Apple has made important changes to how iTunes users can use the App Store, investigation shows. Whereas visitors were previously able to browse in broad categories, covering free, iPhone- or iPod touch-only apps, users can now only filter by conventional criteria, such as genre. The change could significantly affect the App Store, as free software -- like Last.fm -- has proven to be extremely p...
Monday, September 29, 2008
Apple moves to limit reviews, browsing at App Store
Apple moves to limit reviews, browsing at App Store
Apple has made important changes to how iTunes users can use the App Store, investigation shows. Whereas visitors were previously able to browse in broad categories, covering free, iPhone- or iPod touch-only apps, users can now only filter by conventional criteria, such as genre. The change could significantly affect the App Store, as free software -- like Last.fm -- has proven to be extremely p...
Apple has made important changes to how iTunes users can use the App Store, investigation shows. Whereas visitors were previously able to browse in broad categories, covering free, iPhone- or iPod touch-only apps, users can now only filter by conventional criteria, such as genre. The change could significantly affect the App Store, as free software -- like Last.fm -- has proven to be extremely p...
Wal-Mart to shut down DRM servers Oct. 9
Wal-Mart is following the actions of Microsoft, Yahoo and Virgin, shutting down its DRM (Digital Rights Management) servers on October 9. The move will render any Wal-Mart-purchased, copy protected WMA music files inert if not burned to CD prior to the server shutdown. Boing Boing is reporting that Wal-Mart has emailed customers warning them of the impending server shutdown and its effect on thei...
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Internet scammers target Kiwibank
Internet scammers target Kiwibank
Kiwibank customers have become the latest New Zealanders targeted by internet scammers trying to get their account information. A fake email has been sent out claiming $20,000 dollars has been deposited into a Kiwibank account. The...
Kiwibank customers have become the latest New Zealanders targeted by internet scammers trying to get their account information. A fake email has been sent out claiming $20,000 dollars has been deposited into a Kiwibank account. The...
Start to publish RSS feeds smarter
Start to publish RSS feeds smarter
Are we need of smarter RSS publishing? According to this, I might seem that it would be a good idea… Publishers of RSS feeds: please, please, please let me read your content. Stop creating hurdles for your readers. One of the biggest mistakes I’m seeing today is the amount of content provided (or the lack thereof) [...]
Are we need of smarter RSS publishing? According to this, I might seem that it would be a good idea… Publishers of RSS feeds: please, please, please let me read your content. Stop creating hurdles for your readers. One of the biggest mistakes I’m seeing today is the amount of content provided (or the lack thereof) [...]
Are we need of smarter RSS publishing? According to this, I might seem that it would be a good idea…
Publishers of RSS feeds: please, please, please let me read your content. Stop creating hurdles for your readers. One of the biggest mistakes I’m seeing today is the amount of content provided (or the lack thereof) in RSS feeds. I understand the argument against putting full content into feeds. I understand publishers want to drive readers to their website as that’s where the money is made. But if a publisher is going to provide just the summary content, at least give me enough to know what the post is about. It’s incredibly annoying to have to click on every single feed item just to get an idea of what the post’s subject. One of the biggest benefits for a subscriber of RSS feeds is how much time they can save. Time savings with RSS is gained by allowing the subscriber to only read what they want when they want. If I have to to skim every single webpage this defeats this purpose of feeds. Titles almost never tell enough, so I need a summary. I’m sure I’m not alone in this complaint. If you only subscribe to a few feeds, this may not seem like an issue but when you have hundreds of feeds this becomes a big nuisance…. Source: tmarkiewicz.com
China Blocks FeedBurner RSS Feeds
China Blocks FeedBurner RSS Feeds
Wow, perhaps China is feeling a little paranoid here? I mean, what else would be the reason for blocking FeedBurner? FeedBurner, which powers hundreds of thousands of blog, podcast and mainstream news feeds (including this one), is apparently being blocked by Chinese authorities. Here is a Yoda-esque loose English language translation of William Long’s original post. [...]
Wow, perhaps China is feeling a little paranoid here? I mean, what else would be the reason for blocking FeedBurner? FeedBurner, which powers hundreds of thousands of blog, podcast and mainstream news feeds (including this one), is apparently being blocked by Chinese authorities. Here is a Yoda-esque loose English language translation of William Long’s original post. [...]
Wow, perhaps China is feeling a little paranoid here? I mean, what else would be the reason for blocking FeedBurner?
FeedBurner, which powers hundreds of thousands of blog, podcast and mainstream news feeds (including this one), is apparently being blocked by Chinese authorities. Here is a Yoda-esque loose English language translation of William Long’s original post. William even used a proxy server to verify that the issue is with the Chinese, not FeedBurner. His subscriber count dropped from over a thousand readers to zero overnight.
I have nothing but respect for Dick Costolo and the FeedBurner crew. They have been extremely helpful in troubleshooting various issues on my blog and others. I am sure they are doing everything in their power to remedy as best they can. This issue goes way beyond FeedbBurner…. Source: Micro Persuasion
GBTV #0411 (small) | GeekBrief.TV
GBTV Innovation Week continues and Brief 411 is all about HID. Human Interface Design is all about improving how people interact with machines.
Mice and keyboards have been useful Human Interface Devices, but there seems to be a common longing for something more natural. When we saw Tom Cruise moving images around with gestures in the movie Minority Report, lots of us wanted to be able to do the same thing. At the TED conference in 2006, Jeff Han showed us we could. Multi-touch is now accessible in iPhones and kind of accessible, depending on where you live, in the Microsoft Surface.
We want electronic devices to understand speech. It's a massive challenge and researchers have moved us a long way, but not nearly close enough. Dealing with speech recognition engines via customer service 800 numbers works a lot of the time, but it's the frustrating times that stand out in my memory.
Air touch is my term for multi-touch-like navigation that uses cameras or sensors to monitor gestures rather than contact with a screen. HRP.com wowed us a while back with a Web site that uses a visitor's Web cam for navigation. It isn't perfect, but it's a start.
Cam Trax Technologies is writing software to take advantage of Web cams for navigation in games and other applications.
The ultimate goal in Human Interface Design has to be brain control. We want to be able to think something and watch it happen on the screen. The first company that will bring a mass-market way to do it is Emotiv. Their Emotiv EPOC headset reads brain waves and translates them into action on a computer. The headset will sell for under $300. Read more
Mice and keyboards have been useful Human Interface Devices, but there seems to be a common longing for something more natural. When we saw Tom Cruise moving images around with gestures in the movie Minority Report, lots of us wanted to be able to do the same thing. At the TED conference in 2006, Jeff Han showed us we could. Multi-touch is now accessible in iPhones and kind of accessible, depending on where you live, in the Microsoft Surface.
We want electronic devices to understand speech. It's a massive challenge and researchers have moved us a long way, but not nearly close enough. Dealing with speech recognition engines via customer service 800 numbers works a lot of the time, but it's the frustrating times that stand out in my memory.
Air touch is my term for multi-touch-like navigation that uses cameras or sensors to monitor gestures rather than contact with a screen. HRP.com wowed us a while back with a Web site that uses a visitor's Web cam for navigation. It isn't perfect, but it's a start.
Cam Trax Technologies is writing software to take advantage of Web cams for navigation in games and other applications.
The ultimate goal in Human Interface Design has to be brain control. We want to be able to think something and watch it happen on the screen. The first company that will bring a mass-market way to do it is Emotiv. Their Emotiv EPOC headset reads brain waves and translates them into action on a computer. The headset will sell for under $300. Read more
US Cellular readying its own iPhone rival
US Cellular readying its own iPhone rival
Relatively small national carrier US Cellular will have its own full touchscreen device by the end of the year, a leak stemming from BGR would suggest. The Samsung Delve would be cosmetically very similar to the Instinct at Sprint but would have physical call/answer buttons instead of touch-sensitive controls on the earlier phone; it would also carry Samsung's stock TouchWiz interface with widget...
Relatively small national carrier US Cellular will have its own full touchscreen device by the end of the year, a leak stemming from BGR would suggest. The Samsung Delve would be cosmetically very similar to the Instinct at Sprint but would have physical call/answer buttons instead of touch-sensitive controls on the earlier phone; it would also carry Samsung's stock TouchWiz interface with widget...
Ink-free Dell portable printer spotted at FCC
Ink-free Dell portable printer spotted at FCC
A recent FCC filing indicates Dell will soon launch a tiny portable printer that does not rely on ink to produce images, instead utilizing ZINK media. A USB port and PictBridge software support allows users to hook up digital cameras directly to the printer, while Bluetooth-enabled devices such as cellphones and computers can send photos to the printer, allowing for the quick creation of prints....
A recent FCC filing indicates Dell will soon launch a tiny portable printer that does not rely on ink to produce images, instead utilizing ZINK media. A USB port and PictBridge software support allows users to hook up digital cameras directly to the printer, while Bluetooth-enabled devices such as cellphones and computers can send photos to the printer, allowing for the quick creation of prints....
How To Set Up Your Own WampServer
How To Set Up Your Own WampServer
There once was a great cat, named the WAMPUS cat. However, this article is not about that cat. This article is about a server. A great majority of websites are run by a trio of services - Apache, MySQL and PHP. Apache is the web server, which handles browser requests and sends the information across [...]
There once was a great cat, named the WAMPUS cat. However, this article is not about that cat. This article is about a server. A great majority of websites are run by a trio of services - Apache, MySQL and PHP. Apache is the web server, which handles browser requests and sends the information across [...]
There once was a great cat, named the WAMPUS cat. However, this article is not about that cat. This article is about a server. A great majority of websites are run by a trio of services - Apache, MySQL and PHP. Apache is the web server, which handles browser requests and sends the information across the internet to your browser. PHP is the programming language that many sites are written in - this creates dynamic content which in turn is sent to Apache, which sends the data to your browser. And finally, MySQL is the database which stores the information for programs. PHP is used to access this database.
It is a tried and tested trio which works phenomenally well. Usually to gain access to this trifecta, you need to purchase hosting, and this hosting is usually run in a far away datacenter running on a Linux server. However, not many people know that it is available locally, and for Windows as well. You can use these services for running your own applications, and also for locally testing software you are writing, before uploading code to a production server.
WAMP stands for Windows Apache, MySQL and PHP. Compare this to LAMP, which is Apache, MySQL and PHP on Linux.
There are several ways to get these services running locally. Each service, by itself, has Windows installers. That being said - once the programs are installed, you need to know how to configure the services. That may not be simple unless you happen to be a system administrator.
We are going to focus on WampServer. In my experience, using WampServer is the fastest way to get up and running. Wikipedia has a nice list of all Wamp servers.
Step 1
Download the latest WampServer. As of the writing of this article, it includes Apache 2.2, PHP 5.2 and MySQL 5.0.
Step 2
Run the installer. It will warn you to uninstall WAMP5 1.x if you have installed that already. You can use the defaults and it should install without problem.
Step 3
Start the services. You will see a small icon in your taskbar. Left click on it (right clicking does not display the right menu) and select “go online”. The icon will then make a little animation, and your services will be online. You can view your homepage by going to http://localhost/.
Thats it! Wamp is now running. You are ready to install your application, or start learning some PHP! The public website directory is ‘c:\wamp\www\‘.
Any directory you create in this directory, shows up as a ‘project’ on the main index page.
Advanced Settings
PHP Customization
Depending on which type of program you want to install onto your server, you may require additional extensions that are not loaded by default. There are a whole variety of PHP extensions you can load that come built in, but disabled. Left-click on the Wamp menu, go to PHP->PHP Extensions and click off the extension you would like to reload.
You can also edit the configuration file, php.ini through the menu. Edit anything you need, and save this file. The most common edit is the memory_size, but there are many options you can tweak to your liking.
After making any changes to php, make sure you reload apache. I’ve learned the hard way that changes aren’t automatically pushed to the server, until it is reloaded.
Apache Customization
For you advanced tinkerers out there, you can tweak the apache configuration files to your heart’s content. Make sure after making any changes, to reload apache.
MySQL Customization
Depending on your project, you may need to create a database in MySQL. This can be done through phpMyAdmin, which is handily included within the WAMPServer install. By default they include no password on the root MySQL user, which is not the best thing for security reasons. I would recommend changing this password. phpMyAdmin can be reached via the Wamp Menu, or via the url http://localhost/phpmyadmin/
In Summary:
Don’t let the fun stop there. Install a blog and start experimenting with PHP and templates. Run your own Wiki. Run your own music server. The howtos on how to install some neat programs are coming in some future articles.
One of the greatest things about running a home apache server, is that you can use it in combination with a VPN (Hamachi) to access your server anywhere in the world, securely. You can even change your setup to host pages to the outside world, if you so desire.
There is no limit to what you can do! OK, maybe it won’t cook you breakfast in the morning - not yet anyway!
Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or need help with the install!
Dave is an IT Manager by day and technology consultant by night. He is interested in all things internet, but especially interested in security, history, and networking. He lives near Philadelphia with his family. You can follow Dave on twitter.
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Tags:apache, hamachi, How-To, lamp, mysql, php, server, VPN, wampRelated posts
MacBreak 142: NAB 2008: Tidbits Part 1
MacBreak 142: NAB 2008: Tidbits Part 1
Alex checks out Koala Windsocks, Military Spec laptops, 18K lights, the RED Booth, Teleprompters, and Maxon.
Alex checks out Koala Windsocks, Military Spec laptops, 18K lights, the RED Booth, Teleprompters, and Maxon.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
MacBreak 106: Macworld 2008: John Lennon Bus Part 1
Justine Ezarik explores the John Lennon Bus in the first part of a two-part series. Read more
Simon Hendery: Govt helps IT exporters to reach out
Auckland's "digital sector" has been talking up its potential to become a more significant export earner, and now it has $2 million of Government money to - hopefully - prove the point. Economic Development Minister Pete Hodgson... Read more
Judge tosses out RIAA win in Thomas case
Judge tosses out RIAA win in Thomas case
Minnesota US District Judge Michael Davis today dismissed a Recording Industry Association of America victory in its controversial anti-piracy case against Jammie Thomas, declaring a mistrial. The move at least temporarily eliminates the $220,000 fine demanded by the music label representatives for claims that she pirated 24 songs by making them available through the KaZaA file sharing service. ...
Minnesota US District Judge Michael Davis today dismissed a Recording Industry Association of America victory in its controversial anti-piracy case against Jammie Thomas, declaring a mistrial. The move at least temporarily eliminates the $220,000 fine demanded by the music label representatives for claims that she pirated 24 songs by making them available through the KaZaA file sharing service. ...
China Blocks FeedBurner RSS Feeds
China Blocks FeedBurner RSS Feeds
Wow, perhaps China is feeling a little paranoid here? I mean, what else would be the reason for blocking FeedBurner? FeedBurner, which powers hundreds of thousands of blog, podcast and mainstream news feeds (including this one), is apparently being blocked by Chinese authorities. Here is a Yoda-esque loose English language translation of William Long’s original post. [...]
Wow, perhaps China is feeling a little paranoid here? I mean, what else would be the reason for blocking FeedBurner? FeedBurner, which powers hundreds of thousands of blog, podcast and mainstream news feeds (including this one), is apparently being blocked by Chinese authorities. Here is a Yoda-esque loose English language translation of William Long’s original post. [...]
Wow, perhaps China is feeling a little paranoid here? I mean, what else would be the reason for blocking FeedBurner?
FeedBurner, which powers hundreds of thousands of blog, podcast and mainstream news feeds (including this one), is apparently being blocked by Chinese authorities. Here is a Yoda-esque loose English language translation of William Long’s original post. William even used a proxy server to verify that the issue is with the Chinese, not FeedBurner. His subscriber count dropped from over a thousand readers to zero overnight.
I have nothing but respect for Dick Costolo and the FeedBurner crew. They have been extremely helpful in troubleshooting various issues on my blog and others. I am sure they are doing everything in their power to remedy as best they can. This issue goes way beyond FeedbBurner…. Source: Micro Persuasion
Sony Ericsson trying to not destroy Earth with "GreenHeart" concept
Sony Ericsson trying to not destroy Earth with "GreenHeart" concept
Perhaps a nod to Samsung's corny candybars and Nokia's wild Earth-friendly hardware, Sony Ericsson has unveiled its GreenHeart concept, a never-destined-for-production handset that incorporates a bunch of green technologies that it'd like to bring to market over the coming years. Most of the GreenHeart's ideas are totally logical and could be executed today -- online user manuals, bioplastic and recycled plastic materials, and a charger that draws just 3.5mW in trickle mode, just to name a few -- but the company is shopping around the whole lot of it to customers and "selected partners" to determine which eco-concepts should be implemented for production and in what order. Unfortunately, Sony Ericsson isn't seeing fit to show any pictures of the GreenHeart right now, which we take to mean it looks like a tree.
[Via Unwired View]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments 
Filed under: Cellphones
[Via Unwired View]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Judge declares mistrial in RIAA filesharing case, sets aside $222,000 verdict
Judge declares mistrial in RIAA filesharing case, sets aside $222,000 verdict
We always thought that the RIAA's first-ever filesharing trial victory against Jammie Thomas was a little suspect since the labels weren't required to prove that Thomas even had Kazaa installed on her machine or was the person using the account in question, and it looks like the court agrees -- it's just declared a mistrial and set aside the $222,000 judgment on the grounds that simply making copyrighted works available for download does not constitute copyright infringement. That's a huge decision -- the "making available" theory is the basis for most of the RIAA's legal arguments -- and it means that the RIAA will now have to prove the unauthorized transfer of each song it wants to collect damages on at the new trial. We'll see what effect this has in the broader sense -- we've got a feeling we're in for a slew of appellate decisions on both sides of the "making available" debate -- but for now it looks like the good guys are finally starting to score some points.
[Via ZDNet, thanks JagsLive]
Read - Wired article
Read - Decision [PDF]Permalink | Email this | Comments 
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
[Via ZDNet, thanks JagsLive]
Read - Wired article
Read - Decision [PDF]Permalink | Email this | Comments
GBTV #426 (small) | GeekBrief.TV
We saw the Microsoft ad for a laser free mouse last week. Now we have the details. Three mice have been introduced using BlueTrack. They're the Explorer, the Sidewinder and a mini Explorer.
Ion Audio releases a large range of analog to digital converters. If you're looking for a turntable for those old records, take a look at the Ion LP2 FLASH.
RIM and TiVo announced a partnership, allowing Blackberry users to program their TiVos remotely.
Advanced Windows users running the .NET framework might enjoy an alpha CircleDock, a tool for launching applications quickly.
Today I posted on BigTrip.TV about how we're rethinking the type of bus we might buy for the trip. Then we saw the Tabbert Paganini and fell in love. Read more
Ion Audio releases a large range of analog to digital converters. If you're looking for a turntable for those old records, take a look at the Ion LP2 FLASH.
RIM and TiVo announced a partnership, allowing Blackberry users to program their TiVos remotely.
Advanced Windows users running the .NET framework might enjoy an alpha CircleDock, a tool for launching applications quickly.
Today I posted on BigTrip.TV about how we're rethinking the type of bus we might buy for the trip. Then we saw the Tabbert Paganini and fell in love. Read more
Eye-Fi adds MobileMe support
Eye-Fi adds MobileMe support
Eye-Fi has announced that their eponymous SD memory card with built-in WiFi is getting faster and adding MobileMe support. The Eye-Fi allows you to automatically upload photos from your SD card compatible camera to your Mac or a variety of online services like Flickr, SmugMug, and now MobileMe. The update will be available on October 5 and is also backwards compatible to existing Eye-Fi cards with upgrade fees. Other additions include Eye-Fi's own web gallery, geotagging support (via a similar mechanism to the original iPhone), and Wayport / open hotspot support, each for additional annual fees.
The Eye-Fi cards come in three flavors: Home, Share, and Explore. Home ($79.99) is limited to uploads on your home WiFi network to your home computer; Share ($99.99) allows broader WiFi access and uploading to web galleries; Explore ($129.99) also adds geotagging.
[via Engadget]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Filed under: Accessories, Peripherals, Internet Tools, MobileMe
Eye-Fi has announced that their eponymous SD memory card with built-in WiFi is getting faster and adding MobileMe support. The Eye-Fi allows you to automatically upload photos from your SD card compatible camera to your Mac or a variety of online services like Flickr, SmugMug, and now MobileMe. The update will be available on October 5 and is also backwards compatible to existing Eye-Fi cards with upgrade fees. Other additions include Eye-Fi's own web gallery, geotagging support (via a similar mechanism to the original iPhone), and Wayport / open hotspot support, each for additional annual fees.
The Eye-Fi cards come in three flavors: Home, Share, and Explore. Home ($79.99) is limited to uploads on your home WiFi network to your home computer; Share ($99.99) allows broader WiFi access and uploading to web galleries; Explore ($129.99) also adds geotagging.
[via Engadget]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Big Bang on the backburner as LHC repairs drag
Big Bang on the backburner as LHC repairs drag
GENEVA - Scientists will have to wait until next year to use the world's largest particle collider for groundbreaking research because previously announced repairs will run into the normal winter shutdown, the operators said. Experts...
GENEVA - Scientists will have to wait until next year to use the world's largest particle collider for groundbreaking research because previously announced repairs will run into the normal winter shutdown, the operators said. Experts...
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
RSS mashup: Amazon, eBay, Yahoo! product results
A new RSS mashup site acts as a meta search engine reaching into Amazon, Google, eBay, Yahoo!, Flickr, YouTube, and Technorati. You cannot mash all the search results into one feed, but you can merge Amazon, eBay, and Yahoo! Shopping into a single product feed, which is damn convenient. The site is weak on design, but it works. Used to be called Longtail, but (according to a posted explanation) that term has been trademarked by its popularizer, Chris Anderson. The mashup site is now called BaeBo, and is operated by Fancis Shanahan. (BaeBo is the language spoken in the Solomon islands ... perhaps it has other meanings, too.)Permalink�|�Email this�|�Linking�Blogs�|�Comments
Engadget HD reviews ZeeVee's ZvBox
Engadget HD reviews ZeeVee's ZvBox
If you've been looking for a way to stream any HD web content -- we do mean any: Hulu, mkv, Amazon -- to any HDTV in the house, without running any new wires, dealing with the woes of WiFi, or even needing yet another box hanging off your shiny new HDTV; you should head on over to Engadget HD and read all about ZeeVee's ZvBox. We take the $500 box and put it through the paces to see if broadcasting your own QAM HD channel is worth the price.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments 
Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Peripherals
GBTV #0372 (small) | GeekBrief.TV
GBTV #0372 (small) | GeekBrief.TV
It's not usually my nature to be snarky about a person, but on Brief 372, I make an exception.
Yesterday, Peter Ha from CruchGear posted a video from TheStreet.com, and I had to bring it to your attention. In the video, Gary Krakow, apparently an old-school tech journalist, is asked what Steve Jobs needs to do to get the iPhone competitive in a corporate environment. His answer is crazier than anything my favorite Mr. Cranky Pants, John C. Dvorak has ever said about Apple.
It's not usually my nature to be snarky about a person, but on Brief 372, I make an exception.
Yesterday, Peter Ha from CruchGear posted a video from TheStreet.com, and I had to bring it to your attention. In the video, Gary Krakow, apparently an old-school tech journalist, is asked what Steve Jobs needs to do to get the iPhone competitive in a corporate environment. His answer is crazier than anything my favorite Mr. Cranky Pants, John C. Dvorak has ever said about Apple.
Windows 7 to drop e-mail, media editing apps
Windows 7 to drop e-mail, media editing apps
Microsoft will make many of its previously standard bundled apps optional with the launch of Windows 7, the company said late Monday. While Vista came with copies of Windows Mail, Movie Maker and Photo Gallery regardless of the edition, the sequel operating system will now remove those entirely and make available only downloadable versions that can tap into Windows Live. The company argues that ...
Microsoft will make many of its previously standard bundled apps optional with the launch of Windows 7, the company said late Monday. While Vista came with copies of Windows Mail, Movie Maker and Photo Gallery regardless of the edition, the sequel operating system will now remove those entirely and make available only downloadable versions that can tap into Windows Live. The company argues that ...
Yahoo Searchmonkey expands with playable music tracks
Back in June, I wrote about how Yahoo was attempting to turn the search engine concept on its head with its Searchmonkey platform. This involved giving the searcher more information on the page and making the results more relevant, accurate, user-friendly and visually appealing. Well now Yahoo is going one step further by [...]
Read more
Back in June, I wrote about how Yahoo was attempting to turn the search engine concept on its head with its Searchmonkey platform. This involved giving the searcher more information on the page and making the results more relevant, accurate, user-friendly and visually appealing.
Well now Yahoo is going one step further by introducing the ability for users to listen to full length music tracks inside Yahoo search results. Before you get all excited and sell your iPod on eBay, there is a limit though (as always). You can only listen to 25 free songs per month. Any more than that and you have to sign up for the Rhapsody Service which costs $12.99 a month.
But this is still very useful if you are doing search engine queries for a singer / band and you are wondering if you have the right person or the right song. Or if someone recommends a singer / band to you and you want to listen to a sample of their music. You can now listen to some songs inside the Yahoo search results. If you stay within that 25 songs per month limit, it won’t cost you a thing.
To try it out, just enter the name of a singer or a band into Yahoo. Being a newly introduced feature, it doesn’t have songs for everyone at the moment. They have songs for my favourite band, U2, but not for my girlfriend’s favourite, Runrig. But I entered some big names into the search engine - Tina Turner, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, and they had songs for them. But surprisingly, there was nothing for Eric Clapton. What a scandal! :-() But give Yahoo a bit of time and I’m sure they will eventually have songs for everyone.
If there are songs available, you’ll get a box identical to the one above. If you see the song you want to play, just click on it and a player will open at the bottom of the screen :
Click on the “play” button and the song will start. Easy.
I am constantly amazed at the developments of Search Monkey and at how fast Yahoo Search is developing. If Google doesn’t start changing and developing their search pages for the semantic web, they’re going to get seriously left behind! They should stop making internet browsers (which they’re not really that good at) and instead concentrate on developing their search engine (which they are REALLY good at). What do you think?
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(By) Mark O'Neill is a blogger, professional freelance writer and the editor of Make Use Of. Check out his personal blog at BetterThanTherapy.net
Tags:Cool Web Apps, Google, music, search, semantic, YahooRelated posts
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