Riya today launched Like.com, a photo-based shopping site that lets users click one handbag, shoe, or other accessory and find similar ones.

Remember the story behind this startup: A while back, this startup was about to sell to Google. But marketing rep Tara Hunt and outside blogger Robert Scoble wrote too much about the deal on their blogs. The coverage spooked Google, who backed away from the talks, deciding it was better off developing its own image search. Riya decided it would take over the image search world on its own.

So why launch Like? Isn't it a disappointing result for a startup with such grand aspirations?

Live does two things:

1. It may bring in a little income. On its own, not so much — it's an ugly site to surf through, so it makes an uncomfortable shopping experience — but Riya could license the technology to other shopping sites.
2. It may bring in a buyer. Riya needed a publicity boost to attract buyers — Yahoo, for example, could plug this tool into Flickr.

Like.com [By Riya]

As predicted here, Riya marketer Tara Hunt left the photo-sharing startup after nine months of aggravating the engineers and belittling their marketing attempts — a skill Valleywag commends her for. The exit is no surprise to those around her — Tara is worth watching not for her Riya job (has she ever told you about Riya?), but for her solo work promoting "Pinko Marketing" — her rebranded Cluetrain Manifesto school of marketing. That's the sort of stuff that gets a speaker on the conference gravy train for life.

But what happens to Tara now? After all, she's an alien with a work visa. Will a self-employed position as "consultant and marketing visionary" keep her from getting booted back to Canada?

Tara hasn't publicly blogged her exit yet (though this bio makes it pretty obvious), so who knows if she'll mention the other dirty secret — a few tipsters think she was fired. Chances are this was one of those shoulda-seen-it-coming mutual break-ups. Good luck to Tara, and wherever she takes Pinko Marketing, Valleywag looks forward to pettily mocking it.

UPDATE: Tara confirms at her blog.

HorsePigCow [Tara's blog]
Photo: In Tdot [Tara on Flickr]
Earlier: Is the Pinko Marketer leaving Riya? [Valleywag]
Update: Announcement #2 - Rogue on the loose [HorsePigCow]

Why to believe it: The Pinko Marketing pundit is clearly on her way to her own brand, seminar series, book club, and Pinko Diet Program.

Why not to believe it: She's still blogging about Riya as if she's on board for years to come.

Why to believe it: The fame, baby, the fame!

Why not to believe it: Wouldn't her boyfriend Chris just get all the credit?

Well thank the gods for Tabblo, the "groundbreaking free online photo-sharing site" launching May 15! With no competitors to immediately gank its features, Tabblo is headed straight to the top of Bubble 2.0. After the jump, dig their press release (embargoed 'til May 15! Shhhh).

Hi [redacted] -

We wanted to let you know that on May 15th a groundbreaking free online photo-sharing site called www.tabblo.com will be launched. This new site provides professional quality templates and powerful editing tools to create online albums from photos taken by consumers, their friends and families to share online, turn into print products, or contribute into blogs and websites.

Tabblo surpasses other photo-sharing sites through its emphasis on creative control and collaboration, not just sharing of photos. By providing easy-to-use, browser-based layout and photo editing tools, and secure collaboration on photo-based projects, Tabblo creates more distinctive and elegant online photo albums (tabblos), and print products than anywhere else on the Internet.

With Tabblo people can easily and securely pool pictures with family and friends to make great-looking group tabblos or group memories for all. It offers secure access and the ability to download full-resolution images free for local printing.

Antonio Rodriguez, founder of Tabblo (and former VP of MyPublisher) would like to give you a sneak peak of Tabblo's new product - this news is under embargo until May 15.

Please let me know if you'd be interested in speaking with Antonio and taking an early look at the product. I can be reached at [redacted] or [redacted]. I've also inserted below sample images of print posters, the first print product launching with this new service.

Kerry Metzdorf
Red Javelin Communications, Inc.

Well, the U.S. Geological Society says it's everyone near the coast. According to their map, the red spots below have a "very high" risk of liquifaction. Yellow areas have a "moderate" risk.

Judging by the Wayfaring map of SF Bay tech companies, Oracle had better watch out. Video site YouTube and photo recognition service Riya might need some earthquake insurance too.

To magnify the hysteria (Oh no, Google's on artificial landfill!), view more high-risk areas in the USGS's other map, after the jump.

Earthquake Hazards Maps [USGS]
SF Bay Area Tech Companies [Wayfaring]

Riya marketer Tara Hunt found this brilliant juxtaposition in the photo-recognition startup's collection:

Larry, Sergey, Shirts and Whatshispickle [Miss Rogue on Flickr]
Earlier: Gavin who? [Valleywag]

Riya didn't tag the dude once; he's tagged seventeen times as the founder of Microsoft. Riya's gonna give this kid a complex, making him turn on the world, destroying his enemies and fighting with the law — and then he'll be tagged right.

Results for "Bill Gates" [Riya]

Someone's been playing with Comic Life. A Flickr user named "Privateye" 'shopped up the shirtless shot of Naked Conversations authors Robert Scoble and Shel Israel. (That's JD Lasica's photo, first covered back here.)

After the jump, a comic made entirely of Riya Photo Search in-jokes.

Privateye's photos [Flickr]

For everyone who doesn't get it, Riya evangelist Tara Hunt is dating Flock evangelist Chris Messina. Apparently they're going all-raw-food. Riya's a pre-release person-recognition photo tool; Flock's a pre-release social browser. Marc Canter is the founder of Macromedia (and a strawberry).

Update: "Privateye" cracks a Larry Page hair joke.

Demo 2006 - The Only Honest Report on the Web

Gahhhh, sick and tired of all the blogheads yapping up every nuthead Demo presentation. So did my own research.

You know there is something downright CRIMINAL about a PC World Editor in Chief saying

"I haven't tried Riya myself yet, but it demos extremely well." - Harry McCracken, PC World

———————-

Vizrea - YouarenotgoingtobelievethisbutyetanotherdeadtiredFlickrcopycat. What's different? Microsoft droning retirees, playing patty-cake software games, Mike Toutonghi (eHome crash and burner) and the Brad Three's (Brad Silverberg, Brad Chase, and Brad Schick). And the Silverberg loyalist, Ben Slivka. Using and abusing the press and analysts, getting Gartenberg to gurbble-up the buzzwordy "contextual flow". Maybe they can sell it back to Ray Ozzie, as a Live offering. Pretty death-valley dry UI and search. Nokia inclusion something, won't get much pingback. What no Microsoft SmartPhone?

vSee - Yeah? P2P Video? Hard to make sense of just how to use this. Academics doing Video Conferencing all over again. Only they, in their supreme wisdom, have the smarts to make it actually work, why they helped found Google and Pixar. Seems only something Clay Shirky could use or understand. Have Clay get his students to do tons of research and then have him write up a paper, stealing that very research, on the "Emerging Worldwide Changing Impact of Peeeeer 2 Peeerrr Videeeoo Conferencing". As an aside, why does all this PhD smarty tech make for such horrible unmanageable code?

MooBella - IT Scream Machine, HEY it RUNS Linux. Network that Rocky Road, Butter Pecan has it's own IP. Telnet to Mint Choc Chip, FTP in some Orange Sherbet, but rm the Coffee Fudge. Homebrewish Ice Cream Machine running Linux, remote management of, I guess? Real factory tech is all embedded and seriously mission critical. This is a joke.

Ugobe [photo is Ugobe Pleo] - Ok, now this rocks. Total novelty, total fluff, but totally cool. Furby as a Dinosaur. Not sure why at Demo? Just marketing I guess. Still thumbs-up by me.

Blurb - Self-publishing redux, make-your-own-book. Pluuuzzze. Zillions of these companies preying on wannabe authors hopes and dreams. Most all fizzled. Looks another kick of the tires. The eBook Print on Demand meme dead already?

Another 19 after the jump. Seriously, this man has the subtlety of a Mack truck.

Bones in Motion - Phone as a personal trainer. Ohdearme. Talk about demographic mismatch. Real runners have all sorts of cool toys. Geeks with SmartPhones doing Excerise? On what Planet? [Well, this one. — Ed.]

Street Deck - mp3's in car? Yeah? Heck you have been able to get mp3 car stereo's for years now at even Wallyworld-like places. But hooking up iPods more the kick, one that has even big luxury car makers jazzed.

Accomplice - Yetmoregroupware pie-in-sky over-promised software. Outlook killer this is not. Snooze. Sucky UI too. Reminds me of a bad bad Lotus Notes clone circa 1998.

Grassroots - Just what the world NEEDS, yet more presentation software. Groan. Works with Powerpoint TOO. Stop the world.

Digislide - Aussie group with "projection tech" and enough buzzwords on their website to kill an Army. Patent hoard or buy us out move. Established companies, like Sony, could eat this even before breakfast.

Network Streaming - Ok why are they at DEMO? They about dead and need more Venture money to stay afloat? Remote PC and Security stuff in the appliance-based form. Sorta a real biz, swimming with sharks in crowded waters however.

PolyVision - "The New Generation of Collaboration", translation, multi-screen video conferencing, whiteboards and presentation toolsets at triple the usual price. It's the New New Generation thing, doncha know?

Tiny Pictures - Phone Camera Tricks and Social Networking something De Jour. Geepers, how many zillions of these companies are there?

Zingee - Online sharing tool. Geeee, I don't think I have EVER seen one of these before. ((Rolls eyes)). Add them to the hundreds out there, and the thousands no longer with us.

GarageBand - Sometimes there is a reason why talent remains undiscovered. Supposedly up-and-coming artists doing digital music, yadda yadda yah. Just bubbling with flavor-bursting boredom.

RawSugar - Raw is right. Tagging Searching Directory something, yadda yadda. Still unclear on the concept, after trying real hard to grep. Create your own directory of tagged stuff? Help? DOA.

Multiverse - In case you want to WASTE even more time in virtual life worlds. Reach Out and Touch Faith, Your Own Personal MMOG Generator. Someone To Hear Your Prayers, Someone Who Cares. Just think if it as the Beth-Goza-Emulator.

Krugle - Google for code? Ummm, Sourceforge turned into a Search Engine? Ad Content forthcoming?

Plum - Mash-up after Google Searching? What? Idontgetthisanddontthinkanymarketneed. Hey, whatever happened to OnFolio, like no one talks about them anymore. They were all the mash-up research rage once.

TagWorld - Would you BELIEVE, yet more Social software, with pictures and tagging and a "marketplace"? They claim 700,000 users, but methinks early start on fuzzy accounting. One-stop-shop for Web 2.0 memes? Flame out. Anyone that funds this needs to see a shrink.

GuardID - Yetanothercheaposmartcardsecurity thingamajig. Riding the Identity Theft hysteria wave. SecurID and IBM Smart Card this is not.

Riya - The famed "We-Got-Googled-Oh-No-We-Didn't" school of Shel Israel "breaking-NDAs-and-using-blogs-as-hype-and-rumor-spreading" PR management. Photo reco tech, taking old-school face-reco to the new Web 2.0 brain-deadheads. Jazzing it up on a photo site and performing geek tricks. Limited use, if you can even find one.

Kosmix - Good location at least, Cosmic. Kosmix is such a 1999 name; Attention All Space Cadets, Report For Duty. Yet more search enginey tech, just taxonomy-based, sorta, more fauxonomy to me.

Sharpcast - Sync your PHOTOS wheeeeeeee. Sync to Phone, sync to PDA. It's a "connected applications platform", honest, yes, and blah blah blah. 20 zillion of these sync things in the PDA glory years. But this one is DIFFERENT, yesiree, they have "top-notch computer scientists and MBAs" with tons of start-up and flame-out experience. So very pre-crash 1998ish. DOA.

Gosh well that toy Dinosaur Robot Toy, Pleo is cool.

Gentler reviews at DEMO 06: Morning Report and DEMO 06: Tuesday Afternoon [Tara Hunt's HorsePigCow]