Three more companies making new micro-applications that track and deliver media preferences.
Matchmine allows consumers to figure out what kind of media they like by creating a MatchKey, or a visualization of their preferences.
Just give a ZIP code, date of birth and rate some movies, blogs, etc. with a star system a la Netflix. Users can share their MatchKey with friends and/or advertisers, but not any personal information. The Facebook widget version show what the person has in common with his or her friends--like Flixster, but not in list form. Matchmine has an API online for developers to create their own cute little widgets or different ways of visualizing preferences. Partners of Matchmine get access to the media in a MatchKey if the MatchKey has been shared. This, of course, helps them deliver relevant ads to you.
MuseStorm makes widgets. It's a platform for making desktop widgets and mobile apps, and then lets customers monetize them. The presenters say it can be done in three minutes--Facebook apps, Google Gadgets and a variety of desktop applications. Users don't need to know anything about making widgets, just how to make a PowerPoint presentation. MuseStorm creation process works in a similar manner way--by creating a series of slides. MuseStorm says it tracks impressions and unique visitors to each widget.
FeedHub delivers just the stuff you want via RSS. How does it do it? Based on your personal preferences. Nice. It isn't a new feed reader, instead it improves the relevancy of your feeds. FeedHub works with Google Reader, Bloglines and more. Once you've uploaded OPML files, FeedHub analyzes what you've uploaded and shoots you back the stuff via RSS that you've shown you like the best. It knows this by what you've clicked on or sent to a friend. You can also explicitly say which sources you do or don't like, and a small icon shows how and why it thinks you will like something. Also links up with your blog, your Digg profile and more.
Wait, there are still more tools for small businesses to get stuff done shown here at the conference this morning.
CashView.com lets small business users see all their documents online. It's a service for sending and receiving invoices, approvals, and commenting on them. There's also a calendar that shows when money is due or to be paid to you. It lets you review and zoom in on documents. The docs get online by faxing them to CashView and they upload them for you. Some people might actually have to buy a fax machine first.
Batch Book is a contact organizer. Each employee has a profile with hire date, schedule, personal details and specific project assignments. Companies or clients can also have their profiles created. Business owners can see any communications sent to and from different clients or partners. Users can also create mailing lists, labels and e-mail lists and to-do lists.
PlanHQ says it will help a business achieve its business plan. Every action item is in the browser and linked to a company goal, so you don't get off track, apparently. Managers can set priorities and deadlines. It also shows the history of actions and what is coming up. Each employee has a profile of goals and action items, called "what's on your plate." Everyone can also see what everyone else on the team is scheduled to do. It also has a feature that shows projected profitability based on what different parts of the company (marketing and sales, finance, executives) are doing.
This morning at DemoFall, we jump right in with applications to schedule and conduct meetings.
Tungle (previous coverage) is a plug-in that works with Outlook, and soon, Lotus Notes, Google Calendar and iCal. It's basically and IM client, a download that's preloaded with Outlook contacts. The other person you invite that doesn't have Tungle will get asked to join if you message them to set up a meeting. (Hmm, that could be annoying.) The company says to think of Tungle as your "private Exchange server to the outside world." We first saw Tungle at Under the Radar a few months back. The product has been simplified this time around so you can click on people's names and their availability calendars show up overlain on each other.
Vello is "the conference that calls you." Log into MyVello.com, contacts show up with phone numbers already plugged in. Just check the boxes and it calls everyone all at once. As Vello demonstrates this a series of cell phones in the auditorium start jingling all at once. If you miss the call, there's a 1-800 number to call back that routes you back in.
Tubes Network lets you share files on a PC without e-mail. It's named after the pneumatic tubes used to move docs at banks (not a "series of tubes" apparently). Using Tubes gives every file on your hard drive its own URL. So you drag and drop files into the Tubes window on the desktop. Users can also create a "Tubes" site that hosts all the photos, videos, etc. that have been uploaded. The site is private by default, but can be made public, and it's published at TubesNow.com. All the sites you've created are still available offline.
MyQuire is a project management tool that allows people to collaborate online in real time. See who's online, set up meeting rooms for live conference calls, and share control of documents. Participants get e-mails with to-do lists, meeting times and more. All the documents are viewable on the site, tasks can be added or checked off the list for everyone to see. Works for personal and professional projects, plus the aesthetic is very clean-looking.
Apprema lets business clients send collaborative e-mails. Pick a recipient and each person that is sending the note. Can add gifts to send as well: Starbucks, iTunes gift cards, and more. The gifts can be given online or snail mailed.
Prolify is an e-mail collaboration tool, so you can get stuff done even if you are checking your messages during a meeting, the company says. It lets users convert e-mails and attachments into a Prolify e-mail. Everyone on the e-mail gets access to the Prolify e-mail and the most current version of the documents. Information from the application gets sent to users' inboxes and then back to the application. Plus, it integrates with CRM applications and others.
Myxer introduced a new feature at DemoFall: a widget to instantly upload photos, videos or ringtones to mobile phones.
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Myxer)
It's aimed at people who want to make money on things like wallpaper and ringtones but don't have the technical know-how or the resources to distribute it themselves. Mobilized by Myxer is a delivery platform that can push any content to any phone. They've promised to keep up on the constantly fluctuating mobile standards and phones that enter the market so you don't have to. The only requirements are that users own the content they want to distribute, and know how to drag and drop the content into the publishing wizard.
And, hey, it's got an endorsement from Tay Zonday, the Internet phenom behind "Chocolate Rain" who sells the ringtone version of his song for $1.99 through the service. What else could you ask for?
PeopleJam is a place for people looking to give and receive advice on health, relationships, spirituality and finances to connect with each other.
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PeopleJam)
The site launched Monday and is in open beta right now. The founders have culled more than 150 "experts"--meaning writers, motivational speakers, counselors, finance experts and more--to blog on these lifestyle topics. There are also "lifecoaches" who also contribute content, both videos and text-based.
The idea is that PeopleJam will be the destination for people who have specific questions to create a profile, find answers to questions and add their own posts to the site, which encourages participation. The company calls it "social networking with purpose." It's aimed at Web users between 25 and 49, slightly older than the average Facebook/MySpace user.
"Stop giving away content for free!" say the people behind CornerWorld.
The makers of CornerBand have created a new social network that combines all the elements of some of Web 2.0's most-visited sites--Flickr, MySpace, Facebook, YouTube--plus some others, like Evite and Ustream.
Another social network ... really? Do we need this? CornerWorld thinks it will be able to lure people from its established 30,000-strong CornerBand community--where musicians can put a price on their songs--plus others to use its platform to monetize individual photos, songs, videos that one would normally put on Facebook or MySpace or YouTube for free.
One thing CornerWorld has going for it is it offers pretty strict privacy controls. Whereas Facebook members can control who sees individual photo albums or elements of their profile, CornerWorld allows individual photos within an album to be set to private or available for public consumption.
There are a whole lot of features going on here, including live broadcasting a la Ustream, plus an events feature (seeVite), which is not as pretty as Evite or as smooth as Facebook's. But if you have cat videos or ringtones or photos you want to sell, CornerWorld gives users the tools to sell their stuff all in one place.
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WMS Gaming)
How to bring an $86 billion older-than-old-school industry into the present? WMS Gaming, a company that makes 80 slot machine games for casinos a year is mixing mechanical slots with digital tech. At DemoFall they showed off a new Monopoly Money Grab game.
Most of the thousands of slots on casino floors with old-school handle, which has basically remain unchanged since late 19th century. Mechanical slots are more trustworthy to people, says WMS. So they decided to combine the two--transparent display technology over traditional mechanical slots. The benefit is there are more mathematical outcomes with digital reels.
The company is also looking to add networking to casinos for new ways to have players interact, make them multi-player games, and save games.
Vyro Games presented a way to de-stress by playing a game. Call it the ultimate in casual gaming.
A biosensor, or a little egg-shaped "personal input pod," connects to a mobile phone via Bluetooth and pits you versus the computer or someone else to see who can relax the quickest. Stick your finger in it and it tracks your heart rate. Vyro is pitching it as a health aid, citing stats including that there are 12.8 million work days taken off due to stress.
There are two games so far: in the first, the more you relax, the faster the dragons on screen fly. In the second, Storm Chaser, the more calm you become the more calm the storm becomes on screen. Cute. Everything's a competition these days, apparently.
See the video for Rafe Needleman's interview with Vyro CEO Paul Kewene-Hite.
Attendi is a combination search engine and chat service.
Accepting the fact that Google and Yahoo have won the search engine battle, Attendi says it wants to be the search engine that "bypasses Internet content and head straight for your brain." The aim is to provide answers for questions individuals have that have yet to be indexed on the Web.
Example: Should you want to find a motorcycle that works well for someone who weighs 260 pounds, when you google that, you get a mishmash of irrelevant to mildly relevant answers. Searching on Attendi brings up a list of people who have volunteered to give information. Each person (or "Attendi") has a viewable profile. You can ask the system if you can chat with that person. If they are available online and respond, a chat window appears and you can ask them to share their expertise.
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CNET Networks)
This is either creepy or annoying.
Pudding Media, a San Jose, California, start-up launching at DemoFall 2007 on Monday, is offering free Web-based phone calls, if you let them monitor phone calls and show you onscreen advertisements based on the topic of your conversation.
To use the service, users go to ThePudding.com and enter the phone number to call. The call quality is fine, and my call was connected right away, but what about the idea of the company monitoring your private conversations? Plus, most people are looking for ways to avoid ads these days (pop-up blockers, TiVo) but Pudding founders are sure that in exchange for free calls, users will made the trade-off. For now, Pudding uses a third-party to place the ads, but the company is working on developing its own custom ad network.
Perhaps the ads will be more targeted in the future. A quick testing of the software included a phone call about flying to San Diego, buying postage stamps, and eating Mexican food. Every ad served up gave me information about hockey and ice skating. Huh?
