If you think about it, Twitter is really like a big IRC server having just one personalised channel. The difference is that conversations in IRC are “real time” and require immediate attention. In Twitter, you ignore conversations coming from strangers (actually you don’t see them) and you read your friend’s conversations. This is not very efficient because what if someone (you don’t know obviously) is having a very interesting conversation with one of your contacts?

How can you gain from this? How can you get involved in this conversation? Perhaps you are an expert and would like to participate in this exchange? Should Twitter move away from the “follower” architecture and move to a “group” architecture? Trust might be an issue. Do you trust people you follow more than strangers in a group you trust? Perhaps. Do you trust your friend’s friends (which are complete strangers to you) more than complete strangers? Probably.

If you’re like me, you try to follow a bunch of people you think will have same ideas, thoughts or hobbies as you do, right? You probably follow people who are Internet savvy, who like politics, you like cats and so on because you probably read their blogs or know them in real life.

Doesn’t it sound just like IRC channels? You join the channels you like and (try to) follow a bunch of conversations? In IRC, you’re not a “friend” of anyone and you don’t follow anyone. You are in multiple groups and there are no relations between individuals.

Same goes in real life. You are in groups. Work, school, friends and neighbors are all groups you belong to. Just like IRC, some people come in and leave your groups.

So is Twitter just a big IRC server after all? If so, will we see integration with Identi.ca and Facebook in the future?

If Twitter is just a big IRC server, why is it worth that much? :)

Here is the email along with my comments (or what I was actually thinking while reading it)

Today, we’re excited to announce the public beta of Amazon CloudFront (cool!), a new web service for content delivery (hmm..? You mean S3 version 2.0?). With CloudFront, you can distribute content using a worldwide network of edge locations that provide low latency and high data transfer speeds (is this distributed S3..?). CloudFront works seamlessly with other AWS services such as Amazon S3 (Ah so it must be different than S3..?), and like all AWS services, is self-service with no up-front commitments, no long-term contracts and pay-as-you-go pricing. (Sounds good, but what is it exactly?) You can sign up for CloudFront – and begin using it today – at aws.amazon.com/cloudfront. (Yes, but what is it??)

The initial release lets developers and businesses deliver popular, publicly readable content worldwide. (like my web server..?)  CloudFront has a number of exciting features (Exciting yes, but what is it exactly?) that differ from many traditional (woah, is this http ng?) methods of content delivery. It:

• lets you get started easily there’s no need to contact a sales person or negotiate a contract. Anyone can get started in just minutes with only a credit card. (Wow! but what is it again?)
• works seamlessly with Amazon S3 – you can start delivering your files stored in Amazon S3 through CloudFront edge locations in a matter of minutes. (Cool! So it’s really not S3 then?)
• is simple and easy to use – a single API call is all that’s needed to get started delivering your content.
• lets you pay only for what you use there are no minimum fees and no long-term commitments. (So I don’t need S3 anymore then, or do I?)
• To Use Amazon CloudFront, all you need to do is store your objects in Amazon S3 (make sure they are publicly readable), then, make a simple API call to register your bucket with CloudFront. This API call will return a new domain name for you to include in your web pages or application. When clients request an object using this domain name, they will be automatically routed to the nearest edge location used by Amazon CloudFront for fast delivery of your content. No negotiations, no upfront fees, and no volume commitments. It’s that simple. (Oh, looks like I still need S3 after all…)

You can learn more about Amazon CloudFront and get started using the service at aws.amazon.com/cloudfront. (I don’t want to click there to find out more. I should know everything by now!)

Sincerely,

The Amazon CloudFront Team (oh well…! [deleting email])

I manage one of my domain using Google Apps and while going back to edit some stuff, I was stopped and shown this error message:

I really liked the extra warning they gave me: Continue at your own risk. Now I had no choice but to try…!

What could happen? Would I break something? This is something you normally don’t do on your computer (or at least you proceed carefully) but in this case, the data is “in the cloud” so I had to see for myself the kind of damage I could do using an unsupported browser. 

Maybe I was totally careless and could’ve deleted the whole cloud? :) Nah, but this does bring in an interesting “theory”… Could a “cloud virus” infect a “cloud environment” ? What will happen with bot nets once we all run the Goggle OS? How will viagra spam be delivered? Is Google the Matrix?

What’s funny is they claim that if a “tab” hangs, only that tab will crash. Well that’s not quite right as you can see below… :)

I know it’s beta but not only did the browser crashed, it made my system pretty unstable for a few minutes. I wondered for a second if I should tell Microsoft about it. They would’ve enjoyed it I suppose.

At least they’re being “coo”l about it! Don’t give up Google, this is something interesting! Like I mentionned in the past, it’s all so clear that everything is moving online!

One bet, 10$ down the drain for a new domain name and a quick and dirty web page hack later, I present you the "I am rich" beer coasters .

You know you always wanted to show your wealth in bars to pick up girls. Now you can! I only need to sell one in order to generate a profit (unlike most startups).

This is a joke serious test experiment to see where people will go. You can really order them and I will really ship them. Enjoy! :)

The application was removed from the Apple store after 8 idiots persons downloaded the application (one by mistake? ). That’s close to 8000$ in pure profit. I’d say, that’s even more profit than many startups will ever make in their entire life. The publicity just started to kick in. That guy could’ve easily made 100 sales. 100 sales means $100,000 of free money from rich err.. mentally challenged people who have nothing else to do with their hard earned money. I say free money because although there was some initial investment let’s not fool ourselves: there was probably less than 3 to 4 hours of work involved, and I’m being generous… Most of it was probably put on the "ruby" image – if not taken directly from Google.

I get rather upset that I don’t have those type of ideas that are so dumb that people fall for it. Just like the million pixel page or the pet rock, these ideas require so little time and yet are financially rewarding. I only have ideas which require gazillions of dollars and a team of 50 developpers.

Since many great ideas work well in other domains, is anyone willing to buy a $1000 ruby picture from me? You’ll look really cool and people will know you’re dumb err.. I mean rich…

The big question is why on Earth was Cuil labeled as a Google killer? I don’t know but here’s what went wrong. We all know about the David & Goliath story. In my version of this story, Goliath is Cuil and David is, well, the user. Where the story went wrong, is instead of having a fearsome, scary Goliath (Cuil), David (us) is faced with a 2 years old toddler. Sure, everyone in Goliath’s village said how big and brave he would eventually become. So Goliath’s ego grew immensely and he went on his quest and met with David.

Here are some mistake that you must not reproduce in your product.

First mistake : don’t let your ego blind you. In "David & Goliath" terms: what you want to do is train until rumors spread outside of your village that you are so good that you can beat anyone. Do not label yourself or let anyone else label you as a warrior when you are not one. In business language, let your product do the talking. In geek terms, let your coding do the talking. This applies to all aspects of life. If you are the best, people will find you. Bragging rarely works in life. Does Tiger Woods brag about how good he is or does Bill Gates brags about his bank account? No. Staying low is cool.

Second mistake : don’t use a name that is not pronounceable or that sounds like a male body part in French. This could be excused as domains are getting harder to find. Or perhaps this is a marketing scheme well implemented by Cuil. Indeed, instead of the famed Google slap, Cuil will be holding you by the balls. I guess this could prevent black hat SEO from happening after all… English is not my native tongue but even some native English speakers are not too sure how to say Cuil. If you’re not sure how to write down the URL, you’ve got major problems.

Third mistake : have a scalable, user friendly interface. Cuil has none. A simple search for the word "test" returned millions of results but only 11 results on the first page. One thing I particularly hate is to scroll lots of pages so I like to have a lot of information on the first page. Cuil forces me to click next many times. Another user interface issue is the "home logo" on the top RIGHT coder. I think this is the first time that I have seen a logo on the top right corner. Very annoying and confusing. It’s ok to make it simple, but please make it correct/logical at least.

Forth mistake : be bold, but don’t be bold, italic and underline at the same time. I’m curious why journalists and even many tech bloggers claimed that Cuil was a Google killer. It takes some guts to write this down without losing all your credibility. Even a non-tech journalist could have quickly concluded that Cuil is obviously not par with Google. Not even Yahoo. Not even MSN search. Now when your product is not as good as Microsoft’s product, you’ve got a big problem (that’s almost an insult actually). Why did people even spread this information? I don’t know. The problem here is that users will not return on Cuil’s website for many months as they know the product doesn’t work well. Had it really been a Google killer then things would’ve been different and the fire would’ve spread by itself. But this is not the case. I, myself, will probably not return for a few months even if I tend to give the runner a second chance. But most won’t give this extra chance. It’s just too late…

Cuil is dead. Long live Google.

I don’t think anyone will be able to compete with Google just now. So what should you do if you are in the search industry? The obvious choice is to partner with them. One thing I can think right away is to outsource the crawling of web sites. Since the Google index is not updated in real time, if you can do something for a few cents cheaper in another country then you might have a case.

I’m not a Google fanboy, I believe that Google will eventually collapse on itself just like other search engines did in the past. It’s life. Webcrawler, Hotbot, Inktomi, Altavista were all good search engines until they were left behind by users. I’m not saying the fight is hopeless but that if you claim to be a Google killer, then how come no one is using your product?

So there you have it. How not to do marketing.

So… just for the fun of it, here’s how the Internet would be if the telephone companies had invented it. I can already tell you that it would be hell.

Just like 411, you’d have to pay 1.25$ to do whois or DNS queries.

Just like optional caller ID, you’d have to pay to see your friend’s names and pictures in MSN Messenger. Otherwise, you wouldn’t know who’s talking to you until they announce themselves. Prank IM paradise! But wait, you could always use *IM to know who just sent you an IM for just 50 cents.

Just like long distance fees, you would pay a different fee depending on the country where you send your emails. You could always go to www.1010emails.com to save some money.

Just like collect calls, you could email your parents and let them pay for the email fee.

Just like buddy lists, you would be able to email only 5 friends without extra charges. As long as they are using the same provider than you.

Just like Telus’s cell phone voice mail, you would only have 3 emails in your inbox. New emails would simply bounce. Of course you could get the deluxe email inbox which would allow you to have 10 emails for just 5.99$ more.

Just like a phone bill, you’d have inexplicable fees such as wireless Internet roaming network fee, anti-virus security fee (equivalent of 911 fees). Every month, your Internet bill would never be the same amount and even though you took the basic 19$ plan, your bill would never be less than 65$.

Just like cell phone browsers, your internet browser would be limited to just 10 (highly sponsored) sites – all in text with a small (barely readable) graphic on the top. You wouldn’t be allowed to browse other provider’s sites or public web sites.

Just like ring tones, you would have to pay 3.99$ just to change your email notifier tone. It would sound like crap too.

Just like cell phones, you would only have unlimited downloads after 8pm or during the weekend. You would have to pay per minute during the day or use your monthly Internet minutes.

Just like SMS, you’d have to pay everytime you send an email. Your emails would be limited to an inexplicately low limit of 25 characters thus requiring you to send multiple emails.

Just like Telus and Bell’s new scam proposal, you’d have to pay to receive email (and spam too). Whether you want them or not.

Just like Bell’s touch-tone service, you’d have a surcharge for a service that you don’t have the choice to get anyways. Only Bell customers and perhaps the older generation like myself might understand this one…

Just like cell phone number portability issues (in the past at least), if you’d wanted to change ISP, you’d have to give all your friends your new IP address and reconfigure all your applications as everything would stop working.

Just like cell phones roaming fees, you would have to pay more when using your wireless Internet connection away from home.

Just like the yellow pages, you’d have a big book with your name, address and IP in it. You’d have to pay not to be included in the listing.

Just like the phone, you could send an operator-assisted email for a few extra dollars. "Operator, please send this email to my friend Michael Sabia at BCE".

Finally, if the telco’s had invented the Internet, we’d have pretty strick download limits per month (such as 6GB per month) and ridiculouly high penalties for downloading more.  Oh wait – that’s Rogers and it’s happening right now in 2008!

As you can see, I think the telco’s covered all the possible sources of revenues. Did I miss anything?

But that’s not what I wish you. I wish you get that killer idea, start working on it and kick some butts! You might have a happy year 2010 but I know 2008 won’t be happy for most of you guys.

So, if you want to go watch TV then happy new year! If you want to succeed, then what are you waiting for? I wish you a very hard year! :)