initial commit

12 files changed, 6 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/10.23.05/Tue/cp1.jpg b/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/10.23.05/Tue/cp1.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cbd3496
--- /dev/null
+++ b/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/10.23.05/Tue/cp1.jpg
diff --git a/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/10.23.05/Tue/cp2.jpg b/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/10.23.05/Tue/cp2.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a877770
--- /dev/null
+++ b/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/10.23.05/Tue/cp2.jpg
diff --git a/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/10.23.05/Tue/custom-search-sample.jpg b/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/10.23.05/Tue/custom-search-sample.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ce3a037
--- /dev/null
+++ b/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/10.23.05/Tue/custom-search-sample.jpg
diff --git a/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/10.23.05/Tue/fedora core 6.txt b/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/10.23.05/Tue/fedora core 6.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..01ae56a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/10.23.05/Tue/fedora core 6.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+[The Fedora Project][1] has just announced the release of [Fedora Core 6][2]. According to the release notes the new version features better "install-time access to third-party package repositories, extensive performance improvements, support for Intel-based Macs, and a new GUI virtualization manager." 

The look and feel of Fedora Core 6 have changed a bit too with a new default font and theme. Naturally the new version ships with the latest releases of GNOME and KDE, as well as "some additional options in window managers."

Red Hat claims users will see a noticeable speed boost in application start up, particularly for memory heavy apps like OpenOffice. From the Red Hat press release:

>Enhancements in performance in Fedora Core 6 build upon established, underlying systems. The start-up boost that applications such as OpenOffice.org receive is gained from being rebuilt with DT_GNU_HASH. This hash is optimized for speed and data cache accesses. Another area of enhanced performance is in network file systems, including NFS.


Grab the [torrent from the Fedora site][3].




[1]: http://fedoraproject.org/static-tmp/ "Fedora Core 6 released"
[2]: http://fedoraproject.org/static-tmp/FC6ReleaseSummary.html "Core 6 release notes"
[3]: http://torrent.fedoraproject.org/ "Download Fedora Core 6 via torrent file"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/10.23.05/Tue/free411.jpg b/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/10.23.05/Tue/free411.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c527de4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/10.23.05/Tue/free411.jpg
diff --git a/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/10.23.05/Tue/free411.txt b/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/10.23.05/Tue/free411.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..561149b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/10.23.05/Tue/free411.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+I somehow missed the announcement on this one (they told me this rock came with free wireless, but that turned out to be false), and just now discovered a service by the name of [Free411][1]. Free411 allows you to make free directory assistance calls provided you're willing to sit through a fifteen second ad. With most phone service providers charging upward of $1.25 per call, Free411 is a welcome relief (and should scare the daylights out of the already struggling telecom industry which rakes in $8 billion a year on 411 calls alone).

I just gave it a shot and indeed it works as advertised. After you make your request and before you get your answer you have have to sit through fifteen seconds of adverts. I guess the real question is, what do you value more -- those fifteen seconds of your time, or the $1.25 traditional 411 charges?

[1]: http://www.free411.com/index.php "Call information for free"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/10.23.05/Tue/google custom search.txt b/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/10.23.05/Tue/google custom search.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..75b94db
--- /dev/null
+++ b/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/10.23.05/Tue/google custom search.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+As I mentioned in the morning reboot, [Google has announced a new feature][1], customized search engines, for their Google Co-op service (a service which, contrary to what some sites have implied, already existed).

A number of competing sites like [Rollyo][2] (which we have [covered in the past][3]) have offered similar services for some time, but the big difference in Google's offering is the ability to monotize your search engine. Which is of course jargon for "it connects to your AdSense account."

Setup is relatively simple. You create a search engine, give it a name, description and some keywords to indicate what it's targeting. Then you add the sites you want to search. According to Google's docs, "you can specify single web pages, entire web sites, and patterns that match certain pages or directories on a site." Which means that target only the content you want found. For instance, if you're including your blog in your search engine, you can tell Google to ignore the homepage (which may change frequently and therefore not be up-to-date in Google's index) and only search your permalinks or individual pages. You can also exclude whole domains using wildcard characters which allows you to build a search engine that can search the whole web, but ignore known link-spam sites (in fact someone has already [start such a search engine][9]).

Once your search engine is built you can collaborate with others by inviting them to contribute to your search engine. Contributors can add sites to include or exclude in your search engine and apply search refinements to them, but they can't change the look or feel of your search, nor can they make money from it. The contributors feature can be open to the world at large or limited to people you invite. This will likely be a popular feature with large organizations looking to build a customized search engine that serves a whole company.

Another useful feature is the "refinements" option which allows you "annotate the websites in your search engine with labels that help users narrow down their search." The labels appear as links at the top of your search results pages and when a user clicks the link that site is given priority in search results.

One nice feature of Rollyo that Google's offering thus far lacks is the [Rollbar][4]. True, Google has [a bookmarklet for easily adding sites to your search][10] as you find them, but the Rollyo Rollbar takes this a step further and let's you search whatever page you're on, whether you add it to your search engine or not. Hopefully Google will offer something similar soon.

You can customize the look and feel of your search engine, colors, logo, and more. And there's about half a dozen other [tweaks][6] and [customizations][5] you can apply that I don't have time to cover in detail.

####But what does it all mean?

Well there's really two possibilities here. One is for web users like you and me who want to be able to control which sites get searched and, perhaps more importantly, which sites *don't* get searched. There is also the potential to earn some revenue via AdSense, but let's be honest, for the average user that isn't going to be much.

And then there's the other side of it for those looking to build a custom search feature into a webpage. For instance, if you have a blog where you write posts but you also pull in photos from your Flickr page, you might want to make a search engine that will search both you blog posts and your Flickr pages for a given term. Most blogging software can do a fairly decent job of searching your posts, but it's useless for the Flickr content. By embedding your custom Google search page in an iframe, you've suddenly got a more powerful search with very little setup effort. To see a real world example of a customized Google search try using the search feature at [RealClimate][7].

All and all Google's new customized search is a very impressive offering, but there are some downsides. if you use the service on your site in an iframe you'll get Google's text ads in addition to your results (you can only get rid of adds if your site qualifies as a "501(c)(3) non-profit, university, or government agency website"). Then there's the whole iframe concept, which is annoying. Thankfully Google is offering what they call an [AJAX Search API][8] for advanced users.

Now if I could just figure out how to get Safari's toolbar Google search to automatically use my new customized search page....

[1]: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/eureka-your-own-search-engine-has.html "Google Announces new Customized Search"
[2]: http://www.rollyo.com/ "Rollyo.com"
[3]: http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2006/08/rollyo_introduc.html "Monkeybites on Rollyo"
[4]: http://www.rollyo.com/bookmarklet.html "Rollbar Bookmarklet"
[5]: http://www.google.com/coop/docs/cse/cse_file.html "Custom Search Engine XML Specification"
[6]: http://google.com/coop/docs/cse/label_file.html "Annotations label file "
[7]: http://www.realclimate.org/ "Try Real Climate's implementation of Google's Customized search engine"
[8]: http://code.google.com/apis/ajaxsearch/documentation/ "Google Custom Search AJAX API"
[9]: http://www.putch.com/
[10]: http://www.google.com/coop/cse/marker "Google marker bookmarklet"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/10.23.05/Tue/mediafire.txt b/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/10.23.05/Tue/mediafire.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..381e12f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/10.23.05/Tue/mediafire.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+File this under things that seem to good to be true: [MediaFire][1] offers free unlimited file storage with no sign up required.

The internet has been all abuzz since MediaFire launched last weekend and so far the reaction seems positive. This is one of those services where I keep waiting for someone to find the hidden catch, but to the best of my knowledge no one seems to have found a catch.

MediaFire acts as a file transfer and storage facility. You upload a file and MediaFire stores it for you. Pretty simple. Transfer times will depend on your internet connection speed.

Once you've uploaded a file MediaFire gives you some cut-and-paste links, one for direct download url, one to create links on your site and one even give you the link in forum code for phpBB and similar bulletin boards. You can also chose send a link via AIM or Yahoo messenger services, or you can send out an email to notify people of your upload. 

As some users have pointed out, the email sent vaguely resembles spam, which could cause problems if you have aggressive spam filters, but otherwise the site is excellent. The interface is simple and easy to use with nice AJAXy progress bars and upload status information.

Though you don't have to, you can sign up for a free account.

There's no ads on the site, and in fact Mediafire might be one of the simplest sites I've seen in a long time. There isn't much in the way of advertising either which is nice. The only thing I can't figure out is how they plan to make money. Of course that never stopped YouTube.

[1]: http://www.mediafire.com/ "MediaFire.com"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/10.23.05/Tue/mediafirelogo.jpg b/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/10.23.05/Tue/mediafirelogo.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..22ca421
--- /dev/null
+++ b/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/10.23.05/Tue/mediafirelogo.jpg
diff --git a/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/10.23.05/Tue/mediafirescreen.jpg b/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/10.23.05/Tue/mediafirescreen.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c00af08
--- /dev/null
+++ b/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/10.23.05/Tue/mediafirescreen.jpg
diff --git a/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/10.23.05/Tue/reboot.txt b/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/10.23.05/Tue/reboot.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bf8bf0b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/10.23.05/Tue/reboot.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Buenos Dias Capt. Crunch. Here's your morning reboot.

*	[Apple computer announced][1] that "its entire MacBook Pro line of notebooks now includes the new Intel Core 2 Duo processor and delivers performance that is up to 39 percent faster than the previous generation."

*	Google launched a customized search service this morning. Called [Google Co-op][2], the service allows a user to create and launch a search engine with just a few specific websites included in the results.

*	[IBM is suing Amazon][3] over some e-commerce patents, most notably the technology that powers the product recommendation features.

*	CrunchGear is reporting an interesting rumor (note that, *rumor*) that Microsoft's upcoming [Zune mp3 player will offer referral payments][4] which you can cash in for free songs or other items from the Zune Marketplace.

*	

[1]: http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2006/oct/24macbookpro.html "New Macbook Pros"
[2]: http://www.google.com/coop/cse/ "Google Co-op"
[3]: http://www.cio-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=47239 "IBM sues Amazon"
[4]: http://crunchgear.com/2006/10/23/zune-to-pay-you-back-for-sharing-songs/ "Earn credits for sharing music? Maybe."
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/10.23.05/Tue/travelistic b/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/10.23.05/Tue/travelistic
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5c48bfa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/10.23.05/Tue/travelistic
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+I got several emails about yesterday's write up of RealTravel including one that pointed me to [Travelistic][1] a new site that claims to have "more video that any other travel site." At this point Travelistic is basically a YouTube for travelers with a mixture of professional and user submitted videos, but it claims to be expanding soon. 

I found the user content more appealing, but Travelistic does license some fairly big-name video content like ThirstyTraveler and others. The site also claims to be looking for "Rocketboom of Travel" so if you feel you've got the talent... (Note to Travelistic: I think this would be more compelling if advertised as "the Ze Frank of travel").

Travelistic also has a super handy feature named "mapify" that lets you generate cut-n-paste code to drop a Google map on your profile page so others can track where you are in the world. 


[1]: http://www.travelistic.com/ "Travelistic.com"
\ No newline at end of file