So now we have another new search engine to unveil, this time from Microsoft. But doesn’t Microsoft already have a search engine called Live Search? Yes they do, but they’ll be killing that off in the next few days.

Bing is the hope and prayers of all Microsoft employees, especially Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. According to Microsoft, it’s a “decision engine” that will help you make decisions about travel, health, and shopping.

First thing to note is that Bing is not going to give you results for normal search queries like Google. So what is Bing do that will make you want to use it? Bing’s main advancement is in semantic search.

For example, if you search for an xBox game, not only will you get a list of normal blue link results, but you’ll also get a list of related searches, which includes things like walkthroughs, news, errors, etc.

If you search for “Samsung LCD TVs”, you’ll get what is called a Guided Search, which means you’ll have options like looking at Reviews, Manuals, Repair, Images, Videos, etc that are directly related to the item you are searching.

Source: TechCrunch

The results are customized depending on what type of search you are performing: travel, health, shopping, news, sports, etc. For example, if you search for “Target”, the large retailer, you’ll see a list of on the left that includes Locations, Jobs, Coupons, etc.

Pretty neat eh! So what if you are searching for a new digital camera? Bing does a lot better job than Google does on this type of query. It gives you reviews, prices, images, and lets your sort by all kinds of stuff like camera size, affordability, speed, photo quality, etc.

Ever use Kayak.com for travelling? Well, Bing basically does all of that. It lets you find the best prices, the best times to fly, and lets you filter search results by airline, price, dates, and lots more.

Other nice features of Bing include the fact you can hover over a search result and get a preview of the text without having to actually click through to the page. Also, if there is a search that brings up a reference tab, you can click on it and it will bring up a Wikipedia article on that topic.

Overall, Bing will not be a game-changer, but it’s definitely a big step forward for Microsoft. Let’s see what happens as the battle ensues.

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Bing – A new search engine from Microsoft

Today I am pleased to say that there is another tool releasing soon that will be just as big of a game changer. It’s not a competitor to Google, but it does something Google cannot do right now.

What is that? Computational analysis of data to give you a direct answer. What do I mean by that? Well, what if you typed Springfield into Google, what do you get? Well you get a list of companies and websites related to Springfield the city.

Useful info, but maybe you don’t want to go to the official site of Springfield, but instead want to know more about the city itself. Well right now, you can’t do that in Google. You have go to the third party site like City-Data.com and get stats and other types of mathematical data like population and historical weather patterns.

WolframAlpha hopes to change all of that with it’s soon to be released computational search engine.

So what exactly is Wolfram Alpha useful for? Well, it’s meant to answer questions that require any kind of computation. For example, you can type “GDP of France” and get the following results:

You get graphs, charts, and all kinds of other information related to your query. Of course, it’s all stats and mathematically related stuff, but it’s pretty cool. So what other kind of info can you get? All kinds of crazy stuff. For example, search “Internet users in Europe” and you get this:

Or what if you just got your cholesterol taken and you want to learn more about the numbers. Type in LDL 150 and get this:

If you are in science or an engineer, you can get information on airflow, thermodynamics, chemical compounds and lots more. But what about us average folk? Ever wanted to know what’s in 2 cups of orange juice? Type in that Wolfram Alpha and get this:

Pretty amazing! You can also do all kinds of financial calculations that you would otherwise have to do in Excel, such as calculate the monthly payment on a 30 year mortgage with 5% interest.

Awesome! I have to say this is super exciting. If you want to see the whole demo, check it out at the Wolfram Alpha blog. And that is only a small subset of what this search engine can really do! They plan to add tons more data over time. Enjoy!

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Wolfram Alpha – The best computational search engine ever

Image Source: ABCNews

There have been many speculations circling around about the buyout for the last two months and what it would mean for Google and the rest of the Internet if it happened. I guess we can stop guessing and just start praying!

According to Kevin Johnson, the president of Microsoft platform and services division, "The acquisition with Yahoo will better position Microsoft in the Web advertising market, as well as provide a strong platform for the delivery of Internet-based services to consumers and business users".

Even though Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang opposed the acquisition, he said today, “Being part of Microsoft will let the Yahoo vision reach further than we could have done on our own. And we will provide Microsoft the engine it needs to deliver on its Web-based services vision.”

Yang will be joining Microsoft as "chief Yahoo" and all employees that Microsoft decides to retain will be offered an Xbox 360 game console and a Zune music player as tokens of appreciation. I guess they are getting something useful out of it! 

Google, of course, was completely against the deal and fought against it, but it looks like they didn’t really care too much about Yahoo anyway because they announced that they are going to buy FaceBook in an all out cash and stock deal worth a whopping $25 billion!

Technically, Zuckerberg explained, Google is purchasing 98.4 percent of Facebook, leaving Microsoft with 1.6 percent ownership. The comments by Schmidt are pretty funny, here’s what he said at the press conference:

“With the acquisition of Facebook, users will be able to take advantage of OpenSocial applications across all the major social networks on the planet,” he said. “We’ll be able to incorporate Facebook apps directly into Android, our new mobile operating system. And, frankly, we were losing too many of our top people to Facebook. So now they’re all back where they belong. Forever.”

It’s just getting more and more nuts! Google apparently is now focusing on social networking as the newest platform holding a promising future for advertising. They will also be integrating OpenSocial applications into FaceBook and integrating FaceBook applications into Android, Google’s new mobile operating system.

What’s your opinion on the whole Microsoft Yahoo acquisition and Google Facebook deal?

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Starting up the struggle between networks to cut phone charges, the Samsung Wyz 070 service allows phone calls using WiFi (or Wireless Fidelity) wireless Internet connection. WiFi is the most widely used

Through WiFi connections, Samsung Wyz 070 charges a caller 83.75 per cent less than it would for an ordinary call. That’s one big discount, if you ask me!

Anyway, further talking about charges, if the call is made within the same network, say a company or university owning a wireless network, the call is free of charge, as Samsung stated. And setting it up is hassle-free, too. It even automatically turns off once you leave the coverage of the wireless network.

Sadly, as of the moment, Samsung Wyz 070 service is only available for corporate users with Samsung Electronic’s Blackjack smart phones. But according to Jeong Hye-Lim, the firm’s spokeswoman, the VoIP service will be reaching other mobile phone models as well.

Jeong said they are using the Blackjack smart phone model for the meantime, as it is the only handset in South Korea capable of using WiFi. “Other WiFi models, such as Blackberry, can be used for the service once they are introduced to Korea and they are equipped with our software applications,” she added.

Actually, VoIP firms have been eyeing to spread through mible phones since the development of WiFi and its incorporation with the mobile community. Now that Samsung was able to have wireless networks as feature in their mobile phones, they started expanding the browsing capabilities of mobile phones. With Samsung Wyz 070 laying the foundation for the discovery and growth of Internet services on mobile phones, Samsung Networks will soon establish the service, along with upcoming ones, in 3G and Mobile WiMax networks.

Wow, I can’t wait to see it dawn on all countries. Looks like we will be living in a mobile virtual world in a year or two after this! Loki

[tags]voip, wifi, voip phone, business voip, wi fi, ip phone[/tags]

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What a difference a few decades makes. Today, servers are becoming as commonplace as the microwave – and just like the microwave, they may soon be coming to a home near you!

2008 is lining up to be known as the year that HDTV finally comes into its own, and the year that servers leave the corporate computer rooms and find themselves in your homes. With many families now having multiple computers, gaming consoles and other electronic, networkable devices, the need for a home server is rapidly growing.

Massive amounts of data are beginning to reside within our homes and as we move towards digital pictures, digital camcorders and such. Many people are starting to wonder how they share that data – and most importantly, how do they back it up.

The Home Network Is Born

The idea of a home server isn’t new – it has its root as far back as the early 90s. True computer geeks have probably had a server or two running in their homes for years. However, for the average family the task of setting up and maintaining a server has always been far outside their reach. Not only has it been expensive to do, but the administration has been beyond the capabilities of most home users.

Home networks began to appear in earnest after the introduction of high speed Internet access. Mom and dad wanted to share the same pipeline as their son or daughter and began setting up simple methods of sharing – traditionally over Ethernet. As technology improved, and more devices started being able to be networked (printers, fax machines, game consoles, etc.) the home network grew. When wireless networking became popular the home networks exploded – now everyone, whether they wanted to or not, was on some sort of network. Operating systems such as Windows, Mac OS and Linux began to come with networking wizards and automatic setup features. Just plug and play – and sometimes pray!

The Next Generation

Now we’ve entered into the next generation of home networks. We have all these machines talking to one another, yet sharing data and backing up files has always been a second thought. How does dad make sure junior doesn’t accidentally erase his work files? What happens when the computer with all the family finances on it crashes? How do you access the files at home when traveling? Questions that were not even thought of a few years ago are now starting to be asked by a number of people who recognize that their home network is becoming a vital part of their digital lives.

People may not know what a home server is; but many people are starting to realize that they need one.

Microsoft recently entered into this emerging market with Windows Home Server, a product based off the stable Windows 2003 Small Business Edition OS. It has been designed from the ground up as a “plug it in, turn it on and forget about it” appliance for the home user. The keyword here is appliance. It doesn’t need a monitor, keyboard or any input devices — just a network connection and electrical power. In a few minutes you can have your entire home network storing and sharing data on a central server. PC’s are automatically backed up, and your important data is stored in a redundant fashion – if a hard drive fails, no problem, your data is safe.

At MacWorld 2008 this past week Apple took their first jump into this emerging market as well with the introduction of the Time Capsule. Though not as full featured as the Microsoft offering, it does offer automatic backup of home computers as well as Wi-Fi base station. No doubt the Time Capsule will increase in functionality as it evolves to catch up with Microsoft to match the file sharing and remote access features.

The big selling point for both of these guys is that they are designed to be appliances in your house. You don’t worry about them – you just pluck them down in a corner or a closet and forget about them. They take care of themselves!

Microsoft is even having a little fun with the introduction of the Home Sever by launching the Stay at Home Server campaign to explain to people why they might need a server in their house.

The Future

Today, you’ll find houses being built with wiring closets and jacks in every room. Every new electronic device coming onto the market is networkable in one way or another. Gone are the days when computers and other devices didn’t communicate with each other or the outside world. We are a digital, connected world.

Microsoft is already reporting that sales of Windows Home Server have far exceeded expectations. HP, one of the manufacturers of WHS appliances, reportedly sold out a 3-month supply in 3 weeks. No doubt the Apple offering will be a smash successful as well. There are even a number of open-source Linux-based home servers being developed and worked on.

Who would have thought back a decade ago we would have a server sitting in our house. Then again, who would have thought a decade ago that we’d be so connected?

This is a guest post by Robert Stinnett, a technology enthusiast.

[tags]home servers, windows home server, home server, microsoft home server, home media server, home web server, hp home server, home file server, home network server, ms home server[/tags]

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Before that, I wrote about a cool web service called DocSyncer which takes all of the documents on your computer, stores them online for free and allows you to open them online using Google docs!

And before that I wrote about another free online word processor, this time from Adobe, which has a stellar interface and some really cool features called Adobe Buzzword.

Adobe seems to be on some kind of web service developing spree as they now have another web service called Adobe Share, which is a web-based service that allows you to upload and share files. Note that I said “upload and share” only. Adobe Share does not include any other features, such as creating new or editing documents and does not even include collaboration.

However, do not count Adobe out because they are working on eventually integrating multiple services together into a major online package. Adobe Buzzword is their online word processor and they also are developing other really cool tools like Adobe Brio, which is their next-generation web meeting tool for small collaborative meetings and Adobe JamJar, which is web application to plan events, exchange ideas, manage projects, or share files and images.

Now back to Adobe Share and what other features it includes. Here’s a basic run through of what you can do with Adobe Share:

• Upload, backup, and share documents online.

• Access your files from anywhere and download them at any time

• Share your documents in two ways: either publicly with a specific URL that people can visit or via email to only a select few

• Embed your documents on your blog or website

Adobe Share supports a good number of file formats, including Office 2003, Office 2007, Rich Text Format (RTF), Open Office format, PDFs, text documents, HTML, image formats (GIF, PNG, JPEG, BMP), SWF, ZIP, etc.

It looks as though the beta version is allowing users up to 1GB of free space. There doesn’t seem to be any way to increase that limit as of now. On the right side you can view documents from others, that are shared out, etc.

With so many options popping up for storing Office documents online, it’s starting to get confusing what to choose. I would say that since Adobe Share and Office Live Workspace are both in beta at this point, it’s best to use something like DocSyncer and Google Docs to store and view documents online. Source ReadWriteWeb

Anyone else using any of these services? Which ones do you like best? Enjoy!

[tags]adobe share, store documents online, adobe, adobe buzzword, office live workspace, share documents online[/tags]

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Adobe Share – Access and share files and documents online

Microsoft Releases Vista SP1 RC for download

Until a day ago, Vista SP1 was only available to private beta testers to use. Today, however, it has been officially released to the public and is freely available to anyone through Windows Update. However, according to recent reports, downloading Vista Service Pack 1 is not very easy as it involves several steps and multiple reboots.

Vista Service Pack 1 has tons and tons of bug fixes and software patches, so it should hopefully make Vista run a lot smoother. Patches are included for things like device driver and software compatibility for third-party USB and firewire devices such as digital cameras, etc.

Firstly, you need to download a script on your Vista machine which will check to make sure it’s up to par for the update. Once the update is finished, there are two pre-requisite updates that must be installed and the computer rebooted after each. Finally after that, you’ll be able to download SP1 onto your computer!

Yahoo Releases Yahoo! Shortcuts Wordpress Plug-in

If you’re a Wordpress blogger, you might be interested in a pretty cool plugin from Yahoo called Shortcuts. It’s meant to help boost your blog post by adding useful content in the form of text pop-ups for selected words. It works just like Kontera or IntelliTxt by converting certain keywords into links that give more information.

The cool thing about this plug-in is that it gives extra information that actually helps! For example, it will automatically find terms in your post related to company names, ticker symbols, locations, news reports, products names, and more. If you have the word Apple in your post, it will convert into a link and scrolling over will provide you the latest stock price of Apple stock! If you write about an iPod, it will show you the latest price for the iPod from Yahoo Shopping.

It also integrates with Flickr and can bring up relevant images directly from there! So if you write about Woodstock, it will highlight that word and possibly bring up Flickr images of tagged as Woodstock! Neat!

Google Picasa now has interface on the iPhone

Another really cool feature that just got announced is the fact that Google’s Picasa Web Albums site will now work on the iPhone automatically. Simply go to http://picasaweb.google.com from your iPhone and you can browse all of your albums easily and look at your pictures as slideshows, etc.

You can also see all of the comments made for the pictures and you can also search your photos or the community photos from the iPhone interface. Also works for the iTouch.

Google Analytics gets updated with compare data points feature

Another interesting feature I just noticed yesterday is in Google Analytics! Apparently you can now compare different data points in the same graph. For example, you can compare data for visits, page views, pages per visit, average time on site, the bounce rate, and more. You can also compare the data against the entire site. Source MarketingPilgrim

And that’s about it! Whew! That’s a lot of new stuff though and very cool! Hopefully, we keep getting more updates at this fast pace as it’s always fun to play around with new software or get more features. Enjoy!

[tags]vista sp1, yahoo shortcuts, yahoo wordpress plugin, google analytics updates, picasa on iphone, picasa iphone[/tags]

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Yahoo has had a similar tool to help with your web pages being indexed for their search engine called Yahoo Site Explorer, whereby you can submit your web site feed or XML sitemap for better indexing and crawling. They don’t have nearly as many features as Google Webmaster Central, but it’s still better than nothing!

And nothing is what Windows Live search has had for a long time! Until yesterday! The Windows Live Search team has released their own set of webmaster tools called the Live Search Webmaster Center. The tool has moved into public beta and finally gives webmasters the tools necessary to submit XML sitemaps to Windows Live search for better crawling and visibility from the search engine.

Simply sign up with your Windows Live ID and identify your web site either by uploading an XML file or by adding a META tag to your front page. Once you’re logged in, you can access your web site profile and gain other valuable information that could never be seen before, such as your domain rank, your top ranking pages and how many pages are in the index.

Windows Live Search Webmaster Center Summary

The Summary page gives you your domain rank along with the top 5 performing pages that show up the most in Windows Live Search results. The Keywords page allows you to see which pages perform the best for specific keywords:

The Top links from and Top links to sections both show the top performing pages that either link to your or that you link to from your web site. Finally, click on Sitemap to go ahead and submit your sitemap to Live Search.

As of right now, there are not any other features to the service, but it’s definitely a great jump forward for Windows Live Search! Hopefully, people can start getting more traffic from MSN and Yahoo, instead of mostly from Google! I still don’t understand why Yahoo and MSN combined only produce like 10 to 15% of my traffic! Source Live Search Blog

[tags]windows live search, live search webmaster center, webmaster tools, xml sitemap[/tags]

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Adobe called BuzzWord the first “Real” web-based word processor because it operates exactly like a desktop word processor with menus and all except that it runs in your web browser. I tested it on Internet Explorer and Firefox and it works beautifully. The impressive thing is that it has a fabulous GUI interface, but runs super fast. It took less than a second for the interface to load up and clicking around does not cause any delays or lag times.

Here’s a quick overview of the really cool features of Adobe Buzzword (I’m really thinking about starting to use it over Google Docs!):

The Adobe Buzzword Toolbar

Like the Ribbon interface that’s in Office 2007? Well, Adobe Buzzword has something similar to that as it’s toolbar. It also has the standard menu across the top, but the flowing toolbar is one of the nicer features. It’s broken down into the following overlapping bars:

Moving your mouse over the label will reveal a small label that identifies the functionality. The toolbar includes Fonts, Paragraphs, Lists, Images, Tables, Comments, and Document Organizer.

As you can see from the toolbar, you can quickly place comments on a document and share the document with others, who can also place comments.

Other people’s comments show up in different colors along with the person’s name and date of modifiction so that you can easily tell who made the edits. Also, another really great feature of Adobe Buzzword is the fact that it keeps a history of document changes over time, so if you want to go back to a previous version of the file, you can simply click the history button the at bottom!

The online word processor also has a built-in spell checker that highlights misspelled words as you type, just like in Word! Impressive!

However, the BEST feature of Adobe Buzzword is the fact that you can become disconnected and still keep working on a document! It doesn’t work completely if you’re offline, but I started a document and then unplugged my Internet connection and was still able to edit my document. I was not able to insert an image, but I was able to use the toolbar at the top for bolding, justifying, etc. Pretty neat.

Finally, you can import documents from Microsoft Word or rich text format. Click on the Document Organizer and click on Open. You can also save files back into Microsoft Word or RTF format by clicking on Save As.

And there are apparently lots of new features that are going to be coming soon, so keep your eyes open!

[tags]adobe buzzword, buzzword, online word processor, online office, web-based word processor[/tags]

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Microsoft has released some screenshots of it’s new Office Live Workspace product that will be coming out very soon. Of course, everyone has been waiting for something from Microsoft ever since Google released Docs and Spreadsheets. The new Office Live Workspace will be an online companion to Microsoft Office. Here’s a quick list of the features from the Beta web site:

1. Access From Anywhere – Store up to 1000+ Office documents in one central location, and access them from any computer via the Web.

2. Sharing – Invite people to see your workspace, allow people to view, comment and edit your documents online, and easily merge changes from multiple people.

3. Integration – Quickly and easily open and save files directly from within Excel, Word and PowerPoint and synchronize your contacts, tasks, and event lists with Outlook.

The service is currently in beta and you can only pre-register for the launch later this year. The screenshots of the new Google Docs competitor look surprisingly good! The site seems to be driven by AJAX with all of the Web 2.0 features.

Of course, the offerings from Microsoft will still be in proprietary format, so they cannot be easily imported into other programs. Even so, it’s yet another tool that you can use to create Office documents online!

I JUST wrote a a guest post last week on MakeUseOf about the 6 Free Office Suites That Are NOT Microsoft.

Source via ReadWriteWeb

[tags]office live workspace, office online, microsoft office online, online office apps[/tags]

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It actually makes sense from a business perspective for Amazon, people are already buying books, DVDs, music CDs, electronics, and tons of other stuff from our site, why not give them the choice to now only buy an album online, but also download the album directly to their computers if they wish. Then the user can play it on their computer, on their iPod, on their Zune, or on any other media player they might have.

Currently, Amazon has two of the four major labels joined up on it’s music download service, Universal and EMI. This gives them the advantage of having songs from two of the largest music labels that are completely DRM-Free. Of course, they still need to get the other two major labels signed on, but it’s definitely a good first step. Also, they have thousands of independent labels and for the first time even have songs from smaller labels that are copy protection free, such as from Rounder Records, Trojan Records, HighTone Records, and Alligator records.

Currently, you can download songs individually or you can download a small application called MP3 Downloader that will allow you to download multiple songs or entire albums at once. Not only that, the program will automatically send your downloaded songs to your Windows Media Player or to your iTunes library.

Another aspect of Amazon’s digital music download service is the fact that all songs are not the same price. Actually, Amazon is the first company to try variable pricing for music downloads. Prices for songs start at 89 cents but could be sold for less depending on how much of a discount Amazon can get from the music labels. Also, most complete albums are selling for $8.99, whereas they sell for $9.99 on iTunes.

And if that’s not sounding good, Amazon has built the entire site around a great customer experience, so once you buy a few songs, Amazon will give you a list of personalized recommendations for other music you might like.

So definitely check out their new site and see how you like it. Have fun!

[tags]amazon mp3, mp3 music downloads, digital music downloads[/tags]

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The software is not only free for individuals, schools, and businesses, but IBM will also offer paid technical support for Windows XP, Windows Vista, SUSE Linux, and Read Hat Linux. There will also be a Mac OS X version available soon! So no more waiting 5 years for Microsoft to release a new version of Office for Mac! This product is aimed directly at Microsoft Office as a free alternative for employers or employees who simply need to write documents, make simple spreadsheets or tables, and create decent-looking slideshows.

Why pay $120 minimum, when you can now use Lotus Symphony as a desktop application or use Google Docs web applications to create, edit, and share documents. Currently, the Lotus Symphony software can only open and read .doc, .xls, .ppt, and .pdf files. The new Office 2007 format OOXML is not supported, but is being tweaked and should be compatible soon.

Lotus Symphony is based on the OpenOffice suite that has been available for some time now. However, I find that it’s better-looking and has more features than OpenOffice. The software is also designed to work seamlessly with the Lotus line of productivity and collaboration tools.

Here are a few screen shots of the three applications:

A great set of tools and an alternative to MS Office suite that everyone should check out as soon as possible! Enjoy!

[tags]lotus symphony, ms office alternative, office productivity, ibm lotus[/tags]

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Yahoo Mash – A unique social networking site

I just received my invite from InviteShare and thought I would give everyone a quick roundup of the features, what makes it different than the other sites, and whether or not it’s worth switching over to!

Yahoo Mash has the same single user profile concept like all of the other social networking sites (each person has their own profile). The interface is much cleaner than MySpace by far and on par with FaceBook and Orkut. As of now, there are not ads all over the place blocking your view of the main content of the page. Also, the interface is 100% AJAX, which means it’s very fast and responsive and you can type notes or add items on the page without having to refresh the page or leave the current page.

Yahoo Mash Wiki Profile Feature

Well one thing that is completely different about Yahoo Mash is the concept of a Wiki Profile, which gives your friends the ability to edit your profile by adding text and other items. Of course, this could be taken either as very "fun" and "interactive" or simply annoying as hell! Wouldn’t it be great to wake up one morning and see that your profile picture has been changed to the closest animal that resembles your face! If so, it can easily be changed in the Settings to disabled.

Modules & Widgets

Just like FaceBook, Yahoo Mash allows you to modify and personalize your profile by adding in lots of custom written modules and widgets. There is a gallery of modules that include things like Flickr RSS, Astrology, PimpMyPet, and lots more. By default, there is a module called Blurt, which lets your add news items or announcements to your profile page. This is kind of like the "What I am doing right now" feature of FaceBook.

Also by default, is the My Stuff module, which lets you type in any HTML or text that you want everyone to see on your profile page. You can use this to paste in code for YouTube videos, Flash content, or other fun stuff. There is also the tags module, which lets you add custom tags to your profile page. When you click on the tag, it’ll bring up a list of other people who typed in that same tag.

Finally there is a funny module called The Mash Pet, which is a simple way to express your current mood to anyone visiting your profile. You can easily rearrange any of the modules by dragging and dropping them into the new location. You can check out all of the different modules at the online gallery.

Yahoo Mash Guestbook

Of course coming out with your own social networking site without "The Wall" or "The Scrapbook" would be asking for trouble! It’s exactly the same thing as in FaceBook and Orkut, but it’s called the Guestbook in Yahoo Mash.

Yahoo Mash Custom CSS Styling

Out of all the features, the one thing I like the best is the ability to use CSS to custom style your profile. This is what MySpace has, but FaceBook does not. So it really looks like these guys made sure they grabbed the best features of both sites before releasing their own. You can use it in basic or advanced mode, so if you simply want to upload a background and change the font color, you don’t have to know any technical stuff!

How to get a free Yahoo Mash beta Invitation

If you want to try it out for yourself and see if you like it, you can get a free invitation to to Yahoo Mash by going to InviteShare. I signed up and got myself in the queue and the next day I had my invitation! It’s really a cool site to check out the latest beta Web 2.0 sites on the Net.

You can check out my current Yahoo Mash profile at the URL below:

http://mash.yahoo.com/aseem_kishore1234

Have fun and enjoy!

[tags]yahoo mash, social networking[/tags]

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The example map shown below takes the Unviersity of Southern California campus map and overlays it onto Yahoo maps. Yahoo automatically creates 5 levels of zoom and detail for your map, so you don’t have to worry about any of that. You simply have to get it aligned and scaled correctly.

The cool thing (and also the hardest part) is actually getting the two images to match each other. Once you upload a picture, you have to pick a few intersection points on both of the maps and Yahoo tries to morph them together automatically. Basically, your map is stretched, rotated and twisted before being applied to the Yahoo map.

You can also copy the embed code for your unique map and post it on your web site or blog. Definitely worth checking out and having some fun!.

The other nice feature that was released yesterday was in Yahoo Shopping. You can now filter down results when searching by choosing from 56 different color hues. Up till now, you could only filter on the usual specs, such as price, style, gender, or brand. The interesting thing about this new filter is that it works for all of the 10 million objects currently indexed by Yahoo.

You will only see the new search filter once you’re into a particular section such as Men’s Casual Shirts. On the left hand side you’ll see the third option down is a Color grid where you can choose your desired color.

All of these new features are part of Yahoo’s new strategy to move from simple web sites to web services. Hopefully, we can expect to see some more very cool additions soon!

This reminds me of a post I had written on the new Windows Live Search Images facial recognition search filter that released a few months back.

Enjoy!

Source: Read/Write Web

[tags]yahoo mapmixer, shop by color, yahoo shopping, mapmixer[/tags]

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Here are a couple of the new features included with Windows Live Writer 2008:

• You can now insert videos using the "Insert Video" dialog. This includes inserting from the web or inserting from SoapBox. Just copy and paste the embed text or the URL and it will automatically be inserted.
  

• Windows Live Writer can now publish images to your PicasaWeb account if you’re using posting on a Blogger blog. This is great for Blogger people, since there was no way to upload local pictures up to the Blogger servers.
  

• You can Justify align post text now, instead of just Left, Right, and Center.
  

• You now can Print your posts directly from Windows Live Writer just like you can print from Word or any other Office program.
  

• Writer now handles images better so they are not blurry like they used to be. Also, you can also use Writer in 28 additional languages.
  

Also released today are beta versions of MSN Messenger, Windows Mail, Windows Photo Gallery, Toolbar, and OneCare Family Safety. When installing the Windows Live Writer beta, you can add these other betas on if you like:

So go ahead and get the latest version! It’s definitely one of the best blog editors I have used!

Source: http://windowslivewriter.spaces.live.com/

[tags]windows live writer, windows live writer 2008[tags]

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