Monday, January 28, 2008

Information Design - Web Trend map 2008



The Japanese agency IA is back with a vengeance, releasing the 2008 beta version of their -now *very famous* - web trend map.

In their own words: "This time we’ve taken almost 300 of the most influential and successful websites and pinned them down to the greater Tokyo-area train map".

It is definitely as interesting if not richer than the one published in 2007, but I wonder why the list is missing Wikia, Seesmic and Qik - will drop them a note about it.

Order your A0 poster here :)

Twitter - Tweet stats




I came across Tweetstats by accident - while reading @warzabidul's blog
- and I love it.

The site (made by "Damon aka (dacort)") gives any user a visual (graphs) representation of their Twitter activities, featuring stats for: general timeline, hourly tweets, direct replies and interface used - Plain brilliant.

I would love to see a widget I can embed in my blog - and why not a Facebook app?

Check out your Twitter stats here :)

Note: As you can see, I've been pretty busy Twittering in Jan, hence the few posts on the blog ;)


Google - Lego logo!



The Lego brick turns 50 today and this is - by far - the best Google logo re-design I've seen in a long time :)

Just for fun, check out some *real* Google Lego logos here

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Web 2.0 - Wikia Search launched




Wikia Search launched on the 7th of January - I know, we're the 13th.
I always have good excuses: I was too busy testing/enjoying/loving search, so
I delayed reporting about the hottest/most awaited for launch of 2008.

The net.. The blogoshpere.. The universe.. They were all on fire. Literally. Press releases, interviews, posts, debates. Some loved it and others hated it.

Detractors built their case mainly on the fact that the results were not accurate, and that it was too soon to launch the Alpha version of Search (omitting one little detail: Alpha comes before Beta, and doesn't mean anything but "very early stage of development").

The social networking component (you can customize a profile page and add friends once you sign up) was also very widely criticized: does the world need another Facebook?

In my *humble* opinion, they failed to see the big picture: this open source human powered search engine IS the next big thing.

Of course, it will take time to be perfect, and Jimmy Wales gave a clear warning about the matter (yes, at this stage, the search results are bad); Wikipedia was not built in one day.

I see it having mainly two types of users: the ones who search and the ones who influence the search results. Just like the Wikipedia model, the active community will be very protective of its inputs, which will lead to high quality search results.

As far as the social networking part of the site is concerned, I totally see its benefit if it is linked to search in some way, shape or form.

Most of the features are not launched/implemented yet, so it is definitely too early for the "web authorities" to judge. Sit back, relax and wait for it to grow to its full potential.

Hail to the Wikia team and for the great job they've done :)

Check out Wikia search, register and add me a as a friend!
(Look for Stephanie T.)

Note: read more about the launch here

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Google - HNY 2008



Happy New Year everybody!