dodgeball - Gawker

posts about #dodgeball more →
Even Foursquare's Hype is Recycled from Dodgeball
Foursquare Founder Tells Two Tales About Filched Dodgeball Code
New York Times Writer Learns about 'Internets' at SXSW
Is the New Foursquare Too Much Like the Old Dodgeball for Google?
Dodgeball, Overhyped and Underused, Deserved to Die
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Figaro
04/08/09

In reply to Even Foursquare's Hype is Recycled from Dodgeball
Foursquare sucks. I tried it on my iPhone and never used it. It's just not very useful. I see why Google killed it.. it's DOA.
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Caroline McCarthy
04/07/09

In reply to Even Foursquare's Hype is Recycled from Dodgeball
TEAM CROWLEY
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BrianVan
04/08/09

@Caroline McCarthy: yay!
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FaceMelter
04/07/09

In reply to Even Foursquare's Hype is Recycled from Dodgeball
"...rapidly being installed on iPhones across the city..."

Numbers please, because that is some bullshit.

OK ... the beef:

1) This app already failed.

2) If I'm not hanging out with you, it's because I don't want to. If I wanted to, I would call, email, or text. The concept of sending out a blast of where you are and what you are doing so 'friends' can come meet up with you is so socially backwards that only someone with few genuine friends would find it cool. Excluding documented narcissists like Shaq, real people don't interact like that and never will.

3) Can we as a community please stop giving press to the same people over and over again. I find it incredibly disturbing that the media is so narrow minded. Are you fuckers really that lazy?

4) THIS APP ALREADY FAILED. WITH GOOGLE. YEAH, GOOGLE, THE COMPANY THAT HAS A SHIT TON OF CASH AND HAS NO PROBLEM OPERATING MULTIPLE PROPERTIES.

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BadUncle
04/07/09

@FaceMelter: FWIW, there was a fairly active community of Dodgeball users. And they're beta-testing limit is full. The application may have failed with Google, but there's been abundant evidence that even Google is not omnipotent.
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BadUncle
04/07/09

@FaceMelter: BTW the "failure" of dodgeball occurred when Google shut it down. From the moment they bought the app, Google put no funding behind even basic upgrades. For example, the simple inclusion of user photos - something basic to any social utility, and planned from day one at Dodgeball - never materialized. Forget something more complicated (and Google-friendly), like GPS coordinates.
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FaceMelter
04/07/09

@BadUncle:

My point is that Google doesn't just shut projects down. They have plenty of capital reserves and are obviously willing to spend money. The fact that they didn't support Dodgeball, especially in light of the fact that they were developing Android at the time, signals to me that the app has no legitimacy.
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BadUncle
04/07/09

@FaceMelter: Well, I guess we disagree. Others - well, me - would see this as Google following Microsoft's business expansion strategy, whereby you purchase competing apps on the cheap, and give them the gas.
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bluebears
04/07/09

In reply to Even Foursquare's Hype is Recycled from Dodgeball
Naveen S. recommends...

make out in the glass elevators at hilton times square!

Well who wouldn't want that hot tip?
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BadUncle
04/07/09

In reply to Even Foursquare's Hype is Recycled from Dodgeball
I hope they make it. I genuinely miss Dodgeball.
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Fawn Liebowitz
03/20/09

In reply to Foursquare Founder Tells Two Tales About Filched Dodgeball Code
What the hell is that green thing on his wrist?
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ZiggyStardust
03/18/09

In reply to Foursquare Founder Tells Two Tales About Filched Dodgeball Code
Owen, there's always a source that will steer you the wrong way, as you doubt no doubt know by now.

If this is the same source as last time (which I'm guessing it is-- and how did some of the comments there turn out?), sounds like someone has an axe to grind and you're causing he or she some smiles at how easy you are to manipulate.
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Anthony De Rosa
03/18/09

In reply to Foursquare Founder Tells Two Tales About Filched Dodgeball Code
Gawker checks facts?
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Oy Veh (Informality Reigns)
03/19/09

@Soup: test. testing
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MrInBetween
03/18/09

In reply to New York Times Writer Learns about 'Internets' at SXSW
Carr does not have a Timesman vibe. He does give off the vibe of a dude who has been sleeping under a bridge since the mid-90s.
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ZiggyStardust
03/16/09

In reply to Is the New Foursquare Too Much Like the Old Dodgeball for Google?
Interesting how this is now off the Gawker site, hmmm.

I call 'shenanigans' on this one-- tis inaccurate.
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Lux Alptraum
03/16/09

In reply to Is the New Foursquare Too Much Like the Old Dodgeball for Google?
Aw, and to think I remember when Harry first moved to New York!
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lobstr
03/16/09

In reply to Is the New Foursquare Too Much Like the Old Dodgeball for Google?
I always hated the pricks who tried to pull those tiny tim moves ..
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BrianVan
03/16/09

In reply to Is the New Foursquare Too Much Like the Old Dodgeball for Google?
Owen, of "Dodgeball deserved to die" fame - are you still getting your rocks off on making death announcements for startups? Your narrative seems to make a lot of assumptions about how Dodgeball code might have been taken from Google. They're all probably wrong, too, and you present zero evidence that would hold up in court.

First off, you know Dens wrote Dodgeball while he was in grad school, right? It was his thesis project. Therefore he would be in a position to rewrite it on a new project without any espionage tactics. Second, Google can't possibly "own the code" in any sense other than having patents on the concept. It is unclear who might have any applicable patents, but I doubt any such patents exist. Obviously, if Twitter and Brightkite exist along with dozens of other mobile networking services, and there is no licensing situation, then I doubt Google has enforceable patents. Third, Foursquare is a web application and an iPhone application, neither of which would be proprietary to Dodgeball (which didn't have an iPhone-specific component, since development on the project was abandoned before the release of the iPhone platform). The SMS components of Foursquare are the only thing resembling Dodgeball.

But then again, the facts don't really matter, do they? You make money and pageviews saying (almost exclusively) discourteous things about tech entrepreneurs and their relatives/friends. It's a shame you haven't yet figured out how to monetize actual journalism.
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Phyllis Nefler
03/16/09

@BrianVan: bv;dr
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Martin May
03/16/09

In reply to Is the New Foursquare Too Much Like the Old Dodgeball for Google?
If that's really true (which I doubt, because the tech behind this stuff is relatively simple, it's the idea and UX that counts), Dennis and Naveen and more than welcome to use any of the Brightkite infrastructure/tech that they need to make this go away.

Come on Google, you can't be serious, right?

Martin

brightkite.com
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Phyllis Nefler
03/16/09

@Martin May: Aw, this is the feelest-good (feel-goodest?) Gawker comment I have ever read. Here's hoping it's like Kryptonite to Owen!
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hamburgerhotdog
03/16/09

In reply to Is the New Foursquare Too Much Like the Old Dodgeball for Google?
Is the whole point of being "cool" in NYC finding stuff other people don't know about and keeping it that way so they don't ruin it for you?
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parenthetical
03/16/09

@hamburgerhotdog: Yes. Does that make you feel left out?
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hamburgerhotdog
03/16/09

@parenthetical: If only you knew where I was right now you'd be green with envy! If only there was a service to broadcast such a thing!
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