New: Default keyword

Do you often just want to Google something but forget the g keyword? Now you can define a default keyword which Serchilo will use if you forgot it. For instance, if you define g,  then anytime Serchilo does not recognize your query, it assumes g for Google Web and starts a Google search.

To setup your default keyword, just login to the wiki (if you have no account yet, register for free), go to Special:Preferences and click the new Serchilo tab.

Remember that your personal settings are only available from http://[your username].serchilo.net. On this page you may also install your personal search plugin.

Serchilo on your console

We’ve implemented a little new interface for all console lovers. By calling Serchilo with action=url, for instance:

http://serchilo.net/?action=url&query=g+berlin

you will not be redirected to the target site but will just get its URL:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=berlin&ie=utf-8

This can be very useful if you have a shell script on your system calling Serchilo with your query, getting the url, downloading the target page and filtering it through html2text.

If this script is called “s” and is located in a directory of $PATH and you’ve installed html2text you can do this:

$ s dbt berlin, hamburg | html2text
===============================================================================
****** Fahrplanauskunft ?bersicht ******

                                                  [frühere Verbindungen]
 +-------------------------+---------------------+----+--------+--------+
 |     Bahnhof ab          | Bahnhof an          | Um |   Ab   |   An   |
 +-------------------------+---------------------+----+--------+--------+
 |  1. Berlin Hbf (tief)   | Hamburg Hbf         |  0 |  05:18 |  07:07 |
 |  2. Berlin Hbf (tief)   | Hamburg Hbf         |  0 |  05:58 |  07:46 |
 |  3. Berlin Hbf (tief)   | Hamburg Hbf         |  0 |  07:18 |  08:57 |
 +-------------------------+---------------------+----+--------+--------+
                                                  [spätere Verbindungen]
  Anzeigeformen
      [Detail]
      [Reisebegleiter]

  Verweise
      Neue Anfrage
      Zur Hauptseite der Deutschen Bahn AG
===============================================================================
Software/Datenstand: HAFAS 5.23.DB.R5.50.c - 15.09.08
Alle Angaben ohne Gew?hr, bei Gleisangaben beachten Sie bitte die ?rtlichen
Hinweise. Hier erreichen Sie uns bei Problemen.

Here’s the script, enjoy!

#!/bin/sh
SERCHILOQUERY="http://serchilo.net/?action=url&query=$@"
URL=`wget -qO - "$SERCHILOQUERY"`
if [ -n "$URL" ]
then
	wget -U "Firefox" -qO - "$URL"
fi

New: Paid commands

In order to refund some of our server costs we have introduced paid commands.

For example we have registered Serchilo as a partner at Amazon.de and added our partner ID to the Amazon.de command’s target URL. Now if you are using the Amazon command, Amazon will know that you came from Serchilo and will pay us 5% of your purchase.

All paid commands are listed on Category:Paid.

New: User styles

If you do not like the standard design of the Serchilo homepage, you may now create your own – with user styles! Just put all the CSS on the wiki page User:Example/Serchilo.css – and the style will be loaded into example.serchilo.net.

Serchilo aufs iPhone

Nicolas von iphone-ticker.de hat herausgefunden, wie man Serchilo als Standardsuche in MobileSafari auf dem iPhone einstellt und hat dazu ein Anleitungsvideo gemacht. Vielen Dank!

Serchilo.net accessible again

The problem of yesterday afternoon seems solved, the transfer of the domain was successful and Serchilo.net should be accessible from everywhere again. However, it could take some more hours to have all DNS servers updated.

If you still experience problems, please leave a comment.

Serchilo.net currently inaccessible

Because of sudden insolvency of our current provider we have to change our domain to another one. Therefore, there are currently problems in accessing serchilo.net.

We have already initiated a domain transfer and waiting now for the update of the DNS servers. This can take some hours, maybe even a day.

Sorry for this inconvenience.

Lightning Talk at 24C3

At the 24th Chaos Communication Congress I had the chance to give a Lightning Talk on Serchilo. Mario Behling of SuMa-eV was so nice and put the video online. So after the Screencast in German we have now a first (kind of) presentation in English:

Jetzt mit Screencast

Seit heute gibt’s einen Screencast, erstmal nur auf Deutsch:

(Vollbild, Direktlink, Dank an Schumanncombo)

The new Serchilo

Today we put a new Version of Serchilo online. Its main changes are:

• Suggestions! Just type in a letter, wait a second and see which commands begin with this letter. Or type in a word and Serchilo searches in the command titles.
• User commands. Register at Serchilo and define personalized commands, for a example a Deutsche Bahn search from your hometown. Just go on your userpage, e.g. http://wiki.serchilo.net/User:Example, set up the commands, then go on http://example.serchilo.net and start using them right away. Or install your personal search plugin.
• An easier command syntax. For simple commands you do not need regular expressions anymore. Just define a keyword and an url. In the url do not use $1, $2 anymore but name the arguments how you like, e.g. {%query}, {%Start}, {%Ziel}.
• You do not need to update manually anymore. As you save the wiki page, all the command will also be saved.

Although we’ve tested intensively the new site there may be still some bugs. If you like, tell us them in the comments here.