Soba.xyz – Namecheap customer – (Germany)
Web3-focused developers are using .xyz domains to build innovative platforms geared at empowering creators and disrupting industries. Web3 music platform Sound.xyz helps artists disrupt the music industry by releasing songs as NFTs. Publishing platform Mirror.xyz helps writers distribute and monetize their minted work. Blockchain-based video platform Shibuya.xyz aims to disrupt the film industry by helping creators crowdfund the production of long-form visual content. In this week’s #BlockchainThursday, we’ll introduce you to a platform designed for user-generated game creation across multiple devices: Soba.xyz.
Soba.xyz is the online home of Soba, a web3 platform dedicated to user-generated games. The platform is designed to help creators and influencers build unique multi-player games across various devices. Soba aims to empower more gamers to become creators themselves, and foster an inspiring and inclusive virtual world. The platform is a no-code solution that lets creators visually build games without needing dev experience or complex tools. In June 2022, Soba raised $13.5 million in funding to advance its vision. Investors include venture capital firms Lightspeed Venture Partners and FTX Ventures.1
Soba offers a no-code game creation environment. As detailed on their FAQ section, the platform uses visual scripting tools with a drag-and-drop interface. This utility should help increase accessibility for beginners without a programming background. The website emphasizes that Soba was created so “anyone with a phone and a dream can create a game.”
According to the FAQ, Soba will always be free. It’s currently available on mobile, PC, and Mac, with future plans to expand to other platforms. Soba prioritizes accessibility, offering comprehensive game-creation tools for mobile devices.
As reported in the press, Soba is incorporating blockchain elements and updating features for web3 users. CEO & co-founder Juha Paananen explained, “We’re incredibly excited to launch Soba to the first group of creators and players. As we spend more time in digital environments, we believe that everyone should be able to make games and define the rules of play. At the same time, we want to enable owners of digital assets, like NFTs, to build new interactive experiences. We’re using web3 to build the most creator-friendly gaming platform and we’re proud to be backed by an amazing group of creators and other investors.”2
Soba is founded by Juha Paananen and Florian Odronitz. Juha previously co-founded Singapore-based gaming startup Nonstop Games, and invested in other gaming companies including Huuuge Games and Futureplay Games. Florian has over 5 years of engineering experience for mobile game developer Wooga. Soba is currently in alpha, and you can learn more by following their YouTube @soba_xyz or Twitter @Soba_xyz, joining their Discord, or visiting Soba.xyz.
1. https://venturebeat.com/games/soba-raises-13-5m-for-no-code-game-tools-for-creators/
2. https://venturebeat.com/games/soba-raises-13-5m-for-no-code-game-tools-for-creators/
Allaire.xyz – Squarespace customer – (United States)
The .xyz community is home to many skilled professionals using .xyz to highlight their work, writing, and career experiences. Author and researcher Nadia Asparouhova uses Nadia.xyz to showcase her projects exploring tech’s influence on society. Meta product designer Josh Nelson uses JNDesign.xyz to highlight his career experiences. Writer and book editor Jackson Howard uses JacksonHoward.xyz to display his writing samples. In this week’s #WebsiteWednesday, we’ll introduce you to a writer and content marketer who shares her work using a memorable “FirstName.xyz” domain: Allaire.xyz.
Allaire.xyz is the personal website of Allaire Conte, a self described “content marketer, writer, and editor” based in Brooklyn. As she shares on Allaire.xyz, her writing focuses on real estate, tech, and finance, while her personal writing centers on nature, arts & culture, and food. Allaire earned a BFA in Writing, Literature, & Publishing from Emerson College and a MFA in Nonfiction Writing from Columbia University. As the Lead Writer at Orchard, a notable real estate company, Allaire manages the company’s content calendar. Her responsibilities range from content ideation and creation to research and managing a team of freelancers.
Allaire’s Philosophy page provides insight to her data-driven approach to content creation. With an “academic’s eye,” she conducts industry and SEO research, investigates trends, and interviews area experts. Her abilities extend to conducting content cluster research, strategy, tracking, and execution. Allaire states that she has the ability to write “for a variety of audiences and brand voices,” and can deliver key messages that make a lasting impression.
Allaire uses Allaire.xyz to showcase her content marketing and writing skills. You can visit her Content Portfolio page to review her real estate-focused content. Check out the “Market Analysis” section. Allaire shares articles such as “What is a housing market correction and is it happening now?” This piece links to her Orchard blog post,1 which explores the concept of a housing market correction and its potential implications. “When will house prices go down?” links to her blog post2 about the current state of the housing market, which explores the possibility of home prices going down after a period of significant appreciation.
In the “Data Reports” section, you’ll see evidence of Allaire’s research skills. One piece titled “When people search for homes in today’s hottest markets”3 delves into the habits of early bird house hunters. It reveals that many search for homes during their lunch breaks, using digital tools and online real estate resources. “The most competitive ZIP codes in Texas for homebuyers”4 demonstrates Allaire’s analysis of ZIP codes in Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio. These areas each have over 100 single-family home listings. She then analyzed these listings to determine the most competitive ZIP codes in Texas, highlighting areas where homes remained on the market for a week or less.
Allaire uses the “Selected other works” section to highlight miscellaneous writing including a few pieces from her time as a contributing author for real estate platform HomeLight. “Net Zero Homes: Your Guide to the Greenest Housing Option”5 highlights that buildings in the U.S., particularly residential structures, contribute to around 21% of energy usage.
You can read more of Allaire’s writing by subscribing to her Cake Shark newsletter on publishing platform Substack, where every month she shares essays about her friendships, the home-baked cakes she prepares as birthday gifts, and more.
Allaire shares on her Bio + Contact page that she is a freelance writer available for hire. She includes a link to her CV, which can help potential collaborators and clients to understand her talent, background, and experience.
We spoke with Allaire about her decision to build her personal website on .xyz. As she explained,
“As a marketer, I’m always looking for ways to stand out. The .xyz domain is simple and catchy, and it helps differentiate me from a vast pool of content marketers with websites like mine. It’s also an affordable option and keeps my overhead low. It was a natural choice for my professional website and the .xyz domain has consistently proven itself as a forward-looking and dependable option.”
We are proud to have Allaire in the thriving .xyz community of multi-talented professionals. You can learn more by visiting Allaire.xyz.
1. https://orchard.com/blog/posts/housing-market-correction
2. https://orchard.com/blog/posts/when-will-house-prices-go-down
3. https://orchard.com/blog/posts/when-people-search-for-homes-in-todays-hottest-markets
4. https://orchard.com/blog/posts/most-competitive-zip-codes-in-texas
5. https://www.homelight.com/blog/net-zero-homes/
EyeforAI.xyz – Namecheap customer – (United States)
Booming tech startups and independent developers alike are using .xyz domains to showcase their innovations in the field of artificial intelligence. AI-powered recipe platform ChefGPT.xyz generates recipes based on the ingredients users have on hand, their specific dietary requirements, and preferences. In this week’s #AIMonday, we’ll introduce you to an independent platform focused on AI-powered text-to-image generation: EyeforAI.xyz.
EyeforAI.xyz is the online home of Eye for AI, an AI platform focused on text-to-image generation. Eye for AI presents an opportunity for users to generate images from textual descriptions. The platform is designed to be quick and user-friendly for users of all levels, and claims users can produce images in under a minute. The platform’s visual prompt builder is aimed at helping users craft intricate visual prompts with ease. This tool is intended to simplify the image creation process and make complex image creation tasks more accessible.
Among the notable features of Eye for AI is its Avatar Generation tool called DreamBooth. This feature is engineered to train the AI on user-provided images with a goal of integrating these trained images with the user’s prompts. EyeforAI.xyz indicates that this feature “takes away the hassle of training your own AI models.” Users just need to upload their images, and Eye for AI manages the subsequent training without the need for coding. Plus, it’s designed to be quick. EyeforAI.xyz states that users can have their AI-trained avatar “ready within 20 minutes.” The DreamBooth page includes step-by-step instructions for generating and training your avatar and generating personalized images using prompts. For example, if your AI model’s name is John Smith and you want to generate an image of your AI model in a park location, you can write: A portrait of efa John Smith in a park (The “efa” stands for Eye for AI).
Another highlight is the platform’s emphasis on efficiency. Eye for AI offers a template system, enabling users to save their preferred prompts. These saved templates can then serve as foundational blocks for future image-generation tasks, streamlining the creative process.
Available template options include:
Eye for AI is developed by Michael Stivala, a software engineer, tech writer, and founder of blockchain development studio Luzzu. His book “A Developer’s Guide to Launching an NFT Collection” is a guide for developers looking to delve into the blockchain and NFT space. With Eye for AI, Michael is venturing into the space of AI-driven creativity. We are proud to have Michael and his innovative project as part of our .xyz community of AI pioneers. You can learn more by following Michael on Twitter, and by visiting EyeforAI.xyz.
Blowfish.xyz – Namecheap customer – (Switzerland)
Security-focused web3 developers are building their online homes on .xyz domains as they explore the possibilities of blockchain technology. Web3 platform Disco.xyz is designed to foster a secure metaverse experience with enhanced privacy features. Ethereum-based cryptocurrency wallet Argent.xyz combines a simple interface with security features in an effort to offer a better overall experience for crypto traders. Auditing platform Sherlock.xyz is aimed at keeping your smart contracts bug-free. In this week’s #BlockchainThursday, we’ll introduce you to an innovative security solution geared towards proactive defense for crypto wallets: Blowfish.xyz.
Blowfish.xyz is the online home of Blowfish, a firewall technology designed to provide protection to web3 users by detecting and identifying malicious transactions in real-time. Blowfish features an API designed to be user-friendly. The API is geared at helping crypto wallets, such as Solana-based wallet Phantom, protect users from phishing attempts and other fraudulent activities. It provides users with timely alerts and concise information regarding their transactions, aiming to enhance security and increase comprehension of the web3 environment. Blowfish announced a partnership with crypto wallet TimelessWallet.xyz aimed at enhancing user security and simplifying interactions in the web3 and crypto space. The partnership is intended to integrate Blowfish’s security measures into Timeless Wallet, helping to ensure proactive protection for users during transactions with digital assets. In September 2022, the company shared that they had raised $11.8M in funding. Backed by investment firms including Dragonfly.xyz and Paradigm.xyz, the company stated they’d be using the funding to expand their services, with a focus on hiring a team committed to eliminating scams and hacks from web3.
On a February 2023 podcast , Blowfish co-founder Fabio Berger explained their security solution in his own words. He stated, “So at its core, what we are building is a suite of APIs for wallets like Phantom where whenever a user of a wallet is visiting a site and it’s asking them to sign something, so it could be a transaction or a message, that wallet can first send it to us and be like, “Hey, is this kosher? Is this doing anything strange, or is this just a vanilla transaction?” And what we are doing under the hood is we’re scanning and simulating that transaction and we are looking to see if there are any patterns that we can recognize from previous scams.”1
Blowfish Protect is a browser extension intended to bolster transaction security for users connecting their crypto wallets to websites. Unlike the Blowfish API, which is designed for wallet companies to integrate into their platforms, this extension is tailored for users without wallets featuring Blowfish technology. It’s compatible with Chrome,2 Brave, Arc, and other Chromium-based browsers. Designed to be swift and user-friendly, the extension boasts features like proactive warnings about potential visits to malicious websites, alerts for potentially risky transactions or messages before signing, and transparent explanations of transaction impacts on wallets. Prior to the extension’s launch, Blowfish’s security was accessible solely through partner wallets integrating it. Blowfish Protect helps users leverage Blowfish’s security technology without necessitating a wallet switch, catering to those wanting enhanced transaction security while retaining their current wallet.
The team behind Blowfish brings experience in blockchain and cybersecurity. Co-founder Oskar Paolini previously served as a DevOps Engineer for the exchange infrastructure provider 0x Labs. Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and co-founder Kim Persson previously held the position of Senior Software Engineer at 0x Labs. CEO and co-founder Fabio Berger also comes from 0x Labs, where he served as Senior Engineer and Engineering Manager for the Developer Experience team. We are happy to have Blowfish in the .xyz community of innovative and security-focused developers and look forward to more advancements. You can learn more by following @blowfishxyz on Twitter and LinkedIn, and by visiting Blowfish.xyz.
1. https://podcast.phantom.app/episodes/fabio-berger-founder-blowfishxyz-ep-19
2. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/blowfish-wallet-protect-v/kbjhmlgclljgdhmhffjofbobmficicjp
StartupHustle.xyz – GoDaddy customer – (United States)
The .xyz community is home to media platforms dedicated to fostering community engagement and the sharing of authentic stories. Photographer, entrepreneur, and social activist Misan Harriman’s media platform Culture3.xyz explores the contributions of web3 to culture, commerce, and society. Media platform LensMag.xyz shares engaging creator-focused stories designed to help fellow creatives. Digital lifestyle platform TheCulture.xyz produces forward-thinking content to reach the BIPOC community. In this week’s #WebsiteWednesday, we’ll introduce you to the online hub of an entrepreneurship podcast aimed at sharing the stories of founders and leaders: StartupHustle.xyz.
StartupHustle.xyz is the online hub of the Startup Hustle podcast, an entrepreneurship podcast devoted to sharing the stories of startup founders and leaders. With over 1,125 episodes and over 5,000,000 downloads (as stated on StartupHustle.xyz), the podcast appears to be gaining popularity among entrepreneurs and business enthusiasts. The podcast serves as a platform where interview founders and leaders from different industries can share knowledge and insight with listeners.
Startup Hustle is founded by Kansas City-based entrepreneurs Matt DeCoursey and Matt Watson. Matt and Matt are also the co-founders of Full Scale, a company geared at helping businesses quickly and affordably build teams of programmers, testers, project managers, and designers. Matt Watson holds the role of CTO at IT management company Netreo. Matt DeCoursey is the founder of cloud-based appointment booking platform Gigabook.He also is the author of business-focused books including Million Dollar Bedroom1 and Balance Me.2
Matt and Matt share podcast hosting duties with two other entrepreneurs. Co-host Lauren Conaway is the founder and CEO of leadership community InnovateHER KC. Her podcast episodes center around conversations with female entrepreneurs, influencers, and leaders, providing valuable insights into their journeys. Andrew Morgans, the fourth co-host, is the founder of Marknology, an Amazon Brand Accelerator. His weekly podcast episodes are dedicated to exploring e-commerce and Amazon-related topics, catering to listeners interested in online business ventures.
StartupHustle.xyz serves as an online hub for their growing community, providing a centralized platform for accessing various resources and information. The website features pages dedicated to different aspects of the Startup Hustle ecosystem, including an insightful blog containing posts related to each podcast episode, a sponsorship page offering opportunities for businesses to connect with their target audience, and a landing page for Startup Hustle TV, the podcast’s supplemental web series.
With over 1,125 episodes, the Startup Hustle podcast offers an array of interviews with founders and leaders. Each episode features unique perspectives on entrepreneurship, which can bring listeners closer to the world of startups and business innovation. The podcast explores a range of topics, including challenges faced by entrepreneurs, secrets to scaling businesses, and the art of effective leadership. By visiting the Blog page, you can explore posts dedicated to each podcast episode, providing detailed information about the hosts, guests, synopsis, highlights, key quotes, and transcripts of the podcasts. This comprehensive approach allows listeners to quickly find and review their favorite episodes.
Check out Ep. #1169 – The Power of AI, an exploration of the power of AI and its impact on various industries. In this episode, Matt Watson and guest Ross Borden (CEO and founder of media brand Matador Network) discuss Matador’s new AI-powered travel assistant, GuideGeek, which aims to revolutionize the travel industry. The conversation also explores how AI is shaping social media platforms and the importance of branding for innovation. You can also check out Ep. #1171 – The Power of the Pivot, where Matt DeCoursey and guest AJ Asgari (CEO and founder of e-commerce solution drugstore2door), discuss the significance of pivoting for businesses and its role in determining success. With new episodes posted daily, listeners can tune in using platforms such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
As stated on the Startup Hustle TV landing page, “Startup Hustle TV is a web series for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs with the mission of telling the real story of startups and entrepreneurship.” The series offers insights on real-life experiences faced by entrepreneurs in the business world. In addition to podcast promotion, StartupHustle.xyz is also a pivotal tool for elevating the brand’s YouTube presence. Boasting over 5k subscribers (as of August 16, 2023), Startup Hustle leverages its website as a gateway to their YouTube community. This strategy centralizes all their content under one digital roof and funnels dedicated podcast listeners towards their video offerings, fostering multi-platform engagement.
Startup Hustle offers sponsorship opportunities for businesses aiming to reach a targeted audience consisting of entrepreneurs, small business owners, aspiring founders, and individuals interested in startups and entrepreneurship. StartupHustle.xyz states that by partnering with Startup Hustle, sponsors can “gain brand impressions where they matter most.” You can visit the sponsorship page to review various sponsorship plans designed to suit different businesses and their specific needs.
An online hub like StartupHustle.xyz can be an invaluable tool for podcast awareness. With just one memorable domain name, you can promote your podcast to listeners of many different platforms worldwide. By leveraging your website like StartupHustle.xyz did, you can invite all customers to one single online home that you control, where you can provide direct links to each streaming platform where listeners can find it. A dedicated website can also help bolster awareness and engagement by providing a place where existing or r potential audiences can delve into everything you offer about your podcast, and any other services you want to introduce.
We are inspired by the Startup Hustle podcast and their interest in sharing the insights of startup culture. You can learn more by following the platform on Twitter @startupsxyz, Facebook @startuphustlexyz, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram, and by visiting StartupHustle.xyz.
1. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35464077-million-dollar-bedroom
2. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34102812-balance-me
