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Filed under: Internet, Google

Google's new Commerce Search helps you find holiday gifts faster!

Google sure knows how to time its innovations. Just in time for the holiday rush, Google have a new search tool -- but not for shoppers like you or I, at least not directly. No, this one's for businesses themselves; it's an enterprise product that straps onto existing online shops! (Sorry, I like anything that sounds vaguely Star Trekkie.)

Citing the ol' chestnut that most visitors spend on average just eight seconds before deciding if it's the right site for them or not, Google's Commerce Search replaces any kind of built-in search engine that an e-commerce shop might already have installed. Rather than hosted locally, it's hosted up in the big Google cloud, so as business gradually increases in the weeks up until Christmas, the Commerce Search will remain quick and snappy, not buckling under the increased load!

And as you all know, Google prides itself on the accuracy of its results -- so being able to search a shop quickly and reliably for the gift you want can only be a good thing for us this Christmas.

There's a lot more info over on the Google Blog itself, so go take a look.

Filed under: Business, Utilities, Google, Android

Google Android now has a barcode scanner

It just became a really good idea to take your Google Android device shopping with you. Android now packs a barcode scanning feature that plugs into Google's Mobile Product Search database, so you can compare prices on items you find and see if it might be cheaper to buy online. The scanner currently works best with media like books and dvds, or with electronics, but more products are being added all the time.

To enable it, browse on your Android phone to Google.com, select "More" and then "Shopping" and Product Search. Then click on the Scan Barcode button. This should install the software on your device. To use the app once it's open, you can just point the red line over a barcode, and Android should do the rest. If it doesn't work for the item you want, you can still resort to old-fashioned keyboard search.

[via AppScout]

Filed under: Internet, Web services

Amazanian makes searching Amazon easier

Amazanian
Amazon.com is a storehouse of useful information whether you're looking to buy something or just find information about it. But generally you have to first enter your search term and then click through to a product page to find items like customer reviews or sales rank.

Amazanian
is a web site that uses the Amazon API to provides mode detailed information on the search results page. For each item, you'll find a price, release date, availability information, customer rating, category, and sales rank. You can also click on tabs to read editorial or customer reviews and see similar products. And you add items to a shopping list with the click of a button. When you're ready to check out from Amazon, you can click a button on the shopping list to add everything to your Amazon cart.

[via Lifehacker]

Filed under: Internet, Search

GoogAzon Firefox Add-on ads Amazon listings to web search results

GoogAzon
If you do a lot of shopping at Amazon and a lot of comparison shopping or product research on Google, you might want to check out the GoogAzon add-on for Firefox. Once installed, any time you search for an item on Google, you'll also see the top search result for your query from Amazon.

If a single product listing isn't good enough, just click the "see top 10 items" button and a list of 10 items from Amazon will drop down. Hovering over a link brings up an image of the product. You can also click the Share button to email a product link.

Despite it's name, GoogAzon isn't limited to Google searches. It also works with Yahoo! and MSN Live.

GoogAzon does appear to inject an Amazon Affiliate code into the links, so the plugin's author will likely make a few bucks any time you actually buy an item found through a GoogAzon search. But it shouldn't cost you anything extra.

[via Firefox Facts]

Filed under: Internet, Browsers

eBay launches browser-based price comparison tool

eBay Browser Highlighter
Online auction site eBay has launched a a new tool that makes it easy to find out how much an item is selling for on eBay even when you're visiting another site. It's called Browser Highlighter, and here's how it works. You download and install the tool, and then when you're searching for items on selected sites, a "compare on eBay" button will appear. Click the button and a window will pop up over the web page you're currently reading with a list of eBay items matching the term you were searching for.

Browser Highlighter doesn't work with every site on the web. But it does work with Google and Yahoo! search pages, Google and Yahoo! shopping pages, Amazon, and Nextag. Say for example, you're searching for an iPod. You can search Amazon for iPods, and see a list of items matching your query on Amazon. Then you can click the compare on eBay button to see if you can find a better deal on ebay before making your purchase from Amazon.

The plugin also comes bundled with the Skype browser extension that lets you click any phone number on a web page in order to initiate a call with Skype. This plugin's been available as a separate download for a while. While you can uninstall the Skype plugin once it's installed, there does not appear to be a way to opt out of installing it in the first place if all you want is the Borwser Highlighter.

Browser Highlighter works with Firefox and Internet Explorer and is available for Windows only. eBay plans to release a Mac version that works with Safari soon.

[via TechCrunch]

Filed under: Business, Internet, Web services

eBay to ban checks and money orders in late October

PayPalThere's no question that PayPal is one of the easiest ways to send and receive payments for items bought on eBay. But since the online auction site was founded, users were able to send checks or arrange payments via other methods if they were more convenient. Now all that's about to change.

Starting in about a month, eBay will stop allowing users to send checks or money orders as payment for items purchased on the US version of the site. You'll only be able to pay using PayPal, ProPay, credit or debit cards (if the seller has an internet merchant account), or pay for the item upon pickup.

In January, eBay will make sure all of these options are easily available in the checkout section. For example, you'll be able to enter your credit card information to complete a purchase if a seller is authorized to accept credit cards.

eBay tried to issue a PayPal-only requirement in Australia earlier this year, but regulators ruled that the move would be anti-competitive.

[via Ars Technica]

Filed under: Internet

PleaseDressMe: A search engine for T-shirts

PleaseDressMe
Need to find the perfect T-shirt, but don't know where to turn? You could browse online T-shirt stores like Threadless and BustedTees for clever, ironic, or stupid shirts. Or you could turn to PleaseDressMe, a new T-shirt search engine from Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV fame (plus his brother and a few other guys).

You can browse PleaseDressMe by tag, price or color. Or you can search by keyword. Honestly, searching is probably the least useful way to find a shirt on the site. I searcheed for Linux and got zero hits. A search for Mac only turned up 1 shirt. Seriously, what kind of T-shirt search engine can only find a single Mac shirt? But when I clicked on the color, price, and tag opptions, I found plenty of shirts I'd be proud to wear in public. You know, under a dress shirt and tie.

[via TechCrunch]

Filed under: Internet, Microsoft

Microsoft buys price comparison, research company for $486 million

Ciao
Microsoft is apparently throwing around some of the money it didn't spend on buying Yahoo! or Facebook this year. Steve Ballmer recently pulled $486 million out of his wallet to acquire Greenfield Online, the German company that runs price comparison and shopping portal Ciao.

The move could help Microsoft make inroads with European internet users. Ciao receives over 26 million unique visitors each month. Greenfield also operates an online sales and market research division, but apparently Microsoft isn't as interested in that business. PaidContent reports that the company plans to sell off the research arm and just hang onto Ciao.

Sure, Microsoft could have just pumped a few million dollars into making its own shopping site more useable, but when you've got mountains of cash lying around, sometimes it's easier to just buy an already popular service.

Filed under: Internet, Search

TypoBuddy Finds Misspelled eBay, Craigslist (?) Deals



TypoBuddy, like previously reviewed TypoTracker, helps you find deals by searching for misspelled variations of the items you search for. Why?

Because most people that search for a particular item will try to spell it right - meaning that listings with typos might go unnoticed, and you'll wind up getting a sweet deal just because some seller was careless enough to not check his or her typing.

It's a great concept, but does it work?

I tried submitting a few queries to both sites, first looking for "thinkpad." Although TypoBuddy told me it had found 100 misspelled matches, clicking through to the eBay results netted only 76 - still very respectable. The search automatically homes in on your locale, so you may need to change locations to get more results.

Read more →

Filed under: Windows, Freeware, Browsers

Lauge - A Browser For eBay Junkies!



If you happen to buy or sell on eBay frequently, the Lauge custom browser is an interesting tool you'll want to check out.

Lauge sports a ton of functionality that makes using eBay less bothersome. The search tab provides a handy tree view of all eBay categories and makes navigation around the site a snap; favorite your go-to categories to access them quickly later. It also includes a simple keyword search and seller search with results filtering options.

Once you've selected a category to browse, Lauge activates the gallery view which provides a thumbnailed view of all eBay gallery items. It's a great visual tool for separating the wheat from the chaff in a hurry. Item listings can be sorted in the same ways as on eBay's site, and you can fully customize which columns you'd like displayed in the results pane. Some options, like item condition (which would be truly useful) don't yet display, though that may have more to do with sellers not specifying it in the first place.

Lauge also handles tabbed browsing, making it easy to switch back and forth between items or categories. On the downside, the panes aren't resizable which can make the item view a bit cramped. Clicking the orange "eject" button will open a full screen view that remedies the situation and lets you view the item in detail as you would on eBay.

Lauge supports English and German, and requires the MSXML 4 download.

Filed under: Productivity, Web services, iPhone

iPhone App Review: Send gifts on the go with Gifter

We love to see iPhone apps that are designed with phone users in mind. Ports of desktop apps -- chat clients, games, etc. -- are all well and good, but the mobile-specific stuff really shines. Take Gifter, for example. It's an app that lets you buy and send gifts from your iPhone.

Can someone please write Gifter into a romantic comedy? We could totally see Tom Hanks frantically ordering flowers from his iPhone on the train. You can send more than flowers, though: Gifter is hooked up with vendors for books, movies, jewelry and even teddy bears. Now when you see those birthdays in your iPhone's address book, you can do something about them. It might not be the app with the most geek cred -- hey, they didn't drop any vowels from the name! -- but it works.

Filed under: Internet, Browsers

Pluribo reads Amazon product reviews so you don't have to

Pluribo
One of the great things about shopping on Amazon is that you can read through dozens, if not hundreds of user reviews. While expert and editorial reviews can give you a sense of whether an item is worth the sale price, user reviews will let you know whether you should expect it to fall apart the moment you unpack the box.

But who has time to sift through hundreds of reviews when you just want someone to tell you whether you should buy this digital camera or that one? That's where Pluribo comes in. This Firefox add-on will read through the user reviews in certain product categories and present you with a concise summary.

The plugin uses some artificial intelligence so you don't wind up with short, choppy, and unreadable reviews. Don't expect Shakespeare, but Pluribo will give you enough information that you might not need to read the individual reviews.

Right now, Pluribo doesn't work with products in every category. For example, digitial cameras seem to be covered, but video cameras aren't.

[via Digital Inspiration]

Filed under: Internet, Web services

Fididel launches online marketplace: Why bid when you can haggle?

Fididel

While eBay is busy annoying its power sellers by raising fees and changing its policy on digital goods, a bunch of new companies are popping up and hoping to grab a little piece of the online sales pie that eBay has been hogging. Fididel is a new site that aims to differentiate itself from other auction/retail sites by letting buyers and sellers negotiate prices in real-time.

At first glance, Fididel looks pretty much like every other online store you've ever seen. You can search for items by keyword or you can browse through a list of categories. but when you click the "fididel!" button, things get a bit funky. Instead of a bid or checkout page, you get taken to a chat window. And we're using the word chat loosely here, because there's actually only a predefined list of comments that you can leave. While this probably prevents buyers from swearing or making inappropriate comments to sellers, it also constrains the terms of your haggling session a bit.

But the important thing is that you can find an item listed for $100, offer $50, and meet somewhere in the middle. The whole process can be much quicker than waiting for an eBay auction to end. of course, the seller needs to be online in order for you to have a real-time negotiation session. But if you don't sit in front of your computer all day, you can hire another Fididel member to do your negotiating for you for a commission fee.

[via TechCrunch]

Filed under: Business, Internet, Web services, Mobile Minute

Amazon TextBuyIt: Shop via SMS

TextBuyIt
How often have you been out walking your dog when it suddenly occurs to you that you forgot to order the latest Lemony Snicket book? Well, now you can place your order without going to a store or waiting until you home and plop yourself back in front of a computer for the rest of the day. Just pull out your cellphone and send a text message with an item name to AMAZON (262966) thanks to a new Amazon service called TextBuyIt.

While we don't think anyone expects you to do all of your shopping from your phone (especially if you don't have an unlimited data plan), you can search for items by keyword, or ISBN UPC code. That means you can easily check prices on items while you're in a bricks and mortar store. Want to see if that computer, blender, or video game on the shelf is reasonably priced? Just check it out with Amazon.

[via The Associated Press]

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

Track price drops with Price!pinx

Price!pinx
Have your eye on the Macbook Air, but don't want to pull the trigger and buy one until Steve Jobs drops the price by a few hundred bucks? You could keep hitting refresh on the Apple Store page from now until eternity. Or you could have Price!pinx send you an email when the price changes.

Here's how it works. You drag a Price!pinx bookmarklet to your browser toolbar. Then whenever you visit a product page on any web-based store, you just highlight the price of the item you're interested in and hit the bookmarklet. The Price!pinx page will pop up and if you enter your email address the service will send you a message as soon as the price changes.

You can also register for a free account to manage all of your notifications in one place. But there's no registration required to set up a basic alert.

[via Techie Buzz]

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With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

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