Rev2.org

File this under “that’s nutty awesome.”  It’s an extremely simple idea and is probably as old as ASCII itself, but turning plain text upside down has been the stuff of cyber-trickery for all of our modern age.  Now, with the latest communication tool being Twitter, comes Tweact.com.

This is one of those things that despite being as old as the byte it’s based on, it never seems to lose its novelty.  No matter what, it’s always going to make people look twice at what you’ve sent, even if it’s just to say “haha, how do I do that?”  It’s akin to those endless forwarded emails that everyone knows is b.s., but everyone forwards anyway.  Why?  Because it’s still entertaining.

I could analyze why upside-down text always grabs our attention, which may explain why some ideas like this one are just endlessly entertaining to us.  The look of upside down text immediately makes our brains engage.  I think it’s because we’re psychologically trained to see specific shapes and sequences.  That is, after all, how we read.  When we’re presented with the same shapes, but in a generally unfamiliar way, we pause.  Therein lies the entertainment.

I liken it to comedy.  Most people listen to “brainy” comedians like Dennis Miller and feel compelled to laugh at his jokes–no matter how esoteric and almost meaningless they might be.  Why?  Because not laughing would make us “stupid.”  That’s what I call “forced” comedy.

Then there’s slapstick, “low-brow” comedy ala Larry the Cable Guy.  Many people think it’s “beneath them,” but everyone laughs at it.  Even if they’re pretending not to.  It’s just funny.  Why?  Because he’s taking something normal and twisting it into abnormality in such a way that it attacks our sensibilities.  He makes racial slurs, fart noises, says stuff that’s totally obvious, but sounds goofy just because he’s saying it.  That sort of thing.  Nobody classifies that stuff as “genius” in any way, but it’s still funny.  Every time.

Tweact is like that.  It’s not new, original, or even really all that funny.  But it’s still engaging and entertaining.  Every time.  Totally.  That means it’s worth checking out and playing with.

The way it works is simple.  The page loads with a Google-like plain title and box.  Put in your line of text in the box and, as you type, another box with the output (upside down text) appears.  Click “Tweet This” or “Facebook It” and it’s presented to your twitter.com or facebook.com page.  You don’t have to give Tweact any information about you at all, it sends the data directly to the Twitter or Facebook API without your login required.  You then authenticate it through the normal channels for those sites and it’s posted.

Now, of course, since what its’ sending is pure ASCII and not regular text characters, some screens won’t show it as anything more than random Chinese.  Seesmic and TweetDeck, for instance, present it in blocks and dashes rather than words.  On the Web, though, it looks like upside-down text.

I confess that I had fun this with one.  I think you will too.

Forecasting trends and expected rises or drops is nothing new, of course.  Stock analysts and market players do this for a living.  But what about doing this for the market of concert and sports ticket prices on secondary markets like online auctions or StubHub?

SeatGeek.com attempts to do that by crawling various secondary market websites that list concert or sport event tickets, watching for the lowest price and analyzing the trends as prices rise or fall as the event approaches.  Using this data, the site predict what the lowest price for a given event will likely be.

So for the truly frugal concert-goer or the budget-wise sports fan, the information on SeatGeek can help you save every penny possible.

Maybe you want those tickets now, but are worried that next week, right before the concert starts, it’ll be like the last time and you’ll find out that you could have saved another eight bucks by waiting.  What if that auction on eBay for those tickets ends tomorrow with no bidders?  Will the seller list it again, cheaper?

These are the kinds of questions that haunt the bargain-hunting ticket buyer and these are what the new startup, SeatGeek, wants to answer.  By analyzing historical data, social factors like what day of the week the event falls on and how large the stadium or arena will be, as well as current trends for that event on various sites, SeatGeek spits out guesses.

Buyers can freely peruse the site to find individual events and the analysis and expected lowest price point for them.  For most of the listings and purchase points, SeatGeek has affiliate relationships to monetize its efforts.

A soon-to-be-released professional section will be for brokers and other professionals who want better data on what to expect and who want a line on low-cost ticket availability.

Finally, a new “ticket insurance” plan will be forthcoming that can be purchased along with tickets to guarantee the difference if SeatGeek’s prediction is wrong.  This will give some extra buyer guarantees on lowest-price or missed opportunities.

All in all, SeatGeek is a great idea and seems to be working well so far.  Over time, it’s services and the availability of predictions will expand and its accuracy appears to be keeping people happy.  Definitely one to watch.

The development shop Particle is funded by Justin Timberlake (yes, that Justin Timberlake) and their CEO Rey Flemings says that the outfit specializes in “massively small” products to provide simple, creative solutions to real problems.  An interesting idea, to be sure, but no one was clear on what this would mean or if anything useful would come of it.

Now the group has released their first app, Robo.to.  This is, according to Particle, expected to be the “channel surfer of the real-time web.”  That’s kind of a high-brow way of explaining it.  I think it’s better envisioned as YouTube with real-time updates from Web 2.0.

Basically what Robo.to does is create 4-second video clips based on status messages from various social feeds.  So you can integrate your Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, etc. accounts into your Robo.to “image” and have those feed through.  The image can be posted just about anywhere an embed is possible: on blogs, pages, even your profile.

Alternatively, you can create soundless, 4-second clips to embed on your social media as updates.  Just record something with your Web cam or make a 4-second video (probably streaming text) and ad it.

Hash tags and other search terms can also be included to build searches and other content enhancements for your Robo.to.  Flemings says that eventually, theme music or music streams will likely be added so users can put music to their Robo.to streamer.

Ad-on Particle apps to enhance Robo.to are currently in the works or now available such as Crusher (a party-making/planning tool), Pop (searching), and Smirk (lets a small Robo.to become your avatar).

Overall, the concept is interesting, but I have yet to find it entirely useful.  It’s definitely a good time-waster, since there is a lot you can do with it, but not much that I found that was anything I’d use day-to-day.

How secure do you think your email is?  Is your email important enough to you that you worry about its security and threats of hacking?  If your email is your lifeline to business, you undoubtedly have some worries about its security.

Tripwi.re, now known as InboxAlarm.com, is a startup that focuses on only one thing: email security.  Their specialty is the baiting method known as the “honey pot.”

The method is simple and effective.  An email is sent, from your account and through InboxAlarm, which has sensitive-appearing information (usernames/passwords).  Since emails travel through several servers and even multiple countries to their destination, it’s possible that a hacker could take the bait somewhere along the line.

Often, emails like these are stored on “pass-through” servers that they might go by on their way to delivery.  These are then stored, sold, traded, or otherwise used to gain access to sensitive data or whole networks.  InboxAlarm watches for these attempts, since someone attacking your network emails is more likely to try to get the honey pot information first before coming after you.

Once the hacker makes the attempt, InboxAlarm captures their attempt, blocks their entry, and attempts to reverse the breakin to find the IP address and location of the intruder.

Account protection starts at $19/year, which includes no frills or reverse locaters.  $29/year ups that to three email accounts protected and the reverse lookups and $200/year protects ten email accounts with reverse lookups.

For good peace of mind for the individual or small business that lacks a dedicated IT staff and secure servers, this is a good solution.  Those who use the service, by and large, appear to like it and find it worth the money spent.  What’s your view?  Let us know in the comments below.

The idea behind Perpetually.com isn’t new, but it’s definitely something that’s always been improved upon as technology gets better.  Websites are dynamic things and the content on a site is often changed over time or even replaced altogether.  With the exception of a few archive sites like Internet Archive’s Way Back Machine, there really isn’t a good way to keep content intact and there definitely isn’t one for keeping it in context.

Just launching a couple of weeks ago, Perpetually is a very slick startup that gives a great backup option for websites.  Capable of doing entire websites or just select pages, the app does two things.  First, it archives the site as it is.  Then it monitors it and records updates to pages as they happen, creating an indexed suite of the site’s history.

Best of all, Perpetually is software-as-a-service (SaaS) and requires no plugins or installs.  You just point it to a site and it does the rest on its own.

Sites thus backed up can be either public or private, so people who leave theirs open to the public can have users browse through old versions of the site or its content.

The browser tool itself is very nicely done.  It brings up the pages in context–meaning it doesn’t just save the graphics or the text or take a snapshot, it actually does a full backup capture.  So what you’re looking at (including navigation, hotlinks, and all) is just like the real thing.  You can open a toolbar to one side and browse through revision histories as well as switch between different historical points in that history.

Some pretty impressive clients are publicly using the site, such as the Wall Street Journal, and the service itself is very reasonable.  This is a site that will be both loved and hated.  Loved for its great service and ease of use and hated by every politician who makes a promise on their website and is confronted with it a year later.

Prices to use Perpetually start at $24/month for one domain and up to 10gb in archives.  Each plan has a free month’s trial to see if you like the service.  Archiving is automated, so as long as you keep your account active, your site is archived.

If you’re tired of the same old Facebook plugins or the usual Twitter “competitions” out there, this might be for you.  With Sonoteca, you can win real prizes playing fun games against competition that is truly world wide.

It’s free to sign up and play and there are two basic types of games: music or images-based.  Based mostly on pop culture, the games brings up music or images that you must guess the correct label (name or title) for.  Each correct guess earns you points.  Here’s the rub: you have to answer before anyone else does, so fast is best.

For instance, if you join the image game, the image you’re presented with is being shown to potentially hundreds of others around the world.  Whomever clicks first on the correct answer wins the points for that round.  Competition continues until you quit or you earn enough points to join the JOKER Tournament.

In that tournament, you can use your points to “buy in” for competition and then you play for real prizes.  These can be anything from Amazon.com gift cards to iTunes credits or even physical gifts like phones or music players.

Points can also be spent in the site’s Flower Shop where bonuses for the player’s abilities (earlier delivery, bonus points for correct answers, etc.) can be had.  Extra “lives” to avoid elimination from a round can also be purchased this way.

The games are Flash-based and very fun.  Some require you type in your answer, others are multiple-choice.  They get pretty addicting, though, so be sure you have some time available when you check out their site.  It’s completely free to play.