Wikia has announced the launch of a search application framework today. The framework is called "Wikia Intelligent Search Extensions" or WISE. Developers create search applications named WISEApp(s). From the documentation: there are two main components to a WISEApp — (i) the application definition object and (ii) the javascript file which contains the actual code executed for the application. You will need to create both for your WISEApp to function properly.

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/programming/Digg_Now_Using_Wikia_Search_for_Search_Application’;digg_bgcolor = ‘#ffffff’;digg_skin = ‘normal’;

While on the surface this might look like a replacement for Google’s site search or other local search tools, Wikia’s WISE is more of a developer complement. WISE could be used to create some VERY large and powerful mashups. You can combine the search with other APIs including Yahoo’s BOSS search API. There’s a developer’s guide to help you get startup working with WISE.

Here’s a sample application from the presidential debates.

Wikia’s Search remains a community-edited search index. The basic idea is if you know a better result for a search query, you can add it instantly instead of recommending it like you have to on other mainstream search engines.

Launch partners include NY-based Snooth, Digg, Last.fm, AccuWeather and the Washington Post. The Vaynerchuk brothers’ startup PleaseDress.Me is also using this new WISE search application framework for their tshirt search engine. I was able to grab some screenshots of some of the current apps and they are displayed below.

Check out Wikia’s launch in August of their "evolution toolbar" and all of our Wikia coverage.

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Tonight at the NY Tech Meetup, Adarky presented their revolutionary, new service. I will start by referring to the questions that came after the presentation. Someone asked what the difference between Adarky and typical ad blockers is. Presenter Steve Spurgat apparently has no issues with ad blockers and explained that if people can block ads, it’s the same when they use Adarky.

It appears what Adarky does is let you remove ads on a Web page, and put whatever images you would like in their place. Oh and you can share "ads" with your friends. So if you follow me on Adarky, you will see my images in place of ads on Web sites. Doesn’t that sound exciting? I am guessing Scott doesn’t consume much media on a daily basis.

Here’s Scott’s presentation on Adarky:

Wikia has announced the launch of a search application framework today. The framework is called "Wikia Intelligent Search Extensions" or WISE. Developers create search applications named WISEApp(s). From the documentation: there are two main components to a WISEApp — (i) the application definition object and (ii) the javascript file which contains the actual code executed for the application. You will need to create both for your WISEApp to function properly.

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/programming/Digg_Now_Using_Wikia_Search_for_Search_Application’;digg_bgcolor = ‘#ffffff’;digg_skin = ‘normal’;

While on the surface this might look like a replacement for Google’s site search or other local search tools, Wikia’s WISE is more of a developer complement. WISE could be used to create some VERY large and powerful mashups. You can combine the search with other APIs including Yahoo’s BOSS search API. There’s a developer’s guide to help you get startup working with WISE.

Here’s a sample application from the presidential debates.

Wikia’s Search remains a community-edited search index. The basic idea is if you know a better result for a search query, you can add it instantly instead of recommending it like you have to on other mainstream search engines.

Launch partners include NY-based Snooth, Digg, Last.fm, AccuWeather and the Washington Post. The Vaynerchuk brothers’ startup PleaseDress.Me is also using this new WISE search application framework for their tshirt search engine. I was able to grab some screenshots of some of the current apps and they are displayed below.

Check out Wikia’s launch in August of their "evolution toolbar" and all of our Wikia coverage.

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We’ve written about coworking several times here at CN and today we are excited to post that the New Work City coworking location in NYC now has a home. The space is located at 200 Varick Street which is right on top of the 1 train!

The New Work City team has a post which outlines the space and has a photo with the all important lease signatures. Apparently the building is used by a variety of digital companies which should make for a good bit of networking. They are offering day rates and monthly full-time memberships ($550/mo).

Big congrats to NWC lead members Tony Bacigalupo and Sanford Dickert and the entire coworking community in NYC and beyond who helped to get this ball rolling!

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A new semi-mobile game launched last week named Snapherd. The idea behind Snapherd is simple: each day they post a word and you submit photos that match how you view the word. Some of the words to-date include: ashamed, debate, empty, exact, and favorite.

Photos can be submitted via email, MMS upload, or traditional upload from your computer. They are giving out prizes to the highest rated photos. Users can leave comments on photos. What makes this interesting to me is that you can see how others view a word or topic. I could see Snapherd adding groups to allow a circle of friends to explore how their views on a topic differ through photos.

Snapherd was founded by Joshua Gross. You might remember Joshua from our review of his other startup TapeFailure (now called Vistrac). When I spoke with Joshua about Snapherd last month, my suggestion was to partner with brands which could help Snapherd grow quickly and virally along with the real possibility of a business model. I could see brands like Coke, Pepsi, Apple, Microsoft, etc. A perfect example would be the "I’m a PC" campaign that Microsoft is currently running. 

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Boston-based event planning service MyPunchbowl has announced that they have completely relaunched the service today. Last month the company raised $2.1 million in venture capital funding. The big piece of their relaunch is the new Design Studio feature.

The basic idea of Design Studio is that it allows you to very heavily customize a save the date or event invitation. Anything can be customized from photos, colors and text. What’s neat is that everything is customizable so while the background might enter the invitation in blue, it can be changed to pink or green. CEO Matt Douglas seems to love the fact that you can now add ribbons to your invitations. With all of the options available, it will make sure your Halloween invite doesn’t look like the 1,000 others you will receive.

The basic flow is to create a "pick a date" mailing where you ask your event attendees when works for them. Then a "save the date" mailing which can be up to a year in advance. Then the actual event invitation. MyPunchbowl also helps with things like travel and local services to make the event special. Then the thank you note. Basically MyPunchbowl is attempting to be the one stop for the entire event plan. 

Earlier this summer, eVite relaunched and added the option for users to contribute their own designs. I’d suggest that MyPunchbowl adds that option as well. It will get users excited about putting even more time and effort into their designs.

Here’s CEO Matt Douglas demonstrating how the Design Studio works:

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NY-based collegiate information resource CollegeWikis has announced that they have raised $2 million in venture capital today. From the announcement, The funding round led by HighBAR Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm founded by Bill Joy, Andreas Bechtolsheim, and Roy Thiele-Sardiña. Richmond Management, eCoast Angel Network, and Boston Harbor Angels also participated. Thiele-Sardiña will join CollegeWikis Board of Directors as part of this financing.

They are quick to note that CollegeWikis is not a social network. To actually read any of the content on CollegeWikis you need to register. You can register with any email address but the site notes that .edu accounts will receive additional benefits.

I see more "message board" than "wiki" when I browse the site. While you can edit the question, it isn’t as topical based as Wikipedia is. From my browsing, it’s question-based, "Where’s the best eats at Harvard?" Not that there’s anything wrong with a cross-university message board.

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This morning we reported on the updated product launch for NY-based semantic search provider Hakia. There were a variety of good reviews here, here, here, here, here and here. During my time at Search Marketing Expo, I met with Hakia COO Melek Pulatkonak who provided a demo and answered a few questions on how the updated Hakia search works. Check out our brief discussion below.

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Today I headed over to the Javits Center for the Search Marketing Expo. Below is a video of what’s in their schwag bag. One thing that I left at the conference was the 500-700 page binder of all of the slides and session materials. No idea why they still see a need to print these out - why not stick a printer next to the registration desk and let attendees select which sessions they want to print. Perhaps stick all of the slides on a USB key. The waste of paper and more importantly the weight is just crazy - especially when baggage in flight is getting more expensive every day.

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Yesterday we posted videos from Wordpress co-founder Matt Mullenweg on the State of Wordpress, a Wordpress 2.7 demo and today we have the last piece of his keynote. This last piece focuses on the future of Wordpress. Matt discusses a variety of topics including: upgrades, security, rich media, Wordpress as a hub, backpress and buddypress. Buddypress looks pretty strong - basically it allows you to easily insert a social network inside your blog. Many of the Wordcamp attendees asked questions about Buddypress and integration with other social networks like Facebook and MySpace.

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