We are starting to have problems tracking your information through social networks, Web, and within the cloud? If you're a power user who always can't resist a shiny new site useful--or simply cool--Web app, the folks behind Greplin are betting that you would like to get a handle on everything that scattered data.
The idea has also appeal to those who do not have to keep track of an extensive social network across multiple services, but have different ways of storing information that access (and in part) at home, in the Office and on the road. In my case, some are available in Google Docs, more was saved in Evernote and lately I started to use Dropbox to synchronize local files, so they are available to me everywhere.
Then there are my social networks. I've got useful connections on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn; But even with a desktop client like TweetDeck that aggregates the networks, it is not easy to break down through multiple streams to find information on a particular topic. And none of the information that the media is tied in with my data.
With your permission, Greplin will search through your data in different sites up to seven free: Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, Twitter, Dropbox, Facebook and LinkedIn. A free account is also equipped with up to 200 M of storage for the search index. (Paid accounts get more storage space and a few more services like Evernote and Google Apps. Additional services, such as Basecamp and Google Reader, I'm at work).
It is exceptionally cheap, but with a problem: I want to really start with no track record, having access to so much of my aggregated data? Even with pedigree of $ 4 million venture funding from Sequoia Capital? Finally, curiosity has exceeded my paranoia of privacy and I signed upon notification that Greplin had finally opened to additional beta testers. (My exclusive status as beta tester was short lived, however, the site is now public, Greplin tweeted).
Greplin's interface is simple, quick and easy. You sign up for an account on Greplin.com and select the services that you want included (see screenshot below). Wait to be able to create an index, then enter your search terms. You have the ability to filter search results from people, streams, files and messages, as well as from individual services. These choices are available from a drop-down menu next to the main search bar instead of having to click off to an advanced search page.
For starters, I added my Twitter account (public anyway) and Google Docs (insensitive in there). With 3152 indexed documents, including my 126 M and 500 or so files in Google Docs, I used less 5% of my store.
My test searches executed very quickly, apparently issues reported from previous beta testers. Results are grouped by type (streams, files) and also indicate the initiating service (and any standard file), with search terms highlighted in yellow.
Twitter search is fantastic. If you use Greplin for nothing else, I'd recommend, to keep up with your Twitter stream. I was surprised to see pull up results from a tweet I made back in July, since research just Twitter doesn't go back nearly so far. Is a quick and elegant way to search for Twitter users you follow (as well as your own tweets)--certainly better than I found TweetDeck.
Search result of Greplin a little differed from the internal search Google Docs. A major plus for searching within Google Docs itself: Google indexes your PDF loaded, while Greplin does not. Greplin did not find a term that was part of the title of a PDF file, which is a little less forgivable than an inability to analyze the actual PDF (lost a PDF with the word in the title surrounded by dashes, but found another that use underscores).
It also seems that the Greplin is more literal than Google, which can be an advantage or disadvantage, depending on whether you are looking for an exact match. For example, a search for "landscapes" scored results within Google Docs for documents that contain the word "landscape", but not in Greplin.
Interestingly, I have not had any correspondence on Google Docs or Greplin when searching for a specific document--until I remembered that info is actually stored in Evernote. I spoke to my need for a service like Greplin.
Bottom line? Before Greplin, I had already begun dealing with the dilemma of how to deal with important personal data, which I had sprayed in multiple locations. Greplin is probably not the complete answer to this--certainly would have been better to have consistent archiving strategy at the beginning. And despite the appeal of Greplin, will be a little if anything would be trusted any startup with sensitive information such as e-mail (in fact, still not yet I trust Gmail with messages that must be really private).
That said, however, the service clearly fills a need. In an era of Web/cloud services and social networks, it is highly unlikely that any user can store all your important data in one place. The data are not yet useful as it could be if you can't find what you're looking for when you need them ...
Greplin seems to have some elegant technology behind it, and I hope that the new round of venture funding helps to achieve even better over time. In the meantime, I look forward to more details on how we can trust the company to keep your information private and secure before adding too many more services to be indexed.
Greplin screenshots:
Choose services to index within Greplin
Search results for sample Greplin
Sharon Machlis has online managing editor at Computerworld. His e-mail address is smachlis@computerworld.com. You can follow her on Twitter @ sharon000, on Facebook or by subscribing to his RSS feed:
articles | Blogs.
No comments:
Post a Comment