Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on April 17, 2007 by CyberNet.

Less than a month ago I wrote about a new meta search engine called Younanimous that aggregated search results from Google, Yahoo!, and MSN. With each search result it would list the position on each particular search engine as well as the PageRank and Alexa Rank.

Younanimous has since been renamed to AfterVote and includes a lot of great customization options. In the upper-right you’ll see a “Settings” link that will give you a wealth of settings that you can configure to your liking. Among the options you’ll find things like creating your own whitelist/blacklist of URL’s and domains, add/remove plug-ins for various services, and even choose how to weight the three different search engines.

Above is a screenshot of what it looks like to choose the weights from the various search services. Since I prefer Google I put the weight of Yahoo! and MSN all the way down. I’m sure you’re asking yourself why I would even use this search engine if all I want to search is Google? Well, it is really nice being able to get the Alexa Ranks and PageRank for each search result without needing any additional tools to do so. There are also a bunch of other plug-ins that you can have AfterVote add to each search result:

This makes it really easy to, for example, bookmark a result on your Del.icio.us account or find out Whois information on the domain. People normally download extensions for Firefox in order to put these things in search engine results, but AfterVote incorporates them right into the site.

There is still one thing that is holding me back from using AfterVote more often. You can’t actually customize how many results show up on each page. On Google I have it setup to display 100 results per page which makes my browsing a lot more efficient. I don’t think AfterVote has to go as high as 100 because I typically look at a maximum of 50, but being able to see more than 10 results would definitely help.

Even if they did add that option I would still only use the service from time to time because of the few extra seconds it takes to load the results. I understand that it has to query Google, Yahoo!, and MSN to get the results and process them, but the few extra seconds makes a big difference when I’m looking to get an answer quickly.

AfterVote is on the right track for making the best meta search engine available, and I’m sure they will attract a pretty large number of visitors if they push to get the word out.

Thanks for the tip Chris!

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This article was written on September 08, 2007 by CyberNet.

It had just occurred to me that I had never written about one of my favorite free file renamer applications for Windows. It’s called ReNamer, and I’ll warn you that it’s not a program for the weak at heart. It’s loaded with powerful features, and that’s one of the reasons I love it!

ReNamer lets you add a series of rules that it will follow for renaming files in bulk. I use this on a regular basis for renaming photos so that all of the file names don’t look like the generic DSC0000018.JPG or IMG0002388.JPG. With ReNamer I can sequentially rename the photos so that they all actually have a descriptive name.

This is the most powerful free file renamer that I’ve come across, and I’m sure you can find ways to rename just about anything using the different types of rules that are available:

I had thought about putting together a guide on how to use the software, but I was already beaten to it. There is a Quick Start Guide (2 pages) and a Beginner’s Guide (27 pages) available in PDF format on the file ReNamer download page. The Beginner’s Guide covers just about everything you would want to know, and it has a bunch of screenshots to walk you through the all the steps.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention one of ReNamer’s best features. You can download it with an installer or as a standalone 2.3MB program. I’ve thrown this on my USB drive, and carry it around with me wherever I go!

Download File ReNamer

Windows Tip: You can sequentially rename files in Windows Explorer by highlighting the respect files and pressing the F2 key. While this is convenient it doesn’t offer any sort of customizability.

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This article was written on February 23, 2007 by CyberNet.

Fortune recently named Google as the #1 company to work for in 2007.  You’ve probably heard about all of the perks like free gourmet food all day long, snacks up the wahzoo, oil changes and car washes on site, and the list goes on. One Google employee took the liberty of creating a page on Flickr where they post pictures of the food they ate at work. How often do you take pictures of your food at work? Sounds silly, but people are intrigued with this. So how does working for Google stack up against Yahoo and Microsoft?

This question is easily answered with the help of this blog. The author has worked for all three in some fashion, and put together a comparison of his experiences which are also summed up on the graph below:

He started with Microsoft, and then moved onto Google for summer internships, and just recently ended up getting hired by Yahoo as a software engineer.

So, what does he have to say about Google?

The rumors about Google were mostly true: free gourmet food (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) and kitchens with cereal and snacks nearby. The chefs would chat with you while you were filling your plate and answer any questions about the ingredients or cooking methods. Googlers are picky — I remember a > 100 email thread on the Mountain View misc mailing list discussing conspiracy theories about why our biodegradable recycled take-away food containers were replaced by cardboard ones. The variety of drinks was my favorite thing: you could get fresh squeezed juices of all kinds or whatever soft drink or tea you preferred. My chosen desk drink was Naked Juice at first, but eventually switched to Honest Tea for a lighter beverage. Before I worked there, photos of Googlers riding Segways in the hallways made me think that I would be doing the same. Unfortunately, there were no working Segways the whole summer I was there; we had scooters, but it was nearly impossible to take one out during the day.  The 3 in the building would already have their keys taken by the time I got to work. Apparently “Don’t be evil” doesn’t apply to scooters. Other cool things included famous people/authors coming in to give talks and giving us movie tickets or books they authored. There were so many great talks every day that I could have spent my whole day listening to interesting presentations by geek (and sometimes non-geek) celebrities.

And Microsoft?

Being an intern here was a blast and I was among good company with around 500 interns in Redmond. One memorable intern event was a barbecue at Bill Gate’s mansion by the bay. It was quite a palace and I couldn’t even see the entire house because it was 90% covered in trees. We munched on h’orderves and chatted with VPs while waiting for the BillG to come out. He finally made an entrance near the end of the evening and was immediately surrounded by interns shaking his hand and asking press questions like “How does Microsoft plan to position itself in the future?” During his informal talk, I was about 2 feet behind him and I wasn’t paying much attention to the speech but only noticed his shoes — they were actually slightly worn out normal looking shoes. I had always wondered what the richest man in the world wore and did not expect that.

Hey, Bill wears worn-out normal looking shoes! Who knew?

And now what about Yahoo?

I have to admit I have only worked here for a month so far, but it’s a pretty good place to work. I use my knowledge of operating systems, algorithms, and data structures to work with the massive amounts of data Yahoo gets. My favorite perk is an espresso bar downstairs where baristas serve your choice of caffeinated drinks as well as chai and chocolate milk. I miss the less bureaucracy at Google though: at Yahoo I have a manager, his manager, THREE directors above that manager, and then THREE VPs before the CEO. That’s right — I have 9 promotions to go before I’m at the top. And I have to confess that I still use Google for my internet-based needs.

I found all of this pretty interesting, especially the fact that he now works for Yahoo, yet he still uses Google for his Internet needs. Also interesting is how the perks like food and drinks appear to make a difference in the overall opinion of a company.

There probably aren’t many people who can say they’ve worked for Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google. His entire story is pretty long, but interesting, and you can find that here. If you’re wanting to get hired by one of these companies, he offers a few tips as well.

Source: My Microsoft Google Yahoo Stories [via Google Operating System]

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This article was written on February 22, 2007 by CyberNet.

After Steve Jobs wowed the crowed at Macworld in January by introducing the iPhone, he had some serious business to take care! The problem? Cisco had the name iPhone trademarked years ago, which left Apple dealing with a trademark-infringement lawsuit which was filed in federal court shortly after the Macworld announcement.

Long story short, Cisco and Apple decided to work together and share the name. Amazing huh? Speaking to the Associated Press, Zeus Kerravala who’s a network infrastructure analyst with Yankee Group says that there’s a possibility that the two could work together with Cisco’s Lynksys division creating a device where users could call in to record podcasts, and then they’d automatically be uploaded to iTunes.

“If the two actually can work together, then the combination of the two is obviously more powerful than the two butting heads,” says Kerravela. “There’s no company out there that understands network service like Cisco. And you could argue no other company understands user experience like Apple.”

Of course this is all speculation, and not a peep has been heard from Apple or Cisco over this deal, other than an announcement that they had agreed to “explore opportunities for interoperability in the areas of security, and consumer and enterprise communication.”

So who came out on top with this one? Apple or Cisco? I say Cisco because they had the ball in their court, and I’m sure Apple was willing to do just about anything to get this settled.

Note: If you’re wanting to take a look at Cisco’s iPhone, click here for the product page.

News Source: The Associated Press [via Yahoo]

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This article was written on May 11, 2007 by CyberNet.

Maybe you jumped on the bandwagon and purchased an iPod, only to find that you didn’t use it a few months later?  Maybe you’ve dropped your iPod just as many times as your cell phone, but your iPod didn’t survive?  Whatever your reason is, there’s a site that doesn’t mind whether it’s broken, or ya just don’t want it anymore.  They’ll give you cash for your iPod!

The site is BuyMyBrokeniPod.com, and all you have to do is enter in all of the information regarding the iPod, whether it’s a Nano, Video, 3rd generation, etc. Then enter in the condition, and whether or not you have the USB cable, charger, or box. From there you’ll get your quote on how much they’ll pay you for your iPod. You ship it to them via 1st class USPS mail, and upon delivery you’ll get your payment.

So for example, I’ve got a 4th generation 20GB iPod in 100% working order, it’s in OK condition, and it includes the USB cord and the charger.  I’d get $48 bucks back, and if it wasn’t working at all and I didn’t know why, I’d still get $18 back! If you have some idea what’s wrong with it, the value will probably go up. For example, if it had a cracked screen the value would go up to $21. Not bad if your iPod is sitting there broken, or collecting dust.

If you’re planning on purchasing another iPod, another alternative is the Apple Recycling Program that they offer at US Retail stores.  Whether it’s working or not, you can drop off your iPod and receive a 10 percent discount towards the purchase of a new iPod. Not a bad deal.

Submit your iPod at BuyMyBrokeniPod.com

Source:AppScout

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