Previously I wrote about the need for a Web 2.0 list with categories, descriptions, ratings, etc. Well, yet another web 2.0 list makes it way onto the web. But, this Web 2.0 directory is definitely worth noting. It has categorized over 900 web2.0 sites. This is going to be a big help for completing descriptions and categories/tags on the innovation map. It also means there’s a lot not on the map yet.
Adam got the ball rolling with his post. I’ll spread the word a little more here. We’re looking to start a new, more informal group for Portland web types to get together. Inspired by groups in Boston and San Francisco, we’re calling it Portland Web Innovators. We know there are many great developers, designers, and entrepreneurs around, so check out the wiki and sign up if you’re interested.
We’re looking to get a first meeting setup sometime in March.
Fresh off the buzz of the Innovation Map, we turn our attention back now to NetworthIQ. This is an exciting time at NetworthIQ headquarters (virtual headquarters that is) as this week’s issue of Business Week features an article (free right now) on personal finance blogs and NetworthIQ is mentioned. Needless to say, the rest of the Fourio team and I are pretty happy to get this level of exposure. First the NY Times and now Business Week. Two big wins with barely a penny spent on marketing (ok I ran a couple of Adwords and Yahoo Search Marketing experiments). Maybe there’s something to this viral marketing thing.
One of the perks of developing the Web 2.0 map has been the response from other Web 2.0 companies, both well known and those that had escaped my radar previously. I was amazed at some of the people submitting their sites or corrections for the map. It was quite a thrill.
One of the companies that had escaped my radar was Platial, a company right here in Portland doing some exciting things with maps. Platial is billed as a collaborative atlas. You can create maps of places meaningful to you, share them, tag them, and connect with other users. I really dig the combination of a map visual with a storytelling aspect that goes along with it. It’s understanable that they’re flying under most radars, the site is in its very early beta stages (launched in December, just hit 1000 users yesterday). I imagine the buzz level will be escalating before long.
I checked out Ma.gnolia today. First the good: groups and private bookmarks are nice and the UI is clean and simple. But, there is some bad, enough of which to keep me away for now. A few things really bug me:
The domain name is terrible (as mentioned previously).
The masked URLs are lame. Use some unobtrusive javascript or something to track clicks if you must. But, I’d really like to see the real link in the anchor tag, so I can easily right click and copy the url (should I want to). This is too obtrusive.
I’ve been pretty slammed over the last week and this week looks pretty busy as well. So, I only have time for a couple quick thoughts.
Thought #1
Dang, Zillow.com (previously discussed here) sure shot to the top. Have you seen their numbers? I’m impressed. Looks like they came through that inital rough patch with barely a scratch. I hear about them everywhere it seems. Newspaper, local news, co-workers, in-laws. I’ll have more to say about the response to Zillow.com in the real estate community in a future post.
If you’re interested in learning AJAX, take a look at AJAX Lessons. (and if you click on that link you’ll help me win free books. What can I say, I’m a sucker for free stuff)
Maybe it’s just because I made one myself and tend to notice these things more now, but it seems there are an over abundance of web 2.0 tracking sites popping up. However, there is still not a clear winner when it comes to providing a way of finding the best of the new online services. This weekend Pete Cashmore launched his Weblist blog which adds detailed reviews and user ratings to the mix. Another one that’s gaining steam is this list on listible which actually started back in January. The diggwatch blog has added a list, based on the Web 2.0 logo mashup. All of these go along with the previous set:
Seeing that Edgeio is getting some pretty good buzz this week and ready to launch in a few weeks, I thought I’d comment on the name and it’s similarity to our company name, Fourio. Not that anyone would ever confuse the two. Because of who’s behind it (and its potential), they’ll be getting more press than we dream of and we won’t be competing or anything. But, I want to make it clear that Fourio is an original name.
I haven’t been very good about reading the paper recently. Mornings are usually spent working on my projects, then off to my job, then home with family and maybe a little more work at night. But, today I caught an article about a Japanese software entrepreneur, Toru Takasuka, and his plans to base his new web startup in Portland. Takasuka will be pouring $10 million of his own money into the project. The company name is Lunarr Inc., but he doesn’t go into much detail about what the product is exactly. This is the most we get: