

Ask HN: Review my students start-up - dmarques1
http://www.bongobing.com

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mquander
I don't know about you, but I find it impossible to read that URL without
reading "BoingBoing" instead of "BongoBing."

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quizbiz
We are being harsh. I apologize for this: As far as the branding goes, people
have a hard time trusting online shopping as it is. Childish colors and a
monkey does not help.

~~~
Zarathu
Cyber-pollution doesn't deserve an apology.

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trimber
I was searching for "laptop" and the first result page did not contain one
single laptop. The categories "Electronics" and "Computer" do not contain any
laptops either. So, considering that your slogan is "Find the product you are
looking for" I have to say I doesnt really seem to work. Also I think the logo
has a little to many color combinations in it, looks a little confusing. Sorry
I dont have anything nice to say.

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thamer
Is this based on cuil? I am going to buy a _washing machine_ soon. Your
website gave me a "Lobster Hybrid Tennis Ball Machine with Pneumatic
Propulsion" in first position, and many irrelevant links. "Individual Token
for Slot Machine", really?

Only one link (a steel connector for washing machines) is getting close to my
search, and that is for a very generous definition of close.

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kynikos
I searched for "juice" and got one related result (juicer) and the rest were
Leatherman-type of tools that have a brand name of "juice."

The results should be better. Or, if they can't be, there should be some sort
of incentive for me to purchase from this site. Do I get a discount? Free
shipping? If I already know what I'm looking for, why do I need to use
BongoBing?

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kyro
What about your service compels me to use it over something like Amazon or
Google product search?

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s_baar
I put in House of the Dead and it gave me bird houses. Does it even use Amazon
at all? Plus, it needs to search cafepress/zazzle.

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RiderOfGiraffes
As others have said, the presentation -even if you like it - doesn't save it
from the fact that it produces no useful results.

I'm not inclined, therefore, to explore why it has a "login" prompt at the top
right. One search, zero relevant results, back to Google or Bing or Yahoo or
anything else.

My impression is that the presentation seems targeted at 4-year olds, although
that may be harsh.

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dmarques1
Thank you for the great feedback, the students definitely appreciate it, the
search results lack relevancy at the moment due to the fact that they are
adding a large number of products in the coming weeks so it will improve over
time, the feedback on UI/Logo/etc. is very useful.

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mynameishere
It's obviously doing an "or" search which is a horrible mistake.

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zitterbewegung
You have to work on the quality of the search results. I did a simple search
for ipod, and laptop and got items related to laptops or ipod's but no results
returned the actual product. Also there seems to be no way to organize the
search results by price either which might be helpful.

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dc2k08
Maybe s/he should just focus on one particular market - say computer hardware
or video games etc - and excel at bringing in results for that market, best
current deals etc. Otherwise it's no different than a froogle.com or something
similar and would have difficulty competing.

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int2e
Every* web developer should be familiar with cross-site scripting (XSS) and
how to prevent it. <http://www.google.com/search?q=xss>

* If you don't have a login system or any sensitive data, it might not matter much.

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danohuiginn
'external hard drive' doesn't seem like a difficult query. Results? a bunch of
hard hats.

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TrevorJ
I like the simplicity, but the logo needs to be toned down a bit.

~~~
ABrandt
I agree, the simplicity is really the strong suit here. I would say this is at
least a solid _start_.

I first tried a search for a semi obscure product called a "grillmate". Got
nothing. I then went to the opposite side of the spectrum and searched "hair
dryer". Tons of hair dryers and no real way to sort them by any relevant
criteria. This makes the service a bit useless in my opinion, but exposes an
opportunity at the same time.

Your best bet is to guide people into finding that one product that they just
can't quite put their finger on. Walk me through a process that helps me find
that one keyboard that I saw at my friend's brother's house last week. If you
can do that, then you'll really distinguish yourself as a _product_ search
engine.

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rmason
I typed in Ferrari Testarossa and I got cologne. I tried Ferrari Testarossa
sports car and got a sports slide.

On the other hand it is fast ;<)

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codeodor
What kind of products am I looking for?

"We could not find any products to match your search :( "

For "netbook".

