Eli Gratz

The thing I hate most about @foursquare is AT&T...

Mon, 28 May 2012 19:02:15 -0500

The thing I hate most about @foursquare is AT&T service…frustrating (sent once I had wifi again) (Taken with instagram)

BYOB App Chicago submitted to iTunes. Get ready to enjoy the...

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 21:13:46 -0500

BYOB App Chicago submitted to iTunes. Get ready to enjoy the 250+ BYOBs of the great city of Chicago!

Where the Web is going

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 20:23:21 -0500

@MwestTekDealGuy sent me an article on where the web is going from @nireyal on how the ease of content creation will change the web. Democratizing the means of production won’t make a better web…just letting everyone create content is MySpace which is now a hilarious/embarrassing graveyard.

What I do think the future of the web is going to look like is more and more users contributing data to a common source and having smart people meaningfully processing it. The first case is Foursquare. I love me some foursquare, but use it not only for the social serendipity, annoying friends with check-ins and creating the story of my life, but also for the Explore Tab. Take a billion and a half checkins, your social graph and everyone else’s and you’ve got the world’s best recommendation engine for places. Layer in tips, lists, tags, admin users and you’ve got something that’s difficult to rival…ever.

To me the future of the web will continue to be:

Great Free Service + User Scale + Ad Model + Analytics for insights at scale

The difference will be the network effect of user data that has never before been captured due to user behavior. Look at Waze crowdsourcing traffic conditions, or even Pinterest curating taste…these are just the aggregation of lots of small individual contributions…small sets of content. Creating the world’s best place recommendation engine on the backs of 20 million user’s check-ins is cool. Creating the greatest engine of small business growth with 100 million email addresses, open rates and conversions around the world like Groupon is just fascinating.

The game will quickly become how can you get lots of people to do something simple to create something that was never possible without the scale.

27 (Taken with Instagram at Newberry Plaza Gym)

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 06:23:30 -0500

27 (Taken with Instagram at Newberry Plaza Gym)

#nofilter (Taken with Instagram at Penn Square)

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 19:39:04 -0500

#nofilter (Taken with Instagram at Penn Square)

Amazing night of revelry #nofilter #latergram (Taken with...

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 12:35:11 -0500

Amazing night of revelry #nofilter #latergram (Taken with Instagram at Medieval Times)

#nofilter (Taken with Instagram at Medieval Times)

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 20:26:36 -0600

#nofilter (Taken with Instagram at Medieval Times)

Better than #sxsw happy birthday to me!!! (Taken with instagram)

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 19:36:27 -0600

Better than #sxsw happy birthday to me!!! (Taken with instagram)

V-I-C-T-O-R-Y (Taken with Instagram at Chicago)

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 20:41:51 -0600

V-I-C-T-O-R-Y (Taken with Instagram at Chicago)

@titusnation show (Taken with Instagram at UP Comedy Club)

Sat, 03 Mar 2012 22:34:51 -0600

@titusnation show (Taken with Instagram at UP Comedy Club)

Almost 2 months in to #30min365 (Taken with Instagram at...

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 22:08:14 -0600

Almost 2 months in to #30min365 (Taken with Instagram at Chicago)

App I'd like to see: LilSquare.com

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 10:35:21 -0600

An app I’d like would be one to sync my avatar across multiple social services. Twitter or Facebook seem to be the master that services like instagram use when you create your profile, but with more people making statements via profile via (like @orenjacob’s about SOPA below), it would be cool to syndicate across more services.

I call the idea “Lil Square” because you update your “little squares” all over the internet.

The domains would be lilsquare.com and lilsqua.re which are both available. I always use domai.nr to test domain names and find out short ones. It’s a really useful tool and they have a smart affiliate model with the domain registrars based on you finding names you like.

I guess this is similar to Gravatar, but would still be pretty useful.

The business model would be to let people promote tasks virally and have promoted “layers” on pictures. Whether that’s against SOPA, or turning your profile pictures green to support Iran elections, it an a cool, awareness platform that can be used across all your posts. It’s essentially a way to advertise something across all your services and all your posts (not just create individual posts for something).

So instead of just liking “Bud Light Platinum” on Facebook, you could “Change your profile with LilSquare to Bud Light Platinum for a free hat”. There are lots of impressions across all your posts (and your previous ones) on all your services with this new logo. It would definitely draw attention and whether movement or advertising, it would be powerful.

This would be “promoted layers” as well as a tool for brands/activists etc… to have followers show support by using the tool.

If someone makes this app, let me know, I’ll be a user.

When landing the engines do this for a few seconds #nofilter ...

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:57:39 -0600

When landing the engines do this for a few seconds #nofilter (Taken with instagram)

Beef tendon is not tenderloin… (Taken with Instagram at...

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 12:33:56 -0600

Beef tendon is not tenderloin… (Taken with Instagram at Phoenix Restaurant)

Breakfast of champions cc: @chobani (Taken with instagram)

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 08:43:10 -0600

Breakfast of champions cc: @chobani (Taken with instagram)

#nofilter (Taken with Instagram at North & Clybourn)

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 07:34:47 -0600

#nofilter (Taken with Instagram at North & Clybourn)

Taken with Instagram at Macy’s

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 11:11:35 -0600

Taken with Instagram at Macy’s

Good morning! #nofilter (Taken with Instagram at Chicago)

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 07:13:48 -0600

Good morning! #nofilter (Taken with Instagram at Chicago)

Taken with Instagram at Milwaukee Ale House

Sat, 03 Dec 2011 23:21:41 -0600

Taken with Instagram at Milwaukee Ale House

Old school local glasses shop (Taken with Instagram at...

Sat, 03 Dec 2011 15:16:24 -0600

Old school local glasses shop (Taken with Instagram at Charles’ Eyez Boutique)