Posted by Paul Ryan, Editor, Anthill Magazine

In the age of YouTube, Facebook and Oprah, it should come as no surprise that people like to share their personal lives with the whole world. What is astonishing is the extent to which some people entrust the ultra-personal detritus of their lives to the collective wisdom of the World Wide Mob. A case in point: SideTaker.com.

So you’re in a relationship and there is a point of disagreement that cannot be resolved through the trusted everyday channels of compromise, guilt or abstinence blackmail. Not to worry. Now you can post both sides of the dispute on SideTaker and let the world decide who is right and who is being “difficult”.

It’s likely that some of the domestic disputes on SideTaker are bogus, but most seem legitimate. Some are funny and some are quite sad, but all carry the scent of minor but intractable disputes turned atomic by public airing. After all, the vast majority of disagreements between couples seem petty to everyone but the two people in disagreement.

But this doesn’t stop them seeking affirmation, nor the world from providing it.

Posted by Paul Ryan, Editor, Anthill Magazine

The good folks over at TechNation Australia (TNA) have begun compiling a monthly Aussie Startup Index, which ranks the highest trafficked Australian startup websites.

The final figures are arrived at by averaging each site’s global Alexa and Compete rankings – only sites with a ranking of less than one million are listed (lower is better).

Not sure how TechNation is defining “startup”, as the list contains a few companies that are well and truly ready to leave the nest (ie Atlassian). But it contains several sites I hadn’t heard of so I’m betting there are some in there that you’re not aware of either. This can only be a good thing, as exposure is like oxygen for Aussie web start-ups.

The Index was launched in August and the September rankings are now live. Check it out, and let them know if your web startup isn’t included in their Startup Australia wiki list.

Posted by Paul Ryan, Editor, Anthill Magazine

Sadly, I’m stuck chasing deadlines this week.

As such, I’ve not had the opportunity to scout the Internet and deliver to you, our expectant readers, my regular enewsletter post: Website of the Week.

However, in the spirit of Anthill’s ongoing Magazine 2.0 Experiment, I thought that perhaps you could help me out?

This is your chance to suggest an Australian website that you think is seriously unique and deserving of our recognition. The best suggestion will be featured as part of our regular New Media column in the Dec/Jan edition of Anthill Magazine.

So readers… What website do you think should be our ‘Website of the Week’?

Posted by Paul Ryan, Editor, Anthill Magazine

I admit to not understanding many of the intricacies of high finance. After all, I studied Arts at university (and even began a PhD in US presidential history, before escaping with a pulse). They don’t tend to teach futures trading and shorting 101 between civil war battles and Nietzsche.

Now, with the advent of online prediction markets, an abiding interest in US politics can see me trading like Gordon Gekko, on familiar ground.

InTrade.com, an Irish website established in 2001, allows anyone to trade on non-sporting events around the globe. This isn’t like SportsBet. This is real trading.

For an example, let’s stay with the US election theme. When the presumptive Republican nominee John McCain chose Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, InTrade opened a ticket on whether she would withdraw as his running mate before election day. The market opened offering a three percent chance she would not make it to 4 November, but jumped to 18.9 percent within a couple of days as rumours of scandal swirled. Had she been thoroughly vetted? Did she use her position as Governor to have her ex-brother-in-law fired? Was her fifth child actually her grandchild? What’s that? Her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant out of wedlock?!

As on any sophisticated trading market, InTrade users can buy and sell on a live ticket at any time. A ticket is only closed when the proposition being traded on has either a 100 percent or a 0 percent chance of happening (ie - if Palin withdraws or makes it to election day on the Republican ticket). You just need to buy and sell at the right time. If you suspected that there were some skeletons in Palin’s closet that were likely to air, you could have bought in at three percent and cashed out at 18.9 percent. Or, you could stick with it on the hunch that she might reveal she is actually John McCain’s love-child. Or a man. Ka-Ching!

If politics isn’t your thing, InTrade’s prediction market also covers finance, weather, entertainment, legal, science & technology - pretty much anything non-sporting you can think of, you can trade on. (InTrade’s sister site, TradeSports, handles sport exclusively.)

And if you want to play the game without risking your hard-earned cash, there is a “practice” section on InTrade.com, as well as on the new beta site, InTrade.net.

Forget the roulette wheel or the Spring Racing Carnival. Get some skin in the game of life. The market is never wrong. There are only degrees of right.