Salesforce has introduced a new Google Adwords module which ties Google Adwords campaigns directly into Salesforce. (The feature was created by a small startup called Kieden that was acquired by Salesforce.) The announcement inspired quite a mixed bag of commentary on Techcrunch.

The tool provides the ability to “create online advertisements and then automatically track which ads and keywords are delivering results to the business” by reporting on “which clicks turn into leads, deals, and revenue.”

The following flash slideshow demonstrates the product in more detail: http://salesforce.breezecentral.com/p96761996/.

Chickenfoot is a Greasemonkey-esque tool from MIT that empowers users make the web work the way they want it to. Unique features include an integrated script development sidebar and a simplified set of scripting commands targeted at non-developers.

   In the example above, click(”google search”) clicks the button labeled “google search” .

The following items from the FAQ describe the tool and how it differs from Greasemonkey in more detail.

Chickenfoot is geared towards end-user programmers as well as hackers.
By offering commands such as click(), enter() and pick(), Chickenfoot provides users with a higher level of abstraction over their actions on a web page, which is more appropriate for an end-user programmer. However, Chickenfoot users are not restricted to this level of abstraction because Chickenfoot can run all valid JavaScript, so all the functions and commands that Greasemonkey users are accustomed to using will still be available in Chickenfoot.

Chickenfoot encourages users to experiment with web pages to develop their scripts.
One of the major contributions of Chickenfoot is the addition of a development environment inside Firefox for web scripting. Since Chickenfoot users are encouraged to work with the rendered model of a web page, being able to look at the page while writing the script is essential. Also, the Output pane makes it convenient to view intermediary results, and the Pattern pane helps users users see what their keyword patterns will match before adding them to their script. Greasemonkey does not provide users with such an environment, so users must switch back and forth between their editor and their browser to create and then test scripts.

Some of the most popular sites on the web still make users go through many pages of painful forms to accomplish common tasks, without any external help or automation.  Those sites typically block third party sites that seek to automate or simplify those flows on behalf of user, out of concerns that a third party will get in the way of their relationship with the user. 

Tools like Chickenfoot or Greasemonkey, however, cannot be easily detected or blocked, and will shift the balance of power back to the user. 

(The main feature missing from most web rewriting tools is a more server-centric model for script configuration. I shouldn’t have to recreate my script configuration on every browser, and given the need to inspect and trust third-party scripts, many users will want to delegate script configuration to a central authority anyway.)

Here’s a lovely little bug that Itea discovered in Jobster search.  

The first clue was several jobs being listed in Lakebay, WA.  Lakebay is small community in Pierce county, and these jobs weren’t actually in Lakebay.  Strange, but not yet obvious what could be causing the bug. 

Another key bit of evidence:  Lakebay also happens to be known as Home, WA.   

Still other jobs were listed with the dual location of Sweet Home, OR and Lakebay.  (Sadly, there is no Sweet Home, AL.)

The punchline should be obvious by now– a number of of the “work at home” jobs on Craigslist were posted with a location of “home” or “home sweet home”, and our location parsing code was a little too clever/stupid for its own good. 

I think we’ll be fixing that one.

Full screen maps are now included on the business details page in Berry411, replacing the small Mapquest thumbnails that were there before. These mobile-friendly maps come courtesy of the Yahoo Maps Image API, which allow you to construct a map image of arbitrary dimensions for any address or latitude/longitude, and the ym4r Ruby gem that wraps the Yahoo web service. Google currently doesn’t have anything like it, and the Yahoo service is free for up to 50,000 web service hits a day.