Last week hosted search provider IndexTank announced its new API that enables developers to add search to their applications or build search engines from data sets available on the Web. Documentation can be found here. The API uses an elastic, pay as you go model.
IndexTank was founded by former Inktomi software architect Diego Basch. It features real-time feed indexing, instantly available data, location based search and more.
Sponsor
Reddit is one of IndexTank’s flagship customers. “We’d never had a really good search implementation,” David King of Reddit is quoted in a case study. “We were
continually outgrowing whatever we had in place.” Reddit eventually outsourced its search to IndexTank. According to the case study, Reddit placed a simple yes or no survey question at the bottom of search result pages asking users if they were satisfied with the results. During the IndexTank beta, 70% of users answered “yes.” That number has since risen to 80%.
WordPress is another customer of IndexTank, and those that don’t want mess with an API can use a WordPress plugin to add IndexTank to their sites.
PhotoSync aims to provide the easiest solution for wirelessly transferring photos and videos between computers and iOS devices.
This app eliminates the need to plug-in your iOS device in order to sync media, and it has no limitations on how many files can be sent at once. PhotoSync also works in unison with companion desktop applications available for both Mac and PC.
Transferring Between iOS Devices
Media (photos, video) can be sent between mobile devices (iPad, iPhone, iPod touch) or straight to or from your Mac/PC. And, this is all done for the price of $1.99. The desktop apps are free and the mobile version of PhotoSync can be installed across multiple iOS devices for the one time charge.
As long as the devices have Bluetooth enabled or are on the same WiFi network, when you attempt to transfer a file from the PhotoSync iOS app, it will provide a list of devices sitting on your network.
iOS Devices to Mac or PC
Within the PhotoSync settings of the desktop version, users can tweak the settings to import photos to any destination folder on the system, including the option to import directly to iPhoto and Aperture. This brings a nice level of organization to the photo import process.
Mac to iOS Devices
Using Mac, to send a photo to the iPad, iPhone or iPod touch, an image can be dragged onto the PhotoSync icon in the dock, prompting a dialog box that asks you to select the correct mobile device. It’s a handy way to send pics, however there was a bit of wait time involved. The results seemed to vary but overall the process, at times, took up to 2 minutes to recognize the iPhone. It could be an isolated issue with this network but we couldn’t tell you why.
Quick Uploading to Flickr
Images can be uploaded directly to Flickr within the iOS app and nicely, it offers multiple settings to pick the Flickr destination folder, image size and privacy level; private, friends, everyone, etc. Especially when you’re dealing with things such as images, privacy control is a fantastic feature but it’s missing something.. the option to add a title and description.
Web Server
By enabling PhotoSync’s web server feature, the iOS app will throw you a web address for your photo galleries that will allow you to see the photos/videos on a larger screen through a web browser. Basically it turns your device into a server so even if you’re not at home, if you have access to WiFi, you can view or download videos and photos on other computers.
PhotoSync User Interface
The UI is pretty and comes with multiple choices for syncing. Users can choose to transfer only the images selected, the entire camera roll or mark the folder as done. It keeps track of which of the files haven’t been imported as well, another option within the syncing screen (sync only new files).
The iOS version of PhotoSync displays all of the device’s pictures within a camera roll and, similar to the native iOS photo gallery, while viewing an image, it can be copied or sent to email aside from syncing.
The Bottom Line
PhotoSync does offer a quick way to transfer media wirelessly but it also has its drawbacks. Transferring files from the devices to Mac was peachy but as we’d mentioned, the Mac version of PhotoSync had major issues recognizing the iOS devices. And while the Flickr integration is great, without the option to input the description, title and tags, it’s just creating more work for you down the line. But, it does work quite well for transferring media from device to device and from iOS to Mac.
All in all, if you’re constantly plugging in your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to sync media you might find this app handy, and the web server feature is a cool option to have when you’re at a friend’s place.
Sadly it’s not uncommon here in Silicon Vally to hear people say they will only name their children with names where the dotcom is available.
Often talking about unique spellings to common names, such as making Mark into Maarkh and Jessica would be spelled Jesshika, you get the idea.
So it was just a matter of time untill the idea became a website.
Babysquatter, discovered over on Bridal Musings, is a tool that tells you which domain names are available that match your future childs name.
After you enter the name you want to reserve, it does a quick search and shows you what’s free. If there is a domain you want to grab, just register the domain with one click with godaddy.
Now all we need is for Babysquatter to reserve Facebook vanity URL’s, Twitter ID’s, Posterous names and Gmail addresses to make the complete set. Oh wait, there’s Namechk.Bridal Musings, Pixdaus
Previously video-hiring service HireHive, the founders behind Y Combinator-backed Hackruiter have taken the next logical step in being solving the problem of hiring good people, and have actually become recruiters themselves. While we’ve chronicled the Silicon Valley talent crunch in a number of ways, we’ve never covered a startup actually attempting to disrupt the process of engineering recruiting. Until now.
Says founder Nicholas Bergson-Shilcock, “A lot of people approach hiring as a purely technical problem. We think there’s a lot of value in approaching it from a human standpoint as technical people.”
What makes Hackruiter special is that founders Bergson-Shilcock and David Albert are actually the ones doing the recruiting(!). Having engineering backgrounds gives them a leg up on other recruiting services like Top Prospect and Pursuit because qualifications that sound arcane to non-technical recruiters actually mean something to them. They’re not just matching up words on a resume to words on a job description.
Says Bergson-Shilcoc, “We are hackers ourselves so when we talk to people they’re not just a bunch of buzzwords or key words, we can actually do an intelligent [job] match.”
The Hackruiters also is relatively transparent with their offerings. They’ll you that you can find a job on the Quora jobs page, have an API for all their listings and don’t require applicant exclusivity. They ‘ll also increase your chances at finding a good fit, by offering relevant recommendations: If you want to work at Quora because you like Python and C++, there’s a good chance you’d be interested in Dropbox which is also a Python and C++ shop.
“Big companies like Google and Microsoft can go to colleges and recruit. Small startups don’t have the budget for that,” says Albert. Despite starting small, Hackruiter is selective about who they will work with and only work with good companies, who provide references for engineers (It’s usually the other way around). While not precluding eventually recruiting for a Google or a Twitter, they are starting with startups because those are the companies they know the best and the ones that most hackers never hear about.
The Hackruiters are kicking off their offensive in March by travelling across the country through New York, Boston, San Francisco and Mountain View, meeting people who want to work at or just learn working at smaller startups. If you’re not near any of the three stops, you can ping them for a Skype chat here.
Last week hosted search provider IndexTank announced its new API that enables developers to add search to their applications or build search engines from data sets available on the Web. Documentation can be found here. The API uses an elastic, pay as you go model.
PhotoSync
