Goosh is a Cool Command-Line Interface for Google

I am on a minimalist kick these days as I try to unload some of the more complex stuff I use in favor simple tools that are "good enough." A lot of this involves moving to anything that works with plain text since it works well everywhere and it's inherently portable. There's actually an active crowd of minimalist curators out there and, with their help, I am finding all kinds of cool stuff in this genre.

Here's one such gem: Goosh.org - a command line interface for Google. Once you're on the site type h and enter and you'll get a list of commands. Then, for example, if you type n followed by a keyword (like Yankees as I did here) you can quickly turn around a search of news results for a keyword without leaving the page. 

My only nit with Goosh is that it doesn't work on mobile devices. However, the code is open source so maybe someone will remedy that soon.

Link: Goosh.org (via Minimal on Tumblr)

Cloud Computing's Partly Cloudy Future?

Americans overwhelmingly have a lack of interest in cloud-based services, according to a new survey

"Asked what they felt about personal data being stored on third-parties’ remote computers, 64% say they don’t want their data kept by a third party, according to the latest installment of 'Unisys Security Index: United States.''"

I wonder how much of this comes down to semantics. The vast majority of people I know have no problems storing their email in the cloud. And that's probably the biggest cache of personal data most average users have.

The Age of Social Search Dawns

During the first fifteen of years of the Internet's gestation, we searched the web unassisted. In the second era, we'll do so with the curated assistance of our social networks - and be able to spot trends from friends. As we wrote in our search white paper earlier this year...

"However, on the whole, social networks are becoming a key way for people to find content that's meaningful to them. In response, all of the major networks are building out search tools that could, conceivably, threaten Google."

Well, Google made it clear they're not waiting around to get beaten. This is the opening salvo of what will be an all out social search war in in the next few years. Watch this space.

Kindle Books Can Now Be Annotated on the iPhone

I have an Amazon Kindle but I never use it. However, I constantly use the iPhone Kindle reader - and it has me buying a lot more books. The Kindle Reader for the iPhone got a nice update last night (see the bottom of this page for details). It now lets you not only highlight and annotate your ebooks but also sync these back to the web, as you can see from the image above.

Unfortunately this is somewhat limited since you can't search your notes either on the web or on the phone. Barnes and Noble is coming on strong with their new Nook reader but I decided a few months ago to go 100% electronic and to get rid of all of my books in favor of ebooks from Amazon since they have the best selection. I am hopeful they will add support for other devices like Blackberries and also PC/Mac desktop readers as well. 

The Kindle feels like it should be less a device and more of a platform. However, good search is a must and it's still missing for now from non-Amazon devices.

Twitter Users Are Now Younger on Average Than Facebook's

The Pew Internet for the American Life Project is out with new data about Twitter ...

"Some 19% of internet users now say they use Twitter or another service to share updates about themselves, or to see updates about others. This represents a significant increase over previous surveys in December 2008 and April 2009, when 11% of internet users said they use a status-update service."

However, what's also notable is that Twitter is stronger on average with the younger audience - the same one that TV nets and advertisers covet. Overall it's younger than Facebook, which is graying. Still, pound for pound I am sure Facebook has more consumers in the same demo given its girth ...

"Internet users age 18-44 report rapid uptake of Twitter over the last nine months, whereas internet users ages 45 and older report slower adoption rates. For example, 37% of internet users age 18-24 use Twitter or another service, up from 19% in December 2008.

The median age of a Twitter user is 31, which has remained stable over the past year. The median age for MySpace is now 26, down from 27 in May 2008, and the median age for LinkedIn is now 39, down from 40. Facebook, however, is graying a bit: the median age for this social network site is now 33, up from 26 in May 2008." 

This also explains why Twitter users like current events and culture. For more, see the PDF from Pew embedded below.

PIP_Twitter_Fall_2009.pdf (451 KB)
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