Walk around in a visual representation of the web
Written on December 11, 2007 – 2:28 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
According to the makers of Yoowalk, ‘surfing alone is so sad’. They’ve just pitched their project during the Start-up competition of Le Web 3. In exactly seven minutes they had to impress the jury with a talk about their target audience, revenue plan, market etcetera.
Yoowalk converts the World Wide Web into 3D flash-based villages (I’m sure McLuhan likes the idea). It’s a combination of the WWW, virtual worlds and social networks.
Users can walk through streets and visit houses and rooms. For example, there’s a YouTube house with a room showing the most viewed videos of last week as paintings on the wall. Also, RSS feeds of news sites are shown in frames. (I wish they made up a more creative visual metaphor for that.)
You can in addition create your own room, representing your blog or site. Make it as comfortable as you want, and don’t forget to pick your favorite music.
Main advantage is the possibility to create a 3D avatar and surf with others. I assume that it can be quite interesting to see your visitors walking around ‘in’ your blog. If you’re really impressed by the number of people walking around in your room, you can make a screenshot and embed it in your blog. A really smart move by the creators of Yoowalk, since it will probably generate a fairly good buzz.
During the presentation, Yoowalk seemed pretty simple to use, making it relevant for a large group of people. Unfortunately, there aren’t much screen shots available yet. However, I did subscribe for the private beta, which will launch early 2008. So more about this cool start-up soon.
I hope you like that post!
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The Next Web Blog is closely associated with The Next Web Conference which is held annually in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. At this event speakers from all over the world come together to talk about, and show of, the future of the Web. (
By Jasper on Dec 11, 2007
Wow! Looks like it is 1998 all over again.
Are they distributing this on CD-Rom? :)
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By Ernst-Jan Pfauth on Dec 11, 2007
:)
lay-out isn’t very slick (yet), but I have the feeling that that is also part of me the making it accessible part.
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By Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten on Dec 11, 2007
You should probably see it moving to appreciate it. Second Life screenshots also look extremely dull. The power is in the 3D movement and live experience….
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By Jasper on Dec 11, 2007
Well, that was an easy joke and I’m sure you’re right on the user experience, Boris.
But I was also referring to the fact that back in the ancient history of Internet, e-commerce had to look like a real shopping mall.A couple of years/months later we all agreed that wasn’t the way to go.
And now they’re translating an online structure into (virtual) brick and mortar. Seems like history is repeating. But that’s not an Internet thing…
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By Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten on Dec 11, 2007
Hi Jasper, you do have a point. I never got into the whole Second Life thing but some people seem to really like it. I wonder how this service will work…
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