Authored by: Maus Anon E on Thursday, April 02 2009 @ 01:18 PM GMT+4

***Since March 25, the day (Leif) K-Brooks launched the site, usership has exploded to more than 150,000 per day with an average of 2,500 people logged in at one time. He did an interview for the New York Post Tuesday and was preparing for an Australian Podcast later that afternoon.***

Holy cow! That's amazing. Congratulations!

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We Rock!

Authored by: babalu on Thursday, April 02 2009 @ 04:02 PM GMT+4

Outstanding, superior - genius - just for starters !
It was wonderful to see that his youthful achievement did not go unnoticed, but brought recognition well earned.

Authored by: cgrotke on Thursday, April 02 2009 @ 04:17 PM GMT+4

Home-schooled, and done before entering college! A great story.

It's really a great example of why the Internet is a valuable tool, too.
It means a teen can equal or exceed adults, even a high-paid team of
them at a major corporation. The idea matters, not who has it, the
amount of funding, or how old they might be.

I'm recalling that there was nothing like it when I was his age.
Computers were getting to desktops, but they weren't connected.
(We'd back up our data to an audio cassette and take it to another
machine. If it could handle the massive 4k program contained on it.)

We could dream things up, but couldn't experiment and build them. I
was able to take my ideas as far as drawings, or written descriptions,
but rarely could a large project be accomplished. The tools weren't
there and the cost was prohibitive.

These kinds of experiences and successes enable others to occur. Once
you know you can do something, you really can do anything.

Authored by: annikee on Thursday, April 02 2009 @ 04:42 PM GMT+4

Congrats to all, and yes, if you don't know you can't, you often do.

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Due to budget cuts the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off.

Authored by: KeithG on Friday, April 03 2009 @ 05:34 AM GMT+4

This is tremendous...congrats to Leif and to his parents for nurturing his inquisitiveness and providing him with the tools to work with.

Not to detract from Leif's outstanding accomplishment but I can't help but think we'll see a lot more of these sorts of stories in the near future. As computer prices continue to drop and broadband access grows, there's gonna be a whole new generation of curious, imaginative, talented kids who will have access to the tools necessary to experiment & create.

Authored by: tiny on Wednesday, April 15 2009 @ 03:55 PM GMT+4

I tried Omegle out the other day. I got to tell you, this is not really my kind of thing but my interest was piqued by the article. The first 2 tries, the conversation took a pretty creepy turn quickly as the "stranger" wanted to talk sex. They started talking about porn, and I navigated away. A day or two later I tried it again and the same kind of creepiness happened again. There seems to be people trolling around on this site and no protections in place to screen or deter wierdos. For example, this was my last "chat:" The "stranger " started by saying "my ugly ass face was on www.brinto.nl."; Nice...
It is worth taking a look at the comments for the site. A mixed bag, good and bad. The one that stood out the most was Omegle was a rip off of Http://www.anicechat.net. My complaint is that there is a lot of lewd and weird people out there, but maybe that's the charm of this service.

I would not suggest this site to anyone's kids. Have you tried this yourself SK-B?

Authored by: SK-B on Wednesday, April 15 2009 @ 04:46 PM GMT+4

I did try Omegle, of course.

My first few attempts got strangers who immediately started with inappropriate comments, so I disconnected. I wanted to see if I could find a stranger with whom I could have a "normal" conversation, and I did find a few nice people, mostly young people, such as a 23 year old guy in Alabama, and a 16 year old high school student in the UK.

The "normal" chats I found not too interesting and I pretty much had to work at keeping up my end of the conversation, as much out of politeness as out of interest. I rarely use omegle because it is just not my thing.

About keeping your kids off the site, that is a problem with the internet. I recall one time when my son was a toddler we went into the Cafe in Putney (in the Tavern Building) and there was a local guy playing the guitar and singing bawdy songs. It was the afternoon, a time when families with kids would naturally come in. When I tried to talk to him about singing inappropriate lyrics with youngsters present, he lectured me about his theory of parenting which I was obviously falling short of: Don't shelter your kids, they need to learn about the real world. (My three year old was supposed to learn about the "real world," not from his parents, but from this jerk's dirty songs!)

So I understand that concern. I guess there are technological solutions, but generally things are changing so that in both the virtual world and the "real" world, it is becoming more and more difficult for parents to protect their children from unhealthy influences of all sorts.

About the "rip-off" comment: The other site is similar to omegle, but it does not work the same way. The programming and design is also different. It is well known that one product will "take off" while a very similar product gets nowhere. Advertisers always make the point that a single word change in a classified ad can result in an avalanche of orders, or a complete failure.

My son did the site for the pure enjoyment of it, with no expectations of the incredible interest it generated. He was unaware of the other site. For the past ten years he has operated a virtual pet site with a good following, but nothing spectacular, also for the pure enjoyment. He is a serious programmer, he has always had a solid inner integrity, and I am glad that he is finally getting some recognition for his dedication, hard work, and accomplishment.

If you googe "omegle" you will find that, despite your feelings and mine about the quality of conversation we have experienced, there are an awful lot of people who are enthusiastic about omegle.com Some claim to be addicted and there is even a couple who got together in a relationship after an hour-long omegle conversation. You can read the story here: http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,28348,25308340-5014239,00.html

Authored by: SK-B on Wednesday, April 15 2009 @ 04:50 PM GMT+4

meant to write:

He was NOT aware of the other site.

Authored by: tiny on Wednesday, April 15 2009 @ 05:17 PM GMT+4

My daughter was "addicted " to the computer when we first got it over
10 years ago. I didn't know ANYTHING about it, chat rooms,
facebook, any of that crap. She was 9 and use to wake up early and
go online to talk with strangers. One day, it stopped and she didn't
go near the chat rooms for a few years because somebody statrted to
tell her about their penis. Nice.So that's why the computer moved into
the family room, in plain view of everything and no wireless until last
year so we could monitor all the junk going on. I am shocked at what
parents let their kids do on the computer. And when I talked to
School Administrators about chat rooms, and other deviant sites, they
were clueless. Heck, they didn't even know how to navigate to them.
The internet is way, way, way more dangerous than a bawdy singer.
(Though that guy is a pig to tell you how to raise your son and if he
was a real musician, he would have played something to turn your kid
on rather than piss you off. But i digress.)

I just took my daughter, 15 to Omegle. First try, Hi. Hi, lets have
sex. Disconnect. Hi. Hi. WHat is your sex? Whats it matter?
Disconnect. Hi. Hi. Where you from? USA. disconnect. Three tries
and she says, this is stupid and walks away.

Adults I know are into Facebook and my kids roll their eyes and say
FB
is passe. Once parents get into it, its uncool. Perhaps its the same
with Omegle. But hats off to your son for programming it and all
that. Very cool. Good luck to him at UVM.

Authored by: SK-B on Wednesday, April 15 2009 @ 07:14 PM GMT+4

Leif's other site is ecritters.biz. It is probably more suitable for a 15 year old, but you should probably check it out yourself before telling your daughter about it. In addition to virtual pets and games, there are forums, and although their are rules of conduct and enforcement by staff, nonetheless there may be some stuff on their which is a bit spicy.

Authored by: tiny on Wednesday, April 15 2009 @ 08:59 PM GMT+4

I checked that out, it seems easier to get around and structured. In
my view better for a teenager or everyone for that matter. I did try
Omegle a few more times, it is just creepy. Too vulgar, too
unstructured, no boundaries. I am surprised nobody else has tried it
out here and had the same take away as me.

I am not knocking your son's programming abilities, they are probably
excellent. But the ability to troll and worse, prey upon people is too
great with this site. I am impressed that 8 out of 10 tries got
conversations with Europeans or Brazilians. I was asking how they
found out about Omegle but all I got was ASL. My kids thought that
was pretty forward.

Authored by: tiny on Thursday, April 16 2009 @ 08:33 AM GMT+4

In the name of balance coverage, my 17 year old check out the Omegle site and loved it! She doesn't take it personally that somebody asks her for sexual favors or for photos of her genitals, she just clicks them away and onto the next one. Her secret to success, never start with "hi" or "ASL," but "ask one interesting question" or "who is the best Rock band."

My best conversations last night were with a Japanese auditor in Shanghai (his employer will be happy to know he was on Omegle during work hours!) and a Chinese student from Xian studying engineering in Chongquing. The latter was very cool and went on for an hour.

Authored by: SK-B on Thursday, April 16 2009 @ 10:19 PM GMT+4

Wow... that is encouraging. Maybe I should try omegle again. Perhaps there is something to the site after all.

Authored by: tiny on Friday, April 17 2009 @ 07:58 AM GMT+4

I tried this again last night. It is great when you connect with someone
who is cool and wants to chat. But the fact is, many who use this site,
like other open chat rooms, like to talk lewd porn stuff. My guess is it is
kids, but who knows. As my daughter tells me, filter them out quickly
and move on, and don't take it too seriously.

Authored by: gw1973 on Thursday, April 16 2009 @ 11:02 PM GMT+4

I just talked to a medical student in Guangzhou China for like an hour. I
don't much care for internet chatting, but that was pretty cool. We
exchanged emails/msn info at the end. He/she plays the cello, likes the
Beatles, and his/her mom's favorite song is 'yesterday once more' by the
Carpenters. He/she has a cousin going to college in Mass. Types pretty
good English too.

Authored by: paulgardner on Friday, April 17 2009 @ 07:36 AM GMT+4

SK-B,
I read that article in Reformist the day it hit the racks.
Very interesting and exciting.
As a dad myself, I'm amazed and proud of the talented and commited folk among today's teen generation. When I think of my generation at BUHS we seem in retrospect and in com,parison to today's youth to have been such a group of low fliers...

Authored by: SK-B on Tuesday, April 28 2009 @ 09:57 AM GMT+4

This article appeared on page 5 of the Business section of the April 27, 2009 New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/technology/internet/27omegle.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

(You have to set up a free account and log in to see the article)

Authored by: SK-B on Thursday, April 30 2009 @ 12:47 AM GMT+4

http://blogs.howstuffworks.com/2009/03/31/how-omegle-doesnt-work-or-signs-that-it-is-time-to-examine-your-life/

In the spirit of "get a life, "this blogger writes: "Just Say No to Omegle!"

I was amazed that the tide of about 20 or so comments was strongly against him, and a number gave strong reasons for feeling that Omegle offers a valuable opportunity to connect with people One comment made a good case that the anonymity can result in our getting authentic answer to very important but personal questions:
_________
"I don’t think most people see the benifits of Omegle. It can be an amazing chance to get random strangers to open up about their problems so you can help them see that their lives are fixable. My favorite question on Omegle is “Do you love yourself?” …. an astonishing 90% of the time, the answer is no. Because of the anonymity factor, further non confrontational inquiry usually results in discovering why the person has esteem issues…. the fix is usually helping them simply see that everyone has similar issues (they’re not alone), or helping them find a solution to any real problems. I’ve had quite a few thank yous from people I’ve talked to on Omegle. I’ve tried the methods I used there on people in real life, and it’s much harder to break people’s shells…. mainly because they’re worried I’ll tell someone they know about their problems.

"Granted, not everyone on Omegle is out to help people, but I don’t see what’s so wrong with trying to brighten the day of a random stranger. It might be just the push they need to start living life. For this and this alone, Omegle is sheer genius."
__________

My own personal experience is that if I begin by asking a question rather than just saying, "hi," the resulting conversations tend to be more real and more interesting.