Google seems to be bucket testing a feature that allows users to specify how detailed the summary blurbs in their search results will be. In an ongoing discussion here, one user comments that the three available options are Small (which omits a summary entirely), Medium (the current default length), and Long (which is around four times longer than normal). The changes affect more than just aesthetics - the Long setting apparently consists of both the standard meta summary as well as text pulled from the page itself, which could help users weed out sites with nice descriptions but tiny actual content. Because search is such an integral part of its business, Google has to be careful whenever it thinks about implementing a new search-related feature. The company regularly tests out unannounced new features across a small percentage of its users to see if they are worth implementing on a wider scale (this is called bucket testing). Earlier this summer we saw a preview of a Digg-like voting feature that has yet to reach the general public.
Google seems to be bucket testing a feature that grants users to specify how detailed the summary blurbs in their search results will be. In an ongoing discussion here, one user comments that the three available options are Small (which omits a summary entirely), Medium (the current default length), and Long (which is around four times longer than normal). The changes affect more than just aesthetics - the Long setting apparently consists of both the standard meta summary as well as text pulled from the page itself, which could help users weed out sites with nice descriptions but tiny actual content.
Because search is such an integral part of its business, Google has to be careful whenever it thinks about implementing a new search-related feature. The company regularly tests out unannounced new features across a small percentage of its users to see if they’re worth implementing on a wider scale (this is called bucket testing). Earlier this summer we saw a preview of a Digg-like voting feature that has yet to reach the general public.
If you’re lucky enough to have the new feature, let us know in the comments how well it seems to be working (the feature isn’t enabled for me, so I can’t test it out).
Have you ever wanted to know when politicians are lying? A startup called RealScoop thinks it can nail it down for you in real-time with the help of voice analysis technology that it claims is used widely in law enforcement and fraud prevention. Dubbed the Believability Meter, RealScoop’s analysis technology analyzes over 100 vocal elements of the human voice and performs over 1,000 calculations per second to find out if a politician or celebrity is telling the truth. On Tuesday, RealScoop will cover the Vice Presidential debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden, putting each one’s statements to its Believability test. The site itself features a bunch of videos collected from outside sources that are played in its own player. The player features a meter that changes dynamically as it analyzes what’s being said. If it believes the person is lying, the meter turns red and moves towards the “highly questionable” area. If it believes the person is telling the truth, the meter stays green and in the “believable” section.
Have you ever wanted to know when politicians are lying? A startup called RealScoop thinks it can nail it down for you in real-time with the help of voice analysis technology that it claims is used widely in law enforcement and fraud prevention.
Dubbed the Believability Meter, RealScoop’s analysis technology analyzes over 100 vocal elements of the human voice and performs over 1,000 calculations per second to find out if a politician or celebrity is telling the truth. On Tuesday, RealScoop will cover the Vice Presidential debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden, putting each one’s statements to its Believability test.
The site itself features a bunch of videos collected from outside sources that are played in its own player. The player features a meter that changes dynamically as it analyzes what’s being stated. If it believes the person is lying, the meter turns red and moves towards the “highly questionable” area. If it believes the person is telling the truth, the meter stays green and in the “believable” section.
I watched a few of the videos on the site and found it questionable, to say the least. Maybe there is some real evidence to prove that this sort of technology can tell if a person is lying or not, but let’s face it — there’s no way to prove it and I’m not sure, after watching the videos, how a person can go from believable to questionable by uttering a few easy phrases like “uh.”
I’m sure the highly political among us will find value in this to help prove their point that the candidates they support are telling the truth and those they do not are lying, but the more objective among us will see this for what it is: pure rubbish.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoardbecause it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
By Andrew Liszewski While it’s been designed primarily for full-dome projections in places like planetariums, dome theaters and even simulator rides, that doesn’t stop the new powerdomeVELVET projector from Carl Zeiss from being any less impressive. It uses Texas Instruments BrilliantColor DLP technology to not only provide an internal 30bit color depth, but it also manages […]
By Andrew Liszewski
While it’s been designed primarily for full-dome projections in places like planetariums, dome theaters and even simulator rides, that doesn’t stop the new powerdomeVELVET projector from Carl Zeiss from being any less impressive. It uses Texas Instruments BrilliantColor DLP technology to not only provide an internal 30bit color depth, but it also manages to pull off an astounding contrast ratio of 2,500,000:1. Compared to other high-end projectors that are capable of 30,000:1 contrast ratios, the powerdomeVELVET is the first to offer an absolutely black backdrop, which is vital for applications like a planetarium where guests are staring at particularly small dots of light. The projector’s expected to be available sometime in early 2009 for an undisclosed and most likely huge sum, so don’t expect to find it on the shelves at your local Best Buy.
It was only a matter of time. Cuil, the “massive” new search engine that was supposed to be able to keep up with Google, has just gotten its first knockoff. It’s Yuil, a Yahoo-powered mashup that looks almost exactly like Cuil. And, oddly enough, Yuil might actually work superior than its much-hyped […]
It was only a matter of time. Cuil, the “massive” new search engine that was supposed to be able to keep up with Google, has just gotten its first knockoff. It’s Yuil, a Yahoo-powered mashup that looks almost exactly like Cuil. And, oddly enough, Yuil might actually work superior than its much-hyped predecessor.
In a surprising (and hilarious) twist, Yuil is actually the product of Yahoo VP of Platforms, Sam Pullara, who is using the site to show off Yahoo’s recently-released BOSS API. BOSS is one-of-a-kind among search engine APIs, giving developers an unprecedented level of control over results generated by Yahoo’s search engine. And while Yuil isn’t really doing anything new with its search results, they’re more relevant than the occasionally bizarre ones we’ve been getting from Cuil.
Developers are only just starting to tap into the power afforded by the BOSS API - we’ll probably see dozens of similar search engines like this pop up over the next few months. The difference between these, and the generic API-based engines we’ve seen before, is that developers will be able to manipulate and reorder the results to make them more meaningful - something that APIs from most other search engines prohibit.
Update: Looks like someone in the Yahoo or Cuil camp doesn’t have a sense of humor. Pullara has just updated his blog to state he’s taken Yuil down:
“Yuil is dead. However, you can always get the same great search results here.”
Crunch Network: CrunchBoardbecause it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
By Evan Ackerman I have a bit of a thing for gyro mice. Sexy ones, anyway. Movea’s Gyration mouse may not be as drop dead gorgeous as Logitech’s MX Air, but it does incorporate some of the same sort of futuristic technology that allows the mouse to be used conventionally on a flat surface or by […]
By Evan Ackerman
I have a bit of a thing for gyro mice. Sexy ones, anyway. Movea’s Gyration mouse might not be as drop dead gorgeous as Logitech’s MX Air, but it does incorporate some of the same sort of futuristic technology that allows the mouse to be used conventionally on a flat surface or by waving it around in midair like a loony. The wireless RF mouse weighs only 4 ounces and has a USB receiver that hides in its butt. It’ll work up to 100 ft away from the computer (not that you can see that far), and comes with software that lets you use mouse gestures. There’s no info about battery life (which could be kinda important), and it doesn’t look like you get a whole lot of buttonage to play with. At $100 it’s a little bit cheaper than the MX Air, and it’s certainly smaller, but not a peripheral whose curves you’re apt to get lost in. Look for it early next month.
All week, Technorati is releasing data from its 2008 State of the Blogosphere report. On Monday, Technorati told us that bloggers only need 100,000 visitors a month to make $75,000 a year (yeah, right). Today, it offers up something more believable: the more you post, the higher you are apt to rank on Technorati. Blogging is a volume game. The more you post, the more chances there are that someone else will link to one of your posts. (Technorati rank is based on the number of recent links to your blog). The majority of the Top 100 blogs tracked by Technorati post five or more times per day, and a full 43 percent post more than 10 times per day. Meanwhile, 64 percent of the 5,000 blogs ranked lower than 600 post two to four times a day, which is still a serious commitment.
Blogging is a volume game. The more you post, the more chances there are that someone else will link to one of your posts. (Technorati rank is based on the number of current links to your blog). The majority of the Top 100 blogs tracked by Technorati post five or more times per day, and a full 43 percent post more than 10 times per day. Meanwhile, 64 percent of the 5,000 blogs ranked lower than 600 post two to four times a day, which is still a serious commitment.
In fact, about a quarter of all bloggers spend more than 10 hours a week posting, and 66 percent spend more than 3 hours a week.
To summarize some of the findings, from the first two days if the State of the Blogosphere report, iCharts, one of our TC50 finalists, put together the following interactive graphs from the data. Mouse over each part of the graph for more information, and use the sliders to limit the data set. Don’t be shy.
This one shows that collectively, blogs a more massive audience than Facebook and as large an audience as MySpace:
Most bloggers aren’t in it for the money (but you knew that already). Three quarters do it for pure personal satisfaction. Bloggers measure success by how many posts or comments they have the ability to generate on their blog (58 percent), how many visitors they get (53 percent), how many links they receive from other blogs (46 percent), or how many RSS subscribers they have the ability to amass (39 percent). In other words, they measure success by how much much recognition they get. Only 16 percent measure success by how much money they make.
In terms of demographics, Bloggers are predominantly male across America, Asia, And Europe:
And here are some more detailed demographics of bloggers, based on Technorati’s survey:
Update: Here are the first two charts in iChart form for those who want to play around with the numbers.
And this one’s cool, drag the slider at the bottom to collapse the bars together:
Kleiner Perkins is adding to its iFund portfolio of iPhone-focused startups. It’s latest investment is a series A round in stealth gaming company ngmoco. Kleiner partner Bing Gordon, formerly chief creative officer of Electronic Arts, will join the board (he is also on the board of Zynga, which KP also recently invested in […]
Kleiner Perkins is adding to its iFund portfolio of iPhone-focused startups. It’s latest investment is a series A round in stealth gaming company ngmoco. Kleiner partner Bing Gordon, formerly chief creative officer of Electronic Arts, will join the board (he is also on the board of Zynga, which KP also recently invested in through its regular fund).
Ngmoco’s CEO is another EA refugee, Neil Young (not the aging rock star). Young oversaw the development of hit totles at EA such as Lord of the Rings, The Sims 2, and the about-to-be-released Spore. He left EA in June, and wants to both develop its own games and finance and produce games from other developers. He’s applying the same studio model that’s worked so well for EA to a new class of mobile games for the iPhone and future devices that have similar characteristics.
The iFund is a $100 million fund set aside to invest in startups targeting the iPhone as a platform. Other announced investments include mobile social networking service Pelago (which makes Whrrl) and iControl (which lets you control you home security through your home network and your iPhone).
The size of the round was not disclosed.
Crunch Network: CrunchGeardrool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
By Luke Anderson If Putt-Putt were a professional sport, I would likely make an attempt to join a team. When I was a kid we would have to drive over an hour to reach the nearest Putt-Putt course, which meant that was a rare treat. Since those times I’ve always secretly thought about making my own […]
By Luke Anderson
If Putt-Putt were a professional sport, I would likely make an attempt to join a team. When I was a kid we would have to drive over an hour to reach the nearest Putt-Putt course, which meant that was a rare treat. Since those times I’ve always secretly thought about making my own private course, but those sorts of things take a good bit of money. If you’re looking for a small course that won’t set you back a couple thousand bucks, here is the My Mini Golf miniature golf course.
I have to say that while the idea seemed exciting, I am really underwhelmed. You only get a total of 13 plastic pieces, which I’m sure will be plenty of fun if you position them correctly. What really turns me off to the product is the $329 price tag. That breaks down to nearly $50 for each piece of plastic, which is a bit salty in my book.
By Luke Anderson I’ve always loved cats, and generally enjoy having one around the home. Of course some felines have a tendency to scratch each piece of furniture in the house to bits, despite the fact that you’ve bought a perfectly good scratching post. Others might decide that certain items around the house need “marked”. […]
By Luke Anderson
I’ve always loved cats, and generally enjoy having one around the house. Of course some felines have a tendency to scratch every piece of furniture in the home to bits, despite the fact that you’ve bought a perfectly good scratching post. Others might decide that certain items around the house need “marked”. Well if your cat has a bad habit or two that you need to take care of, you might think about the Tabby Tote Cat Carrier.
No, this isn’t a real device (this one was), but it is hilarious. Yes, I know that it’s totally wrong, and I’d never subject an animal to that kind of cruelty. However, when you come home to discover your brand new sofa has been shredded to bits, you’ll remember this one.
By Andrew Liszewski If you’ve gotten used to the little keyboard on the Asus EEE and for some reason would like to have the same cramped typing experience on your desktop PC, you’ll want to pick up this Super Tiny Keyboard available from Brando for $25. At just 6.6 inches wide I wholeheartedly concur with the […]
By Andrew Liszewski
If you’ve gotten used to the tiny keyboard on the Asus EEE and for some reason would like to have the same cramped typing experience on your desktop Computer, you’ll want to pick up this Super Tiny Keyboard available from Brando for $25. At just 6.6 inches wide I wholeheartedly concur with the ‘Tiny’ part, but I think ‘Super Tiny’ should be reserved for the type of ‘keyboards’ used on Casio Databank watches. But that’s just my opinion. The keyboard manages to cram 56 keys into its small form factor, including caps lock, num lock and function keys, and features a mini-USB connector on the back. And while I appreciate Brando providing a pic of the keyboard next to the iPhone for size comparison, since it’s lacking bluetooth or any kind of wireless connection, there’s completely no way to actually use it in lieu of the iPhone’s own software keyboard.
Google seems to be bucket testing a feature that allows users to specify how detailed the summary blurbs in their search results will be. In an ongoing discussion here, one user comments that the three available options are Small (which omits a summary entirely), Medium (the current default length), and Long (which is around four times longer than normal). The changes affect more than just aesthetics - the Long setting apparently consists of both the standard meta summary as well as text pulled from the page itself, which could help users weed out sites with nice descriptions but tiny actual content. Because search is such an integral part of its business, Google has to be careful whenever it thinks about implementing a new search-related feature. The company regularly tests out unannounced new features across a small percentage of its users to see if they are worth implementing on a wider scale (this is called bucket testing). Earlier this summer we saw a preview of a Digg-like voting feature that has yet to reach the general public.
Have you ever wanted to know when politicians are lying? A startup called 
By Andrew Liszewski
All week, Technorati is releasing data from its 
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