Dec
19th

Oneupweb Reviews : SwapTree, RetailMeNot & FotoViewr

Posted by Carly Wujcik on December 19, 2008 at 11:54 am

If this post could have had a sub-title, it would be:

And You’ll Wish You Would Have Known About Them Sooner.

Let’s jump right in, shall we?

As SwapTree boasts on its home page, it takes only eight seconds to join, and then, “voila!”, trade books, CD’s, DVD’s and video games. It’s all free. With their simple, “Have It” and “Want It” lists, all you have to do is list the items you have, click on the items you want and SwapTree’s algorithm will start scouring the network for potential trades that will allow you to give up what you don’t want and get what you do.

swaptree screenshot

Did you buy someone a Wii last year? If you did, chances are the basic sports game pack is collecting dust in your entertainment cabinet and hasn’t been picked up since May. Trade it! And, best of all—there’s no phony trades to be had. You have to list items to your “have” list before SwapTree will start scouting for your “wants” and you add items to your “have” list with their UPC or ISBN Code. So your real-deal Wii game won’t be swapped for a pirated phony.

Postage? No worries, since everyone has to list their items based on the UPC code, SwapTree makes sure you have and can print the appropriate shipping label without even having to leave the site. Hand over your credit card number to pay for the postage and you’re done.

I give SwapTree five out of five stars.

#2: RetailMeNot.com

I’m all for saving money during the holidays, and every other day for that matter. At RetailMeNot.com, you can find online coupon codes for more than 20,000 ecommerce sites.

It’s simple to use, doesn’t require a registration and the savings are instant if you’re shopping online. Even better, if you sign up to become a user who is actually posting the savings codes on RetailMeNot.com, you will earn 50% of the advertising revenue for any thread you open. The only catch being that you have to submit ten discount codes before you are eligible to start receiving the kick back. If I were in college, I would totally opt to scour the web and submit coupon codes over donating plasma.

retailmenot screenshot

Two of the best features of RetailMeNot.com are the success stats featured with each discount code (so you know if the code is totally bogus before you even bother entering it) and the Firefox plug-in which automatically alerts you to discount codes for the site you’re browsing. I used it for all of my online holiday shopping this year and saved well over $200.

I give RetailMeNot.com four out of five stars (only because they shouldn’t even bother posting the unreliable discount codes).

#3: FotoViewr

If I sent my mom or dad to my Flickr page to view photos of this year’s Thanksgiving turkey, the first I ever cooked, they would be completely lost upon arrival and lose interest. And I know this, because I tried. Well, that’s not true. My mom did make it in, clicked on one photo, waited for it to load and then got lost within the sea of thumbnails. Either that or she decided it was too much of a chore.

Have no fear, FotoViewr is here! Without any HTML know-how, you can create beautiful, easy to navigate 3D photo galleries straight from your Flickr, SmugMug or Facebook albums.

fotoviewer screenshot

Upload your holiday photos to your existing photo share account, create a new FotoViewr gallery, and send mom and dad the link. They click, they view, they think you’re a genius. Send your artsy friend Rachel the link, she clicks, she’s impressed, she makes a better custom photo gallery on her own. Whatever.

The only draw backs: your gallery isn’t private (so choose wisely before sending to mom and dad—or anyone for that matter) and you can only upload thirty images. Otherwise, I think it’s a snappy way to look posh. Or at least, a little creative.

I give FotoViewr four out of five stars.

Editor’s Note: You can read more Oneupweb Reviews on StraightUpSearch, social media-related reviews on our sister blog StraightUpSocial, and product-focused Oneupweb Reviews on Epinions.

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Dec
18th

Rock, Paper, Web Page – Newspapers Cut Deliveries, Focus Online

Posted by admin on December 18, 2008 at 10:13 am

My grandpa has maintained a daily routine for many years of driving to his neighborhood convenience store to get the morning paper and a lottery ticket. The lotto he’s never won, but the paper he continues to read.

Soon however, his, and many others’, choices for physical reading material may be pretty slim pickings.

On December 16, both the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News announced that they will be cutting print deliveries to only three days a week, Thursday, Friday and Sunday, and will be bolstering their online presence.

These two Michigan newspapers say they were faced with the decision of either shutting down for good, or starting a migration of materials and resources to the Web. This shift in consumer focus means the Free Press will become the largest paper yet to change business models away from print.

hulk smash by christopher.woo

Image: Hulk Smash! by christopher.woo

And these two papers aren’t the only ones. With the economy in the tank and companies trimming costs wherever they can, many traditional print news outlets are choosing to finally embrace the digital age.

The Christian Science Monitor has pledged to cut paper publication altogether come April 2009, and the American Society of Newspaper Editors recently moved to drop the word ‘paper’ from its name altogether.

It’s no secret traditional advertising outlets have been shrinking and that online ad revenues and spending have thrived in recent years. Major print publications that rely on advertising revenue to produce their product need an online ad presence to generate ad dollars lost from print.

That said, I see paid advertising and social media marketing being particularly important to these companies, and in turn important for online marketers.

And not all editors and newspapers are stubbornly clinging to yesterday’s generation of connecting with their audience. A recent look at social media’s presence in U.S. newspapers reveals that some of the top ten papers in the nation are growing in Diggs, StumbleUpons and in Delicious presence. This is a step in the right direction, but won’t hold up the weight of retreating print advertising dollars for long.

Sure, it’s a shame the 400-year old industry of printing the news on paper is crumbling beneath the weight of technological progression, but do you think stone tablet engraving was lamented when vellum, parchment and papyrus were coming into their own?

We see it day in and day out working in the search marketing industry. The online audience is only growing, bringing with it the business and interest that once used to lie with brick and mortar stores and daily newspapers. Today’s audience wants to be informed faster than on a day by day basis, find what they are looking for immediately without having to page through classified ads they don’t care about and have the ability to connect and share with one another as they do so.

Print media can’t compete with that.

And while I envy my grandpa for finding a simple pleasure in a simple task, it just might be time for him to finally turn on that computer we gave him many Christmases ago.

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Dec
17th

Oneupweb Reviews : Search Cloudlet

Posted by admin on December 17, 2008 at 2:29 pm

With more and more websites, videos, photos, and news articles infiltrating the search results these days, it can become difficult to find just what you are looking for.

Plus with all of the different variations of search queries that one could potentially use, there is a possibility for a thousand ways to search for the perfect “Christmas cookie”. But, don’t give up on your quest just yet!

As a natural search project manager, I am consistently in and out of search engines, deciphering and sorting through various results in an attempt to better understand positioning and in turn help clients gain better presence in their space. Therefore, I know all too well the hassles one can face when trying to find the best result for a search query. But, now there is a little help.

Search Cloudlet, a new Firefox web browser add-on, wants to help searchers cut to the chase. Originating from the Russian company INTSPEI, Search Cloudlet works by looking at the words, sources, locations and other data in Google and Yahoo search results in order to create a tag cloud.

Tag clouds are a visual depiction of user generated “tags” – essentially, content that describes a site. In this case, Search Cloudlet generates a tag cloud that contains other keywords relevant to the search query you typed in. For example, a search for “Christmas cookie” results in the following tag cloud in Google:

google tag cloud screenshot

And in Yahoo:

yahoo tag cloud screenshot

The more frequent a keyword appears in the search results, the larger the term appears is in the tag cloud.

To filter out results, simply click on a term from the cloud and the page will reload to include that term in the search. A new cloud will then form based on the new search. For example, by clicking on the term “baking” my new results reload as follows in Google:

google baking search tag cloud

And in Yahoo:

yahoo baking search tag cloud

You can also filter your results by sites where a cloud will form containing the sites that are listed at a glance. Clicking on a site from the tag cloud will show results specifically for that site and result in, you guessed it – another new tag cloud. Here are the results in Google when you click on “sites”:

google tag cloud

By clicking and filtering your results down, you should be able to find the best result for the query you typed in, and maybe some unexpected results that could take you in a new direction.

Overall, I don’t think the Search Cloudlet add-on is useful all of the time, and could get a little overwhelming depending on how many different tag clouds you generate. However, I think it is pretty interesting to see the different tag clouds that generate and where the new searches can take you.

Editor’s Note: You can read more Oneupweb Reviews on StraightUpSearch, social media-related reviews on our sister blog StraightUpSocial, and product-focused Oneupweb Reviews on Epinions.

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Dec
16th

Charities Get Social to Gain Support for Those in Need

Posted by Natalie on December 16, 2008 at 8:10 am

With the unemployment rate rapidly on the rise, and with over 300,000 more people in the U.S. expecting to lose their jobs in January, it’s going to be a difficult time for families across the nation.

After generating less than desirable outcomes, Black Friday and Cyber Monday have both served as proof that this holiday season is going to be a challenge for retailers and consumers alike. However, has anyone stopped to think how this is going to affect charities and non-profits who survive exclusively on donations?

How are they going to survive these economic hard times? Well, with a little creativity on their part, fueled by social networking on the internet, many charities are keeping the light aglow during this dark recession.

Social sites have proven to be helpful outlets for many charities, allowing them to easily manage and expand an online presence.

Facebook, for example, has a Causes tab that allows members to join and support a specific cause for no cost, although the option to donate is always available. When you support a certain cause,(ie: Aids/HIV Awareness), a virtual red ribbon is posted on your Facebook profile page to show that you support this cause. Additionally, you can post comments and send your friends invitations to join you in rallying for a specific cause.

Child’s Play, a charity that raises money for books, toys, cash and games for sick children in hospitals across the nation, has taken another creative spin in the virtual world. For a small donation, members of virtual community There.com can adopt a charity tree to help raise money for Child’s Play.

Rather than having to send people something tangible and costly for making a donation, this is a gratifying and fun way to be charitable. The names of people who adopt a tree will be posted on a sign that will stay in There.com’s East Charity Tree Park for the entire year, thanking and acknowledging people for their contributions.

According to Virtual Worlds News, this is the second year that There.com and Child’s Play have partnered together.

Another nonprofit philanthropy group, Universal Giving, has partnered with storytelling community Tokoni to spread the word about the virtues of “spending less and meaning more.”

The partnership allows people to share stories of charitable giving, with the intention that these stories will inspire others to do so:

In today’s economy, non-profits need our help more than ever. Even if you’re unable to make a financial contribution this year, you can still give an important gift. UniversalGiving has partnered with Tokoni to help you spread the word about charitable giving. Discuss your experiences as a volunteer, causes you believe in, or how you are giving back this holiday season. Inspire others.
Share your story.

It’s encouraging to know that despite the economic hard times, charities are still finding creative and innovative ways to earn money and raise awareness.

If you know of other charities and non-profits using social media to get the word out, please leave a comment.

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Dec
11th

Oneupweb Reviews : Stylish

Posted by Mike on December 11, 2008 at 3:01 pm

As a paid search project manager I spend much of my day using Google for any number of reasons. By the end of the day my eyes are often tired from reading ad after ad on the bright white background that has been Google’s trademark since the beginning.

Earlier this year, Google decided to help raise awareness of global energy consumption by changing the background on the front page of their site from white to black. I thought that the black background was very slick and a nice change from the norm. Sadly, the next day the page was changed back to eye searing white.

Right away I started looking for a way that I could enjoy the eye-pleasing darkness all the time. A few searches later and I found that I wasn’t the only one that likes the way that Google looked when the lights were off and that there was already a solution that would allow me to keep them off or even change their color.

The solution I found came in the form of a Firefox extension called Stylish.

Stylish lets you customize your browsing experience by modifying the appearance of sites you visit with what are known as “userstyles”. Userstyles are cascading style sheets (CSS) that Stylish users have created that can change the look of color schemes, buttons, and just about anything else that can be found on a typical webpage.

There is a large repository of these styles on a site called Userstyles.org. Here you can find styles that others have customized to their own liking for sites like Google, Yahoo, Wikipedia and even Facebook.

After a quick look around I found a style that made not only the front page of Google a dark grey but the search results pages as well. Success! Well, almost. The gray looked nice but I was really searching for a true black. With a few modifications to the userstyle code, I was in a dark browsing bliss.

After using the style for a few days I noticed that my eyes weren’t as tired at the end of the day and that reading search result pages seemed easier. Needless to say I haven’t looked back since. Below you can see how Google looks to me these days:

Click Images to Enlarge

I would suggest that if you are already a Firefox user that you install Stylish and give it a try. Installation takes one click, as does the loading of new userstyles from Userstyles.org.

You can load a number of styles and try them out at your own pace until you find one that works for you. If you can’t find one that meets your needs you can write your own style or customize an existing one if you know a thing or two about CSS.

Overall, I think Stylish is a fun and easy way to make browsing the web a more enjoyable and personalized experience. The Official Oneupweb Review… OneUp Thumbs-Up.

Editor’s Note: You can read more Oneupweb Reviews on StraightUpSearch, social media-related reviews on our sister blog StraightUpSocial, and product-focused Oneupweb Reviews on Epinions.

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