The Next Web

Mikestar.com: is online karaoke really “pathetic”?

Written on May 15, 2008 – 8:30 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief

The Next Web Blog covers start-up news from all over the world (not just the Valley), exciting new technologies and inspiring entrepreneurs. If you're new here, you may want to read our 'About' page and subscribe to our RSS feed.

If you came here from Digg it would be great if you could actually Digg us too! Do you have a start-up that we should write about? Contact us! Thanks for visiting and hope you come back again!

When Monte Miersch from German-based Mikestar walked up the stage of the Next08 conference this morning and said he has started an online karaoke service, he got laughed at by the audience and called “pathetic” by the moderator. If Tokyo is the place where people devour karaoke, Hamburg is the other extreme. But let’s face it, almost everybody loves karaoke. And if you don’t, you will after a couple of beers. Moreover, it’s really 2.0 fashionable since Digg set up a Rock Band room at their Web 2.0 Expo party. I still have dreams about the Ok Go show I gave with iJustine.

iJustine and undersigned at the Digg party

So I’d like to take a stand for Miersch, and I’m glad I have the Next Web as a medium. Mikestar allows people to sing together by turning on their webcam and singing the lyrics. Sounds good for people who love a spontaneous karaoke session. I believe it has the potential to become really popular.

After working through some licensing deals, Mikestar launched an open beta version last January and closed one round of VC funding. Their business model makes sense, as they attract a young target group who are sensitive to branding, which Mikestar does in a cool way. For example, they’ve branded a bathroom producer by building a shower around the video screen. Obviously a hint to the secret shower performances of all those aspiring pop stars out there. Moreover, Mikestar sells dvd’s and music.

Miersch told the audience that they’re looking for strategic partnerships with companies that have an international background - meaning not just Germany. Well, I have two pieces of advice: Firstly, develop a Facebook app. It will be a monster hit. Secondly, try North East Asia. At least you won’t get laughed at there.

funny, germany, karaoke, mikestar, music, next08, Start-ups

1 Comment »

Mischievous Monday Morning: Ready for summer? (NSFW)

Written on May 5, 2008 – 9:05 am
Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten,

These geeks definitely are!

Bathing suit 1 Bathing suit 2

Enjoy your Monday, and Summer!

bathing suit, funny, mmm, nsfw, summer

5 Comments »

Mischievous Monday Morning: A network called ‘Internet’

Written on April 14, 2008 – 8:13 am
Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten,

Here is a beautiful movie to help you survive another Mischievous Monday Morning. Its a television item which was broadcasted on October 8, 1993 by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is about a ‘new phenomena’ called ‘The Internet’.

For those of you who work in this industry it is good to realize just how young The Internet actually is. Just imagine what it will look like 14 years from now. Or don’t just imagine it and go back to work now and build it…

A few interesting quotes from the item:

“A revolution in which 15 million people take part”
“It has more soul than any human being I know!”
“The Internet is growing like an embryonic brain, at a rate of 10%, a month!”

The original can be seen at the CBC Digital Archives but here is a copy from Youtube:
A network called ‘Internet’ (6:25 minutes):

funny, history, Inspiration, mmm

4 Comments »

Mischievous Monday Morning: Sometimes Auto-Complete Sucks…

Written on April 7, 2008 – 9:44 am
Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten,

This is a live screenshot from a Turkish television show where the host wants to type in ‘Youtube’ (on a story about hidden camera recordings of some government officials) but gets a few unfortunate suggestions from his browser Auto Complete feature:

previously Dugg here.

auto complete, browser, funny, mmm, youporn

6 Comments »

Pure geek stuff: The Cyborg Name Decoder

Written on March 10, 2008 – 4:50 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief

Every blog needs some light-hearted and fun posts once in a while. When writing for a Web 2.0 blog, chances are high these posts are geeky. So please don’t blame for posting this Cyborg Name Decoder tool, since the signature of this blog completely legitimizes it.

So here we go. Imagine my fellow bloggers were cyborgs, these would be their names: