• by May 13, 2005

Google says it snapped up Dodgeball.com, a two-person start-up that created a mobile messaging service to enable users to alert friends as to where they're socializing. The service received plenty of buzz in New York City. The two guys who founded the company did so while they were New York University grad students. Dodgeball was uniquely promoted by the talented new media creative Doug Jaeger and his company, The Happy Corp.

Dodgeball.com allows users to broadcast their location and send text messages to groups of friends. It can be used as a dating or hookup service, or just to let friends know which bar or party you're going to. It's the perfect social lubricant for 20-somethings and teens, those hard-to-reach, hard-to-target folks.

It remains to be seen just how Google plans to integrate Dodgeball with Orkut, its social networking service, or how it will dovetail with video search and other search-related features. There was no word on the financial terms of Google's deal for Dodgeball, but we'd sure like to know what an idea like this was worth in a market that appears to be heating up.

On another front, Microsoft yesterday unveiled Xbox 360, a multifunction online gaming console. Xbox 360 looks like it just might deliver on Microsoft's vision of a digital hub in the living room or den. There are tons of things you can do with it apart from playing games. Users can watch DVD movies, play music, access slide shows, and chat. Microsoft's Xbox Live online gaming service, which Xbox 360 supports, allows gamers to chat in real-time with one another during multiplayer gaming fests. Video chat is also enabled through a video camera hook-up.