Luminate lets users create interactive images (podcast)

Luminate announced Thursday the launch of a "Image App Store" where Web publishers can obtain free apps to add to their sites that can turn static images into interactive ones. The idea is to allow users to mouse over a portion of an image to take some type of action such as accessing a news story related to the image, viewing a Twitter feed, looking up something about the image in Wikipedia, or perhaps purchasing something shown in the image such as jewelry worn by a celebrity or a model It's even possible to Tweet the image or a portion of the image.

"We think it's unfortunate that today images are just these static rectangles you're supposed to stare at," said Luminate CEO Bob Lisbonne (scroll down to listen to the interview). "We want to make it so that one mouse over lets you access a whole range of information and functionality about what you're looking at."

The Image App Store allows publishers to discover and try out image apps before installing them. New Apps being introduced with the store include: Causes (to donate or volunteer), Editorial Search (to discover information related to the image), Entertainment News, Movie Trailers, Music Clips, Netflix movies and trailers, Soccer Stats, Twitter Feed and Wikipedia--all based on content within images.

New funding
The company also announced that it raised $10.7 million of series C funding from a consortium, led by Nokia Growth Partners, that also includes Google Ventures and Shasta Ventures.

Podcast interview with Luminate CEO Bob Lisbonne

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