ODP offshoots
I keep bumping into ODP licensees with interesting twists, so here's a list, since the ODP category uses an alphabar(*) which makes it cumbersome to browse (and there are countless implementations without any added value whatsoever):

• Axie (e-mail notification of new links depending on your search terms, à la Copernic)


• Fansites (popularity-ranked categories and personalization through scripted customization)


• Google (popularity-ranked links ; see Google: We're down with ODP)


• Oingo (meaning-based categorization ; see Search For Meanings, Not Just Words)


• Searchshots (site screenshots preview) (**)


• Map.net, WebBrain, WebMap (the later added 05/29/01 - mapped results ; see a previous post)


• Wherewithal (alternate taxonomies)

The last time I tried Anaconda for Amazon affiliate links, I ran into performance issues, but that was about one year ago and I didn't really try to identify their source and possibly work around them.

It's time we moved from "undressing" HTML sites with PERL scripts, to accessing them through APIs. I get e-mails from Anaconda everytime Amazon changes their template, because you need to change the scripts. Is Amazon going to provide APIs instead of static links through URLs? If they don't, eBay might step in and get their affiliate business in a year or two (the writing is on the wall).

It's fun to see sites able to add useful features on top of the work of others (see what iLOR does to Google).

(*) Note to self, remove links to empty letters from SciFan's alphabar.
(**) You pervert, they don't list the porn stuff :-)

05/24/01 update: Oingo Changes Name to Applied Semantics.