Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period.
Google has quietly announced some new features for Analytics, its web tracking tool. They seem small, but these additional tracking features will provide much greater insight into what is going on your website since you can't always peer over visitors' shoulders to watch.
The updates include:
Site Search Tracking - Users will now be able to tell exactly what keywords visitors searched for on your site, and where these searches end up.
Event Tracking - Currently in a limited beta test, these website reports will show how users interact with various multimedia aspects on your site, including flash and Ajax without messing with pageview metrics.
Outbound link Tracking - Also in a limited beta test rolling out in the next few weeks, reports will show what links website visitors click on that direct them to an outside site.
If you have a website, and don't already have the free Google Analytics code installed, you are missing out on understanding how your visitors move around, how they interact with your content and how they got there in the first place. Google Analytics not only provides insight on how people navigate, but it also aids in targeting site content towards what people enjoy. It's easy to set up, free and Analytics reports are super simple to understand.
Tomorrow Ubuntu 7.10 launches, and with it a whole new era in Open Source operating systems. Sure, it may be just another Linux distribution but, make no mistake, 7.10 is the tipping point.
After 7 releases, Ubuntu's track record remains stellar. Maintaining a rigorous release schedule, the Ubuntu team have managed to "slip" less than one day per release cycle, putting other commercial closed source vendors to shame. Try that, Microsoft.
While impressive, Ubuntu's dead-on release strategy is nothing compared to the level of innovation contained within those cycles. Giving users and developers what they want is a big piece of Ubuntu's core strategy, and it's starting to pay off in spades.
Every now and again a study comes around that's so stunning it makes us wonder, "wait, somebody took the time to study this?" And now, for the findings from the Department of Obvious Research Pew Internet & American Life Project: girls who post photos online are more likely to be contacted by strangers than boys or girls without pictures. Shocking, but true.
We suppose it's important for objective researchers to test conventional and unconventional wisdom about the web in order to stave off fears that every child who ever goes online will become the victim of sexual predators. But seriously, did we need a study to let us know that dirty old men out there like to send inappropriate messages to girls online?
Other key findings include:
Girls were more likely than boys to have been contacted by someone who made them feel scared or uncomfortable
Teens who created profiles on social networking sites are more likely to have been contacted by strangers -- but they were no more likely to have been scared than other kids who have been contacted online
The RIAA certainly knows how to keep on top of the latest trends in piracy. Wired is reporting that the Recording Industry Association of America is suing Usenet.com, claiming that the internet platform that predates the web is the next big thing in illegal file sharing.
Never mind the fact that people have been sharing files on Usenet for decades. And never mind the fact that Usenet.com is just one company that provides access to Usenet feeds.
In other words, RIAA could sue Usenet.com into oblivion with absolutely no impact on the number of illegal music, movie, and other files you could download from Usenet. This is sort of like suing internet service providers because subscribers used their internet access to fire up web browser, BitTorrent clients, and Gnutella-style file sharing applications to download copyrighted music.
Oh yeah, and in case you've forgotten how to access Usenet feeds (you know, for the engaging conversations, not the file downloads), Wired has written up a nice little tutorial to get you (re)started.
First Palm goes and preloads Windows Mobile onto Palm Treo smartphones and Palm purists die a little inside. Now it looks like Vodafone has decided to tweak the heck out of the Windows Mobile interface for the upcoming launch of the Treo 500v and Windows Mobile purists are... well, we're not really sure. The streamlined interface does look like it could make some tasks simpler while others could be needlessly more complicated.
Vodafone is calling the new menu system Vodafone TPP. Basically it's a side-scrolling method for flipping through Windows Mobile applications and web services.
The start menu doesn't look anything like your typical Windows Mobile start menu (or your Windows desktop start menu either for that matter). There are also new "main menu" and "application" menus for launching programs.
Arne Hess over at the unwired did a video review, which you can check out after the jump.
Development keeps marching along on the Opera web browser. Today the Opera team released Opera 9.24, which is basically a security update to Opera 9.24. And next week the team will launch the public beta of Opera 9.5.
Opera 9.24 fixes several vulnerabilities that could leave your computer open to attack. Updates are available for the Windows, Mac, and Linux/Unix versions of Opera.
Opera is throwing a party in San Francisco next Thursday for the official launch of Opera 9.5. We took a look at an alpha version of the browser, and we were pretty impressed. It's still not quite a Firefox replacement (for example, some Google web services don't render properly), but Opera 9.5 definitely has some attractive features like the ability to search your complete web history from the URL bar.
If you can't wait 8 more days, there's a new snapshot build available for download today. It has plenty of bug fixes and updates, but there's also a huge list of known issues, so download at your own risk.
If you go to your Google preferences today, you'll notice a new section titled Search Add-ons. Here you have the option of adding "Subscribed Links." If you're confused by the name, so were we. But the concept itself is pretty simple: sometimes web site publishers have a better idea what you're looking for with a particular search query than Google does.
For example, say you're looking for information about medications. You could trust the luck of the draw and hope that Google presents you with reliable information. Or you could subscribe to the Epocrates custom service if you trust Epocrates. Then any time you search for text that seems relevant to Epocrates content a box will show up at the top of your Google Search results page with results from Epocrates.
If you're not happy with the handful of suggested subscribed links on your preferences page, you can browse a complete directory of available custom searches.
Anyone can create a subscribed link, but getting people to sign up for them will be a bit trickier. In other words, if you already have an extraordinarily popular and trustworthy site, you're all set. But using subscribed links to build traffic for new sites seems like a bit of a fool's game.
Not everyone can afford (or justify) a personal assistant. That's why Values on n, the folks behind Stikkit, have invented Sandy, your very own personal email assistant.
I Want Sandy helps you stay organized and productive by working with emails to yourself and turning them into to-do's, address book updates and calendar appointments. It all works by sending an email and CCing Sandy on it. Sandy understands basic terms like 'reminder', 'lookup' and 'update' and will then sort the content appropriately.
If you aren't up to your neck already in to-do applications, I Want Sandy could be a beneficial application to try out. The concept is straightforward, and it could definitely save time on scheduling and calendar updates. It is currently in beta form, and is accepting signups to join the queue for a free account. In the meantime, if you want to get a feel for how simple and straightforward yet powerful its creator's web applications are, sign up for a free account on Stikkit, their little yellow productivity tool.
Just one day after Apple announced it would be dropping the price of DRM-free music tracks from $1.29 to the iTunes-standard $.99, the company expanding its catalog of unencrypted music.
With the move, Apple can legitimately claim to have the largest (legal) library of DRM-free music available online. For a few weeks there Amazon held that distinction, but it looks like the war is on. And while there are still a number of major record labels that are not providing DRM-free tracks through any service, it warms our hearts to see a price war between two industry giants battling to offer high quality unencrypted tracks to music fans.
Apple's DRM-free tracks are all AAC files encoded at 256kbps. The company was already offering a huge library of tracks from EMI. New labels offering DRM-free music include Sub Pop, Nettwerk, Beggars Group, IODA, and The Orchard.
Get ready for iPhone and iPod Touch applications to roll out of the pipes early next year, an SDK is coming!
We heard a rumor yesterday, but our friends over at TUAW have let us in on some exciting news from the Apple front. Apple has said that the much anticipated iPhone SDK will be released to developers by February 2008. This Software Developer Kit will allow developers to create applications for the iPhone, as well as the iPod Touch. Of course, hackers have been developing iPhone apps pretty much since the day the device was released, but now we're talking about applications that won't be deleted every time Apple issues firmware updates.
So start that special savings account now, things are going to get really interesting with Apple devices. Its not like it wasn't heavily expected by Apple developers and loyal fans, but it sure has been long overdue and will unfortunately take some time for the release of the kit. This is mainly to ensure a proper advanced open platform is built that will not only protect iPhone's from viruses but from associated privacy attacks made on users.
This vital and dynamic third party community that is about to be created will be able to grab the SDK after MacWorld San Francisco in February 2008, something Apple and their stockholders are genuinely excited about.
You're not supposed to be able to patent anything that's obvious. That's a gross oversimplification of complex US patent law, but basically we've always wondered how Amazon got away with patenting a "one-click" shopping button. Sure, nobody else can use the exact same code you did to create a one-click checkout button. But seriously, did the US Patent Office think that the idea to click a "buy now" button was original?
While we just scratched our head and laughed, blogger Peter Calveley went and did something about it. He filed a re-examination request last year. And now that the patent office has taken another look at the one-click patent they've rejected a large number of claims made by Amazon. In other words, while Amazon has a chance to respond, there's a good chance this patent will be revoked.
You don't need a tank to drive down the street. And sometimes you don't need Photoshop to edit a photo. IrfanView is one of our favorite light weight image viewing/editing applications. Need to open an image, view a slideshow? Check. Want to crop, resize, pixelize, blur, or brighten a photo? Check.
This week IrfanView released version 4.10. The latest update includes support for even more file types and comes packed with new editing features:
New paint plugin that lets you draw lines, circles and boxes on an image (just hit F12 to bring up the paint menu)
Support for embedded color profiles in JPG/TIF files
Lossless JPG Crop added
Support for FLV files
Auto adjust colors on selected portions of an image
A bunch of other bug fixes, tweaks, and new features for editing, opening, and viewing images and multimedia files.
And best of all, you can open and close IrfanView a few dozen times in the amount of time it would take you to load Photoshop. Oh yeah, and it's free. That's nice too.
MySpaceIM, an instant messaging app for Windows that allows MySpacers to send each other on-screen text-messages, will be the first to integrate officially-sanctioned third-party support for Skype. This is precisely the kind of cross-network integration many Skype detractors have been calling for (including us). What's more, it's one less application we have to keep running in order to keep in touch with all our buddies.
This move is almost certainly more beneficial for Skype than it is for MySpace, as the addition of voice to MySpaceIM is only appealing to a limited number of users--a group of folks who are probably already using a voice-equipped I.M. client. But giving Skype access to the MySpace community. Now that's a big deal. The only way Skype will grow beyond the confines of the viral network is to start promoting through partners, and we can think of no better partner for growing Skype than MySpace.
If you are a Google Docs user you are going to be happy to know that Google Docs Mobile was recently released. Accessing your online Google Docs has gotten easier but don't get your hopes up yet, there are some restrictions.
There were some hints in September about the new mobile service when users came across a working web address for the service. Google Docs Mobile is still in its early stages and it's far from perfect. For instance, only iPhone and Blackberry devices are officially supported. And you can only view documents. You can't edit them. You can either open spreadsheets as an HTML document or you can download an XLS version.
Presentations are said to be viewable on the iPhone. Other devices may work with the mobile version, but Google has said that the more advanced a phone's browsing capability is, the more seamlessly it will work with the Mobile Docs site. As for the interface, it's basically a stripped down version of the online site offering not much more than plain text with no formatting.
A trend that has been flowing with Google has been the development of proper mobile applications, as with Gmail, and Gmail Apps for your domain. We wonder how long it will take for a Google Docs mobile application to get off the ground?
Last time we took a look at the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet, we showed how to do some fun, if easy, stuff with it--like setting up custom RSS news sources, placing VoIP calls, and even playing a little Quake 2. Now, we've assembled a new video demonstrating one of the most quirky hacks you can pull off with Nokia's little handheld computer: assembling a functional GPS tracking system using a Bluetooth GPS receiver and freely-available software.
In this feature, we'll show you how to set up Maemo Mapper, the open-source navigation software, and how to obtain and install the map tile images you'll need to equip your N800 with both street maps and satellite imagery. We'll also see how the N800 compares to Nokia's N95 smart phone, which carries onboard GPS hardware and mapping software.
Google has quietly announced some new features for Analytics, its web tracking tool. They seem small, but these additional tracking features will provide much greater insight into what is going on your website since you can't always peer over visitors' shoulders to watch.
