adamyntium

Category: yahoo

  • Browser toolbar creators are missing one of the simplest, most useful options

    Bookmarks.  Favorites.  Most of us save a list of sites we often visit or want to re-find again… either by adding them as a Bookmark in Firefox or as a Favorite in Internet Explorer or even adding the site to our online list residing on del.icio.us or Spurl, and so on.

    Also, lots of us have browser toolbars by Yahoo! or Google or other folks.  Unfortunately, there’s a huge disconnect here.

    I visit Salon.com regularly.  Same with Google News, SlickDeals, and many other sites.  In Firefox, it’s very easy to assign a shortcut to access any one of my favorite sites; for instance, I can type sd into my Firefox address bar and be immediately whisked to SlickDeals.net.  Even cooler, I can type gns lindy hop and instantly be brought to the search results page of Google News that shows me if there are any recent articles about Lindy Hop.

    The downside?  If I want to use any of these shortcuts on other computers (at a friend’s place, at work, when visiting my parents), I have to somehow copy over my Firefox preference files over via a thumbdrive or whatnot.  Or, if they don’t have Firefox, I’m screwed. 

    This is where browser toolbars come in—or, rather, where they SHOULD come in.

    In a nutshell, ALL the major toolbars should—when I’m logged in to my Passport or Google or Yahoo account or whatever—automatically let me…

    1) Bookmark and assign a shortcut keyword for any site (e.g., msbc for http://microsoft.blognewschannel.com/). 
    Thereafter, I should then be able to type that shortcut into the toolbar search box and immediately be whisked off to that site.

    2) Add a search shortcut by right-clicking on any search box of any site and choosing a shortcut keyword, just like I can do in 10 seconds on Firefox today. 
    For instance, I should be able to easily make amzs creative zen immediately search Amazon for any product with the words creative zen in them.

    *  *  *

    IMHO, this request is both relatively easy to implement and capable of significantly simplifying the online lives of lots of people.  I honestly believe that the first major company to add this feature to their toolbar is likely to have a significant competitive advantage (“Jump to your favorite pages in a jiffy and do fast handy searches… no matter what computer you’re on!”) *and* increased penetration (e.g., if have all my bookmarks via my Google account and I’m visiting my parents who don’t have the Google Toolbar installed on their computer, I may just go ahead and install it for them so I can easily access my bookmark shortcuts :D)

    It’s not like this would require a huge overhaul for the majors, either.  I know that Yahoo!, for instance, already enables people to bookmark pages from their toolbar.  And what a great complement to Yahoo’s My Web 2.0 this would be, eh?!

    *  *  *

    Do you think this feature set would indeed be massively popular?  Or is it instead just something a geek like myself could love?  Your thoughts…?

    *  *  *

    EDITED on January 25, 2006 to add:
    Whoops!  It looks like I overlooked the fact that Yahoo! in fact already does exactly what I’ve outlined above! :O

    Specifically, at least when signed in, you can type an exclamation mark immediately followed by a shortcut and VOILA!  For instance, !ebay canon sd550 brings you directly to the search results listings   page for that camera on ebay.  Additional, you can create your own custom shortcuts.  As a bonus, this works:
    – from the regular address bar (if you’ve set Yahoo! as your default search engine)
    – from the Yahoo! search box on Yahoo’s site.
    – from the Yahoo! toolbar.

    My only quibble?  An exclamation mark is an annoying character to use to indicate a shortcut search, since it requires the use of the shift key (one extra keypress… it adds up!) *and* it’s located on different places depending on your keyboard type (internationally).  I think it’d be better if folks could specify their own shortcut-indicator key.

    Still, this is quite a cool offering from Yahoo!, and thanks to the little byrdie (who wishes to remain anonymous) who let me know about this over e-mail.  Oh, and apologies for overlooking this feature initially!  Google, MSN… you have some catching up to do here ;-).

    Lastly, here are more details on the Yahoo! Open Shortcuts feature.

  • Helpful numbers to save in your phone!

    I invite you to go grab your cell phone / mobile phone / home phone whatever and program the following numbers into it:

    – 1-800-555-8355 (“555 TELL” — TellMe)
    – 1-800-373-3411 (“FREE 411” — Free411)
    – 1-888-392-7563 (“EZ ASK ME” — AskMeNow – Initial signup on site required)
    – 46645 (“GOOGL” – Google SMS beta – Google via Text Messaging)

    NOTE: One or more of these numbers may be U.S.-only… sorry 😐

    For details on each service, read on…

    TELLME
    I’ve been using this service for ages, and it’s really gotten me out of some tight jams!

    Via interactive voice menus, callers can easily get weather reports, serious and entertainment news, movie info, and much more. But the butt-saving features I’ve particularly appreciated are TAXI and DRIVING DIRECTIONS. The former will connect you (free of charge) with a local cab company, and the latter gives you step-by-step spoken driving directions between any two points in the U.S. (powered by “Microsoft MapPoint Technologies”)

    Supposedly, TellMe is ad-supported, but I have yet to hear any ads on the service.

    * * *

    FREE 411
    Tired of paying $1.25 and up to your greedy mobile or landline phone company for directory assistance? Then you’ll especially love Free 411! Not only does it find residential and business phone numbers for you, it also connects you free-of-charge (even to long distance numbers!) This service is apparently ad-supported (e.g., ask for Dominos Pizza, get a 15 second ad for a competing pizza place), but I’ve never heard any ads during the 3-4 times I’ve used this service.

    Voice recognition is pretty decent, but the one time I stumped it, I was transferred to a human operator who was able to promptly get me the number I requested.

    Frankly, though, I do wonder how sustainable this is. Will enough companies really pay to have folks redirected to them? If people are asking for Smith Window Washing services, will they really be so easily swayed towards a competitor? I have my doubts. But in the meantime, I’m happy to use this very convenient free 411 service!

    * * *

    ASK ME NOW

    Need to know the capital of Wisconsin? Or find the phone number of a particular Citibank branch? Sure, if you’re near an Internet-connected computer, you could probably quickly and easily find this info yourself. But what if you’re busy or not near a computer? Yes, I have a Web browser on my Treo phone, but it’s slow, the screen is small, and it’s generally just a miserable experience trying to navigate Web sites with it.

    Well, Ask Me Now is indeed a viable alternative. You call their number, leave a message, and 1-3 minutes later, you get back text messages with the right answer. Or at least AN answer. In my minimal testing, Ask Me Now gave me the right answer to “What is the Capital of Wisconsin?” but gave me the wrong answer to “What is the phone number of the Citibank branch located on Diamond Street in San Francisco?” The person (apparently located in the Philippines) who answered my query clearly just quickly googled for the answer and didn’t bother checking on Citibank’s Web site, since the correct answer is available in the latter, not the former.

    This service costs 49 cents per query, billed to your cell phone account. Supposedly you can get free ‘automated’ answers, but it’s not clear to me what qualifies as free and not-free, even after looking on the company’s Web site.

    * * *

    GOOGLE SMS
    Another option is Google’s SMS service. Text message GOOGL (46645) to get driving directions, movie showtimes, weather reports, price comparisons, and more.

    I’ve found this service to be both wonderous and frustrating. For instance, when I asked it [What is the capitol [sic] of wisconsin?] it replied back “Did you mean CAPITAL…” and gave me an appropriate Web page… when I would have preferred for it to actually include the answer, not just a link, in the reply. Additionally, when I asked it [Phone number for Citibank on Diamond St in San Francisco CA] it replied unhelpfully: “Looking for map of [query]? Unfortunately map information is not available through Google SMS.”

    I had better luck with other queries, such as [weather 91360] and [what is the population of belgium].

    * * *

    YAHOO SMS
    Despite multiple attempts, I could not get this service to work. I kept getting an “Invalid…” message, with instructions relating to Y! Messenger, after even using the exact queries listed on this page. Bummer. Any Yahoo people out there wanna help me figure out what’s going on here? I’ve heard good things about Yahoo’s mobile offerings and perhaps there’s just something small / obvious I’m missing?

  • Yahoo! and Google Maps… add more common sense, please

    I don’t know about you, but the vast majority of searches I do on Google Maps and the splendiforous new Y! Maps (beta) are for directions from my apartment in San Francisco to somewhere else in the city. Here’s the sort of search I’d type in by default:

    [{my address} to 16th and valencia]

    But both Google and Yahoo! choke on this search, and choke bad. Yahoo! gives me an error message saying the address could not be found, and then nonetheless gives me directions to Valencia, Arizona. Google performs no better here; it asks me “Did you mean Valencia Road, Bromsgrove, Hereford and Worcester, B60, UK?” Suuuuuure, Google, I’m going to get in my car and drive from San Francisco to the UK. 😉

    Where’s a Common Sense module when you need one?

    For starters, how about assuming that if I don’t add on a city, state or zip code, that I’m intending to travel within my home city. On G, one can already define a default starting point. And I’d assume that, when logged in to one’s Y! account, Yahoo already knows one’s home city, too. Not to mention IP sniffing possibilities, too!

    Or even better yet, if it’s not too computationally resource intense, it’d be great if the engines could assume a 100 mile radius and prioritize by proximity. That means if I type in 123 Mission St and I’m in San Francisco, I probably mean to indicate that street in SF or nearby, not somewhere in Minnesota. Since most of us don’t have zip codes handy when we’re doing directions, it’s a lot faster and easier to type [555 myhomestreet 94112 to 123 mission st] than [555 myhomestreet 94112 to 123 mission st, san francisco, ca].

    Lastly, I understand that sometimes requests ARE ambiguous (maybe I meant mission street in a nearby city, not SF, despite failing to specify it)… so the services should always preface the results on such ambiguous requests with something like this:\

    NOTE: We assumed you’re traveling to 123 mission street in San Francisco, CA. If this isn’t right, please retype your request and specify the city and state.

    And heck, for that matter, why can’t I type [1531 19th ave to 99 valencia st] and have it assume I mean San Francisco (based upon my signin, my past searches, my IP address, whatever)?

    Am I on target here, or would such assumption-makings on the part of the engines be more trouble than they’re worth?