have done their homework on this subject and they may reap some benefit from it. The intricate work to develop and implement the tool had to weigh heavily on their minds.
Now it is here, lets sit back and see how it plays out.
I was never privy to the the inner workings of selling links. But I had a good grasp of most of the mechanics behind it. There were certain intricacies that I felt were important, but could never get a clear understanding of what they were.
This calculator reveals what the designers think are important areas of the page. Most of those areas are generally understood to be important, by me, and the ways from others around the SEO area. It is not written -- it is perception.
Taking the perception of link placement and representing it an intuitive manner to the masses will have a great impact. The graphical interface with instantanial reporting only solidifies the proposition. If this is Web 2.0 and the direction it is headed, then they are on the right track.
VIA: Blue Sky Brothers,LLC
The Text Link Ad Calculator is a slickly packaged Web 2.0 device that will open up many of the secrets behind selling or buying links. The creators of the tool provide a descriptive essay on how this tool actually operates. Pretty unusual for a tool of this magnitude.In light (or wake) of Matt Cutts announcement that Google will be taking a closer look at paid links, this is a bold and provocative move from TextLinksAds. I am sure they have done their homework on this subject and they may reap some benefit from it. The intricate work to develop and implement the tool had to weigh heavily on their minds.
Now it is here, lets sit back and see how it plays out.
Looking out the window
I was never privy to the the inner workings of selling links. But I had a good grasp of most of the mechanics behind it. There were certain intricacies that I felt were important, but could never get a clear understanding of what they were.
This calculator reveals what the designers think are important areas of the page. Most of those areas are generally understood to be important, by me, and the ways from others around the SEO area. It is not written -- it is perception.
Taking the perception of link placement and representing it an intuitive manner to the masses will have a great impact. The graphical interface with instantanial reporting only solidifies the proposition. If this is Web 2.0 and the direction it is headed, then they are on the right track.
VIA: Blue Sky Brothers,LLC
Labels: google, search, seo, tutorials
Server Farms are cropping up across the country. Google has a few farms along the banks of the Columbia River in The Dalles, Oregon. Upstream in Quincy, Microsoft has opened its first of six planned server farms, a mammoth 474,000 square feet and surrounded on three sides by fields of potatoes, beans and broccoli. The mighty Columbia has been a source of cheap electricity for decades and it isn't any wonder why this area was chosen.
Meanwhile, Microsoft and Cisco are investigating the possibility of establishing server farms in Iceland powered fully by renewable energy. The power comes from both geothermal and hydroelectric sources and is so cheap that in the wintertime some sidewalks in Reykjavík and Akureyri are heated.
Google is also building a massive server farm near Eemshaven in the Netherlands, where 100,000 servers will have access to 30 megawatts of power, some of which will be delivered by windmills.
And what if you cant find cheap electricity? Then you have the Iowa State Senate pass a bill that gave Google a tax break on the sales tax from utility bills and a property tax break for the site of the center itself.
There is not just the cost of electricity that is an issue here. Larry Page cares about the polluting effect that Google may have. Apparantly the Internet is not a very clean industry, and mega-coms like eBay, Amazon, Yahoo, Microsoft, Google are partly responsible for global warming for the server farms are hardly "carbon neutral". Here we go again ... Google is evil, bad Google.
Meanwhile, Microsoft and Cisco are investigating the possibility of establishing server farms in Iceland powered fully by renewable energy. The power comes from both geothermal and hydroelectric sources and is so cheap that in the wintertime some sidewalks in Reykjavík and Akureyri are heated.
Google is also building a massive server farm near Eemshaven in the Netherlands, where 100,000 servers will have access to 30 megawatts of power, some of which will be delivered by windmills.
And what if you cant find cheap electricity? Then you have the Iowa State Senate pass a bill that gave Google a tax break on the sales tax from utility bills and a property tax break for the site of the center itself.
There is not just the cost of electricity that is an issue here. Larry Page cares about the polluting effect that Google may have. Apparantly the Internet is not a very clean industry, and mega-coms like eBay, Amazon, Yahoo, Microsoft, Google are partly responsible for global warming for the server farms are hardly "carbon neutral". Here we go again ... Google is evil, bad Google.
Labels: google, microsoft, search