Iceberg on Demand
is declaring war on software, according to Co-Founder and head of product
development Wayne Byrne. Iceberg is a private beta startup that
provides a Web based platform for building, sharing and selling powerful
business applications, without the need to do coding. A
user at Iceberg can create applications using simple DIY…
Software Runs Into Iceberg
Hakia Launches Semantic Highlighter and Scoop Button
Today
hakia added a hakia highlighter to their “meaning-based” search engine, producing a highlighted sentence
inside a search result. The bigger announcement is tomorrow, when hakia will launch a scoop button – a browser plug-in that not only highlights text, but when you click on a result page it scrolls automatically to the…
MindTouch Aims To Transform Wiki
On Friday I viewed a demo of
the latest version of the Deki Wiki product from
MindTouch, with Co- Founders Steve Bjorn and Aaron Fulkerson. The latest upcoming release, called “Deki Wiki Hayes”, is described as a wiki and platform for developing collaborative web applications. The company says it’s similar to CMS web frameworks like…
Powerset and hakia – Quest For The Semantic Web
This week I spoke with Barney Pell, CEO of Powerset; and Melek Pulatkonak, COO of hakia. In both (separate) conversations we discussed how the Semantic Web is getting very close. The Semantic Web as defined by Tim Berners-Lee is: “a universal platform for the exchange of data, information and knowledge.” I think Barney and Melek would agree, that…
Review of Streamy, a News Networking Service
Getting to the crux of Streamy, a very new beta startup, has proven to be
more difficult than several prominent bloggers originally thought. I have been testing
the development since Friday and awoke today to the news that Streamy is everything from
a Digg competitor to a doomed social networking site. I was working late Friday, when the
founders…
Viewpoints Takes on Epinions With Personalized Reviews
Viewpoints.com has set its sights on being the “end
all” review site for people who like to read and write reviews. This niche probably
should have been filled by now, but mysteriously no one site has dominated this segment
of Web 2.0 – with the possible exception of Epinions. Viewpoints offers a platform for reading,
rating and writing reviews…
Flock Version 0.9 Focuses on Social Media Discovery
This Tuesday social web browser Flock will release Version 0.9, as they inch towards the
full 1.0. Version 0.9 is currently available to
early adopters as a ‘Release Candidate’. I had an in-depth chat with Flock’s CEO Shawn
Hardin last week and I have been testing the 0.9 version too. The actual version I have
been running is 0.899.1, but the…
MyLifeBrand: Social Network Aggregator Playing Catch Up
MyLifeBrand is a new social networking convergence
service, currently in invitation-only alpha testing. This product aggregates Web 2.0
functionality, tools, creativity and a portal for converging business with user generated
content. The premise is to offer diverse services where individuals, groups and
businesses can take advantage of…
Zude Beta: Start Page on Steroids
The Beta testing trail took us to an interesting
new private beta site called Zude. This app is
deploying cross domain drag-and-drop technology to allow users to create a unique Web
presence. This development is like a 2015 version of Netvibes, or Pageflakes on steroids.
5g’s technology has enabled
perhaps the most powerful personal…
Fairtilizer – New Online Music Service
The other day I tracked down another early alpha-testing startup
called Fairtilizer, which is an online music
community aspiring to define a new generation of music media. The premise behind this
startup is that user generated music media is a threshold where online recommendations,
distribution, artists and labels will pass the traditional TV…
Wikia: Lightning Could Strike Twice For Wikipedia Founders
I talked with Wikia CEO Gil
Penchina yesterday about the most recent re-design of the Wikia site. I wanted to know
their goals and what progress the company has made towards that vision. The site’’s
rebuild takes advantage of recent technology advances, uses a more Web 2.0 style
interface and has better navigation tools. According to Gil…
VeohTV Launches – Taking Direct Aim at Joost
Dmitry Shapiro CEO of Veoh invited me to a
GoToMeeting webinar today to unveil a serious challenger in the Web TV market. VeohTV
Beta, subtly billed as a “Joost Killer”, is actually an amazing development in
online video viewing. The impetus for the Veoh TV service is characterized by a Veoh
slogan Dmitry related during the webinar: “Video…
Exclusive: Launch of Powerlabs, Plus More Powerset Screenshots
Lately there’s been a swirl of buzz about Powerset, a stealth natural language processing search engine. Last week they released their first “Query of the week”. Today we discovered that Powerset is launching Powerlabs (screenshot below), plus we got our hands on a second query. Here are the screenshots, neither of which has been seen before…
Yumondo Brings “Urban Stylesharing” to Social Networking
Yumondo is an “urban stylesharing” social network startup currently in private beta testing, that claims it will set new standards for community on Web 2.0. The site approaches community from a place and style standpoint. The vision is obviously one of creating local communities that branch outward (from a distinct place or location), rather than…
Particls Launches Advanced Alerts Platform
Today Particls, billed by many as an RSS feed manipulator/organizer, came out of invitation-only testing with a host of tools for users. Particls essentially serves as a proportioning alert filter that notifies the user via news ticker, pop-up alerts and mobile SMS messaging prioritized according to user needs. The service has many refined consumer…
Second Brain: Organizing Your Information Chaos
Written by Phil Butler
Second Brain is a fascinating startup now in testing and accessible by invitation only. The service is a personal library where people aggregate all their creations, services and favorites – and then share and/or publish them online. Second Brain was founded by Lars G. Teigen who also co-founded Making Waves, one of Norway…