Filed under: Audio, World wide web, Social Software, Beta, web 2.0

Qbox is a search engine/media player combo that lets you find and listen to music available from social networking sites including MySpace, Bebo, and YouTube. The interface is a bit more complicated than it needs to be. If you just download the standalone media player for Windows, you’ll be told that you need to sign in if you want to search for music.

Search results are displayed in your default web browser, which is odd because the Qbox media player acts as sort of a stripped down browser for playing web audio and video clips. Don’t ask us why it won’t display search results.

Now here comes the important part: Qbox is not compatible with Firefox 3. If you conduct a search from the media player or the internet site using Firefox 3, you’ll get a list of songs. But when you click the play buttons next to those songs, you’ll be told that you haven’t installed the Qbox media player if you’re using Firefox 3. When we logged into the web site with Internet Explorer, everything worked properly. But when we tried to search from songs from the media player interface, the results were again displayed in our default browser, which was Firefox 3. There doesn’t seem to be a way to select your prefered browser from within the software.

You can also click on genre tags to browse for songs within the media player itself. Qbox is currently available as a public beta, so it’s possible the company could improve the interface and adds Firefox 3 compatibility.

[via AppScout]

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Filed under: Finance, Internet, Web services, Google, Social Software, Googleholic, web 2.0

Welcome to Googleholic, your bi-weekly fix of everything Google!

In this edition:

• Upcoming AdWords system maintenance
• Sites gets new features
• YouTube tries long-form
• YouTube introduces Screening Room
• Google Docs on ultraportables
• Google Finance adds cash tracking

Continue reading Googleholic for June 20, 2008

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Filed under: Debt, Home

Late on rent? Loan shark breathing down your neck? Can’t fill your vehicle with gas to get to work on Monday? Assuming all available funds and traditional sources of credit are tapped out, here are 25 (legal) ways to raise cash in a few days. We list them in order from least to most desperate.

When my friend Michael, an inveterate sofa surfer, turned up on my doorstep a few years ago, my boyfriend had just moved out, and I was wanting company and needing extra rent money. Thus Michael took up residence on the sofa my ex had recently vacated, and I went about adapting to having a roommate who I didn’t want to see me naked.

Aside from having to close doors and don a bathrobe more often than I was used to, my new living arrangement worked pretty well–for a while. Michael was paying rent and lending me a supportive shoulder. We had concurred when he moved in to check in with each other after a few months to make sure there were no major problems, and when we did so, there weren’t. So Michael stayed on … and on … and on, and I commenced to kicking myself on a daily basis for not having set another check-in (or would that be check-out?) date. When he finally did move out after about a year, our friendship had been sorely tested.

The biggest lesson I learned? Sharing living expenses can put more cash in your pocket. However, If you ask someone to move into your spare room–or onto your couch–draw up a lease agreement, even/especially if your prospective boarder is someone you know. Have conversations about how to share living space, particularly if, as in my case, you only have one lavatory. Make sure to outline kitchen privileges, including whether or not you want to share food.

I was unprepared to be a landlady, and I wouldn’t do it again in my current living space. If I ever move into a house with a granny unit, I might think about renting it out–as long as the unit has its own kitchen and restroom.

All 25 ways to raise quick cash.

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Filed under: Business, Finance, Web services, Social Software, web 2.0

Myspace, Facebook and Twitter, the concepts are pretty much the same. You follow someone with interests that intrigues you, see what their doing, what their saying and sometimes you do what they say. Now what if they told you where to spend your money, would you? Covestor thinks so.

Covestor takes the social networking formula and applies it to the stock market in a 2 part system. The first requires members with some sort of investment background (we’ll call them experts) to build portfolios. The second has average users reviewing these members and if they like what they see, they follow them.

If these experts buy or sell a certain stocks, users get to see that and choose if they would like to buy or sell along side their experts. Covestor is currently working on a fully automated system as well. You’ll just be able to put down a bunch of cash and the system will invest your money as your experts invest. Of course as an expert you get a percentage of the action, since people are following your advise.

So is this the next step in social networking? We already take advice on what to wear, where to go and what to eat. Why not take it a step further with having strangers tell you what to do with your money?

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