Yahoo Axis

[nikcub]

So it turns out they accidentally included their certificate private key inside the Chrome extension package:

https://twitter.com/nikcub/status/205489752684765185

Edit: just created a fake package and signed it:

https://github.com/nikcub/yahoo-spoof

[rurounijones]

Well done Yahoo, is it a cert they use on all their products / sites or just this one?

Wondering about the pain the revocation is gonna cause.

[atarian]

I don't know what kind of damage you can cause with this information, but I do think that posting this publicly was pretty unethical. You should have contacted Yahoo and then disclosed the information after.

EDIT: And here comes the downvotes. If you disagree with what I said then you really should post a response because you're preventing me from understanding why I might be wrong. If I knew your house door was unlocked, would it be okay for me to tell everyone in the world before I let you know?

[marblar]

Has anybody confirmed that this works?

[atarian]

A lot of people here are negatively judging this product on the basis that it's from Yahoo. I think that's extremely premature and close-minded. Give it a chance will you?

I personally think the iPad app is fantastic. The ability to pull down search results and visually see their content was a great idea and I think this makes Axis much more appealing to use over Safari. I think I'm actually going to replace Safari with Axis for a while. It's a shame that you can't switch search engines, but I'm willing to give Yahoo search another shot.

On the other hand, I'm not really impressed with the Google Chrome toolbar. I think it's annoying to have something overlay my browser on every page I visit.

I haven't tested out the iPhone app yet.

[KeyBoardG]

Agreed. All the hate is unnecessary. Give it 5 minutes before pilling on Yahoo and the past decisions of it's board.

The idea of taking browsing with you is nice feature that Im suprised hasn't been implemented so well by other operating system / browsers. As such, I'd expect Windows8 and WindowsPhone8 to have tight integration and hopefully have features like this.

[andrewfelix]

I gave it a chance. Thought it was great.

Three Reasons why I uninstalled it:

1) It gave me useless trending search results every time I expanded the search bar (I don't care who won American Idol.)

2) It required a Yahoo account to create bookmarks (I understand this is probably necessary for them, but I would have liked it to just use my existing chrome bookmarks.)

3) I'm happy with Google and DuckDuckGo search results.

I would love this kind of tool if it integrated with my existing google account and allowed me to customise it further. Obviously that wouldn't be in Yahoo's interest.

Great opportunity for another developer without vested interests to take the idea and improve on it.

[guywithabike]

I've never uninstalled a browser plugin so quickly. It really is just what you think it is: a 2001-era search toolbar, except without the useful list of search results. Just thumbnails that tell you nothing about the result.

[daenz]

That's what rubbed me the wrong way about the video saying over and over "It completely redefines how you search the web!" No, not really.

[heliodor]

I see a search toolbar plus the Chrome-to-phone functionality (the iOs version of it). Moving along...

[nl]

"Watch the Ad!"

Is there anything that shows how out-of-touch Yahoo better than the idea of wasting 1/3 of the above-the-fold space with something that warns people in advance it is nothing more than an ad?

Call it "Learn More" or something - anything but this. Didn't they A/B test it?

(Or maybe I'm part of the unsuccessful half of an A/B test. Hmm..)

[bishnu]

FWIW, Apple's iPad home page features a "Watch the TV Ad" button, although admittedly it's not quite as prominent as this.

[WiseWeasel]

Yep, group B here too. Coincidentally, I clicked on one video and not the other...

[marblar]

I would expect info videos in general to result in a much higher bounce rate, unless they are accompanied by a text-based explanation of what the product is.

[llambda]

So it's a new toolbar? Just what decade is Yahoo! living in?

Edit: What strikes me is how this is being billed: "A Chrome killer" and even the demo and ad spot use the phrasing "new browser": however this is not a browser. It may be a /browsing experience/ perhaps but it certainly doesn't stand to compete with Chrome mano-a-mano. Clearly the true target is search. But even then: has the world been waiting breathlessly to return to the days of toolbars?

[mikeleeorg]

"Chrome Killer" was just hyperbolic reporting. It doesn't look like Yahoo is billing this product as this.

[product50]

On iOS it is actually a browser. You are being dismissive without even knowing the facts.

Additionally, Yahoo! has never called it Chrome killer.

[rmoriz]

Check the awesome terms + conditions:

http://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/axis/en-us/

[guywithabike]

Even better: You can't even read all the terms and conditions on the iPhone version. It stops scrolling at some point and just cuts off.

[makmanalp]

Wow, they fucked up. If someone uses axis now, can they legally just do whatever the hell they want?

[ktizo]

Well, on the bright side at least no-one will mind agreeing with them.

Perhaps it is a bold new form of ultra-permissive licence.

[veb]

The advertisement is a bit of an overkill. I wish there was more text on the main page to tell me exactly what it is. The advertisement showed me a dude punching websites.

[madiator]

Yes, I couldn't figure out why he wants to break websites! One does not simply break the things that help him.

[micmcg]

Cause he is MAXXXTREME!

[boyter]

I might be alone here, but the ability to do a search then page through the results without the normal "back, click new result" or opening multiple windows is a win for me.

The visual preview stuff isn't bad either, and makes it easy to determine is a site is "spammy" or not.

I just wish I had the functionality in the top search bar not through the bottom one. If this functionality was built into a forked version of Chrome I would switch to it in a heartbeat. Add in a way for other search engines to supply the results and I would be very happy.

[PCheese]

The guy in the desktop video would be more convincing if only he would stop shaking his head "no".

[NathanKP]

I came here to say exactly this. Whoever was in charge of their video design failed majorly. The constant head shaking was very disconcerting to me and I felt like he had no confidence in his own product.

[brd]

I thought the same thing, it was seriously distracting for me. Its kind of amazing that they gave him such little direction about his body language.

[ericfrenkiel]

Had to re-watch to see it, but you're right he is shaking his head, a classic unconscious behavior meaning he probably doesn't believe in it.

[latchkey]

In the demo video, they show someone doing copy/paste in the browser window to enter information into the axis search bar. Why not add a contextual menu choice?

It is the small UX things like this that would really make me want to try it over just opening a new tab in chrome, typing something in and getting the results.

[axylone]

I noticed that too. Especially since chrome already has a "Search google for foobar" in the right click context menu.

[cjoh]

When I worked at ask Jeeves, we thought a browser toolbar was how we were going to beat google, too. In 2001.

[ktizo]

Nahh, you beat Google by atomising, securing and crowdsourcing search with open ranking algorithms that users can edit and share to serve as online agents. And you do it before Google, or at the very least better.

[arihant]

I like how it collapses quickly and tries to remain as lean as possible. But there is something fundamentally wrong - my browser already has a search box on top right..why did Yahoo think adding another one on bottom left would make me happy?

May a right side panel that reads from browser search box and completely collapses when I don't search would have been nicer.

[philip1209]

The salesperson's habit of shaking his head 'no' while talking makes me not believe his statements. That, and the fact that he works for Yahoo . . .

[re_todd]

Yeah, maybe it was made by interns brainstorming and was never really meant to be released to the public.

[gdilla]

Man, the logo looks way too much like adobe! http://www.adobe.com/

[laconian]

Not supported for my operating system. (I run Linux.)

I thought this was a browser plugin?

[drgath]

I'm asking around. It's all Web based, so I suspect that whatever limitations they ran into was because of browser extension issues.

[harbud]

Yahoo! never cared for Linux users. Remember the Linux version of Yahoo! Messenger? It lagged behind the Windows version so much before being quietly removed. Coincidentally, I never care much for Yahoo! anymore.

[dneb7]

I'm running it here in Firefox for Linux (Mint) and it's working fine.

[csomar]

The idea is good, an old-fashioned and dead company trying to disrupt in an attempt to recover.

The execution is terrible. If your product competitive advantage is being edgy and design oriented (rather than technical[1]) than I expect the end product and landing page design to be much, much more polished and professional.

[1] I'll accept the design if the disruption competitive advantage is technical (e.g. sci-fi AI that finds the exact answer to your search or question)

[olig15]

I like how the itunes reviews were clearly written by the marketing department.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/yahoo!-axis-a-search-browser/...

[ricardobeat]

The iOS version looks genuinely interesting. I bet they would have better success if they made it a real browser on desktop too, they could have used Chromium, like Rockmelt did.

[itsprofitbaron]

Yahoo Axis isn't actually a browser its just a plugin which shows in the bottom left hand corner of your existing browser.

However despite the advanced knowledge regarding the launch of this, Yahoo! Axis software license and service terms[1] states:

"Terms will go here."

There's a screenshot which shows it incase they update the page[2].

[1] http://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/axis/en-us/

[2] http://i.imgur.com/19asR.jpg

[ethank]

Shouldn't Yahoo focus on the products they are neglecting (i.e., Flickr) rather than introduce more products to then neglect?

[drgath]

Flickr has had 5 or 6 major updates this year, including a rebuilt uploader, redesigned photo page, a new justified view, social album browsing, integration of a new photo editor, and more. So, there is a lot of work being done at Flickr. See announcements @ http://code.flickr.com/blog/

If there's anything specific you'd like to see, leave a reply.