My corner of the Twitterverse is waging an online revolt against, well, Twitter itself. Twitter has been the most inaccessible, inconsistent, downtrodden Web 2.0 application on the face of the Internet, and yet we put up with it. Why? Because old habits are difficult to break. Yes, if that weirds you out, try my other friends on Twitter.

As I opened my browser this morning, I was pleasantly greeted with Happy Birthday to you’s and Haba Birdie’s and talks of Twitter folks planning a mass exodus to Plurk. No wait, what? Yes, Plurk. Apparently, everyone’s gotten sick of Twitter and finally found a worthy place to tell the world what silly little things we’re up to. Pownce and Jaiku tried but failed — despite the Internet heavyweights backing them up. What makes Plurk special? It’s cute, quirky and different. The timeline interface is nice and makes it easy for me to browse through updates without clicking to another page. Replying to updates is even easier. I simply click on an update and type away. Replies are grouped together exactly like a forum thread. Sweet!

I’m in a state of cautious enthusiasm about Plurk. Cautious because Plurk is a new service and the real test is whether it could hold enough interest into it and withstand hundreds of thousands of ‘plurkers’ plurking at the same time. I would also love to see a SMS aspect attached to it and a developer API. I’m cutting them some slack because they’re new, but the people behind Plurk should leverage on the attention it’s getting now or suffer the same fate as all the other Twitter wannabes.

Plurk has a mobile version here. I’d like to see a browser extension done first so I can get rid of Twitterfox asap. Be sure to check out their blog for new developments. They’re looking for someone to help out with a Filipino/Tagalog interface too.

Powerset enters the search engine realm with an offering of tools for users to search Wikipedia more effectively. Instead of keywords, Powerset’s technology harnesses the power of human conversation that serves as the backbone of their engine’s algorithm. That removes the need for users to always know the exact terms related to what they’re searching. Powerset does all the dirty work for you. The search results can be a bit daunting to digest if you’re used to Google. But for hardcore researchers, it’s easy to tell that Powerset leaves no stone unturned.

Apart from Wikipedia, Powerset plans to partner with other wiki-like sites to expand their database. Already, it is showing what the future of web search might be. A Google killer? Who knows? I’d dare say Microsoft would be better off buying them rather than play hide-and-seek with Yahoo. My bet is Powerset is already on Wikimedia’s Christmas shopping list by now.

One of the downsides of blogging is not knowing whether or not your readers are “getting it”.

Sure, you know what Gas tungsten arc welding is, but for us mere mortals, that sounds like a bad lab experiment back in college that we’d rather forget about. If you’re familiar with Snap Shots (see sample), Apture should feel right at home except that it gives you full control over your “info bubbles” and you have the power to assign bubbles only to the content that you choose right on your blog (unlike the arbitrary way that Snap does it). One great example we can use is Christine Gambito. Remember who she is? If not, click on her name (now na hahaha). I added Wikipedia, images and video to the info bubble to help jog your memory. Ok, done? You can add info bubbles to any text on your blog to give your users a rich multimedia experience, if not a lesson in history. The service is currently in beta and is accepting registrations.

Some bugs still need to be worked out, such as conflicts with flash objects and the inability to detect the same content on the main page and post page (meaning if you add bubbles from the main page, you’d have to do it again on the blog post).

Lovd By Less is a new open source application lovingly written on Ruby that allows you to start your own social network. Checking the demo, I reckon the company, smartly named “Less Everything“, put a lot of (or less?) thought into this. Definitely not just one of those run-of-the-mill php scripts we uninstall everyday. Any Ruby programmers out there willing to give it a test? (If only I was one)

I got an invitation from Leah Plaxton, Marketing Manager for a new online collaboration app called Projjex, to try out their service. In a nutshell, this is what Projjex is:

Projjex is a web-based collaborative task manager that helps small teams share their work. Teams can share tasks, documents, notes, meetings and time. It’s easy to use, runs completely in a browser, and has a fully functional free version.

I signed up at their site and it does look promising. Check it out!

I must say, I’ve become addicted to Twitter. Twitter has become my daily tabloid, where all the news, gossips and blind items are fed. All you gotta do is follow the right people (like me, wink2x). Sometimes I find myself spending too much time refreshing my browser tab, waiting for new twits to show up. I don’t recommend that though, unless you’re that bored. If you’re using Firefox, there’s an excellent, unobtrusive plugin called Twitterfox that keeps you updated on what your fellow twitter-ers are up to while you’re actually doing something productive.
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Always makes me feel good to see Filipinos coming up with cool online applications. Recently, Eugene Villar released Lakbayan, a quiz-type app that rates how well-traveled you are in the Philippines. Being from Davao City, ironically I have not been to many places here in Mindanao. I’ve actually been to more while I was living in Manila. Heck, I’ve been as far as Quezon Province where I spent 3 days with some of my classmates. It took us 6 hours and 3 different rides to get there. I also frequented Subic, Tagaytay and Clark often with my dad.
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I wrote about a free website monitoring service called Montastic last January and thanks to them I figured out how really sucky my webhost is. Not all my sites are what you would call extremely successful, but I’m proud to say that they bog down their respective servers from time to time. Anyway, for quite a while I was thinking how cool it would be if Montastic would send me an SMS everytime they find my sites to be down. Easy.
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I decided to put my blog to the test using CrazyEgg’s heatmap visualization after all the rave reviews it got from the likes of Matt Mullenweg, David Hansson and TechCrunch. Unfortunately, since I inserted the required Javascript code, I’m getting errors from both Firefox and IE.

Screenshot after the jump.
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Forget the Capulets and Montagues, the Hatfields and the McCoys.

It’s all about Diddy versus Diddy.

Sean “Diddy” Combs was sued by another Diddy in the UK for “causing confusion” and unfair competition. Music producer Richard “Diddy” Dearlove wants Combs to stop using the “Diddy” moniker as it allegedly caused some Puerto Rican teenagers to email him asking him to be in music videos or to check out their fashion designs. Like there’s anything wrong with that! Hehehe. Now Sean Combs has to change his name for the fourth time. He was once known as “Puffy” and “Puff Daddy”. As a designer he’s Sean John. What is with celebrities? They can’t seem to stick to one name. Remember when Prince wanted to known as the artist formerly known as Prince? Now he’s back to Prince! I know, it’s nuts. Publicity stunt? I guess.

The Internet is just as schizophrenic. Its known multiple personas are Web 1.0, Web 2.0 and Web 3.0. I heard that Web 2.0 is the most sociable. Javascript has a superhero alter-ego, AJAX, who saves his girlfriend Ruby who seems to be always tied up on rails.

Then there are those Web 2.0 geeks who spit out cute names such as Mojizu, Meebo, Wablet, Zimbio, Blipstar, Ojor, Kroodle during lunch breaks. Do venture capitalists have penchants for such cutesyness? Well, nowadays they want to be called “seed financiers”. That’s a resounding yes to me.

Now that ex-Diddy has settled with the first Diddy, what is Dearlove going to do with Web 2.0 startup VDiddy?

Wablet’s going to rock web IM, according to Marshall Kirkpatrick, after he road-tests Wablet. His review was nothing short of an endorsement which makes me feel good because it is for the most part a product of Filipino innovation.

Yet if you course through the article you’ll see how some of the commenters shrug it off as a third-rate app from a third-world country. It’s discrimination at the most hi-tech form. I understand how one should be concerned about how their personal data is treated, but really, just because Wablet is developed by Filipinos, does it mean that your privacy won’t be any less respected if it were made somewhere else, say, in the USA? Funny that with the recent AOL episode, people tend to forget so easily (Marquee: AOL data now searchable!). That and the fact that the country’s best hackers troop freely to Vegas every year like it’s an OK thing to do.

Are the geeks educated in Stanford, Yale or MIT the only ones who deserve Kirkpatrick’s attention or anyone’s for that matter? Like the dirty world of politics, the tech sector has its own brand of nepotism. It’s despicable. Honestly, I have seen a lot of overhyped Web 2.0 apps that are either utterly pretentious or a copycat of another. I could only name a few that I really like, and I think Wablet will make it to that shortlist once I try it. Asians are the smartest people in the world, IMO. Maybe it’s because of arrogance, discrimination or indifference, Westerners should suck it up and accept that fact sooner or later.

Is Mike Abundo Wablet’s official spin doctor? If so, he’s doing a great job at it. Techcrunch’s Marshall Kirkpatrick should be demo-ing it anytime now.

Jeez, I hope I can get a chance to test it.

Here’s a screenshot of the client login window:
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With Windows Live Writer recently recently, it’s only natural that I should try it on my blog.  Does it work?  If you see this, most probably.

So I was just talking about the mysterious Filipino Web 2.0 undertaking Wablet and how it will give Meebo a run for its money (well, not really).

Now comes Friendster MoBS, another web-based instant messaging platform that bears a frightening resemblance to Meebo’s GUI. Except that in MoBS, your only contacts are your friends in your Friendster account. But wait, on their site they say:

Friendster MoBS is a new web-based chat service. If you look to the right side, your buddy list is pre-populated with your friends. You can move the buddy list window and all other windows to your liking (we keep those settings even if you logout). Expect more features like group chatting and chat integration (jabber, yahoo, aol, etc.) in the future. Enjoy!

Moreover:
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Techcrunch recently profiled Wablet, a Filipino Web 2.0 startup offering IM services similar to that of Meebo. Mike Abundo of the Mike Abundo Effect, claims that Wablet “will blow away Meebo”. What’s strange though is how its developers are wrapping this project in utter obscurity. Not even Abundo can provide details on how the purported “blowing away” will happen.

I did a little digging (since I’m good at it IMO).
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