Webware

In the face of the juggernaut that is Netflix, lagging movie rental giant Blockbuster has tried many an incentive to convince viewers that it's no dinosaur. Since entering the online DVD rental business in 2004, Blockbuster has instituted "Total Access," a system of online-and-offline rentals geared toward Netflix users who may be disgruntled by the fact that they can't just hop in their cars and pick out movies on the fly.

This week, Blockbuster is taking a sharper jab at Netflix. With the President's Day long weekend underway, the rental company is attempting to capitalize … Read more

Rule #15 of creating an Internet start-up: Short names are good. Just look at all the companies that are eliminating letters from their names--i.e. Flickr. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the brains behind STATravel193 got that memo. STATravel193 is a new social networking site created by STA Travel, an agency which organizes study-abroad logistics for students. The thinking behind "193" is cute--there are 193 countries in the world--but the site's name comes across as sounding like an AOL screenname.

Nevertheless, I'm hoping that Web users will be able to get past the awkward name … Read more

Web site discovery and recommendation site StumbleUpon, best known for its thumbs-up-or-down recommendation and discovery system for Web sites, has given its Stumble Video product a makeover that targets the coveted demographic of Wii addicts. The site now has an interface specifically designed for the Wii's Opera browser so that Wii owners can use their consoles to find cool new videos from YouTube and other sites, targeted specifically toward their prior StumbleUpon rating histories. It's a bit like Netflix's recommendation service.

StumbleUpon, which claims nearly 2 million registered users, has also released the 3.0 version of … Read more

It's really impossible to follow any tech blog these days without hearing something about Joost, formerly known as "The Venice Project," the mysterious online video start-up from the same minds that brought us Skype and Kazaa. There's been a lot of speculation, a lot of hype (usually involving the phrase "YouTube killer"), and a lot of hush-hush. That's because Joost, as I learned upon signing up for the private beta test, has a very strict non-disclosure agreement (NDA). Consequently, it's been difficult for me to address some of the more pointed questions … Read more

As some of you may know, I host a weekly video feature on our sister blog Crave, where I talk about fun tech-related stuff that's going on in New York City. This week, my video turned out to be rather Webware-related, so I'm posting it here for you as well. In this clip, I go over to Etsy Labs, the new real-world communal space opened by online handmade craft marketplace Etsy. It's a really cool convergence of the online and offline, in a way that kind of made me wonder--will the next iteration of the Web see … Read more

Got a few minutes to procrastinate? You might like this "digital ethnography" video that I found over at Information Aesthetics, which features a cameo appearance by the byline of CNET News.com's Candace Lombardi. It's all a little bit techno-utopian, but nevertheless pretty cool.

Hey, style freaks: here's another reason to spend more time on the Internet. ShopStyle is a search engine that will paw through the inventories of all kinds of online clothing sites to find exactly what you're searching for. I'm not much of an online shopper since I like to try things on before buying them, but I can see ShopStyle being a very valuable search tool for people who dig the bargains that can be found on clothing sites.

We're not talking a simple Froogle-style interface here. ShopStyle is very Ajax-y. Search results scroll sideways, … Read more

Okay, here are some things that tick me off: irritating cell phone ringtones, fast food, the Comic Sans font, Paris Hilton, bad grammar, and SpongeBob Squarepants. Generally, they don't get on my nerves nearly enough for me to want to tell everyone about it--but sometimes the annoyance reaches a level where I just want to...vent.

Enter VentBox, which is basically a forum for complaints. Type in something that irritates you, write whatever you want about it; not only will it post your vent on the site, it'll also connect you to other VentBox users who are ranting … Read more

You know, the sports world has made a much smoother transition to the digital age than I'd thought it would. Maybe it was the stereotype lingering in my brain of jocks and wannabe jocks having a disdain for anything nerdy, but I would've thought that sports Web sites and social networks would be slow to get off the ground. Man, was I wrong--just look at fantasy sports, as well as some growing social networks like Takkle. Here's another AlwaysOn attendee, PicksPal, which is a community for people who follow sports so closely that they think they can … Read more