Archive for April, 2008

Returning back home after Web 2.0 Expo, I felt bereft. No longer could I turn quickly to my trusty RAZR, send a Twitter message to @fireball, and find out where people were. It's a silly thing to want, but if you are making plans to go out, it's helpful to have, especially if you are trying to meet up somewhere.
When @smbeebe asked if anyone wanted an invite to Brightkite, a location-based social network currently in private beta, I jumped at [...]

MySpace Apps Gallery has been in private beta for a while. This week marked its debut into the public eye. MySpace Apps is meant to compete directly with FaceBook, a company that has offered third party applications for quite while.
Much like FaceBook's ubiquitous applications, MySpace Apps seems full of silly games and quizzes. In stark contract to FaceBook, however, MySpace leads off with a way to opt out of the applications altogether, a welcome relief for those of [...]

I have a lot of posting to catch up on after Web 2.0 Expo this week, but I'm not saving the best for last; I'm starting off my catch-up posts with my review of the Blogtropol.us Bloggers Lounge.
When I first arrived at Web 2.0 Expo, I was a little bit incensed that bloggers had their own lounge rather than admittance to the "media room." Here I was at a conference about Web 2.0 and the bloggers weren't considered media?
Forget it. [...]

Coming fast on the heels of the Yahoo and Google ad pairing is Yahoo's new partnership with CNET. The two companies signed an agreement tying them together via content and ad sales for three years this week. For the next three years Yahoo will be able to sell ad placements on CNET's network, and CNET will provide content for Yahoo's sites, as well as sell ads.
"Working together, we have the ability to build more robust content environments and [...]

Even smart people need to find love. In fact, some might say that smart people need more help, since the stereotype states they spend more time with their minds doing other things than looking for connections. Enter Intelligent People, a new dating service that requires you to pass an IQ test to to be considered appropriate dating material to join.
I suppose if eHarmony can use an algorithm that discriminates against certain people for temperament or orientation, and Match can use… [...]

You would have thought that companies involved in selling digital media (especially those with DRM content) would have learned a lesson after the fiasco Google went through when the company decided to close its video marketplace. That was last August, when Google abruptly cut off access to the videos that many customers had rightfully purchased or rented. Then, after heavy internet criticism, all customers received an apology and full refunds.
Schizophrenic Microsoft must not have heard about that news story however, [...]

Now that FaceBook's instant messaging feature is live and I have had a chance to play with it, I must say it is getting a resounding "meh" from me. I was looking forward to a feature that would enable me to talk with my FaceBook contacts without having to resort to one of the intrusive third party applications, but the end release is underwhelming at best.
The first issue I have with the feature is its location. It took [...]

It's been absolutely insanely busy here at Web 2.0 Expo. It's great getting to meet so many people and showing them the Profy platform, but I'm also a little bit bummed I haven't been able to get around to more booths and attend more sessions. It's like Disneyland here: too much to do in four days to see and experience it all!
There've been some highlights so far. Twitter has definitely established itself as the go-to place for conferences, and [...]

Ubuket is the new darling of the music playlist creation set. Entering the ring with recent darlings MuxTape and Grooveshark, among others, Ubuket gives you a way to pull music from a variety of places online and on your computer and make playlists. You can even grab music from video sites like YouTube.
Ubuket is quite easy to use. Once you sign up you can grab tunes from a variety of places, including your computer, and turn them into playlists for [...]