Search is Dead, and I Don't Feel So Well Myself...

Is traditional searching of the interwebz dead? Bing certainly seems to think so, and Google, though not as vocal, has amended its search features as well. This article discusses that Bing's people are saying traditional ways of searching the web--text content, links, etc--isn't as useful as it used to be. Today, they claim, people want more than just the standard web search results when they type in "seafood." They want the restaurants with the best reviews, they want the best recipes, and they don't necessarily want the history of fried seafood. Ok, understandable. We all want what we want, and don't want the unnecessary.

So, how are Bing and Google achieving this miracle of mind-reading? Crystal balls? Tea leaves? Government mind control devices? No, no, nothing that complicated. Bing, if you are simultaneously logged in to Facebook and Bing, will look at your and your friend's "Likes" and will use that to influence your search outcomes. Google is using their +1 feature, which allows you and your friends to rate websites for their content. A higher +1 rating among your friends means that the site will show up higher in rank on your searches. Essentially, both of these features are asking your friend's opinions about your topic, and guiding the search results based on that.

As with most things, I can see the good and bad with this. If I were able to tell Bing/Google which friends to listen to, I'd be gold. I have some friends who, upon the search for "seafood" would begin asking if the restaurant's menu also has chicken fingers, since that is all they consent to eat. Other friends, though dear to my heart, are not to be trusted for movie recommendations. You get the idea.

So now, we get to sit back and watch to see if this will revolutionize the interwebz search process, or if is more of an annoyance than it is worth.



^{*bonus points to anyone who can tell me which author the title of this post is an homage to.}

Something to keep an eye on...

So, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has announced that it has added 35 new members, saying that it shows an interest in web standards such as HTML.

First, we don't expect everyone to know that there was even a W3C in existence. We'll give you a pass, it's a web geek thing. But the W3C is hoping that with these new inductees (Sony, LG Electronics, Netflix and Facebook are among the 35) will help to breathe new life into the innovation of HTML and the interwebz.

That's cool, you say, but really, what does it mean for me? Well, if there are new innovations made for the interwebz, it means that--should you implement those innovations on your website--you then are cutting-edge for your products as well as your clients. And of course, someone has to learn and implement those changes, thus bringing some economic opportunities for web developers. Innovation always brings competition and change to the marketplace. Hence why you should keep an eye on what goes on in web innovation. We're just saying....


And, to indulge our ADHD a little, here's a smattering of things that caught our eye but really don't have anything to do with anything:

Super cool looking PC case: Lian Li PC-U6 Cowry case: an aluminum seashell to keep your PC looking stylish

Well this should be interesting: Firefox 4 downloads way ahead of IE9

Failed Gadgets: Buxton Collection