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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."
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.
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.
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.
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?
At least now perhaps we can put to rest some of these awful trends in web design:
- Oversized graphics that require excessive scrolling.
- Parallax silliness (Because we can)
- Round bio photos (Because Apple, that's why)
- Giant "flat design" icons that add zero value
- The full-screen expanded "hero" div which is basically this decade's "title screen". (Seriously, title screens suck. Why is one that requires slowly 'scrolling' past -
- better than one that one clicks past?)
- The giant quote. Does this need to fill up 1/3 of my screen? Why?
------ The best brain training is now totally free : )
You forgot infinitely-scrolling websites that never destroy any of the shit that now lies the equivalent of 20 pages up.