M-lab: How Fast is your Internet Connection?

How fast is your connection really? According to Website Optimization the average connection in America looks to be 300k, which means a page loads in 7.5 seconds. There are a bunch of tools to see how fast your webpage loads, like Pingdom.

A new website launched the other day called M-lab will determine how fast your Internet connection from your ISP (Internet Source Provider) is going. The hope of M-lab is to transform Internet transparency and sustain a healthy, innovative Internet. Cox Communications, the country’s third-largest cable company, said this week it will test a system that temporarily slows some data to let more time-sensitive traffic through. This means some users will get preferential treatment, which has net neutrality advocates up in arms.

Do you find M-lab useful?
http://www.measurementlab.net

LeapFish: Search Engine 2.0?

Over the weekend, I read an article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer showcasing a new search engine called LeapFish, which is being haled as the next best thing. TechCrunch didn’t give the website a great review, but Behnam Behrouzi, the creator of LeapFish, is bound to prove them wrong.

This search engine is considered the next generation of engines because it is “multidimensional in the world of metasearch aggregators.” What does this mean? Basically LeapFish goes out and searches a bunch of engines at the same time and delivers them back to you on their site.  You are searching Google, MSN, Yahoo, YouTube, Amazon and even eBay at the same time.

LeapFish features:

• “Just Type It” search results – the moment you start typing, your results happen.
• Homepage content – the front page is laid out with news, videos, stock market and weather
• Unique search results – the engine not only looks at the top sites like Google, but it even searches Amazon and eBay
• Interesting advertising model – you can buy the rights to keywords on their site, then sell them back when they become popular

http://www.leapfish.com

What do you think of the engine? Would you use LeapFish again?

Gmail Users – Try Mail Goggles!

I learned the hard way a few years ago about sending emails in the heat of the moment. Before I send out a big email, I generally save it in my draft box, let it simmer, and send it out later. This method of saving for later led to many drafts in my inbox, but it has made me certainly craft better emails. Now Google has created Mail Goggles to prevent you from sending that message you shouldn’t send.

Inside your Gmail “Setup”, under the “Labs” tab you will see the option to enable this feature. You have the opportunity to define what time of the day you want Google to ask if you if you really want to send this email.

http://www.gmail.com

By the way, if you don’t have a Gmail account, you are missing out on one of the best free products on the market. I would highly recommend signing-up for a Gmail account; you will never go back to your old email system.

What are the Hottest Searches?

Have your wondered what the most popular searches for the day are? Google launched “Trends” to give you a summary of the hottest trends in searches. Yahoo puts the top searches on their homepage.

http://www.yahoo.com/
http://www.google.com/trends

1-800-GOOG-411

I was surfing Google and I saw they introduced a mobile information service called 1-800-GOOG-411. Basically, you call the number, tell the automated agent what you want and it will give you a listing of services. It’s like moviefone for everything. The best part is that it’s free.

What do you do when you call?

• Say Your Location
• Say What You’re Looking For “I.E. Tacos”
• Pick Number
• Get Connected with Service

If you want just information, you can say “text” and the service will send the text to your phone. In this mode it will even send you a map of your location.

Try it, you’ll like it.
http://www.google.com/goog411/

Google Chrome, the Next Giant?

As you may know, the first web browser Netscape invented by Marc Andreessen was retired last year. However in its wake, there has been a recent boom of new web browsers including Firefox, Opera and now Chrome by Google. This new browser is the synthesis of the best features from Internet Explorer, Mozilla and Opera. Google has generated a strong web browser that is bound to only get better.

Chrome Main Features:

• Main Address Bar – Pullls up most the popular sites as you type.
• New Tab Page – Opens a new tab to see the most visited page. This is a feature straight from Opera and Cuil. Every time you open a new tab, you will see a three column visual layout of your most visited sites and see a search history of recently visted tabs.
• Application shortcuts – Use Google web apps without opening your browser.
• Dynamic Tabs – Drag tabs out of the browser to create new windows, gather multiple tabs into one window or arrange your tabs however you want.
• Crash Control – You can see memory use per tab. Each tab is run independently in the browser, so if one crashes it won’t take the whole browser down. This has been an issue with Firefox.
• Incognito Mode – Your personal information will not be saved by Google. Ask has a feature like this.
• Safe Browsing – Lets you know visually if the website has bad intent.
• Instant Bookmarks – Click star in address bar to access your favorites from any page.
• Import Settings – Move favorites from other browsers with one click.
• Simpler Downloads – Progress meter built in browser so you can drag and move onto desktop to launch when completed.

Download Google Chrome
http://www.google.com/chrome

What do you think? Will Google now take over the world of web browsing?

Powerset

Powerset is a natural language search engine for the Internet. Google is driven by “keywords”, but Powerset is driven by natural language. Better yet, the tool’s best kept secret is that it searches Wikipedia, the popular user-based encylopedia. Personally, Wikipedia is a great tool, however for the average person the amount of information there is daunting. Now, Powerset gives you an easy way to shift through the vast seas of entries.

Discover a search engine that was built to be better than Google and Yahoo. Get more relevant search results.

http://www.powerset.com

Customized Google Homepage

Did you know that you can create your own customized Google homepage with updated time and weather?

On your customized Google homepage, incorporate your favorite YouTube videos and the latest Google News. You can also tap into some of their most popular utilities like the Google Calendar to keep track of important dates. If you quest knowledge, then have the “How of the Day” post a nugget of info.

http://www.google.com/ig