Apple releases new stuff, new blog search engine opens
Some guy named Steve Jobs was on stage this morning announcing stuff for some computer company in Cupertino. Didn’t ya hear? I know none of the blogs were covering it, right? ;-)
Anyway, I was just talking with Greg Hartnett, president of Best of the Web. He’s an Apple fan, by the way. But that’s not why we’re talking here. They just turned on a new blog search engine and directory. Now, how does this differ from Technorati?
It has far fewer blogs in it. Huh? All the blogs were hand picked by 69 editors.
So, let’s go to Technorati and do a search for “Steve Jobs”. 65,168 posts. Pretty good, but there is some spam there on the first page. Particularly one post named “Bill Gates Wants to Be Steve Jobs” is repeated several times.
Do the same “Steve Jobs” search on Best of the Web and it only finds 174 results. Now, that might sound like a mismatch, but the Best of the Web searches are often higher signal.
Anyway, I need to try it more to see if it’ll be a significant competitor for my blog search time with Technorati/Feedster/IceRocket/and all the other blog search engines.
So far I think this one needs more work, but it shows some promise. What do you think? The engine is here: http://blogs.botw.org/.
Update: I’ve done a few more searches and early returns on my comments show that this isn’t ready for prime time. It shows that blog search is hard to do.
Powered By 
February 28th, 2006 at 12:50 pm
I tried the new blog search engine. I searched for apple and the top result was some Harves Picnic at Hanging Rock. Why this came not very sure, but I assumed that the top result would be about today’s apple event. And yea, when I tried submitting my blog to it, it kept re-directing me to the home page.
February 28th, 2006 at 12:52 pm
Best of the Web on GrabPERF
February 28th, 2006 at 12:55 pm
One result for “Scoble”. Hmmm…
February 28th, 2006 at 1:16 pm
nice old html too!
tables…eh
…and what’s this I spy…
…but a spacer gif.
February 28th, 2006 at 1:37 pm
Scoble
This is rubbish
There isn’t one hit for my site when I search for ‘pigeon blog’ despite it being the ‘Best Blog’ on WordPress or it being the second fastest growing blog.
Rubbish
Regards
Brian P
February 28th, 2006 at 1:40 pm
Well, I guess less noise is good, though I do resent being considered as “noise” as I’m not part of the hand-picked blogs.
If I ever write something brilliant (who knows?) I’ll show up in Technorati, but not in BOTW.
I did a search for Lausanne, my hometown. No Swiss blogs that I recognize show up amongst the 12 posts. I do appreciate that it offers handy search links to other blog search engines. That’s really neat.
February 28th, 2006 at 1:57 pm
Brian, now that I’m playing with it more I agree. Lots more work needed here. Technorati still is my favorite.
February 28th, 2006 at 1:57 pm
Steph: I’m not in the list either, so there! Join the “noise” club! :-)
February 28th, 2006 at 2:54 pm
I found people linking to our blogs, but not any of our blogs. What does that say? LOL
February 28th, 2006 at 2:55 pm
Also, the search seems sluggish.
February 28th, 2006 at 2:58 pm
Well, Steph and Robert, you can trim down Technorati’s results set with the authority slider. But we don’t choose the subset of blogs there, you do, by linking to them.
The other way of doing a subset of blogs is via ‘Favorites’, and you can search just yours:
http://technorati.com/search/apple?faves=scobleizer
or Steph’s:
http://technorati.com/search/apple?faves=stephtara
or mine
http://technorati.com/search/apple?faves=kevinmarks
Everyone gets to pick their subset.
February 28th, 2006 at 3:12 pm
Robert: Ooh, neat club idea. I think I don’t mind being noisy that much, after all ;-)
I wonder what their editorial criteria were for selecting the blogs?
February 28th, 2006 at 3:51 pm
Steph - they tell you when you go to add your own (sort of):
“[snip]
* The blog must be up and running 24/7;
* The blog must contain unique content, as determined by a BOTW editor;
* The blog must not contain any parts under construction;
* All links on the blog must work;
* The blog must have a history of 6 (six) months or longer;
* The blog must be kept current, and have active participation;
* The blog must be in the English language (or have an English version available);
* The blog must support multiple browsers and capabilities;
* The blog must not contain any content, products, services or other information that may be illegal to sell under any applicable law, that may infringe or violate anyone’s rights, or that BOTW believes, in its sole discretion, is unacceptable.
“[snip]
February 28th, 2006 at 7:22 pm
I searched for blogs using the phrase “virtual assistant” and it broke! Threw some kind of error messages.
February 28th, 2006 at 10:24 pm
Robert,
I’d suggest using Technorati’s Authority filter slider or even a scoped search using Blog Finder to get a different signal-to-noise ratio than what the default Technorati search gives you, btw. Have a look at these:
http://technorati.com/search/apple?authority=a7
and
http://technorati.com/search/announcement?blogtag=apple
Hope that helps keep you in the know…
Dave
February 28th, 2006 at 10:25 pm
TDavid:
* All links on the blog should work: are they dreaming? after 6 years of blogging, linkrot runs rampant in my archives
* Be in English or have an English version: guess that rules me out as it’s bilingual ;-)
Too bad!
March 1st, 2006 at 5:15 am
[...] Scoble did a little write up about BOTW blog search as well and thinks BOTW blog search “needs more work, but it shows some promise.” Tags: blog directory, blog search, blog search engine, botw, sesny2006, sesnyc Bookmark - Del.icio.us | Digg | Furl It | Spurl | RawSugar | Simpy | Shadows | Blink It | My Web [...]
March 1st, 2006 at 8:03 am
Heh, that Bill Gates/Steve Jobs story being scraped was mine.
I think the BOTW search has been Scobled to death. Queries to http://blogs.botw.org/blogs/ at the moment return a rather ugly “compilation error” with, um, well, this at the bottom:
Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:2.0.50727.42; ASP.NET Version:2.0.50727.42
March 1st, 2006 at 11:27 am
http://blogs.botw.org/blogs/ is well and truly Scobled
I got :
—————————————————–
Server Error in ‘/’ Application.
Compilation Error
Description: An error occurred during the compilation of a resource required to service this request. Please review the following specific error details and modify your source code appropriately.
Compiler Error Message: BC30648: String constants must end with a double quote.
Source Error:
Line 425: stuff = stuff.Replace(”", “”)
Line 426: stuff = stuff.Replace(”", “”)
Line 427: stuff = stuff.Replace(”,”")
Line 428: stuff = stuff.Replace(”", “”)
Line 429: stuff = stuff.Replace(”", “”)
Source File: e:\blogs.botw.org\blogsearch.aspx.vb Line: 427
Show Detailed Compiler Output:
c:\windows\system32\inetsrv> “C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\vbc.exe” /t:library /utf8output /R:”C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\df0a21e6\c1b01edd\assembly\dl3\9f085a9f\8445e33e_fa29c601\botwcore.DLL” /R:”C:\WINDOWS\assembly\GAC_MSIL\System.Web.Mobile\2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a\System.Web.Mobile.dll” /R:”C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\df0a21e6\c1b01edd\App_Code.zhu6twvg.dll” /R:”C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\df0a21e6\c1b01edd\App_global.asax.5ej9utse.dll” /R:”C:\WINDOWS\assembly\GAC_MSIL\System.Xml\2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089\System.Xml.dll” /R:”C:\WINDOWS\assembly\GAC_32\System.EnterpriseServices\2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a\System.EnterpriseServices.dll” /R:”C:\WINDOWS\assembly\GAC_MSIL\System\2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089\System.dll” /R:”C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\df0a21e6\c1b01edd\assembly\dl3\fb4231a6\aed3e7b9_561dc601\SharpSpell.DLL” /R:”C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\df0a21e6\c1b01edd\App_Web_kjoaupze.dll” /R:”C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\df0a21e6\c1b01edd\assembly\dl3\3d99fdd8\76789b99_561dc601\PetersDatePackage.DLL” /R:”C:\WINDOWS\assembly\GAC_32\System.Web\2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a\System.Web.dll” /R:”C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\df0a21e6\c1b01edd\App_Web_cn16kbje.dll” /R:”C:\WINDOWS\assembly\GAC_MSIL\System.Configuration\2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a\System.Configuration.dll” /R:”C:\WINDOWS\assembly\GAC_MSIL\System.Drawing\2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a\System.Drawing.dll” /R:”C:\WINDOWS\assembly\GAC_32\System.Data\2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089\System.Data.dll” /R:”C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\df0a21e6\c1b01edd\assembly\dl3\8110d294\8ec9a036_6b39c601\entityconverter.DLL” /R:”C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\df0a21e6\c1b01edd\assembly\dl3\60247e8d\e2a7f1b6_561dc601\SharpSpell.1033.DLL” /R:”C:\WINDOWS\assembly\GAC_MSIL\System.Web.Services\2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a\System.Web.Services.dll” /R:”C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\df0a21e6\c1b01edd\assembly\dl3\55c45ef2\261b2b94_561dc601\Interop.USAePayXChargeCom2.DLL” /R:”C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\df0a21e6\c1b01edd\assembly\dl3\bce83e02\a47a6b94_561dc601\LinkPointTransaction.DLL” /out:”C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\df0a21e6\c1b01edd\App_Web_qgn-i6bv.dll” /D:DEBUG=1 /debug+ /win32resource:”C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\df0a21e6\c1b01edd\qgn-i6bv.res” /define:_MYTYPE=\”Web\” /imports:Microsoft.VisualBasic,System,System.Collections,System.Collections.Specialized,System.Configuration,System.Text,System.Text.RegularExpressions,System.Web,System.Web.Caching,System.Web.SessionState,System.Web.Security,System.Web.Profile,System.Web.UI,System.Web.UI.WebControls,System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts,System.Web.UI.HtmlControls /define:Debug=True /define:Trace=True “C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\df0a21e6\c1b01edd\App_Web_qgn-i6bv.0.vb” “C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\df0a21e6\c1b01edd\App_Web_qgn-i6bv.1.vb” “C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\df0a21e6\c1b01edd\App_Web_qgn-i6bv.2.vb”
Microsoft (R) Visual Basic Compiler version 8.0.50727.42
for Microsoft (R) .NET Framework version 2.0.50727.42
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
e:\blogs.botw.org\blogsearch.aspx.vb(28) : warning BC42025: Access of shared member, constant member, enum member or nested type through an instance; qualifying expression will not be evaluated.
catarray.Reverse(catarray)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
e:\blogs.botw.org\blogsearch.aspx.vb(309) : warning BC42104: Variable ‘mycommand’ is used before it has been assigned a value. A null reference exception could result at runtime.
mycommand.Dispose()
~~~~~~~~~
e:\blogs.botw.org\blogsearch.aspx.vb(427) : error BC30648: String constants must end with a double quote.
stuff = stuff.Replace(”,”")
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
e:\blogs.botw.org\blogsearch.aspx.vb(483) : warning BC42104: Variable ‘newchainstr’ is used before it has been assigned a value. A null reference exception could result at runtime.
newchainstr &= newcatarray(0) & “/”
~~~~~~~~~~~
e:\blogs.botw.org\blogsearch.aspx.vb(497) : warning BC40000: ‘Public Shared ReadOnly Property AppSettings() As System.Collections.Specialized.NameValueCollection’ is obsolete: ‘This method is obsolete, it has been replaced by System.Configuration!System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.AppSettings’
baseurl = “http://” & System.Configuration.ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings(”blogdirectoryunsecuredomain”) & “/”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
e:\blogs.botw.org\blogsearch.aspx.vb(500) : warning BC40000: ‘Public Shared ReadOnly Property AppSettings() As System.Collections.Specialized.NameValueCollection’ is obsolete: ‘This method is obsolete, it has been replaced by System.Configuration!System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.AppSettings’
baseurl = “http://” & System.Configuration.ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings(”botwdirectoryunsecuredomain”) & “/top/”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
e:\blogs.botw.org\blogsearch.aspx.vb(538) : warning BC42105: Function ‘BuildCatChainRepeaterDatasource’ doesn’t return a value on all code paths. A null reference exception could occur at run time when the result is used.
End Function
~~~~~~~~~~~~
e:\blogs.botw.org\blogsearch.aspx.vb(554) : warning BC42104: Variable ‘catchain’ is used before it has been assigned a value. A null reference exception could result at runtime.
Return catchain
~~~~~~~~
e:\blogs.botw.org\blogsearch.aspx.vb(569) : warning BC42104: Variable ‘catname’ is used before it has been assigned a value. A null reference exception could result at runtime.
Return catname
~~~~~~~
e:\blogs.botw.org\blogsearch.aspx.vb(788) : warning BC42104: Variable ‘mycommand’ is used before it has been assigned a value. A null reference exception could result at runtime.
mycommand.Dispose()
~~~~~~~~~
e:\blogs.botw.org\blogsearch.aspx.vb(801) : warning BC42024: Unused local variable: ‘newq’.
Dim newq As String
~~~~
e:\blogs.botw.org\blogsearch.aspx.vb(923) : warning BC42104: Variable ‘myadapter’ is used before it has been assigned a value. A null reference exception could result at runtime.
myadapter.Dispose()
~~~~~~~~~
Show Complete Compilation Source:
[snip]……
I have purpously removed the souce code and compilation listing it provided me with
[/snip]…….
Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:2.0.50727.42; ASP.NET Version:2.0.50727.42
————————————————–
Sometimes a little knowledge can be dangerous, this perhaps showed a lot more that anyone should see
Point then to one of your techies quick..
regards
Al
March 1st, 2006 at 11:29 am
Oops sorry didnt snip that post enough dam copy and paste…
March 3rd, 2006 at 8:06 pm
Thanks Robert for taking the time to check out the directory, and share your thoughts. I was reluctant to have the public looking under the hood at this stage, but we really wanted to have the search live for SES…
We are well aware that things are not running perfectly with the search features yet, and we plan on attacking each bug as quickly as possible (that error is just embarrassing). We have a bunch of new hardware waiting for install, so that should help considerably with the speed. In addition to the new hardware, we are in the process of beefing up our editors, which will enable us to add substantially more blogs in the months to come.
In reply to the comments of those not listed, simply add your blog to the most relevant category - submitting it is free, and as long as it meets our guidelines, it will be accepted. We are focused on building a directory of quality blogs - with all of the information now available online, the truly good voices often get lost amidst all the irrelevant results. And if you have a good blog, then please don’t take any offense should you not already be listed. It merely means that we haven’t stumbled across you yet - let us know by submitting.
The English-only rule is simply due to a lack of a multilingual editors. This should be addressed in the near future.
We should make great strides in the weeks to come - stay tuned. Thanks again for having a look, and of course we are open to any and all feedback that you or your readers are willing to share.