derekvigil’s posterous

Is every single star from the 80s that broke and desperate to cash-in one last time? I think so! I still wouldn't mind taking his cruiser for a spin though. Can someone say 2009 Halloween costume trend?

There’s no question about it: Google is great at search, and its huge lead over competitors is well deserved. But the site’s spartan design can sometimes leave something to be desired — sure, the company gradually makes tweaks to it, but we haven’t seen many radical changes in a very long time. Now WebMynd, a Y Combinator startup that launched back in early 2008, is looking to help spur the search giant to make itself a little better, or at least give it a few ideas to help. Tonight, WebMynd is launching a contest appropriately called RedesignGoogle.com that invites designers from around the world to give Google a makeover.

WebMynd has posted all the details details on its blog, but here’s the gist of it: designers are invited to revamp Google using any CSS modifications they’d like. The contest starts accepting submissions today, and will run through November 1. Then, a number of judges (which include Y Combinator’s Paul Graham, the WebMynd team and — full disclosure — myself) will pick the best designs. The winners will take home a brand new MacBook Air.

The nice thing about the contest is that it isn’t purely theoretical — you’ll actually be able to start using the new design in your browser, using a stripped down version of WebMynd’s browser plugin. The Plugin, which launched back in March, gives users the ability to customize their search experience and includes a number of other features, like a comprehensive browsing history (advanced features won’t be enabled by default on the streamlined contest plugin, but users will be able to turn them on).

Here are a few of the early submissions to the contest. You can see a full gallery here.

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CrunchBase Information

WebMynd

Website:	webmynd.com
Location:	San Francisco, California, United States
Funding:	$400k

WebMynd is a Y Combinator-funded startup launched in January 2008. Learn More

Information provided by CrunchBase

This reminds me of a project that I did in my XML class. What the hell, I'll give it another shot.

It's extremely simple.

First, you type in a product or service.

Then a list is generated and you can pick up to 3 keywords to optimize for.

The SEO keyword tool simply instructs you on how many times to use each keyword within the content.

It even does the same for Meta tags!

Pretty F'n awesome! I just tried it out this morning and was impressed. Stewie tells how I feel about it best.

09.18.2009 – BROOMFIELD, CO. Kutenda announced today that CEO Mike Cooch has been listed in the MSPmentor 250, an annual executive listing compiled by MSPmentor and publisher Nine Lives Media, Inc.

Kudos to Mike (@mcooch) for his recognition within the MSP World. Kutenda (@kutenda) is very lucky to have him as our leader. Way to go!