Microsoft recently unveiled a new function of its nascent Bing search engine - VisualSearch (VS).  VS is designed to allow you to search the web BY pictures, rather than just for them.  The idea is simple.  Maybe you know what something looks like, but do not know what its proper name is.  If you have a general idea of what “category” of thing it is (breed of dog, for example), VS will actually let you search based on what it looks like.  You start with a general category and click your way through based on pictures.  It sounds like a neat concept … but Bing’s new VisualSearch is not as easy as it sounds.  To be fair, VS is still in beta … so there is work to be done.  But to be honest, the system seems to be suffering from some very early limitations that could make or break it.  First and foremost, using VS requires that you install Microsoft Silverlight - the company’s online application and “experience” delivery platform.  Silverlight is free, but if your system is locked down and/or your are prohibited from installing it, you cannot use VS.  Second, the categories from which you may choose initially is limited.  And third, the speed is rather slow right now.  Still, Microsoft is certainly on to a novel concept here. The question is whether the novelty will translate into practical need.  We shall see as they continue to develop this new search functionality.

If you are into professional networking, then you know just how difficult it can be to stay on top of what your contacts are doing on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and via e-mail.  The rate at which we communicate today is just too fast-paced for us to keep our fingers on all our contacts.  Yet knowing what your colleagues and business contacts are up to is … well … good business.  Luckily, there is a neat new online tool to help us.  Gist is a site designed to link your e-mail and networking accounts together in a way that provides a meaningful look at what your contacts are doing.  Still in beta, Gist’s functionality looks VERY promising.  You just sign up for a free account and feed it your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, GMail, and even Outlook info.  Gist gathers your contact info and makes the necessary connections.  It then updates the “news” every couple of minutes to show you what your colleagues are up to online.  From your Gist dashboard, you can follow their tweets and Facebook postings as well as news on them and the companies for which they work.  You can use the Gist interface to see the sources of your relationships with individuals (e-mail, Facebook, etc.), the nature of your correspondences (how many e-mails sent and received between you and your contacts), and even track news hits on your contacts.  You can analyze your contacts by both their names and the names of the companies for whom they work.  Gist is truly professional networking for the digital age!!!

The masterminds behin Tweepi say that their site offers a “geekier, faster way to manager Twitter”.  I say that what they have created is sheer brilliance.  More than just a site of cool Twitter tricks, Tweepi is actually a series of four tools that allow you to get a grip on who is following you and whom you are following.  Each requires that you allow it brief access to your Twitter account and runs flawlessly.  Geeky Follow will help you find folks to follow with interests similar to yours and takes into account just how active they are.  Geeky Flush lets you unfollow people who are not following you back (take that!).  Geeky Reciprocate can help keep you from being flushed by identifying folks who are following you, but whom you are not following, and then follow them in a few clicks.  And finally, Geeky Cleanup help you figure out who the annoying Tweeters are on your list and get rid of them.  What more could a Twitter power user want?!?!? Brilliant, I say, just brilliant!

If you have not been following ReadWriteWeb’s excellent rundown of its picks for the top 5 web trends of 2009, you have really been missing out!  From structured data to augmented reality, RWW has been exploring some of the biggest developments in the online world this week.  Each day was devoted to a single trend and the writing was insightful and superb.  Today’s entry was the wrap-up, but all five articles are still available.  Definitely recommended reading for you technorati out there!

Searching the vast volume of Twitter tweets can be tricky.  Making the results more meaningful or applicable to you can be even more difficult.  Twission aims to do just that with a site that searches Twitter with an eye on social relationships between the tweeters.  You tell Twission what hashtag to search for and supply only your Twitter name (no passsword required).  What it gives you in return is really quite neat.  Not only do you get a listing of people who have used that hashtag, but you also get an indication of any relationship that may exist between you and them.  Are they in your network?  Do you have followers in common?  What is the degree of social distance between you?  Twission will tell you.  It’s like playing “6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon” … only instead of Kevin Bacon, you are being traced the other tweeters.  Of course, if one of those tweeters IS Kevin Bacon, more power to you!  ;-)

When it comes to real, live blooging - or should I say “real time” blogging - Cover It Live has you covered.  Whether youare looking to report from an event as it is happening or simply want to host a live Q&A session on the fly, this site makes it easy, fun, and free.  Simply set up a free account, schedule an event with its details, and then paste the code you are given into any Web site or blog you may have and your followers can join you in a real, LIVE exchange.  Cover It Live has been atracting some great press and already has some heavy-weight users like Yahoo and Fanhouse.  It was a popular choice among bloggers and followers during the recent Apple 09-09-09 event.  Give it a try and see for yourself just how cool and easy to use Cover It Live really is!

With all of the silly brouhaha over whether to allow students to listen to President Obama’s back-to-school speech, I thought it would be a perfect time to consider the importance of Presidential speeches.  The Scipps Library at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center of Public Affairs has been collecting some of the most historicaly important speeches by American Presidents. From President Obama, all the way back to President Washington, you can find speeches with transcripts and even some in full audio. Recently, Scripps has expanded its collection to include video speeches from President Kennedy through President Obama.  It is VERY refreshing indeed to see that there are still some intelligent folks who realize the importance of Presidential speeches beyond ideologies and party affiliations!

Some site’s are so straight forward and so simple that there is just not much to say about them.  Sadly, so few of those sites are as amazing as Boing Boing.  The Boing Boing blog has been getting some great press as of late and for good reason.  It is the epitomy of new technology cool.  Boing Boing, for those who have not heard about it already, is a blog of all things beautiful, or as its designers say, “a directory of wonderful things”.  From it’s main site to its siblings - BB Video, BB OffWorld, and BB Gagdets - Boing Boing’s exposition of some the coolest and most interesting “things” is about at close to a Web-based warm-fuzzy feeling you can get.  It is worth several glances a day!!!

Getting the most bang for your buck is no easy feat in today’s crowded marketplace.  From goods to services, there are so many choices and so many ways to compare them.  No matter what you are looking to buy, before you and your cash part ways, have a look at the extensive product and services database at ConsumerSearch.com.  Not only do they gather reviews from the experts, but they analyze and compare them for you.  Simply click a product (either on the  homepage or through one of the categories) or search the database and then hold on to your hats. ConsumerSearch has everything you need to know and more.  From microwaves to moisturizing creams, internet service providers to inline skates, you can lose yourself in this awesome site!  My personal recommendation: check out the category for informercial products.  Does your OxySnugWow-thing-a-ma-jig live up to the hype?

Do you ever wonder whether anyone is commenting on the content you create online?  Are people chatting about articles you post, blog entries you make, or even the same things on which you may have also commented elsewhere?  Finding out can be a daunting task with all of the chatting, commenting, and blogging that fills that highways and byways of cybespace these days.  One resource that is working to making the task of tracking comments and chatters is YackTrack.  The concept is simple, yet the power of the site is awesome.  You can enter the url of any post into YackTrack’s homepage to search the web for comments made on it.  YackTrack searches some of the social heavyweights to see what people are saying.  The list of sites it supports currently includes Blogger/Blogspot, Digg, Disqus, FriendFeed, Google Blog Search, Google Reader, Identi.ca, IntenseDebate, Mixx, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Technorati, Twitter, TypePad/MoveableType and WordPress blogs.  Quite a cadre of the best and most popular sites!  In addition to searching for comments on a post via its URL, YackTrack also provides you with the ability to search some of the best social media sites by keyword.  Called “Chatter”, this search service covers Mixx, Identi.ca, Technorati, Google Blog Search, FriendFeed and Twitter, as well.  YackTrack is free to search and is aggressively plotting expansion to even more sources soon!