Ever been in doubt about Ma.gnolia’s coolness? Then this should reinforce your faith. I just love that service! 
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Back in January I have compared three memetrackers specialising on tech news: Techmeme, Tailrank, and Megite. Since then all three competitors have gone in slightly different directions.
Techmeme seems to put even more focus on big tech blogs and especially tech news sites. It’s still a must read if you want to catch the latest news but don’t expect much discussion originating from smaller blogs.
I don’t know exactly what’s up with Tailrank; I like(d) it a lot. Though it has been down more or less for the last two months. Its founder Kevin Burton has denied major problems on TechCrunch but it looks not very healthy to say the least.
Megite looks much better now because most issues that could be criticised about it have been resolved over the last couple of months. While many discussions also originate from tech news sites Megite links to more blogs than Techmeme and therefore offers readers a wider spectrum of opinions. It has become a viable alternative to Techmeme by now.
Though I am wondering if the memetracking concept can survive; Tailrank being almost dead and Techmeme heading for a tech news site. So is Megite the only good one remaining or are there any other ones I am missing? Of course, there is Rivva which has improved greatly since its launch in March but it is focusing on German blogs.
Although I am using some web applications like calendars and to-do lists to manage my daily life I still haven’t found an online address book that fits my needs. So I am constantly switching between my Moleskine address book (yep, the pen and paper way and actually the most regularly used one here), Thunderbird, Plaxo, and Videntity. Not a very productive and satisfactory way managing my contacts. So you can guess, that I had high hopes when Plaxo 3.0 was released this week. Can it replace all the other apps?
AJAX
The old version of Plaxo - well, actually it’s still the current one because Plaxo 3.0 is just a beta at the moment - is looking rather boring: all my contacts in a virtual cardbox and when clicking on one entry an equally virtual looking index card is popping up in a new browser window. No, it doesn’t look just boring, it looks absolutely stale.
The new Plaxo has an AJAX interface and is looking more modern now, but don’t expect any fancy colours. It’s aiming at business users and is respectable. Speed was one of the biggest gripes I always had with Plaxo and it still isn’t the fastest application you will find on the web. I guess this can and should be improved.
Syncing
Plaxo is offering various syncing options which should meet most people’s needs. It can be synced with Google Calendar, Outlook and Outlook Express, Hotmail/Windows Live, Windows Mail, AIM, Mac OS X, and Yahoo; it’s also possible to sync Plaxo with LinkedIN but that’s just possible with the premium version which will set you back $49.95/year. Synchronisation with Thunderbird is mentioned as well but it isn’t there, at least I can’t see any option. Maybe that is scheduled for the final release but I could be wrong.
Syncing with Google Calendar? Yep, Plaxo doesn’t sync just contacts but also events. You can add events and tasks to Plaxo now, thanks to HipCal, a calendar application which was acquired by Plaxo about a year ago. It’s not the best calendar apps I have seen so far - e.g. 30 Boxes and Google Calendar are more advanced and also offer a lot more features -, but it is sufficient to manage some basic data.
More Features
Pulse seems to be a first, yet tentative step towards life streams it seems. Users can add their Amazon wish lists, Flickr photos and blog feeds; also other feeds work - I have tried Twitter and Upcoming -, so don’t feel limited by the options Plaxo is offering. Flickr photos can be used for calendar backgrounds as well, by the way. Pulse is a nice idea but could be improved. I want more options and a better graphical presentation. If you know the life streaming options of 30 Boxes or other more specialised services you probably won’t resort to Pulse.
Users can make low priced, direct calls to their contacts by using JaJah, provided they have an account there, of course. I have not tested this feature yet but it is really interesting because it makes calls as easy as clicking on a link. Well, actually this is what you have to do. Very simple.
Conclusion
The new version of Plaxo is definitely an improvement to the old one and worth checking out. It is offering more features, it is modern and intuitive to work with. However I am not sure if I will use it regularly now. It is still aiming for business users which is clearly documented by its premium service which doesn’t include just synchronisation with LinkedIn but is also offering automated backups and the option for storing more than 1,000 contacts.
Recently I have got an invitation (thanks to Ben Metcalfe) for people search engine Spock which is still in private beta. There are not many people search engines around at the moment; so I was curious how Spock works. The other ones I am aware of are ZoomInfo and Wink. There are more companies but those seem to focus more on profile aggregation than on search. If you know any other real people search engine leave a comment, please.
Features
Users can search for people either by names - email addresses work as well - or by tags. There is an advanced search available (see screenshot) which provides even more options.
Unlike known search engines like Google Spock is displaying just one search result for each person which makes searching rather comfortable because you don’t have to look through several result pages just to come across the same person time and again. One entry = one person. Search results also feature tags, a short biography from Wikipedia, LinkedIn or other sites and - if available - a photo, related people (=family, colleagues,…), and websites. So ideally you will get a good summary of a person which should be sufficient for a first impression.
Here is the entry for Siemens CEO Klaus Kleinfeld:
Registered users can add more tags and websites to each search result and they can even vote on existing tags and photos which will hopefully improve forthcoming searches.
Problems
Spock is trying to scan the web for information on people which will probably take some more weeks or even months before it will be finished. At the moment I don’t find any of my close friends on Spock; I don’t even find myself there although I have a Spock account and I am registered with various Web 2.0 services. One problem seems to be location - most of my friends are in Germany -, the other one might be the umlaut in my last name which is not supported by Spock. I have tried Carsten Pötter, Carsten Poetter and also Carsten Potter: no results.
Although the search result for Klaus Kleinfeld is providing a good summary it doesn’t offer more information than the Wikipedia entry for Mr Kleinfeld. The summary is from Wikipedia anyway, also Wikipedia is included in the list of relevant websites. What’s worse, two of the five links are leading to a site where I have to sign up. That’s really unnecessary. Wouldn’t it be easier to go to Wikipedia straight away if I was searching for celebrities?
Summary
Nevertheless Spock is an interesting approach to people search and it will certainly improve when the web will be scanned completely and more people use the service, tag people, and add relevant websites to search results. Spock just has to iron out some rough edges and should pay attention to the possibility of gaming the search results.
I have 101 invitations for Spock, so go and test it for yourself. Just leave a comment with a valid email address.
The usual disclosure: I did some beta testing for the Wink widget. Spock and Wink are competitors