A host of entrepreneurs are trying to sell the Internet on their new snake oil: "people search," or specialized search engines designed to pull up personal profiles. Too bad Spock, SquidWho, WhoZat and Wink are all trying to solve a problem that doesn't really exist. [Web Worker Daily]

The rap on Rapleaf, the "trust meter" you can't trust

Auren Hoffman, networker extraordinaire, hardly flies under the Silicon Valley radar. But his latest venture, Rapleaf, backed by Facebook investor Peter Thiel and launched more than a year ago, has managed to do so. Until recently. So what is Rapleaf, exactly, and why are people buzzing about it now? Hard to say — no, really. Launched as a "trust meter," a way to quantify people's business ethics — like eBay's buyer and seller ratings, but independent of any one site — Rapleaf's value proposition and stated goals have taken several perplexing twists and turns. And as with Hoffman's party patter, Rapleaf's premise is initially alluring, but leaves you feeling slightly nauseated. More »

Spock labels George W. Bush a terrorist

Spock, the happy fun slander robot people search engine which scours the Web for references to build dubiously accurate profiles, lists George W. Bush among the day's most popular terrorists. A mere 18 votes (granted, that's two more than Osama Bin Laden received) won him a spot on the homepage. But terrorist isn't even among the top 50 Bush labels. Adjectives like "idiot," "miserable failure," and "warmonger" are far more popular.

Facebook's threat to people search

There are two possible side effects to Facebook's decision to let just anyone traipse through its student-union grounds. Since Facebook is easily one of the largest repositories of personal information, it creates a one-stop shop for such data. This means, hopefully, that people-search startups like Spock and the rest will be kicked to the curb, as users pass them up for Facebook's superior interface. Or, in another scenario, Facebook's move could be adding fuel to the fire. Next thing we know, Spock will be rolling our Facebook networks, complete with information about our school, work, and personal interests, into its profiles. And unlike Facebook, there's no control over what gets added to your Spock profile.

Meet Spock, the happy fun robotic slanderer!

The Internet has already busted the extremely creepy people search engine Spock. It's bad enough that the site trawls social networking profiles, amassing every personal statement you've ever made online. Now it's an outright slander brigade. A few high school students who used a Spock-built Facebook application that generate amusing stories, a la the old Mad Libs fill-in-the-blank books, were surprised to learn they had been tagged as a "fat, retarded pimp who likes screwing prostitutes," or as "a man-whore who hangs out at stranger's houses and drinks rum and Coke." (Sounds like some bloggers we know, but no matter.) Those, however, are the least of Spock's scary lies. More »

Web 3.0, the first step towards computer takeover

People, have we not learned anything from moving pictures? Skynet, Omni Consumer Products, Cylons — heck, even the Borg? Do not entrust networks with intelligence. Things end poorly. Cybernetic killing machines aside, the semantic Web, otherwise known as Web 3.0, should still scare the bejeezus out of you. Radar Networks and Spock.com, two startups in the news, show us why we need to unplug Web 2.0 before it upgrades itself and no one can stop it. More »

That bastard did what to whom?

NICK DOUGLAS — It's springtime for Hitler on the Internet as erupts (okay, continues as usual) in war. Let's run through who's been stomping on whom (MySpace on Photobucket, the rapaciously opinionated blogosphere on Kathy Sierra), and whether any of the aggressors have been brought to justice. (Hint: no.) More »