Blogging and All that Malarkey Stuff & Nonsense

Malarkey is Andy Clarke, a creative designer with a passion for accessibility and web standards. This is his personal website.

MeasureIT acquired by G.Oogle

Making and selling products is the way to go man.

In the news this week, three times winner of the Tour De France and occassional web designer Jeffrey Veen announced that MeasureMap has been acquired by Yahoo, AltaVista, Starbucks, Google. Well Jeffrey isn't the only one with news of a sale, and so not to be out-done.

Introducing MeasureIT

For the last several months, I have been busy working on a new, easy-to-use measuring tool and today I am pleased to publically announce MeasureIT.

MeasureIT MeasureIT

People need to get stuff done, they need to measure stuff, and that is why I developed MeasureIT. MeasureIT measures stuff, it works transparently and has been made to help you easily see the numbers that matter to matter to you, in either centimetres or inches. Setup is a breeze - it only takes a minute (to get it out of the wrapper).

Since its inception I have seen tremendous potential for MeasureIT to influence how people learn how long something is. I have always expected MeasureIT to be big (about 6" actually), and as such, my desire was to give MeasureIT its start and then send it out into the world to measure things and evolve into a helpful, flexible and non-shattering measuring tool.

MeasureIT has been sold

MeasureIT has been in By Invitation Alpha for the last month and now I'm pleased to announce that MeasureIT has been sold.

So I said there was news, and here it is: I'm writing you to announce that MeasureIT has been acquired by Mr. G. Oogle of Hartlepool, effective today. For the near term, you will see no difference in how it operates. In the not so distant future, you can expect great things from this acquisition. I couldn't be happier to find such an ideal home for MeasureIT in Hartlepool, and am thrilled at the possibilities of lots more stuff to measure.

Thank you again for your input, your time, and your support of MeasureIT. Should you have any questions or comments about any of this, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Malarkey

Making and selling products is the way to go man ;)

Replies

  1. #1 On February 17, 2006 11:18 AM David Horn said:

    I see great potential in this 'IT' range ... perhaps a 'cutIT' tool for turning large pieces of paper into smaller ones, and a 'markIT' tool for etching a series of unique (never before created!) ink jottings on those pieces of paper (it'd work on the original large pieces, as well as the newly created 'smaller' pieces).

  2. #2 On February 17, 2006 11:30 AM Raanan Avidor said:

    But you forgot all the buzzwords!
    Is it Web2.0? Does it use tags? Does it use AJAX? Does it have an API? Does it have a bookmarklet? Does it have a Firefox Extension?
    Can you mush it with Flickr? del.icio.us? digg?
    Where is the MeasureIT Blog?
    When will it go to Beta? Public Beta? How many years will it stay in Beta? Why isn't there a Gamma?

  3. #3 On February 17, 2006 12:23 PM Paul Venkatesh said:

    No doubt the new owners will decide to spoil the transparent nature of this device and try and regenerate the local steel making industry by making it out of steel.

    Honestly, who would want to buy a steel MeasureIT?

  4. #4 On February 17, 2006 12:34 PM Martin Smith said:

    I've been touting F*ckIT since I was about 16. I've had a reasonable level of interest over the years with a number of near aquisitions. Now that i'm convinced there really is only one partner for F*ckIT she seems to have lost interest and therefore won't buy it anymore.

    Unfortunately my contractual obligations now prevent me from further promotion of F*ckIT and I have been forced to remove it from the marketplace.

    F*ck IT!!

  5. #5 On February 17, 2006 12:34 PM Kate Bolin said:

    I have always expected MeasureIT to be big (about 6" actually)...

    6"? Why not the whole 12?

  6. #6 On February 17, 2006 12:35 PM Ian Lloyd said:

    Bad joke time:

    Mine's 12 inches ... but I don't use it as a rule. (cymbal crash)

  7. #7 On February 17, 2006 01:11 PM JackP said:

    I'd be looking more for DrinkIT or GetBoozedUpOnIT to be honest. Oh, and Molly - surely you mean an EdIT button?

  8. #8 On February 17, 2006 03:03 PM brothercake said:

    Mine's tiny - barely half an inch - but it is made of plastic.

  9. #9 On February 17, 2006 03:26 PM Adam Thody said:

    I think we're long overdue for a "How to be acquired by Google" article from someone. I'm sure there's a fine art to it...I'd love to know what it is.

  10. #10 On February 17, 2006 04:32 PM Stephen Hay said:

    You may officially include Beta in your logo, indefinitely.

  11. #11 On February 17, 2006 05:08 PM Rimantas said:

    Is it scratch-proof?

  12. #12 On February 17, 2006 06:14 PM Malarkey said:

    @ Raanan: "Is it Web2.0? Does it use tags? Does it use AJAX? Does it have an API? Does it have a bookmarklet? Does it have a Firefox Extension?" No, it's a ruler, Mister Silly.

    @ Molly: Naaaaa, it's kismet ;)

    @ Martin Smith: F-ck IT indeed. Usually it's F-ck IT, why didn't I think of that :)

    @ Kate Bolin: 12" is sooo Web 1.0

    @ Jack P: "DrinkIT or GetBoozedUpOnIT". Fookin' classic man.

    @ Stephen Hay: Beta? Who told you about the RubIT beta?

    @ Rimantas: It does scratch, but I can sell you a whole range of cases to hold your precious MeasureIT.

  13. #13 On February 17, 2006 07:54 PM Jeff L said:

    Your post title in my RSS reader was a bit confusing, as there is an actual product called MeasureIt

    https://www.kevinfreitas.net/extensions/measureit/

    Surprised it hasn't been mentioned already, it's pretty handy, although Chris P has now added that functionality right into the Web Developer toolbar...

  14. #14 On February 17, 2006 08:39 PM Dylan said:

    Another (pseudo) product added to the Malarkey empire!

    As for the MeasureIT Firefox extension, I knew the name MeasureIT looked familiar somehow...and I also realized recently that the WD toolbar had gained the same functionality, rendering MeasureIT redundant (I had them both installed at the time).

  15. #15 On February 17, 2006 09:52 PM Si said:

    Not forgetting the newly formed IT Crowd. (which shares a scary resemblance to our ICT department) who will unfortunately control any future **** IT products.

  16. #16 On February 18, 2006 11:02 AM Stephen Hay said:

    Andy, I just know these things. I also know about WipeIT Alpha.

  17. #17 On February 18, 2006 11:35 AM Teacher said:

    No Kidding, What is THE REAL, main purpose of MeasureIT rather than measuring it?!

  18. #18 On February 18, 2006 01:09 PM Malarkey said:

    @ Jeff L: Ooops, I hadn't realised there was a real MeasureIT out there. ;)

    @ Stephan Hay: WipeIT Alpha? No such thing matey! :)

    @ Teacher: The 'real' purpose? To rule the world!

  19. #19 On February 20, 2006 02:30 AM Chris Lienert said:

    Taking advantage of the new same day service, I've just patented "a device to measure stuff" and sued G. Oogle, Rulex and all school children. I've also trademarked "MeasureIT", "IT" and the phrase "measure stuff" and will vigourously pursue anyone who uses the terms without permission.

    In other news, my company's previously flagging shares have recovered well in morning trade.