SOMEWHAT FRANK

Daylife A New Way To Explore News

Daylife, a New York-based news aggregator with personalization hooks, launched a few weeks ago to offer users another way to ingest the daily news. It brings a new fresh look to a news site. Daylife is backed by many, including bloggers Jeff Jarvis and Michael Arrington but they are not in love with the initial cut of the product. Arrington reported his disappointment by saying:

“What makes Daylife stand out is not so much what it does well, but what’s been left out. There are no RSS feeds, even for your bookmarked stuff. Even worse, there’s no ability for users to leave comments on articles, a feature that has been wildly successful at NewsVine and Topix. And the fact that the front page news is gathered by humans, instead of the algorithmically determined news at Digg, means the company will always have a higher cost of doing business.”

The absence of RSS feeds surprised me since Jeff Jarvis a strong supporter of syndication  (i.e. did the keynote at the Syndicate conference in New York last May) was assisting the startup. However, Jeff has "No disagreement" that feeds should have been added by saying:

"Nature of a startup: some things get onto the boat at launch, others hitch the next ride. RSS was one of the last features to get delayed until a later release; it’s coming. I had subscribed to various of the test feeds and got addicted quickly, so I, too, am eager for them to come out."

So it sounds like they are coming soon and I would imagine the average Jane or Joe probably has not even realize RSS is missing. Regardless, Daylife offers some interesting views of the news including the view that Steve Rubel calls his favorite, the magazine cover feature shown below.

Luckily the product is still in beta, since when I searched for "web 2.0" I encountered a cryptic error message. You can see a screen-shot below of a starred “web 2.0” category. In time this category should pull in content related to this to pic. It will be interesting to see Daylife evolve as it has introduced content personalization offerings within the application by allowing users to start content areas of interest. I just wonder if users think Daylife’s offering is compelling enough to add it to their daily online routine. To find out more information take the Daylife tour. Also check out the Daylife blog for future updates.

Riffs: Rant, Rave & Recommend

Have something witty to say about a particular item? Riffs, an ATTAP Technologies company, offers a feature-rich, social bookmarking, recommendation site for information-sharing details about movies, music, fashion and other sorts of interests. With Riffs you can recommend different items by starting a riff, registering and posting a witty comment about a particular item. Alternatively, you can just rant or rave about an existing item by leaving a comment or simply giving an item a “thumbs up” or “thumbs down.” Users can also create and link to webpages associated with specific riffs.

Riffs launched with more than four million items to riff on, including albums, movies, restaurants, events, consumer electronics, games and books. You can add practically anything to Riffs and then you and the rest of the community can riff on it. The most popular riffs are presented on the homepage as well as within its corresponding category. Riffs offers loads of different features, which include RSS feeds for each individual riff and riff profile. Unfortunately, Riffs does not offer category level or popular riff RSS feeds.  Riffs also offers users to tag items as a way to organize items. A screen-shot of the “web 2.0” tag is shown below.

Riffs flexes its social networking muscles by enabling profile creation and the collection of contacts or friends therein. Friends can offer up recommended content to other Riff buddies. Additionally, Riff has implemented a music recommendation engine called iSuggest, which offers up automated music recommendations based on your recorded musical taste. iSuggest is a downloadable application that connects your Apple iTunes library to Riffs. It allows you to get music recommendations right where you listen to music and at the same time helps you keep your Riffs music preferences updated. Qloud and Mog are a couple of other services that sync with iTunes in a similar fashion.

Another interesting feature that caught my attention was the ability to import del.icio.us bookmarks into Riffs so that you and the community can further comment on them. I struggle to see how bookmarks play into the granular item riffs that are already in the system, but I guess Riffs is looking to offer content about just anything; so it makes sense. It is a good way to get people to adopt the system and start to use Riffs as a social bookmarking system.

Check out this online Riff demo about setting up your page. Riff has also provided a demo on how to perform the del.icio.us import.

Bottom-line: Riffs offers a simple repository for information about just about anything you can think of and in true web 2.0 fashion it’s powered by user created riffs or content items, recommendations, comments, rants, raves and other item details.

CellSwapper: Swap Cell Phone Contracts Before the Arrival of the Apple iPhone

The Macworld was energized earlier this week as Steve Jobs introduced the long anticipated Apple iPhone. In case you missed it the phone is going to bring multimedia to the masses with a sleek new design as shown in this video. However, one detail that might be a problem for several interested consumers is the fact that the new Apple iPhone will be carried solely by Cingular Wireless service. As a Verizon Wireless terminating my current contract prematurely would cost me an early termination fee.

CellSwapper, a Lakewood, New Jersey based  startup, recently launched to offer cell phone users an exit strategy for an existing long term mobile phone contract. Contracts and early termination fees are a thing of the past, as CellSwapper facilitates a legal contract transfer to another interested party. The interested party in turn receives a cell phone contract without having to pay activation fees.

To participate you can register your basic mobile phone plan details with CellSwapper for free. If you find a taker you will be charged a small transferring fee by CellSwapper. Once your plan is on CellSwapper you can offer additional cash bonuses or even an old cell phone which could make your cell plan look more attractive. You can also search the site for a new cell phone or plan. Overall, the site is pretty straight forward but I noticed some design issues (i.e. missing images, quirky rotating images, etc) which probably should be cleaned up.

CellSwapper creates an online marketplace for transferring mobile phone contracts. It solves a problem that plagues many cell phone users as mobile service can be somewhat subjective. I would love to see this same type of idea applied to other types of contracts like automobile leases, apartment sublets, fitness center contracts and home security contracts.

For other perspectives on CellSwapper check out these reviews on TechCrunch and Center Networks.

The One Million Masterpiece: Online Artwork Collaboration For The Records

The One Million Masterpiece or OMM for short is a piece of online collaborative artwork with record book aspirations. Similar to the Million Dollar Homepage which sold one million 1 pixel squares for $1 per pixel, the One Million Masterpiece looks for a small donation  of a minimum of 3.50GBP which is approximately $6.50USD (5.10EUR, 7.20CAD, 8.70AUD or 743.5JPY) to one of the participating charities in return for a square of the collaborative digital canvas. The charities include:

• Oxfam International
• Save the Children
• World Cancer Research Fund
• ActionAid International
• World Wildlife Fund

The One Million Masterpiece is the brain-child of Paul Fisher who has big dreams for the artwork as it aims for the record books. Upon completion the piece should measure approximately 8 meters or 26 feet which is about the height of a two story house.
The site itself is Ajax-based and was created mainly by Eamonn Ramsay designed and developer the entire application. It offers a way to easily navigate through the various art squares. Upon clicking on a square it is enlarged to a full view. The site also has social hooks which include comments and ratings. I just registered and donated to World Wildlife Federation to create the square shown below. 

Related Articles:
Philanthrophy Through Technology
GoodSearch: Search To Benefit Charity
Google.org A 'For Profit' Auto Maker?

Groovr Mobile Social Network Puts Friends In The Same Groove

Groovr recently launched a social network built around the connectivity of a mobile phone, mainly text and photo messaging. Groovr aims to act as a communication mechanism for people interested in constantly updating their friends or contacts with their whereabouts. Groovr also offers other social networking hooks which include the ability to meet new people and find new places to hangout. Users can “checkin” with other Groovr users via your mobile phone which is similar to Kiboze and Dodgeball. Groovr is a Djando-powered site which offers a very dark color schemed, clean web interface and sending items to the web or other friends is as simple as sending a text message to go [at] groover dot com. You can find out more by checking out the Groovr Tour. 

Groovr’s live photo upload functionality is similar to the Flickr feature which enables users to upload images via your phone. I refer to it as “live Flickring” as you can take photos “live” at the ballgame, a restaurant or anywhere and instantly upload them to Flickr thus giving your contact a photo update and a picture is worth a thousand words. Though a similar general feature, Groovr puts emphasis on the social networking aspects as it allows users to constantly “checkin” to see where other friends or contacts are located so as to meetup with them.

As a text and photo message (i.e. "live Flickring") addict I think Groovr offers some compelling features. Unfortunately, I probably will have some difficulty convincing my friends to use the service and I thus adoption is probably Groovr’s biggest obstacle. I think Groovr understands this hurdle and is offering rewards for referring new users to the service. The first 250 users to refer some to the service can receive a Groovr t-shirt while the person who refers the most users each month can get a Sidekick mobile phone. Nothing motivates better than free stuff. :)

For additional opinions on Groovr, check out these reviews on Mashable! and Paul Stamatiou.

Woohoo Brings Sexy To Photo Slideshows

Woohoo, an AOL Pictures by-product, recently upgraded to offer a more robust Flash-based snaggable photo slideshow widget. The previous widget offered the ability to show images in a clickable stack called the photo collage as shown below or by visiting this link.

The upgraded version of woohoo offers not only the photo collage layout but five additional layouts or "woohoos" which could add interesting Flash effects to any photo slideshow. Users can customize the size, color and layout of the various widgets. By publishing the widget users  receive a link to share with friends and family or HTML code which can be embedded into a blog, web site or social network page like MySpace or AIM Pages.

I would urge you to play around with each "woohoo" as all 6 are interesting visual presentation options. If you are not happy with those options woohoo offers developers the ability to customize even more of the widget. I created a custom sized woohoo slideshow with one of my favorite woohoo effect called Ken Burns. The Ken Burns effect refers to a technique of embedding still photographs in motion pictures made popular in Ken's award winning documentaries such as The Civil War and Baseball. The effect is characterized by slow zooming and panning effects, and fading transitions between images. Check it out below or visit it directly.

Bottom-line: Woohoo offers a great way to organize your AOL Picture photo in a sexy slideshow which can be shared via email or by displaying it on your blog, social network page or another web site. Woohoo!

Improve Your Vocabulary With Quizlet

Remember having vocabulary lists in elementary school and your parents drilling you every day for the big end-of-the-week quiz?  And then middle school – as if English wasn’t bad enough - enter vocabulary in another language altogether.

Thankfully, it’s been a long time since I’ve had to brave those terrors.  But soon students will be able to leverage a fantastic new resource: Quizlet.  Created by Andrew Sutherland, a high school student and self-proclaimed boy genius, Quizlet takes the tedium out of vocabulary.

Operating under the premise that a) students need to better retain their knowledge and b) there has to be a better way to study for those tests, Quizlet takes on many roles so that students can get those words memorized for good:

• Instead of your mom, Quizlet keeps track of the words you know and only retests you on the ones you don't.
• Quizlet lets students share their word lists and facilitates interactive studying.
• It’s free (and thus perfect for the demographic).

Quizlet’s functionality is pretty simple: you enter or import words and definitions, and then Quizlet tests you through various mediums including flashcards, specialized tests and collaboration with friends until the list is mastered.  A screen shot of the application is shown below. Additional features include foreign language capabilities and discussion capabilities so students can vent about the merciless teachers that assign vocabulary.

Photo Attribution: density quiz 11/17 taken by Jack Lyons

2007 Web 2.0 & Tech Conference Outlook

It is time to start planning which conferences are going to attend in 2007. To make it easier  I have compiled a list of some of the best web 2.0, technology, design, marketing and innovation conferences and events scheduled in 2007. This is meant to be a working list, so if you think I have missed a conference or event please feel free to comment on this article or send me an email and I can update the list.

JANUARY
Consumer Electronics Show
January 8-11 ~ Las Vegas, NV
With four decades of history, the International CES reaches across global markets, connects the industry and enables CE innovations to grow and thrive. This show is filled with innovations in technology, gadgets and lots of big TV's!

MacWorld Conference & Expo
January 8-12 ~ San Francisco, CA
Immerse yourself in five revitalizing day’s worth of the largest gathering of Mac industry experts, pundits, and enthusiasts. Cultivate fresh skills, nurture new acquaintances, and harvest indispensable tools in which to further feed your imagination and fuel your Mac soul.

DLD
January 21-23 ~ Munich, Germany
DLD (Digital, Life, Design) is one of Europe's freshest conferences covering digital innovation, gaming, arts and science, bringing together thought leaders from Europe, the Middle-East, America and Asia.

Search Engine Watch LIVE!
January 25 ~ Dallas, TX
This informal, half-day event offers attendees the opportunity to meet editorial staff, Search Engine Strategies speakers, and members of the Search Engine Watch community in person, network with local peers, and discuss the hottest topics and latest news in the search industry.

DEMO
January 30 - February 1 ~ Palm Desert, CA
The premier launch venue for new products, technologies and companies. DEMO has established a reputation for identifying and presenting to an elite audience the products most likely to have a significant impact on the marketplace and market trends in the coming year.

FEBRUARY
Brave New Web
February 7 ~ Boston, MA
Designed to bridge the gap between the current practitioners and the business and financial communities that are crucial for innovation and new business creation. Innovation happens at the intersections of different industries and disciplines.

Digital Hollywood Media Summit
February 7-8 ~ New York, NY
The Premier International Conference on Motion Pictures, Television, Cable & Satellite, Broadband, Wireless, Publishing, Radio, Magazines, News & Print Media, Advertising and Marketing.

CommunityNext
February 10 ~ Palo Alto, CA
The premier conference on how successful online communities and social networks build, grow and monetize.

Adaptive Path San Francisco: MX
February 12-13 ~ San Francisco, CA
Design has emerged as a strategic force in business. Managers building the next generation of digital products are confronted with an increasingly demanding set of challenges. MX San Francisco brings together thought-leaders in design & business to address these challenges.

Search Engine Strategies UK
February 13-15 ~ London, UK
The industry converges for a week of spirited discussion, high-level learning and attendees leave with actionable battle plans to go forward with for their companies.

Future of Web Apps
February 20-22 ~ London, UK
Three days of inspiration and insight where speakers will be discussing the future of the web industry, Web 2.0, emerging technologies and standards, and how it will change the way you build applications. 

MARCH
South By Southwest Interactive
March 9-13 ~ Austin, TX
Attracting digital creatives as well as visionary technology entrepreneurs, the SXSW Interactive Festival enables you to connect, discover and inspire your link to the cutting edge.

VON (Voice, Video and Vision)
March 19-22 ~ San Jose, CA
A conference founded by Jeff Pulver, VON has built a community on the evolution and convergence of IP communication technologies. Find out the latest industry news about VoIP, IPTV, Fixed Mobile Convergence, IMS and much more.

AJAXWorld
March 19-21 ~ New York, NY
The most comprehensive meeting on the most significant technology subjects of recent times: AJAX, Rich Internet Apps & Web 2.0.

Information Architecture Summit 2007
March 22-26 ~ Las Vegas, NV
A premier gathering place for information architects and for discussion about information architecture. Everyone who touches on IA is welcome to share and learn. Last year's IA Summit attracted over 500 attendees, including beginners, experienced IAs, and people in a range of related fields.

An Event Apart
March 26-27 ~ Boston, MA
Hear from the top people in the field as they discuss best practices in web design and development. Not only design and coding, but usability, accessibility, and more.

APRIL
Search Engine Strategies NY
April 10-13 ~ New York, NY
The industry converges for a week of spirited discussion, high-level learning and attendees leave with actionable battle plans to go forward with for their companies.

Web 2.0 Expo 2007
April 15-18 ~ San Francisco, CA
A companion event to the Web 2.0 Summit, Web 2.0 Expo is the first event specifically designed to help teach Web 2.0 techniques and best practices to people in the trenches directly involved in the design, development, engineering, marketing, and business of second-generation internet technology.

Gel 2007
April 19-20 ~ New York, NY
Gel ("Good Experience Live") is a conference and community exploring good experience in all its forms -- in business, art, society, technology, and life.

CHI 2007 Reach Beyond
April 28 - May 3  ~  San Jose, CA
Computer/Human Interaction or CHI for short is the premiere conference in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). Every year, it is a venue for 2000 HCI professionals, academics, and students to discuss HCI issues and research and make lasting connections in the HCI community. In addition, 40-50 industry exhibitors attend CHI to showcase their user experience products and departments and to recruit professionals to enhance their business.

MAY
World Wide Web Conference
May 8-12 ~ Banff, Alberta - CA
The World Wide Web Conference is the global event that brings together the key innovators, decision-makers, technologists, businesses, and standards bodies shaping the Web.

Streaming Media East
May 15-16 ~ New York, NY
Covers both the business of video on the net and the technology of streaming, downloading, IPTV and mobile video delivery. Covering both b2b and b2c business and technology issues in the enterprise, advertising, media and entertainment, broadcast and education markets.

Where 2.0
May 29-30 ~ San Jose, CA
Brings together the people, projects, and issues building the new technological foundations and creating value in the location industry. A great place to meet the people behind the mash-ups and platforms, and the folks looking ahead to the future of geospace.

Mesh
May 30-31 ~ Toronto, Ontario - Canada
Hear from thought leaders, connect with peers, and get a better understanding of the impact of new developments online. mesh brings together people who are passionate about the potential of the Web to change how we live, work and play. Meet the next generation of Web ideas, leaders and companies at mesh.

JUNE

 The Next Web Conference
June 1 ~ Amsterdam, Netherlands
A must attend for every forward thinking CEO, Internet Entrepreneur, Strategy Planner, Top Notch Consultant and Venture Capitalist in Europe and a great networking opportunity. This event has an all-star cast of speakers as well.

Digital Hollywood Spring
June 11-14 ~ Santa Monica, CA
The Premier Event for Transforming Entertainment, Technology & the global communications network: TV, cable, telco, mobile, broadband, consumer electronics, search & email, VoIP, RSS, blogs and web sites.

Search Engine Strategies Latino
June 18-19 ~ Miami, FL
The industry converges for a week of spirited discussion, high-level learning and attendees leave with actionable battle plans to go forward with for their companies.

Supernova 2007
June 20-22 ~ San Francisco, CA
Challenge your insights and predictions for the connected future with some of the top technology and business influencers, leading investors, visionary entrepreneurs, and provocative thinkers debating the major emerging trends in computing, communications, and media. Here is a sliver of coverage from Supernova 2006.

JULY

CommunityNext
July 14th ~ Palo Alto, CA
The premier conference on how successful online communities and social networks build, grow and monetize. Go viral!!!

AUGUST
Gnomedex 7.0
August 9-11 ~ Seattle, WA
Hosted by Chris Pirillo this technology conference pulls together the leading bloggers and social media industry leaders. Attendees from years past have grown accustomed to this experience - finding it refreshing and genuine. They created a conference that seemingly broke ALL the rules.

Search Engine Strategies San Jose
August 20-23 ~ San Jose, CA
The industry converges for a week of spirited discussion, high-level learning and attendees leave with actionable battle plans to go forward with for their companies.

Adaptive Path Washington: UX
TBD ~ Washington, DC
User Experience Week 2007 with all new material full of indispensable training, stimulating discussion, and fantastic networking opportunities.

SEPTEMBER
euroGel 2007
September 6-7 ~ Copenhagen, Denmark
euroGel is a European version of Gel ("Good Experience Live") conference and community exploring good experience in all its forms -- in business, art, society, technology, and life.

TechCrunch20 Conference 2007
September 17 - 18 ~ San Francisco, CA
Twenty of the hottest new startups will announce and demo their products over a two day period. And they don’t pay a cent to do this. They will be selected to participate based on merit alone.

Digital ID World 2007
September 23-26 ~ San Francisco, CA
A source for the straight talk, hard-won lessons, and practical insight derived from real-world deployments. Our focus is simple: putting enterprise IT professionals onstage to give you their unvarnished views on what it took to achieve success with their identity deployments. Digital ID World is the industry event for learning how to help manage your business with identity.

Podcast & New Media Expo
September 28-30 ~ Ontario, CA
Event that brings together influential audio and video podcasters, digital media creators, and bloggers to cover the complete range of creation techniques, business objectives and future trends.

OCTOBER
Web 2.0 Summit
October 17-19 ~ San Francisco, CA
Focuses on emerging business and technology developments that utilize the Web as a platform and defines how the Web will drive business in the future. 

NOVEMBER
Streaming Media West
November 6-8 ~ TBD
Covers both the business of video on the net and the technology of streaming, downloading, IPTV and mobile video delivery. Covering both b2b and b2c business and technology issues in the enterprise, advertising, media and entertainment, broadcast and education markets.

DECEMBER
Search Engine Strategies 2007
December 3-6 ~ Chicago, IL
The industry converges for a week of spirited discussion, high-level learning and attendees leave with actionable battle plans to go forward with for their companies.

Happy conferencing in 2007!

Best Web 2.0 Blog Awarded

  Photo Attribution: grayedMatter

Congratulations to TechCrunch as it was named Best Web 2.0 Blog in the 2nd Annual Search Engine Journal Awards. TechCrunch is the benchmark for web 2.0 blogging. As all bloggers know, it is not easy to keep fresh, solid content flowing day in and day out, 24/7/365 and Mike Arrington and company have done so masterfully for the last year and half. As a contributor to TechCrunch in 2006, I am overjoyed to see TechCrunch win this honor.

Here is the final tally:

TechCrunch 3.64
Read/Write Web 3.23
Somewhat Frank 3.03
Mashable! 3.02
Center Networks 2.86

As you can see, Somewhat Frank finished third in the voting. Once again, I am pleased to see Somewhat Frank running with such an elite crowd of web 2.0 blogs. Finishing in the middle of the rat pack is a great way to start out the new year. Thank you to the readers that nominated and voted for Somewhat Frank.

Congrats also to Richard MacManus, Allen Stern and Pete Cashmore for your blogging success. I look forward to more great web 2.0 blogging from the entire web 2.0 rat pack in 2007.

Leafletter For Customized Photo Widgets

Leafletter recently launched a simple application which enables users to create animated widgets that can be embedded into blogs, social networks and other web sites. These widgets are called "Leaflets" and can be used to display photos and other information in a unique and interesting fashion. Leaflets are Flash based and can be displayed where HTML is welcome.

I recently created a simple Leaflet shown below. I uploaded few photos, selected background colors, layouts, actions and text. Photos can be uploaded from your computer, a URL or via Flickr. I would like to see other photo services as options. Audio and video configuration would also add additional utility. The only frustration I encountered with Leaftree was that the widget sometimes transitioned slowly and caused me to lose pages that I was working on.

Leafletter could come in handy in upcoming blog posts as a new way to present logos or images in a more interesting fashion. With a few additional features added Leafletter could also be used for online mini slide presentations. Check out the Leafletter tutorial for more details on how to set up your own.

Bottom-line: Leafletter enables users to create customizable photo widgets that might come in handy in your next blog post or your social network page.

What are the best betas of 2006?

Launching a product with the "beta" tag is the way of web 2.0, but the "beta" tag is not meant to be ever-present. I expect that eventually the ever-present "beta" will not be legally acceptable. In the meantime, Museum of Modern Betas recently polled its readers on the best beta's of 2006.

I interpreted it as the best betas launched in 2006, though I have to admit, it is difficult to recall when products actually launched as opposed to when they became popular. After revising my list to remove a few products that launched in late 2005, I selected:

1. Zillow
2. yourminis
3. MyBlogLog

Readers of Museum of Modern Betas encountered the same issue and so the poll results were weighted by year with older betas receiving less points per vote. According to the MoMB poll results the Betas of the Year 2006 are:

1. Flickr
2. Google Docs and Spreadsheet
3. Line Rider

What are your favorite beta products that launched in 2006?
What are your favorite beta products around in 2006?

Mojiti: Add Comments, Captions & Subtitles To Online Videos

The web offers a place for global conversation as anyone can share opinions, thoughts and insight through blogs, online video or comments strings. Annotating the web has been a recent trend as sites like Fleck launched to allow users the ability to add notes to web sites. Wouldn't it be interesting to be able to annotate video on the web in the same way? Mojiti, a privately held US-based company operating out of China, makes it easy for users to add annotations to videos from a number of video sites on the web.

Mojiti works by allowing users to select a video and personalize it with annotations called Spots. There are currently seven different Spot types which include: Text Spots, Subtitle Spots, Speech Bubble Spots, Thought Bubble Spots, Circle Spots, Rectangle Spots, and Image Spots. Certian Spots allow users the ability to add text to the top of the video while others place images into the a video. Users can also create custom Spot Sets which display together in a video. Spots are associated with video time intervals and can be easily navigated through similar to navigating through music tracks in a music player. Once a new video is created Mojiti makes it easy to share by sending a link or embedding it into a web site. Check out embedded video below to see Mojiti in action.

To find out more information about Mojiti check out the Mojiti blog, Mojiti on MySpace or the Mojiti FAQ page.

Bottom-line: Mojiti is an innovative online video product that empowers users to include personalized commentary, opinions and insight in web videos thus further extending the conversations of the web.

Quintura For Kids: Brings Visual Search To Children

Quintura For Kids launched just before the holiday rush to offer children a new way to search the web. Similar to the adult version of the Quintura visual search product, Quintura for Kids displays search results in addition to a keyword tag cloud. Quintura for Kids also offers children five pre-configured quick search categories (animals, games, music, TV and science). Quintura for Kids is powered by the Yahoo Kids search index, which ensures that the search results presented are suitable for children.

Search Engine Land recently had this to say about the launch of Quintura for Kids:

"I think the concept of visual search is one that will appeal to children, and they may well find this an interesting, enjoyable and above all different way to search."

I definitely agree, as Quintura for Kids is a lot friendlier visually than other search engines.  Quintura for Kids should be a hit with children looking to search the web but we probably should leave that decision up to the kids.

ParkWhiz: Find Parking Before You Go

Finding a parking spot can be a major drag. You can circle an area and  minutes can easily turn into hours as you look for an open crevice to park your set of wheels. Wouldn't it be great if you could find out about potential parking spots before you leave the comfort and warm glow of your television or computer monitor?

ParkWhiz, a Chicago-based startup, might be able to assist with this problem, as it offers users the ability to quickly search for parking near a location. Currently in beta, ParkWhiz offers parking search only in Chicago and Philadelphia.  If you are looking to check out the Sears Tower in Chicago then you simply type in "Sears Tower" and ParkWhiz should present search results and a map of all the parking locations within up to a 10 mile radius, so you have instant visibility into the parking situation before you leave your door. The site fields user ratings for each parking venue. ParkWhiz currently does not appear to offer a mobile component but might have one in the works as it could be an extremely helpful feature.

ParkWhiz has made its plans for 2007 pretty clear as it looks to create a parking marketplace and essentially empower users to buy and sell parking in a real-time environment. According to a recent article on the ParkWhiz blog the ParkWhiz Marketplace will be:

• A place to buy parking.
• A place to sell parking.
• A place to find parking information.
• Free for buyers and inexpensive for sellers.
• Environmental friendly.

Though it appears to still be in the early phases of development, CarHarbor (link to blog since site does not yet exist), a startup advised by Craig Newmark, Scott Rafer and James Lazarus, could give ParkWhiz some friendly competition;  though it appears ParkWhiz is currently ahead of the game. 

Shameless promo disclosure: ParkWhiz is helping guests find parking for the upcoming TECH cocktail 3 event in Chicago - don't forget to RSVP for TECH cocktail 3.

Photo Attribution:  sourabhj via Flickr