Just Search Labs Just Search Research and Development

OnLive presented themselves at this year’s Game Developer’s Conference and caused a massive stir with their promise of playing current generation games without having to first buy an expensive gaming PC or console to do it. All you will need, they say, is an inexpensive PC or their own proprietry console, a fast internet connection and a display device capable of showing the games in their full HD glory. All the game processing will be done on their special servers and then streamed Read the rest of this entry »

Geoff Adams
Programmer, Research and Development

I am going to enter rant mode today and talk about a style of site design that I see almost daily. If you have a product or service to sell you will want to maximize the impact of your site. If your site looks poor and is almost unusable then people are very likely to simply drop off and go elsewhere. So why do I see apparently rich successful businessmen and Internet marketing experts making sites that look like they were created in 1993?

I thought I would break down the sort of things that these sites do and give some suggestions on how to go about solving each one.
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Philip Norton
Lead Developer, Research and Development

What is Reputation Management?

A good reputation is something which takes a long-time to create but can be lost very quickly; something which RyanAir must be learning to its cost. If you are in business, your good reputation is the result of being competitive and supplying the needs of your customers or clients effectively and your online presence is an extension of your good reputation.

Why is it important?

Without a good reputation, you lose trust and without trust there is no business. While most transactions run smoothly, occasionally things can go wrong, be it faulty product, misunderstanding or even just an awkward customer. The power of internet makes it possible for a dogged person to do a disproportionate amount of harm to your reputation. That is why it is important.

How can you Reduce the Impact of Negative Publicity?

In most case reputation management consists of simply putting things right before they get out of control. Therefore, effective customer service is important first line of defence to keep things in check before they can escalate. Keep an ear to the ground and identify what your customers are saying about your brand on the web. Identifying potential problems can be a simple as performing a search for your company’s name in Google, Yahoo and Live search engines and looking at the results. Are there any results which show your products in a negative light?

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Sir Pumpkin Longshanks
Programmer, Research and Development

For a long time now, there has been a lot of buzz around the concept of the Semantic Web. A great deal of resources has been poured into researching viable solutions to the issue of linking together data on the web with meaningful meta-data and relationships. Unfortunately, even in the W3C’s own words, most of the ideas or standards coming out aren’t close to being implemented fully. This is why I don’t see it as the ‘next big thing’ for the web which so many of us are waiting for. Read the rest of this entry »

Geoff Adams
Programmer, Research and Development