Faceoff Show http://faceoffshow.com Your face-to-face web technology podcast Tue, 21 Jun 2011 09:00:35 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.7.1 Faceoff is your face-to-face web technology podcast. In this podcast Jade Robbins and Mark Sanborn talk about various aspects of web technology such as web development, social media, and web entrepreneurship. Jade Robbins and Mark Sanborn clean Jade Robbins and Mark Sanborn studio@faceoffshow.com studio@faceoffshow.com (Jade Robbins and Mark Sanborn) Faceoff Show Your face-to-face web technology podcast. web, technology, business, entrepeneurship, blogging, programming, development Faceoff Show http://faceoffshow.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/faceofflogo-150x150.jpg http://faceoffshow.com faceoffshowhttps://feedburner.google.comSubscribe with My Yahoo!Subscribe with NewsGatorSubscribe with My AOLSubscribe with BloglinesSubscribe with NetvibesSubscribe with GoogleSubscribe with PageflakesSubscribe with PlusmoSubscribe with The Free DictionarySubscribe with Bitty BrowserSubscribe with Live.comSubscribe with Excite MIXSubscribe with WebwagSubscribe with Podcast ReadySubscribe with WikioSubscribe with Daily Rotation Episode 126: Signing Off http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/faceoffshow/~3/nvL5l5PcUzw/ http://faceoffshow.com/2011/06/21/episode-126-signing-off/#comments Tue, 21 Jun 2011 09:00:35 +0000 http://faceoffshow.com/?p=1535 Signing Off

  • Have clear goals in mind, visualize success or failure
    • Concrete
    • Yes or No
  • Define Success
    • What is  your end goal?
    • What is next after achieving success?
  • Define Failure
    • When is it no longer feasible to continue?
    • Do the pros outweigh the cons?
    • Exit Strategy
    • Be prepared to fail, this is the difference between total failure and a graceful exit
  • Things we learned
    • Creating 125 episodes of content is difficult
    • Giving  things out and getting a response is amazing

Thanks for everything
-Mark and Jade

 

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http://faceoffshow.com/2011/06/21/episode-126-signing-off/feed/ 12 Signing Off Have clear goals in mind, visualize success or failure Concrete Yes or No Define Success What is  your end goal? What is next after achieving success? Define Failure When is it no longer feasible to continue? Signing Off Have clear goals in mind, visualize success or failure Concrete Yes or No Define Success What is  your end goal? What is next after achieving success? Define Failure When is it no longer feasible to continue? Do the pros outweigh the cons? Exit Strategy Be prepared to fail, this is the difference between total failure and a graceful exit Things we learned Creating 125 episodes of content is difficult Giving  things out and getting a response is amazing Thanks for everything -Mark and Jade   Jade Robbins and Mark Sanborn clean 15:40 http://faceoffshow.com/2011/06/21/episode-126-signing-off/http://faceoffshow.com/audio/Faceoff-126-SigningOff.mp3
Episode 125: Increasing Conversions http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/faceoffshow/~3/IUxCy2uS5QM/ http://faceoffshow.com/2011/06/14/episode-125-increasing-conversions/#comments Tue, 14 Jun 2011 09:00:15 +0000 http://faceoffshow.com/?p=1525 Track and increase your conversions for fun and profit. :)

News and Follow-Ups – 03:04

Geek Tools – 05:59

Webapps – 08:14

  • localtunnel – Super-easy publicly-accessible URL for your local server
  • Account Killer – Tips on how to delete your accounts

Increase Conversions – 14:15

 

 

 

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http://faceoffshow.com/2011/06/14/episode-125-increasing-conversions/feed/ 2 agiletask,conversion,elasticsearch,localtunnel,logitech,twilio Track and increase your conversions for fun and profit. :) News and Follow-Ups – 03:04 Elasticsearch Twilio cuts pricing Geek Tools – 05:59 Logitech DiNovo Mini Webapps - 08:14 Track and increase your conversions for fun and profit. :) News and Follow-Ups – 03:04 Elasticsearch Twilio cuts pricing Geek Tools – 05:59 Logitech DiNovo Mini Webapps - 08:14 localtunnel - Super-easy publicly-accessible URL for your local server Account Killer - Tips on how to delete your accounts Increase Conversions - 14:15 Track it, Faceoff Episode 53 - Evidence based web development Agiletask, Signup - Take it for a spin Have a good headline Men’s Cothing vs Order Men’s Clothing easily for Bargin Prices, 127% increase 90% improvement in conversion by just changing the headline Schedule emails to go out 1, 3, 15, 30, 6months? Monitor 404s and errors Episode 124 - Website Issue Monitoring Error pages, db and JS errors will drive people off Try different colors for your main signup/add buttons How we increased our conversion rate by 72%       Jade Robbins and Mark Sanborn clean 24:28 http://faceoffshow.com/2011/06/14/episode-125-increasing-conversions/http://faceoffshow.com/audio/Faceoff-125-IncreasingConversion.mp3
Episode 124: Website Issue Monitoring http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/faceoffshow/~3/hj_k1VbmDVE/ http://faceoffshow.com/2011/06/07/episode-124-website-issue-monitoring/#comments Tue, 07 Jun 2011 09:00:58 +0000 http://faceoffshow.com/?p=1516 Don’t let issues and problems go unnoticed.

News and Follow-Ups – 00:38

Geek Tools – 14:45

Webapps – 17:33

Website Issue Monitoring – 22:01

  • Website Issue Monitoring
    • Uptime
      • Browsermob – Multiple locations and adjust time
      • Uptimerobot – Totally free, includes SMS support
      • Pingdom – Response times, error analysis
        • Free account 1 website with 20 free SMS messages
    • Load Time
    • Error Tracking
      • Google webmaster tools, 404s unreachable to spider
      • You need to track when people hit errors, so you can fix them
      • Think about your error messages, ala Rails “Someone has been notified”
      • Methods
    • Traffic Jams
      • Google analytics traffic spike alerts via email/sms
        • Set for no traffic
        • Set for high traffic

 

 

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http://faceoffshow.com/2011/06/07/episode-124-website-issue-monitoring/feed/ 0 apple,belkin,browsermob,ebay,exceptionhub,google,gwt,hoptoad,ninjabutton,pingdom,skype,uptimerobot Don't let issues and problems go unnoticed. News and Follow-Ups – 00:38 Apple taking the cloud seriously, doing OS upgrades in the cloud Ninjabutton goes down, how much can you depend on web services? Ebay aquires Magento Don't let issues and problems go unnoticed. News and Follow-Ups – 00:38 Apple taking the cloud seriously, doing OS upgrades in the cloud Ninjabutton goes down, how much can you depend on web services? Ebay aquires Magento Jade's iTunes account compromised Skype protocol reverse engineered Geek Tools – 14:45 Belkin Conserve Smart AV F7C007q Energy-Saving Power Strip Webapps - 17:33 TravelPod Traveler IQ Game - How well do you know your geography? Explorra Visual DNA - Visually select good vacations Website Issue Monitoring - 22:01 Website Issue Monitoring Uptime Browsermob - Multiple locations and adjust time Uptimerobot - Totally free, includes SMS support Pingdom - Response times, error analysis Free account 1 website with 20 free SMS messages Load Time Browsermob - Multiple locations and adjust time Pingdom - Response times, error analysis Google Webmaster Tools Error Tracking Google webmaster tools, 404s unreachable to spider You need to track when people hit errors, so you can fix them Think about your error messages, ala Rails "Someone has been notified" Methods App Emails You Exception Hub Hoptoad Traffic Jams Google analytics traffic spike alerts via email/sms Set for no traffic Set for high traffic     Jade Robbins and Mark Sanborn clean 36:48 http://faceoffshow.com/2011/06/07/episode-124-website-issue-monitoring/http://faceoffshow.com/audio/Faceoff-124-WebsiteIssueMonitoring.mp3
Episode 123: NoSQL http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/faceoffshow/~3/XHXJKlA5FJs/ http://faceoffshow.com/2011/05/31/episode-123-nosql/#comments Tue, 31 May 2011 09:00:35 +0000 http://faceoffshow.com/?p=1506 Find out what NoSQL is and isnt.

News and Follow/Ups – 02:24

Geek Tools – 13:15

Webapps – 15:22

NoSQL – 19:56

  • What are they?
    • Usually don’t require fixed table structures
    • Usually used to scale horizontally
      • Add more commodity nodes as opposed to adding more resources and using expensive hardware
  • Why would you use them?
    • Scalability
    • Performance
    • In certain use cases they are easier to implement
  • When would you NOT use them?
    • If you don’t know ahead of time how you are going to query or data
      • Applies mainly to key-value type NoSQL
    • Usually arguments start because people think in terms of RDBMS vs NoSQL.  They are usually implemented side by side for difference use cases.  It is not an all or nothing.
  • CAP Theorem
    • Consistency (all nodes see the same data at the same time)
    • Availability (node failures do not prevent survivors from continuing to operate)
    • Partition tolerance (the system continues to operate despite arbitrary message loss)
    • Cap Theorem says that a system can satisfy two of these but not all three.
  • Popular DocDBs
  • Key-value based
    • Redis
      • Blizzard
      • Stackoverflow
      • Github
      • Tweetdeck
    • Memcached
      • Just about everyone, although many people are moving to redis
    • Cassandra
      • Cisco
      • Cloudkick
  • Column oriented
  • Graphdb
    • neo4j
      • Good at multiple relationships
        • Think product categories
        • User friend follow relationships
      • Amazon

 

 

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http://faceoffshow.com/2011/05/31/episode-123-nosql/feed/ 0 cassandra,couchdb,memcached,mongodb,neo4j,nosql,redis,supergoop Find out what NoSQL is and isnt. News and Follow/Ups – 02:24 Google Sunsets Translate API "Why would anyone ever use your api's again?" and Google is not your daddy Could they have made it profitable though? Google Wallet - Find out what NoSQL is and isnt. News and Follow/Ups – 02:24 Google Sunsets Translate API "Why would anyone ever use your api's again?" and Google is not your daddy Could they have made it profitable though? Google Wallet Geek Tools – 13:15 Supergoop! SPF 30 Sunscreen Swipes with Zinc for Sensitive Skin Supergoop! SPF 30 Single-Application Individually Wrapped Sunscreen Swipes, 21-Count Webapps - 15:22 Kitten Image Bookmarklet - Replace a site's images with Kittens (such as NSFW sites) Easy Bar Tricks - Cool tricks and sneaks to show your friends at the bar NoSQL - 19:56 What are they? Usually don't require fixed table structures Usually used to scale horizontally Add more commodity nodes as opposed to adding more resources and using expensive hardware Why would you use them? Scalability Performance In certain use cases they are easier to implement When would you NOT use them? If you don't know ahead of time how you are going to query or data Applies mainly to key-value type NoSQL Usually arguments start because people think in terms of RDBMS vs NoSQL.  They are usually implemented side by side for difference use cases.  It is not an all or nothing. CAP Theorem Consistency (all nodes see the same data at the same time) Availability (node failures do not prevent survivors from continuing to operate) Partition tolerance (the system continues to operate despite arbitrary message loss) Cap Theorem says that a system can satisfy two of these but not all three. Popular DocDBs CouchDB Friendpaste MongoDB foursquare intuit shutterfly Key-value based Redis Blizzard Stackoverflow Github Tweetdeck Memcached Just about everyone, although many people are moving to redis Cassandra Cisco Cloudkick Column oriented Google bigtable Hbase Graphdb neo4j Good at multiple relationships Think product categories User friend follow relationships Amazon     Jade Robbins and Mark Sanborn clean 15:52 http://faceoffshow.com/2011/05/31/episode-123-nosql/http://faceoffshow.com/audio/Faceoff-123-NoSQL.mp3
Episode 122: Viva Las Vegas http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/faceoffshow/~3/BuhP-Ss6blc/ http://faceoffshow.com/2011/05/24/episode-122-viva-las-vegas/#comments Tue, 24 May 2011 09:00:17 +0000 http://faceoffshow.com/?p=1493 The top web do’s and don’ts.

News and Follow/Ups – 01:40

Geek Tools – 12:25

Webapps – 16:43

Web Do’s and Don’ts – 21:16

 

 

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http://faceoffshow.com/2011/05/24/episode-122-viva-las-vegas/feed/ 0 cascader,chopapp,microsoft,skype The top web do's and don'ts. News and Follow/Ups – 01:40 Microsoft buys Skype Google Docs split testing Split testing is like ground hog day - Geek Tools – 12:25 StarTech.com ICUSBAUDIO USB 2.0 to Audio Adapter - Webapps - 16:43 - The top web do's and don'ts. News and Follow/Ups – 01:40 Microsoft buys Skype Google Docs split testing Split testing is like ground hog day Geek Tools – 12:25 StarTech.com ICUSBAUDIO USB 2.0 to Audio Adapter Webapps - 16:43 http://chopapp.com (via @manifestphil) http://www.cascader.co/ (via @manifestphil) Web Do's and Don'ts - 21:16 Don’t use splash pages Specify HTML document’s language Write effective Loops Do Proofread Use the right DOCTYPE Keep content in a logical order in the source Don’t put block elements inside inline elements Use the CSS cascade Learn the box model Improve Your Web Typography     Jade Robbins and Mark Sanborn clean 42:57 http://faceoffshow.com/2011/05/24/episode-122-viva-las-vegas/http://faceoffshow.com/audio/Faceoff-122-VivaLasVegas.mp3
Episode 121: Mashing, Scraping, and APIs http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/faceoffshow/~3/1yLXdWm5T-Q/ http://faceoffshow.com/2011/05/17/episode-121-mashing-scraping-and-apis/#comments Tue, 17 May 2011 09:00:38 +0000 http://faceoffshow.com/?p=1481 Find out how your favorite mashup webapp works.

News and Follow/Ups – 00:39

Geek Tools – 05:14

Webapps – 11:06

Mashing, Scraping, and APIs – 17:12

 

 

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http://faceoffshow.com/2011/05/17/episode-121-mashing-scraping-and-apis/feed/ 0 fedex,gist,hipmonk,infochimps,instalyrics,oauth,opensignalmaps,rest,soap,twilio,ups,xml Find out how your favorite mashup webapp works. News and Follow/Ups – 00:39 Penn State MacAdmins Conference - Geek Tools – 05:14 Jump-N-Carry  JNC300XL 900 Peak Amp Ultraportable 12V Jump Starter with Light Find out how your favorite mashup webapp works. News and Follow/Ups – 00:39 Penn State MacAdmins Conference Geek Tools – 05:14 Jump-N-Carry  JNC300XL 900 Peak Amp Ultraportable 12V Jump Starter with Light Coleman Cable 08660 20-Foot Heavy-Duty Auto Battery Booster Cables with Polar Glow Clamps, 4-Gauge Webapps - 11:06 Plastic Jungle - Buy and sell gift cards Famous Objects From Classic Movies -  Can you guess the object? Mashing, Scraping, and APIs - 17:12 Mashups Hipmonk Gist - just bought out by blackberry http://opensignalmaps.com/ http://instalyrics.com/ http://www.checkinmania.com/deals Scraping Computers reading data otherwise intended for end-users The billion dollar scraping business Google Infochimps Pitfalls Copyright, Terms of Service Fragile Advantages Access to data otherwise not available Tools to make scraping less painful http://scraperwiki.com/ http://www.junar.com/portal/HomeManager/actionQuery APIs Data/operations made available to computer programs XML/REST/SOAP/oauth Top APIs Payment Gateways Google Maps Twitter Flickr Shipping, UPS/FedEx Facebook Twilio APIs as a strategy for business Twitter Google Maps Successful businesses based on APIs Tweetdeck Twilio     Jade Robbins and Mark Sanborn clean 15 http://faceoffshow.com/2011/05/17/episode-121-mashing-scraping-and-apis/http://faceoffshow.com/audio/Faceoff-121-MashingScrapingAndAPIs.mp3
Episode 120: CoffeeScript http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/faceoffshow/~3/WhdtppB7XSs/ http://faceoffshow.com/2011/05/10/episode-120-coffeescript/#comments Tue, 10 May 2011 09:00:01 +0000 http://faceoffshow.com/?p=1475 Learn how you can write less code with CoffeeScript the Javascript compiler.

News and Follow/Ups – 00:40

  • Jade is going out of state!

Geek Tools – 03:25

Webapps – 05:06

  • Visual Event – Bookmarklet that lets you see Javascript click events assigned to elements
  • Open Signals Map – Mashup of cell providers towers and cell usage.

Full Text Search – 11:15

  • As of March 16, 2011, CoffeeScript is on GitHub’s list of most-watched projects
  • A Ruby/Python inspired language that compiles down to Readable/Lint compatible Javascript
  • CoffeeScript claims to reduce the number of lines needed to be written to 1/3 of hand written JS
  • Because CoffeeScript compiles predictably to JavaScript, programs can be written with less code (typically 1/3 fewer lines) with no effect on runtime performance.
  • Who is using it?
  • Some advantages
    • It is still compatible with Node.js, jquery, or any other framework
    • Removes noise
    • adds keywords, classes, and features like heredocs to make coding cleaner
    • It is said to be faster to code in CoffeeScript once you learn the ropes
  • Some potential downsides
    • Debugging a coffeescript script still requires you read the generated Javascript code, which can be tedious, since you haven’t actually written it yourself.
  • CoffeeScript – Compiler-for-Windows

 

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http://faceoffshow.com/2011/05/10/episode-120-coffeescript/feed/ 0 coffeescript Learn how you can write less code with CoffeeScript the Javascript compiler. News and Follow/Ups – 00:40 Jade is going out of state! Geek Tools – 03:25 Vic Firth Pump and Grind Stainless-Steel Pepper Mill Webapps - 05:06 Learn how you can write less code with CoffeeScript the Javascript compiler. News and Follow/Ups – 00:40 Jade is going out of state! Geek Tools – 03:25 Vic Firth Pump and Grind Stainless-Steel Pepper Mill Webapps - 05:06 Visual Event - Bookmarklet that lets you see Javascript click events assigned to elements Open Signals Map - Mashup of cell providers towers and cell usage. Full Text Search - 11:15 As of March 16, 2011, CoffeeScript is on GitHub's list of most-watched projects A Ruby/Python inspired language that compiles down to Readable/Lint compatible Javascript CoffeeScript claims to reduce the number of lines needed to be written to 1/3 of hand written JS Because CoffeeScript compiles predictably to JavaScript, programs can be written with less code (typically 1/3 fewer lines) with no effect on runtime performance. Who is using it? Used in production by 37Signals Used in the Ars Technica reader for iPad Some advantages It is still compatible with Node.js, jquery, or any other framework Removes noise adds keywords, classes, and features like heredocs to make coding cleaner It is said to be faster to code in CoffeeScript once you learn the ropes Some potential downsides Debugging a coffeescript script still requires you read the generated Javascript code, which can be tedious, since you haven't actually written it yourself. CoffeeScript - Compiler-for-Windows   Jade Robbins and Mark Sanborn clean 14:37 http://faceoffshow.com/2011/05/10/episode-120-coffeescript/http://faceoffshow.com/audio/Faceoff-120-CoffeeScript.mp3
Episode 119: Phillip Downer http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/faceoffshow/~3/6RaSv36Sbyw/ http://faceoffshow.com/2011/05/03/episode-119-phillip-downer/#comments Tue, 03 May 2011 09:00:49 +0000 http://faceoffshow.com/?p=1466 Faceoff interviews Phillip Downer from Manifest Creative.

Phillip Downer

Thanks Phil!

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http://faceoffshow.com/2011/05/03/episode-119-phillip-downer/feed/ 0 design,development,entrepreneurship,freelancing Faceoff interviews Phillip Downer from Manifest Creative. Phillip Downer Phillip Downer Manifest Creative See Phil's work on Dribbble - Thanks Phil! Faceoff interviews Phillip Downer from Manifest Creative. Phillip Downer Phillip Downer Manifest Creative See Phil's work on Dribbble Thanks Phil! Jade Robbins and Mark Sanborn clean 2:10 http://faceoffshow.com/2011/05/03/episode-119-phillip-downer/http://faceoffshow.com/audio/Faceoff-119-PhilipDowner.mp3
Episode 118: Jeremy Linden from Mixpanel http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/faceoffshow/~3/Iis-14fTS3U/ http://faceoffshow.com/2011/04/26/episode-118-jeremy-linden-from-mixpanel/#comments Tue, 26 Apr 2011 09:00:30 +0000 http://faceoffshow.com/?p=1455 Faceoff interviews Jeremy Linden from Mixpanel.

Jeremy Linden from Mixpanel

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http://faceoffshow.com/2011/04/26/episode-118-jeremy-linden-from-mixpanel/feed/ 0 analytics,mixpanel Faceoff interviews Jeremy Linden from Mixpanel. Jeremy Linden from Mixpanel Jeremy Linden Mixpanel - Real-time event tracking and analytics Follow @Mixpanel on Twitter. Faceoff interviews Jeremy Linden from Mixpanel. Jeremy Linden from Mixpanel Jeremy Linden Mixpanel - Real-time event tracking and analytics Follow @Mixpanel on Twitter. Jade Robbins and Mark Sanborn clean 24:03 http://faceoffshow.com/2011/04/26/episode-118-jeremy-linden-from-mixpanel/http://faceoffshow.com/audio/Faceoff-118-JeremyLinden.mp3
Episode 117: Full Text Search http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/faceoffshow/~3/7i50WgJZWLg/ http://faceoffshow.com/2011/04/19/episode-117-full-text-search/#comments Tue, 19 Apr 2011 09:00:51 +0000 http://faceoffshow.com/?p=1440 Add enterprise level search into your site.

News and Follow/Ups – 01:00

Geek Tools – 14:13

  • Yikerz! – Super fun magnet game

Webapps – 16:12

Full Text Search – 22:11

  • Options
    • Google Custom Search
      • Commercial
      • Benefits
        • Super fast to setup
        • Easy to implement
        • Ability to add adsense into search results
      • Downsides
        • Unable to adjust content ranking and do custom integration
        • Mainly for just indexing HTML pages, not search queries and other text.
    • Sphinx
      • “Searching via SphinxAPI is as simple as 3 lines of code, and querying via SphinxQL is even simpler, with search queries expressed in good old SQL.”
      • Open source with commercial support
      • Result relevance ranking is the default. You can set up your own sorting should you wish, and give specific fields higher weightings.
      • The search service daemon (searchd) is pretty low on memory usage – and you can set limits on how much memory the indexer process uses too.
      • API for:
        • Java, PHP, Python, Ruby, Perl, C, and other languages.
      • Written in C++
      • Stats
        • 60+ MB/sec per server
        • 500+ queries/sec
        • Biggest known Sphinx cluster indexes 5 billion documents, resulting in over 6 TB of data. Busiest known one is, unsurpisingly, Craigslist, that serves 50+ million search queries/day.
      • Companies using Sphinx
    • Lucene
      • Done by the Apache foundation
      • Open source
      • Written in Java
      • Search types
        • ranked searching — best results returned first
        • many powerful query types: phrase queries, wildcard queries, proximity queries, range queries and more
        • fielded searching (e.g., title, author, contents)
        • date-range searching
        • sorting by any field
        • multiple-index searching with merged results
        • allows simultaneous update and searching
      • Stats
        • over 95GB/hour on modern hardware
        • small RAM requirements — only 1MB heap
        • index size roughly 20-30% the size of text indexed
    • Solr
      • Lucene is a library where Solr is a server that supports XML, REST
      • Benefits over Sphinx
        • Solr is easily embeddable in Java applications.
        • Solr can be integrated with Hadoop to build distributed applications
        • Solr can index proprietary formats like Microsoft Word, PDF, etc. Sphinx can’t.
      • Companies using Solr
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http://faceoffshow.com/2011/04/19/episode-117-full-text-search/feed/ 2 aol,craigslist,digg,eharmony,google,lucene,mozilla,slashdot,solr,sphinx,ticketmaster,Wordpress Add enterprise level search into your site. News and Follow/Ups – 01:00 Square now being sold in Apple’s store Check-Ins dying out? Dropbox: 25 million users Geek Tools – 14:13 Yikerz! - Super fun magnet game Webapps - 16:12 Add enterprise level search into your site. News and Follow/Ups – 01:00 Square now being sold in Apple’s store Check-Ins dying out? Dropbox: 25 million users Geek Tools – 14:13 Yikerz! - Super fun magnet game Webapps - 16:12 Surfboard - Flipboard as a web app InstaLyrics - Find lyrics quickly Full Text Search - 22:11 Options Google Custom Search Commercial Benefits Super fast to setup Easy to implement Ability to add adsense into search results Downsides Unable to adjust content ranking and do custom integration Mainly for just indexing HTML pages, not search queries and other text. Sphinx “Searching via SphinxAPI is as simple as 3 lines of code, and querying via SphinxQL is even simpler, with search queries expressed in good old SQL.” Open source with commercial support Result relevance ranking is the default. You can set up your own sorting should you wish, and give specific fields higher weightings. The search service daemon (searchd) is pretty low on memory usage - and you can set limits on how much memory the indexer process uses too. API for: Java, PHP, Python, Ruby, Perl, C, and other languages. Written in C++ Stats 60+ MB/sec per server 500+ queries/sec Biggest known Sphinx cluster indexes 5 billion documents, resulting in over 6 TB of data. Busiest known one is, unsurpisingly, Craigslist, that serves 50+ million search queries/day. Companies using Sphinx Craigslist Slashdot Mozilla Wordpress.org Lucene Done by the Apache foundation Open source Written in Java Search types ranked searching -- best results returned first many powerful query types: phrase queries, wildcard queries, proximity queries, range queries and more fielded searching (e.g., title, author, contents) date-range searching sorting by any field multiple-index searching with merged results allows simultaneous update and searching Stats over 95GB/hour on modern hardware small RAM requirements -- only 1MB heap index size roughly 20-30% the size of text indexed Solr Lucene is a library where Solr is a server that supports XML, REST Benefits over Sphinx Solr is easily embeddable in Java applications. Solr can be integrated with Hadoop to build distributed applications Solr can index proprietary formats like Microsoft Word, PDF, etc. Sphinx can't. Companies using Solr eHarmony Ticketmaster Digg AOL Zappos Jade Robbins and Mark Sanborn clean 34:26 http://faceoffshow.com/2011/04/19/episode-117-full-text-search/http://faceoffshow.com/audio/Faceoff-117-FullTextSearch.mp3