Spark IP: an eBay for Ideas
SparkIP.com is a new Web site that aims to create a marketplace where ideas can be bought and sold.
Today SparkIP.com covers over 3.5 million US patents going back to the late 1960s.
They have plans to add patent applications, international patents, and other data sets in the coming weeks and they hope to soon have dozens of new innovations showing up on the site daily!
As you search on technologies, inventors, organizations or other terms, you will be introduced to our SparkCluster maps which are designed to give structure and context to the vast amounts of information available.
SparkClusters are self-organizing and self-naming, ensuring that the maps reflect the latest trends in innovation.
Today, there are over 49,000 SparkClusters on SparkIP.com; and each month, new ones will form as the innovation landscape evolves.
SparkIP connects ideas and investors in two ways.
First, you can dive into a database of 3.5 million U.S. patents using a Google-inspired keyword search.
Second, technology owners can list technology available for licensing.
SparkIP.com is a data-rich exchange designed for scientists/inventors, universities, government labs, corporations, patent attorneys, and anyone doing research on patented or emerging technologies.
Free MP3 Music Downloads From WuZAM
Doing some late night, early morning research for an upcoming client project, I stumbled upon a free MP3 music download site called:
So what exactly is WuZAM? Taken from the official site:
WuZAM is an internet music search engine that makes mp3 downloads available for free. Search any song or artist you wish to hear and WuZAM’s powerful engine will discover it for you. WuZAM is the best source of free music downloads online.
Unlike peer-to-peer programs, WuZAM doesn’t require others to upload their music to you.
WuZAM searches for files stored on servers, not on users’ personal computers. WuZAM searches specifically for files in the mp3 format.
Sites like this come and go but for now it seems like a good source to track down some of your lost and forgotten music favorites not easily found at your local music shop.
Now it’s time to run off and listen to an old favorite of mine, “Holy Diver” by Dio 
In Search Of Airborne Jr. Grape Flavor
It’s not that often that I call out to my loyal Geek With Laptop readers but today I need your help.
I’m in search of Airborne Jr. grape flavor and I can’t seem to find it at any local area store. They have every flavor except grape.
Here is what the box looks like:
After a little Google searching, I can purchase it directly from the Airborne website but I would need to get 6 tubes for approximately $41.94 USD and I only want one or two.
If you can find two boxes at a local store near you, I would be happy to pay your actual cost plus shipping to me.
My goal is to try and keep the entire deal under $25.00 USD otherwise I would just order directly from the manufacturer.
Let me know if you can or want to help me. Thanks in advance.
SEO for Google
With the recent Google data center updates in the last couple of months, many people find their websites no longer have the high SERPs they had enjoyed prior to the latest Google update.
Just a small heads up, as I type this, Google is in the process of yet another major update.
“Holy Search Engine Optimization” some of my readers and RSS subscribers might be thinking. What shall I do now?
Have no fear, there are some common starting points that if you apply these to all of your sites, you should be able to see the listings you once did as the norm.
- Proper naming structure
- Name your page titles with your keywords if possible
- Always have a sitemap
- Always include a robots.txt file
- If you must use a re-direct, be sure it’s server side, not with a meta refresh tag
- Don’t use hidden text
- Make sure your keyword phrase is included in your H1 tags
- Don’t optimize for more than 2 keywords per page
- Use text links where possible
- In any image, be sure to use the alt tag (describe the image, don’t use keywords).
- Use hyphens, not underscores when you name a page file
- Make sure your site has an error handling page
- Create a Google Sitemap and submit it to them (This is in addition to a typical sitemap)
- Offload all your JavaScript and CSS code (make it all off page).
- Don’t forget about meta tags
Be sure to follow these simple guidelines and you won’t need to worry too much anytime Google has an update.
Should Google Buy Yahoo?
Why would Google pay for a second rate search engine and a bunch of Web 1.0 apps?
Because Yahoo has a lot more on the ball than just a bunch of outdated applications, like Yahoo Mail.
While Google continues to dominate search, Yahoo has won a significant number of online battles with the search king:
1. Yahoo! Mail, which accounts for almost 50% of the free email market, has more than 10 times the market share of Gmail.
2. Yahoo! Answers is a major hit… Google Answers failed.
3. Yahoo’s Flickr is a runaway hit… far outpacing Google’s Picasa photo site.
4. In critical verticals, like finance, Yahoo remains the clear leader despite much effort by Google.
Both Yahoo! and Google are cozying up to the newspaper industry with their respective efforts. Combine the two efforts and a successful outcome for all parties is almost guaranteed.
Want to acquire display/brand ad expertise? Forget DoubleClick - Yahoo’s ad sales expertise and relationships with big Madison Ave brands and agencies are far superior.
Besides, as long as Google’s going to get scrutinized under federal antitrust regulators and now Congress, might as well go through all that headache with the promise of a much bigger catch at the end.
Right now Google looks like it could face a fight to finalize its deal for DoubleClick.
If Google faces this much resistance to buying DoubleClick, how much more friction would a deal for Yahoo create?
I think this proposed deal could be the first major acquisition in the last few years to actually face the threat regulatory intervention, which is probably a sign that it makes great business sense.
What do you think? Should Google just buy Yahoo? Or is this deal impossible in the current regulatory and business environments?
Ask.com Relaunches, But is Mum On Mobile Component
Ask.com (you know, that other search site) relaunched itself yesterday with lots of fanfare (and much rejoicing, yay!), crowing about its new design, new algorithms and customizable home page.
In combing the official press release, the word “mobile” doesn’t appear once.
Does Ask.com not care about the growing importance of mobile search?
What struck me as strange is that one of the new features of the Ask.com portal is Location-Based Results:
Ask3D now offers Smart Answer search results based on a person’s location. When people use Ask3D to search for “Starbucks,” they will see the locations nearest to them. When searching for “Gwen Stefani,” Ask3D lets people know when she is performing locally.
Even in this paragraph, Ask.com does not reference mobile devices. We can only assume that the LBS are relative to the location of the PC performing the search, not a mobile phone.
With all the noise Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft have made about their mobile search plans in the last few months, I find Ask’s lack of a mobile plan to be puzzling.
Maybe Ask.com isn’t interested in this part of the business? Maybe that’s why Ask is the 5th-ranked mobile search engine, with just 5.1% of the market (compared to Google’s 49.7%).
Just for the hell of it, I fired up the browser on my mobile phone and went to Ask.com. The WAP version of Ask.com looks eerily similar to Google and Yahoo!’s mobile search pages.
I performed a search for “Mesa Boogie” (what can I say, I am a tube amp junkie) and was rewarded with a solid number of results.
Then I went to Ask.com on my laptop computer and performed the same search (The interface is nice, by the way. Less utilitarian and more stylized that Google’s). The results of the search were exactly the same.
Then I did the same set of searches on Google’s mobile and standard versions. The top results were the same, even down to the sponsored results.
Ask.com provided some interesting additional bits of into, though, including links to some of Mesa Boogie’s competitors, dealers and even one of Mesa Boogie’s most well-known endorsers. These additional items were also available on the mobile search.
The mobile interface may not be as slick as its new homepage but Ask.com was just as useful of my mobile device as Google or Yahoo!.
So why isn’t Ask.com pushing its mobile services?