mostly research stuff
…so it seems that yet another web annotation and social bookmarking service has been getting some traction…i’ve already taken long hard looks at furl (read the interview with mike giles) and spurl (read that interview with hjalli gislason too) and also caught up with shimon, the guy behind frassle …but this is a different angle completely…this is about a company that already makes installation software, similar in spirit to netsnippets (best of the lot by far, and now offering a free version) and the oft-maligned onfolio (like nancy wilson from heart before the gastric bypass)…the company is pluck and what they’re offering is shadows…
now, pluck already came to market with a me-too web-based edition of their software, and it feels solid…but it looks like they’re now trying to build a company that they can sell quickly by offering a social bookmarking service under the pluck umbrella (come on, austin ventures and mayfield give money to two guys who have already built and sold companies so that they can build a product that is free? that competes with other free products? then follow up with yet another free offering to diversity their portfolio of things that generate ZERO revenue?..c’mon, grow up…)
this offering is called shadows, and they’re doing exactly what furl and spurl and a million others are doing and have been doing for well over a year - but they’re spending more time evangelizing tagging as a concept…what is tagging you might ask? well, they offer it up like it’s something new, but in reality it’s the same shit you’ve always done to organize your stuff - you label it! (du-hoy)..this, in turn, allows them to compete with tag-based search engines - the most relevant examples of which have also already been in existence for a while (again, also free) from furl and spurl (spurl is way far ahead in this game with zniff, for searching users’ tags and bookmarks)
…the dream of all of these sites? well, imagine doing an important search on elGoog or msn or yahoo and seeing comments from people all over the search results like “get low rate mortgages!” or “this is good site, visit our site for excellent watches, rolex cartier” - now say to yourself, “gosh, who in the fuck would want that?” the answer: probably not you or i, dear reader, unless they can control spam - just the advertisers and search engine companies who wish to pore over the data behind the tags to understand how to better sell a lot of other crap to you (mortgages, watches etc)…good luck shadows…you’re walking onto a very crowded dance floor, and you’re dancing way behind the beat…still waiting for your first drink…and everybody else is already drunk (and hooking up in the bathroom!)…
this blog is mostly safe for work, though i sometimes throw around a 'fuck' or two. you'll find a bunch of my articles from CI Magazine, SCIP online, other research pieces and some other crap. enjoy. there's lost of content here related to getting information about, around, from and through people and organizations...
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