Jim Regan - Site Reviews
Spyonit.com
|
Like the recently reviewed Quickbrowse, Spyonit is more a Web tool than Web site -- both are notable, not for their scintillating content, but for their ability to simplify life online. The premise of Spyonit is a simple one -- rather than periodically checking for specific information on the Web, you create a 'spy', which does the checking for you, and then reports back whenever it finds a relevant match. The variety of information that can be tracked is genuinely impressive -- from the self-indulgent (though no doubt popular) 'vanity' spies that alert you whenever your name is mentioned on the Web, to operatives that will tell you when a FedEx package has arrived at its destination, when an article about a particular topic or by a particular author is posted, when a particular stock changes by a specified amount, and even when a favourite ski resort gets a fresh snowfall.
Dozens of these 'missions' are to be found in the Spy Catalog -- a Yahoo-style directory of programs with such categories as Auctions, News, Sports, Financial, and the hard to pin down, Swiss Army Spies. Choose a Spy, such as "Get A Job" and a form appears in which you simply fill in the blanks. (In this case the spy will watch for specific job title postings at Monster.com and Hotjobs.com.) If you haven't set up your free account before exploring the catalog, you can do it at the same time as setting up your first spy. After they've gathered their intelligence, your spies can deliver their reports by various methods, (E-mail, pager, ICQ, AOL Instant Messenger, or a personal "My Spies" webpage) depending on the importance you attach to speedy notification. The notification method of each Spy is also set individually, so you can choose to receive stock information by pager, but news about Rolling Stone reviews on your webpage.
Spyonit has something to offer Webmasters as well -- a "SiteSpy Wizard", which automatically generates the HTML necessary to add a custom link from the webmaster's site to Spyonit.com. With this, the webmaster's site can offer visitors the option of automatic notification of changes -- creating an effective, and labor-free method of encouraging regular, repeat visits. (More advanced capabilities are in the works.)
While the logo at the top of every page notes that Spyonit is in 'Beta', the term may refer to the site itself as much as the program. With the constant addition of new spies, and future plans to allow anyone with a little programming savvy to create and submit their own customized spies, Spyonit will permanently be 'in development,' and the potential for grassroots evolution and distribution of this 'open source' program is immense. (A potential that will be obvious to many who have similar experience with AppleScript or Adobe PhotoShop's Action scripts.)
Like Quickbrowse, Spyonit holds the promise of fundamentally changing your Web routine. In fact the two complement each other very nicely -- while the former gathers regularly viewed webpages onto a single page for an easy overview of periodically updated information, Spyonit searches out specific changes to specific data. At the very least, Spyonit will be happy to tell you the next time your favourite James Bond film will be on TV.
Spyonit can be found at http://www.spyonit.com/Home.
Jim Regan provides 'Today's Links' to the e-Monitor. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.