Tag: Add-on

Yahoo! Axis Seeks to Redefine Search and Web Browsing

Yahoo! today announced the launch of Yahoo! Axis, its new mobile browser and desktop plug-in. The software hopes to redefine how users search and browse the web with “visual” search interaction and by syncing web browsing between multiple devices. Axis is now available as an app for iOS devices and as a plug-in or add-on for HTML 5 desktop browsers.

On iOS devices, such as an iPhone, iPod, or iPad, Axis functions as a stand-alone browser. Once users log into Axis using a Yahoo!, Facebook, or Google account, they can browse, bookmark, save links for later, or search from the URL bar. It is these search results that Yahoo! is banking on to make Axis a success.

“Our search strategy is predicated on two core beliefs—one, that people want answers, not links and two, that consumer-facing search is ripe for innovative disruption,” said Shashi Seth, Yahoo!’s senior vice president of Connections. “With Axis, we have re-defined and re-architected the search and browse experience from the ground up.”

When users search using Axis, the search bar expands and displays thumbnail previews of search results. The results can be intuitively swiped through on a mobile device. Axis’ search function includes what Yahoo! is calling “instant answers,” which are answers to common questions or information such as movie times and local weather. In addition, by tapping a panel button users can switch the web search results to image search results, which are displayed in an easy-to-use, swipe-able grid.

Once users are done browsing on their mobile devices, the Axis plug-in for desktop browsers allows them to seamlessly continue where they left off. The plug-in looks similar to a toolbar, and sits in the bottom-left corner of corner of a browser as a small search box. Hovering over or clicking the search box expands Axis across the browser window, and searching provides the same “visual” search results as the mobile version. Signing into the plug-in will allow users to sync their search history, recent sites, saved articles, and bookmarks with the mobile versions. If users do not want to sync their search or browser history, Axis offers a “Local Only” mode in its privacy settings.

Another feature of Yahoo!’s new app is the Axis Home Page, which gathers all of a user’s bookmarks, read later links, and recently visited sites into an easily navigable interface. This is also the page where users can continue browsing with links to where they left off on other devices. The home page is fully customizable, allowing users to create folders and organize content as they desire.

With all of the turmoil it has experienced recently, Yahoo! needs a fresh outlook and new, creative ventures. The company lost many viewers for its video platform in April, causing some speculation that the company should shift its focus away from content and back to search, or even toward social. Though Axis provides many features that are already available in other mobile browsers, Yahoo! is at least taking a step toward a larger mobile presence, which is a step in the right direction.

May 24, 2012
iPhone App That Could Save Careers

There is no shortage of apps and add-ons to iPhones that are huge helps to people.

Within apps alone, you can do your banking, queue up (or watch) Netflix choices, edit HD photos, learn to play guitar, or buy anything on Amazon and track the UPS shipment.

With some simple accessories that plug in to the iPhone, you can record in stereo, take telephoto lens pictures, and swipe credit cards.

So, why hasn’t some enterprising developer come up with this career-saving add-on yet? I’m sure there are lots of young, upwardly-mobile professionals who would appreciate someone, or something, having their back on a Saturday night. For company-issued phones, it should be installed by IT before ever being put into anyone’s hands.

In fact, if RIM makes it to this first, it might just be the biggest comeback story of the year.

January 27, 2012
Does A Simple Firefox Add-On Make SOPA Useless?

As the world of SOPA continues to turn, the emergence of a simple Firefox browser add-on may render the potential punitive actions of these protection acts null and void; or, at least ineffective, if not outright useless.

Firefox, which already boasts an outspoken stance against SOPA, and has already shown they are willing to stand by add-on developers who create circumvention extensions designed to go around measures currently employed by Homeland Security, has welcomed a new add-on, one that is designed to circumvent whatever SOPA website blacklists that are created, provided the bills become law.

Working much like the MAFIAAFire Redirector extension, the DeSopa add-on was developed by Tamer Rizk, and designed with SOPA circumvention in mind. Naturally, the idea behind the add-on is to be in defiance of the oft-maligned protection act. This even includes the extension’s name, “DeSopa,” which is short for, “DNS Evasion to Stop Oppressive Policy in America.” On the extension’s page, there’s also a multiple paragraph manifesto of sorts, detailing the developer’s stance.

An example:

This program is a proof of concept that SOPA will not help prevent piracy. The program, implemented as a Firefox extension, simply contacts offshore domain name resolution services to obtain the IP address for any desired website, and accesses those websites directly via IP. Similar offshore resolution services will eventually maintain their own cache of websites, without blacklisting, in order to meet the demand created by SOPA.

If SOPA is implemented, thousands of similar and more innovative programs and services will sprout up to provide access to the websites that people frequent. SOPA is a mistake. It does not even technically help solve the underlying problem, as this software illustrates. What it will do is give undue leverage to predatory organizations, cripple innocent third party websites, severely dampen digital innovation and negatively impact the integrity and security of the Internet.

If you’ll notice, the blocked quote also contains a description of how it works and if this is all it takes to sidestep/circumvent/defeat SOPA measures — “[DeSopa] simply contacts offshore domain name resolution services to obtain the IP address for any desired website, and accesses those websites directly via IP” — then these protection acts are worth less than the paper they’re written on.

The sad things is, if you were to point these shortcomings out to the government officials who support SOPA/PIPA, there’s a strong possibility it would get ignored, or they would pass it anyway and worry about the details later.

As far as the inevitable backlash that DeSopa will probably get from concerned government officials, keep in mind, Mozilla has already outspokenly stood by the MAFIAAFire Redirector, so I would expect the same when it comes to DeSopa.

Image courtesy.

December 20, 2011