Online Tools

Another, but slightly different perspective on Google’s Searchwiki

November 26, 2008 By Dan Thornton

In all honesty, I really don’t care!

There’s been a lot of debates about the merits of the new Searchwiki for Google search returns, and whether it’s a good thing, a bad thing, an SEO killer etc.

But I really don’t spend that much time on the search results page. In fact, I’m using search less and less. Most of my website discoveries come from recommendations via Twitter, Stumbleupon, email, IM etc. I tend to only use google when i know a name, or part URL, or if I’m checking Page Ranks.

For a geek like me to have had access all morning to something so talked about, and not even using it until after 3pm says a lot.

Update: OK, I can see the merits of being able to move an incorrect or spammy link up or down in my results, assuming it’s a term I’ll ever search for again, and I’ll have returned to the search results page. And if that has an overall effect, then it might help to dissuade some spam websites. But the mistake of relying on crowds is that just throwing a crowd at a problem doesn’t guarantee good results in any way, shape or form. And it’s just as prone to spam, and people just rating and commenting without evaluating… In theory, I could try and get everyone I’ve ever met to always rate this blog as highly as possible all the time for relevant keywords – and I’m sure that there willbe people offering to do just that if it’s shown to affect general rankings in any way.

So, even after taking some time to reflect and read up, I still don’t really see the point, or the benefit yet. Anyone else feeling the same way?

The corporate IT revolution is happening – just without IT

November 20, 2008 By Dan Thornton

In an example of timely thinking, Accenture has released a report which tallies with my recent revisit to how the IT departments of most companies need to radically change to meet the needs of a very different and constantly changing environment. My original post ‘IT could lead the revolution‘ and ‘Still waiting for the IT revolution‘ both talked about how users, particularly in a creative environment, need to find ways to implement new technology quickly and efficiently – often in the face of restrictive IT policies.

And then ReadWriteWeb covered the Accenture report with ‘Millennials Will Route Around IT Departments‘.

Some key points:

More than a third of Millennials also indicated that they were dissatisfied with the technologies their employers currently provide.
Over a quarter of the employees surveyed by Accenture to use technology that is unsupported and unsanctioned by their corporate IT departments.
Almost half of all Millennials who use social networks, blogs, vlogs, or Twitter do so without support from their IT departments (and often against the IT policies of their companies).
A quarter of those who use online collaboration tools and open-source software also do so without support.
60% of the employees surveyed by Accenture argue that they are unaware of their companies’ IT policies or that they are simply not interested in following them.
Over half of the respondents in this study (52%) said that a company’s use of technology was a major factor when they select an employer.

Add in the fact the survey also reinforces the shift away from email as the primary form of electronic communication, and it’s clear that the revolution is happening. It’s just that in most cases, companies aren’t listening, and are investing in the wrong areas.

Another great tool for improving email – this time, Outlook

November 19, 2008 By Dan Thornton

I’ve already shown how to improve your email experiences with the Remember The Milk gadget for Googlemail, and OtherInbox for filtering signups and other email detritus. But, like many people, I’m tied to Outlook for my main corporate email – but there’s an easy way to improve it with Xobni, that just got even better.

It’s an add-in for Outlook which search funtions, email anlytics and more, including a useful list of which documents have been sent to other people in email conversations. Plus it also already featured integration with LinkedIn for more details about who is emailing you.

Now the latest release includes integration with Yahoo Mail!, Facebook, Hoovers and enhanced Skype functionality.

If you’re using Outlook, Xobni is highly recommended.

2 great productive solutions – Other Inbox and Remember the Milk for Gmail

November 17, 2008 By Dan Thornton

I’ve been spending a lot of time hypothesizing about various things, so I’ll redress the balance with two practical tools I’m using which have really helped me recently.

Signing up for so many services for both work and pleasure put a real strain on my email inbox. So much so, that i was starting to dread the next time I had to enter my email address into a signup box to figure out whether a service was any good or not. Thankfully, something in my memory suddenly kicked into gear and I remembered a friend (Thanks, Tim) had invited me to OtherInbox.

I’ve started using it today, and it’s a simple and brilliant solution. When you sign up for a new service, simply used servicename@username.otherinbox.com. Then, all registration emails, updates and any spam is sent to Other Inbox, and automatically filed into folders for each service.

So I can easily find my login details, or check which services might have led to spam emails, without having to set up 101 fake email addresses!

The other huge productivity boon comes from my final acceptance that Googlemail really is awesome – particularly with Google labs opening up to Gadgets. I already inserted Google Docs into my email account, which is useful, but then I found out Task Management service Remember the Milk now has a Google Gadget! That means I now have my email, documents I’m working on, and my task list in one place to keep track.

Combine that with using OtherInbox for better filtering, and suddenly Googlemail is becoming a personal hub for my online life and reinvigorating my waning interest in ever using email.

I can already see myself with 3 hubs for my entire life.

One for my external publishing on blogs etc,
One for managing my personal profiles,
One for my personal communication and productivity.

Google is already taking care of 3. And various Twitter and blog uploading applications are competing for my attention. Meanwhile OpenSocial and Facebook Connect are working towards solving 2.