Qwerky

Scribd

Who said all the viral fun that distracts us from “work” can only be found in videos? For everything else, there’s Scribd.

Of course, the main idea of Scribd isn’t really to archive all the distracting readables, but to archive documents in general, with the classic Web 2.0 twist: Digg-style voting. Sure, in the midst of the jobhunting people are about to face this graduation, a Girlfriend Application form is quite a hoot.

(The weirdest part about Scribd is the use of Adobe Flash for embedding Adobe Reader files. Doesn’t anybody else find that a little disturbing? What does Google, who gobbled up online word processor Writely, have to say about this?)

Score 13/65; Formula: Bastardized English, Vowel Drop; Circle No.: 3, The Pseudo-Abstract; Biggest Tag in Cloud: Religion

Renkoo

Unlike sites like MySpace, Friendster, or FaceBook, Renkoo assumes you have a life. And that you already have real-life, offline friends. To top it all off, it encourages you and your friends to meet in real life, offline.

So now the only thing left to do is agree on what to do, as well as the when, where, and how. If email, instant messenger, text, or the combination of all three is too much of a hassle to set things up, you might want to let Renkoo handle the unniceties.

Now, the origin of the name Renkoo is not a mystery. But that bee on the logo has had me wondering even before the website opened for signups. It does go well with the “beeeta”, though. (Not that everybody understands why Web 2.0 webapps keep on putting up the word “beta” beside their logos.)

The Qwerks

Web 2.0 Validator Score
6/65

The Formula
Doublized, Bastardized Foreign Word (renku) and Metaphoria

Belongs to Circle Number
2, The Metaphor (renku is a type of “linked” poetry created by two or more collaborating poets)

Confirmed Etymology
Renku

Brownie Points For
Awesome logos and webdesign/css gallery accolades

Qwerky Tag Team With
Zazzle

Qwerky Mascot
Kawaii (Japanese for “cute”) animals! See logos

Definitely Inspired By
Google Doodles, just like Reddit

Wesabe

There are websites that help you spend money. Ones that know you’re scared to use that credit card but make it perfectly painless to add items to a virtual shopping cart and head to checkout even before registering your personal details.

You’re broke. And squirming at the thought that your name and number intercepted and stolen. And done for.

Then there are websites that help you save money. Nothing is more useful a money-saving website.

Add a name like Wesabe, other spicy features, and you’re good to go. It also helps that Wesabe could equal and even replace the paid, desktop personal finance software nobody is fond of.

Score 9/66; Formula: Bastardized English (”we save”), Bastardized Foreign Word (”wasabi”); Confirmed Etymology: Bastardized Foreign Word (”we sabe”, “we know”, instead of “tu sabe”, “you know”); Circle No.: 3, The Pseudo-Abstract

Grouptivity

If you want collaboration without the instant messengers, conference calls, and other alienating interfaces, try plain-old HTML forms. Assign tasks, make surveys, share lists, turn events into reality. If you’re daunted by melding a group of heterogeneous mindsets into one well-oiled machine, Grouptivity could be a modest solution for you.

I wonder how many people collaborated to come up with the name. The -ivity makes pronouncing it something of a little game in itself. Perhaps co-collaborators can toy with saying it out loud as many times as they can.

Score 7/66; Formula: Bastardized English (group + activity); Circle No.: 3, The Pseudo-Abstract; What Makes It Web 2.0: The template options are tags in a cloud; See Also: Thinkature

Fedafi

These self-appointed “RSS Guys” at Fedafi provide a bunch of RSS-related tools fit for any self-respecting blogger (or feed publisher). They’ve got stat-checking, advertising, and banner exchange all for free, but their flagship product, the RSS Generator (for websites that don’t generate feeds), is for-a-fee. (And that’s the business plan right there.) Sounds like they’re taking on the not-so-Qwerky FeedBurner.

They seem all-too obsessed with the term RSS, but what about other feed standards such as Atom? Perhaps that’s why they named themselves Fedafi instead of RSSafi or something. My bet is that the “fed” in Fedafi rhymes with “feed.” It’ll sound much more Arabic it weren’t.

I’m also guessing it’s because RSS sounds a lot snappier than Atom (or RDF). That double S is akin to the two curved lines on the feed logo. I guess nobody wants to go neutral on this one, calling the feed icon an RSS icon instead. Others, however, are more concerned with the size of the icon (it’s a contest) rather than explaining what RSS actually is. (It’s “Really Simple Syndication”, by the way.) Face it, feeds are exclusive to automated publishing platforms such as blogs.

Score 11/65; Formula: Gibberish, Bastardized Foreign Word (sounds like one, at least); Circle No.: 4, The Cab Calloway; Qwerky T-shirt Tagline: “Bite My Flaming Metal ASS RSS“