Protagonize - an online community dedicated to collaborative fiction
Posted on May 8, 2008
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Protagonize is an online community originally dedicated to the (nearly) lost art of the addventure (yes, that’s spelled right), a very specific type of collaborative fiction. Recently, the site has been expanded to support the creation of linear stories, as well. TheyThe idea to revamp the concept popped up a few months ago. The old web-based collaborative fiction implementations were always a lot of fun, but were generally pretty flawed or lacking in a variety of ways. The old Snoot.com addventure site was uncontrolled and organic; there was no moderation of any sort and people pretty much ran amok, causing havoc and generally enjoying themselves in a chaotic sort of way. Protagonize is an attempt to modernize the collaborative creative writing arena a bit and inject a little Web 2.0 love to produce a better interface. So far, so good.
Are those guys reinventing the wheel here?… well, hopefully not. So, what’s different about Protagonize? Well, it allows a bit more flexibility all-around than the old implementations did. The ability to read and browse stories, branches (the individual posts that make up an addventure) and chapters is open to everyone, with or without an account. Protagonize members can post a story, branch or chapter wherever they want (registration is free, of course), as well as comment on author profiles or story fragments, and keep track of their own posts.
Members also have access to a bookshelf-style interface that allows them to flag favourite authors and stories, or add markers to track specific story branches or chapters, so as to not lose their place when reading a story. They believe that these are probably the handiest features of the bunch, as members can track their favourite authors, see what those authors have posted recently, easily navigate to new content, and the site will provide the user with suggested reading the entire time.
Readers can rate stories, which translate into author ratings based on average rating for all of an author’s stories. Each author has their own personal profile page that’s visible to everyone. The profile page aggregates each author’s content and allows readers to see similar authors, related stories, etc. Relationships between user-created content is maintained mostly via a combination of story categories and tags, though we may expand on that in the future.
To top everything off, the homepage serves as a giant content aggregator for the entire site, listing off both hot and top rated stories, providing random snippets of content extracted from story sections throughout the site, as well as recent activity, newly posted comments, top story tags presented in a cloud format, and other relevant information. Both stories and authors have their own aggregator pages as well, which act as a more focused breakdown of the higher-level topics you’ll find on the homepage.
A variety of RSS feeds are also available, such as hot stories, top rated stories, recent activity, and feeds for each author and story posted. hope this will allow the site to attract a broader community of authors looking to create collaborative, interactive fiction.
Oosah - extremely rich “Web 2.0″ digital media content management site
Posted on May 8, 2008
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Oosah is a simple, easy-to-use, but feature rich “Web 2.0″ content hosting site. They basically give you one spot on the Web where you can manage all of your digital media content - photos, videos, and music/audio files. It is designed to be easy enough for novice users to use, while at the same time providing features that even the advanced user can appreciate. Oosah is a fully Web-based application, there is no Oosah application or code that you need to download or install on your Mac or PC.
Oosah has a number of features you won’t find on other Web-based content hosting sites. These include:
- A fully Web-based file management system that lets you create file folders, and file folder hierarchies, just like you can do on your desktop system.
- A desktop-like look and feel for the Oosah service, including use of standard drag-and-drop, and keyboard commands for performing Oosah operations.
- The ability to upload content to Oosah in almost any digital format. Oosah accepts virtually all digital photo formats, including raw, uncompressed formats from individual camera vendors, as well as standard compressed file formats (e.g., JPG/JPEG). Oosah also accepts .avi, .mpg, .wmv video formats.
- The ability to upload content directly from your capture device (e.g., digital camera or cell phone) to Oosah, without having to transfer it to a PC or Mac first. (Of course, you can transfer it onto a PC or Mac, and then to Oosah if you want to.)
- More sharing options than almost any other site, including email, RSS, linking/embedding, SMS, podcasting, and even downloading and burning to CD/DVD, and local high resolution printing of photos.
In a nuthsell, it’s a good project with potential that is in its beta phase and deserves attention.
Metapic - generate an infinite number of original images using rules
Posted on May 6, 2008
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Mutapic is a real creative tool. It generates ideas. The traditional way to create artwork is to start with an idea, sketch it, then render it. The idea comes from the brain, the sketch is drawn on paper and the rendering is done with any appropriate technique: painting, sculpting, etc.
When you use a computer to create artwork you still need an idea, a sketch and a render. Computer are mostly used for rendering, a technically challenging process. Computers are not used too often to generate ideas because of their obvious dumbness and poor sense of taste. Mutapic is not any smarter than your average software but it does have some taste. Mutapic generates an infinite number of original images using rules, recipes and elements that are graphically interesting. Mutapic is used for the complete creative process. Mutapic proposes ideas, makes sketches and allows you to refine your sketches until you get a final render.
Mutapic helps you to create artwork. It is a tool for designers, artists and craftsmen. It can be used to create logos, patterns, decorative elements, and just for fun!
When you use Mutapic you combine two pictures to create a third one. Those two input pictures come from a picture library on the Mutapic server. In vector format, the pictures are small, 3kb in average, allowing high quality graphics with a small file size and fast download. The two input pictures are combined locally on your machine using computer generated randomness and filters. You pick filters and the machine computes random variations. Mutapic generates 16 different pictures automatically. The pictures are ‘mutants’ because they all are variations on a single theme. When you create mutants you generally get a lot of crap; this is also what happens with mutants in nature, a lot of tests and not much success. Mutation is an unpredictable business. To avoid generating too much crap the Mutapic functionality is not completely random. All the generated random values are biased and bound to give graphically interesting results.
To sum up, a good startup when you are fed up with photoshop.
Pangaeaa - an innovative online community for unsigned, unpublished and undiscovered talent
Posted on May 6, 2008
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Pangaea (pan-GEE-ah), as many may know, was the name of the Super Continent before the continental divide. Instead of a divide, the concept of Pangaeaa came about because of the need for a place where artists could come together and express themselves and share their unique talents with others. As the concept grew from an idea for a community, the thought that not only should artists have a place to share their art, music, and literature but they should also be able to achieve some financial gain from their hard work. The internet has changed the way we communicate, entertain ourselves, and purchase goods and services. So the internet offers the perfect place for Artists to come together, share their talents, and participate in e-commerce.
Pangaeaa.com is an innovative online community for unsigned, unpublished and undiscovered talent. Through Pangaeaa’s unique design, members are able to create a personal home page to share and discuss their various talents. Pangaeaa.com also gives artists the ability to not only share their talents with others, but to receive a percentage (up to 90%) of all sales of their artwork through the website. Art, Music, and Literature are just the beginning. As membership grows so will the areas of interest. Pangaeaa’s goal is to become the #1 website on the Internet for people to discover new talent of all kinds.
Trendio - the first current events stock exchange
Posted on May 3, 2008
Filed Under Fun/Games | 1 Comment
Trendio is the first current events stock exchange. It is a stock exchange where words from the news are the stocks. The value of the words is calculated according to their presence in the media. It makes it possible to visualize trends in the media and try to predict what will make the headlines tomorrow in a cool community-based game.
Trendio was created in march 2006 by Jens Agerberg. The website was at the origin a hobby project for its creator, but the project grew thanks to the support of the users and the interest of the blogosphere. The website is edited by the Trendio company with office in Stockholm, Sweden.
It’s no more a startup, but it’s an excellent example of how to succeed in the Web 2.0 Era.
Ecocho - the first fully ecological search engine in the world
Posted on May 3, 2008
Filed Under Beta | 1 Comment
Ecocho is a new search engine trying to make a difference for climate change. For every 1000 searches users make on Ecocho we’ll counter balance or “offset” a ton of greenhouse gases. Imagine searching the web and saving the planet at the same time. How does that work? Glad you asked.
Ecocho is a free service, and it’s one of the easiest ways people can change everyday behaviour to make a positive impact on the environment. It allows you to search the web using your favourite search engine technology (Yahoo) and reduce greenhouse gases as you do it. Each time you use ecocho as your search engine, you’ll be helping to slow climate change.
How? For every 1000 searches that users make on ecocho.com, two trees will be grown to offset carbon pollution emissions. Switching to ecocho.com doesn’t alter or slow your search. Search results are displayed via technology you already know and trust - Yahoo!
ecocho.com is the world’s first known search engine that enables users to offset their own carbon emissions for free. ecocho.com is an international initiative to reduce global warming. The service is multi-lingual and is being rolled out globally.
Trees are grown via official Government-accredited projects. KPMG will run quarterly and final year-end audits on the amount of carbon credits purchased and “retired” by ecocho. Yahoo has given its full support to the project, contributing the search results for the site.
Now everyone can help reduce global warming by switching to ecocho.com as their internet search engine. A thousand searches on Ecocho allow us to buy enough carbon offset credits to remove 1 ton of CO2 from the atmosphere. This works out at two trees spending a year sucking CO2 from the atmosphere as they grow, which makes us very happy.
Rental Source - an excellent online marketplace for rental properties
Posted on May 2, 2008
Filed Under Business/Finance | 2 Comments
Rental Source is an online marketplace for rental properties located in the United States and Canada. It’s also an easy & cost effective place for property owners and managers to advertise their rental properties online.
Property owners and managers pay a fee to list their available rental properties on Rental Source. Rental Source then works to attract potential renters to explore their listings. If the renter is interested in their property, they’ll contact the manager directly through the contact information noted on their listing. The manager then handles any ensuing transaction and the management of the rental property. Rental Source does not collect a commission or fee on bookings created through our service.
Rental Source was founded in 2004 and is owned and operated by Morgan Ventures, Inc., a privately held corporation headquartered in Raleigh, NC.
Novlet - an innovative approach to literature
Posted on May 2, 2008
Filed Under Fun/Games | 1 Comment
You are sitting on your favourite armchair, reading one of the books you just bought, when suddenly the plot takes a twist that you don’t like. You start wondering how the story would have continued if the author had not chosen to let the protagonist die in such a silly way, or if the villain had not revealed himself so soon. One idea after the other, you start putting together a whole new alternative storyline, that looks as good as the original one.
If this has ever happened to you (even without the “as good as the original one” part), this website is meant for people like you. To use a web 2.0 slogan, novlet.com is a web application that supports collaborative non-linear storywriting.
To use a less abstract language, even if storywriting part is quite straightforward, the other couple of words probably deserve some better explanation.
When reading a “traditional” book, you have a start and one possible end. There is only one way to read a book: from beginning to end, page after page, without any possible deviation. If you imagine the start and the end of the story as points on a sheet of paper, the plot unravels as a straight line, without any possible branching point. For this reason, the story of a common book can be called linear.
If, however, while reading a book, you have an idea and start writing an alternative storyline, what you obtain is a new branch in the story, i.e. there will be some point in time where the plot can take two different courses, that could possibly lead to different endings.
In Novlet they take this idea to its extreme consequences, shattering a story in it’s simplest pieces: each story is divided in passages, sections of texts (usually 2-3 paragraphs long). Each passage can have one or more different continuations: it’s up to you, the reader, to decide how the story you’re reading should go on. And if you don’t like any of the potential continuations that have been already written, you can always write your own one, and start a new storyline.
Eventually, each story will have a single starting point, but a very intricate structure: recalling the sheet of paper analogy, Novlet stories will look quite complicated if compared to normal ones. You’d see a single starting point, but the story would have a branch for every passage with more than one possible continuation. This, basically, is what non-linear stands for.
The explanation of the term collaborative is a lot easier: in novlet, stories can be written by everyone. You could be writing an exciting spy story, or an epic fantasy novel with potentially anyone. If you see a story that you like, you are always allowed (and, possibly, encouraged) to contribute to it.
Pricefad - collecting and sorting thousands of product price points from various sources
Posted on May 2, 2008
Filed Under Business/Finance | 1 Comment
Give me a break. Why another shopping site?!
We wanted to give you the best historical view before pulling the trigger - be that researching on a broad category, say 46in LCD TVs or a specific product, say: TomTom ONE XL GPS, or even to compare two alternative products, say Samsung 19in LCD vs. Viewsonic 19in LCD. The PriceFad allows you, the consumer, to see historical market direction and understand whether today’s deal is really a deal. If you are patient enough, you can also register for a price drop alert so you won’t be missing anything
Can I receive email alert for price drops on specific products? How?
Definitely. You can sign up for daily email alerts price drops for any PriceFad Tracker. Click on the yellow email envelope in the chart page and specify your email address and the price drop you’re waiting for. We will only notify you once the limit was reached
How does PriceFad work?
As we answer this question, and throughout the days, we are collecting and sorting thousands of product price points from various sources. After aggregating the data, we slice and dice it per categories and products and present you an easy to digest research chart with the ability to drill down into specific deals. All of this is to allow you to make the best judged decision before going on a shopping spree. Isn’t it fun taking the fad out of the price and getting more pricing visibility!
123brand - puts creative people in contact with those who need their opinion
Posted on May 2, 2008
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123brand is a service that puts creative types (all of us are creative, we just need to try!) in contact with those who need their opinion or their contribution. Two examples: - a company may need your opinion to select a logo from A, B or C. - a second company may ask for your help to find a name for a new product.
As soon as you register you will be assigned a “portfolio” which you will fill with points by participating on the website. Based on the points you accumulate you can select a gift from the catalogue, this is our first thank you for your activity. But there is more. The companies who enter a request for a contribution will award the winner with the item specified each time. And equally important, this is an excellent showcase for getting exposure in the communication and creative world, being able to demonstrate your ideas in the field is often much better than a good CV.
At some point you have certainly been faced with having to choose between A and B or to invent a new motto or claim. Yes, there are specialised agencies but sometimes you are too small and their costs are too high. Up to now the solution has been to ask your staff, friends or relations, even through in-house mailing lists, etc. Now there is something better, for a very low cost you can put your survey or request online making it visible to a potential number of creative types, customers and navigators which no mailing list can equal.
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