SEO Werkt!

What adjectives would you use to describe Google as a company? Maybe cool, inventive, forward-thinking, a fun place to work. How about Yahoo? I’d go for old fashioned, stale, boring, strict.

That’s why Yahoo hired former Google exec Marissa Mayer last summer. They want Yahoo to sound more like Google, but Mayer’s first few weeks in the office did little to improve the company’s image. Nine months later, she’s still known as the woman who rescinded Yahoo’s telecommuting policy but she’s working to change that, too.

Speaking at the Great Place to Work Conference, Mayer defended her decision saying,

“. . people are more productive when they’re alone but they’re more collaborative and innovative when they’re together. Some of the best ideas come from pulling two different ideas together.”

Two of those ideas hit the market this week – newly designed mobile apps meant to prove that Yahoo is still a contender.

First is the new weather app for iOS. Weather apps are extremely popular. I don’t understand why but maybe that’s because I live in Southern California where weather conditions only effect us a few times a year. Like all weather apps, Yahoo’s will tell you the temperature and the forecast for the coming week. But what sets it apart are the graphics.

Yahoo’s new weather app uses photos from Flickr to illustrate the weather conditions in whatever city you happen to be standing in. Whether its raining in Paris or sunny in St. Louis (they don’t have graphics for every city in the world, but you get the idea), day or night, and I love the big, bold text. You can add multiple cities if you’re traveling or if you just like knowing what the temperature is in your old home town.

The Yahoo weather app is as simple as can be and there’s something really exciting and elegant about that.

Yahoo also introduced a new Yahoo Mail app for both the iPad and Android tablet. It looks like every webmail app until you start touching and swiping.

Once you select an email message, you can tap the full screen button and eliminate all the unnecessary minutiae that clutters up the traditional email screen.

You can view photos in full screen mode, watch the video your friend sent or just enjoy a long message without having to scroll past lots of clutter. From here, you can swipe to get to the next message and the one after that. It’s a small change but it’s the difference between “processing tasks” and “reading your email.” It’s actually a mechanism that forces you to slow down and pay attention to what you’re reading. They show it here with a short message and a photo. Imagine your customers reading your company newsletter this way. That’s engagement.

For those times when you do need to process your email quickly, the new app can do that, too. Check several related emails and the app automatically pulls everything from that sender. Now you can toss all of those Facebook notifications with one click or find all the parts of a co-worker’s conversation with just a few taps.

The app also uses swipe to quickly delete and move messages and there’s a search box to help you locate what you need.

I moved from Yahoo to Gmail years ago, but these features are almost enough to make me switch back.

Good job, Yahoo. What’s next?

Android: Robin is the latest Android app to try and be the truly interactive voice-based personal assistant that Android needs, and it does the job pretty well. The app will dig up local traffic information, help you find gas and parking near you or your destination, weather conditions, and more. Robin even learns as you use it, so it can more accurately answer your questions over time. More »

Hybrid transportation has been featured on these pages numerous times, most recently in the form of the PAL V-ONE — a ‘flying car’ developed in the Netherlands, mixing automobile and gyrocopter technology. The Lit C-1 is another example, combining the car and motorbike in a compact two-wheeler that features gyroscopes to keep it upright, even upon collision.

Aiming to provide the convenience of a motorcycle as well as the safety of a car, the C-1 will be a streamlined vehicle for two people (one in the front, one in the back) and designed for short trips around urban areas. The entire car is powered electrically using batteries that provide 200 miles for each full charge, while 40 kW electric motors on the wheels allow gyroscopes located under the body floor to spin at more than 1,300 lb/ft of torque. This system means that the car remains balanced when stopping and it would take a large sideways force for it to be knocked over. In the case of such an event, the chassis provides the protection not found in standard motorbikes. On top of these features, the vehicle is equipped with connectivity to smartphones to warn drivers of busy traffic and bad weather conditions that could affect their journey, as well as offer alternative routes. The vehicle is still in the testing stages so won’t be available until 2014, but the following video gives an idea of the car in operation:

The C-1 is an eco-friendly mode of transport that allows users to weave in and out of traffic like a motorbike with less risk of accident. Could similar hybrids bring about new innovations in the automotive field?

Website: www.litmotors.com/c-1
Contact: www.litmotors.com/contact

It’s one thing to be alerted by text message when road conditions become treacherous — even better, however, would be to have tires that can adapt to these conditions automatically. Enter a new adaptive tire created at the Leipzig University of Applied Sciences that can adjust its grooves to suit the current weather and surface conditions.

Changing tires to suit weather conditions is usually a luxury associated with racing drivers, but it is rarely considered an option for everyday use. However, the Leipzig University of Applied Sciences’ innovation could bring similar advantages — both in terms of driving performance and safety — to everyday drivers, without the need to change tires at all. Shape-changing components have been incorporated into the new adaptive tires so that longitudinal and transverse grooves can move separately, a Leipzig press release explains. Then, whether the vehicle is on highway or dirt road, and whatever the conditions, the tires can change their profile automatically to suit the needs of the moment.

Unveiled last month at the Hanover Fair 2012 by a team led by Leipzig Prof. Detlef Riemer, the patent-protected tire is still a work in progress, Riemer notes. Automotive entrepreneurs — one to get in on early?

Website: www.htwk-leipzig.de/en
Contact: riemer@me.htwk-leipzig.de

It’s always disappointing to head out to warmer climes only to find the weather isn’t quite as expected. Hoping to cater for tourists who aren’t fussy about where they go on holiday provided it’s sunny, Leads2Travel has launched a new website – WaarSchijntdeZonWel.nl – which enables visitors to search for locations based on weather conditions.

Similar in concept to Spain’s Spotfav – which uses webcams and crowdsourced reports to show which coastlines are currently experiencing good weather – the Netherlands-based site offers users the option to search for all destinations between their minimum and maximum preferred temperatures. Translated as ‘Where The Sun Shines’, WaarSchijntdeZonWel.nl obviously can’t guarantee great weather, but a search engine based on temprature increases the likelihood of sunshine at the chosen location. The site also offers recommendations based on historical data and gives a monthly ‘Sunfactor’ rating to each area so visitors are able to easily compare and contrast.

WaarSchijntdeZonWel.nl has incorporated a feature that taps into an important factor for holidaymakers when deciding on a trip abroad. It is currently only offering travel options from the Netherlands. Perhaps this is one to replicate in your part of the world?

Website: www.waarschijntdezonwel.nl
Contact: info@leads2travel.nl

Relatives wanting to pay respects to loved ones in natural buried grounds are usually given coordinates to locate the deceased. Now in the US, the Hippensteel Funeral Service and Crematory have launched the first RFID tracking system designed to pinpoint the precise place of burial.

Hippensteel Funeral Service and Crematory in Layfette, Indiana are offering the transmitter disks and balls — provided by Memorial Markers — in the caskets or grave of anyone buried or cremated at a 1.5 acre natural burial site called The Preserve. Hippensteel are the only company to have carried out eco-burials on the Preserve since 2008, and are offering the new service free of charge. A hand-held reader can be used to locate the marker disks or balls, which are roughly the size of a hockey puck. The readers can detect the markers up to a depth of five feet and will enable family members to find unmarked graves, or graves that have been damaged by natural disasters, weather conditions, or vandalism. It is also believed they will be used by staff when graves become buried in plants and grass.

Although the Daily Mail claims the system is based on GPS technology, the smart marker system in fact uses RF signals to locate the markers. For those in the industry, inspiration for more natural and eco-friendly burial services?

Website: www.hippensteelfuneralservice.com/naturalburial.php
Contact: staff@hippensteelfuneralhome.com

Spotted by: Smith Alan

Related Ideas:

1. In Japan, a hotel for dead people
2. Online tool helps families begin planning a funeral
3. More artistic urns and memorials

Filed under: deals, mobile

Google announced they are updating their privacy policy, switching from more than 60 different privacy policies to one single privacy policy across all their products.

Google said this “new, simpler policy will make it easier for people to understand our privacy practices.” But yet, it is scaring a lot of people. Why?

Well, watch the video, around 1 minute and ten seconds in:

Google will be able to tell you when you will be late for a meeting based on your calendar, location, local traffic and weather conditions.

Now, I find that to be cool. But the privacy folks?

Danny Sullivan posted his detailed thoughts on the change.

A WebmasterWorld thread suggesting that to use the Google services they will make you sign in and if you sign in to every property, Google will be able to track your every move, likes, dislikes, searches, etc. Honestly, I doubt they will require you to sign in to do a search but it doesn’t mean they won’t cookie you and track you to YouTube, Gmail, Google Maps, your Android phone and so on.

In any event, see the updated privacy policy page over here.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld, Google News Help, Google Web Search Help, Google Maps Help and Google Places Help.

If the standard weather widget is a bit boring for you, you can use our favorite Android automation tool, Tasker, to display weather conditions using your wallpaper. More »