Wonderland

Gaia's Bebo app

Got this from Raph: Gaia Online put out a Bebo app, and is now planning a Facebook one too - so presumably it worked nicely for them. It got a 5-star (out of 5) average rating from Bebo users; Virtual World News reports  the app got 100,000 downloads (Gaia has 4 million users).

Seems the app doesn't let you play Gaia so much, but rather mooch about in your avatar and chat to other Gaians. They've got some good little outfits, those Gaians.

WeGame: YouTube (and more) for gamers

WeGame has just launched, says TechCrunch, and it looks like it could be really useful, specifically to PC gamers. I'm guessing the founder, one 19 year old Jared Kim, is a Warcrafter or similar: WeGame is not only a repository for gaming clips and vids, but also offers capture software that won't slow down your machine while playing. S'free, too.

WeGame steps in by providing a free desktop client that works tightly with DirectX to capture screencasts from within games without slowing them down significantly. It also outputs those screencasts to AVI files that are small enough for quick uploading to the web, a process that occurs from within the client itself.

... says TC.

There are limits to the client at the moment: it's Windows-only, and it only works with 16 games so far. More coming, of course, as well as a recorder for casual, browser-based games, which is pretty curious. They're not exactly known for their high action, but still, you never know how creative folks can be.

Course, any sorts of game video can be uploaded, so on writing this, there's stuff ranging from Guitar Hero to Call of Duty and (obviously) World of Warcraft. Here's one of a WoW shadow Priest going up against 3 rogues at once.. and winning. Also.. no keypresses, all mouseclicks! Bizarre.

Cool Quake-related endnote: one of the company's advisors is Dennis Fong ... a.k.a Thresh. Now there's a name I haven't heard in a while.

Privacy and social media

This is great:

I don’t care if my local grocery chain store knows that skirt steak and Corona beer are usually purchased together by males between 24 and 42 years of age.

However, I do care if a search engine company knows that I purchased these items at the grocery chain store at four in the afternoon on Saturday, recently bought a round-trip ticket to Argentina and returned an item to the Macy’s in Union Square last weekend.

Do they serve my needs any better by inserting advertising for Niman Ranch beef, hotel discounts in Buenos Aires and Macy’s latest sale on my Facebook page? I understand why, in terms of advertising rates, this is good for Facebook, but why am I giving up my privacy for this service?

The author goes on to list a great bunch of to-dos for safeguarding your privacy a bit, in this crazy datamining day and age...

Do not use desktop search tools like Google Desktop or Microsoft Desktop Search. A full index of every keyword on your hard drive in the hands of marketers is very useful for the purposes of targeted advertising.

Do not use webmail from a service provider like AT&T, Google or Microsoft.  Same reason as above, except here it applies to every email you send or receive.

Do not use browser toolbars or desktop gadgets. Both of these types of add-ons from companies like Yahoo and Google are known to gather information on your online activity for marketing purposes.

Remove all social network accounts. There is loads of good information there that can be used for targeting and correlation. At the very least, remove all personal information and have a username that does not give any clues to your true identity.

I know I'm super leaky: I filter my popmail through Google to soak up the spam, for instance. It's not good.

Link.

Teens more savvy than adults about online privacy?

The latest Pew study on Teens and Social Media is in, and this bit jumped out at me:

Some 66% of teens with social network profiles restrict access to their profiles in some way and 77% of teens who upload photos restrict access to them at least "some of the time."

In contrast, 58% of adults who post photos restrict access to them in some way.

How about that?
 

We Play This

We Play This just turned up on my radar, thanks to Kim:

Everyone plays computer or videogames – because it’s fun! On weplaythis you can create a virtual shelf and put your own personal games collection in it. Meet people with the same interests, talk to your friends and show them what you’re playing right at the moment.

It's super web 2.oey. A social network site for gamers.. and there are some nice touches, like "my digital alter ego" which points to all the other spots on the web you might be living in, and the "playground" section where you're encouraged to upload a pic of your playing space..

Closed beta only for now, boo.