A few weeks ago, Darren Brown managed to predict the national lottery results live on British TV, minutes before they were due to be released. The whole nation, and the international community were amazed. For the next few days the internet went on a frenzy with both sides of the argument giving their opinions: he faked it or he has real powers. A short time later he revealed how he managed to do it; faker.
Now, he and channel4 have released a new website that explores the science behind the art of scamming people by making them believe in fictitious powers. You can find it at www.scienceofscams.com .
It’s mainly a series of videos from Darren and his assistant Kat. They trick you and other people into believing their scams such as a ghost appearing in a doorway and a moving psi wheel.
It’s a great website with cool explanations to some of the most talked about so-called ‘phenomenon’. There’s also a section giving you a Facebook app to scam your friend.
National Novel Writing Month is due to begin on November the first. Basically, it’s a 30 day event which poses a challenge for writers to write a 50,000 page novel in just thirty days – no easy task. That roughly translates into over 1,600 words per day for thirty days on the trot – all of a high quality.
The online community that is hosting the event is NaNoWriMo.org. Basically, it’s a kind of social networking site for all of the participants of the challenge. There is a counter on the homepage which counts how many words have been written so far. You also have your own personal counter on your own page which you’re supposed to update every time you make an addition to your work. The thinking behind all of this is to keep you motivated by graphical illustrations of your progress and comparison of your progress against other writers.
Other features on the site include a community forum, widgets and free downloads such as inspirational wallpapers along with plenty of help and advice from seasoned writers.
Yours truly will be partaking in the challenge also. But I’ll have the added handicap of having to blog about my experiences before, during and after the 30 day which I’m starting today on a new blog I created especially for the occasion right here.
If you’ve always wanted to write that novel of yours, November 1st to the 30th is the time to do it with the help of wwwNaNoWriMo.org
So remember all those times when you ‘accidentally’ tipped the Monopoly board over on Christmas Eve because you sister was winning? Well, you cant do that in the version of Monopoly I’m about to talk about because it would involve tipping over planet Earth which is impossible.
Basically, MonopolyCityStreets.com incorporates a real-world map in which you can buy any street and develop it as you would in the normal game by building houses and hotels. You’re given $3,000,000 to start off with and you’re competing against loads of different players from all over the world.
You can invade their territory by developing around them and eventually demolishing their buildings to force them into bankruptcy. But watch your back because as Shakespeare’s Macbeth said; “there are daggers in men’s smiles”.
Overall, it’s a great game that you can log in and enjoy from anywhere at any time. Well worth a go if you want to sharpen your business acumen. Play here.
Previously here at Crenk we announced the Spottt launch as well as the fact that Spottt wasnt really moving. Spottt is an advertising exchange for small sites. Basically the site used a widget on your site and it gave the sites reciprocal traffic on other sites that were also using the widget.
Allen Stern has reported that Spottt has been offline for the past few days and it doesn’t seem like the service is coming back online any time soon. I think this is headed straight to the deadpool!
Spottt was launched and owned by the team over at Adbrite. If you are from Adbrite it would be great to hear the news about Spottt.
Ever been surfing the net and you get a reminder telling you that your anti-virus software has just expired? Or how about work in/own a company and discover that a chunk of the stock has passed its sell-by-date? This is a common problem for everyone leading to useless products and lost cash.
Expire Track is a new web app that is specifically designed to track the expiry dates on products in the inventories of both companies and individuals. Accounts are free and it’s very easy to use. All you have to do is upload the product along with its expiry date and then set up reminders. When the date is approaching you’ll be sent a reminder by e-mail about the situation so you don’t find out too late.
This product can also be applied to individuals. Nowadays we have so many subscriptions, bills, taxes and the likes to pay that it’s so easy to forget. Using this product you can keep track of your car insurance, council tax, magazine subscriptions etc…
All of the tools there are extremely easy to use and managing a large list is simple given the great search function. Expire Track is available here.
OMGICU is a new startup which users Twitter to keep track of what celebrities are in what towns at the moment. OMGICU currently keeps track of celebrities in New York and Los Angeles. Members regularly spot celebrities in their natural habitats. And when they do, they text us, and we tell you, in real-time, at omgicu.com or by sending texts or Twitter direct messages about the people and the places you care about.
Additionally, OMGICU has a pecking order of celebrities in which rates them according to popularity and sightings. Currently im not too sure why Tracy Morgan is at number 1!
Back in 1999 Yahoo purchased GeoCities for $3.65 billion, but today it has sent out a “final notice” warning GeoCities users that they are pulling the plug on the 26th October.
Yahoo currently is shutting down a lot of services which it seems as though previous CEO’s purchased for no real reason. Current Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz seems to have her head switch on and is focusing on Yahoo’s key business areas:
Homepage
Mail
Messenger
Everything “mobile”
Search
Media experiences across sports, news, finance, entertainment
“Yahoo’s goal is to be at the center of people’s online lives, and these efforts all support that,” says a source.
For those concerned about their Twitter home page layout, you should know that having a free and customizable Twitter background creator it is not the easiest thing to find. And here’s a great choice: Twitlay.
On this site you will be able to upload your images, customize and create your own Twitter background. I know what you are about to say, you don’t have time nor the creativity (that’s me) to design your own backgrounds, well it gets simpler, you can just use some others already designed and uploaded to Twitlay previously.
Oh and in case you haven’t read the title, it’s completely free. So, instead of still using the same background layout when you created your Twitter account, give this one a try!
Previously here on Crenk we wrote about Yahoo Meme and we were even offering invites to our readers. It has been announced on the site only that Yahoo Meme is now open to the public. There is still no official word from Yahoo about the launch, but make sure you head over to Yahoo Meme and check it out.
Nearly exactly a month after launch Google has announced more cool themes for Chrome. This release is based upon prominent artists which include Jeff Koons, Jenny Holzer, Karim Rashid, Jonathan Adler, Oscar de la Renta, Anita Kunz, Tom Sachs, Kate Spade, Donna Karan, Kid Robot, Casey Reas, Dolce & Gabbana, Michael Graves, Todd Oldham, Yann Arthus-Bertrand and Mariah Carey (and that’s just to name a few!).
For a behind-the-scenes look at one illustrator’s unique creative process, check out the Google Chrome Blog. And for a preview of these themes, here’s a video flipbook we’ve compiled to showcase some of the artistry behind this project:
Im sure there are so many people out there who want to start making games and applications for Facebook, but aren’t really too sure where to start. App Bank provides everyone with the very basic tools which can not only help them get started creating a Facebook app, but will also help them to monetize their application.
AppBank is the only provider that pays you for creating and uploading social content to major social networks like Facebook. Obviously if your application is of high quality and the more users you have, then the more you can make from your application.
AppBank provides the user with free technology that they can use to develop their application and then the user will receive a percentage of their advertising revenues, with the other small percentage going to AppBank. Currently AppBank dont disclose the amount they are receiving on the site itself, which is a downside. However, if you are looking to start creating your own Facebook applications, but not too sure how to go about it, then AppBank is the first place you should call.
Ever been watching TV, listening to the radio or in the supermarket and you hear a song being played – and it’s a cool song. So cool, in fact; that you would like to download it to your Mp3 player. One problem I’m constantly running into is loving a song but not knowing the name or indeed much of the lyrics. Perhaps it’s just the tune or the chorus that sticks out in your mind – how do you find it?
Well, Musipedia may hold the answer. Basically, its a site that allows you to search for a song by the way it sounds. There are a few ways of doing this. For those with musical talent or can just read music, the piano option is for you. Using either the Java or Flash Piano you can play the part of the song that you remember. This will then be compared to the most similar songs on their database and you’ll be given an answer.
For those who couldn’t hit a note if it was standing right in front of them (like me), you can whistle. Yup, I said whistle.
Using this function, you can use the microphone in you laptop or one connected to your PC to whistle the tune. Then, it will analyse your whistling and find the song for you.
Musipedia if free to use and it’s available right here.
Ever been surfing the net and you get a reminder telling you that your anti-virus software has just expired? Or how about work in/own a company and discover that a chunk of the stock has passed its sell-by-date? This is a common problem for everyone leading to useless products and lost cash.
Ever been watching TV, listening to the radio or in the supermarket and you hear a song being played – and it’s a cool song. So cool, in fact; that you would like to 
