Tech Confidential

Do you have a second life?

Well recently with all the media attention on secondlife.com, I started my second life. Yes I currently have another life on top of my hectic Real Life!

You may wonder what I am talking about but this is all about living in the virtual world.  No it is not a game. It is more than a game. A virtual world where you can look pretty much as anything and you can create pretty much anything that you can imagine.

Second Life is the 3 dimentional virtual world that received a lot of media attention lately. Hence I decided to give it a try about 2 weeks ago. Initially I thought it would be a game just like any other SIM games. However, when I joined I ran into to real people in a virtual world. Amazing!

I've heard about people making money with their second life as well. So the first day I've spent about $40 for my account at Second Life. Note, it is free to join second life and it is free to do many things in second life. However, if you want to own any land and build houses or businesses then you need to upgrade your account to Premium. That is what I did the first day. Upgrade my account and then converted my US dollars into Linden dollars to purchase some land. Yes Second Life has their own currency! Hence within the last 2 weeks, I have engaged in about $250 worth of transaction in world. I've bought few parcels of lands and then sold them until I found a large waterfront property to make it my home base. Thus far, I have learned to build a house and do some landscaping around my property. Warn you that this may be addictive!

So what have I learned:

• Yes you can make money on Second Life but not as much as a real world life
• If you have some money and want to explore how virtual living is then I would recommend you to give it a shot
• If you have a real world business and want to get exposure and some sales in virtual world then this will definitely help. IBM and many other known businesses have opened up then own store front in second life
• If you are a creative person who love to do some graphics then there are a lot of jobs in Second Life as a builder. Many people have large lands but don't know what to do with them. Hence your service will be appreciated.
• If you are into a specific hobby then I am sure you will find a group in Second Life that you can interact with and learn more

What you should watch out for:

• In Second Life you can pretty much do anything! Yes anything! So you need to make sure that is what you want to do or you will waste a lot of time
• You will interact with real life people and you need to be careful and understand their motivations before you deal with them
• If you are going to buy lands then I suggest you look around before you do that. There are private islands that you can buy land from but you will have to follow the rules of the owner of the private islands. So read their terms before you pay any money.
• If someone approach you to exchange land or for your help then you need to make sure that you can trust them. If you pay and you don't get anything then you are in trouble. That happens.
• There are many learning centres in second life, so take advantage of them.

I've ran into many nice people and I've ran into few that I've lost money for nothing. So just use your judgement and get to know people.

With all the Web 2.0 and all the interactive websites, virtual world is where business is going to happen in the future.

Visit SecondLife.comfor more details.

The most successful Digg.com Clones

On December 5th, 2004, Kevin Rose made history with digg.com. Kevin probably didn’t realize on that day that he is about to make a revolution with just $1000. Now leading up to finish two years, Digg.com is worth millions and is considered one of the top technology web sites even after Digg.com expanded its service to other markets. Now hundreds of community driven sites has emerged out of no where. In this article I am going to discuss about five sites that I have been following. These sites are considered to actually show its heads above the water compared to all others.

1. shoutwire.com – This is a general news site. It is designed nicely with a good layout.

2. netscape.com – Again another general news site. I am sure all of you heard of this and the controversy behind this.

3. techtagg.com – The first one with an approach to revenue share with its user. Good idea to keep their users for long time. Nice design and a different look to traditional digg.com site.

4. care2.com – General News site. Nice design.

5. meneame.net – Spanish news site. Actually a successful one for that kind and is open source.

I’ve gone through many digg.com like sites and was actually came to these as user friendly and has something to offer for users. Yes I may have missed some and if I did then post it in comments. Many clones have no user base and no stories. The owners may have put in a lot of time and effort to create those sites to be an instant success but something they need to learn is that “if you are not the first then don’t create the same unless it is with a twist”.

I have not mentioned about reddit or del.icio.us because they are almost like digg site but with a different purpose. Plus they are thousands of miles in front of the ones listed above.

Advice to Web 2.0 Gurus and Wanna be Gurus

Recently I've been reading too many articles on Web 2.0 failures. Seems like the media and bloggers have set their mind to see Web 2.0 go down the drain. I don't blame them because I am of the same view.

I am sure many of you probably have heard of Friendster. Now it has not been too long since that hype but nobody that I know mentions that name anymore. What happened? Well too slow and too arrogant to change because they thought they had it all. Yes it was first of its kind to create a social network but what happened? Was it the wave of MySpace or was it just an example of an inexperience CEO?

I think there are too many VCs with no knowledge of Web 2.0 that want to finance these new entrepreneurs because they believe there is something to gain in there. Then there are entrepreneurs who think they can code and manage a group of developers but have no knowledge of real coding other than copying some HTML source code from fancy web sites. Even after that there are companies who have conviced VCs to give the first round of money and now want even more with no real results. Do they know when to give up and move on? Why would they double their capacity if they know that their current system is crashing daily? Seriously why would they do that?

Here are few sites that I've been following (yes with my advice to them):

1) www.squidoo.com

Talk about a Web 2.0 failure. Almost all tech people on the web should of had heard of Seth Godin at one point or another. Well he started this site only 5 to 6 years later. If Squidoo had started in the late 90s or early 2000 then it would have been a hit. Why? Because why would you want to create a page for your self now with full of links and images? Isn't that what Geocities did back in the days? Remember? Well Web 2.0 and the knowledge of Seth didn't make this fly. When there are too many wiki sites and free hosting sites there is no need for a Web 2.0 site like Squidoo unless you just want to create a page and link it to another site to get free links. Yes these sites are good to build you links.

2) www.digg.com

I have to give you credit for your work. You are among the ones that are surviving this social tagging world. Keep it up but here are some advices from me.

Okay I understand that you had this real good idea to allow users to be the editors to bring up news to the front page but have you thought about keeping those very users for a long time? Do you have a plan or are you working on one? Let me suggest, look at sites that your very own diggers has made joke about. e.g such as www.netscape.com and www.techtagg.com. Netscape for example told people to submit stories and they will pay them for that support. Techtagg is already giving their users the benefit of placing their own Google Adsense ads for the stories they submit. This is one and only main thing that you should consider. How will the user benefit at the end for being on your site? Let’s not make Digg an example of Friendster. Give back to the community that makes you shine.

Second, try to be a bit open and transparent about the way you do your ranking for each stories. Maybe let users know why some stories are buried and why some make it to the front page with just 20 votes. That would be a good start. Don't ban a site because it asked people to digg a story because this is going against your own promotion technique. Almost all the blogs and articles that are submitted to your site now have a "digg this" button on their page. Are you banning them too? Follow what Netscape and Techtagg are doing. I like how Techtagg rank users and based on the user's own karma they get to enjoy more privileges in the site such as editing, removing and moving stories. That is still considered user powered system but with a bit more transparently. Also if enough users give negative points to another user’s stories then their karma should go down because it simply means that their contribution is not really worth looking at. Therefore their votes shouldn’t be taken seriously as well.

3) www.edgeio.com

Well I don't really have to say much about this because I am sure the founder Michael Arrignton of www.techcrunch.com is already feeling that. Rumors have it that he is now distancing himself from this Web 2.0 crash site.

Simple question here basically is why would sellers go to a site with much less audience when they can simply go to eBay or other sites where they can get rid of their product faster?

4) www.technorati.com

Well this is one of my latter reasons above for Web 2.0 failure. Why would you keep asking for more money if you can't sustain the current system? After multiple rounds of funding and years of development, Technorati still hasn't got the grip of a blog search engine. People trust in a site that does not crash and be up and running 24/7. Well I don't think much people would say the same for Technorati other than the bloggers themselves who like to track certain things about their very own blogs. With the number of blogs constantly growing, I think it is best to fix up what you got and make sure it is working first.

5) www.netscape.com

I have to say this even though I pointed out to one of your own success point above. Why would you want to go into this business when you clearly know that you are going to damage your own reputation? People remember you as the browser guys who were fighting with Microsoft and for the newbie you are nobody. People love the www.digg.com concept because they are the first one. I have to give it to them but you are not going to gain those diggers unless you really pay those diggers a good sum. I think they will love that too. Or you can follow the www.techtagg.com and the long lasting www.digitalpoint.com wisdom of sharing the wealth with the users. That may get you somewhere other than tech stories.

Now what does this mean? Don't start a Web 2.0 company because all these entrepreneurs are doing so because it will hurt you and it will hurt the people who fund you. Also Mr.VC, do your homework before you look into another Web 2.0 site. See if you can figure out what AJAX stands for and if that AJAX has been used elsewhere before you sign that document.

10 Things That Make Bloggers Angry

Denise Wakeman wrote a posting on 10 Things That Make Bloggers Angry and I recommend all of you to take a peek at that. These are some of the must that you should be aware of when blogging.

Blogging can bring you a lot of fame but it can also bring you a lot of shame if not done properly. First rule is never copy other bloggers posts. Be original and be creative about your writing. Provide you opinion and not others.

MySpace To Sell Music Through Snocap

Now the most popular social networking site is getting into the music business. They will allow artists/bands to sell music directly to Myspace users. They have the users but will this work?

Snocap will provide the back end technology for the service.  They will provide music in the well known MP3 format so that everyone can listen to them instantly with highest quality possible.

This is basically coming up as Myspace is looking for options to monetize from their user base. They need to come up with ideas like this to make money or they will not be able to sustain their site.

Writely opens up to public - Google spreading too thin?

Writely began accepting new members today after halting membership since Google took over few months ago.

Writely is an online collaboration based system that allows users to mport Word documents, save to PDF, OpenOffice, Rich Text Format and zip. Just like an Office product, it autosaves your document every 10 seconds to prevent any loss of data.

Writely is one of many sites that Google took over. Are they really moving away from their core business - powerful online search engine?

Even though Google seems like it is spreading too thin, I think they are still strong in the search industry. Only time will tell if that will hold long but so far so good.

Bankaholic.com - Best money market, savings, and CD account rates.

Recently I came across a website called www.bankaholic.com - Bringing you the best in Banking -  is an information site for best tips on building wealth. I went through some of the articles and found it very interesting as well. Bankaholic provides daily discussions on new products, e-banking and on Certificates of Deposit (CD).

Such a website is a good tool for consumers who are seeking for the best banking deals. Saving few decimal points on interest rates can save you thousands of dollars. Bankaholic is the bridge between consumers and banks because banks can also use this website to promote their new products and services. Since Bankaholic profiles the best products or services in the financial industry, it is a great asset for the consumers. User of this website can find the product and services of various big companies like ING Direct,Indymac Bank, UFB Direct, OneUnited Bank, Centennial Bank, VirtualBank, HSBC, Western Financial Bank, Corus Bank, Imperial Capital Bank, Countrywide Bank, Umbrella Bank, World Savings bank etc through Bankaholic.

The reason that I am talking about this site is because I really like the way they designed their site to provide information in an organized manner. It is very well designed to capture the users to make sure they feel comfortable when the read these financial information.

When deciding on financial matters, it is always wise to consult with someone you trust or a professional in the financial field. Bankaholic can be one of those trustable source as they move forward in time. Currently they provide information in categories such as:

• Best Money Market & Savings Accounts
• Best CD Account Rates
• Best Credit Card Deals
• Bank Deals & Promos

So make sure to visit Bankaholic to do your research before you make your next financial decision.

TechTAGG is not meant to compete with Digg

techTAGG was launched about two weeks ago and they are on a good path to being one of the successful websites to follow the foot steps of Kevin Rose and his Digg.com website. If you haven't heard of www.techtagg.com then I think you should take a look at the site before reading the rest of my story.

I had a chance to interview Guna Deivendran, the founder of techTAGG and here is what he has to say:

"I've created techTAGG to help bring technology news and other technology related information in front of people who are part of that information on a daily basis. With Digg moving into other sectors, I thought it is a great idea to focus exclusively on technology. Technology can be divided into many different niche sectors. That will be the focus of techTAGG. In the next few weeks we will be rolling out many features that will help technology sector to connect even better than today. Our focus will not exactly be like Digg. We are not in a position to compete with them and we didn't create this site to compete with them. We just wanted to give the people a different medium to tagg information."

and when I asked him what he is doing to draw members to his site, Mr. Deivendran said:

"I believe in giving back to the community that actually makes you shine. techTAGG is all about community coming together to share their visions and their stories. We will be adding features such as technology marketplace and other features that would benefit all of our members. Also we are one of the first such site to do revenue sharing with our members. Members have the potential to make a lot of money by placing their own ads for the stories they submit. This will motivate members to submit relevant content and also participate to get those stories to the front page. We gave away 100% revenue sharing for the first 250 members and the turnout was enormous. I am happy with where we are now and so does our members."

techTAGG has competitions such as Netscape and Digg but the founder is convinced that he can make techTAGG a different experience for taggers in the technology sector. He has a long way to go but it is a start. I personally like the fact that the members can make  some money while they tagg just like many other revenue sharing forums. If this model works then techTAGG shouldn't have any problem gathering some good taggers instead of trying to buy them off like Netscape did. You can read the Netscape story here. That totally was not a good move. Netscape was hacked within days from that post.

This will be an interesting area to keep an eye on. I will definitely be doing that and will share some of my thoughts on other social networking sites.

OOZM - Social Search Engine goes for sale on eBay

I just found out that OOZM is going for sale on eBay. It is a small meta search engine that also had included the people power in it like digg had. Unique concept for a search engine because I am big fan of giving user the tools for them to drive the site. A similar meta search engine, Jux2 went for sale last year and was sold for $100,000 on eBay. Few months ago another fresh engine, digforit.com went for sale on eBay for $25, 400.

OOZM seems to be slightly different and packed with a lot of nice tools like the live thumbnail generator and so on. The starting bid was at $0.01 and it is currently at $1025. If you are in this business then you should be able to snatch this for a good price.

Bid for OOZM here.

Good luck.

MillionDollarHomePage Idea Triggers Another 50PagesWebsite

Milliondollarhomepage hype may be over but the idea of linking websites from a static page is not over yet. After the success of the milliondollarhome there were many copycats that started similar pages. Well for the advertisers, it was just another link from a site that may receive some visitors during the hype and then no one will find your site. Well that is why I never looked in buying a link from that site nor was I going to pay $1 per pixel!

That said, I came across a site that stem from this idea but it is different. 50PagesWebsite.com is different because it actually sells a placement like a search engine on different pages upto 50 pages. So if you purchase a link on the front page (page 1 results) it will cost you $50 per link. However if you proceed to page two it will cost you $49 per link. It goes on like that until you reach page 50 which will cost you $1 per link.

It is similar to a search engine results page but it is not. The links are in no particular order. However, any visitor can actually see the results unlike the milliondollarhomepage where you need a microscope.

From an advertiser's perspective, I think it is a great opportunity for someone to buy a link that will last for another 5 years. The site guarantees that. I am only talking about this site because I find it interesting.

We will wait and see how this works out for the 50pageswebsite.com.