by Kevin (kevin at urspin dot com) on 06.15.07 at 8:54
I apologize for taking so long to post. We've been busy developing and enhancing our products over the past few months. We are now in Private Beta for both Spinlets and urSpin. So, I wanted to take the time to thank all the testers and reviewers for their feedback. We hope to open the Public Beta phase for Spinlets very shortly and will send out emails to those who requested them.
I also want to take a minute to talk about our stance on No Spyware, SPAM, and AdWare. I have been asked a few times why we take this stance and recently heard it argued that we should "wait and see" where the widget space goes before making this claim.
I do not wish to offend anyone, but saying "let's wait and see" is essentially inviting a problem. Having been around the web for a bit, I will guarantee that SPAM, Spyware, and AdWare will become an issue for widgets. I use these terms loosely because it may have a slightly different method or name — hopefully one less closely tied to packaged meat-like products. Nonetheless, it will attack the widget space, and in some ways already has.
Anytime there is a new product, someone somewhere is thinking of a way to break it or monetize it. That's just the nature of the Internet and we're already seeing these fly-by-night pay-per-widget products emerging. Most people don't realize how much personal information and behavioral data they trail across the web. Take email for example. Most people would never know that marketing emails usually contain a small transparent image in them. It's tiny — 1 pixel by 1 pixel and it's clear, so unless you know html and can look at the code, you’d never know it was there. When you view the email (even without clicking on anything), that image fires a call to the server with its unique code. From that information the marketer can tell the date and time you opened the email. If they have an advanced system, they can also tell your email address, time zone and basic geographic location (often within 20 miles). This is a big reason why your Outlook email doesn't automatically load images any more.
When I sign up for an email list, I do so with this knowledge and I weigh the value of that email. If it's a reputable company offering me something worthwhile, I don't mind that they have a little information on me. It actually makes their product and my ultimate experience better. But, in the wrong hands (say that of a spammer), this technique is dangerous. They can send out a few million random emails. When they see that one has been opened, they can instantly send that person a couple hundred more emails because they now know the email account is active.
So, think about it. If you were not aware that "tracking pixels" existed, how much more information or harm can be done when you begin pasting actual code into your website? And, don't you think that someone mischievous or malicious is thinking the same thing?
At Spinlets, we'd prefer not to "wait and see" before taking a stance against the invasion of your privacy because there are those out there who will go to great lengths to gain your information and abuse it.
-Kevin-
I also want to take a minute to talk about our stance on No Spyware, SPAM, and AdWare. I have been asked a few times why we take this stance and recently heard it argued that we should "wait and see" where the widget space goes before making this claim.
I do not wish to offend anyone, but saying "let's wait and see" is essentially inviting a problem. Having been around the web for a bit, I will guarantee that SPAM, Spyware, and AdWare will become an issue for widgets. I use these terms loosely because it may have a slightly different method or name — hopefully one less closely tied to packaged meat-like products. Nonetheless, it will attack the widget space, and in some ways already has.
Anytime there is a new product, someone somewhere is thinking of a way to break it or monetize it. That's just the nature of the Internet and we're already seeing these fly-by-night pay-per-widget products emerging. Most people don't realize how much personal information and behavioral data they trail across the web. Take email for example. Most people would never know that marketing emails usually contain a small transparent image in them. It's tiny — 1 pixel by 1 pixel and it's clear, so unless you know html and can look at the code, you’d never know it was there. When you view the email (even without clicking on anything), that image fires a call to the server with its unique code. From that information the marketer can tell the date and time you opened the email. If they have an advanced system, they can also tell your email address, time zone and basic geographic location (often within 20 miles). This is a big reason why your Outlook email doesn't automatically load images any more.
When I sign up for an email list, I do so with this knowledge and I weigh the value of that email. If it's a reputable company offering me something worthwhile, I don't mind that they have a little information on me. It actually makes their product and my ultimate experience better. But, in the wrong hands (say that of a spammer), this technique is dangerous. They can send out a few million random emails. When they see that one has been opened, they can instantly send that person a couple hundred more emails because they now know the email account is active.
So, think about it. If you were not aware that "tracking pixels" existed, how much more information or harm can be done when you begin pasting actual code into your website? And, don't you think that someone mischievous or malicious is thinking the same thing?
At Spinlets, we'd prefer not to "wait and see" before taking a stance against the invasion of your privacy because there are those out there who will go to great lengths to gain your information and abuse it.
-Kevin-
by Kevin (kevin at urspin dot com) on 04.06.07 at 15:37
For those who don't know, I've spent most of my career building technology for Marketing and Advertising, so I have a good understanding of the industry. Unfortunately, there are bottom-dwellers of said industry who are constantly looking for ways to make a quick buck off of any new concept. A while back, I was consulting for a company that was losing revenue because of the pop-up blocking toolbars. Their solution was to build technology that popped around the tool bar. I knew that I could do it, but I couldn't understand their thinking. If a user explicitly says they don't want something, how happy are they going to be when you then force it down their throat? I simply shook my head and walked away.
As I was browsing the web last week, I came across a site that brought back memories of the aforementioned experience: socialpay.com . Take a look at the guy next to the CRT monitor and beige tower (circa 1999). Doesn't he look happy? Apparently, you can be happy too - just add one of their Advertising Widgets on your blog. This type of "Pay-Per-Widget" concept is one of many reasons we created Spinlets instead of Widgets (more to come later). Simply put, we don't want to be associated with this practice. Unfortunately, I fear this is just the tip of the iceberg. Web Widgets are a great addition to web 2.0. But, we (as a community) need to take a stand against this practice or it will do to Widgets what SPAM did to email, what Ad-Ware / Spy-Ware did to toolbars, and what "Pay-Per-Blog" is doing to the blogosphere. The last thing I want to see is Widgets being shunned because someone decided that lining their pocket with an extra nickel was more important than user experience.
Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with someone posting unobtrusive Google AdSense listing or tasteful sponsorships like Mashable. Let's face it, someone has to pay for servers and real bloggers contribute positively to the web 2.0 community so why shouldn't they get paid? What concerns me is the fact that so many lower-tier interactive agencies seem to completely disregard user experience. I think the problem is that many advertisers and publishers forget or ignore the value of the individual. There may be users who love those full page pop-ups and the flash banners that move so fast they almost send you into a seizure, but I have yet to meet any. That's not to say people don't click on them. But, ruining 10,000 users' experience for one click doesn't make sense. Unfortunately, I think this is the result of how the industry views users - in online advertising users are most commonly bought and sold on a CPM or cost per 1,000 basis (M being the Roman Numeral for 1,000). When users are bought and sold in groups of 1,000 it becomes difficult for those involved to think in terms of 1 because it has such little value in their minds. This, in turn, prompts some to generate as much traffic as they can, in any way possible.
Thus, we decided long ago that each individual user experience is paramount. That's why I personally read every email that comes from our customers (although sometimes it takes a few days). And, that's why you will never see an Advertising Spinlet and why we will never allow someone else to make one. If we're just focused on dollars and cents, we take our eye off the user.
As I was browsing the web last week, I came across a site that brought back memories of the aforementioned experience: socialpay.com . Take a look at the guy next to the CRT monitor and beige tower (circa 1999). Doesn't he look happy? Apparently, you can be happy too - just add one of their Advertising Widgets on your blog. This type of "Pay-Per-Widget" concept is one of many reasons we created Spinlets instead of Widgets (more to come later). Simply put, we don't want to be associated with this practice. Unfortunately, I fear this is just the tip of the iceberg. Web Widgets are a great addition to web 2.0. But, we (as a community) need to take a stand against this practice or it will do to Widgets what SPAM did to email, what Ad-Ware / Spy-Ware did to toolbars, and what "Pay-Per-Blog" is doing to the blogosphere. The last thing I want to see is Widgets being shunned because someone decided that lining their pocket with an extra nickel was more important than user experience.
Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with someone posting unobtrusive Google AdSense listing or tasteful sponsorships like Mashable. Let's face it, someone has to pay for servers and real bloggers contribute positively to the web 2.0 community so why shouldn't they get paid? What concerns me is the fact that so many lower-tier interactive agencies seem to completely disregard user experience. I think the problem is that many advertisers and publishers forget or ignore the value of the individual. There may be users who love those full page pop-ups and the flash banners that move so fast they almost send you into a seizure, but I have yet to meet any. That's not to say people don't click on them. But, ruining 10,000 users' experience for one click doesn't make sense. Unfortunately, I think this is the result of how the industry views users - in online advertising users are most commonly bought and sold on a CPM or cost per 1,000 basis (M being the Roman Numeral for 1,000). When users are bought and sold in groups of 1,000 it becomes difficult for those involved to think in terms of 1 because it has such little value in their minds. This, in turn, prompts some to generate as much traffic as they can, in any way possible.
Thus, we decided long ago that each individual user experience is paramount. That's why I personally read every email that comes from our customers (although sometimes it takes a few days). And, that's why you will never see an Advertising Spinlet and why we will never allow someone else to make one. If we're just focused on dollars and cents, we take our eye off the user.
by Kevin (kevin at urspin dot com) on 03.30.07 at 18:25
Welcome. My name is Kevin Cuxil and I am the CTO of urSpin. I figured the most appropriate first entry should be about why we started urSpin and what we offer to our users.
I'm not all that old, but I'm an octogenarian in "internet years." When I was at UCLA, I remember beta-testing the first version of "bruin online." It was basically eudora and netscape on a floppy disk. At that time, most of the e-mail computer labs had those monitors where all the text was a lovely phosphorescent green and the screen saver was a pattern of ampersands spaced in a way that spelled out "UCLA." Those were the simpler times of "Web 1.0."
For those who remember back to the early days of AOL and Yahoo, there were only a few destinations and, other than forums and chat rooms, you couldn't really post much without knowing HTML. Web 1.0 was structured because everyone went with what they knew. The portals treated it like television, where those who own the content and channels are dominant. To most, at the time, the portals and ISP's were all things to all people.
Then came the internet crash and the transition to Web 2.0. As it turns out, internet isn't like television and people don't like being spoon fed...who would have thought?!! Now, anyone with a computer can have a blog, most reading this probably have at least two email addresses, chances are you have digital photography on the web, and it's pretty likely that you have listened to or downloaded some music through the internet. I love Web 2.0 because anyone can express themselves and, until YouTube, I never knew how many seriously disturbed people were out there.
But, as web 2.0 sites continue to appear, it has become more and more complicated to interact with, let alone organize and actually use. I have photos in Flickr, videos at a couple of sites and more email addresses than any logical human being should even contemplate. And, that's not even the stuff ISP read or use on a daily basis. Web 2.0 is the antithesis of web 1.0 when it comes to content and self expression, but it has grown beyond what is manageable for the average user. So, we've come up with two solutions. Spinlets (spinlets.com) lets users connect and mobilize content outside the confines of a website. urSpin (urspin.com) then lets users customize and control their content, interests, and spinlets.
We have a lot of really great features and announcements about Spinlets and urSpin to come in the next few weeks. But, I want to be clear from the start: you will never see Ad-ware, Spy-ware, or advertising in our Spinlets. We're pretty busy testing and developing right now, but feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions or comments kevin at urspin dot com .
I'm not all that old, but I'm an octogenarian in "internet years." When I was at UCLA, I remember beta-testing the first version of "bruin online." It was basically eudora and netscape on a floppy disk. At that time, most of the e-mail computer labs had those monitors where all the text was a lovely phosphorescent green and the screen saver was a pattern of ampersands spaced in a way that spelled out "UCLA." Those were the simpler times of "Web 1.0."
For those who remember back to the early days of AOL and Yahoo, there were only a few destinations and, other than forums and chat rooms, you couldn't really post much without knowing HTML. Web 1.0 was structured because everyone went with what they knew. The portals treated it like television, where those who own the content and channels are dominant. To most, at the time, the portals and ISP's were all things to all people.
Then came the internet crash and the transition to Web 2.0. As it turns out, internet isn't like television and people don't like being spoon fed...who would have thought?!! Now, anyone with a computer can have a blog, most reading this probably have at least two email addresses, chances are you have digital photography on the web, and it's pretty likely that you have listened to or downloaded some music through the internet. I love Web 2.0 because anyone can express themselves and, until YouTube, I never knew how many seriously disturbed people were out there.
But, as web 2.0 sites continue to appear, it has become more and more complicated to interact with, let alone organize and actually use. I have photos in Flickr, videos at a couple of sites and more email addresses than any logical human being should even contemplate. And, that's not even the stuff ISP read or use on a daily basis. Web 2.0 is the antithesis of web 1.0 when it comes to content and self expression, but it has grown beyond what is manageable for the average user. So, we've come up with two solutions. Spinlets (spinlets.com) lets users connect and mobilize content outside the confines of a website. urSpin (urspin.com) then lets users customize and control their content, interests, and spinlets.
We have a lot of really great features and announcements about Spinlets and urSpin to come in the next few weeks. But, I want to be clear from the start: you will never see Ad-ware, Spy-ware, or advertising in our Spinlets. We're pretty busy testing and developing right now, but feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions or comments kevin at urspin dot com .
