Skip to Content

Submit your nominations for the Luxist Awards' Best in Decor
AOL Tech

OnlineShopping posts

Filed under: Internet, Search, Web

Invisible Hand - Firefox add on to help you find sweet deals


Trolling around on the web for the best deal is tedious and time consuming. Invisible Hand, an add on for Firefox notifies you of better prices on items you are searching on the web with a discreet interface. It's so discreet you have to search for it but if you see a green arrow in your status bar, you know it's there.

When you start shopping on Amazon or Best Buy, Invisible Hand will pop up a message indicating if the item you are searching is cheaper at another retailer. (The camera I was looking at was cheaper by 1 cent somewhere else according to Invisible Hand). Since they're in beta, you might not get a notification for every item you search as the Hand is still growing their product and retailer coverage.

Read more →

Filed under: Business, Internet, Utilities

Showcase your stuff with meOwns

meOwns is a site designed to allow you to showcase the stuff you own. You can list items that you actually own, or items that you would like to own on the site and add photos to those lists so people can see what you're talking about. The lists you create on meOwns can then be put into a widget that you can embed on your website or MySpace profile, or you can add a Facebook widget to display your items for your Facebook friends.

According to the site, the idea is is to bring people together through "the one thing that connects us all - the yearn to own!" While we're not so sure any normal person anyone would want to upload all the stuff they own to the site, the site could have some use in getting rid of the stuff you already own and don't want anymore. The widget could be an easy way to showcase your old movies, CDs, computer monitors, clothing, etc. for your friends, and mention things that they might own you'd be interested in taking off their hands in exchange.

One huge downside is that right now the site requires you to upload photos from your computer for each item you add. It would be nice to see them add automatic photos for things like DVDs and CDs that are going to always look the same so you don't have to upload a new picture for each individual item which gets annoying pretty quickly particularly if you have that crazy "yearn to own" they were talking about.

Filed under: Business, News, Search

Amazon sends shoppers away with Product Ads

Amazon has launched a trial of a new program called Product Ads. The program allows retailers to purchase ad space on Amazon without selling their products on the site. When a user clicks on the ad rather than being taken to a product within Amazon, the customer will instead be sent to the companies 3rd party site to make a purchase.

Product Ads will show a 3rd party competitor, along with the price they're offering an item at right on the same page as the Amazon item. Reminiscent of PriceGrabber, different sites and their price for a particular item are listed below the item and description on Amazon. Users can see all the prices at the same time and make a decision whether to continue with their purchase on Amazon, or click over to the 3rd party website to make a purchase.

Much like other advertising programs advertisers only pay for their ad when a user clicks on an ad and is taken to the advertisers site. Both Google Product Search and Shopping.com run similar programs, but neither is the selling powerhouse that Amazon is. By combining advertising along with their extensive product catalog Amazon is setting themselves up to be even more of a leader in the online shopping arena.

The new program also forces Amazon to stay extremely competitive in its pricing in order to make users want to purchase items from them, however it also gives them the ability to make money off users who do choose to shop somewhere else. It will be interesting to see if the program survives. No doubt the program is great for shoppers, but how do you think Amazon will do with Product Ads? Do you think it will make it through the trial?

[via VentureBeat]

Filed under: Internet, Web services, Beta, web 2.0

Snoopr- Digg for Deals

Snoopr.net is a Digg inspired website for finding deals. Users submit deals that they find to the site and then other users can "snoop" deals that rock their world. Each deal has a "Snoop Gauge" beside it that shows how popular a particular deal is with the Snoopr.net crowd. Like Digg, deals with the highest score earn top billing on the site. Unlike Digg however the deals score takes into account not only the deals amount of snoops but also time and the comments the deal has received.

Users on the site can earn points for getting positive snoops on deals they've submitted, and for commenting on and snooping other deals. There are promises made on the website for "cool prizes" that can be purchased with the points however we did some snooping and couldn't find a prize section on the site where you could redeem them. The site is currently still in beta, so maybe thats "in the works." Deals and prizes? What could be better?

[via EmilyChang]

Filed under: Internet, Web services

Wal-Mart launches online ratings and reviews


Super-mega-giant retail king Wal-Mart has just added interactive review and rating features to their online store. The retail mega-corp is tapping into the millions of online shoppers they have to rate, review and recommend products from their enormous catalog.

Wal-Mart suits hope the move will enable the 75% of their 130 million customers who are online to "further engage, communicate, share opinions, and learn more about products."

Shop smart, shop S-Mart.

Filed under: Internet, Windows Mobile, Symbian, Palm

Get online price comparisons from your cellphone with Frucall

FrucallBummed out that Google changed its product pricing and comparison from Froogle to the infinitely duller "Google Product Search?" Well, lucky for you, there's a similarly priced product out there that kinda, sorta provides the same service.

Frucall is a mobile price comparison service just making its way out of beta. You can search products by entering the UPC numbers on their barcodes, or by searching via SMS. If you're out shopping and happen to see a must-have doodad in the store, you can send a quick message to Frucall and it will either send you back a message with price comparisons or you can listen to a digitized voice reading you the best prices it can find online for the product.

[via Ubergizmo]

Filed under: Business, Fun, Internet, Windows, Macintosh, Linux

JunkDepot sells your junk in style


Spring is just around the corner that means it's time to start cleaning out the garage, and getting rid of all the excess junk we've all accumulated over the past year. JunkDepot is a new Google maps mashup that makes buying and selling your stuff a little more interesting.

The free service allows sellers to upload up to five photos of their items and posts them not only on JunkDepot but also partner sites like Google base and edgeio. Items stay on the site for 30 days and can be searched for by potential buyers by category or buyers can type in their address and instantly look at photos of items located near them using Google maps allowing buyers to go on a virtual shopping trip through their neighborhood.

Naming your own price and listing for free beats paying high eBay fees for items you may or may not be able to sell.

Filed under: Business, Internet, Productivity, Web services

Savefinder: Ask a personal shopper

savefinder personal shopperIf you are looking for something, but just don't want the hassle of searching for it, try asking a Savefinder personal shopper. This online personal shopper will research and locate the items you require. Better still, when they find it, you will be hit with an email and Savefinder can immediately initiate a transaction on your command. No more searching the internet for days looking for something, let a personal shopper do all the work. Of course they will require a fee. When you post a question to the personal shopper, there is a $2 US fee, then there is also a question listing fee of $2 US. So if the minimum $4 answer fee is livable for you, why not let someone else shop for you. Savefinder is a worldwide service, so everyone can enjoy the benefits of having someone else do the grunt work.

Filed under: Business, Internet, Web services, Google

eBay to display Google Ads

ebay to display google adseBay is set to display Google Ads, in a deal that will specifically utilize Google's "click-to-call" ads linking up shoppers with merchants.

eBay and Google made the announcements Monday, with both companies aiming at complementing each others strengths. Google will be the sole provider of text-based ads found on eBay. In the deal, eBay will be working closer with Google to optimize its online ads. In an effort to streamline the process of connecting shoppers with auction listings. The click-to-call ads that Google has developed, leveraging both Google and Skype's functionality in auctions to bring buyers and merchants or advertisers in touch directly.

The Google, eBay deal will start testing in early 2007. On a side note, I have personally noticed quite a bit more eBay results in Google search queries within the past month. I'm not sure if there has been some early testing going on, but it looks like eBay, and eBay auctioneers are working on some better Search Engine Optimization techniques.

Featured Time Waster

The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

View more Time Wasters

Featured Galleries

Defective by Design, London: Protest Pictures
Microsoft Security Essentials
Chromium Pre-Alpha on CrunchBang Linux
Safari 4 Beta
10 Firefox themes that don't suck
IE8 RC1
Download Squad at the Crunchies After-Party
Download Squad at the Crunchies
WordPress 2.7
Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals
Windows 7 Hands On
Comodo Internet Security
Android First-look: Amazon.com MP3 Store
Android First-look: Twitroid
Google Reader Android
Android Hands-On
Twine 1.0
Photoshop Express Beta
Mozilla Birthday Cake
Palm stuff
Adobe Lightroom 1.1

 


Follow us on Twitter!

Flickr Pool

www.flickr.com

More Tech Coverage

AOL Radio

Joystiq

TUAW

Daily Finance

Autoblog

Urlesque

Engadget

WoW

Switched.com

FanHouse