10/21/09 - Posted by Christopher Reinhard under Industry
Since the turn of the century, personal computing has gone Brady: it’s all about Apple, Apple, Apple. Even yesterday, the announcement of a new iMac—and more astoundingly, its accompanying mouse—took the social web by storm, surpassing even the omnipresent trend suggesting that there is No God.
But today, fair citizens of the interweb, is a different day. For the first time since the launch of its much-discussed Vista platform, Microsoft is making big waves with a new operating system, both socially and in terms of sales. The official preorder of Windows 7 has become the highest-selling preorder item on Amazon UK in history, surpassing even the most recent of the zeitgeist-inducing Harry Potter books. The most astonishing fact, however, is that in the first eight hours of its availability, Windows 7 recorded more sales in the United Kingdom than Vista has in total. To paraphrase Engadget/Paris Hilton…this product is hot. And as a Windows 7 user, this editor can vouch for its much-improved interface (and the speed…oh, the speed).
While there’s no denying the Snow Leopard-challenging power of Microsoft’s new O/S, we can assure you this product will not stop He Who Shall Not Be Named from wreaking havoc all over Hogwarts this winter.
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10/21/09 - Posted by Carmel Hagen under Industry
There’s a ton of news this morning about Bing now incorporating tweets in search results. And you can see why they would want to, using Kanye West’s rumored demise as an example. Celebrity deaths – or rumors of celebrity deaths – always generate a surge in search volumes. Users want to know what’s going on right now and turn to their favorite search engine to find out. As we’ve stated before, traditional search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing struggle in these scenarios. They find it hard to surface the buzzing results that are relevant right now. That’s a hole – and it’s a big one – that is being filled by realtime search engines. But it’s also instructive to look at the differences between realtime search approaches. The two screen shots below show search results pages for the query “RIP Kanye” on Twitter and OneRiot.
Twitter Search
OneRiot Realtime Search
Twitter search – which we love – shows you the flood of conversation from across the globe about the rapper. Most conversational snippets are funny and harmless, some are from “hashtag hoggers” (i.e. users jumping on the hashtag to appear in certain search results, but tweeting about another topic). Some tweeters claim Kayne is definitely dead, some realize it’s a hoax. And because the results appear as they are tweeted it’s hard to keep up with the absolute firehose of new comments (more than 460 new results emerged just in the time it took us to create the screen shot!)
OneRiot search – which we also love, obviously – shows you the buzz on the web right now about the same topic. You find the news, blogs and videos that are most relevant right now - trusted information from sites like MTV.com and NME.com. As we’ve explained before, these results are definitely influenced by the buzz on Twitter. We’ve developed a sophisticated realtime search infrastructure that uncovers the content fueling the conversations happening on the social web. Then, using PulseRank, our realtime ranking algorithm, we process the “signals” coming from Twitter (and other services) to rank and deliver that content among our search results - which all happens in under a second! The end result is that OneRiot helps you filter through the firehose of the realtime web to find the most relevant content right now – the very pages that people need to see to determine if that notoriously cocky rapper really kicked the bucket.
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10/21/09 - Posted by Abdullah Saeed under Industry
Another year, another groundbreaking application of technology by Apple. Today, the Magic Mouse made its debut, and the buzz is predominantly positive. The multitouch mouse allows users easier and more intuitive control of actions on their screens, and everybody wants one. Of course, there emerged a smattering of rhetoric on the realtime web about the evilness of the maker of the expensive white things, but then again, that commentary is always there. This product is just not the best opportunity to underscore how sinister and exclusive Apple is, causing some tech-lovers to go into straight up double think.
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Tags: Apple, gadgets, mac, magic mouse
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10/21/09 - Posted by Jennifer Hodges under Because We Feel Like it, OneRiot News
While we’ve just began to dust off those dangling dancing skeletons and pick out a couple of pumpkins for our doorstep, another more icicly season is creeping upon us. Sure, we still have a couple months before winter is in full force, but it hasn’t stopped us from romantically longing for all the snowy goodness that winter brings. This has resulted in us spending hours daydreaming of the slopes and checking countless Warren Miller films out to get psyched for the upcoming season. (However we’re technically not supposed to mix our favorite pastimes with work, so we decided to create a little loophole and make it our work.)
Introducing PulseOnSkiing, our newest account to the RiotFeed family. Check it out for awesome videos, mountain reports, cutting edge ski gear, and more to get you (even more) pumped to hit those double diamonds. Ow Ow! Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: skiing, Snow, winter
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10/20/09 - Posted by Evan Kessler under Sports
Baseball may be America’s pastime, but it’s America’s most exciting league, the NFL, that is a realtime trend today. While the thrilling Monday night contest between the undefeated Denver Broncos and their rival San Diego Chargers may be a big reason for that, we’re willing to concede that today’s 4pm trade deadline is also driving searches up a notch. Football teams don’t typically swap superstars mid-season, reserving huge roster moves for the spring and summer months, though you wouldn’t know that from the way the Browns having been dealing established players like Braylon Edwards for some of coach Mangini’s past Jet favorites as of late. That’s not to say the in-season NFL trade doesn’t lack excitement, why just last year the Dallas Cowboys traded for the largely ineffective Roy Williams, and in 1987 the Rams sent RB legend Eric Dickerson to the Colts! Read the rest of this entry »
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10/19/09 - Posted by Evan Kessler under Because We Feel Like it
Beginning sometime around our gentle transition into the autumn season, the word “Halloween” began appearing as a trending topic on the minds of many a realtime search monger. While it’s true a good deal of the hubbub is merely result of users reading up on their favorite spooky sugar-coated candies or attempting to get a head start on finding the perfect costume, (like @trexy79 who’s considering stealing my costume from 5 years ago,) not all of the Halloween buzz is centered around candy or fun dress up ideas.
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Tags: Death, Halloween
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10/15/09 - Posted by Jennifer Hodges under Because We Feel Like it, US
While the search was on to find Falcon Heene, a six year old boy who was believed to be carried away by a foil helium balloon, people turned to the realtime web to stay informed on his whereabouts and well-being. The child went missing from his Colorado home, leading authorities to think he had crawled into a homemade balloon basket before it was untethered, sending him thousands of feet in the air. However, when the balloon touched down over fifty miles away, there was no sign of the child. (Read more about the story here.)
While new updates and details were being released moment by moment, people took to their Twitter accounts to discuss the happenings. Within minutes of the story releasing today, #BalloonBoy became a trending topic, and in a ten minute span over 3,700 tweets with the hash-tag were featured. Some expressed genuine concern and sympathy, while others made light of the incredible yet tragic situation. Some one trying to make a quick buck even designed T-Shirts depicting a foil balloon with the words “Go Falcon, Go” on the front. Falcon Rick-Rolls were sent, Balloon-Boy Kanye memes were swapped, and even theories that this was a publicity stunt for the show “Wife Swap,” on which the boy’s family appeared, were whispered. Read the rest of this entry »
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