Why, then, are so many publications writing about Tip'd? Let me spell it out for you: The community director of Tip'd, Muhammad Saleem, is a top user on Digg. His heavy usage means that his votes tend to carry more weight on the site. Would some Web writers cover new venture in the hopes that he might feel inclined to Digg their stories down the road? Stranger things have happened.

With video and text chat allowing managers to check in on employees and feed them scripts, as well as cheap international calling and archiving conversations, it can work as a cheap and easy tool for managing remote customer-service centers to close those deals made on eBay and keep the credit card charges flowing into PayPal. In other words, it's about lubricating "transaction friction" by increasing buyer confidence and decreasing credit card charge-backs and complaints. Now if only there was a country with lots of English speakers and really low wages.

Riya today launched Like.com, a photo-based shopping site that lets users click one handbag, shoe, or other accessory and find similar ones.

Remember the story behind this startup: A while back, this startup was about to sell to Google. But marketing rep Tara Hunt and outside blogger Robert Scoble wrote too much about the deal on their blogs. The coverage spooked Google, who backed away from the talks, deciding it was better off developing its own image search. Riya decided it would take over the image search world on its own.

So why launch Like? Isn't it a disappointing result for a startup with such grand aspirations?

Live does two things:

1. It may bring in a little income. On its own, not so much — it's an ugly site to surf through, so it makes an uncomfortable shopping experience — but Riya could license the technology to other shopping sites.
2. It may bring in a buyer. Riya needed a publicity boost to attract buyers — Yahoo, for example, could plug this tool into Flickr.

Like.com [By Riya]

The launch is part of a busy week for Google, which launched a literacy portal today, an experimental search site a few days ago, and a new version of Google Groups this week, and is about to open Google Gadgets to outside developers.

According to a journalist, Google's new product will launch already larger than the two main source code search engines, Koders and Krugle.

• Best bet: iLounge Live, with an auto-refreshing page listing the announcements in no-nonsense infobites.
• iLounge IRC, a chat room for the event. Have some fun, walk in there and say "*yawn* So how is this anywhere near as cool as the Microsoft Zune?"
• Superblogs Gizmodo and Engadget pay the price of success — both are sputtering as their servers struggle with the traffic spike.

• Teach the controversy! ABC News quotes a Jupiter Research analyst: "Even when people think they know the story, they don't know the whole story. And sometimes, they're completely wrong." Gee, thanks for the insight. [ABC News]
• PC World takes it further: "Last Chance to Be Wrong About Apple's News!" [PC World]
• Bloomberg News just goes ahead and predicts Disney films for sale on iTunes (duh) and a full-screen iPod (okay, we all secretly predict that). [Bloomberg]
• Why just Disney films? No one else would agree to Jobs's demand for two flat rates. [UPI]

Need a page to refresh all morning until the announcement hits the wires? Try The Unofficial Apple Weblog, Engadget, Gizmodo, Mac Observer, or Macworld.

Is it just me, or does this design feel like the lovechild of TechCrunch and GigaOM? But, like, smarter? First, the layout is useful and chock-full of info. Second, VentureBeat is refreshingly ad-free, save for a plug for site developers Rubyred Labs.

After the jump, we dig into the site, and there's a dollop of gossip at the bottom.

We assume this will change soon, leaving us bitter and disillusioned, because VentureBeat has some real original content here — a break from the identical articles of its main competitors. The featured story is just a roundup right now, but owner-writer Matt Marshall proves in other entries that he's still more insightful and engaging than other tech business blogs.

Everyone will notice the contributors' columns (good way to diversify without hiring writers, Matt!) but also check out the easily-missed news on the left. Personally, though, my favorite bit is the "deal map," outlining the shape of the tech boom in the Valley with little Google-Maps markers.

Marshall, by the way, built SiliconBeat on his own dime for ages; finally sick of the Mercury News, he's doing his own thing. It all came out in the comment thread on SiliconBeat, where Marshall wrote about the new site's name:

well, regarding the name, it was a tough one. i felt ownership rights [to SiliconBeat], because i came up with the name, bought the url, blogged on my own time, etc.

the merc felt differently. the good part is, we kept talking about it. we came to an arrangement, both sides agreed to drop the name for the time being. can't really say more, but let's just say the url won't be on the market any time soon.

VentureBeat [Official site]

But I visited the new site anyway, and saw this on the front page:

The investors must be so proud.

this is by us [Official site]

The basis of Web Worker Daily, GigaOM blog kingpin Om Malik's latest title, is that in an increasingly web-based, wireless world, with bloggers and web workers dispersed in diverse geographic pockets, it's becoming more difficult to mobilize the workforce. The site, which launched on Labor Day (cute timing, Om), is meant as a forum in which "2.0 users" share knowledge of technological systems and workspaces.

Part of Malik's inspiration for the blog comes from Greg Olsen, Co-Founder of Coghead Software whose fondness for expressions like "jumping the shark" and "going bedouin" when referring to start-ups that perish by way of golden temples wears a little thin at times. But we can relate to the pragmatic significance of knowing where to fill up a good cup of joe, as told by Jackson West. The Gawker Media alum and GigaOM contributor is the site's new lead writer.

WWD shows promise — unless Jackson West forces us to point a gun at his head and scream, "Say 'Bedouin' again! I double dare you, motherfucker, say 'Bedouin' one more time!"

Web Worker Daily [Official site]

— Beth Gottfried

[Update: Since we wrote this, the curtain's been torn down and Da Blunt appears to be open for business.]

See it here, folks, 'cause it's password-protected now. This is the pre-launch edition of Om Malik's new blog, Da Blunt, which was live and public until late last evening. The Web 2.0 wise guys at the Supr.c.ilio.us blog spotted an incoming link from dablunt.com and followed it to this remarkably unprotected site. I snapped a pic before Om and his team hid it under a password.

The writer for this new extension of the GigaOM network is, as the screencap shows, Jackson West, blogger extraordinaire and former contributor to Valleywag's big androgynous sibling Fleshbot. He's a man of many talents, able to draw clever connections between literary references, name-dropping of the San Fran hoi polloi, and allusions to Saturday morning cartoons.

As for answering the $5-million-in-venture-capital question, Da Blunt is about pop culture, high culture, and all those things the "You Don't Know Jack" game claimed to be.

And as for the design, don't worry, Om assures me Da Blunt will look prettier than this when it really goes live.

Da Blunt [now password protected]
What's GigaOm Smoking? [Supr.c.ilio.us]

Thog write headline. Thog no match subject to predicate. And Thog proud to have Thog's work on PC World front page on important day.

PC World [Front page]

Click through, refresh the page like crazy, and be the first on your block to see forums, a customized home page, and those little "share this" buttons everyone makes so the kids can go viral.

PCWorld.com [Refresh! Refresh!]

Update: Local times may vary.

You can just make out the Digg-style vote button on the left. How original! [Fabz on Flickr]

Just too fuzzy to make out the URL. [Fabz on Flickr]

Which is wiser for AOL: launching just after Digg version 3 renders it redundant on June 22? Or just before?

Photos: NNLaunch [Flickr]
In the war room... [Calacanis.com]
Earlier: Scoop: Exclusive screenshots reveal Digg v3 will cover all news [Valleywag]

[Update: Digg, meet AOL's Digg killer.]

Digg already soared past Slashdot as the most influential tech-centered news portal. The "Digg effect" can bring down the servers of sites linked from the homepage and drive a frenzy of blogging and news coverage — or spread rumors like nobody's business. That's why Yahoo reportedly offered $40 million for the company (to which founder Kevin Rose says, "I wish!")

But Digg is destined for bigger things than tech news. The above screenshot of Digg version 3 (not showing? wait for it), leaked from a beta tester a week before its launch, reveals categories for "Business" and "World News." This should give Digg a leg up on AOL's rumored general-interest Digg killer.

The tipster says, "I've counted 25+ new topics in this build of the beta, and there is a new design top-to-bottom."

Above, also note the Ajaxy message to the right. After the jump, see Digg's new sorting options.

Digg [Old version]