froogle

Who uses froogle?

Yes, it's a convenient interface to stores that use google checkout, but that is about it. By the time I hit Froogle, I'm probably pretty sure what I am looking for. An Nokia N95, an 8G iPhone, a V3 RAZR; a specific thing. And there's a reason for that. If search for cell phone on froogle, and what do I get? Cellphones, to be sure, but the 3rd hit is a listing priced at $8,000, for 50 cell phones.

Wheres my ease-of-use, my "I'm feeling lucky" option? Sure, "I'm feeling lucky" isn't as useful now, but where's the daring value-add to online search-and-buy, that hubris to say "Buy the first result". I don't know what it's doing, and that's certainly not what I am asking for. The smallest concession to that is "Sort by: Relevance", and thats only because sort by cheapest invariably gives you all the cheapest accessories. 20 pages into a froogle search for "printer", sorted by cheapest, and it is still at $1.18 for printer paper and dividers. An arguably better search for "hp 2605dn" (a specific printer) when sorted by cheapest, still gives me pages of $1.50 cables and etc.

Wheres the magic product finder that helps me figure it out? Froogle seems like a normal google search, with a picture of the item, and a smaller database of things to return. I want to compare all the possible hits, build a grid listing features, and then be able to sort. I want to search for "laptop" and then be given a list of possible options. I want to be asked what monitor size, operating system, ram, etc. For the hardware hacking version, try taking a look at Digikey's search. They have a fixed dataset to work with, so their search is just implementation. Search for 'post', they then offer a variety of ways to further filter your search if you got too many results.

Why can't Google do that for /everything/? Yes, it isn't an easy problem, but that's what Google's first product was. Smarter search.

I'm absolutely not saying Google should start doing user product reviews. That is certainly not a direction everyone could agree on, but Froogle could certainly find out features listed for anything sold on Froogle. There are some devilish details to be worked out; how to sort out "PC Webcam" as being different products; how to differentiate 4G iPod and 4G iPod as being fourth generation or four gigabyte capacity. But I bet it could be done. Because even though I've stopped using C|Net, laptops.cnet.com is still a very nice place to find out what ultraportable laptops with 11" screens and 4 gigs of RAM are out there. What are my choices if those are the important qualities? Are there even any out there?

I can't be the only person out there who wants that kind of searchability on my next shoe purchase, or my next TV purchase. And Google, and more pointedly, Google checkout should be there to help me make my purchasing decision. If I'm already there, and now I've decided to buy it, I'm going to want a way to actually buy it. And that's Google's two-percent and twenty-cents.

Recompile ubuntu vmhgfs for -generic instead of -virtual

Ubuntu jeos has not enough kernel, and for some reason, the version of the module struct between 2.6.24-5-generic and 2.6.24-5-virtual disagrees. First solution I managed to do was:

mkdir generic; cd !$
apt-get source linux-image-2.6.24-5-generic

cd -; mkdir virtual; cd !$
apt-get source linux-ubuntu-modules-2.6.24-5-virtual

cd virtual/linux-ubuntu-modules-2.6.24-2.6.24/ubuntu/vmhgfs

make TOPDIR=../../../../generic/linux-2.6.24/ SRCROOT=.

This should produce ../vmhgfs.o , which loads just fine into booted 2.6.24-5-generic.