Misc

Apparently nothing says the holidays like the gift of Google sponsored free wifi. And that is exactly what Google provided for many air travelers this holiday season. Based on this report, the total of offerings is 47 US airports offering this free wifi from Google. Not bad!
But what, it gets better than that. Also included [...]

Recently it seems like Google has put a lot of work into seeing itself go local. And this is a good thing. But in this tough economy, the single biggest thing that needs to happen is helping out small businesses while saving their patrons money. Google might have something for that.
Today I learned that Google [...]

Despite me ripping on Yahoo as of late, I am among the first to admit that Yahoo does news vastly better than Google and Bing. They just do, no contest. I just prefer the way it is presented much better than with the other guys.
Where things get sticky however is the “news” of the news [...]

To say that Wikipedia provides facts is like saying that the TV news is pure and without bias. And in some areas, I see this as being where I hope that Factual will perhaps one day put the club know as Wikipedia to bed for good.
The differences are interesting. Where Wikipedia is editable by anyone, [...]

As this article points out clearly enough, Bing now allows mobile users to use mobile search with their voices, much like you might see with Google and have seen for sometime now.
So here’s the rub, despite what the article claims about Google being first to market on this voice search functionality, the fact is that [...]

Despite the news of things looking good for Monster.com, I contend that unless they are hiring people rather than featuring a gladiator style arena in which those few jobs available can be fought over, I fail to see any value here.
Don’t misunderstand, I think that Monster provides a great service for most of its users and [...]

The idea behind Project Playlist is simple enough. Allow users to search for music, then create custom playlists from their findings. Supposedly, all of this is able to take place legally and for free.
Sounds great, but this article from TechCrunch indicates that there may be some fuzzy areas with the licensing. Not that any much [...]

I keep hearing about all of these companies dumping Microsoft for something Web based, but I have yet to see a lot of evidence to support this. While there are going to be inherent advantages for some apps to be browser based in nature, some applications such as Office are not likely to be among [...]

One of the biggest questions is when is it okay to allow changes in NXDOMAIN and when is it not? I find that if you are using an ISP that is automatically making your DNS point to something other than a cannot be found page, it is not okay.
However if one chooses to allow a [...]

It this kind of YouTube user homepage tweak does nothing for something that is a problem for YouTube - monetizing traffic. So it’s great that users will be able to react in a new way to what they are seeing.
Complete with new theming, YouTube has certainly done wonders for making the end user look at [...]

There is nothing wrong with using URL shorteners. Let’s face it, for social media needs, it’s difficult to live without there. But it is also worth noting that they should not be a part of your website’s long term promotional structure.
Why? Because what if they stop working? What then? Yes, you could have over a [...]

I have to call BS on the idea that now more than ever is a good time for people to continue using Yahoo development tools. There are simply too many questions as to whether the YDN will even be around in a year. Let’s look at how Microsoft does development tools. Silverlight is a joke, [...]

Every once in awhile, I catch Yahoo doing something pretty cool. And their latest picture-sightseeing feature would have to be among one of the cooler features available. As described here in TechCrunch, Yahoo is providing virtual tourists with a simple means of “traveling” through pictures from the ease of using Yahoo Picture Search.
The picture search [...]

In a few instances, I have found myself questioning this very same thing. Clearly, Google Voice is pretty cool. However it is worth noting that it is hardly a standalone application. Basically, it’s voicemail with reverse call forwarding.
As a Skype user, I have found that I use this service much more. Why? Because it does [...]

I was a bit surprised that anyone took this article seriously, as some individuals apparently did. Allow me to make something perfectly clear: while it is nice to believe that bloggers and journalists are not for sale, it is time to wake up and smell the Folgers.
If a check is written by a big enough [...]

Whether the removal of 1984 eBook from individual Amazon Kindles was done because the editions were unauthorized or because of some other reason is a moot issue. To many people, it is a reminder of just how dangerous it is to put all of your faith into a single digital product to manage assets in [...]

Spotify is without a doubt, one fantastic service. But just as Microsoft has it out for Google Docs and ZoHo, it seems that they have their cross hairs set to Spotify as well. Microsoft has made it known that they want a piece of the streaming music business.
And who can blame them, what with the [...]

It never ceases to amaze me just how the Better Business Bureau is able to point out the obvious with such vigor. I mean, they are just now figuring out that there has been a serious problem with money making schemes on Twitter for sometime now.
Still, it is worth noting that in this case the [...]

Without question, I will never again subject myself to using Outlook ever again. And based on what I am reading here, it is clearly the right move to make despite my toying with it using a VirtualMachine recently. Not using HTML, instead relying on Word to render email? UH, hello?
Either MS has never tried rendering [...]

If there was one missing ability of Google News Search, it had to be the option of finding other articles by the same author by simply clicking the hyper link of the name given. Today, this issue has been resolved.
This functionality goes even further as you can queue up alerts via RSS or email, for [...]