Over at
AustralianWiki, there's an attempt to get an
updated list of Aussie startups going [via
Filtered]. Its not a bad list, there's many there that I've never heard of though so its a good start.
Some don't really qualify as startups though, like
Gamespot, and its missing
Chinswing which I've mentioned
here before, and also
moob, a Sydney-oriented social network for the nightlife there, so I've added them.
Checking out some of the entries that I haven heard of:
- mecanbe sounds interesting and is relatively different to what's out there at the moment. It's a lifestyle goal management - essentially, you set goals and actions needed to achieve that goal, and it'll remind and ask you to rate your progress to keep you on track.
- 88 Miles, a time tracking web app, has a nice design and they seem to have a business model too, selling more advanced accounts. I really like the home page, which describes exactly what it does quickly, and lets you see its features at a glance easily too, without having to browse through a ton of pages.
- 3eep, an Australian sports social network. I like the design, and also the fact that it caters for different roles (supporter, player, manager etc.) and acknowledges that someone can be a player on one team, and a supporter for others. Its still a bit sparse at the moment, but given it only went live in beta mode yesterday, its a good start.
I think if they can get some promotion happening not just online through widgets or links, but also at actual games (a nice banner draped on the sidelines maybe, or in the club rooms, or school matches) it could well take off. Sport after all, is mainly a physical world thing, not a virtual one (fantasy games aside). That said, I think their URLS could do woth some work - for example, for the Dockers, its http://www.3eep.com/teams/2-fremantle-dockers which although mostly meaningful (except the 2, which I assume is the team ID in the database) it's too long to remember. A URL like fremantle-dockers.3eep.com would be much better.
Talking about Australian web startups though,
sukk, a local
digg copy,
seems to have dropped off the radar. Their website now returns an empty directory listing. Their
blog has disappeared too. It was launched on
September 5th 2006, which isn't that long ago. Maybe they're just upgrading, otherwise its
RIP sukk, 2006-2007. If so, hopefully the guys behind it have moved on to newer, more exciting ventures now.
While on web apps, I'm not sure if I'm just old-fashioned, but
I really don't fancy the idea of opening my web browser and navigating to the web app to use it. I much rather there be a shortcut on my desktop (or a keyboard shortcut), which when I double-click will load a
small window, automatically log me in, and let me do what I need to do then either exit or minimise to the tray until I need it again.
Web apps nowadays typically take up my entire screen, which is very annoying when I'm trying to do multiple things at once (I don't have a massive twin-24-inch monitor setup you know). For example, if I want to add in an item to my to-do list on
RememberTheMilk (just randomly picked you, no offence, you guys do a great job), all I want is a small window showing my most important todo items, and a field to add a new one. Add a link to the full-blown interface and I'll use that if I need it.
Desktop widgets solve this to a certain extent, but using Yahoo's Widget Engine as an example, I still either have to minimise everything to find the widget I need, or I need to overlay everything with the Konspose (can't remember the new Yahoo name for that).
Bookmarklets are a better solution, but they're still bounded by the web browser, which sucks because I don't live in a web browser (which is big backwards step in the evolution of the desktop anyway if it were considered one). All I want is a small window, just like any other desktop app goddamn it!
I reckon this is a fundamental flaw with web apps these days -
the web browser is simply not integrated well enough into the desktop. Maybe there's an idea for me to work on, some sort of desktop web 2.0 app launcher...
P.S. Unless you've been living under a rock for the last 20 or so hours, you would already know this, but holy moly -
Melbourne Victory thrashed Adelaide United by 6 goals to none, with 5 by Socceroo Archie Thompson (who outdid his hat-trick prediction)! Didn't go to the match, but it would've been electric with the new record crowd (better than the
Sydney vs. Melbourne match); my mates who went (shout out to J and Tam) had two words -
twas' awesome. Google news coverage
here.
Meanwhile, the Australian cricket world's not so happy after
losing top spot on the one-day rankings, with South Africa now elevated to no. 1 status.