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13 Jan 2011 18:52

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Tech: Chatroulette’s founder somehow makes naked men profitable

  • Everyday, about 50,000 new men are trying to get naked. What we’re doing is selling the naked men to a couple of websites – it’s an investment for us.
  • Chatroulette Founder Andrey Ternovskiy • Describing his plan to make his service, Chatroulette, profitable. Essentially, the naked men – a longstanding scourge of the video-chatting site – get parlayed off to sites like FriendFinder.com, where they’re making cash from referral traffic – $100,000 a month, unbelievably. “So, we’re actually getting revenue from naked men right now,” Ternovskiy says. Even though his site’s traffic has gone down considerably, he’s still making bank, because he’s smart. (from Fast Company’s sweet Tumblr) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 Aug 2010 10:16

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Tech: Chatroulette’s return embarrassing, not very good at all

  • yes Chatroulette is back after having been down an entire week (not a day, as previously hinted).
  • no It’s not very good and has the hallmarks of a 17-year-old’s rough programming skills. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Aug 2010 22:58

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Tech: Chatroulette done with nudity, ready for Chatroulette 2.0

  • good Chatroulette is currently down, meaning that the penis army has ceased for the moment.
  • better The site will be back up tomorrow, possibly with some more polish and less penis. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 May 2010 11:00

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U.S.: Chatroulette’s maker more interested in surprise nudity than school

  • The last three years at school, I haven’t done anything. I just can’t make myself. There’s so much interesting stuff in the world, and I have to sit there with textbooks?
  • Chatroulette creator Andrey Ternovskiy • Regarding his feelings on school. An apparent juvenile delinquent, the Russian teenager created his way out of ever needing to finish school with Chatroulette, which is insanely popular, to the point that he only started making an effort to crack down on the nudity after Ashton Kutcher personally said something to him about it. Which is kind of hilarious. Actually, everything about this story is awesome. Well, except for the nudity. That’s pretty scary. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

27 Apr 2010 23:11

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Offbeat: ChatRoulette’s second celebrity: Speed illustrator Paz Bernstein?

  • While Merton was getting all of the attention, talented illustrator Paz Bernstein was hopping on ChatRoulette and drawing people live, on the fly, using a Wacom tablet. The fact that these illos are so well-done in such a short amount of time speaks highly of his abilities. And hey, now that Merton’s kinda faded a bit, maybe you can have a chance to shine, Paz. Oh, check out the dude’s portfolio. It’s pretty good and wide-ranging. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Mar 2010 20:15

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Culture: Merton, the Chatroulette piano guy, is a genuinely cool dude

  • Mashable did an awesome interview with him. Skype is quickly becoming the blogger’s interview tool of choice. And in the case of Merton, the lovable, not-Ben-Foldsy guy behind Chatroulette’s biggest phenomenon, it drew out some pretty great details.
  • one The original video
    was forced offline
    after two chatters
    felt their privacy
    had been violated
    by the coolest
    guy ever.
  • two That same video
    was also the
    highest-rated
    video YouTube
    has ever hosted,
    which is pretty
    crazy to consider.
  • three Merton, who
    chooses to (for
    now) remain
    anonymous, is
    way more inspired
    by Tori Amos than
    Ben Folds.
  • four That doesn’t
    mean he doesn’t
    find Ben Folds’
    rendition hilarious,
    though, especially
    with the crowd
    interactions.
  • five He says that the
    clips allow him to
    mix his sense of
    humor with his
    often-maudlin
    piano playing.
    Neat. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Mar 2010 23:37

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Offbeat: Chatroulette’s first star: Merton, the piano-improv supergenius

  • We went back and forth on posting this. Not because it’s not HILARIOUS, but because we were afraid we missed the viral boat on it already. Now, if we saw more guys with pianos and fewer guys with their hands on their (#&(@(&, Chatroulette would be a cool place. Please tell us this guy is actually Ben Folds pretending to be someone else.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 3 Comments • Permalink
 

13 Mar 2010 12:06

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Tech: Chatroulette’s founder feels your naked creepy guy pain

  • People that are naked are all over the Internet. I don’t like it, because I want a clean site, so I have added a ‘Report’ button. Now if someone is reported three times they are banned from the site.
  • Andrey Ternovskiy • Regarding the proliferation of naked people on Chatroulette, his site. Ternovskiy who is in the U.S. on a venture capital mission, says he won’t sell his nest egg right away and wants to protect the privacy of his users, a privacy slightly uncovered by Chatroulette Map, a Google Maps mashup which is actually kinda cool. He plans to do more to protect users’ privacy from sites like that one. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Mar 2010 10:25

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Tech: Chatroulette’s maker may bring his randomness to the U.S.

  • Russian student Andrey Ternovskiy has reportedly applied for a visa. Could Chatroulette, that random piece of viral Internet goodness, go legit? Word on the street is that Ternovskiy is currently in a tug-of-war between Silicon Valley and his Russian homeland about where he goes to legitimize the service, which has grown from 500 to 1.5 million daily users in just three months (!!). One interesting fact from this ReadWriteWeb story: Google, Microsoft and Facebook alone have a combined market value, $500 billion, that equals a third of Russia’s annual economic output. Holy crap, kids. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Mar 2010 22:16

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Culture: ChatRoulette officially over now that The Daily Show has covered it

  • That “Mexican food” analogy is painfully true. The Daily Show covered the topic du jour of the light media set – Chatroulette. He seems to agree with us on its faddish nature, except while noting the high level of nudity. Then, Stewart takes a spin through the site, which he jokes is loaded with reporters, and finds some – including a hilarious self-parody by Keith Olbermann and a bunch of other famous faces (Katie Couric and Brian Williams – sweet!).
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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