makeover

Three days ago, Yahoo's official blog encouraged its readers to "start wearing purple."  Early this morning, the company began heeding its own request by unveiling some new Yahoo homepages.  Test versions present a purple corporate logo along with (arguably more important) things like a fresh layout and new features.

Lots of fun with Dilbert and Web 2.0 thanks to a site update gives visitors the ability to rearrange and rewrite the foibles of everyone's favorite cubicle dweller.

Today the BBC unveiled a new look to the BBC News website. It’s a refreshing update. I visit very few websites these days and BBC News is one of them (it’s actually the home page in my browser).

Google Japan probably isn't a site you visit on a daily basis.  You might want to make a special stop this once, though, because it's undergone a mildly interesting change.

One week ago, Local.com declared that it had secured a patent “For [An] Ad-Supported 411 Local Search Model,” and the company’s stock skyrocketed as a result.  Today’s announcement, which involves “Enhanced Interactive Mapping Capabilities,” is less likely to produce that effect, but it’s still interesting.

The official Google Webmaster Central Blog says within 6 weeks, an overall overhauled Webmaster central – both its Content and Organization will be unveiled.

With just a shade under 50 submissions for the first round of the Usability Makeover Series, I had a hard time with the selection process. I ended up selecting Twiddy Outer Banks Rentals because I could tell they had already put a lot of effort into establishing user trust and usability. I think with a few tweaks the site could go from medium usable to extremely usable.

Even though Windows Vista hasn't been received with quite the fanfare Microsoft would have liked, the fact remains that the integrated desktop search functionality represents a potential snag in Google's master plan for continued dominance within the industry.