Links for February 1, 2008
Posted by Jacque on February 1st, 2008
Refine Google Maps searches
Google Maps has added three new search options for refining your search when you find and follow the new “show search options” link near the search box for the drop down menu:
- Locations – Search terms will find only addresses, places of interest or other location names
- Businesses – Search terms find only businesses
- User-created content – Search terms find maps created by users in Google or anywhere on the web
Meebo Rooms turn into A Web service
Meebo has released an API for its Meebo Rooms that will allow Websites to embed chat functionality in an automated fashion, notes TechCrunch.
Manual embedding of code led to a proliferations of Meebo widgets, but now the process is automated. As well, the new Meebo Network has been introduced, which will serve ads inside Meebo Rooms across the Web, splitting revenues with the Websites hosting the rooms.
Access to the full APIs and the ad network is by invitation only at this point. Social networks could use the new APIs to automatically add chat rooms to every group page.
“The power of Meebo Rooms is that they let anyone create live conversations on their site by aggregating people with similar interests from other sites. In fact, it links people between sites,” says Erick Schonfeld.
Amazon buying Audible Inc.
In a move to expand its offerings in the digital space, Amazon announced yesterday that it plans to acquire Audible.com, the “leading online provider of premium digital spoken word audio content, specializing in digital audio editions of books, newspapers and magazines, television and radio programs and original programming.”
Audible offers over 80,000 programs, including audiobooks from well-known authors such as Stephen King, Thomas Friedman, and Jane Austen, and spoken word audio content from sources including The New York Times, The New Yorker, Fresh Air and Charlie Rose.
