Ross and Dan made this video to illustrate the advanced technology we use behind the scenes at FriendFeed. (Ross and Dan, you are amazing - I can't believe how awesome this thing turned out)
- Bret Taylor
from Bookmarklet
How very creative. This is very fluid and cool.
- Louis Gray
OK, not exactly what I was expecting, but very cool.
- Kevin Arth
Anyone have the video somewhere other than Youtube? it's banned here in Turkey and I can't wait until we get home (next month) to watch it!!
- Chris Myles
Bret, this video should be titled: A Love Song for FriendFeed ! Great vid (and music) !
- Ahsan Ali
This is superb. I just showed it to my 5 year old son who enjoys Lego and has already taken some great photos, including one or two of his toys. So now he has the seed of the idea that, in time, he could take multiple stills and put them together to make moving pictures. Thank you very much for posting it and giving me and him that opportunity. Maybe, he might use FriendFeed one day too!
- John W Lewis
I think they need to make a full stop-motion version of the Matrix in legos. Now THAT would be awesome. I wonder what bullet-time looks like in LEGO?
- Bret Taylor
i'd pay to see the stop animation lego matrix, but not the sequels
- patrick
"Equipment Generously Provided By Casey Muller" - hahaha!! THIS IS AWESOMESAUCE!!! I love the creative energy and vibe in this video... LOTS of work went into that one! Thanks guys!! :)
- Susan Beebe
Genius, how much time did that all take?
- Wayne Hornsey
Chris Myles: if you want ot - DM me an address and I'll mail you a copy.
- guruvan (Rob Nelson)
"One of the most respected, senior and widely published professors of psychology, Daryl Bem of Cornell, has just published an article that suggests that people — ordinary people — can be altered by experiences they haven't had yet. Time, he suggests, is leaking. The Future has slipped, unannounced, into the Present. And he thinks he can prove it."
- Paul Buchheit
from Bookmarklet
If you read the original paper, Bem has a simple test to select for people who get a 57% (on average) hit rate on the photo prediction test.
- Private Sanjeev
Rebuttal from the point of view of statistical methodology. (PDF link) http://www.ruudwetzels.com/article... But I'd like to see more about this in a few months or a year, after more people attempt to reproduce Bem's results.
- Tudor Bosman
How much do you agree with the following two statements: 1. I am easily bored? 2. I often enjoy seeing movies I've seen before.
- Private Sanjeev
So people who are easily bored but enjoy rewatching movies are most able to predict photos?
- Paul Buchheit
I read an article a while back in New Scientist that theorised that Quantum Entanglement may be heavily involved in DNA. And further theorised that it may be in use throughout the body including the brain. Hence quantum physics weirdness, including time paradoxes, showing up in psychological processes is a natural extension of that theory.
- Roberto Bonini
The latter question was reversed scored: so people who "are easily bored" and "do not enjoy re-watching movies" predicted the erotic pictures better.
- Keith Coleman
Also, regarding the stimuli-oriented group: "The difference between their erotic and nonerotic hit rates was itself significant with 71% of participants achieving higher hit rates on erotic trials than on nonerotic trials. Their psi scores on nonerotic trials did not exceed chance."
- Keith Coleman
Suezanne: Read the PDF link I posted. The guidelines for Randi's $1M prize follow those indicated in that paper for confirmatory studies, which Bem's studies are not. Randi would be unfazed.
- Tudor Bosman
They're doing it wrong, you need to do the confirmatory studies *before* you do the exploratory ones. :)
- Private Sanjeev
I like to think of the evolutionary advantage of this kind of power :) (which explains why it works only for erotic images)
- Paul Buchheit
I bet they could boost the hit rate by replacing the images with, uh, something more stimulating :)
- Paul Buchheit
They actually did. The original photo set was not sufficiently explicit to stimulate male subjects, so they had to go out on the internet to get better material. I had a crazy idea to turk this and make a high frequency trading algo out of it. YC startup idea? Just make sure Randi is not in the room or you'll lose money.
- Private Sanjeev
Does a roulette wheel that displays erotic pictures to winners differ in performance from one that doesn't?
- Sue - Friendfeed is best
Tudor Bosman: "Suezanne: Read the PDF link I posted" - I have read it now; I hadn't till you told me to.
- Sue - Friendfeed is best
For (Ex-)Googlers: Daryl is Jeremy Bem's father.
- Simon
Paul, Tudor's PDF does discuss the evolutionary advantage. Page 5: "Note that precognition conveys a considerable evolutionary advantage (Bem, in press), and one might therefore assume that natural selection would have lead to a world filled with powerful psychics (i.e., people or animals with precognition, clairvoyance, psychokineses, etc.). This is not the case, however (see also...
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- Stephen Mack
Obviously there's a tradeoff. Precognition makes it easier to get sex (which I assume is what it's for given the need for stimulating images), but causes bordom, which must be some kind of disadvantage.
- Paul Buchheit
And, in fact, it must be the case that practically all reproducing males who have ever existed had this ability. "My boy," he said, "you are descended from a long line of determined, resourceful, microscopic tadpoles -- champions every one." (_Galápagos_, by Kurt Vonnegut)
- Stephen Mack
I think I'll go and predict some porn now. :)
- Morton Fox
I think that what happens is that those with the psi abilities use it to seek out porn rather than reproducing, thus negating any evolutionary advantage it may impart.
- Gabe
Heidegger said roughly the same thing, also Binswanger did some great existential psychology around time issues. It turns out that the future is highly determining of the present. I tracked down some early Nietzsche with just this sort of speculation during my undergrad degree.
- Jeff McNeill
"The most important flaws in the Bem experiments, discussed below in detail, are the following: (1) confusion between exploratory and confirmatory studies; (2) insufficient attention to the fact that the probability of the data given the hypothesis does not equal the probability of the hypothesis given the data (i.e., the fallacy of the transposed conditional); (3) application of a test...
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- Goran Zec
«This is not the first time a prominent psychology professor has found statistical evidence of extrasensory perception, but in these experiments, the methods are classical, simple, well known and repeatable. Already one attempt to repeat Bem's work has failed»
- 9000
See more fantastic observations of the ways in which we observe space in the Observatories group. Photos by desnova, Zachary Bailey, tj.blackwell, she***, Tom at A Pacific View and josefrancisco.salgado.
"It’s easier to hold to your principles 100% of the time than it is to hold to them 98% of the time. If you give in to “just this once,” based on a marginal cost analysis, as some of my former classmates have done, you’ll regret where you end up." - Clayton Christensen (http://www.anthonyandrew.com/executi...)
Thanks for sharing this. An interesting read so far.
- David Damore
Another great line near the end: "Don’t worry about the level of individual prominence you have achieved; worry about the individuals you have helped become better people."
- David Damore
"Think about the metric by which your life will be judged, and make a resolution to live every day so that in the end, your life will be judged a success." - thanks for sharing
- Bo Stern
I do wish his example was a little more inspiring than "I had made a personal commitment to God at age 16 that I would never play ball on Sunday."
- ⓞnor
...unless those principles are morally bankrupt or flawed, in which case the two percent could be the gateway to being a better and more successful person! All a question of perspective! Cheers J
- Jan Simmonds
Following on from Jan, principles are important but, given that the ones you pick might actually be misguided or flawed in some way, it's probably also important to know when to modify them based on enough evidence to the contrary. Taken to absurdity: "The greatest thing about this man is he's steady. You know where he stands. He believes the same thing Wednesday that he believed on Monday, no matter what happened Tuesday."
- Simon
ⓞnor that is what makes it inspiring.
- Jason McGowan
I realized this when I saw the LG Optimus, an Android smartphone now on T-Mobile for $30. Thirty bucks for a smartphone. Remember when the Motorola RAZR became ubiquitous? It wasn’t popular at the start when it cost $300, but when it became cheap it was everywhere. - http://fredwilson.vc/post...
I'm sorry but this is unbelievable:) I'll give credit to the artist upon more convincing proof! The photogenic look of the tiger and lion really helps the artist's case though:)
- Roney Smith
I'm with Roney... I find this hard to believe... or maybe I'm just jealous that I can't even get stick people right!
- Jasmin Smith
I'm really happy everyone liked these. They're my most liked entry to date, Thanks! There also seems to be some question about whether these are actually Pencil Drawings.I can assure you that they are.When I get home, I should have the links. I have more drawings, too.
- Michael Fidler
from fftogo
Thanks Enrique, I'll post some more soon. They are a little more obvious than these ones. As Luke points out; without being able to look closely it's impossible to tell. He's right; but up close it's more obvious. I'll upload the originals to Picasa later, and then you'll be able to zoom in with any photo viewer and see for yourselves. I can't believe how many people liked these. A few people have reposted them already. Thanks!
- Michael Fidler
Absolutely awesome, Michael. You are extremely talented. Everyone should repost these pix and help to make you famous. You should be doing this full time - you obviously have some passion for this. Bravo.
- Chris Loft
These are really beautiful, Michael. Do you sell them?
- Shannon Jiménez
Chris, I would love to say they're mine, but it's not true. I've had them for a while, but I'll find the artists names. It will just require a little backtracking. Besides, they deserve the credit; all I did was find them:-)
- Michael Fidler
Cut the bullshit! :) Photos are very good.
- Burçak Çubukçu
I draw alot in pencil, but they are amazing, the best for me is the girl, that is the most photo-like one. :o)
- Rob Sellen :o)
I agree Rob, the girl is amazing. My favorite by far! Wait until you see it close up! It's really had to tell, even up close!
- Michael Fidler
Burçak Çubukçu If these were photographs, they would be very good. As Pencil Drawings,(which they are), they're amazing.
- Michael Fidler
@Burçak Çubukçu I can't tell if your serious now or just kidding around. I hope your just having fun! If you are serious, I've never given you a reason to question my integrity, nor do I ever intend to. However, the second set is up now, so judge them for yourself, but don't judge me! http://ff.im/1BJh5 BTW, I messed up and reposted the shot of the women again. Oh well. Hope you like them:-)
- Michael Fidler
@Michael: try deviantART, not Picasa, to submit your artworks
- LouCypher
LouCypher, I know it well, but I don't see why I would want to do that. I hope everyone knows by now that they're not mine? I'm sorry, but I can't say it any clearer than that.
- Michael Fidler
nah, i don't believe it is done in pencil. i am sure it is photoshopped :)
- hasin hayder
I'm finding this both interesting and humorous at the same time. There's a separate message board where this post is being discussed and it has another forty comments on it already. I think its great how this has created some lively discussion, considering that when I posted this I was doubtful if anyone would even like it. When I went to sleep last night there was only had 3 or 4 likes...
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- Michael Fidler
Very interesting. I would like to see them up close and in person...just to make sure. Bill said it's real and possible. Your 2nd set of picts look like pencil. Nice work in finding these!
- LaFern Cusack
Kol, I can't thank you enough! Kol found another post which helps to prove that these are done in pencil. I had my doubts about a few of them because I collected them from several different sites over time, but the site Kol found has done a great job pulling together an impressive collection of these drawings and more. Take a look - http://www.flickzzz.com/2009...
- Michael Fidler
Actually there are more than what this site shows. There's an entire set with the cats(little cats), which I have, and there's a new portrait set.
- Michael Fidler
Found your post here, Michael. :-) I tried my best to find the artists.
- Kol Tregaskes
Amazing and very very very good.... Very impressive ...
- Linda Zeek-Bobinski
Yeah we know, thanks though, James. :-)
- Kol Tregaskes
Excellent pictures - how long did it take you to scan the photographs into Photoshop and then edit them? The only pencil that has come into contact with these "drawings" is the Photoshop pencil. A tip - stop trying to fool people into thinking you are a "real" artist, because all you are doing is cheapening proper artist's works whom have spent hours creating real pictures as opposed to a few minutes on a graphics editing package.
- The Wimp
A bell does ring here. And I am remembering why I was so attracted to the tiger...and the lion for that matter. These are exact replicas of prints I had in our bedroom when I lived in Dallas. I had bought the prints (in color) at a department store,
- Melanie Reed
Actually, I have learned quite a bit about these drawing since I made this post. Not only have I discovered all of the artists, but I've learned more about how they are created. They are always copied from a photograph or painting, but usually a photograph. It is extremely time consuming and detail orientated work. There are many other artists besides the ones featured here who practice...
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- Michael Fidler
Most of them have portfolio's on deviantart.com and their work is truly amazing even if they are copies of other artists work. I suppose with this level of detail, they have to start with something. Nevertheless, I'm still in awe of their talent. Melanie, the animal prints you refer to are from a very well renowned photographer. The originals are B&W I'll look it up later but I do have...
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- Michael Fidler
Has anyone ever corrected the record and pointed out, with the exception of the Charlize Theron drawing, that these are indeed photos by Alexander Von Reiswitz?
- erik weisz
Erik, thank you for bringing this up again, but I think I already mentioned something about this in my prior comment. However, since it appears that you only signed up to friendfeed to leave a single comment, (ok, why?) I will try to summarize what I wrote previously. In brief, I learned after doing a little research that all photo-realistic drawings like the ones that I shared here,...
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- Michael Fidler
I can assure you that what are claimed to be drawings of animals, in your post here, are photos. I used a website to that allows you to do an comparison of the Von Reiswitz photos and the images you have posted here. There are no differences. Every hair matches up. As a pencil artist myself I can tell you that it's pretty much impossible to get that kind of accuracy and have it look...
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- erik weisz
but... it has to be real, i saw it on the internet
- Iphigenie
Eric, it doesn't matter to me if you just joined, and I apologize if I made you think otherwise. If you have any questions regarding friendfeed, please feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer them. At this point, I would be happy if we could find someone who is an image analysis expert, and finally point this thing to rest. Every time that I look into this, all I find is a...
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- Michael Fidler
the site spammed above must all be done in pencil too, right, thats why you posted it?
- Iphigenie
I'm amazed that people are still posting these photographs of animals and calling them pencil drawings. This is at least the third case I can remember (and there are probably more) of this happening. The myth about them being drawings was debunked long ago. It's also funny that whenever they get posted the person posting them doesn't make it clear that they aren't the artist, exactly as you have done.
- canadianmaple09
@canadianmaple09 I posted these back in March, 2009 when I was beginning to use FF regularly. I ran them through TinEye hoping to find their source, but it returned no results. When I ran through again yesterday, TinEye returned over four pages of results. If I had it to do over again, would I? Yes
- Michael Fidler
The people you refer do don't join "just to slam" someone, they are concerned members of the online art community that want to see real art appreciated and fake art or photos being passed off as drawings revealed for what they really are. Artists such as Brian Duey, Armin Mersmann, Paul Lung, Zindy Nielsen,and many others do not receive the appreciation they deserve because of scams like this.
- canadianmaple09
canadianmaple09, the worthiness of your motives notwithstanding (and they are worthy, definitely) you could definitely have approached Michael completely differently by say, giving him the benefit of the doubt rather than attacking in a highly accusatory tone.
- Chieze Okoye
When you've seen these same pictures posted multiple times by people that just find them on the internet and claim they are pencil drawings, when it has already been established on multiple occasions that they are not, the "benefit of the doubt" approach seems a little too generous. People post these images and claim they're drawings to get views for their own site or blog or page or whatever it is they post it on. It's wrong and it needs to be stopped.
- canadianmaple09
I can understand that, but you should also keep in mind that everyone is not as well-versed in the issue as you are. All I'm saying is that you would probably be more effective in this case if you weren't setting this up as a us-vs.-them, "must destroy with the validity my argument!" attitude when talking to a guy who's been actively having a discussion on the issue in what seems to me (having been around when he first posted the images and the follow up thread and what not) to be good faith.
- Chieze Okoye
Look at his first comment here. People clearly thought he drew them. He doesn't set the record straight. He also claims that they "are actually pencil drawings" and that "I have more drawings too." Later he claims that you need to look at them closer to see they are drawings and that he will "post the originals". Once again, this makes it sound like they are his. This follows the same...
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- canadianmaple09
Greg and Chieze, thanks for your support. I really appreciate it. @canadianmaoles09, for what it’s worth, I share your concerns about giving proper attribution when sharing also. However, I admit that I'm more conscious of it now than I was at the time of this post. Nevertheless, I have never taken credit for anybody's work here other than my own!
- Michael Fidler
BTW, I didn't realize it before, but I just noticed that you're new here too. I hope you like it so far and spend more time here. IMO, friendfeed is still the best thing around!
- Michael Fidler
I would probably qualify as an image analysis expert, but there's no way to prove that online. One thing we can do is look at color. Even though the images are black and white,they're actually RGB images, meaning they contain cyan magenta and yellow. If you look at the image of the rhino you have posted then look at the photo of the rhino at the photographer's site you can see they both...
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- erik weisz
if only you could bold an announcement in FF like you can in Wave :D [oh, and my username on Wave is the splendiforously original "adamlasnik"]
- Adam Lasnik
Guys, please read the title and the first comment. This is not a request for invites. This is for users who already have an account and want to share their account name. For invites see this thread: http://ff.im/91M9R
- Kol Tregaskes
My Wave ID is erier2003@googlewave.com. Feel free to add me and we can Wave!
- Eric Geller
Still don't really know what this is (Or Google Voice for that matter). This is like high school all over again. The cool kids are ignoring me!
- James Ferguson
i'm with the google wave woudl be really cool, if i had people to wave at crowd. jviddy@googlewave.com
- Jamie Vidamour
Everyone, read the title and first comment. This is NOT an invite thread!
- Kol Tregaskes
my plan didn't work. still trolling for an invite at dzinrgeek@gmail.com
- amarquart
Blimey. I must be going mad, is it not clear that this is NOT an invite thread. For invites see here: http://ff.im/91M9R
- Kol Tregaskes
Not sure if anyone else woudl find it useful, i'm going to add a load of you as friends and create a wave just to try stuff out in. Feel free to remove yourself from the wave or use it as you feel. Also feel free to add anyone else you think might want to be in on it
- Jamie Vidamour
Shockingly, I am robdiana@googlewave.com
- Rob Diana
Kamilah, you are kamilah.gill. You can find this if you click on yourself in the Contacts sidebar. You address (like everyone) is shown there.
- Kol Tregaskes
Karoli: is that your google wave nick or are you sniffling? :)
- Ahsan Ali
I'm sniffling because I don't have a google wave nick. Despite two invites, there is still nothing in my inbox. I am not in with the in crowd. :(
- Karoli
<- Waves hello! :) I'm at holger.eilhard@googlewave.com
- Holger Eilhard
hello holger, can you pls send me invite? fatihkurtoglu@gmail.com
- mfatih
Invite came today! I'm jalada@googlewave.com. As part of the second/third 'Wave' of people getting invites looks like I don't get any to share out.
- Jalada
M Fatih Kurtoglu: Sorry, I don't yet have any nominations to give out...
- Holger Eilhard
Hey, I'm in too ! :)) tagyboy@googlewave.com
- fwed
Just got my invite this morning as well. FF embed seems to be working fine. I've tried the Wolfram Alpha robot but didn't get it to work yet.
- François Dongier
librarysupporter@googlewave.com in my wave. :)
- MLx
Glad to see more and more people getting in. What we're waiting for is proper group support (a few weeks hopefully) then let the games begin! :-D
- Kol Tregaskes
Anyone have a spare google wave invite to send to me? email me at zaldor at gmail ! TY!
- Les Zaldor
that is a test from the wave that has this thread embedded.
- Nathalie
I will as soon as I get one WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
- Martha
banane@googlewave.com <-- writing this from wave. neat!
- anna sauce
marco.nunez@googlewave - FINALLY! like i said on twitter - i feel like the kid who got a nintendo 1 christmas too late when everyone had already beaten super mario bros!
- Marco(aureliusmaximus)
denise.straessler@googlewave - stupid me had no idea i wouldn't be able to select a different name .....
- denise
Wow. Thanks Kol!!! Here's mine for all ya'll to add - walt.ruppar@googlewave.com - although I just added like 150 of the above. While also deleting my pity pleads for an invite... ;-)
- JR
I learned about this because of Janis Krum's blog. He was the guy who took the photo of today's plane crash and posted it to Twitter. His blog is here: http://www.janiskrums.com/ -- want some inspiration? Think things are hopeless? Watch that video and see if don't find some inspiration. Thanks TIm Ferriss and Janis!
- Robert Scoble
The paths we find things through are pretty weird. I know Tim personally but haven't had time to get to my RSS feeds lately. But, they come to me anyway. One of the lessons I've learned in my "media snacking" journey.
- Robert Scoble
Robert - this is the first time you have made me cry - great find, thanks for sharing it.
- Ben Shoemate
Great find Robert, Nick speaks at our church all the time and all over the world, he hangs out after he speaks and he greets every single person who waits in line and gives everyone a hug. Here is Nick's site http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/
- Kelly Johns
I'm just grateful all survived so CNN breaking states! PTL!
- Melanie Reed
Still crying after watching this video and so angry at my self-absorbed life complaints. Today, right this very moment, this video has changed the way I view life.
- Janet-The Bottley Crue
Very inspirational. The guy has done amazing things, and I definitely get the message - right up until he starts in with the evangelism. Is it just possible he could have achieved the same things on his own - or with a support system that didn't carry the Jesus branding?
- Auntie Buttinsky Botts
Mary, I don't think it is a matter of Jesus "branding", it is his testimony, it is a genuine explanation of how he's been able to overcome his circumstances. I don't think Nick would be the man he is today if he would have "done it on his own"
- Kelly Johns
Tears in my coffee cup. Good way to start a day of opportunities for those with more. To whom much is given, much is expected. Thanks for sharing...awesome.
- Carl
Kelly, I suspect you're right. Especially since he's a preacher's kid. And I really do get that it can take a huge spiritual foundation to overcome big obstacles. But just once I'd like to see an inspirational story that doesn't turn out to be a lead-in to a Christianity message. Are we - as a culture - as Americans under the First Amendment - saying that nobody can overcome great obstacles who is not a Christian?
- Auntie Buttinsky Botts
Let's see some examples of great inspiration from the secular world - or the other religious and spiritual traditions. For instance - Stephen Hawking has lived decades longer than anyone with ALS normally would.
- Auntie Buttinsky Botts
Mary, Please rewatch this video, no where was this pushing a Christian message. I heard God, witnessing God. I believe this was more a faith in God, which is not exclusive to Christians. :)
- Janet-The Bottley Crue
True. I made the mistake of watching a second video. And - the language in the first video is the lexicon of the Christian brand: witnessing, faith, God's plan. Witnessing and the idea of God's plan for a person or a community don't exist in, for example, Judaism, and the concept of faith in Judaism is rather nebulous, at least in the Reform tradition.
- Auntie Buttinsky Botts
Just saw this post randomly. Hope things are well.
- Janis Krums
Social Game Mechanics are only good if Reputation System or other Incentive System is tied in, either your score/ rank or whatever badge/ tag has a real value of being cared about, or it's other sort of incentives like deals/ benefits that you earn with virtual credit/ currency you managed to score.
- Ali Sohani
What is the difference between social game dynamics and game dynamics? Is the social part really important?
- Edwin Khodabakchian
from iPhone
Are you talking about something like Farmville? If so, women people don't play that to score points. They play it to have fun and socialize.
- Gabe
People will seek out tribes where a score in their preferred medium is a mark of distinction and provides the desired social plumage. At that point it doesn't matter if those outside the group are indifferent or derisive, it could even been a positive and will act as group unifying force. The Making More Money Game is the primary example of such social game mechanics.
- Todd Hoff
I generally see reputation about being a bigger part of something else. Like social search, etc.
- Space Cowboy
isn't Friendfeed a very clever game Paul? The Game of Stream or Stream Game.
- Thomas Power
That all depends on which set of "social game mechanics" you're talking about. I'd say that the mechanics for, say, Foursquare work quite well. And you don't have to "impress". It's enough to be able to "inform".
- Otto
Brands surely must embed themselves in the game as they have always. Business has always been a game. Social Media just made it faster, more cunning and funnier.
- Thomas Power
Hacker News karma is a form of game mechanics. Twitter visibility on follower/following/lists? Game mechanics. If we "become immune" to these things, what do we return to? Bulletin boards? Wiki pages?
- Hutch Carpenter
Hutch: We just move on to the next game, whatever that might be.
- Gabe
I don't know about that. Status-seeking is such a deeply ingrained drive. Higher reasoning such as "in *actuality*, nobody will be impressed by your score" may not apply.
- Ruchira S. Datta
Gabe - right. There will always be a better game, won't there?
- Hutch Carpenter
Ruchira - I agree. To assume we get over game mechanics is to assume a fundamental rewiring of humans.
- Hutch Carpenter
Just cause you suck at Bejewelled Blitz... :P
- Johnny
from iPhone
I'm not exactly sure the reason is right, but I think game mechanics does run a course. Having been a gamer in the *early* days, you get deep into a game it loses something as you continue. And when you jump to the next new game the time to burnout got shorter until I didn't even want the new game.
- AJ Kohn
I'm not saying that status-seeking goes away, but actually the opposite -- most of these games give "rewards" that don't confer and real status ("nobody is impressed"). Things like Twitter follower counts clearly _do_ matter to people. The success of your FarmVille farm? Less clear.
- Paul Buchheit
I don't have a fully informed position on this prediction. But in my experience, smart people are often wrong when they make a prediction of the form, "The world will soon wise up about X."
- Bruce Lewis
from fftogo
It has nothing to do with "wising up" Bruce. It's more like a disease that burns itself out.
- Paul Buchheit
I think it's a good way of getting users involved quickly, and provides instant gratification which will keep users coming back ie farmville but if you don't have any legit features and reasons to continue using the site or game then users will eventually stop using it... That's why I prefer Brightkite over foursquare
- Wesley Robin Guerrero
from iPod
your farm in farmville might not impress alot of people but if you are top10 in the starcraft 2 platinum league then that matters to me and to quite alot of other people. i think your just a little bit too old paul :D (twitter follower count is something i dont give a damn about,..thanks to all these scammers and seo experts that ruin the value of such numbers)
- Chris Hofmann
Gaming the game (game theory) explains the burn out. The system acquires friction and dilution by combatting the gaming of the rules. (the rules are no game)
- Cliff Gerrish
"How much do you love riding? Probably not as much as this guy did. David Morales Colon, 22, was shot to death April 22 in Puerto Rico. For his wake, Colon was embalmed and mounted on his Honda CBR600F4i with full Repsol colors. The work was performed by the Marin Funeral Home in San Juan, which also made headlines two years ago for presenting the embalmed body of Angel Luis “Pedrito” Pantojas Medina standing up in the corner for his own funeral. Colon will be displayed on his Honda until his burial, scheduled for later this afternoon. As for the bike, it was reportedly a gift from his uncle and brought by his family to the funeral home for the wake. There’s no word on what will happen to the motorcycle after the funeral, but for now, ride on, David, ride on."
- April Buchheit
from Bookmarklet
"CEO Reddy says she wanted to take money from people she knew and trusts, and those happened to be all Ex-Googlers. Individual investors included FriendFeed co-founders Paul Buchheit and Sanjeev Singh, angel investor Georges Harik, Digg VP Keval Desai, David Hirsch of Metamorphic Ventures, LinkedIn product VP Dipchand Nishar, Aydin Senkut, and Greg Lee. Robert Scoble and Louis Gray will be joining as advisors. MyLikes matches advertisers with influencers who publish sponsored messages on Twitter or their blogs. It is a pay-per-post model, with each Tweet or post clearly labeled as an ad. Since launching in January, MyLikes has signed up 20,000 “influencers” who collectively spread 15 million ad impressions a day, or about half a billion per month. MyLikes measures clicks per followers, and is currently getting about 4 clicks per thousand followers on average, which comes out to about 20 cents per click. The average cost-per-click on AdSense in the U.S. is at least 2 to 3 times more...
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- Paul Buchheit
from Bookmarklet
this is simply amazing. It shows the fact that google is great place to work at and developed (at least was so until not long ago). There are so many ex-googlers which out there which opened up their own startups and funded few more. It is a prove for the idea that If you live your life right, chances are, your kids will grow up and live their life in a right way as well, and later on,...
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- Tzury Bar Yochay
The second order effects of the Google IPO are still being felt.
- DGentry
"The fact they'd meet in a neutral place like this implies, although does not prove, they chose a public place for its neutrality. Or they just wanted coffee and inevitably started talking shop, albeit in public. But since when do billionaires have to step out for coffee? The only thing that adds up is that neither felt comfortable meeting at each other's HQs, and this is the start of talks that will inevitably be tense for both sides. I'd assume the coffee was not poisoned. And that they did not go somewhere to wrestle."
- Louis Gray
from Bookmarklet
They definitely wanted to be seen together. The tension between them risks the luster of both companies, so showing that there's some sort of personal relationship still there helps with this. Calafia is the 'place to be seen' and it worked pretty well.
- Kevin Fox
I'm not sure I'd call Calafia "neutral ground", though.
- Ben Darnell
I was going to make a crack: "That can't really be Steve! He doesn't have an iPad with him!" And then I saw it in its black case, sitting on the table.
- Kevin Fox
Hey Louis - you have to stop stalking those guys with your spy camera. They are going to catch on.
- Martha
Martha, it was not me, but if I had seen them, I would have said hi and shook hands. I'm rude like that. The one time I did meet Steve (at the Palo Alto Apple Store) I asked him an iPod support question.
- Louis Gray
I would absolutely love the opportunity to meet these guys and just sit there listening to their chat.
- Martha
from BuddyFeed
the link to the body language analysis based on 2 images is just so much bullsh*t
- Iphigenie
Kevin: apparently, it's a menu, not an iPad: "Update: No, it's not an iPad. It's a menu. Tipster says the first thing he looked for was an iPad, and that isn't it."
- Simon
and the whole bit about being "outside" as a message... LOL to that. As if they wouldnt have been spotted and photographed "inside?". Perhaps it was just a nice day, spring coming, lets get a coffee outside the endless meeting room...
- Iphigenie
Everyone is saying FF is dead. :) I sure hope not, but just in case :)
- Roberto Bonini
For Paul, I assume there is an incredible amount of self-satisfaction. Buzz has really brought the FriendFeed experience to a new audience, regardless of its name. Thanks for all your contributions, Paul.
- Louis Gray
I really like Buzz, very cool... glad to see Google release something that integrates a ton of their existing portfolio of products together! Buzz is truly a game changer... wow
- Susan Beebe
Maybe we should all agree to just go use Buzz, let them shut down FriendFeed, and Paul, Bret, et al can concentrate on Facebook... ;-)
- Ken Sheppardson
It must be bittersweet. Well put, Louis. Well put.
- Akiva
I've had a FriendFeed gadget in my Gmail left column for ages ;)
- Tinfoil 2.0
+1 Louis. Gmail, FriendFeed, Facebook.. Amazing job and ideas, Paul!
- Thierry R. Andriamirado
I was watching the announcement with my brother and I kept saying "just like Friendfeed", "just like Friendfeed", "just like Friendfeed" ...
- Alejandro
STILL not showing up in mine!!! It does show up on my iPhone. I've been playing with it for the past hour, but really wish I could see in in a real web browser on a real computer!
- Jeff P. Henderson
Jeff same problem here. Very frustrating!
- BRҰANSAҰS
its like Pauls child FF reunion with its elder brother gmail :)
- sirishkumar
Paul, one thing that I am sure to miss on Buzz is, not being able to see all the awesome Googler's and Xoogler's feeds that I see here on Friendfeed. I wish there is someway Buzz remedies this. Really bummed about this. :(
- Space Cowboy
Paul, same feeling here, but now that I see buzz map in iPhone/web app, that's pretty cool stuff.
- Orlando Pozo
Paul, we need something like buzz map for friendfeed ;).
- Orlando Pozo
Paul, Gbuzz privacy settings really suck, even blocking and reporting people as spammers don't work :S
- Orlando Pozo
from iPhone
Paul, did you know Google was working on Buzz when you sold FriendFeed?
- Richard Cunningham
I love how friendfeed, with all of the love and effort that all of us have vested in it, gets to keep on reaching new places, even if it's not *exactly* FF. Nice one.
- Iain Baker