I was following some of the domain hacking discussion on the fo.rtuito.us digg commentary. The general consensus for most people is that gratuitous domain hacking can only lead to confusion and annoyance. I know that when I was first using del.icio.us, it was a pain to type in the url, since I could never remember where all the dots went. But, after a while (like most things), the dot positions got ingrained into my head.

del.icio.us is one of the few domain hacks that have made it big, alongside others like blo.gs. Wikipedia has a nice article detailing some of the history behind domain hacks and their uses. Personally, I think that domain hacks of the kind like fo.rtuito.us can be a challenge for most people to remember (I think the base word “fortuitous” is already a stretch for most!) For a lot of these sites, it’s this split second kind of delay when thinking that can drive away customers.

If you’re still thinking about domain hacking your next web app, try using Xona.com’s domain hacks search, which will suggest different domain hack combinations for a given word. I tried out my name “james yu”, to see if there was anything interesting.

And lo and behold, it turns out that my last name “yu” is perfect for a domain hack, since “yu” is the top-level domain for Yugoslavia. I could theoretically have “james.yu” as my url. But alas, Yugoslavia only allows special agencies to hold a customized second level domain. The best I could do would be “james.co.yu”, which isn’t nearly as cool. The other suggestions included hacks with slashes in them, like “jame.sy/u/” and “jam.es/yu”. If you think remembering dot positions in urls is a pain, try remembering combinations of dots and slashes.

I think I’ll just stick with jamesyu.org.

Coordinating the logistics for a group trip can be a nightmare. Between coordinating travel dates, flights, hotels, and itineraries, you’ll probably end up losing days of productivity and sanity. It’s time to see if online travel management sites can help out.

There are lots of travel sites that can help you find hotels and flights, like Kayak. And then, there are travel social networking sites that let you read and write reviews about various travel destinations, like TripConnect, TravBuddy, and Epic Trip. However, none of these sites can really help you plan and manage the nitty-gritty details of your trip. There are two trip management sites that I’m aware of that can do this: Triporama and TripHub.

Triporama lets you manage the basic elements of your group trip. There are entry boxes to record traveling details such as arrival/departure information, accommodations, and activities. You can also manage who will be traveling with the group, and send out blanket emails with announcements.

This is all well and good, but the problem with Triporama is that the details of the trip must all be entered using simple text boxes. In essence, the interface is no different than using multiple text files to handle your trip planning. It would be nice to incorporate some information awareness by automatically pulling in flight data, or even simply pre-filling the text boxes with specific dates and locations. For free form data, it’s always best to implement some type of wiki. For example, the itinerary could be an all accessible wiki page that anyone can add their suggestions for things to do.

Triporama also provides trip ideas, which is basically a portal to travel sites that offer pre-paid vacation packages, many of whom Triporama is an affiliate with. In the end, Triporama is just too basic for any kind of complex travel management, and seems to be more of a front door to lure you into buying their affiliated vacation packages.

TripHub has more management features than Triporama. It has all the basic functionality: email lists, flight information, and hotel information. But, it does all this with a more sophisticated data entry interface, allowing you to fill in exact dates, number of guests, addresses, and much more. You may not think that this is a big deal, but when it comes to multiple people entering data, it’s best to constrain and guide their text inputs so that it will be easier to glean the relevant data later on.

TripHub also has search capabilities for flights and hotels, which is powered by Hotels.com. What’s nice is that TripHub can let you comment on hotels and let your whole group see what hotels are being considered. When it comes to emails and group polls, I’m always an advocate of only having the information entered once, rather than having to send out different emails and lists with the exact same information.

Overall, TripHub is a nicely executed site, and is suitable for anyone needing to manage a large group of travelers. For groups of 6 or less, it might be more of a hassle than a blessing to use TripHub. Most of the time, I find that using Gmail to track my conversations is enough for small groups.

If anyone else has a favorite travel management tool or technique, make your comment below. I would love to hear about it.

Over the past week, BuzzShout has been getting thousands of hits through Google a day from the search term “messengerfx.” I didn’t know of any big buzz about MessengerFX, and have scarcely heard the service being mentioned ever since it was submitted a while back. It turned out that many of the Google searches for MessengerFX were located in Europe, so I figured that perhaps I was the one missing out on all the buzz.

For curiosities sake, I decided to give it a test run. MessengerFX is an in-browser interface to MSN messenger, the same space that the well known Meebo is in. Personally, I don’t use MSN messenger; I’ve always used AIM. But even now, I don’t AIM that much, since I find that it reduces my productivity.

MessengerFX is pretty snappy, and does all the things that Meebo can do, except that it only supports MSN messenger. During my testing, it seemed to be stable, and provided enough features to use as a light IM client within a browser.

In the end, I don’t see any compelling features that would make Meebo fans switch. Meebo also supports AIM, Yahoo Messenger, Jabber, and GTalk. Meebo supports more languages as well. MessengerFX will need to support at least these other services to compete on the same level as Meebo.

This leaves the question: why am I getting so many hits from MessengerFX via Google? Are there a lot of fans of it that I’m not aware of? Did they break into a major news article in Europe? Anyone know?

On the tails of Wikipedia, Wikitravel, and Rrove comes WikiMapia, which allows visitors to annotate, tag, and describe places directly on the Google map interface. It’s definitely a neat idea–instead of surfing Wikitravel to find a particular place via reading text, you can surf around an area of the map on WikiMapia and view descriptions of interesting locations.

Each location has a “card” that holds information about it. Users can choose to view the card, and edit it if they like. Like any good Wiki, each card also has the history of edits.

Currently, there doesn’t seem to be many places with in depth descriptions. In fact, I see a lot of the cards simply referencing the corresponding Wikipedia article. It would be worthwhile for WikiMapia to somehow get access to Wikipedia’s database (and location data), if possible, and simply grab the article and place it in the card description, if possible. That way, some of the information will already be filled in.

The useful case is when people start filling in locations that are interesting, but relatively unknown, like the hidden niches in cities, parks, and other areas. This is exactly what the blog Google Sightseeing is doing, except that WikiMapia could leverage the network effects of the Wiki system to find a whole slew of cool locations. After WikiMapia matures, they should aggregate the most interesting locations and report them on a blog or a front page, a bit like what del.icio.us has recently done with their front page redesign.

The UI for WikiMapia was a bit clunky for me. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m on a slower machine, but it took quite a while to get some of their UI elements working (even though Google Maps usually zips along on my machine). Their next step should be making the entry box and UI more user friendly, which will encourage people to submit more locations.

Good luck to the WikiMapia team, and keep working at their system. WikiMapia could turn out to be a great resource, especially if they open up their API.

[Thanks to Steve Rubel for the pointer]

I had the opportunity to try out the beta version of Qube v2.0. Made by the people at Qelix, Qube is trying to enter the search arena, but, with the concept of “browserless search.” I know that this has been done before in the past by other companies, but, I can’t recall any recent forays into this space (those who do know some, please let me know).

Qube is a downloadable application that is run in the background and checks to see if you’ve hit any hotkey search combinations, and, it will automatically search the selected items. For example, I can hit Ctrl + Right Mouse Buttom to search the current text that is below my mouse cursor (in this example, the word “gain”). Then, I can bring up Qube’s search window, which will have the web search results for “gain”, and also a dictionary definition (if available).

There are also various options for searching selected text, phrases, or manually entering in searches. The search capture algorithm tries to be as flexible as possible, allowing you to search not only normal text, but window titles, text in GUI buttons, and other elements that you can’t normally highlight in the OS.

Update: Apparently, I missed the QFlyer feature altogether. Whenever you do a search hotkey when Qube is minimized to the system tray, the QFlyer will pop up and show you the search results, as seen below. This is the whole “browserless search” aspect of Qube, allowing you to quickly scan search results within any application. Thanks to Ebrahim for pointing out my oversight.

During my usage, I found their search capturing to be a bit buggy, capturing text that wasn’t right below my cursor, or garbling the selected text before searching. They’re still in beta, so hopefully those issues will be resolved upon release.

Qube currently searches with MSN, and, they have plans to roll out searching with FAST (Yahoo). I’m a little puzzled as to why they are excluding Google from the mix, since Google has by far the majority of the search market (and for good reason). Adding other searches like Wikipedia or Answers.com would be useful as well.

The interface for browsing your results is snappy, allowing you either view each result page in a preview window within the Qube application, or launching your default browser to the search result. Manually typing in the search box will instigate a Google Suggest-like dropdown box that gives you suggestions for your search terms.

There are few more features that haven’t been rolled out yet, which are Siel and AdRoll. Siel is a community driven search, which appears to be in the same space as Swicki. The details of AdRoll are under wraps until it comes out of development. Ebrahim Ezzy, Co-Founder of Qube, has disclosed only this:

All I can say, for the moment, is that we’re not making ads sounds like a feature. AdRoll is unique concept still unattempted. Not link exchange, pop-up network nor a nasty prank. AdRoll aims to enable free, point-based advertising in a proactive manner. It may sound overdramatic at the moment, but we surely know what we mean when we speak of it.

I’ll be looking forward to see exactly what AdRoll is. But, a guess would be that AdRoll involves using the context of searches to help deliver more relevant ads, perhaps integrated with Qube’s interface in a non-interfering way.

Overall, I think that Qube has some good ideas about providing flexible ways to search outside the browser. The only problem for me, is that when I’m doing research, I’m usually already inside a web browser. Opera already has a built-in right click context menu that lets you search with the major search engines. Perhaps other people who aren’t as net heavy as I am would save same time with Qube’s search grabbing features. Also, the QFlyer would save time for anyone in a web browser as well, since it’s a quick pop up window that appears near your search item.

As past history has suggested, the “browserless search” space has yet to produce a killer app. I’ll be checking in on Qube as more features are rolled out, and we’ll see where this goes.

Digg this post

52 Bicycles has a nice little post about how many Web 2.0 startups are too focused on making the “plus one” killer app.

… I think there is a focus on “plus-one” features to “kill” the previous generation (i.e. Digg killer, bloglines killer, etc). Arrington is all over this, and from an analyst’s point of view, it’s good: each marginal iteration is not only a chance for a new review, it’s also a way to examine how new features help/hurt on the margin. So Arrington writes up a review or profile, and his 53,651 readers flock to the reviewed service, and some fraction actually sign up and use it for a day or a week. And then nothing.

I couldn’t agree more with this observation. After editing BuzzShout for about a month, I have seen a plethora of newly submitted web applications that are simply an increment of an old established one. Sure, if the newly added features are compelling enough, there is added value, and maybe, it even solves some problems that have plagued many of the legacy users. But, more often than not, the new and exciting web app fails to be as disruptive as they claim they would be.

The post ends with the statement:

Go where the other guy aint - that won’t get a review in TechCrunch, but it is the basis of a more sustainable competitive advantage.

I totally disagree with this. I believe that Michael knows the value of a truly creative and original idea when he sees it. Those are the type of companies and ideas that I’m personally seeking out — ideas that make anyone say, “Wow, that’s so easy and effective. Why didn’t I think of that?” Can anyone name a web application that only introduces incremental features that would make you say that?

EvokeTV is a TV listings site that is trying to incorporate a community driven atmosphere. Even though I don’t have a television myself (imagine that), whenever I do need to know what’s on TV, it’s always a drag to go to the popular TV listings sites. I always end up clicking a few dozen times before I get to the show listing that I’m looking for.

In contrast, EvokeTV is focused on making the grid UI easy to navigate. Their AJAXified interface allows for quick (and pain free) perusal of the latest listings, using the classic two paned viewing approach. The other parts of the site are a little shaky in terms of presentation, but I’m willing to switch to using EvokeTV simply for their wonderful grid interface.

In addition to finding out when shows will be on, you can rate shows and episodes, and keep track of them on your recently rated list. This list can be shared via your website with a badge, or via an RSS feed that your friends can track. The idea behind this is to create a TV community that is based on the web, what the founders call “Soft Convergence.”

After you’ve rated shows, you can export these to your iCal, which can be handy if you want to keep track of when you’ll be viewing your favorite episodes. Currently, there’s no way to really browse other people’s profiles or favorite shows, although I’m willing to bet EvokeTV is working on it. Creating a social network around TV could allow people to discover new shows that they’ve never considered watching.

I also noticed that they have links for actors and shows. Currently, it’s a blank page with a Coming Soon sign. Yet again, EvokeTV could pull in data about people’s preferences on the show, more details about the show, and how the show relates to other shows. The data mining possibilities are endless. In terms of a business model, I already see that they have related Amazon links under each show and actor. This is an effective way to focus in on particular market segments that could potentially be their major revenue generator.

EvokeTV definitely gains me as a user for their grid interface. Time will tell whether they’ll be compelling enough to live up to their claim of being a successful TV community.

Wishlistr is a simple web application that is potentially useful for anyone needing to keep track of their wish list. Run by two brothers Niklas and Jimmy Nordlund, wishlistr is a product of Digital Venues, a web design studio in Sweden.

The idea is to allow users to create lists of products and gifts that aren’t necessarily all associated with a particular vendor. Unlike MyPickList (previously Spotlighted), users aren’t expecting to generate any revenue from their lists. And unlike Amazon lists, users aren’t limited to only Amazon products.

Wishlistr is a more free form type of list that doesn’t require the user to enter in tedious data into forms. You have the option of providing a comment and a url, but you don’t have to. All you really need is a title for your item. In addition, Wishlistr also provides a bookmarklet that will automatically add items to a list when you’re on a product page. After creating a list, you can publicize it by providing a url or feed. You also have the option to choose from a number of different templates to stylize your list.

The list engine runs pretty smoothly, allowing you to drag and rearrange your list with all that AJAX goodness. Updates are made in place, which makes it a breeze to manage your list.

If you already have an Amazon wishlist, Wishlistr has an option to automatically import it, which is a nice feature for all those Amazon wishlist addicts.

The creators of Wishlistr have emphasized that the last thing they want is a bloated web application. That’s why they’re keeping everything really simple. However, they do have some new features that are in the pipeline:

• A linkroll of your wishlist that you can add to your blog or website.
• Categorization of your items with tags.
• An open API which will allow mashups and extensions.

Some other suggestions that I have for Wishlistr would be to add a few social networking features. Perhaps, Wishlistr could show you users who have similar interests based on their wishlists. Or, new items could be suggested to you, based on your wishlist. In terms of the business model, Wishlistr could partner with or propose to get commission based on product click throughs and sales. Since Wishlistr is very emphasized on consumer products, it would be natural for them to do some kind of profit sharing with vendors.

Overall, Wishlistr is a nicely executed wish listings site, with an emphasis on ease of use and sharing. Give it a try for all those products you just can’t live without.

The Swedish version of Wishlistr has been out for quite some time now.

If you’re looking for a dead simple hosted bug tracking solution, you should check out 16bugs. Sure, there about a million other bug tracking choices out there, but many of them are either too bloated or too complex for most projects. In fact, I’ve experienced bug tracking systems that take more time to figure out how to enter a bug in correctly than it was to fix the actual bug.

16bugs takes the direct opposite philosophy to bug tracking, as Michele Finotto explains on the 16bugs blog:

Another thing I would like to improve greatly is usability, especially on the administration side.
So I’m asking you, instead of what I should add, what I should remove.

It’s very easy to get into all those feature requests and ending up with a bloated and unusable application.
Instead, I want this app to be as usable as possible.

And indeed, the interface for tracking and submitting bugs is simple to use. After adding a company and details about a project, you’re all ready to enter in bugs. The bug entry gives you options for the version of the software, who the bug is assigned to, the priority, the status, and a description and title. These are all the basics for getting you up and running tracking your bugs with no fuss.

After submitting bugs, you can view them, comment on them, and close them out–all the basics of a bug tracking system. There’s really nothing more to 16bugs at the moment, but, as Michele mentioned, they will be adding features as requested by users.

Pricing starts at free, for up to 1MB of uploads and 1 project, to $25 per month for 10 projects and 200MB of upload space. The number of projects provided for each package is reasonable. But, I’m sure they could up the ante on the space (hey, hard drives are cheap nowadays, right? I can get a Google account with greater than 2GB for free).

I’ve started tinkering around with 16bugs for BuzzShout. Since I’m the lone programmer on the project, 16bugs works fine in my workflow. If, however, you need some headier project management, you might be better off looking at other more sophisticated bug tracking software.

The key advantage that 16bugs has right now is how lightweight their system is: there’s no installation, no server headaches, and not much administrative overhead. It’s also encouraging that they are expanding their feature set organically in response to user needs. When they do get more of their features online, it would be a good site to check out for your more complex bug tracking needs.

The two guys behind the newly released car community site, Boompa, has a great post mortem detailing its story from conception to execution (via Kuro5hin). In it, the two developers (Dave Snider and Ethan Lance) reveal their archtypical story of two guys quitting their days jobs at CNET to pursue their own venture at Boompa.

It’s quite interesting to hear their take on developing a web app. They take a very utilitarian approach, which is quite evident by their disclaimer:

We are not businessmen by trade and we aren’t the kind of web geeks you’d probably hope us to be. Think of it this way, we don’t have a WordPress blog up telling you about the benefits of Ruby (yet). We used PHP because it’s what we knew and were comfortable with and we’d seen it scale to enterprise levels before. The advice in this guide then isn’t how to build the most pristine standards based site with 100% stability and geek factor (though we’ve got our fair share of chrome), it’s more about how to plan a build cheap, fast and scalable.

Basically, they targetted whichever market segment had the worst websites. Quite literally, they did this by perusing magazine racks by category and looking at associated websites. Seeing that car websites for enthusiasts simply sucked (and were still in high demand), they set their goal to fill the gap with an easy to use car community website.

A short two months later, they’ve got a full fledged website that allows car enthusiasts to show their ride, learn from others, and talk shop about cars. By the looks of it, their user base is starting to pick up. Boompa is a great example of a web application being built to target an audience that has long been neglected by community driven sites. And it also shows that you don’t need to have the latest whiz bang technology to satisfy user needs.

Now, if only they could work on fixing their site UI in Opera…