May 27, 2012
WeOttaGo Delivers Relevant Data About Where To Hang Out on the Road
This past weekend, I hung out with the WeOtta founders Forrest and Grant Wernick, who gave me a demo of their mobile app, WeOttaGo -- available as a free download at the iTunes store. WeOtta is all about giving you more accurate refined data about what to do and where to go in a particular location.
Using machine learning and natural language processing (my past life -- aka Dragon Systems days), they harness, process and turn data that is unstructured into contextually relevant results that are most relevant to us in real time.
Example: you're in San Francisco or London and are trying to find a great wine bar that is still open now that dinner has finished and you look at your watch and it's after 11 pm. How many times do you struggle to think of a place to go that is close to where you're already at, even if you know a city relatively well. As an avid traveler, this happens to me all the time.
There a number of filters, including asking WeOttaGo for dive bar, a classy wine bar less than a mile away or a romantic Japanese restaurant.
It will return results that you can flag, save for later or to visit now.
They are working with major telcos to power their next generation of applications, search companies to enable them to serve up more contextually relevant local results, and a mix of other companies that operate in the local space to improve ad targeting. More about them here.
May 27, 2012 in America The Free, On Geo-Location, On Mobile & Wireless, On Search, On Technology, WBTW, Web 2.0 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 16, 2011
DEMOfall 2011: From Online Death & Fashion Augmented Reality to Music Robots & Reid Hoffman
DEMOfall kicked off this week simultaneously with a bunch of other industry events in Silicon Valley. A host of 80 companies presented on-stage and held court in the pavillion at the Santa Clara Hyatt.
They also did one-on-one fireside-like chats with a host of industry illuminaries, including LinkedIn and Greylock's Reid Hoffman (left) and Intuit's Chairman of the Board Bill Campbell (interviewed by Brad Stone from Bloomberg's BusinessWeek).
Brad Stone asked Bill what he learned from Steve Jobs. The very first thing Bill came back with, without hestitation was product....having a great product.
He spoke with a sentimental voice as he talked about Steve Jobs and his legacy he has left the industry with so far, obviously referring to his recent step-down. Bill also talked about the importance of product management and having a great team in place. "The real role of the product manager is getting the product design right," he says. "Simplicity is key. Keep the UI simple...." He paused. "That's what I learned from Steve Jobs."
Cloud was covered on more than one occasion, starting with a panel discussion on how mid and large-sized companies are adapting to the cloud. Matt Marshall interviewed Cisco's VP Sheila Jordan and John Petrone, CTO and Senior VP of Autobytel.
Below is Geoffrey Moore, Managing Director, TCG Advisors/Venture Partner, Mohr Davidow Ventures.
Another cloud technology discussion happened with Accel Partner's Chuck Ganapathi, Jive Software's David Gutelius, Microsoft's Dan'l Lewin and The Founder's Institute's Adeo Ressi. Enterprise technology sages Larry Augustin from SugarSRM, Tom Gillis from Cisco and Paul Santinelli from North Bridge Venture Partners were interviewed by IDG Enterprise Senior VP John Gallant.
"When you go enterprise, go BIG if you're doing a start-up," says Tom Gillis. "Think of virtualization of the data center and video, which are going to be big and disruptive." While there was an emphasis on encouraging start-up founders to focus, Larry Augustin added a potential danger in getting too focused.
"Don't let focus focus focus restrict you and narrow you into small company mentality and thinking," says Larry. All agreed that while consumer start-ups have to think about the social and user experience and getting user adoption, focusing on the customer is what is most key for enterprise companies.
WhoDini was one of the favorites of some of the industry experts, at least two calling its "indexing" feature great.
Think of it as an enterprise platform which automates the discovery of expert coworkers based on expertise, experience, connections and responsiveness. Whodini delivers the right person, right away. It's a cool concept and received a positive response from the audience and panelists.
Also high on the list was Fluxx from Fluxxlabs, who someone said of its capabitilies: I like the information processing part of it, but it really needs to include my inbox."
OLogic, Inc. brought their new robot onto the DEMOfall stage. (there always seems to be at least one robot at DEMO each year). A.M.P. is what they call him, an Automated Music Personality, which they call the world's first two-wheeled, self-balancing smartphone accessory. (wow, that's a mouthful, no? Call it a robot which delivers great music - it's a helluva lot simpler).
The other cool thing is that this self balancing “robotic” music player can be operated using a Smartphone (only android for now). The price point they say is about $400 or potentially less. (reasonable for a product in this category).
MashOn, Inc. announced Dabble which they refer to as the "Cure for the common shop." CRIKEY, this is their explanation of Dabble.
"Dabble is an HTML5 patent-pending embeddable web application that provides a comprehensive product personalization and customization platform and “on-demand” manufacturing solution for shop owners operating on the leading eCommerce platforms. Dabble’s Cart Adaptor technology, Fulfillment Adaptor, Product Customization Tool, and Self-Service Administration Dashboard work together to provide “The Cure for the Common Shop.” WHOAHH Nelly. Are you kidding? Simplify baby, didn't you hear Bill Campbell's message?
Then, there was one of my favorite apps which of course threw me (and everyone around me) when they first walked on stage. I-Memorial.com has a place where you can leave your legacy after you die on i-Tomb.net.
Imagine a place where you can set up your messages, videos, photos for people to see after you die. He walks on stage and says to the DEMO audience, "we are here to transform death." Half the room laughs, while some are likely uncomfortable. Is this for real we're all thinking. Yup, and after I listened to their pitch in detail, I began to think, "what a great idea."
From the traditional grave to the virtual tomb, they are allowing every person to build their own immortality: the resting place of the deceased. i-Tomb is a collection of videos, text and photos of the deceased, in other words, life after life. You can leave virtual flowers, a candle for someone or share your feelings about your son or daughter on video that they can listen to after you pass away. You can also leave your "death wishes" in a particular section on the site such as how you want to die, flowers and music you want at your funeral and so on. They are launching in 14 languages and targeting people aged 40 years and older. The other demo I liked is Schedulicity, which is an online appointment scheduling app, aimed at helping small businesses save hours a day and increase profitability by eliminating the hassles of scheduling with pen and paper. By offering online service scheduling 24 hours a day through multiple digital channels, businesses are able to easily and effectively attract new business, increase the frequency with which their current clients book appointments, decrease cancellations and concentrate on providing the best possible service during their business hours. They have also integrated with Facebook, so small businesses can receive bookings through their Facebook page using Schedulicity’s scheduling widget. trueRSVP did an alpha pitch, demonstrating how frustrating the RSVP process is today by using a woman in a wedding address whose husband-to-be didn't show up at the altar. It is the first RSVP system that’s flake-proof. By providing five RSVP options and multi-faceted algorithm factors in attendees’ reliability, event planners can now get a more accurate estimate of how many people will actually show up. Create virtual outlooks, mix-and-matching items from different brands and collections from all over the world. Try it on and share this experience with your friends and stylists to get advice. Below, see an example with Topshop.
Below is a video of the panel on consumer technology sages: SofTech's Jeff Clavier, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Ellen Pao and Aileen Lee, Menlo Ventures' Shervin Pishevar and Nextdoor.com's Nirav Tolia.
Below is a group shot of the DEMOfall "demo god" winners on stage on the last day. Here's a link to the DEMO flickr set so you can go on a visual journey of this year's fall event. Photo credits: Stephen Brashear
September 16, 2011 in America The Free, Conference Highlights, Events, On Mobile & Wireless, On Search, On Social CRM, On Technology, Social Media, Videos, WBTW, Web 2.0 | Permalink
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AND, since I'm a bit of a fashionista, here's a call out to Fitting Reality. Female Russian CEO - Inga Nakhmanson, did a great job explaining the simplicity of the service on stage. Using VIPodium, which is based on Augmented Reality technology, you can virtually try on clothes either at home or in the store.
Other things about the event and their company "gives." Demo offers full scholarships to 20 companies who are "bootstrapping it" and have raised $500,000 in funding or less. Within the 20, there are several specific charters that are supported by the following sponsors:
September 08, 2011
SOcial, LOcal, MObile, the Power Behind LeWeb's 2011 Start-Up Competition
SOcial, LOcal, MObile is the new black for startups this fall say the Guidewire Group who are powering this year's LeWeb'11 Startup Competition, centered on the SoLoMo theme (that's social, local, mobile, for the non-geeks who haven't memorized yet another acronym).
The annual showcase of emerging companies will honor the Top 3 startups creating state-of-the-art apps for the SoLoMo consumer or business markets. They are looking for the most exciting and innovative ideas that exploit the power of social engagement and location awareness of tablet and mobile phone devices. To be eligible, startups need to have less than €1M of investment.
Applicants will use Guidewire Group's forthcoming G/SCORE Analytics platform to profile and take a G/SCORE assessments. Those assessments, along with Guidewire Group analyst and community input, will be select 16 finalists to pitch for a spot among the Top 3 at the december conference in Paris.
To learn more about the competition, visit LeWeb's start-up competition page.
September 8, 2011 in America The Free, Conference Highlights, Europe, Events, On Geo-Location, On Innovation, On Mobile & Wireless, On Search, On Social CRM, On Technology, Social Media, WBTW, Web 2.0 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 22, 2011
Curation is King: Rosenbaum in Silicon Valley Next Week For Book Release: CURATION NATION
"Curation, not creation, is king and Rosenbaum shows you why and what you can do with this knowledge. This is a great piece of research and analysis," says Guy Kawasaki.
"Read this book. Embrace Curation - and you'll be ready to "Crush It" with your focus and passion in the noisy new world of massive data overload," says Gary Vaynerchuk.
I have my own views which will follow in a more extensive book review shortly. (I just finished it). The short of it is: A must read. More to follow.
Author Steve Rosenbaum is in Silicon Valley next week to celebrate the book launch of Curation Nation: A World Where Consumers Are Creators. If you're in the Bay Area (or can be), don't miss attending his book celebration in Palo Alto on Tuesday night, April 26, 2011 for a book signing and a great discussion on curation: what it is, why it's important and where it's going. Details in the above invite including how/where to RSVP or feel free to email me.
April 22, 2011 in America The Free, Events, On Search, On Technology, San Francisco, Social Media, WBTW, Web 2.0 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 29, 2011
Web 2.0 Expo: Conversations on Technology Business Models & Beyond
Web 2.0 Expo, co-produced by O'Reilly Media, Inc. and UBM TechWeb, is in full force this week in San Francisco: March 28-31, 2011.
The event showcases the latest Web 2.0 business models, development paradigms, products, and design strategies for the builders of the next-generation Web. They also do a similar event in New York every year, where they feature influential keynotes and speakers, detailed workshops, a Startup Showcase, and an Expo show floor with booths.
To give you a taste of some of the sessions and workshops, take a look at their entire schedule or a glimpse below:
March 29, 2011 in America The Free, Conference Highlights, Events, On Blogging, On Innovation, On Search, On Social CRM, On Technology, San Francisco, Social Media, WBTW, Web 2.0 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 24, 2011
Nimble Outlines Vision For Social CRM
On the heals of their launch at DEMO, Nimble is getting some buzz on their new Social CRM service, the basic product of which is free. While there is a free version, Nimble's goal is to serve the SMB and Enterprise markets, both of which suffer from information overload, disparate systems that don't talk to each other and outdated contact management systems which are overpriced and act as silos.
Nimble Contacts unifies communications streams such as email, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Google Calendar in a Web-based dashboard for sales and customer service people. InformationWeek's David F. Carr recently did an interview with CEO Jon Ferrara and I chose two questions to republish below. The interview in its entirety can be found here and it's definitely worth a read.
Carr: Where does this product fit in the market for enterprise social media?
Ferrara: It's hard to manage your communication by going to all the tabs in your browser. If I see an interesting tweet from someone, I need to be able to jump to the contact record and see who that person is. The idea of Nimble is give people the ability to listen and engage. Today, people use things like [Salesforce.com's] Chatter and Yammer to build internal collaboration.
Carr: What other sorts of applications do you want to integrate with?
Ferrara: We don't want to be all things to all people. I'd rather be the WordPress of CRM than the Microsoft Office of CRM. So we're going to invite in third-party developers and enable them to share and sell their extensions in our app store.
In my mind, in the perfect world, we would love to embrace the existing platforms people have invested in. That's why Gmail and your Google Calendar activities are integrated into Nimble. And you can see that if I've read a message here in Nimble, it's marked read in Gmail.
Disclosure: I helped the team with their launch and was a consultant to the company.
March 24, 2011 in America The Free, Client Media Kudos, On Search, On Social CRM, On Technology, Social Media, Web 2.0 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 18, 2011
Levy's WIRED Piece: Larry Page wants to Return Google to its Startup Roots
Steve Levy's Wired piece that came out today is a must read. Entitled Larry Page Wants to Return Google to its Start-up Roots, it takes us back to 12 years ago when Google was first funded.
Two excerpts from his piece:
"Now, after a 10-year run in which Google’s revenues grew from less than $100 million to almost $30 billion, Page is finally CEO again, a role he always felt he could handle. The general public may not appreciate the magnitude of the change—to most, Page is just one of the seemingly interchangeable pair of wacky “Google guys.” But Page is sui generis and could potentially have the kind of impact Bill Gates and Steve Jobs have had. Nobody better encapsulates Google’s ambitions, its ethics, and its worldview. At the same time, Page can be eccentric, arrogant, and secretive. Under his leadership, the company will be even harder to predict."
And, on what Google 'could' look like with Page back in the CEO position:
"If history is any guide, Page’s idealistic impulses could result in a vaster, more sprawling company. In 2008, Google participated in an FCC auction for radio spectrum to be used for mobile broadband. By the terms of the auction, if the spectrum was sold above a certain price, the winner would have to allow other companies to run devices on their networks—something Google strongly favored but that telecom companies dearly hoped to avoid. Google executives worried that the telecoms would conspire to keep bidding below that baseline price. So the company got involved in a high-stakes game of chicken. Google would bid on the spectrum, high enough to get it over the threshold, and then bow out. It left Google potentially vulnerable; if nobody else topped its bid, the company would be stuck with a multibillion-dollar piece of spectrum that it was unequipped to exploit. “Google definitely wanted to lose,” the company’s chief economist, Hal Varian, says. To Google’s great relief, Verizon did top its bid, and the company was off the hook."
Head over to WIRED to read the full article.
March 18, 2011 in America The Free, In the News, On Innovation, On Money, On People & Life, On Search, On Technology, On the Future | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 04, 2011
Answers.com Agrees to be Acquired for $127 Million in Cash
Answers.com (NASDAQ: ANSW), creators of the leading answer engine Answers.com, announced that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement to be acquired by AFCV Holdings, LLC, a portfolio company of growth equity investor Summit Partners, for a total cash consideration of approximately $127 million.
AFCV will acquire all outstanding shares of Answers.com common stock, Series A convertible preferred stock and Series B convertible preferred stock. Under the terms of the agreement, Answers.com common stock shareholders will receive $10.50 in cash for each outstanding share of common stock they own. The holders of Series A and Series B convertible preferred stock will also be entitled to receive cash consideration based on the number of the common stock into which those shares are convertible at the time of the merger.
Note: Answers.com is a former client of Magic Sauce Media. Official date of announcement was yesterday, February 3, 2011. Kudos to the Answers.com team.
February 4, 2011 in America The Free, Client Announcements, On Search, Web 2.0 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 04, 2011
The Latest on Human Curation of the Web from LeWeb
Jonathan Marks has an excellent video talking about LeWeb as a center point in Europe for attracting the best of the best for all things "web 2.0 and beyond," and includes an extensive interview with the Pearltrees team on-site. It includes a demo so you can learn how easy it is to embed pearltrees (visual representation of web links you curate from the web) into your blog, Facebook or elsewhere. They have a new "team" feature out too which allows people to collaborate. Have a listen.
Profile of Pearltrees.com from Jonathan Marks on Vimeo.
Disclosure Note: I am a consultant for Pearltrees.January 4, 2011 in Client Media Kudos, Europe, On Search, On Technology, Social Media, Videos, Web 2.0 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 16, 2010
My Recap of LeWeb 2010
2,500 entrepreneurs, leaders, investors, bloggers, journalists gathered together for 2 days in Paris on December 8-9, 2010 for an annual event those in the technology industry now know well - LeWeb.
The leading event in Europe for all things Web 2.0 and digital was held at a venue called The Docks, which is an area with more of a campus feel to it than anything else. Combine campus feel with urban and warehouse layout and you have 3 separate halls and tents that sponsors, vendors and speakers called "home" for two snowy days last week.
LeWeb brings together the most influential audience in the Internet ecosystem largely from Europe although I met entrepreneurs from Israel, Australia, South Africa, Ireland, Canada and the states during the event itself as well as the after networking gatherings and private dinners, my more notable experiences from the event.
Some of the speakers from this year included Carlos Ghosn, Marissa Mayer, Dennis Crowley, Alexander Tamas, Sebastien de Halleux, and Michael Arrington to name a few. The format on the main stage was not unlike last year - it combined Q&As, panel discussions and keynotes.
Take a look at my posts and videos on Gary Vaynerchuck, Foursquare's Dennis Crowley, the Joe Green interview from Causes, Robert Scoble's interview with Mitchell Baker, and the two-part video clip on the start-up competition which includes winners Waze from Israel (traffic), Paper.ly (publishing) from Switzerland and Super Marmite from France (food). Here's a link to my interview with Azeem Azhar from PeerIndex.
Also take a look at the Pearltrees recap video that Tom Foremski took -- Patrice Lamothe and his team launched TEAM at LeWeb this year and their booth was by far, the most creative, interesting and compelling booth at the conference. (and yes, while I DO -- disclosure -- consult for them, it simply was the best. Enuf said).
Robert Scoble also interviewed Patrice Lamothe on TEAM's capabilities which you can read here including a video clip. Additional pieces worth reading are Alastair Goldfisher's piece on PE Hub, the ZDNET piece by Sam Diaz and Alexia Tsotsis post on TechCrunch.
Below is a Pearltree for the best of what happened at LeWeb and it includes video, blog posts, speakers, the schedule and more.
Below are some random shots I took on site with some contributions in the collection by Rodrigo as noted.
Mozilla's Mitchell Baker
The food at conferences in Paris is -- let's just say -- different
Foursquare's Dennis Crowley, Renee Blodgett, Robin Wauters from Techcrunch Europe (yes, it snowed) -- taken on Ben Parr's iPhone
Judges who were largely investors give feedback to the three start-up competiton winners
Gary Vee, as passionate as ever, gives the closing keynote.
Start-up demos on the main stage
Fergus Burns and Daire Hickey over from Dublin
Loic Le Meur delivers an incredible set of entrepreneurs, investors and visionaries to the LeWeb audience
Present, present, present........
Pearltrees blogger lunch in the trendy Alcazar along Rue Mazarine not far from Odeon
Renee Blodgett, Robert Scoble, Ben Parr
Gabe Rivera and Patrice Lamothe explore Pearltrees TEAM, a new feature launched at LeWeb
Paddy Cosgrave and Frederic Lardinois
David Hornik moderated the start-up competition
Jeremiah Owyang - one for the panel......
Julien Pot, a French TV producer shows those credentials
The Next Web team showed up from Amsterdam
Trending after hours in The Marais
Tom Foremski, Francois Rocaboy
Yves Eudes from Le Monde too busy covering WikiLeaks and Julian Assange to attend LeWeb
Salim Ismail from Singularity University in the Pearltrees booth
Mike Butcher (photo taken by Rodrigo)
Below taken by Rodrigo
Thomson Crampton over from Hong Kong (taken by Rodrigo)
Massages in front of the blogger lounge
Foursquare's Dennis Crowley on the LeWeb stage telling his 'story'
Paul Papadimitriou
Ben Parr for pre LeWeb cafe and all that......
Disclosure Note: I am a consultant for Pearltrees.
December 16, 2010 in Client Announcements, Client Media Kudos, Conference Highlights, Europe, Events, On France, On Mobile & Wireless, On Search, On Technology, Social Media, WBTW, Web 2.0 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack