Friendster has just been granted another ridiculously obvious patent.
The patent basically covers uploading a photo and associating it with someone you are connected to on an online social network.
http://patft.uspto.gov/...
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Gary Rivlin at the New York Times finally wrote the untold story, here you have an extract:
Jonathan Abrams was in a spot. He could take the safe bet and accept the $30 million that Google was offering him for Friendster, the social networking Web start-up he began only a year earlier, in 2002. Saying yes to Google would provide a quick and stunning payout for relatively little work and instantly place the Friendster Web site in front of hundreds of millions of users across the globe.
But at the same time, some of the biggest names in...
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Socializr.com is a free web service for sharing event and party information with your friends, not too impressive for $1.5 million and 2 rounds of funding.
Feature-wise, you can create a profile, add friends, leave comments, upload images, create events and engage in discussions in the forums. However, the most interesting element is that the Friendster founder is behind it.
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With $10 million in new funds and a second patent, the social networking pioneer has big plans for an improved site to rival MySpace
Comebacks can be hard to stage—though not impossible. Just ask George Foreman, Bill Clinton, or the folks at Volkswagen who resurrected the Rabbit. Investors are betting $10 million that social networking site Friendster.com can join such ranks.
Friendster announced its new funding round, led by Palo Alto -based venture capital firm DAG Ventures, on Aug. 21. Two of Friendster's original investors, Kleiner...
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Jobster relaunched on Wednesday, adding more social features to the mix. The site is now an open social network similar to MySpace or Friendster - it allows you to create a profile page, tag yourself, list the companies you’ve worked for and answer questions on your work-related experiences. You can also add “faves” (coworkers and collegues you admire or would like to make contact with) and see who has favorited you in the “fans” section. Additionally, you can explore the site based on tags and add tags to describe other users.
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The patent, issued on June 27, refers to a "system, method, and apparatus for connecting users in an online computer system based on their relationships within social networks." While that's pretty general, it certainly covers the activities of the dozens of other social-networking Web sites that have sprung up since Friendster filed the patent.
No VotesEmail this | No Comments | 1 ImageFriendster might actually find a buyer now that it's won a patent for social networks. The Red Herring reports that the patent is broad enough to cover activity on several other sites. Friendster's president won't say how aggressively his company will bully its competitors into buying licenses.
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