Web 3.0 - Making Web 2.0 More Efficient

Great post on TechCrunch today named Web 3.0 Will Be About Reducing the Noise—And Twhirl Isn’t Helping. Eric Schonfeld included the below screenshot from his desktop and sadly, it reminded me of mine...

Eric is right - if web 2.0 is all about creating and finding content; web 3.0 will have to be about simplifying the output.

Two examples:

1) I can't get myself excited about FriendFeed because I already have accounts elsewhere... that I use frequently. And while FriendFeed consolidates the output, it doesn't offer the same utility on the input. Furthermore, for me to change my stubborn-but-efficient internet habits, I need to be compelled with *increased* utility. And to the initial point of this post - I'm not convinced that platforms like FriendFeed simply the web.

2) I am approaching 1500 unread emails in Gmail (currenty 1471). A productive day might reduce that load by 100 or so... but I haven't been under 1,000 unread emails in months. A (positive) consequence of web 2.0 is open communication and social interaction - consolidating my online activity and communication can become overwhelming. Hopefully web 3.0 brings a killer email app... I'd pay a pretty penny for it.

DirecTV Commercial with John Michael Higgins - They Just Don't Get It

My favorite ad campaign at the moment is DirecTV's spoof of Comcast and other cable providers. They have the 'Best in Show'-cast starring and John Michael Higgins tries to convince the executives of ways that his cable company should combat DirecTV. The best spot is when Higgins says they need to go viral and "blog it out". Great stuff.

But DirecTV doesn't get it.

The commercials are terrific and ripe for blogging (as they suggest)... but the ads aren't even embeddable or available on YouTube. Here is their flash file in widget form - enjoy the commercial and the irony:

Trying to Keep the Microsoft, News Corp, AOL, Yahoo Gossip Straight

Nearly a week into the three-week Microsoft ultimatum, there are a sudden flurry of developments and rumors... enough activity that (I imagine) something significant will happen shortly:

- Microsoft gave Yahoo a three-week notice - Yahoo announces today that they will test ads with Google - Microsoft responds to the announcement with force and threat - Meanwhile, Yahoo is negotiating with AOL to merge... discussions are apparently quite far along - ... Enough so that Microsoft and News Corp might be joining forces to improve their Yahoo bid

AOL + Yahoo sounds like a mess.

I already like Microsoft + Yahoo - and adding MySpace (and News Corp's content properties / relationships) makes it even more attractive and powerful.

Free Starbucks Pike Place Roast on Tuesday April 8th

Want a free cup of coffee tomorrow?

Just roll into your local Starbucks at 12est / 9pst for a free serving of Starbuck's new Pike Place Roast - a smooth drip coffee that is being 'launched' tomorrow. That said, several of the San Francisco Starbucks have been serving Pike Place for the last few days (you might also notice the new cups which have a brown Pike Place logo rather than the traditional green Starbucks emblem).

I've had a couple cups so far and it is quite good - decently strong, but not bitter. And supposedly this blend is a response to the critique that Starbuck's coffees tend to taste overly bitter. I still prefer Sumatra, but Pike Place beats many of the regularly offered drips. From the official press release:

Smooth, Welcoming Taste

This blend was created using input from Starbucks customers and represents our 37 years of coffee roasting experience, knowledge and passion. Taking the wide range of customer preferences as a guide, this everyday brew is a unique blend featuring Starbucks signature bold flavor with a smoother finish balanced by soft acidity and subtle, rich flavors of cocoa and toasted nuts. Fresh, Hand-Scooped

The Pike Place Roast™ coffee beans will be hand-scooped, freshly ground, and freshly brewed and served, giving the coffee a consistent, pure taste. To further ensure customers enjoy the freshest, high-quality cup of brewed coffee, stores also will brew smaller batches with a hold time of no more than 30 minutes. Licensed stores in the U.S., as well as Starbucks locations outside the U.S., will also transition to a 30-minute hold time over the coming months.

“Our partners (employees) are excited about bringing back the coffeehouse atmosphere,” said Schultz. “They really like the physical act of scooping and grinding the beans — they like staying close to the coffee. They’ve told us that it makes them feel more in touch with our Company’s core values. And they like that they can offer their loyal customers such an amazingly fresh cup of coffee.”

InGameNow.cow Launches Beta Version

Very exciting news for sports fans everywhere. For the last couple months, I've written about sfEntrepreneurs and the work that our organization has been doing.

On the same night that Kansas and Memphis battle for NCAA Championship, InGameNow.com has officially launched it's beta version.

InGameNow allows sports fan to interact around teams, leagues and games. Follow your favorite teams and connect with other sports fans over real-time scores, banter, news and gossip. Staying atop of the sports world is now simple... and more importantly - fun.

This is also InGameNow's Beta version. We have plenty of features that are coming shortly... features that will keep you even more connected your favorite teams, games and InGameNow users.

So go ahead - give InGameNow a test drive. Start collecting points and keep an eye out for the new features that we'll be adding (day over day)!

Register Now!

Burger King Breakfast of the Future Commercial

I can't get enough of this TV spot.

Burger King uses power ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky and I have always loved their ads. They continually create hilarious, viral ads that somehow always find their way into my inbox... I guess if your spots are routinely emailed around, you're doing a pretty good job:

Google's New AdSense Unit

I've uploaded photos of various Google AdSense test units before - but I've been seeing this new AdSense unit quite regularly and really like it.

The arrows scroll through other relevant AdSense ads. The interaction is immediate and slick. And I anecdotally, I've found myself rolling through ads out of curiosity or interest (hoping to find more relevant ads). My guess is that the data Google is able to capture from user interactions / clicks here is potentially more powerful than their AdWords data. Fascinating stuff.

AVC (Fred Wilson's Blog) Now Advertising Through AdSense

One of the great tech blogs on the web is Fred Wilson's AVC. While it is also one of the web's most popular blogs, apparently Fred is looking to grow readership and is advertising through AdSense. First time I've seen this ad:

Understanding PerezHilton.com's Pageviews & Unique Visitors

A few weeks agon, I wrote about the trouble with PerezHilton.com as a business. Since that post, Perez Hilton 'quantified' his popular blog with Quantcast and we have more data to look at.

It's fascinating. Perez has built the 158th biggest site on the web. Thats bigger than TechCrunch (1,352), Gizmodo (250) and almost every other blog on the web. In fact, the only blog that I could find to be bigger is HuffingtonPost.com (102).

Two interesting observations from Perez's newly quantified data. First, as you would expect with any blog, traffic moves when interesting news breaks. And considering that Perez's business is based on breaking celebrity news / drama / scandals, Perez's traffic moves according to the availability of juicy gossip. This leads to massive fluctuations in traffic. The chart below shows monthly uniques which are nearly 1/2 of the late February stats. As an advertiser trying to leverage Perez's traffic, it's nearly impossible to budget marketing dollars accordingly.

The more interesting chart is daily pageviews. Most sites see big swings based on specific days and times - but Perez sees traffic swings of nearly 3x between weekdays and weekends.