Google has begun testing simpler and cleaner models for the search engine results page. The designs vary, but they all have more white space between results, fewer secondary links, like cached and similar, and no underlining in common. Another version of the search engine model has dashed lines between results, as well. These models have been filtered around the net, presumably to test which are easier for users to navigate.

Some critics of the filtered designs have complained that the designs are too similar to other search engines, such as Bing, and the new designs are too different from the comfort of the original model. Some users have started using Twitter as a vehicle for opinions about the separate test pages. The test is apart of a plan called the bucket test, where changes are shown to only a small amount of viewers can see the changes.

The models have less information per link and fewer results on the page. This allows a cleaner, streamlined look, but many users are not pleased with the possibility of these changes. Some users say the results pages with less information is counterintuitive to Google’s reputation for the amount of information from results. Fewer results per page will force users to scroll more often and click through to more pages than before.

There is an agreement between users on two possible reasons Google is choosing to test this type of layout, including:

Provoke a Feeling of Accuracy

By limiting the number of result on a page and clearing the rest of the space of most secondary links, user will have the illusion of a more accurate and considered search.

For example, if you were to search for medical assistant schools, Google would only list a few of the most relevant keyword specific sites found online, without linking to a myriad of other different secondary sites.

For More Advertisement

There is a section of the critical pool that believes Google is opening more white space for new forms of advertisement. This might also allow them to insert multimedia formats of advertisement, instead of the usually text or photo-based ads.

However, Google has made no other statement, except that the model were a part of a test, but not necessarily the final set-up. User found, if they deleted cookies from their computer, the screen display would return to the original format. Google will be collecting data from user in the test group to get a sense of the parts of the designs that worked or didn’t work.

Once a niche market among a select few, gaming has grown by leaps and bounds from its humble beginnings. As various role playing games and more mainstream console based games grow in the popularity, the Internet has encouraged the change in the way our society views and uses these brands. Online gaming has become the dominion of no single market, and has pervaded pop culture on an epic scale.

As the number of personal computers grows, so does the online gaming world. It is fueled by this massive influx of potential users. Everyone remembers World of Warcraft and it’s staggering figure of 1 million registered online users. This was a watershed moment for online gaming, yet the figures continue to grow and has long since dwarfed WOW’s boastful number.

The reason why online gaming continues to remain popular is the way in which it continues to grow and redefine itself. Online gaming is anything but static. Online gaming has found safe harbor in the world of social networking where, one of the world’s largest gaming companies, Zynga, has continued to captivate the market and users through games, such as Farmville, YoVille, and Mafia Wars.

Zynga, for example, remains committed to the idea of introducing gaming to the world. Their company’s mission, as stated by founder Mark Pincus, is designed to create an interconnected world using gaming as the vehicle in which to do this. This is a bold statement, yet the company seems to be making good on their promises. They have been able to do many things to enact real world change through the use of online gaming.

American Banking and Market News recently reported on the impending Zynga Pokercon event to be hosted at the Palms Casino and Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. It’s expected to gain a lot more traction for this company that’s already proven to be a powerhouse. The goal of this tournament was born out of the company’s mission statement: to bring the world together though gaming. The company wanted to bring all of the players that currently partake in the increasingly popular world of online poker, and bring them to the real world, together under one roof. The convention hosts a lineup of celebrity poker players and regular users. It’s expected to have a huge turnout, but Zynga didn’t stop there. The events will also have appearances by celebrity musicians, such as rapper B.O.B. of the #1 hit song, “Magic.”

The company has begun a campaign using its vast financial resources to enact social change. The website, Zynga.org, discusses how the company has been collecting money for a while, through their various gaming platforms, for donations and funds in order to assist in the preservation of wildlife, habitat conservation, and third world aide. Each year will have a different theme – 2010’s theme was water. The goal of the donation is to bring the world together through gaming and to contribute to efforts to raise awareness on various global and social issues that impact us all.

Gaming has come a long way since the days of dingy dark basements and one bit graphics. Ever since online gaming came to the forefront of pop culture, it has continued to captivate audiences and surprise us in all in a myriad ways. One can only guess at how much further the gaming industry will grow, but only time will tell.

As computer companies flood the market in an attempt take control of the computer technology industry, it can be difficult to choose a laptop that fits your unique needs. When computers first hit the market they were terribly cost prohibitive, so technology was only available to the elite few who could afford it. Contrary to popular belief, you no longer need to pay large amount for a high performance computer. Thanks to innovations and more efficient production techniques, you can get a really good computer under the 600-dollar mark.

If you’re looking for a piece of hardware to perform your basic computing needs, such as internet browsing, email correspondence, and other basic computer applications, one good brand on the market is the Acer Aspire 5315. It’s designed as an economical choice for a student budget. It possesses Windows-compatible software, such as Word, and “even if you’re not a student, this is a great product for someone looking to create spreadsheets, balance budgets, or just surf online.,” said Ben Stein from LaptopReviews.com.

The Aspire has a 15.4-inch screen, which is great for watching movies or browsing through photos. It weighs about 6 pounds with three USB ports and a large keyboard. This computer does the trick for anyone who wants the freedom of a laptop without the hefty price.

The Dell Vostro V13 is a .65 inch-thick, aluminum-shelled piece of premium hardware for anyone who wants a workhorse of a machine that meets a wide variety of computing needs. This laptop only has two USB ports to the Aspire’s three, but balances out at around three and a half pounds, which is almost half the weight of the Aspire. The Vostro laptop it great for those working professionals, students, or travelers with an on-the-go lifestyle. It has a 13.3-inch, and is a compact model that would be easy to carry anywhere. This economical choice can be purchased for about 550 dollars.

The oddly named Gateway NV5387u is one the most powerful laptops on the market for the price. This computer has a duel-core processor, 4GB RAM, and if that isn’t enough, this little piece of hardware has a massive 320GB hard drive. It has a 15.6 display screen that provides superior graphics for your viewing needs. You will be amazed at the estimated three hours of battery life.

Perhaps you’re looking for a computer for your child before they leave for college or you’re just shopping around for yourself, and you may be concerned whether or not you’re getting the right computer for your needs and desired quality. Research reviews or consumer reports website for consumer opinions or you can also check out other comparable laptops online for other great prices until you find a laptop that will work the best for your lifestyle.

Part 1 of “The dreaded ‘Idea’” spouts freely new notions concerning Twitter and iPhone/iPod Apps & iOS along with a short treatise-like rant on ideas.

Media

• Monetizing great content stuck on crusty websites

An opportunity exsists for acquiring old, but authoritative content that ranks good.  This written treasure is often buried on neglected websites.  There’s plenty of great information hiding on pages two, three and four of Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs) that could be providing more benefit.

Some would just offer to buy the whole site and domain outright.  But dealing with some of these codgers is tough.  They’re often sentimentally attached and want far too much money.  And trying to strike these deals is a time suck.

Why not go after smaller slices of the pie?  Go after the valuable content and leave the relics and ruins of entire sites designed in 1998 to Gramps.

A service company could “crawl” (old) websites for good, well ranking content. Offer to buy (the rights for) it. Both buyer and seller sign a (mostly pre-formatted, pre-made) contract and payment is rendered.

The purchased content “goes to work” for the benefit of the buyer and will hopefully reach a wider, improved audience. Value for all involved.

Doing this manually wouldn’t be worth it.  Either an automated program could seek out the content, or go the other route and get content holders and publisher to come to your site and sell good articles to you.  Some sort of valuation system and/or algorithm would be ideal to kill the many man-hours of sifting through content to determine worth.

• Web video channel

The great video programming on Cable and Satellite TV comes with commercials and it’s expensive.  The Internet offers way more video entertainment options than Cable, but herding all the sprawling internet video is often difficult and time consuming.

The move is on now to make traditional TV more Internet interactive-like while the Internet players — like Apple TV, Boxee.net, Google TV – continue with vast menu systems.

I say go the reverse direction.  I want to fire up an Internet video channel that’s just like an old TV station.  Hit play and walk away.  That’s it.  No sign up, no account.  Instant, continuous Internet Boob Tube with zero interaction.

Unless you want interaction.  (Stop reading here if you’re already sold, but it’s not likely because viewers will probably want some control.  Some other stuff to do.)

Just hit a button and an interactive, overlaid interface could come up (– and/or this interactive interface/menu would show up on a mobile phone app that could also double as a remote.)

Naturally this optional menu for the video channel would contain all the lofty features we’ve come to expect from our Internet media applications:

• learning your view tastes and preferences
• ability to share what your are watching
• skinning & customizing appearance
• fetching programming info and recommendations
• option to integrate and merge with other media sources and service

How will this happen?  How the hell should I know.  That is why nerds exist.

A master/parent channel would be set up and programmed by the company who creates it.  This tech could be used as a platform for others to build and program their own (custom, branded) channels.

The general idea here is switch on an internet TV channel and plop down on the couch.  Less choice, less control, less hassle is the primary intent.  But that won’t fly for everyone who may like it, so also offer hidden menus and controls that’d also empower a premiere, TV-like Internet video channel with a more meaningful interactive experience.

• Video mute button

Add a Video Mute Button to web video players.  Press it and the video folds down, or hides, but audio still plays.

Perfect for the workplace where you want to listen but not watch or fiddle with minimizing, maximizing, resizing, popping out, or otherwise hiding video.

• Simple mass photo sharing

Most everybody wants widespread sharing of their photos and there’s a slew of photo sharing services. But everyone is not on the same photo sharing services.

Why isn’t there a decent service to distribute your photos to all the popular (online) photo places?

We need a web service/app where you upload your photos once and your photos go all over: Flickr, Facebook, Twitpic, Photobucket, Picassa, etc, etc.

The user process would be simple:

1.) Sign up.
2.) Link up the photo sharing sites you’re already on to this new service — either using openID/OAuth and/or old fashion usernames and passwords — and give options to sign up for additional photo sharing sites.
3.) Upload photos once.
4.) Photos appear at the sites you’ve just approved. Like:

• flickr
• photobucket
• webshots
• Picassa
• shutterfly
• smugmug
• snapfish
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Posterous
• tumblr
• WordPress
• Blogger
• ireport

After upload is complete, there could be and option to:

• Email your photos
• Ofter to try to sell your photos — to perhaps Getty Images, Stock photo sites, etc. This proposed service could take a cut.
• Crawl/search for local, tradional media outlet (websites) to submit photos to.
• Send photo(s) as picture text (MMS)
• Fax your photographs to Grandma and insurance companies (Ha!)

Also, a setting to put copyrights/copylefts on all your pictures, like Flickr does would be vital.

• One-click micropayment button

Professional content creators bitch and moan how no one wants to pay to read.  But if rich people would get on it, they could overcome the hurdles of micropayments, namely, the high cost of individual transaction fees.

Once micropayments take off, there will likely be a button next to content and article teases/previews/summaries to click.  The button could say something like: ”Pay $0.005 with dippold@gmail.com (via Google Checkout) & read.” Click and you’ve just instantly paid for what you are now reading.  That’s it.  No other bullshit in the way.  If there is, people won’t do it.

Warning screen preference and all user settings could be configured from something like Google Checkout.

Subsequent installments of The Dreaded Idea will address reading, music, Computing/Internet/Telephony, and miscellany not fitting neatly into a category.

Ah, the “Idea.” Hardly will we find anything more polarizing.

For seemingly half of us, just the word “idea” alone seems to conjure high-mindedness, nobility and is lauded up above so much else. The other half snubs/thumbs their noise at the word and “ideas” hardly even register as a time-waster anymore because they are automatically dismissed, ignored.

Nevertheless, this series of posts are a veritable dump of notions, products, services, improvement and “ideas”. I don’t really want to approach any developers and entrepreneurs I know with any one, all, or any combinations of these. But I also tire of waiting. Blogging them seems a more proper place to toss them out and see if anybody — known or unknown to me — bites.

If interested, I prefer you contact me first before pursuing, but at this point, I want most of what you may read to get on some sort of track that I almost want you to just take them and run.

The following vagaries may undergo many published updates and revisions. The intent is to get them out there. You may scratch your head on some, but hopefully they could lead you, and us, to betterment.

Click below to jump into a slew of stuff. Part 1 concerns Twitter and iPhone/iPod iOS & Apps.

Twitter

• Auto-changing (custom) twitter backgrounds

Skip being stuck with the same old, single Twitter background. And who wants to manually change it all the time. Start a service with a bunch of better, ready-to-go twitter backgrounds; allow users to upload several of their own; and give the option to have your background change every so often at set times.

• Tweet by snail mail — (Printout) postcards

Pictured is an actual paper notepad for sale. But I mean something like similar on a mailable postcard for the elderly, the Internet challenged and the Internet restricted (like Pulp Fiction writer Roger Avery, tweeting from lock-up.) Instead of a joke, a new service — set to receive the snail mail — would get the TweetCards in the mail and post the messages on Twitter.com.

Print designers here you go. TwitCards would likely need a space for one’s Twitter name or desired twitter name. Also a disclosure that the service provider may pick your Twitter username and manage your password.

Bonus: a double use, Netflix-like mailer, with room for a forwarding address to send the TwitCard elsewhere after the message goes on Twitter.com.

Maybe even a simple TwitCard web interface — in case the snail-mailers ever get to a computer with Internet and decide to Twitter the normal way themselves.

• Twitter Tool: Re-following (after they start tweeting again)   [http://twitive.com (or http://twitivity.com) = Twitter plus Active (or Activity)]

This is for all the Twitterers signing up and then pretty much abandoning their account.  This service could allow a different, less harsh way to temporarily unfollow and send a subtile message that they should not expect to get followers if they’re lazy.

The service would send out a can tweet, something like: “@name you’ve been unfollowed by @dipps for inactivity with @twitive. You’ll be automatically refollowed when you start tweeting regular again.”  It would then grab the unfollowed’s twitter RSS feed and monitor it. When their Twitter account became “active” (again), this service would re-follow them for you.

Something similar could be offered for temporarily unfollowing when someone goes overboard during an event, season, etc.  Set a refollow date and the service sends out an explanatory tweet.

This notion is more of a feature to build into an existing Twitter client or Twitter service rather than its own standalone thing.

iPhone/iPod: iOS & Apps

• Getting Flash (video) to work on iPhone

After tapping on broken flash link — instead of nothing — provide an option to watch flash vid that is pushed to you from the Cloud and viewable in iPhone’s Safari’s QT player.

An Apple and/or an open source solution/platform would be developed and made available — to either content providers/hosts; to a 3rd party, intermediary service; from an Apple created and hosted service; or built-into OS X server; etc. — to push converted Flash (video) into something you can watch (in a QT playable format) in Safari on iPhone — like you can now with .MOV files.

This Flash content conversion and pushing it to iPhone would ideally be done simultaneously — and on the fly, as needed — to speed viewing. Also (some) caching, on servers, of completed conversions could maybe help.

Note: Apple’s Gianduia may make this idea null and void, but something like this may be viable until Flash dies.

Note2: Ripcode.com may already do this, but I don’t understand it enough to say yes or no.

Note3: Skyfire and your done?

• iPhone Video podcast improvements

Allow an option to play audio only (to allow multi-tasking and after pressing power button to black-out screen.)  Right now there is now way to multitask while watching video podcasts.  Or even lock the screen and keep the audio playing like with audio podcasts.  Video podcasts are currently all or nothing.

And dump, or fix, the video shuffle button. It does nothing.

2x playback like audio podcasts already have would be nice. Kthx.

• Add ability to keep podcasts updated using only iPhone/iPod

Why not allow podcasts to be updated from the iPhone via Wi-Fi?  You can can already do this manually with the iTunes app, but it seems simple enough to include an automatic update option in Settings >> iPod, or a “Keep this Podcast Updated” link under each podcast in the iPod app, or a “Subscribe” button in the iTunes app, something, instead of just a “Get More Episodes…” link.

Or even just do this by default like iTunes on a computer does.  I do not see the need to hinder this functionality.  It would only update on Wi-Fi and maybe only while on the podcasts tab in the iPod app.

• Un-gray search button on Google search within iPhone’s Safari (when left blank)

Un-gray the “Search” button — the one in the lower right on the Google search bar screen — so pressing it without typing anything will go to Google.com.  This is an easy “fix” and a great way to quickly get to Google.com for the newish “Near me now” & links to other Gstuff/Glinks.

• Use iPhone/iPod as a keyboard/mouse for a regular computer (in a pinch) via USB cable, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth

Recently bought an old flowerpot iMac and found myself without a mouse and keyboard — since I only have a MacBook Pro and iPhone — and I needed to get this old computer ready for my parents.

Well surely an app developer could turn the iPhone’s touch keyboard into a virtual keyboard to use on a regular computer.  Bonus point for turning the touch screen into a trackpad/computer mouse substitute too.

At the very least this app would work for Macs; not sure about how challenging it would be to get it to work on Linux and Windows.

• Auto-disable Wi-Fi discovery while traveling (app)

This popped up while driving on the Interstate

My iPhone already knows I’m moving when I’m using transportation — I see the blue GPS dot moving in the Maps app.  So why can’t it figure out how to keep from endlessly asking to join Wi-Fi networks while driving?

Someone could come up with a code snippet to allow all iPhone/iPod app developers to block this annoyance when using their current apps already in the wild.  (And maybe all those complying would proudly display a badge saying “Traveler Approved App.”

At the least, someone could make an app to auto-disable wi-fi discovery if traveling (over 20 mph).  Call it TravAta or something.  Press the app and it immediately starts disabling wi-fi discovery when moving over 20mph and an option screen comes up to adjust the speed at which Wi-Fi is disabled; option to enable discovery if stationary for a certain amount of time; and option to stop the app after a certain time or when arriving at certain locations.

• iPhone apps that also launch/open computer programs

For example:

1. Boxee.tv‘s iPhone remote control app would also automatically open Boxee on your computer.  The whole idea of the Boxee remote control iPhone app is to control Boxee on your TV.  All of Boxee can now be shut down with its remote control iPhone app (when the app doesn’t crash) but you must go to the computer to start the main Boxee program.  The computer I run boxee on is in an awkward place.  It would be so nice to sit down on the couch to watch TV with Boxee and not have to go over to F with the computer.
2. The iPhone app that allows remote control of iTunes should also open iTunes on the computer at the same time you open it on the iPhone.
3. Any exsisting computer program could also offer a simple iPhone app that when launched on iPhone will also open the main program on your computer.

• iPhone app to download anything — save it all to the cloud to get your downloads from anywhere

Time and time again we come across something on our phone we want to download but can’t.  We need an app that will queue up and start downloading to the cloud anything that can be downloaded: MP3s, torrents, PDFs, documents, web pages, images, etc.  And all of our downloaded stuff becomes instantly accessible from any applicable electronic device.

In other words, Put.io needs an iPhone app.

UPDATE 1: 8/10/10

Additional parts of this post will include Media, Music, Reading, Computing/Internet/Telephony and various Miscellaneous ideas.

I just nominated Columbia, Missouri, for Google’s fiber optic trial.  Anyone with home internet access can ask Google to set it up where you live too. Google’s hope is to “make Internet access better and faster for everyone.”

Here’s a few points I made for Columbia, MO:

Why should Google build a fiber to the home network where you live?

Columbia, Missouri’s telecom oligopoly has trampled over everything good and decent for far too long.  Forcing residents to “choose” between two price gouging ISPs with lackluster service and  performance is an Internet travesty.

Any Internet improvement, no matter how small, will vastly improve life for what is surely the most highly concentrated center of culture in Missouri.

Describe the quality of your home Internet service customer support:

After an hour trying to straighten out my erratically fluctuating bill — due to CenturyLink’s incessant system errors — their “Save Desk” is downgrading me from 10Mbps to 3Mbps, again, with no change in price. My Internet speed keeps switching without approval. Something similar to: http://tr.im/NVir Ready to ditch IPTV “service” & their Internet & get Google Fiber. S.O.S.

Web link to supporting material (YouTube videos and other creative submissions are encouraged!)

http://www.ripoffreport.com/cable-companies/mediacom/mediacom-horrible-service-and-2c282.htm

Techcrunch recently posted a post about music sites called “Your Guide to Music on the Web — Part 1“.  Here are the sites it includes:

• Pandora
• Last.fm
• Deezer
• Finetune
• Amie Street
• Jamendo
• SoundCloud
• TheSixtyOne
• Project Playlist
• Jiwa.fm
• Jogli
• MixTube
• Lala
• Musicovery
• CitySounds.fm
• Jango
• RadioBeta
• TheRadio
• Aupeo
• Tun3r
• Play.fm

Some of the sites/services are very similar and some are naturally better than others, but all are worth briefly checking  if you admire tuneage.  Or you can read the TechCrunch article if you’d like a description/write up on each.

Even though the Google Voice app was rejected by Apple, Google went ahead and put out Google Voice through the web, via mobile Safari, at google.com/voice. I haven’t had much time to test it out, but did make a test call using Google voice from my iPhone’s Safari browser.

All my voice mails and SMS text messages showed up too, but I archived them so you can’t see them on this screen grab.

Looks like every feature available to Google Voice users from the regular web is available from the iPhone now.  You just have to access it through Safari on the device.

UPDATE:  I’ve been told what I have here has been up since March.  What else could Google possibly do to improve upon this shy of making a stand alone app or making it more presentable in Safari?  This whole thing stems from a Mashable post.

UPDATE 2 (1/26/10): Now Google Voice for iPhone is even more legit.  Look like this now:

Found out about We are Hunted from the 37signal’s Signal vs. Noise Blog, who say, basically, the real draw here, the thing that sets We are Hunted apart from other similar music sites is its large album art.  But the S vs. N Blog doesn’t point out what the site actually does.  From the We are Hunted homepage:

We Are Hunted is the Online Music Chart. We aggregate social networks, forums, music blogs, Torrents, P2P Networks and Twitter to develop a daily chart of the 99 most popular songs online.

And Signal vs. Noise captions their screen shots to imply that We are Hunted is a music store.  While it looks like they do offer the option to buy the playable songs, it seems to me to be more of a Internet music chart.

The term “content” — referring to material that constitutes a publication or document for an audience — is abhorrent. Applying the word “content” essentially cheapens the writing, music, video or whatever other form of media one is taking in and attempting to gain a life enriching experience from it.

The only purpose for casting a blanket term like “content” over every form of consumable media is convenience. It is simply easier to say we need more content on this or that site instead of actually taking the time to discuss what actually needs written or recorded.

Providing content. Content is king. Instead of focusing on gaining knowledge from whatever we are reading, watching or listening to, too many times the Internet community lumps these together and says “content” instead of engaging web communities in conversation by producing things that matter, things of lasting value.

Commodification of information is not at issue here. Many folks make a living off of good art and wanted words. It is simply the sweeping way this livelihood is often referred to.

My argument may come off as purely semantic with a high burden of proof and much chiding, but the point is to urge quality in everything we produce and consume online.

————-

(Updated 5/18/10)

But there’s really no one to blame.  Referring to it as “content” seemed to gradually come in to use and now you’re a weirdo if you don’t use the term.

But by referring to various media as “content” it all but jells one’s consumption of it away from style, substance and meaning and towards other intents for media like monetization.

When was the last time you referred to the music, films and written words you love so much — stuff that somehow helps define you and your beliefs — as “content”?

“There’s this awesome content I just consumed that has completely revolutionized my own life and is changing how people view the world.”

No.