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January 22, 2006

The TechCrunch Products Index

Michael Arrington

34 comments »

I’ve launched an index of companies and products that have been written about here on TechCrunch. This is a much quicker way of finding information on things I’ve written about than using the search function. In fact, I was having trouble finding my own posts using standard search. If you know the name of the company, go to this page and simply click on it to see a list of all of the posts that mention it.

This is self generating. Rachel Cunliffe took the basic code for the Ultimate Tag Warrior wordpress plugin (which was writen by Christine Davis) and modified it in a few key ways to suit my needs.

The result is a page that lists each company I’ve written about. The interface for the publisher is basically the same as UTW. The changes Rachel made are mostly to the output page.

We will post this to the Wordpress Plugin Database later today or tomorrow so that anyone writing for Wordpress can use it.

Planned enhancements include creation of the index in OPML format as well.

This index is also permanently linked from the top of the left sidebar on any TechCrunch page.

  • Sphere It

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 22nd, 2006 at 4:57 pm and is filed under TechCrunch Network. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Trackbacks/Pings (Trackback URL)

  1. Basic Thinking Blog » Ultimate Tag Warrior expanded

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Comments

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  1. Andrew Hamann

    January 22nd, 2006 at 5:15 pm

    That. Is. Awesome.

    Great work Michael!

  2. Andrew Hamann

    January 22nd, 2006 at 5:16 pm

    Oh, and you too Rachel!

    I really wish these kind of things had an “edit” button.

  3. Michael Arrington

    January 22nd, 2006 at 5:17 pm

    Andrew, Thanks very much. I had a lot of wild ideas for this feature, but Rachel found a very easy way to do it and I love it. I also like the fact that we can give this to anyone to use (if they are on wordpress). The key thing I want to add is OPML support.

  4. hullabaloo

    January 22nd, 2006 at 5:45 pm

    Michael and Rachel,

    Super Lists!
    RSS and OPML would be fantastic for monitoring additions. Not to be undone but ever thought about a TagCloud option?
    Nice Job you two. Don’t stop now!

  5. Michael Arrington

    January 22nd, 2006 at 5:48 pm

    Hullabaloo - Rachel assures me we’ll have OPML for this by tomorrow (ok, not really, I made that up - but it will come soon I think). A RSS feed for each tag already exists.

  6. Rachel

    January 22nd, 2006 at 5:52 pm

    Glad you find it useful :) I’ll update the template shortly, but you can grab an RSS feed for any tag, just add /rss/ to the URL:

    e.g. http://www.techcrunch.com/tag/ning/rss/

    Tag cloud shouldn’t be hard to do, thanks to the UltimateTagWarrior plugin’s flexibility.

  7. Andrew

    January 22nd, 2006 at 6:02 pm

    You have 2 Netvibes there - one is misspelt

    Cheers,

    Andrew

  8. fctroll

    January 22nd, 2006 at 6:04 pm

    This will be expremely useful if we can get a sentence or two about what the site is about when we float our mouse above its name

  9. Michael Arrington

    January 22nd, 2006 at 6:08 pm

    Andrew - thanks, fixed. I’ve found some other errors too but the interface makes it really easy to correct.

  10. Ole Olson

    January 22nd, 2006 at 6:36 pm

    I run a site focused on soccer in the Ozarks. I have categories like HS Boys, it looks like your new plug-in would allow me to tag articles with the schools and players as well. They would then be listed in an index for easier navigation. Pretty cool and something I’d love to add to the site. Thanks!

  11. Dave Lu

    January 22nd, 2006 at 7:19 pm

    This is fantastic Michael! Your readers really appreciate all you do to keep us aware of all the great stuff that seems to be sprouting up everywhere (despite the weed-like pace at which they seem to be growing at!). I’m sure you’re far too busy to do this, but if possible, I would love to see all the products and companies separated by their function or vertical. I’m hoping to make this list one of these days!

  12. Rachel

    January 22nd, 2006 at 7:45 pm

    Excellent list - there are a few scattered ones out there but this looks mighty comprehensive. I vote in support of Dave’s comment regarding separating the products and companies - it’s easier to keep track of things that way.

  13. Michael Arrington

    January 22nd, 2006 at 7:47 pm

    Rachel and Dave - It’s nearly impossible to do this. I’ve tried - http://sndirectory.worldoutlin.....20reviews/

  14. Rob Jensen

    January 22nd, 2006 at 8:14 pm

    Great new feature! Keep up the hard work, this is one of my “must visit everyday” sources and everything you have done is much appreciated!!!

  15. Seth Besmertnik

    January 22nd, 2006 at 8:32 pm

    Michael - just as you posted this I was becoming disgruntled with your search box :). Great timing and great idea!

  16. Kevin Burton

    January 22nd, 2006 at 9:30 pm

    Now’s a good time to start a company named

    !!!!aardvark

    Good way to get decent placement :)

  17. orli

    January 23rd, 2006 at 1:07 am

    Very useful!
    Thanks Mike.

  18. Stephen

    January 23rd, 2006 at 2:36 am

    Nice one Michael & Rachel,

    I was playing with your old OPML file the other day and was going to ask when the next update was going to happen. This answers that query. I take it you won’t be able to keep the existing structure of the OPML as there is no way to break down the list anymore due to the comprehensive size of the list. You just have to stop doing so much work so your list can be catergorized. Just kidding, great job again.

  19. Daniel P Dykes, Rogue Connect

    January 23rd, 2006 at 4:09 am

    Ah, a fantastic feature :) I love perusing other sites that are (usually) in active development. It’s really nice to see where the various industries are moving and this is certainly going to help keep tabs on them!

  20. Ken

    January 23rd, 2006 at 7:31 am

    Thanks — I tried searching for some companies the other day, but Wordpress search leaves lots to be desired

  21. Carlos Leyva

    January 23rd, 2006 at 10:03 am

    Yeah this is quite useful. Well done!

  22. Paul O Mahony

    January 23rd, 2006 at 1:22 pm

    Great to have this! Re OPML, I’m not a guru, but I know of an interesting tool called OPOD by an Irish blogger.
    http://eurekaman.com/opod/.

  23. jonathan

    January 23rd, 2006 at 2:03 pm

    i can’t see the plugin in the database

    http://www.techscurry.com

  24. Dennis Howlett

    January 23rd, 2006 at 2:30 pm

    Nice one Michael/Rachel - I’ve been looking for something like this for ages

  25. Raul Lopez

    January 23rd, 2006 at 8:13 pm

    Great guide! All the features on each company together!

    RAUL

  26. Rachel

    January 25th, 2006 at 7:44 pm

    Hi Jonathan,

    The plugin is available here :)

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