Jim Barraud

My friend and colleague Jon Sykes recently launched his latest side-project usernamecheck.com. It’s a service for checking a slew of social networks to see if the username you regularly use is taken or not. Actually, you may have heard of it since it’s been getting a ton of press lately. It’s been mentioned by swissmiss, Lifehacker and CNET. Turns out a lot of people like keeping tabs on their brand and identity when it comes to social networks. Companies like Coca-Cola could appreciate something like this.

Mr. Sykes has recruited me to help out with the UI and design of the site. So look for updates to usernamecheck.com in the coming weeks (or days).

Fellow Media-Hive cohort Mr. Sykes has launched yet another one of his pet projects. Hexday.com. The concept? Pick a color, but only one. Come back tomorrow and do it again. Rinse. Repeat. Feeling orange today? Or maybe blue? How do your color picks relate to the rest of the community?

This is one of those concepts when pitched to you, you respond with a “huh?” or “why?” or “I don’t get it.” And honestly, I’m in the “I don’t get it crowd”. Yet, the morning rolls by and I pick my color. I check to see what the people I know have picked. Not sure why, but I do. It’s just one of those things.

Future features include buddies, RSS & widgets. But the interesting thing will be once this has been up and running for a period time. Then crunching the colors to see what kind of trends can be found based on time of day, time of the year and how your colors relate to your buddies.

So yes, you’re probably saying “huh?”, “why?” or “I don’t get it.” But that’s also what they said (and some still say) about Twitter. And now they’re struggling to keep up with the volume.

So what’s your color?

My Media-Hive comrade Mr. Jon Sykes has released his latest child into the world. On Yongo. A place where people can post pictures of their business cards. And not just any old business card (well I guess you could post that to), but business cards that say something. Business cards with personality. Business cards your proud to give to your mom (even though your Mom is proud of you just for having a job that requires a business card).

Rumor has it that this is the first in a string of Sykes ventures. Stay tuned.