Web 2.0 archive at Gypsy Bandito

Archive for the 'Web 2.0' Category

Misty Fountain

Published August 1, 2008 in Web 2.0 and Art. 0 Comments

Here’s some footage I shot of the fountain just outside the Palais des Congres this past Tuesday and Wednesday. I was there for the Next Generation in Gambling conference (organized by Clarion Gaming).

I know online gambling has a really bad rap on this side of the pond, but there were extremely smart and interesting people there who (I believe) have the common sense to look past that stereotype and judge each online gambling site on its individual merits.

One of the people I got to meet (and interview on video) was Chris Collins, the Director of Enterprise Business Systems at Second Life. Another one was Victor Palmer, the founder and President of CentSports.

Victor’s baby is actually one of the more innovative products I’ve seen in a while. It’s a web 2.0 take on an online sportsbook, complete with social functionality. Users can maintain friend lists, bet against each other, and publicly taunt one another for the bad bets they make.

Where it really differs, though, is that you cannot bet with your own money. Rather, they give you 10 cents when you register, and when you build it up to $20 or more, you get to cash out. It’s also this free money give-away that allows CentSports to get around the UIGEA which makes it pretty much impossible for an online gambling site to operate in the US.

Plurk Sounds Like Poop

Published June 13, 2008 in Web 2.0 and Social Media. 0 Comments

I’m getting tired of people hating on Twitter for having problems. I mean, yeah, they’re having trouble scaling, but so f**king what? Who the f**k are you to criticize?

First of all, it’s a free service, so you don’t get to say shit about their level of service. If you don’t like it: fine, don’t use it — which would suck for them, but doesn’t change the fact that you have nothing more than your blogging/tweeting ego invested in them.

The fact of the matter is that Twitter was a brilliant f**king idea (albeit an accidental one — which most brilliant ideas are), and all you whiney haters weren’t the one who had it. So there! Just ’cause you can use a web app and blog about how to get the most out of it, that doesn’t mean that you know shit.

It’s easy to see the value of something once someone else shows it to you. It’s another thing altogether to come up with that something, and that’s what separates the shepherds from the sheep.

That being said, Plurk has been riding on the woes of Twitter, so I thought I’d check it out and get a Plurk account. I don’t really like the interface, and maybe I will get used to it, but that’s not the point.

Rather, my point is that while Twitter has really been transparent about being overwhelmed by theirsuccess, the folks over at Plurk who’ve basically been lucky enough to ~~profit~~ benefit from Twitter’s woes have no fucking class. While importing my friends over from my Twitter account, I got this screenshot.

It’s not good enough that Plurk is succeeding because Twitter is failing, but they have to f**king rub it in. I mean, f**k you Plurk!. The only reason you even got the idea to exist is because Twitter came along first.

And yeah, that’s a problem with being an innovator: your version 1.0 is going to be lacking, and if you’re not quick enough to move on your shortcomings, a competitor is going to enter the marketplace and f**k your shit up. But hey, that only detracts from your profits, not from your inherent bad-assness as a creative and forward-thinking mind.

Think Nikola Tesla. He invented all kinds shit, got very little credit for most of it, and died poor. I’m not, however, putting Biz Stone on par with Tesla.

Anyway, Plurk: good for you, you managed to get lucky. That’s one hell of a business model. I hope that that luck keeps you from getting your ass sued by Universal TV for violating their copyrights, or at least stops you from losing your shirt if you do. Besides, you named your service after th noise that those hard, nugget-like poops make when they hit the water.