Why Angry Birds +could+ turn into a major identity player

Right now when I want to share my identity with a new service, I usually turn to Facebook. Why?

1. It knows my social graph (IE, the people who I want to be associated with online).
2. It has an identity API (IE, when I sign into, say, CinchCast, that has a way to talk to Facebook and get info from me).
3. It knows a lot about me, including what kind of music, what movies, what website, what drinks, what activities, what food, and more, that I like.
4. I keep it up to date because of social pressure of other members (if you change your email, for instance, watch what happens if you don’t change your address — people bug you).
5. Me, and nearly everyone I know, is on it.

So, right now how does Angry Birds compare?

1. Doesn’t have it.
2. Doesn’t have it.
3. Doesn’t know it.
4. Oh, yeah, we play every day.
5. Oh, yeah, the other day I walked into my doctor’s office with my son and literally EVERYONE in the office was playing Angry Birds. Old. Young. And others.

Now I have some inside knowledge. I was talking with an exec who works at Rovio the other night at the DLD conference and he hinted that Angry Birds would be turning on a gaming network soon.

Why? Well, what’s the worst thing about Angry Birds? That when you get to a new level on one device, all your other devices don’t know about it.

But, let’s take it further. Angry Birds could prompt you to give up a lot of the information Facebook does today. Why? They would trade you “Angry Birds points” for knowing what kind of books you read. Or what movies you’ve seen lately. Or what beer you like drinking.

It could even open up new levels for players that shared a lot of info with the system.

Yesterday I was in a workshop for Lufthansa where they asked us to build a “Facebook airline.” It was amazing to hear how willing the high-mileage travelers in the room were to give up their personal data to have better service.

Would I join an Angry Birds social graph? Damn straight I would and I’d probably urge you to join up too.

It isn’t hard to see how they would become the coolest social network within a month or two. Even cooler than Quora. Heheh. After all, a lot more people identify with Angry Birds than identify with other services online (the same exec told me they can’t keep Angry Birds merchandise in stock).

Maybe this is the competition Facebook needs. Diaspora? Give me a break, that will never keep Facebook honest. Angry Birds, though, could become a major competitor for Facebook and could keep them worried about their future existence, the way Facebook is now keeping Google’s founders up at night.

What do you think? And, if you don’t like it, just pretend I’m a pig and send some of those birds my way!

WWWwwwwwwhhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeee!

Photo credit: Loic Le Meur at LeWeb 2010 By Hervé Corcia.

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Major Character’s Death Altered for ‘Harry Potter Deathly Hallows: Part 2’

For those of you who haven’t read the Harry Potter books and don’t want to be spoiled for the upcoming movie, be forewarned – there are MAJOR SPOILERS ahoy.

As with all of the Harry Potter film adaptations, changes have to be made from page to screen for a variety of reasons: time issues, medium differences, drama maximization, etc. Rarely, however, have the filmmakers altered anything so important as a major character’s death scene. Now, with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, it seems they have, and with the blessing of J.K. Rowling herself.

One last time, for those hard of hearing – there are MAJOR, MAJOR SPOILERS ahead. If you want to go into Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 completely unaware of what’s going to occur onscreen, exit your browser, turn off your monitor, and back away from your computer. Go watch television or something.

For everybody else…

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In the seventh Harry Potter book, Voldemort believes that Snape is the rightful owner of the Elder Wand – a wand he who shall not be named thinks is his only magical means to slay Harry Potter. Because Snape killed Dumbledore in book number six, thus making the wand his, Voldemort believes he must, in turn, kill Snape to once again transfer ownership. As such, he sets Nagini, his giant, evil snake, upon Snape, and voila – no more Severus Snape.

How exactly does the film differ? According to the art director, Andrew Ackland-Snow:

“We wanted to change a bit where Snape dies. In the book, he dies on the Shrieking Shack, and we wanted to get him out from, not a conventional interior, but from that kind of box, to do it in a more dramatic atmosphere. We asked J.K. if she agreed for that to happen in there, because we hadn’t really seen it before. We made a crystal house, and you can see what happens in the boathouse from there – Are you listening Harry? – but also the school is in flames…and she loved it. Besides, it’s a very romantic place to die. Snape dies in a extremely good way, I gotta say.”

I remember after reading the sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, all anybody ever wanted to talk about was: Did Dumbledore order Snape to kill him, or is Snape actually a bad guy? Then we all had to wait two horrifically long years to learn the truth.

As I waited impatiently, I expected/hoped/prayed that something like 40% of the book would deal with Snape and the ‘good or bad’ plot thread. When 40% instead dealt with Harry, Ron, and Hermione trekking through the woods, and only something like…10% dealt with Snape, I was disappointed. Sure, it was great to learn that Snape was a good guy, but I wanted more. I wanted his death, and the ‘he was good all along!’ reveal, to be more climactic.

What I’m trying to say here is: I’m happy to hear that Snape’s ending has been changed for the big screen, at least in part. Snape is the tragic hero in the story of Harry Potter – he deserves a more fitting end. Perhaps his ending won’t be as drastically different as I hoped, but it’s still good to read things like “he dies in an extremely good way,”

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 hits theaters July 15th, 2011 in (sigh) 3D.

Source: Cine Premiere Mexico [via HPANA]

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Tumblr Lands Major Investor, New Director Of Product

November 14th, 2010 | Twitter

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