A lot of questions surrounding startups and Internet companies revolve around money. What is their business model? How will they make money? I don’t see how they will ever make money! Look at Facebook; they have close to a billion loyal customers and people still worry that they won’t be able to make money.

A while ago, I spoke to the CEO of a very large company (80,000 employees worldwide) who asked me “What do you think about the Facebook valuation? I don’t see how they will ever make any money.” I was surprised and asked him the following rhetorical question: ‘So you are saying that if I gave you access to 900 million loyal users you wouldn’t find a way to make money off of them?’

Of course you would! After all, all you have to do is apply one of the obvious 9 types of business models and you are done. Well, almost.

The real challenge is staying relevant to those millions of users. History is filled with people make the same obvious mistakes. They see a technology and might even see how it will become popular but then fail to grasp the fact that anything that is popular, anything that is valuable to a group of people, can me monetized.

To make it even simpler: Twitter and Facebook are tools that connect me to an audience that ultimately make or save me money. Therefore I’m fine with spending some money to make even better use of these tools. And I would certainly pay money if the alternative would be that I would no longer have access to them. A Twitter pro account for $15 a month? Sure, I’ll take it.

Here are a few examples of smart people who just couldn’t see how some new innovation could ever generate revenue. Stop asking yourself that question. Just ask yourself if it will have value for its users and if the answer is yes, then money will be made, one way or another.

They will never try to steal the phonograph because it has no ‘commercial value.’
- Thomas Edison (1847-1931). (He later revised that opinion).

While theoretically and technically television may be feasible, commercially and financially I consider it an impossibility, a development of which we need waste little time dreaming.
- Lee DeForest, 1926 (American radio pioneer and inventor of the vacuum tube).

Radio has no future.
- Lord Kelvin (1824-1907), British mathematician and physicist, ca. 1897.

“Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You’re crazy.”
- Workers whom Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859.

[Television] won’t be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night.
- Darryl F. Zanuck, head of 20th Century-Fox, 1946.

This `telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a practical form of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.
- Western Union internal memo, 1878.

“There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” — Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977.

“The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?”
– David Sarnoff’s associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s.

Last night I spent a few hours (seriously) reading the hilarious stories at DontEvenReply.com. The website’s author emails people who post classified ads. As he puts it: “My goal is to mess with them, confuse them, and/or piss them off”. He succeeds amazingly well.

One story in particular was amusing. It is titled ‘Comanche Quest‘. In it the author has created a bunch of characters, all with their own email addresses, and leads the victim on a wild goose chase. I was laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes by the time I was done reading.

Then I thought about how we handle those annoying phone spammers that call the office every now and then. The easiest thing is just to hang up the phone as soon as someone tells me they want to sell me some shares, or fix my computer, or talk about my retirement plan. You could pull a Seinfeld on them of course:

But even funnier, and more annoying to the marketeer on the other end, is to give them the impression that you are really interested in buying something, and then waste a lot of their time. So here is what we do. We say, “that sounds very interesting, can you tell me all about it?” and then put the phone down and just stop listening. The other thing you can do is say ‘Yeah, that sounds awesome! But hang on a minute because there is someone at the door’. A few minutes later you can come back and say ‘Still here? Give me a few more seconds as I take care of my guests and then we can talk.’

That way you will easily steal ten minutes of their time. In that time, they can’t call and annoy someone else, so you are really doing the world a favor.

So why don’t we apply the same principle to spammers? I would like someone to create a service so I can reply to anyone trying to sell me bullshit and tell them “Sounds awesome and exactly what our company needs, but I’m not the one who decides on that. Can you contact jim@procurement-department.com and tell him I sent you?’.

Now, when the spammer emails jim@procurement-department.com they get a nice auto-reply with a fat 6MB PDF attachment and a text that says, ‘Awesome that Boris forwarded this to us. This is exactly what we were looking for. Can you please fill out the attached PDF and fax it to this number?’.

If the spammer does all that and then sends another email to jim@procurement-department.com the service would detect that and say, “Hey there, I’m leaving the Procurement Department but told Emma, who will be taking my place here, to take a look at this. Can you contact her at emma@procurement-department.com?’ which would invite another PDF form, a different one, which has to be faxed again too.

You get the picture…it’s like a semi-automated version of scambaiting site 419 Eater. It shouldn’t be difficult to keep those spammers occupied for weeks filling out forms, faxing documents to non-existing fax numbers, and going from promising lead to promising lead until they go crazy and give up on the whole thing.

Now imagine how great it is going to feel to forward that first email, and then being able to read their messages online, and see how they slowly get frustrated with the whole thing.

I don’t really know how to monetize this idea, but I’m sure that if you manage to do this you’ll end up getting the Nobel Prize and a guaranteed seat in heaven.

Seen that rumored sale of Digg to The Washington Post today? What was your first feeling? Were you thinking ‘Oh wow, that is great news for Digg and its users’? Or did you think ‘Oh boy, that will be the end of Digg as we know it’.

If it is true that The Washington Post is only acquiring the team behind Digg and not the site and technology, then sure, that would mean the end of the service. But even if they buy the whole service and integrate it into the The Washington Post, I still wouldn’t feel confident about its future.

Remember when Flickr and Delicious went to Yahoo? How about TechCrunch to AOL? It isn’t too often that startups find a great new home, stay loyal to the community that made them, and flourish under the new owner. It is very rare indeed.

I sold two companies in the past, and during both negotiations we solemnly swore we wanted to grow the company and stay on as management. Yeah right. Within 6 to 12 months we got so fed up with not being in charge and trying to get anything done within the new corporate structure that we all left.

It felt like we screwed up at the time. But since then I’ve found out that it is just how it works. Founders and entrepreneurs aren’t managers. We can’t adjust to our new roles and pretty soon we’ll get frustrated and leave. Arrington? The Flickr founders? Nobody sticks around for long.

Which makes me wonder how I would deal with an acquisition. I think I would try my best to persuade my acquirers to not announce the sale. If possible. I would simply announce a partnership and keep everything running like it is. Use our different strengths to advance both business, without integrating anything. In a perfect world you wouldn’t know we’d been acquired.

Of course that would be nearly impossible. Companies have to announce that kind of stuff and managers need to brag about the acquisitions they did to move up in the world. No way they would be able to keep this silent. Still, wouldn’t it be better?

In conclusion; should we be acquired by Bloomberg, I wouldn’t announce it, and if you would ask, I would deny it. Not that we have been acquired, but you know what I mean…

A few months ago we started publishing TNW Magazine. A monthly iPad publication with stories, movies, music, apps and other content that is interesting for our audience. It is great to have a blog with 50+ posts per day about current events and at the same time work on a monthly magazine with more timeless content.

For The Next Web Conference 2012 we thought it would make sense to produce a magazine with extra information about the conference, but we also wanted it to be more than just that.

We started with the usual stuff like an agenda, speaker list and some general information. But then we started thinking about what else we could do to make the magazine more interesting and useful. What we came up with is a very dynamic and useful app. It is also completely free and you can download it right now.

A few examples of what to expect from the app:

Automated Speaker Tweets
You can click any speaker photo at the Speakers Page and a window will pop-up with a pre-formatted tweet with the name of that speaker, her or his Twitter handle, the hashtag for the conference and a URL. I have been at a lot of conferences and it is always the same; you are listening to an awesome speaker, want to tweet about it, but can’t find their name anywhere. Then you are misspelling stuff and typing away while you would rather just listen to them! Not anymore. Just fire up TNW Magazine, keep the speaker page handy and click their face. Then adjust the pre-formatted text and tweet away.

Auto Tweet Board [™ - © - patent pending]
We liked the previous feature so much we made a separate Auto Tweet page with some preformatted tweets for you to use. Saves you on re-typing those hashtags and URLs. We think it is so useful and revolutionary we trademarked it and have the whole thing Patent Pending. Or maybe not.

Applause Generator
After two days of inspiring, amazing and original keynotes your hands start to hurt from all the clapping you are doing. We’ve all been there. Lotion doesn’t help and gloves muffle the sound. Not practical either. That is why we included an ‘Applause Generator’ right within the magazine. But it does so much more than just generate applause for you. It also includes a ‘Laughter’ and ‘Ooh ha’ generator. Pump up the volume and let your iPad do the talking.

The magazine is even more awesome and includes interviews with some of the speakers, a ‘Speakers Feedback Generator’, a page that explains what all the different badges mean and an interactive map of Amsterdam with all the locations you need to know about during your stay in Amsterdam. We’ve also included a page with some content just to keep you entertained when you are bored. It is way in the back of the magazine and we’re guessing you won’t ever need it.

All-in-all, we think you should get this magazine. It’s FREE, even if you aren’t attending TNW2012! We think it sets the bar for any future conference magazine.

➤ The Next Web Conference 2012 Magazine

Follow all of our coverage of The Next Web Conference 2012 here.

I haven’t bought a paper book since I bought my first iPad in 2010. Before that I bought between 20 and 40 books a year. I also own every Wired magazine, including issue 1.1, but I switched to the digital version as soon as it became available. You could argue that I prefer digital over analog most of the time. But I would like to refine that a bit. I like substance over form and content over carrier.

As a technologist and early adopter of technology I’m often pushed into a defensive mode. People will see my iPad and (rightly) assume I like it and then try to poke holes in my reasoning for liking it. That’s fine and I often enjoy the discussion. Especially when I can persuade people to look beyond their preconceptions. Of course, I’m prejudiced myself, with my unshakable faith in technology and innovation and my unconditional love for all things Apple.

When I meet authors, publishers or avid readers I like to ask them about the future of books. Not long ago I met with Walter Isaacson and asked him how many of his books were sold as ebooks. Unsurprisingly it was more than 50%. Then I asked him when his books would go all digital. Surprisingly he said he didn’t believe that would ever happen. He couldn’t see a future without paper and believes people will always prefer paper books over digital books.

A lot of people can’t imagine a future without paper books. They’ll argue they like the smell of paper and the fact that books are tangible, real, and even, romantic.

All those qualities also apply to the horse and carriage, doing the dishes, washing your clothes by hand, and a fireplace. And of course, you can still go on a horse ride, do the dishes without a machine, wash your clothes manually and get a fireplace. But even though all of these things still exist, it would be safe to say they also have been replaced by their modern equivalents.

When I hear people say they will always prefer paper books over digital books I can’t help but think that it’s almost an insult to writer and content producers. It is like saying you like someone just for their looks. Or that a painting goes well with the drapes. Or… you get the picture?

Now, I understand there are a few advantages to paper. But I see a lot more advantages to digital. The fact that I now carry about a hundred books with me, wherever I go, that I can read whenever I want, outweighs any advantage a paper book could give me. Well, beyond the shallow extremities of the paper book, like its smell.

There are however a few technical challenges that could be overcome by Amazon and Apple that would make my digital books even better and would let me forget about paper altogether.

1: Make it easier to show of my library
Not too long ago a journalist visited my house. He looked at my books, smiled, and said ‘we have the same books. I own 90% of these books, at least’. We became instant friends based on the books I own. Nobody knows what’s in my digital library. Now I know there are sites where you can build a digital bookshelf. Right now it is possible, just not easy, to do that. I already have an iCloud account. Why not let me show which books I own (including my reviews) at boris.icloud.com. Apple isn’t very good in doing social (Anybody use Ping?) but they do have a huge opportunity there.

2: Make it easier to share books
There is no second-hand market for digital books. That’s unfortunate. I would like to share my digital book with my friends, even if that would mean it would disappear from my library. It could even contain a sharing history so I could see (on a map?) who is reading my book right now. Amazon at least lets customers borrow some Kindle books, but Apple is still behind.

3: Make is possible for authors to digitally sign books
I had to get a paper book out of my library for Walter Isaacson to sign. Luckily I had his book on Benjamin Franklin so I asked him to sign that. But both my girlfriend and I had read the Steve Jobs book on the iPad and there was nothing he could add to that. How easy would it be to add an ‘author signature’ page to a book? You could hand your iPad to an author, he could draw something on that page or call up a keyboard and type something. Even better, you could ask him to do it remotely and it would have an indication of the queue length. You could enter a request to have him or her sign it for a friend and the book would predict it would take 6 months before you get the signature, without ever meeting the author.

Conclusion
Digital books are here to stay and there is no doubt that within a few years we will look at paper books as relics from the past. They will still exist but will be expensive and only available for a small group of collectors. We will still see a lot of innovation in digital books. They will become more useful, personal, shareable and awesome. And I will keep buying and reading them.

One of the most widespread misconceptions I encounter when talking to people about the current state of the web is that this is pretty much it. People can’t imagine some service ever replacing Google as the dominant search engine. People can’t imagine some other social network ever replacing Facebook. Yet it seems only evident that this is going to happen. When we look at the state of the Web ten years ago, everything was different and nothing was the same.

Heck, take this BusinessWeek article from 6 years ago. Digg was the hottest ticket in town, MySpace was THE social network and Twitter was 3-week-old(!) company.

Today we are living in the post PC era, Twitter is six years old, Facebook will soon welcome its 1 billionth user and Apple is on its way to becoming the first trillion dollar market cap company in the world. All these things hardly surprise us today but they were all unthinkable and unpredictable only a few years ago.

The fact of the matter is that technology is changing fast, and faster all the time, and only because we are in the middle of it we seem to keep up with it. It is like we are constantly taking snapshots of the current status quo and acting based on that. Only when we look back a few months and compare what we saw, believed and used then do we notice how quickly things are changing around us.

Some people find this threatening. They have a hard time keeping up with changes and innovation. I don’t blame them, and usually feel sorry for them, but I also think it’s different if you have an entrepreneurial mind. We thrive on change and actively participate in it, even speeding it up and pushing it along.

After all, it is still possible to start an improved version of Facebook today? You can outgrow it in a couple of years if you have something that’s better. Same goes for Google. I really believe that. Sounds unlikely that 2 guys will outperform Google? About as unlikely as Sergey and Larry believed they could outperform Yahoo! which had 60% of the market and was worth 40 billion at the time?

As Paul Graham argues in his essay titled “Frighteningly Ambitious Startup Ideas” there are huge opportunities for entrepreneurs who are willing to take on really ambitious challenges.

This is also one of the highlights of our upcoming conference for me. It is a unique moment to sit down, reflect on the current status of the web, and listen to amazing speakers talk about what’s next for the web. I believe the Web isn’t finished at all. We are just getting started.

In six years, we will look back at 2012 and it will seem like we are looking back at 1999. Will Facebook have bought Google? Will Apple own Microsoft? Will our blog be bigger than CNN? Will Twitter be bigger than Facebook? Will your little startup dominate search?

It is all possible, and if history is any indication, it is even very likely.

See you in 10 days.

As you can imagine we are busy organizing TNW2012 (The Next Web Conference 2012) right now and we always enjoy looking through the ticket sales database to see which companies are joining us in Amsterdam.

We thought we’d share the list of attending companies here with you. Some of these companies send 30 people and some of them are single-person entities. Check and see if your company is attending, or your competitors, and make sure you are there too.

If you haven’t bought your ticket yet, what are you waiting for?

908, .Me, 180 Amsterdam, 2gis, 360 Cities , 46elks, 6Wunderkinder, ABN-Amro, Accenture, Across Technology, Acton Capital Partners, Adidas, Adobe, Ador , Advice Digital , Adyen, AEGON , Affilinet, Agmea, Agora , Airbnb, AirBnB, Albumprinter, Alenio , AlexandAlexa, AlfaBank, Amsterdam RAI, Amsterdam Systems, APG, Appsome!, Appvetica, ASML, ASR, Atomico, Aust-Agder County, Avans Hogeschool Breda , AVRO, Awaake, b-ruu, Balderton Capital, Bank Audi, Battl.com, Batukhtina, Beautifulpapershop.com, beyond the static , Binkies, Bit.ly, Black Pixel, BLiS innovatieve internetoplossingen, BlueMind Corporate Finance, Booking.com, Borg Projecten, Branddoctors , Brandhouse, bukedde, Business Review, BusinessQuests, Buzzer, CanvasDropr, Capgemini , Cardozo law School, CDA, Centinela , Cestus Websites, Chitter Limited, Christian Vision, ClearSense , CO3, Codingpeople , Cole Street, CommerceCrowds, Compete, Concilium Hungary, Conde Nast, Conduit, Cooper, Crash Code , Creathor Venture Management, Creator Capital Partners, CrossmarX, Crossmediaspecialist.nl, Czechgeeks, Delta Lloyd, DesignedByGold, Deutsche Bank, Diamonddogs, Digg, Digital Lab Nordic Oy, DNB, Domain.me, Doo , DOU, DriveK , Dutch Coast, Dyn, e-Legion, E-people, Easybring, eBay, Edith Cowan University, EL Pais, Empatica, eRunner, ESOMAR, Estravel , Evernote, Executive Group, ExtendD, Facebook, Fiat Lux, Financial Post, FMT, Food4brain, Foodzy, FORMEDIA, Forsyth Group, Frankly Web , Franktentler.com, Freelancer.com, Freshbooks, Frostbox, Fulberta Sosyal Pazarlama Teknolojileri , funnealbs , Funstage Spielewebseiten Betriebsges.m.b.H., Gamification, GB Studio, Girls n Gadgets, Go Squared, GoalEurope, Google, GTnetworks, Guanxi, H-art , Hanse Ventures, happiest Limited, HENQ Invest , Het is Simpel, Holic, Hubbub , Hummingbird Ventures, Hunkemoller International , Hyves, IEG , IIF S.A., iLLUMiON, In2media, Incentro, Incrediblue ltd, Index Ventures, Industry of Cool, Info.nl, ING, ING DIRECT, Innovation Friends, Insilencio , InSites Consulting, Integration Factory, International Startup Festival, Intertrust, IntroNiche, inUse Consulting AB, Invest in Skane , Investion, IOC, IPKO Telecommunications, IT l Media, Itweetlive, iWink, Jamel Interactive, Jamendo , JBarendregt Consulting, JNW Consulting, Kado invest, Karriere Troms, Kennisnet , Kenolice International Publishing, KiGi Software, Klip, KNMP , Komola , Konkurrence- og Forbrugerstyrelsen, Kontomierz.pl , kooaba, KPN, Kreativ Magazine, Kuvva, LeaseWeb , Limco Development, Linkedin, Logict, LUMU Invest, Lunatech Ventures, Macmillan Publishers, Magic Bullet , Magplus, MailChimp, MakeAStartup.com, Mam-Mooth, Mangrove, Marketingfacts, Marketyou, Mashable, MatchCraft, MeasureWorks, Media Voogel, MeeChannel.com , Meetin.gs, Mercury Global Partners, metaLayer, Microsoft, Microsoft Bizpark, Microsoft Skydrive, Milestone PM, Mingler , Mobylizr, Mobypicture, Moneywealth Info Systems LTD, Multi Brains, Nature Publishing Group, NDR, NDV Consulting, nekuda, NEN, Nets , New Sport Solutions, NewPanda, Newsgeek, NIBC, NJUÅ KALO , NNP, NOS, Obro.nu, Odaktech, Omikron , Onavo, Orange , Osterreichische Lotterien, OTM Investments, Paydro, Peak Capital, Pearson , Philips, Pitney Bowes Business Insight, Pors BV, PressDoc, Prime Ventures, Probaton, Pronao, QueroMedia, R&B Creative, Rabobank , Rafelsberger Holz , Ralph Talmont, Randstad Holding, Razuna , Reddit, Reference Image, Ringier Kiado, Robeco, Robin Software, Roy+Teddy, Sanebox, SanneW, Sanoma Digital , Sanoma Finland, Sanoma Media , SaveThis, SCIENTIA CONSULTING, SCRUMguides, Seek, Sendgrid, Share Square, Shermin Voshmgir, Shiroube, Silk, Skawa, Skawa Innovation , Skribd, SNS Real, Socialkontoret.dk, SocialStatistics, spin webdesign, Spread.us, STAR India Private Limited, Steam, Stendahls.net, Stichting Bibliotheek.nl, Studio GWM, Studio MAD, Studio Moderna dooel, Success Vitamins, Sudmann & Company, Swedish Broadcasting Corporation, Switserleven, Targeted Media , TBI, TechCrunch, Techstars, TechTeam Akela, Tejere Anderson Services , Tendril, The Mobile Revolution, theFactor.e, Think! Amsterdam, Tieto , Tinker imagineers, TomTom, Trikoder , TriMM, Trinicom, TROS, TRY OUT Jongerenmarketing, TTY – 2dehands.be, Turkcell, Twilio, Twitter, Twitter Counter, Tyntec, Unc a, Unic , Unisys Corporation, Upload Cinema, USA Today, Valsplat , Van Lanschot, VENTECH, Verisign, Viadesk, Visa Europe, Visions In Focus, Vodafone, Vopak, VRT, Wakoopa, Wall Street Journal, WDR, We Love Planning, WEBS Internet Solutions, Wegener Media, Wellington Partners, WikiFun , WIRED, Wonderboys, Wowww!, XS4ALL, Younoodle, Youtube, Zelf.nl, Zulutrade, and you?

Did you buy a ticket but don’t see your name here yet?
Let us know (leave a comment) so we can add it!

Follow all of our coverage of The Next Web Conference 2012 here.

A friend who studied entrepreneurship recently started his own company. After being on the sidelines and writing about entrepreneurs for years he decided to leave the academic world and venture out on his own. Two weeks ago we were having dinner and he asked me a simple question: how do you make sure you don’t go crazy as an entrepreneur?

He found out that being an entrepreneur is a lot harder than he expected. Dealing with partners, slipping deadlines, user expectations, market forces and everything else that makes being an entrepreneur, ahem, exciting was more intense and stressful than he thought it would be.

The question was amusing but also warranted a serious answer so I thought about it for a few minutes and then gave him the following tips.

1: Don’t ask yourself: how do other people do this?
A lot of starting entrepreneurs want to find out how other people do certain things. We try to emulate famous entrepreneurs and we want to know how things are done. Don’t do that. Your competitive edge is that you do things differently. Large companies are filled with people emulating their managers. That is not what you want to do as an entrepreneur.

2: Stick to the basics
Doing business is simple; if you can buy (produce, find, invent) something today and sell it for more tomorrow, so you make some money, then you are doing well. The rest is all secondary. Don’t waste time on stuff that makes you look good but doesn’t help the company. Networking event? Skip it and do some more sales instead.

3: Your main focus should be the well-being of your company
When you have to make tough decisions always think about the future of the company. It is easy to focus on your partners’ goals, your own dreams and what your employees or investors want from you. Focus on the company instead. What is good for it? What steps need to be taken to make it healthy? When in doubt, ask your company.

4: Learn to love conflicts
Conflict is an integral part of doing business. If you go out of your way to avoid conflict you will go crazy. If you have to pick between two suppliers, the one you turn down will be disappointed and get angry. They might shout and scream and explain how unfair this is and how much time they’ve spent on this deal. Just take the pain. Your goal is not to be everybody’s friend. Your goal is to do business and make decisions that benefit your company.

5: Learn to trust your gut
The most important decisions are made based on gut instinct. Something feels right, and then we come up with reasons afterwards. Create an atmosphere where people can trust their instincts and your ability to make the right decisions. If you don’t, you will waste too much time inventing reasons for stuff you just know is right.

Conclusion
It is easy to go crazy, burn out or lose yourself as an entrepreneur. There are no set rules. Everyday, there are new problems for which you’ll need to come up with solutions, and there is no manual to help you perform your job better. If it was easy more people would do it. So focus on the basics and trust your gut.

At The Next Web we pride ourselves on not just being journalists or bloggers who report on technology from the sidelines. Instead we’re active entrepreneurs working on new services and technologies. That gives us a perspective on tech news that is different from many other technology blogs.

It also means that once every few months, we have something new to announce and it will be something that we are heavily involved in. Today we’re announcing a new service that we have been testing, below the radar, on this blog and are now ready to offer to other blogs. We call it Spread.us.

Spread.us is a very simple service that makes it easy for readers to ‘spread’ news across their social networks.

Lets say I’m a huge Apple fanboy. I could set-up a filter at Spread.us to automatically tweet all stories about Apple, but only when its breaking news, and with a maximum of 4 times a day. Now, when there’s breaking news, I’m the first one to tweet that.

That is what Spread.us does.

We started testing the service a few months ago, on this blog, with a little button. Within a few weeks users were sharing our posts across their networks and right now we get thousands of extra unique visitors every day from Tweets and shares which were spread through Spread.us.

So how about spam?
That is a question some people ask when they first learn about Spread.us: Isn’t it annoying for people on Twitter to see automated tweets? The answer is that it can be, so you should be careful with that, as a user. Just like it’s annoying for people to watch you tweet every little thing you experience every few minutes, it’s annoying to see a lot of automated tweets in your timeline. That is why we take extra care to help users set up their filters in a way that isn’t annoying for their followers.

On Twitter this is extra easy because we let people do a ‘native’ retweet. That means that we don’t copy and paste the content from a tweet into a new Tweet but instruct Twitter to show the original tweet, in the users timeline. This is a standard Twitter option (that I think you are already familiar with, but you never know). The good thing about that is that if I’m following Zee and Patrick, and they both retweet the same post, I will still only see it once. So even if 5 of the people I’m following retweet the same post, I still see it only once.

The future
Spread.us is still being developed actively and we add new features every week. We have a long list of extra features we want to add for both publishers and readers.

We think that Spread.us will be a great tool for publishers to connect to their readers and for readers to share news before anyone else does it. If you want to give it a try you can try it for this blog.

If you are a publisher we suggest you sign up, or contact us so we can predict how much extra traffic you can expect from signing up.

As always, feedback and questions are very welcome.

There are a few apps on my iPhone that are there just to show other people how cool the iPhone is. They aren’t useful really, except that when people want to see the iPhone they make for a great demo. Examples for me are Weather HD, CardFlick, Compass, Heart Rate and a few games that have great graphics but which I never actually play.

It seems to me that Siri is slowly entering this area of ‘nice to show but not actually useful’. I know a quite few people with an iPhone 4s and I asked around a bit and they all almost regretfully acknowledge that they, in fact, don’t really use it anymore, once you get beyond the newness of it all.

The commercials look great and in the beginning you can still find the patience to play and experiment with it. But then reality kicks in and you find out that Siri is just too slow and although it’s probably the best voice recognition on any mobile platform, it still isn’t good enough to always understand what you mean.

It reminds me of Apple’s earlier attempt at voice recognition, called PlainTalk. It came pre-installed with with System 7 on Apple’s Quadra line of computers and it looked awesome:

I remember being excited about the technology at the time and trying it out for the first time. It worked, sorta. You had to speak LOUD and CLEAR and there was a few second delay before the computer seemed to react. 8 out of 10 times the command wasn’t recognized and I would have to repeat the sentence. Within minutes it became very clear that just typing the command or clicking the mouse was more efficient and a lot faster.

After that the only times I used PlainTalk was when I wanted to show off the capabilities of my computer. Which brings me back to the iPhone, and Siri. I know that Siri is light years ahead of PlainTalk. It is just so much more than just speech recognition. But ‘m still wondering how useful it is once you get beyond the thrill of seeing it work.

Lets find out how Siri is doing, if it is really being used, or whether it is time to say goodbye:

The Siri commercial, so you can compare it to the PlainTalk commercial.