Anna and Helen over at Tech Chick Tips did a podcast (while driving in their car, no less) and gave a shout-out to Searchme:
“If only I could see that web page, I know I’d recognize it! Searchme!”
Thanks, ladies. Keep your eyes on the road.
Searchme has several contractors who work from such glamorous far-flung places as Sweden, Los Angeles and Bend, Oregon. One of the great perks of being a contractor and working from home is that you can wear whatever you want; the downside is that you can wear whatever you want. So we took a poll of Contractor Fashion, and here’s what we came up with:
“Sydney Swans Aussie Rules Football tee shirt.”
“I wear sunglasses at midnight!”
“BVD’s with the elastic band that is almost still attached.”
“The sock monkey PJ bottoms which are stained with salad dressing.”
“The same thing I wore two days ago - I never leave the house.”
“Sundresses even in January – clearly I’m not the one working from Sweden.”
By Barbara Locke, Search Analyst
Thousands of San Francisco residents are getting free wireless Internet service through a company called Meraki. They provide free indoor and outdoor repeaters as well as the free service. People might already have access to their free Wi-Fi and not even know it. If in doubt, just look for “Free the Net” among the available wireless networks listed in your computer.
And if you can’t find it, visit the company’s web site and take a look at the map showing where the free Wi-Fi is available. They also have a great FAQ explaining how it all works and what their objectives are.
A good idea might be to sign up to receive a free receiver in the mail and depending on your location, you can volunteer to have an outdoor repeater and help to spread the “net.”
A co-worker here at Searchme lives in the Mission and uses it. She says the free service works pretty well. I already signed up and encourage all San Franciscans to do so. It’s fast and easy. The more people joining Free the Net, more coverage we’ll all have!
Happy Surfing!
I was really blown away when I found out that Searchme was one of Time Magazine’s 50 Best Web Sites of 2008. When I first loaded the page, I thought it was a mistake! But then it started to sink in, and I was totally blown away. You, see, I’ve been following Time’s Top 50 for years, and I have always found it to be a great place to find some really useful web sites. So, it’s incredibly flattering to find Searchme on the list.
The only way I can explain this surprise is by looking at the Searchme team. I’m amazed at how dedicated everyone is to the project, and only that dedication can explain an outcome like this. So, cheers to the Searchme Team.
Because I’ve been such a big fan of this list in past years, I wanted to call out a few of my faves from this year’s list.
Mint is a fantastic way to get a better handle on your finances in just 15 minutes. Just enter your online accounts into, and Mint aggregates all your financial information into one place. The coolest part is being able to compare your spending to others in your same region. (We’re about average for Trader Joe’s.)
We’ve got a baby on the way, and naming is becoming a very big deal as things “progress.” Nymbler to the rescue! You can enter in names you like, and Nymbler helps your zero-in on related names that match your moods and preferences. Can you say “Petunia Gladys”?
Quick, easy photo-editing integrated with flickr. Need I say more?
We got rid of our TV, and then Hulu come around. Lately I’ve been watching the Dick Van Dyke Show, but I’ve also enjoyed Alfred Hitchcock Hour, 30 Days, and educating my daughter about The A-Team. Not to mention The Daily Show!
I use it every day. Grab the bookmarklet!
I’ve saved the best for last. If you would like to make a difference in someone’s life, you can lend money to entrepreneurs in developing nations. Even an amount that seems very small to us can make a significant impact and lift someone out of poverty.
These are my picks. How about yours? They can be from the list at Time, or just one of your favorite sites.
Follow John Holland on twitter! send this message to twitter: “follow johnholland”
By Erin Blythe Sanders. Erin works as a Web Site Analyst for Searchme.
One of the best things about being a Web Site Analyst for Searchme is that I come across the very best, and the very worst, of the Internet. No matter how poorly my day is going, I am guaranteed to come across some sites that will perk me right up.
Some of my favorite finds lately are the sites that made me laugh out loud. Whether they’re selling something, like TorsoPants and iliketotallyloveit, or updating the public with the latest ‘news’ items, like engadget and Radar, these have made me laugh so hard I nearly cried. Or they could be something so bad they’re ironically funny - The Sweet and Inmates For You, or sites that’re just plain entertaining, like Dorks.com (warning adult) or Kawaiinot.
Whatever the site, “working” takes on a whole new meaning when I’ve got the cream of the Internet crop to keep me entertained all day.
Don’t see a certain job posted? Wonder if there’s a place for you here? We’re just getting started, so we don’t always list every single job we’re thinking of, and we’ve got so many cool projects evolving that new positions are created on a regular basis.
We’re always on the lookout for sharp minds to join the team in both our Mountain View and San Francisco locations. If you’re bright, can jump in and solve problems, get things done, and share the same fun-loving spirit fostered here, chances are you’ll fit in well at Searchme. Especially if you’re an engineer - you’ll have many opportunities for your work to be launched in front of users worldwide. Your work here will be meaningful and game-changing!
Here are just some of the fun facts about working at Searchme:
Searchme is full of hard-working individuals typical of a company of our size and caliber; we truly enjoy our teammates and the open, dynamic environment we work and play in. We offer all the excitement that comes from doing something new and being there right from the beginning – and we encourage people to send an email to jobs@searchme.com to let us get acquainted with you!
By Barbara Locke. Barbara is a member of the Search Quality Team.
Follow your passion - how tough is that? To do exactly what you love and survive in an expensive city?
My passion has always been animals; as Herriot wrote, “All Creatures Great and Small.” I have a degree in Biological Sciences, worked on marine mammal research, attended veterinary technology school, and done rotations at three veterinary hospitals. But technology also fascinates me. So, as cheesy as it may sound, I feel blessed to be able to combine my two passions in one job.
As a Search Analyst at Searchme, I have the freedom to work on verticals related to biology, animals, veterinary medicine, zoology and much more. And people from different academic backgrounds and cultures make the work environment extremely rich and fun. It’s great to be able to learn more and more about a huge array of subjects and to talk to really smart people on a daily basis. All this knowledge contributes to improving the quality of our search results, and brings a high degree of personal satisfaction.
Singapore is throwing a contest to see who can create a next-gen multimedia search engine. Fifty–six teams from 17 countries are entered. It’s called The Star Challenge@Fusionopolis (great name), and organized by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).
Interesting what they had to say about why they’re sponsoring the contest:
Next-generation multimedia search technologies will transform the way users interact with rich-media material, an emerging need with the exponential growth of multimedia content and the proliferation of user-generated platforms like YouTube, Facebook and Flickr. With such technologies, users will no longer need to rely on traditional text-based search engines, which require each multimedia material to be tagged in text - a process that is laborious, expensive and limited by how the creator have chosen to describe the content.
We found this weekly tech news show from Canada – they’ve chosen Searchme as one of their web picks.
Thanks, guys!
Genealogy Reviews Online talks about a really cool way to use Searchme categories in their article “A New Way to Search the Internet”:
As soon as I arrived on the site I plugged in my name to see what came up. Before I even hit the button to search, a little green tree appeared with the word “genealogy” written over the top. This gives you the option of searching for only genealogy sites or everything.
We’re glad the genealogy category is useful to you!
