This week's links

Trying my hand at the del.icio.us thing.

Various articles I flagged as interesting over the past couple weeks:

VentureBlog: The Web 2.0 List
A VC's take on the downside of the incredible number of Web 2.0 startups that have hit the radar in recent months. This sentence says it all "Considering only those companies that made the list, on average, our four portfolio companies face 33 -- yes, tha ... (tags: Web20, VentureCapital, business, Startups)
Fire Someone Today: Ups and downs at Amazon.com
Author of Fire Someone Today talks about 'spammers' on Amazon, in this case, someone affiliated with another book gaming Amazon by post reviews that are disguised references to other books on the site. ... (tags: Amazon, hacks, books, publishing)
Game Tycoon»Blog Archive » The End of the Eye-Candy Arms Race
A good take on the current state of the high-end games biz, and how we may see a combo of diminishing returns, uncanny valley, and Christensen effect finally "push us over the edge" toward spending time and resources on non-graphics problems. ... (tags: graphics GameBiz game-development)
Following the Rich Media money - Blog Maverick - www.blogmaverick.com _
A look at broadcast TV vs Video on the web, and where the real value lies in the value chain of each (its different). Good food for thought for drawing parallels with the games industry. ... (tags: business advertising portals GameBiz)
Shotgun Marketing BLOG: Paving Cowpaths
Iteresting post about user-created content and how it doesn't always turn out to be a good thing for the owners of the IP for which the content is being created ... (tags: Marketing UserCreatedContent Blogging)
/Message: Steven Levy and Brad Stone on The New Wisdom of the Web
(tags: W)
MAKE: Blog: The Future of Credit Cards - Earning virtual currency for spending in the real world & other world bridging
Rather than that "US Airlines VISA", why not get a "World of Warcraft VISA". Interesting idea that can't be far off ... (tags: Games Economics GameBiz Credit WoW secon)
Identity Production in a Networked Culture: Why Youth Heart MySpace
Creating Passionate Users: Ultra-fast release cycles and the new plane
The new way to design software? ... (tags: Web20 Design Culture)
"G/localization: When Global Information and Local Interaction Collide"
A crash course in culture and it's implications for software design - social software in particular. Awesome paper ... (tags: MySpace Flickr Design SoftwareDesign Community Culture)
Next Generation - Spend The Night
Putting the "Mmmmm.... Ohhh" in MMO, It was bound to happen.... a sex-themed MMO ... (tags: mmo sex onlinegaming)
Bona tempora volvantur--by Guy Kawasaki: How To Be a Great Moderator
A good post for anyone that has, will, or wants to moderate panel discussions. Most is straight-forward, but it never hurts to be hit over the head with it :-) ... (tags: moderating paneldiscussion conference GuyKowasaki)
Marquee de Sells: Chris's insight outlet
Chris Sells' $399 Vista PC ... (tags: Vista CheapPC SystemRequirements)
novel thoughts. » Blog Archive » Un-branding.
A guitar-themed lesson on brand value ... (tags: guitar martin branding marketing)