Life is a Video Game: Seth Priebatsch is the 22-year-old gaming nerd visionary behind the $100 million company SCVNGR. That’s right, this guy is my age, still has his parents do his laundry, but he is the CEO of a multimillion dollar company that makes location-based apps that rival Foursquare. How did he do it? Priebatsch grew up playing the computer game Civilization and mastering its algorithms and realized that he wanted to make a game for real life, a social game; and that’s exactly what he did. Fair enough, very impressive. But of course there are the oddities: Priebatsch lives on a decaday schedule (the number seven is very inefficient, apparently), doesn’t have a house or apartment in favor of living in the office, wears orange all the time, and awarded himself the title “chief ninja.” He’s achieved quite a bit — the company is valued at $100 million, although valuations are pretty meaningless — but SCVNGR has a ways to go before it’s a huge hit. Right now, it’s changing its business to become yet another deals service, with the hopes its gaming bent will differentiate it. Fortune
Look Ma, I Went Viral!: Jessica Dovey is a 24-year-old English teacher in Kobe, Japan. After hearing about Osama’s death, she posted a poignant thought, in her own words, on her Facebook status, followed by a Martin Luther King Jr. quote. Well, thanks to the power of the Internet, her comment and the MLK Jr. quote got melded together, and the new, fake MLK Jr. quote quickly went viral. See what Dovey has to say about be an accidental viral sensation. The Atlantic
Chatroulette Clean Up: Chatroulette wants you back, and they promise, no more penis pics. The once popular video chat site has employed 32 reviewing agents to monitor all chats and block any inappropriate content. Hah, good luck with that! I’m not sure 32 people is enough to catch all of the video flashers and masturbators who flock to Chatroulette. TechCrunch
Hybrid Meme of the Day: Royal wedding attire doesn’t look good on everyone (or anyone). urlesque
Product Placement: During Glee last night, Google Chrome aired it’s “It’s Gets Better” ad for the It Gets Better Project, which helps support gay teenagers who fear bullying. The cause is great, the ad is touching; very sneaky Google Chrome, subtly leading our eyes to the Google Chrome browser and features throughout the ad. Very, very sneaky. Gawker.
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