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Random Generator Parodies Vapid Startup Websites
alphadogg writes: A pair of Georgia Tech computer science students have created a Random Startup Website Generator that spits out a different jargon-laden startup website every time you click on the URL. Mike Bradley and Tiffany Zhang's project "serves as a parody of startups that have websites full of vague praise and little information about their actual business, often because they have little to show in that regard."
Brilliant, that's what!
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
I suspect they could have saved themselves a lot of coding by simply randomly linking to real startup web sites. It'd look no less ridiculous.
Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
What has happened to Silicon Valley? As recently as a few decades ago, it was a hotbed for innovation. I'm not talking about innovation like how to force advertisements on more unwilling victims. I'm talking about innovations like the creation of the microprocessor, the invention of computer networking, and real innovation like that. We saw companies that created products that truly revolutionized the world in ways that we couldn't have imagined just a few years earlier. Silicon Valley was a magnificent place, with magnificent people that did magnificent things. Now what is it? It's no longer about real innovation. It's a place that's rife with hipsters pushing hype. It's a place where being trendy matters more than really making the world a better place. It's just so astounding to see how Silicon Valley has gone from a historic center of scientific discovery and real technological innovation into a cesspit of marketing-driven shenanigans masquerading as innovation.
OK, I am in pain from laughing so hard!
Some of my favs include:
* Effortify! "Share your favorite efforts and discover new ones." http://tiffzhang.com/startup/?...
* Sprayit! "Spray like never before." http://tiffzhang.com/startup/?...
and
* Insectify! "The evolution of the insect" http://tiffzhang.com/startup/?...
WELcome... to Zombo Com!
You can do Anything at Zombo Com,
The only limit...is yourself.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Every time you make a bullshit start-scam, it has to have a countdown. You can't expect to get any investors if you don't build up at least a week of hype without giving any information other than "we will make an announcement."
When people talk about 'innovation in aviation', I don't think they mean 'stuffing more people into smaller seats'.
I'd imagine easy money is the big problem. Why spend time inventing something actually useful, when a VC will lend you millions of dollars to build some new hipster site that you can sell to pension funds for a billion dollars.
This is the funniest thing since Bullshit Bingo.
Left MS Windows for Linux Mint and never looked back!
Vote for Bernie in 2016!
So far they've just taken marketing's jobs.
Which surprises no-one.
That's the best thing ever. I can't tell some of those sites apart from some of the Web 3.0 hipster places' actual sites.
It does bother me a little though, and I feel old, but I do remember when technology was actually exciting and there was always something totally new coming out. Obviously, the Web was awesome, but lately the focus has primarily been on only a few things:
- Miniaturizing a computer complete with peripherals and a tracking device to fit in every idiot's pocket
- Cheap, large scale x86 virtualization to bring us -- bum bum buuuummm.... the cloud which is powering a lot of these dumb startups and letting them keep burning through VC money longer
- Rehashing of Dotcom Bubble 1.0, this time with the cloud and smartphones, to produce an endless round of me-too startups. "Tinder for X" or "Airbnb for Y"
- Shoving more ads in front of people's faces and tracking their movements/activities -- similar to Dotcom Bubble 1.0's "eyeballs" measure of profitability
- Automation of key white collar jobs and the rise of the "sharing economy"...so when the next big thing comes along, no one will be able to afford to buy it
I wonder what actual innovation is going to happen next. Watching high tech peak and decline is pretty depressing. It's not clear to me what will replace computers as the driving force for new breakthroughs -- as in, what will end up in the minds of the public as the next big thing. The 80s was dominated by personal computers, the 90s by the Internet, the 2000s by...phones? Social Media?
Bookmarking this site for social broadcasting mischief come next April 1st.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The randomly generated web pages look so much like real kickstarter project web sites. How long before the usual suspects use this as an "idea generator" for even more TTMAR kickstarter campaigns than we've already been subjected to?
(TTMAR - Take The Money And Run)
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
So, we have the home page for Slashdot beta ready to go.
Have gnu, will travel.