Friedbeef’s Tech

We’ve all been through this - You find yourself humming a tune you just can’t get out of your head - you don’t know the title, the artist or any of the lyrics, so it just keeps rattling around in your head.

Midomi is a new service trying to build a comprehensive database of searchable music. So all you need to do is, sing, hum, or whistle a few lines, and it will tell you what that song is.

Delivers Accurate Results

Initial comments by TechCrunch suggested it still had some kinks to work out (It returned a Notorious BIG rap clip when they tried to find Amazing Grace!) - but because they are constantly refining the algorithms based on user submissions, it gets better over time. When I tried it recently, Midomi came out with 4 out of 5 right answers so I’m pretty happy with the results.

Record Your Own Versions and Listen to Others With Similar Music Tastes

More than just a search engine, you can record your favorite songs online and share them with your friends. You can also listen to and rate others’ musical performances, and interact with other members. In short - a social network built around singing.

If you fancy yourself the next American Idol, perhaps it might pay to share a few tunes with the community and get some feedback first :)

Needs More Competitive Features

I know this site is not positioned as an online karaoke, but the lack of lyrics and background music really made a big difference when trying to do my own recordings (I had to search for lyrics on another site before attempting to sing).

Most Internet users aren’t really interested in helping to build a searchable music database. So getting these types of features in would be essential especially given the success of indirect competitors offering online karaoke services like Singshot and Ksolo.

The Bottom Line

The bottom line is this - the search engine works well, and it gives ordinary people a chance to collaborate to create a searchable music database and reach out to the world with their singing - and for that I say kudos to Midomi!

• Please leave a comment... (2)

Open up Firefox and take a look at the top right search box. Wherever you are on the Web, you can enter a search term in the Search bar and receive immediate answers from the search engine you’ve chosen.

Now, since the very beginning of Firefox - Mycroft has been the key repository for Firefox search plugins. Well, now you don’t have to wait any longer for someone to create a plugin for your favourite website…

OpenSearchFox is a great new extension which helps you create your own search plugin in 2 simple step:

1. Right-click ANY searchbox on ANY page
2. Click “Add OpenSearch plugin”.

…and that’s it!

Have an interesting search plugin which you rolled? Share it with us in the comments!

• Please leave a comment... (4)

Valentines day is tomorrow - If you haven’t gotten your shopping done yet - You’d better start now!

A good place to begin would be: thefind.com

I have to admit the clutter-free user interface is certainly one of the better one’s I’ve seen among shopping search engines. The site returns pictures as search results - with product descriptions only popping out when I move my mouse over it.

In their words:

“Large images of these leading products are provided so you can easily see exactly what you are shopping for. No more wading through millions and millions of text links - the best matches for your search are easily visible and are right there on the first page.”

…And it works! It even comes with the ability to search by color, and with a current stock of 150 million items - they pretty much cover everything under the sun. Use this in conjunction with RetailMeNot, and you’ve got yourself a killer combination.

If you want more ways to maximize your shopping experience, check out this post as well.

• Please leave a comment... (2)