Return of the Chat Room

When technological progress gets out of control, sometimes the best thing to do is move backwards, so it's really too bad rocket-packs don't go in reverse. Now, regain online control by meeting strangers the semi-old-fashioned way, with World Chat.

The brainchild of two self-described serial entrepreneurs out of UT, WC takes the groundbreaking concept of Chat Roulette and dials it back to the halcyon days of text-based random chatting, thus denying you saving you from the ignominy of being confronted with an entire planet-full of unsolicited wang. How it works: first, let WC sync up with your Facebook account, after which you're presented with an anonymous stranger identified only by profile pic, location, and interests; you can then accept the pleasure of their interweb company, or click "next" and move on to another, then another, then another, until your addictive behavior so mirrors real roulette that an old lady pulls up a stool and starts smoking 100s. Should you actually meet someone worthwhile (read: good looking/awesome Conan avatar), WC makes it easy to friend them on Facebook, firming up their position in your pantheon of relationships, and allowing you to look at pictures of them passed out in a pool of their own sputum before the inevitable un-tag.

Because money makes this World go round too, right now they're running a month-long $100 contest that's using a thumbs-up scoring system to find the "World's Most Interesting Person" -- though clearly, we can go back to the pre-internet days of 1991 to find the answer: Cliff Secord.