A couple of weeks ago (mid-June) I’ve participated in our internal Yahoo! EU Hack Day. This time around I’ve decided to tinker with Yahoo! SearchMonkey by building a couple of modules (dubbed SearchMonkey apps) during the 24 hours available.

In case you have never heard about SearchMonkey: it’s a technology built into Yahoo! Search that allows developers to present their own or other peoples’ sites in a different way (examples to follow). These search result augmentations are dubbed “SearchMonkey apps”.

The Search users then have the option to use the SearchMonkey apps they like, which enhances their search results by presenting them in a different way; review sites for example might present their articles in a way that includes the rating or verdict of the reviewed item. There is a good number of different apps available at the SearchMonkey Apps Gallery.

Using SearchMonkey doesn’t influence the ranking or the order of the results; it displays the results in the same order, just differently.

Anyways. I ended up writing 6 apps, and most of them I’d like to share. For more information about a particular app, just click the links. They’ll take you to the related Gallery listing, where you’ll have the option to enable the app for your searches.

Twitter Profiles

Whenever a Twitter profile turns up in your search, you’ll get a bit more information about the person—number of followers, number of people followed, name, bio, location, last tweet. like this:

By the way, it doesn’t query the Twitter API; instead it just grabs the HTML page and extracts the publicly available information.

Once you’ve visited the Gallery page and installed it, try a Yahoo! UK example query to see it in action.

(On a related note, there’s apparently another Twitter SearchMonkey app, but I couldn’t find the installation link to give it a try. Bart, the developer, does things in a more complex and probably more fail-safe way; in my defense, I wanted to keep it simple.)

Wikipedia Quick Lookup

If a Wikipedia article is found, the app will show you its first paragraph and, if available, a thumbnail of the first image. Also the category:

Once you’ve visited the Gallery page and installed it, try a Yahoo! UK example query to see it in action.

Xing Profiles

Xing is a more Europe-centric LinkedIn contender. It’s big in Germany. If a Xing person is found, the app shows the mugshot, the location, the title and the industry. Unfortunately Xing doesn’t reveal the company on public profiles unless you’re logged in, which my SM app clearly is not. Still:

Once you’ve visited the Gallery page and installed it, try a Yahoo! UK example query to see it in action.

Vox Profiles

In a desperate attempt to suck up to Anil Dash (I kid) I’ve hacked together a module to show the profile of any Vox blogger when a related page is found:

Once you’ve visited the Gallery page and installed it, try a Yahoo! UK example query to see it in action.

TechCrunch / Valleywag summaries

Using cutting edge high tech web 3.0 algorithms straight out of Munich, Germany, this module is able to extract the gist of any given Techcrunch or Valleywag article.

I don’t like these sites very much. At least their Yahoo! coverage (which I am interested in, given my background) is usually hysterical and often times sensationalist. DO. NOT. WANT.

Once you’ve visited the Gallery page and installed it, try a Yahoo! UK example query to see it in action.

Well, that’s it. Maybe you like those, maybe not. :) If you’re interested in writing your own apps for Yahoo! SearchMonkey now, take a look at the official Manual for SearchMonkey Developers and Publishers! And if you’re now wondering what other applications might be out there, the Gallery is a good place to start.

UPDATE/DISCLAIMER: Even though I work for Yahoo! during the day, these are NOT official SearchMonkey apps by Yahoo!. You’re looking at personal stuff. Again, this post, as everything on this site and under this domain, is NOT YAHOO! BUSINESS. Thank you.

We bought him a few months ago, and now he’s watching over our garden.

He’s sitting right next to the little fish pond. Dana suggested submerging a plastic X-Wing for good measure, but we’re still debating that idea.

Thanks to Mike for the picture.

After two weeks of not being able to run without pain I’m good again. I had to find a different route, but after poking around in Google Maps and the surrounding forest I’ve managed to come up with a enjoyable one. The slightly annoying part is that I have to walk ~900m before to get to my actual starting (and end) point. Well, I consider it warming up. I’ve added the distance to my usual 5km, and thus I am now at 7km per run.

A few weeks ago I’ve bought some light weights for my hands. They’re ~450g (1lb) each. Doesn’t sound much, but it’s noticable—now my upper body gets some minor workout as well.

I’ve registered myself for the Nike+ 10km Human Race going down end of August. Going to run for the World Wildlife Fund. There’s an official event here in Munich, actually! Unfortunately the whole 10km are over pavement, and I don’t want to risk injury again, so I’ll have to run a different route, I think.

Overall I am well on track towards my “250km in 2008” goal. I believe with my next run I’ll be hitting the 100 miles mark. We’ll see what the Nike+ site is going to tell me. Which is still kind of crappy, by the way. They rather add new and useless features than fixing longstanding issues like the broken OSX widgets.

I’ve discovered Runner+, a site which aims to be Nike+ without the cruft, I guess—but that whole social networking thing is not doing it for me. Also, the data sync is done by either using their desktop widget (requiring the Y! Widget Engine) or manual upload of the XML files or an automated daily sync where I need to give them my Nike+ credentials. Quite frankly, neither method is doing it for me. Plus I don’t really like the site. It doesn’t click with me.

Other options? Yes, OSX software.

• Runner’s Log is nice and rather simple, but not exactly what I am looking for. Runs are broken down into “laps”, which might be nice if you’re running actual laps, but I ain’t.
• And then there’s TrailRunner for those who not only use a Nike+ but a GPS receiver and heartrate monitor and have a fully staffed lab crew with instruments running with them. So… that’s not me. In their defense, I believe the TrailRunner target audience is a bit more hardcore about their running, biking, hiking, inline-skating or skiing than I am. (Also I was seeing more error dialogs during my 15 minutes with TR than I have in any other software in the last 6 months combined. Probably some Nike+ sync issues.)

So no help on that front. Too bad. If I wasn’t so lazy I’d probably would’ve hacked together something simple that’s making use of the Nike+ web badge APIs. Maybe the day will come, tho.

Addendum: I’ve set up a Nike+ FriendFeed room. Nothing in there yet, but who knows, that might change.