Bing vs Google

Bing 3 – Google 4

So based on the current results it’s really a very near run thing. I’m quite surprised to see this actually, evidently Bing’s UI is easier to navigate than I might have expected.

I think a lot of us have learnt behaviors for Google based on years of experience, so Bing is really doing well to stay up there with Google, especially considering the two UIs are quite far apart.

Both services could obviously make a few small tweaks to their UIs, but as you’d expect with two such popular websites, they are already very streamlined.

As more people take the test, we can expect to see results to evolve somewhat. Be sure to check back at http://video.intuitionhq.com/pub/405 to see how they change.

via webdesignledger.com

I feel like I am going to give Bing a try and see if it makes me feel better. :)

# Posted via email from opportunity__cost

Taking the very first step of the Customer Discovery and asking for help

I'm working on discovering the potential group of customers for the product that I'm thinking of. This is going to be some sort of a communication platform (starting from email and going from there), that is easily accessible and configurable by non-technical people; that will also provide an extended set of tools to optimize and monitor your messaging. (I know: It sounds awkward, but this is just what I'm starting from. :)

The survey link is: http://bit.ly/bDe4n7

If you are starting or working for a consumer-oriented company and use email as a primary communication channel between you and them, I'd really appreciate if you will take a few minutes and complete my survey. Even if you don't think that you really match, but would like to know more, just let me know your contact information and I'd be happy to chat and tell you more about my product.

Please help me in my Customer Discovery process and fill out the survey: http://bit.ly/bDe4n7

Thank you.

# Posted via email from opportunity__cost

"Basement way"

So many people like to say: "I went the basement way.  I gave up on the bells and whistles of corporate job, to start the startup.".  

There some other people who like to say: "You are either doing this or not.  Quit your day job, land in your basement, start building things.".

My question is simple: "What if I do not have even a basement?"

# Posted via email from opportunity__cost

Google Apps accounts are being transitioned into "full accounts"

I'm so pissed of to see how badly Google executed the transition of Google Apps accounts into the "full status". http://www.newsrealblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/google-dr-evil.jpg

The thing is that historically I've been using prokh...@gmail.com account exclusively for products & services from Google, that I couldn't authenticate with my Google Apps account(s). That was fine, why not. Such services include Reader, YouTube, Wave and probably something else. However, I discovered that now whenever I'm trying to access services like Reader I'm logging in as my Google Apps account. Which is, frankly speaking, annoying. I have no reading lists there, as well as I don't want to use Google Reader' Share button to share some interesting link through my *new* Reader account (and I never know where it goes to, as I don't remember whom I'm logged in right now). What the heck? And I don't want to start toying with import-export things, because I do have some stuff looking at my Reader account, like Twitterfeeds, people who read my Shared items, etc. This is just bad.

What I am forced to do now is to swear every single moment I'm opening something I wanted, but finding myself into one of those (pretty numerous) accounts. This definitely doesn't make me a happier person. What it makes me, though, is to start looking for at least new online RSS reader for myself.

# Posted via email from opportunity__cost

Yelp pushes new code live every day

At Yelp, we push new code live every day. Pushing daily allows us to quickly prototype new features and squash bugs in a proactive manner. Because we aim to deploy new code so often, we're always looking for ways to make the process efficient and painless.

There are four main stages to the Yelp push process: code review, integration, testing, and finally, live deployment. Each step is important, and there are ways to maximize the efficiency of all of them.

via engineeringblog.yelp.com

An interesting and detailed guide on how does Yelp do releases.

# Posted via email from opportunity__cost

How I got feedback from 200 people for just $17

Many entrepreneurs are familiar with Amazon Mechanical Turk, a service where real people perform small tasks for equally small pay. Being located in Canada, I’m unable to use the service directly (as it’s only open directly to US users). Thankfully there is a startup called PickFu, which enables startups worldwide to ask a simple A/B question through the Amazon Mechanical Turk API.

via blog.anynewbooks.com

While I keep seeing more and more feedback from entrepreneurs utilizing Mechanical Turk to get results for their customer research process I take it with a huge grain of salt. In my case I ended up with dummy and default replies which have little to do with real feedback.

# Posted via email from opportunity__cost