Ambrosia's iSeek
Moki's clever coders have come up with a new tool for OS X
iSeek
it's like the google bar in Safari on steroids (and on the finder bar)
customizable with any search engine (i'm laughing at entries in the Urban Dictionary)
so Apple-like it makes me wonder why it isn't already in Panther.
nice.
iSeek
it's like the google bar in Safari on steroids (and on the finder bar)
customizable with any search engine (i'm laughing at entries in the Urban Dictionary)
so Apple-like it makes me wonder why it isn't already in Panther.
nice.
Comments
Well, I suppose if they are charging for it, it must have taken plenty of man hours to get working, and it does look like a well refined piece of software.
I just don't think I'll be getting it. It just doesn't seem worth the 15 smackers.
And watching the video of iSeek in action it doesn't appear that you can change the preferences to have it open searches in new tabs.
/on a PeeCee and can't test it myself. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Originally posted by Cake
Besides the $15, the deal breaker for me is that each new search opens in a new window - I hate clutter!
Simply go to Safari's Preferences, and tell it to open links from other applications in new tabs, and you'll be good to go
-- Spell checking in the iSeek search field (can actually be quite handy also as a scratchpad to get the proper spelling for something)
-- Auto-complete in the search field, so you don't have to retype your common search requests
-- The ability to encode the URL in any encoding system, so that iSeek works great for Japanese, Chinese, or any language for that matter (and is localized for Japanese out of the box)
-- You can share iSeek search sites you create by simply copying the iSeek URL (from Preferences->Search Sites) and giving it to someone who has iSeek, via IM, web board, or email. All they have to do to add the search site is click on it -- no messy exchanging of files
The latter feature should make it incredibly easy for iSeek search sites to promiscuously spread
For instance, let's say someone made a nice search site for MTV, they could just do this:
Hey, check out this new iSeek search site for MTV! and if you're running iSeek, all you have to do is click on that URL and it's added for you. No fuss, no muss.
The same thing can be done via email or IM, too.
Originally posted by moki
Simply go to Safari's Preferences, and tell it to open links from other applications in new tabs, and you'll be good to go
Cool. Thanks moki.
I'll give it a try on my little PB.
AT&T Text to Speech
Originally posted by moki
Simply go to Safari's Preferences, and tell it to open links from other applications in new tabs, and you'll be good to go
Is there a secret to get that option? My preferences in Safari only gives you the option of opening in a new window or opening in the current window.
Originally posted by cylon
Is there a secret to get that option? My preferences in Safari only gives you the option of opening in a new window or opening in the current window.
Sorry, change it to "Current window" -- and if you have tabbed browsing on, Safari opens these external links in new windows.
For instance, I just added an iSeek URL to log me into one of our AppleShare servers. AppleShare URLs look like this:
afp://USER:PASSWORD@HOSTNAME.DOMAIN/
So for iSeek, in the Prefix field, I put: afp://andrew: -- then in the suffix field, I put @woof.AmbrosiaSW.com/ -- and now all I have to do to log into that AppleShare server is select it from the iSeek menu, and enter my password in the iSeek search field.
Similar things can be done with other protocols, such as ftp, or any URL, for that matter...
DAMN. That's powerful
I'm really impressed moki. You've taken the ordinary search bar and made it uniquely versatile. That's really amazing.
I may actually consider ponying up the 15 bucks for something like that.
Originally posted by moki
So for iSeek, in the Prefix field, I put: afp://andrew: -- then in the suffix field, I put @woof.AmbrosiaSW.com/ -- and now all I have to do to log into that AppleShare server is select it from the iSeek menu, and enter my password in the iSeek search field.
Right but unfortunately iSeek won't obscure passwords using bullets.
They need a token that we can insert into the URL to let iSeek know to mask the password. I mean if the Prefix URL needs to have a password, it should let us insert a special tag, like:
ftp://ftpaddress:<password>
So then iSeek would only show bullets.
Granted, since iSeek is merely throwing the data to Safari (in my case), you'll see the password in the url anyway. Is there a way to do something like transmit:// or fetch://....?
But for passwords in general, this password obscuring ability would be nice.
What I love is that I can now turn off the Google bar in Safari. It's great to have it, of course, but until it has the same versatiliaty as iSeek, I can reclaim my lost URL address space by turning it off. I typically need to see long URLs in development. And I was always torn between keeping the Google bar on or off, half the time using it constantly.
Originally posted by bauman
DAMN. That's powerful
Yeah it works with ssh, or any other URL too (mailto, whatever) -- if you don't want to send the password via cleartext, just leave it empty in the iSeek URL and you'll be prompted for it by the Finder.
Originally posted by moki
Yeah it works with ssh, or any other URL too (mailto, whatever) -- if you don't want to send the password via cleartext, just leave it empty in the iSeek URL and you'll be prompted for it by the Finder.
Uh moki... update your sig... iSeek isn't coming, it has came!
The biggest challenge you face right now is easily conveying these features to people. What you've mentioned hear makes me now believe the app is worth $15. Maybe more but the power of this app will not hit "most" people until they've had someone sit down and show them. Lookin' good!
Originally posted by hmurchison
The biggest challenge you face right now is easily conveying these features to people. What you've mentioned hear makes me now believe the app is worth $15. Maybe more but the power of this app will not hit "most" people until they've had someone sit down and show them. Lookin' good!
I agree with you. Fortunately, people can download it and try it out for themselves, with little or no hassle, and decide for themselves. iSeek really is quite handy once you've used it for a bit.
Good stuff.
I had never used the urban dictionary site so that was a hoot. It is nice that you can get to a search from any window. I like the small icon in the menubar better than the bigger search blank area.
The categorized drop down lists don't appeal to me. Stuff seems hidden this way. I spend time looking for the sites. Is there a method of making all of the sites I don't want to be in these lists posted in an easy to see fashion like Google, Thesaurus, etc? (I know this is still faster than clicking on safari, clicking on a bookmark listing and then searching for the site.) I'm sorry I don't have the solution to this so I feel uneasy about the complaint. :-(
Beyond that, if the price was less, I would be more interested. Maybe after 30 days I will change my mind but my gut tells me not.
Originally posted by kcmac
The categorized drop down lists don't appeal to me. Stuff seems hidden this way. I spend time looking for the sites. Is there a method of making all of the sites I don't want to be in these lists posted in an easy to see fashion like Google, Thesaurus, etc? (I know this is still faster than clicking on safari, clicking on a bookmark listing and then searching for the site.) I'm sorry I don't have the solution to this so I feel uneasy about the complaint. :-(
I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean, but yes, you can re-arrange the menu in any manner you choose, and make any categories be listed either right in the menu, or via sub-menu.
Just go to Preferences, then click on the category in question, and click Edit.