Did you know, Facebook uses hidden text on their site?

Well next time you check out the friends tab on Facebook, check out the space right underneath all your friends:

Hidden in my source code was the phrase” What doesn’t kill a quail only makes it stronger.” - Hmm… very deep!

Let me know if you get the same or found other places where there is hidden code!

Go on, give it a test, search for something really obscure. Try out Cuil - billed as the next generation search engine, the Google beater, the next big thing, the search engine that indexes 121 billion pages.

All the hype around this comes from the three people behind this project. 3 Tech genius with two who is responsible for Google’s search teams. With that pedigree, you must think Cuil is very good.

Now that’s only half the story. In business, your product is only as good as the marketing behind it. And behind Cuil is Manning Selvage & Lee, one of the most respected PR firms in the world (they are part of Publicis). So the marketing buzz you hear about Cuil isn’t there by accident.

So what about the result? Does things rank well? Other then the “Cuil(cool)” design. It’s hard to say without a blind test, but what from my obscure searches done on verticals I’m very familiar with, I have to say of the top 10 results, there is at least one that is very relevent, which is actually saying it’s just as good as any other search engine.

Search is made up of three areas. Spidering, Indexing and Ranking. The first two is easy, big server, smart spiders, lots of investement and you are there. It’s ranking results accuratly thats the hard part. Cuil may index 3 times more pages then Google, but unless those results get ranked accuratly, it’s only use is good PR.

I think the jury is still out on who’s better, but I will give Cuil a chance. Let’s see how well it uses on site relevency to rank the results and see how it compares with user generated results in the future.

Note: About Cuil

(Taken from: http://www.cuil.com/info/news_press/)

Cuil (pronounced COOL) is a search engine that combines the largest Web index with content-based relevance methods, organized results, and complete user privacy. The company’s next generation approach to search is the result of proprietary breakthroughs in search architecture and ranking algorithms. Cuil’s employees have extensive experience in search, having worked at Google, IBM, eBay, AltaVista, Stanford University, the Internet Archive and other technology companies and research centers. Cuil is located in Menlo Park, California and has received series A funding from Tugboat Ventures and Greylock Partners, and series B funding from Madrone Capital Partners. Cuil derives its name from an old Irish word for knowledge, reflecting the background of co-founder and CEO, Tom Costello, who hails from Drogheda, Ireland. For more information, please visit www.cuil.com.

A college of mine (front-end developer) has been telling me about the MyDeco Online community and how its “Nicely designed for non-contributors to read, access to a variety of interest groups, strata of professionalism and relevant interactive activities / contribution”.

I thought I go and check it out, but as with a good community, ended up getting caught by the Style DNA proposition telling me that it can identify my style.

5 mins later,  the image quiz ended up telling me that according to my interior design tastes, I’m a “consummate international playboy” - Wow… Sounds too good to be true! They couldn’t be more right!!! Still it leaves me guessing is that what I want to be or who I am?

Either way, the quiz was very effective in grabbing my attention and the best thing is they understand how to use that attention to promote products. All in all, it was a excellent example of showcasing how to put an ROI behind a community.

Here’s my full report:

You have the bachelor pad look down to a T. Your home is sleek, masculine and generally understated. Only those in the know can spot the touches of genuinely ‘flash’ kit - the designer logos, the top-of-the-range gizmos. It all looks effortlessly cool but only you know the time, thought and energy (working too) that has gone into getting everything spot on.

Living Room
Playboy, gent, aesthete - your living room is a shrine to bachelorism. The masculine look finds its apogee in the bachelor pad, and at the heart of every bachelor pad is the living space, with its sharp lines and a hedonistic approach to life that’s all about having fun and very little to do with mundane chores. This is the lifestyle of a Gatsby or a 007, and the fact that both are fictional characters says it all: this look is about illusion and seduction and a dash of hustler chutzpah. This is a look that can’t take clutter, and as such the minimal aesthetic is an ideal complement. When it comes to the tricky task of accessorising, less is certainly more. Pastel blues and greens give the room a fresh, light feeling, while neutral textiles and soft furnishings never lose their style. Having worked wonders in the kitchen, you deserve a bit of quality time in the living room where you can relax and unwind.

Bedroom
It’s a man’s world in the master bedroom. Sleep is fundamentally important to our well being. In busy towns and cities, noise can often hamper a good night’s sleep. Soft furnishings really do absorb sound, and touch is such an important sense in the bedroom, from crisp, linen sheets to wool or even sheepskin underfoot. You have quite a masculine - some might say hard - style in your bedroom, using earthy, rustic colours and textures to create a sense of harmony with the natural world.

Dining Room
You’re a modern maverick, a supremely elegant entertainer. At home, your dining room combines clean, contemporary lines with quite formal sophistication. It’s a versatile look that can be achieved on almost any budget. Even if funds are limited, it’s worth splashing out on good china, glass or even special cutlery. Good design and quality materials can catapult a place setting out of the ordinary. When it comes to entertaining, you like to make an effort for family and friends.

Home Office
You have a place for everything and everything has its place. Even the most dedicated workaholic and hard-core party animal has bills to pay. An allocated home office or ‘work station’ makes mundane book-keeping as painless as possible. The modernist adage that form should follow function is nowhere better demonstrated than in the home office: keep things simple and add your own sense of style by using a splash of colour or a single, well-chosen decorative piece.

Conclusion
You’re the consummate international playboy, at home around the world, but never more so than in your elegant ‘pad’ with its emphasis on hedonism and the finer things in life.