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Webitz - Checking out the Web from an amateur's point of view
In the last post I mentioned Google's new Instant Pages. They've also brought out a feature called Google Image Search. Go to images.google.com and test drive the photos of the page. Moving any one of them into the search box will bring up references to that image on Google.
If you click on the little camera icon in the search box, you can upload a photo from your own computer.
The search isn't so effective with images Google doesn't know, of course. I tried a random one off my own computer, and it didn't recognise it at all, which presumably means the photo hasn't ever been loaded onto Google at any point. But another photo - one that's on my blogs - brought up all the blogs comfortably. Scary.
It also adds a number of other photos that resemble the one you're interested in - and does it super fast. And there are Firefox and Chrome add-ons, if you're interested.
I'm sure there's a use for type of search. I'm not sure that I've quite discovered the best use yet, however.
"We're obsessed with speed," said Google's Amit Singhal. "We call speed the killer app. None of us have enough time, and last year's Google Instant was one of the biggest improvements we've made in getting information to users quicker."
Obsessed with speed? I'm so obsessed with it I didn't even realise Google had something called Google Instant. I hadn't even noticed, in fact. Oh, dear!
Well, if you had noticed Google Instant, or given it more than a fleeting nanosecond of your increasingly precious time, you'll need also to notice that Google has gone a step further and are introducing something called Instant PagesYour text goes here, in which Google anticipates which page you want and will load it before you've finished typing your query.
Okay, I think that sounds pretty creepy, but, on the other hand, it's also rather cool. If it works well. Imagine having a page loading while your typing that isn't at all what you want. I don't need to give examples; I'm sure you can come up with plenty of ideas for yourself.
Instant pages are designed to cut a phenomenal 2 to 5 seconds off your search time. Do we really sit there tapping our fingers on the computer desk while waiting 2 to 5 seconds for results to appear on our screens? And couldn't we actually put those 2 to 5 seconds to better use than worrying about whether things are loading fast enough?
In New Zealand, where we're restricted in terms of broadband speed because of our limited access to overseas sites, waiting 2-5 second would be probably considered pretty fantastic. While talking to a friend on Skype last night I tried to load Picnik, so I could tell her how she could use it. By the time it had loaded we'd sorted out the problem and got onto something else.
Okay, it was an isolated occasion, but it's what happens in the evenings around here, when everyone gets home from work and starts reading their emails and uploading and downloading stuff.
On the other hand, in the morning, I'd had to re-download Evernote, because for some reason the programme vanished off the computer when I asked for it to be upgraded to its next level. At first I was told it was going to take and hour and 35 minutes to download the programme again. I don't know who was using what in the house (which is what usually causes problems) but an hour and a half is like, so, 1985....
In the end it downloaded quite happily at normal speed, and I caught the bus I thought I'd miss after all.
Google may be obsessed with speed; most of us are just happy to find the site actually loads in the first place.
One of those out-of-the-blue, serendipitous ideas: travellers need somewhere to lay their heads; hotels booked out; you've got space in your front room and a couple of airbeds...get together!
So Airbnb set up a website to do just that. After a period of not being able to get funding their idea has well and truly taken off, to such a level that on any given night in New York City, there are more people staying in homes through Airbnb (air bed and breakfast) than there are rooms in the biggest Manhattan hotel.
Which of course means big bucks for the founders of the website.
Brian Chesky said the idea for the site came when he and friends needed to make some rent during a big developer conference. They knew hotels were booked out in the city for the duration of the conference, so they decided to pull out some airbeds (hence, the 'air' in airbnb) and rent out the space - effectively killing two birds with one stone.
There are already over 200 listings in New Zealand alone, including five in my home town of Dunedin, with prices varying from $10 a night (a student flat, I'd suspect) to $165. The latter seems a bit pricey for a sleep on the couch arrangement, so obviously some homeowners are offering a bit more than an airbed on the floor.
I wonder if the local Council will start fussing about them being businesses and start charging them business rates on their City Council rates...?
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330 Posts dating from January 2007
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