MATEOSQUARED’S iSEARCH

Larry Dignan of ZDNet pronounced today that the social Web is over, and we might as well all go home and find something else to do.

IBM launching social networking software (just for those corporate types that just can’t wait to produce MySpace-ish pages) is the same as the cabby and the real estate flipper down the street. Translation: The social networking run is over. Goodbye. It’s kaput.

Is it the end of the world as we know it? Most likely not. It is just the natural progression of trends and fringe concepts coming to the mainstream. The Web is more than software and applications, it is people and people are not going to stop communicating. True, dinosaurs like IBM will try to set “standards” and “rules of the Web”, but they will not be able to have the control that they had in the past. The social Web is too unruly and big for one or even several companies to take over. Google has tried, as has Yahoo!, but no luck… yet.

FoodieView is another vertical search engine that I recently came across. The site allows people to search specifically for recipes, and things associated with recipes such as ingredients and chefs.

Since I am on a continual hunt for new recipes online, to cheap to buy cookbooks, I found this site to very helpful in identifying the best recipes out there. Like many vertical search engines, the site offers categories that can be used to scale down the results and find the exact recipe you are looking for. I at first hoped they would have the categories more obvious before the search, so that a visitor could identify a specific area such as chicken, side dish, Mexican, low carb without having the use the search feature. After a little more time spent studying the home page, I found the link to the categories. I guess I should have paid more attention the first time.

A cool feature a FoodieView is that you can save all the recipes you find in your very own recipe box, and then share with friends. One thing I think that would be a nice to have is the ability to have an RSS feed of the recipe search results, kind of like how Google does it with its alerts. That way I could keep up with new recipes in a specific category without having to visit the site. True the site already makes recipe hunting convenient, but there is always room for new ideas.

As you search the results you will notice that all of the recipes are free. They apparently do not index recipe sites that have subscriptions or require registrations.

Go check it out, you will not be able to find as relevant results on the major search engines.

I was thinking last night that it would be nice to have a place to be able to easily find information on Sudoku, so I created one. I would like to introduce, Mateosquared’s Sudoku. It is of course in Beta, but already offers several features that will help any Sudoku enthusiast. This includes Sudoku news, a search engine just for Sudoku, book store and a forum. If you do not know what Sudoku is, and would like an indepth explanation check-out Wikipedia’s Sudoku entry. Why do I not have this information on my site? I didn’t thing there was a reason to reinvent the wheel and/or have duplicate content. That’s why they call it a Web, everything is tied together.

Enjoy, and please leave feedback.

In the past I have written about several map mash-ups and Web sites that are really cool, and provide a great service. MapShark can put them all together with a map mash-up vertical search engine. Andrew Mitton, a programming hobbyist in Alaska, came up with this conept using Google’s custom search engine. It is very cool, and will save a lot of time when looking for maps and related information.

Here are some the feature online maps that are offered on MapShark:

• Find items nearby from Ebay, Craigslist, and local stores at Findnearby.
• Explore the world at Maplandia.
• Find a bed and breakfast at Pillows & Pancakes.
• See real time locations of all trains in the city of Dublin Ireland at Dartmaps.
• View classified ads on a map on Mapdango.

ReadPal claims that they will help people read easier online with their new technology. It is a plug-in for Internet Explorer, Word and Outlook, that pulls the text out of the page and pops up a new window in the font, font size and color of your choice. Seems to work well, and you could save a lot of trees by using ReadPal. You can’t save anything, but at least you are saving the environment, and maybe even your eyes.
The unfortunate thing is that it does not work on Firefox, so there really is no reason to write about this product. Why would somebody launch a new tool that is not compatible on multiple browsers? It doesn’t make any sense. It is the strangest thing I have ever seen. Is it 1999 again?

We have the same blog template…

TitleTrader is an off the beaten path book swapping site that isn’t flashy, but seems to have a nice following and collection of books. What I found interesting was the way books are swapped. Members list the books they want, and the books they are willing to give away. Not too different from other sites. The difference is that once someone is willing to put a book out on the swap to site, they search for people looking for that book. Once they find that person, they contact them and then send the book. It seems to the sender will pay for shipping, but it all will even out if you participate and in the community by sending and receiving.

Members earn points by participating, and are able to do more swapping as they get more points. In order to get the most benefit out of this site, members have to participate. Much like in the real world, participating in our communities allows us to not only help ourselves, but also helps others.

Think of the potential cost savings if you have a lot of books, and want many more.

They also allow people to swap DVDs, videotapes and video games.

Cellswapper offers a service that allows people to get out of their current cell/wireless contracts without having to pay an early termination fee. This could be a great way to get the new Apple iPhone without having to have wait for your current contract to end. It seems they have found a loophole in the service providers agreements, that states if you can find someone else to pay out your contract, you do not have to pay any fees. Cellswapper helps facilitate the process by allowing people who want to get out of their contracts to post their current plans on the site for a nominal “success” fee. Seems legitimate. Looks like some people even offer their current phones as an incentive. Just make sure you have a can of Lysol or other disinfectant before using your “new” phone.

Watch out for the people with the big heads…
*I am in no way promoting the Apple or Lysol brands.

If nothing else, I would have to say this is one of the most bold Web site names out there when it comes to search engines. Sure we have Google, Ask, Cha-Cha, Clusty, but do any of them describe a segment of their target market, like Cranky? Cranky is a search engine for the 50+ crowd, and focuses the search results on issues that they are concerned with. True the same information found on Cranky could be found on one of the other search engines listed above, but it would not be as much fun. How fun would it be to say, “I went to Google today to look up the newest AARP discounts”, when you could say they same thing and say Cranky instead of Google. It puts it all in context. Ahh, Cranky…

Cranky does offer some cool features. For example, Boomers who are members of Eons, the parent company, can rate Web sites and search results using four stars and a lemon.  They can also write reviews/comments about the search results, and the link to the comment is posted within the results. Also, you will see links within the search results that will take you to specific pages of the site you are searching for.
Cranky is ran by a new company called Eons which caters to the Boomer generation. Besides search, they offer a lot of other services that people of that generation will find useful. The guys who started this are well ahead of the curve when it comes to serving this very wealthy and mobile generation, and must be cool if they can come up with name like Cranky.

Since I read a lot, I am always looking for deals on books. I have used Alibris, Amazon, Half, AbeBooks and many others in the past, but I am always looking for a better deal. CheapBooks  may be the answer. It is a book search engine that goes out and finds the best prices on books. The site categorizes its results in Used, New and Club Service; then shows the prices from least to most expensive. Some books are 70% off the regular price. Besides the price, the site will also show estimated shipping costs and applicable taxes. Makes book buying online a little more convenient.
CheapBooks, is like a news aggregator for my RSS feeds. Instead of having to go to all of the different books sites, I can go to CheapBooks and search from there. Once I find the best deal I can head over to the site selling the books and purchase it there. By first glace, CheapBooks seems closely tied to Amazon, and will show books’ page views from Amazon.

I noticed that some of the used books are more expensive than the new books, so make sure you look at all of the prices. Sometimes people on eBay and other used book sites get a little greedy and are looking for someone who is not paying attention…

HassleMe is a site out of the UK, that is great for people who like to procrastinate. The site will send you hassling e-mails on a regular basis about anything you want them to. Such as feeding the dog, walking the dog, watering the lawn… All you have to do is enter your e-mail, and the thing you want to be reminded of, and they will Hassle you via e-mail until you tell them to stop. Isn’t the Internet great?

Some popular hassles on their site:

• Go to the gym roughly every 4 days
• Write an entry in my diary roughly every 3 days
• Call your mother roughly every 7 days
• Go to the theatre roughly every 21 days
• Spend 5 hours doing something for mySociety roughly every 28 days
• Practice the piano roughly every 3 days
• Go for a walk in the park roughly every 10 days