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Filed under: Google, Search

It's not just Bing - Google makes Twitter search deal, too

When Microsoft partnered with Twitter to allow its Bing search engine to index tweets in real time, it looked like they had finally gotten the jump on Google at something. Just hours later, Google VP Marissa Mayer announced that the big G had made a Twitter deal, too. Although Bing's Twitter product is out today, Google's won't be too far behind.

It looks like Google intends to use tweets to augment search results for up-to-the-minute data. In the official Google blog post on the subject, Mayer gives the example of weather conditions at a ski resort. Getting access to tweets is good for Google, but Bing still has the advantage of being the first to snag the Facebook deal. How long until Google gets one of those, as well?

Filed under: Business, Web services, Search, Microblogging

Bing makes search deals with Facebook and Twitter

With so much hype about real-time as the future of search, it makes sense that the major players in search would make moves to partner up with real-time networks like Facebook and Twitter. What's surprising is that the first big move is coming from Microsoft Bing, and not from Google. At today's Web 2.0 summit, Bing announced deals with Twitter and Facebook, which will allow Bing to start searching those sites' status updates. The Twitter search was demonstrated at the conference, and you should be able to play with it later today at bing.com/twitter. The Facebook product isn't due out until later, but it will give Bing access to all Facebook's public status updates.

Bing showed off some impressive features of its Twitter search product at the conference, including filtering of duplicate tweets and adult content. It also expands bit.ly URLs, so you know where those shortlinks lead. Unlike Twitter's own search, Bing's product attempts to deliver not just the most recent tweets, but the most relevant.

Apparently, both Twitter and Facebook have been talking to Google as well, but Bing is first to make a deal. The two deals are separate and non-exclusive, meaning that Twitter and Facebook aren't getting into bed together (yet) and that there's still room for Google to make a play like the one Microsoft just pulled off.

[via CNET]

Filed under: Macintosh, Social Software, web 2.0, Web

Realtime event tracking with Almost.at


As people discover that social sites can be pretty decent news sources, especially when it comes to event coverage, I think we'll start seeing a lot more projects like Almost.at. Almost.at uses text, photos, videos and links from sites including Twitter and Flickr to show as-it-happens coverage of everything from concerts to conferences to breaking news stories. Right now, for example, a Phish concert, the E3 expo and a missing Air France flight are all being covered.

Almost.at's three column layout and automatic refresh are nice, but the site goes beyond what you see on its web display. You can add usernames to an event on Almost.at, so others can see and follow people who are at the event, and you can also download a standalone Almost.at browser for OS X. If you're interested in a particular event, it beats opening sites and search results across different tab and refreshing them manually.

Filed under: Internet, Google, Open Source, Beta, web 2.0

Google devs chuck email, chat, lifestreaming into blender, create Wave


As if Google apps weren't useful enough already, a team of their developers have taken the wraps off a new project that will provide a major injection of realtime functionality.

Dubbed Wave, Google is positioning the new app as a kind conversation and collaboration system, a logical evolution of communication akin to the jump from mail to email, telephone to chat, or blogging to microblogging. They describe a wave as "equal parts conversation and document, where people can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more."

Create a Wave, add people to it, toss in some gadgets, feeds, and photos, and mix with a rich text editor. You'll see new content in near-real time as your friends add it, and you can even hit the rewind button and watch your Wave evolve from scratch. Wave's power will come from its extensibility and ability to integrate with existing activity sources like GMail, Facebook, and Twitter.

Wave is built on HTML5 and the Google Web Toolkit. What's more, the team plans to make the source code powering Wave open source to encourage developer involvement in the project's continued growth and evolution. If you'd like to get involved, head over to the Wave Developer Blog for API information and a look at what you can build with Wave.

[via Official Google Blog ]

Filed under: Fun, Internet, Video, Productivity, Web services

Dont be late! 3rd Dimension will get you through the traffic

real time traffic on mobile phonesNever be late again with real time streaming traffic on your mobile device. This way cool mobile traffic report from 3rd Dimension is a free application that lets users keep on top of real time traffic reports through live videos. The application will only run on compatible mobile devices like Blackberry's, Palm Treos, and Motorola RAZRs. Don't know how we missed this one, but it launched back in November, and is sure to have drivers in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut driving for joy.

The WCBS Cellmate mobile application has running access to over 400 roadside traffic cams, and is available to cell phone subscribers that have data plans on Sprint, Cingular, T-Mobile or Verizon. If you don't have an unlimited data plan watch out, most videos are real time, with some updating every few seconds.

[via GigaOM]

Filed under: Web services

Instant Domain Search

Instant Domain Search

Ah, Ajax. How fond I am of thee. Instant Domain Search is what it sounds like: As you type in the entry field, it shows you in real time whether the .com, .net, and .org domain names are available. If the domain is available it presents you with a number of registrar options (I wish it showed prices next to each), and if it's not available it gives you options for back-ordering, Alexa query, and so on. Instant Domain Search also has a handy feature that lets you save searches (in a cookie) by pressing Ctrl+S. Of course, Instant Domain Search is getting referral bonuses for every domain registered through it, but I can't fault it for making some money. I think for brainstorming the name of your next web startup it could definitely come in handy.

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, ...

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