Author Archives: Court

We Want Your Input on the New SearchTempest.com Results Page!

Oct. 29th/2012 UPDATE: After a few minor tweaks based on your suggestions, we have pushed these changes to the live site. Please let us know what you think via comment on this post or posting to our Facebook page.

Based on the feedback we have received from you, our lovely users, we have re-done the SearchTempest.com results page! We have made things simpler, easier to use, and more intuitive. You can still do everything you could on the old site, with some new stuff too, it’s just packaged now in a easier to read and understand, and nicer to look at, package.

The new site is not live yet and that’s because we wanted to get your feedback on it so we can make it the best it can be before we make it live. You can start playing around with it at Beta.SearchTempest.com and you can learn more about the changes made below. Have thoughts on what could be improved or just want to tell us how awesome you think it is? Leave us a comment on our Facebook page.

Changes

  • The first thing you will probably notice is that the “Separate Cities”, “All Cities Together”, and “Direct Results” tabs are gone. Instead, we have settled on two modes: “Combined Results” and “Direct Results”. “Direct Results” looks and acts just like it used to. Since “Separate Cities” and “All Cities Together” provided the same information, just displayed differently (the former sorting results by cities, the latter by individual results), we have put those two in the same mode, which we call “Combined Results”. You can switch between the old “Separate Cities” and “All Cities Together” modes by choosing how you want to sort the results from the “Sort by:” dropdown. Select “Distance”, “State”, or “City Size” to sort by city (“Separate Cities”); choose “Most Recent” or “Best Match” to sort by individual results (“All Cities Together”).
  • You will also notice that we got rid of the upper tabs as well. “Modify Search” can now be called from the “Full Search” button in the search bar and “Display Options” has become the “Preferences” link in the results page.
  • We have generally cleaned up the page to make it less cluttered and easier to take in the information you need and leave out the stuff you don’t.

Date Filter

We have also added a new feature that we have had many requests for, and that is the ability to filter the results by the dates they were posted. You will see a new field with the label “Within the last # days:”. Pretty self-explanatory, but if you put the number 2 in there, you will only get results that are max 2 days old. Pretty awesome, right?

Please check out the new site and let us know how we can make it better for you!

Scavenger Hunt Update: craigslist is being changed to eBay

I know you’re all excited with our Scavenger Hunt coming up in a couple days. Initially the idea was that you guys would search for craigslist ads for the hunt, but after a letter from craigslist’s lawyers, we’ll be switching the hunt to eBay. You can still use SearchTempest to hunt for ads, but you can just go straight to eBay as well.

One of the benefits of doing the hunt on eBay is, since eBay archives ads forever, a screenshot of the ad will no longer be needed, just a link to the ad! That makes things a lot easier for all of us.

Other than those small changes, everything will be going ahead as scheduled. You can check out the revised Scavenger Hunt page and make sure to follow our Facebook for the category being posted at noon, PST, on May 1st!

$500 in prizes with SearchTempest Scavenger Hunts!

We’ve all found some weird things using SearchTempest. Over on Facebook, we’ve heard about people finding llamas, universal dentures, a case of rubber nipples… there’s a lot of weird stuff out there. But there’s also a ton of really cool stuff on there too! And that got us thinking…

Could we do a scavenger hunt for cool stuff using SearchTempest? Short answer: Of course we can.

On May 1st, we’re going to post on Facebook the category for our first ever SEARCHTEMPEST SCAVENGER HUNT! And of course there will be prizes, even if you’re just a voter.

Basically, we’ll post a category for the hunt, like “The coolest _____” or “The weirdest _____”. Then when you guys find something on eBay* that fits in that category, you’ll post it to Facebook and everyone votes for their favorites! There will be three different prizes given out:

First Prize of $250 goes to the person who posts the ad that gets the most likes. If you want, we’ll also put your name and link in the sidebar of the SearchTempest results page for a month!

Honorable Mention of $150 goes to the person who posts the best ad, as judged by the impeccable taste of the Tempest staff.

Bonus Prize of $100 goes to a random “liker” on the post we choose for Honorable Mention, since agreeing with us clearly deserves a reward. Just don’t go spamming all the posts in hopes of winning. Picking everything isn’t good taste. Keep it to the ones you actually like, if you want to win this prize.

Check out our Scavenger Hunt page for more on the rules and how to make a submission.

We’ll be hosting these regularly, and the prizes will vary with each draw.

The topic of our first Scavenger Hunt will be released at noon, PST, May 1st, and submissions will be accepted until midnight, May 21st. Even though you have three weeks to get your submission in, remember: all listings must be posted to eBay BEFORE the start of the competition, so it’s best to start searching early. Also, the longer your submission is up there, the longer it has to get votes!

And that’s it! Stay tuned to our Facebook and Scavenger Hunt page for more info.

Tell your friends, and happy searching!

*Note: this is a hunt for eBay ads – which SearchTempest also searches – not craigslist as you might expect.

Now you can save your searches in AutoTempest!

If you’ve been using SearchTempest for a while, you’re probably familiar with its My Searches feature. It automatically saves your recent searches so you can access them later without having to fill out the entire search form again. It also lets you tag your searches as favorites, so those searches will be saved forever (or at least until you don’t want them anymore). It’s handy if you run the same search pretty frequently, or if you are jumping back and forth between searches.

If this is the first you’re hearing about this feature, then you should totally try it out. You can access it by clicking that little yellow star just above the search button on the SearchTempest home page.

Why am I bringing this up? Because we just brought that same feature over to AutoTempest, that’s why. You can find it in the navigation bar at the far right. So now your favorite used car search just got that much more awesome.

Eventually, we’d like to add to both SearchTempest and AutoTempest the ability to login to those sites and save your searches so you can access them from a different computer too. Keep an eye out for that in the not so distant future!

If you’re new to AutoTempest and would like to know about it, keep reading after the jump.
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What We’re Doing with Your Feedback

Thanks everyone for the feedback on the new AutoTempest design! You have no idea how helpful it’s been for us. Seriously, you guys rock.

From listening to what you guys have been saying, we’ve garnered that you don’t much care for being sent to the landing tab after you make a search. So we’re getting rid of it, easy as that. Now when you make a search, you’ll be given listings instantly, not having to worry about clicking through to another tab to get what you came for. To make up for some of the functionality lost with the landing tab, we’ll be adding a toolbar to the bottom of the page that will allow you flip through the tabs, adjust your search settings, and access a tips page that will give you pointers for using AutoTempest more efficiently. Lastly, we’ll be adding a Getting Started guide to assist those who need a bit of a helping hand using our application.

So, thanks again for your feedback, and keep it coming!

Transferring Large MySQL Databases with both MyISAM and InnoDB Tables

While setting up a development environment on my laptop, Nathan and I came across a bit of a problem: How do you transfer large databases in a way that a) works for databases with a mix of MyISAM and InnoDB tables, b) doesn’t take an eternity, and c) won’t wipe out any existing data on your server? After scouring forums and blog posts, I mixed a number of methods and came up with my own super awesome method! It’s pretty easy, and is much faster and more reliable than a straight MySQL dump:
  1. Copy database files from the old server to the new one. On the both servers, find your MySQL data directories. In WAMP, that directory is located at ‘WAMP\bin\mysql\mysql[version]\data\’. In MAMP, that directory is located at ‘MAMP/db/mysql/’ In LAMP, that directory is located at ‘LAMP/var/lib/mysql/’ Continue reading