J
Jeff Needle
Found this in the local computer magazine. I hadn't heard of this before,
sounds like fun:
Despite all the bells and whistles online, sometimes it’s the simplest
sites that are the most impressive. Case in point: YubNub
(http://yubnub.org). This new site with the funny name was created by Jon
Aquino of Vancouver, and is simply a command-line search engine. Now, I
know we all love having a dynamic GUI (graphical user interface), but
sometimes it’s gratifying to get something done just by typing a simple
command on your computer.
On the surface, it may not sound that exciting. After all, most people are
just as happy with Google, so why do we need another search engine? That’s
because with YubNub, you can do all your searches from one site.
Type “g Tiger Woods,†for example, and YubNub will display search results
for Tiger Woods from Google. If you type “am Nick Hornby,†YubNub will
search Amazon.com for books by Nick Hornby. The phrase “convert 50 km to
miles†will use Convort (www.convort.com) to tell you that 50 kilometers
is the same as 31.07 miles.
There are literally thousands of commands that you can use. (For a list of
commands, type “ls†into YubNub. For the best, the so-called “golden
eggs,†use the “ge†command.) YubNub bills itself as a social command line
for the Web. Follow the directions at the site, and it’s easy to create
your own commands. Anyone who wants to can do so and, once a command is
created, it’s available for everyone to use. All this works especially
well with the Firefox browser. There’s even an add-on that will allow you
to use YubNub directly from the Firefox toolbar.
Why’s it called “YubNub?†Well, that apparently means “hooray†in the Ewok
language. OK, let’s just pretend the site is not named after a word in an
imaginary language from Star Wars, and just enjoy YubNub for what it is:
one of the coolest new sites on the Internet this year.
Firefox Fun
As many have pointed out, you can actually do something very similar to
YubNub’s command-creation feature with Firefox. Right-click on any search
box in Firefox, and you’ll get an “Add keyword for this search†option.
You can then create a keyword and save it in your Bookmarks folder. Then,
you can use that keyword to search straight from your address bar. If you
want to search IMDb (Internet Movie Database) for Angelina Jolie movies,
you just need to type “imdb Angelina Jolie†into your address bar, and
you’ll be taken to her filmography. As with YubNub, the keyword doesn’t
have to be “imdb.†It can be anything you choose.
YubNub isn’t necessarily better than Firefox. In fact, the keyword
function on Firefox seems to work more universally. I was able to create
keywords in Firefox to search Roger Ebert’s site for movie reviews, while
I wasn’t able to do so with YubNub. However, YubNub does allow you to use
your commands on any machine. Aquino actually said that he developed the
program because he got sick of having to create keywords on all five of
his machines.
YubNub’s capability is also a little more robust than Firefox’s keyword
option, because it allows multiple parameters. For example, use the
command “gm -what pizza -where San Diego†and you can use Google Maps to
find a map of all the pizza joints in San Diego. Is this easier than just
going to Google Maps and typing in your search terms manually? That’s
debatable. Is it more enjoyable? For those who like the process of solving
a problem as much as the actual solution, it just might be.
sounds like fun:
Despite all the bells and whistles online, sometimes it’s the simplest
sites that are the most impressive. Case in point: YubNub
(http://yubnub.org). This new site with the funny name was created by Jon
Aquino of Vancouver, and is simply a command-line search engine. Now, I
know we all love having a dynamic GUI (graphical user interface), but
sometimes it’s gratifying to get something done just by typing a simple
command on your computer.
On the surface, it may not sound that exciting. After all, most people are
just as happy with Google, so why do we need another search engine? That’s
because with YubNub, you can do all your searches from one site.
Type “g Tiger Woods,†for example, and YubNub will display search results
for Tiger Woods from Google. If you type “am Nick Hornby,†YubNub will
search Amazon.com for books by Nick Hornby. The phrase “convert 50 km to
miles†will use Convort (www.convort.com) to tell you that 50 kilometers
is the same as 31.07 miles.
There are literally thousands of commands that you can use. (For a list of
commands, type “ls†into YubNub. For the best, the so-called “golden
eggs,†use the “ge†command.) YubNub bills itself as a social command line
for the Web. Follow the directions at the site, and it’s easy to create
your own commands. Anyone who wants to can do so and, once a command is
created, it’s available for everyone to use. All this works especially
well with the Firefox browser. There’s even an add-on that will allow you
to use YubNub directly from the Firefox toolbar.
Why’s it called “YubNub?†Well, that apparently means “hooray†in the Ewok
language. OK, let’s just pretend the site is not named after a word in an
imaginary language from Star Wars, and just enjoy YubNub for what it is:
one of the coolest new sites on the Internet this year.
Firefox Fun
As many have pointed out, you can actually do something very similar to
YubNub’s command-creation feature with Firefox. Right-click on any search
box in Firefox, and you’ll get an “Add keyword for this search†option.
You can then create a keyword and save it in your Bookmarks folder. Then,
you can use that keyword to search straight from your address bar. If you
want to search IMDb (Internet Movie Database) for Angelina Jolie movies,
you just need to type “imdb Angelina Jolie†into your address bar, and
you’ll be taken to her filmography. As with YubNub, the keyword doesn’t
have to be “imdb.†It can be anything you choose.
YubNub isn’t necessarily better than Firefox. In fact, the keyword
function on Firefox seems to work more universally. I was able to create
keywords in Firefox to search Roger Ebert’s site for movie reviews, while
I wasn’t able to do so with YubNub. However, YubNub does allow you to use
your commands on any machine. Aquino actually said that he developed the
program because he got sick of having to create keywords on all five of
his machines.
YubNub’s capability is also a little more robust than Firefox’s keyword
option, because it allows multiple parameters. For example, use the
command “gm -what pizza -where San Diego†and you can use Google Maps to
find a map of all the pizza joints in San Diego. Is this easier than just
going to Google Maps and typing in your search terms manually? That’s
debatable. Is it more enjoyable? For those who like the process of solving
a problem as much as the actual solution, it just might be.