Thanks

I really have to say "Thanks a whole heck of a lot and then a bit more" to A Sleep.  He's been a huge help to me on the whole CSS / HTML issues (I broke a lot of html in my "oh god I've been slashdotted hackomatic frenzy").  And astonishly, we grew up not 15 miles from each other.  Go figure.  Thanks man.  I also got to bounce some ideas off Dewayne today and it helped me codify the problem space and algorithms for delivering better quality search results when searching blogs.  No they aren't in yet but they will be.  And Jeremy has been kibitzing on some MySQL issues which has been great.  Oh and how can I forget Brent / Ranchero who helped me get the RSS output right for delivering search results via RSS right to an aggregator like NetNewsWire.  And, second to last but definitely not least, Etation Media who did the new logo for the new name (which you'll see as soon as DNS kicks in and I move everything over).  And, as always, if I left you out, I'm sorry, just slap me on the (virtual) head by leaving a comment.

But the absolute star of the day has to be Sooz who was the catalyst to getting the new name (if not the source of the new name).  Thank you.

11:22:44 PM      Google It!   comment []    IM Me About This   

Searching Brains Not Documents

Scoble made my week and truly inspired me with this comment::

Here's a homework project. Go to the RSS Search engine. Now go to Google. Search for these words: "InfoPath" and "OneNote." What do you notice? I like the quality of the RSS results a LOT better. [_Go_]

I was thinking about this a lot and the best analogy I can give you this the following:

1. We've all debated ad nauseum what blogs are.  But the one I like best is that "a blog is a conversation".  It might tbe with your friends, your employees, your customers or yourself (if no one's reading).
   
2. Conversation is a product of the brain.  What else can it be?
   
3. What this is shaping up to be is not a document centric search engine at all.  Its shaping up to being a conversation centric search engine or as I'm starting to think of it -- searching the brains of all the smart people out there that are talking about things.

Comments?

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Roogle, No [NewNameHere] Update

Well the new domain name exists now, its hosted and i'm waiting for dns resolution.  I spent most of the day on infrastructure and clean up.  I did implement one new feature -- filtering of any blog on the results list from your search.  It works like this:

• You search for something, say "roogle" [_Example_]
• Then you realize I don't care what Scott has to say, I want to see what others have to say
• So you click the green  icon next to the search result and that blog is now excluded from the search  [_Example_]

Note: This feature was originally requested as a "I don't care about my own blog in the search" feature but then I realized it was more useful.   The filtering is one level only right now so if you filter out Scott and then filter out Bob, Scott comes back.  I'll work on that.  This feature is only in a development url, not the main url so don't wonder when its not there for you.

Other Stuff

A bunch of new code added today but not all of it visible:

• Event log for tracking down when RSS
• Problem and Suggestion forms for tracking requests
• Some fixes to my guess_rss_url routine for when a blog doesn't support the LINK element
• Search filtering
• RSS output of search results which works in NetNewsWire and AmphetaDesk but oddly not in Radio.  Have to fix that.

More stuff tomorrow.

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Added: Astonishingly Simple PHP Script for Feature Requests and Bug Reporting

I'm starting to get more than a little overwhelmed with the typical tasks and bugs of any development project  So I just added a drop dead "report problem" and "make suggestion" link to every page.  It even grabs the url you were on so lets say you search for something, say 'lua' and didn't find it.  Just click 'report problem' and enter it.  No need to copy url, etc.  I'll add viewing the lists later but this should help at least me a lot.

11:33:55 AM      Google It!   comment []    IM Me About This   

What About Feedster ?  And other Roogle Stuff

I was just chatting with Sooz and we came up with feedster.  And feedster.com was available so I just grabbed it.

Comments?  Like it ?  Hate it?  Loathe it beyond all description?  Leave feedback here.

Other stuff -- I've been tending to infrastructure today so far to keep things running and I have RSS output of search results working but I keep getting XML errors.  And the indexing is going well.  Any gurus out there ?  I'd love some help.  Feel free to IM me.

10:54:09 AM      Google It!   comment []    IM Me About This   

Go Out and Buy the Wall Street Journal Today

If you work in technology as a vendor or consultant, you should really, really, really get the journal today.  The main front page store is on how the CIO for Verizon is "squeezing" vendors to cut their costs.  It really is scary.   Here's the precis and if you're a subscriber the link:

Mr. Kheradpir Puts the Squeeze on Tech
For clues to the tech sector's failure to revive sagging sales, pay a visit to Shaygan Kheradpir. Verizon's chief information officer relentlessly pushes his charges to get more out of less equipment, an attitude that spells gloom for tech giants.

The article is excellent and a wake up call I suspect for a lot of us.  This is very similar to what I wrote recently about all vendors getting squeezed in the down economy (and why no link?  I can't $#$# find it since Roogle is current not archival .. Hm... ).

6:09:38 AM      Google It!   comment []    IM Me About This