iAdvantage

Froogle Goes Local

2005-11-23T14:43:00.000-08:00

Google is further going local using map and phone.

Froogle just launched (or expanded) from online shopping into 'local shopping' using feeds collected from selective Google Base sources (e.g. ShopLocal.com & StepUp.com). To experience this local shopping product search, simple go to Froogle and do a search on 'ipod', click on the 'local shopping' link appears on the top after your search, then type in your zip code. You'll see local selections with pricing information. A local map will appear on the right, with legends pointing to where you can find the item being searched upon at the local stores. The integration of Google Map with local listings paves the foundation to challenge old-school yellowpages and other online classified.

What about telephone, a big part of traditional yellowpages where you advertise your business phone and address to connect with buyers? Google is testing a new way of connecting merchants with online visitors via phone by Google Click-to-Call. All it takes to ask for a merchant to get in touch with you is by you typing in your phone number online, then the merchant will be called upon when your phone also rings. Google will foot the phone bill for the most part (unless you're using cellphone). You, as consumer, pay virtually nothing.

eBay Plans Offline Discounts in 2006

2005-11-17T14:40:00.000-08:00

It is quite true that eBay is planning on offering local merchants to list offline printable coupons. The first vertical eBay is planning is the auto service category that it has a good tracking record in. eBay sold more than 1 million cars already since launched, that gives them a lot of confidence to expand into printable classified with coupons in that category.

"EBay plans to develop by as early as next year a new area devoted to automotive services on its existing eBay Motors site. It may be a stand-alone service category where consumers could search for service discounts and coupons." -- post-gazette.com business news

With eBay expanding the classified listing to protect its ground from Google Base invasion, other two start-ups Oodle and LiveDeal (recently funded with $4.85M series B, 25 employees) are competing head-to-head specialized in classified trying to catch up with Craigslist which eBay has minority stake. I paid a quick visit to LiveDeal's new headquarter in Santa Clara, CA, talked to a couple nice people there. LiveDeal's planning to expand into canada with the new funding.

Google Base Beta Launched

2005-11-16T18:05:00.000-08:00

Boom! Google Base released bata today.

As speculated before, it is a universal database of some sort to collect structural content from the public. The challenges regarding the content quality waited to be seen and the ripple effects to the Web users will be more clear as more analyists and users see this new ambitious application in place tomorrow morning.

I noticed at least one clause of the Google Base Policy states the following to guard its quality:

"Posting is not permitted for the promotion of affiliate sites or products sold through an affiliate marketing relationship."

Go to Google Base now, and search for 'amazon rebate' to see what you get.

Social E-Commerce

2005-11-15T22:18:00.000-08:00

The discount shopping sector is heating up a bit this week at a pace more quickly than I expected:

1. Yahoo Integrate Yahoo Deals

Starting yesterday, a product search on Yahoo shopping not only takes you to product results, but also a link to deals if the product can be applied with coupon. For example, do a search on '1800flowers' at http://shopping.yahoo.com. You may see product results with a link of 'Deals available' list all available deals and coupons. The theme of Yahoo shopping is still product focus, not deal focus. But it could position a threat to us in the long run unless we beat them up with awesome content.

2. Yahoo Launched Shoposhere - Shoposhere is a 'social ecommerce' application that buyers can 'search, save, and share', the concept that I preached with some of you recently that I hope to adopt.

3. Google Analytics Launched - This free service made many entrepreneurs waked up yesterday only found that their business is suddenly at risk.

Amazon Signed SideStep

2005-11-10T22:11:00.000-08:00

Just today, Amazon signed deal with SideStep to launch Travel Search within Amazon in early 2006.

SideStep is a meta travel search engine which direct compete with Kayak, a travel deal partner of Keeca. Keeca partners with Kayak and now Amazon will do similar with SideStep to step into consumer search of travel area starting 2006.

Stats shows that Kayak is gaining ground while SideStep is losing, the 2 are head-to-head after these months. With Amazon joining force with SideStep, the consumer search area will continue to heat up. The move also indicate Amazon model transition from traditional e-tailer to consumer oriented search selling traffic and earn commission as Amazon demonstrate.

Internet Market Watch

2005-10-28T21:54:00.000-07:00

1. Jux2.com (formerly best meta search engine of 2005) sold on eBay, final price $101K.

2. Social Bookmark (or Social Search Engine) keep heating up.

Yahoo MyWeb 2.0
del.icio.us (rising new star)
furl.net (owned by Looksmart.com)

3. LookSmart advocates a way of combining search results mixed/integrated of

Rumored Google Base

2005-10-25T21:45:00.000-07:00

Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. What are the potential impacts if Google decided to modify its mission to not only organize others information but also claim the ownership of such information?

Google is secretly working on a Google Data Base concept, which is essentially an Admin Tool for people to post content with 'attributes' and allow the original author to tag the postings. The snap shot shows the pilot experiment using an example related to Real Estate sector.

Rumors also say a Google is working on something related to Classified Search.

Concept of Smart Online Shopping

2005-10-14T22:14:00.000-07:00

Take a look at this clip that promote the concept of smart online shopping.

Google Scholar

2004-11-19T14:41:00.000-08:00

Similar to LookSmart's FindArticles but much serious, Google started offer high-quality search for scholars called Google Scholar. According to Google:

"Google Scholar enables you to search specifically for scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports from all broad areas of research. Use Google Scholar to find articles from a wide variety of academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and universities, as well as scholarly articles available across the web."

Google Scholar was a project dreamed up during "20% time," that is, the time Google allows its employees to sit around dreaming up cool stuff. This is one more tool at your fingertips to squeeze more competitive advantages out of the Web for you.

Personalized Search

2004-10-05T10:17:00.000-07:00

Recently, many search engines has started rolling out Web search that is claimed to be 'personalized.' First from A9.com, it is backed by online merchant Amazon.com. The search offer heavy browser end scripts to achieve fast and smooth interaction with users. The search on the personal front is that it saves your search history, search result of your picks, and you can save your notes with the listings if you will. Shortly after A9's birth, ask.com rolled out its personalized search function that it save and share the listings you like with others. Shortly after, Yahoo released its mysearch.yahoo.com pretty much loaded with the same set of features - save and share your search results with others - via fairly easy user interface. Among them, A9.com took the step further to offer a 'discover' feature that it recommends links are based on your search and browsing history and are updated at least once a day.

However, the only search engine that lives up to the definition of 'personalization' so far is Google. Google is also the earliest search engine that explored personalized search and realsed its beta Google Personalized site long before other competitors. Google Personalized takes in user's preference, and arrange search results' positions based on such profile, making it real personalization to some extend without introducing any complexity to the users.

1.57% Amazon Shopping Advantage

2004-09-17T11:11:00.000-07:00

Product marketplace leader Amazon and Google paid-listings are converging through the launch of A9.com owned by Amazon. A9 distributes Google's paid-listings to contribute to A9's revenue stream. To attract visitors to A9, Amazon just started to subsidize 1.57% of sales for selected buyers to promote A9.com usage. Anyone who would like to get additional 1.57% discount (50% of pie) of Amazon purchases can get it by signing up and start using A9.com. What a great instant rewarding idea!

How? Go to A9.com, sign up with the same email you use on Amazon, perform some searches, go back to Amazon. The extra 1.57% savings on top of other offers you found is yours.

Google Deskbar

2004-09-17T09:07:00.000-07:00

Similar to the idea of Blinx that I mentioned in my previous posting, Google Lab rolled out an desktop version of search tool for Windows platform. The Google Deskbar is a toolbar that you install and appear on the Window's status bar so you can search from any Windows application anytime you need. Once you type in a keyword in the search box, it is easy to perform Web, news, images, definition, theasurus, groups searches and switch among them.

Google Local Search

2004-09-17T09:03:00.000-07:00

Google Local Search has matched Yahoo's Local Search with a map display to show the matched results near by a given address. The move heat up the technical competition between Yahoo and Google. At the end, consumers are the ones who benefit from the more mature technology.

Local Search on the Web

2004-08-07T11:00:00.000-07:00

I believe the advantages gained from the Web is depend on how accurate and fast you get the information you want from the Web. Searches of all sort let you engage with overwhelming information inundated on the net. Among different kind of searches, local search has the potential to replace traditional white pages, which focuses on locating offline service providers near your location.

Both Yahoo and Google have local search down to zip code in Beta. Yahoo's Local Search and Google's Local Search share the same merit of given a search term and zip code, the searchers can see the matches close to the zip code sorted by distance. Both services are integrated with map so you can see the location on screen.

I found it more useful to start with a map lookup on Yahoo. You can get the map of your location, then click on the 'SmartView' option on the Yahoo map, which gives you good overview of where the nearby restaurants, recreation center, shopping places, community services, ATMs, gas stations, etc. are located. Some day, the interactive map will replace your dependency on yellow pages completed. It's just a matter of time.

FYI about DIY

2004-07-23T10:37:00.000-07:00

I ran to Home Depot and Lowe's these days to find rescue for my weeded lawn and I got some fertilizer and a weed removal tool to try on. My wife and I also think about turning part of our garage into a storage room or a small home office. Obviously, we know that we have to hire someone else for lacking of hands-on skills and know-how.

Usually when I'm at Home Depot, my son followed me around while I really don't have much idea what I should be looking for my needs. I wanted to show him how things can be done but my lacking knowledge doesn't help me much, or at all. In store, I'm out of luck, I don't even know what to ask and how to ask sometimes. Online, I ran into some rescue.

For your information, the site to the help is DIYnet.com. Though I'm not sure how much or how deep information or projects it covers yet, at least I quickly find a written article about weeds prevention and I had also went thought a interactive tutorial about patching and reseeding a small lawn area. Now I feel a bit better and more confident to combat with weeds not, at least. As a result, I'll hold off looking for books or videos about how to deal with specific projects that I'd like to achieve. In fact, I've been looking for such materials but to no avail until now I found it online at DIYnet.com.

Though search engines might help me finding information. For DIY things, I'll turn to DIYnet.com from now on.

DIYnet.com, also DIYnetwork.com. According to the 'About Us' of the site, here I quote:

"you'll find more than 10,000 projects with complete step-by-step instructions, resources and related links. This Webby Award winning site has more than 20 message boards, where do-it-yourselfers share ideas, plus an interactive program guide. Site highlights include online Workshops, and DIY Kits, with instructions and product lists. Start doing it yourself today! To begin, simply click on your favorite DIY topic: Autos & Boats, Crafts, Gardening, Hobbies, Home Building, Home Improvement, Living and Woodworking."

Blinkx, is it a Search?

2004-07-19T17:18:00.000-07:00

Blinkx (www.blinkx.com) let you search in a blink without doing a search. This is a productivity tool I tried today.

The major difference comparing Blinks to Google search is that it does not require an explicit search term to be typed into a search box. Instead, the software tool automatically scan through the content on your 'active window', derive the keywords from the active window, do a search in the background, and make available of top results in form of pulldown integrated on your active window top. The results are grouped into categories - web, news, product, blog, etc. Search terms and click on button is not necessarily required.

The advantage of Blinkx is to eliminate the search terms, a required element for the searchers before conducting a search. When you have less ability to come up with search terms or you do not have enough idea about what you should be looking up, Blinx is acting as a keyword suggestion tool without explicitly keyword recommendation. It simply does the search for you using the keyword it calculates appropriate.

I personally found it a neat idea to auto-search in the background for me, in any window, on any page. However, my iMac does not has the luxury to equip with it yet to try out for a longer time. With all the tools and information available, one neat tiny tool can possibly make a big difference. I'm not sure whether this tool will make a bid splash or not, but, this extension of Google Adsense type of relevant ads is start being applied to provide relevant information on the fly to users.

Keyword Advertising and Bankruptcy

2004-07-15T12:54:00.000-07:00

Web sites needs eyeballs, pageviews, or traffic to sell content or products. Google Adwords, Overture, FindWhat, etc. all provide cost-per-click (CPC) service to merchants or sites to buy web traffic via bidding on keywords. The thing is 'keyword' is the focus, thus it became a commodity, virtually, being bought and sold in a way online to gain targeted visitors for the merchants, and to earn revenue for the search companies.

There's a company called NORVERGENCE has just filed Chapter 11 and is falling on tough financial times. How is it related to CPC advertising? Indeed, it is related in this not-so-crazy world. You might not be able to buy a trademark keyword of a company name in some cases, either you'll be strong-armed to take the bid down, or the seller like Google won't sell the keyword at all for one reason or another. When the company like NORVERGENCE is going under in T1 market, their competitor(s) is sending out emails to affiliate, strongly suggesting them to buy and bid on 'NORVERGENCE'.

Here's the original email I mentioend:

Dear XXXXXXX,

OPPORTUNITY IS KNOCKING TONIGHT
---------------------------------------------------
In our business, acting quickly to changes in the T1
industry is what helps us gain an advantage over
our competitors. One such change just occured today!

A large carrier called NORVERGENCE has fallen on tough
financial times. So tough in fact that all of their
T1 customers run a significant risk of having their
service turned OFF on JULY 15 (tomorrow).
---------------------------------------------------

CALL TO ACTION
---------------------------------------------------
If you advertise online, please add 'norvergence' to your
list of keywords - also add it to your META tags and
mirror site content. There will be a significant flow
of traffic to that keyword in the coming days.
---------------------------------------------------

Happy Advertising,

Patrick Oborn, CTO
ShopForT1.com
poborn@shopfort1.com

What's the point? The idea behind this suggested practice is to act quickly to hijack competitor's potential or even existing customer base. Will this work? My guess is that this approach will work to some extend. For one, people searching on 'NORVERGENCE' hopefully is looking for problems of the company, or might be existing customers seeking for solution to the potential outage. It is the later that is highly targeted potential customer. When it comes to keyword bidding and purchsing, sheer numbers of traffic you get is one thing, relevant targeted traffic is another, and is oftenly more important.

I hop on Overture and did a search on 'norvergence', I got the followings ranked #1:

NorVergence Bankruptcy: Customer Issues
Keeping your phone lines turned on - Ensure your service, connections, and telephone numbers remain intact with no interruption of service as a result of NorVergence's recent bankruptcy.
www.myameritel.com (sponsored listing)
(Advertiser's Max Bid: $2.00)

Someone is really doing it.

Dictionary and Web Definition

2004-07-14T17:05:00.000-07:00

Speaking of information gap, the gap is definitely widening. To achieve the same thing as simple as looking up a reference book, dictionar for example, the old way is to thumb through a dictionary, the new way is do it on a electronic dictionary. As many of you are on the Internet, the place I usually go for looking up a definition of a word is at Dictionary.com, and I also found InfoPlease.com a great reference site. If you're on Google, type 'dictionary:[word]' will take you to some dictionary definitaion too.

Once you get used to it at the finger tip, I can easily look up and learn about a work, how it is pronounced, and it's meaning withing seconds, as opposed to dozens of seconds to achieve the same thing using traditional way of a paper dictionary. The dictionary lookup has been built into many software tools since years ago. I remember the Encarta reference CD-ROM was packaged with the iMac I bought several years ago. Since them, the efficient way of doing research electronically has been promoted by man parties.

Today, the search king Google offers comprehensive Web search at google.com, as many other search engines do. Using a specific syntax offered by Google, you can look up a 'Web definition' the a word or key phrase like a nutrition supplement or something you'd like to know about. Try this, in the google search box, type in 'define:idea', you'll get the Web view of what the 'idea' is being defined as on many Web sites. Try another word yourself, this will give you better idea of what this useful tool brings.

I use it a lot now to weed out untargeted information and to get to the definition of a word or phrase directly without needing to read through too much Web results. I am the type of person who does a lot of 'What is' type of queries on the Web. Now, this is easier for me, how about you?

Grand Open - Internet Information Gap

2004-07-14T16:54:00.000-07:00

Ideas come and go, I'd rather write them down when I get a chance and when I still rember them. The information gap has widen, thanks to computer and the birth of internet. The gap is biger than before among people who use computer to access the Web and people who don't. Some people love the net while some people hate it and think it is devil, like the newspaper is to people who never read them for one reason or another.

I'd use this blog for ideas relate to the Internet. I'm not sure when this blog will go and where all ideas will take me to in this information world. Whether you like it or not, the ideas brough to this place will be focusing on 'e', a common initial added to commerce and business, as in e-commerce and e-business.

Please join and comment on the ones I put here. Let make it useful, understandable, as well as a practical place to learn together without fearing being the victim of the information gap.