Last night, Portland Web Innovators kicked off its 2009 gatherings with Demolicious, the quarterly showcase of cool new products.
Of the five demos, two were products we’ve seen before—but they’ve been retooled for the new year.
Mugasha - Akshay Dodeja demoed Mugasha. Originally developed during Portland Startup Weekend, the site has gone through several iterations in development—now it’s ready to launch in private beta.
If you’re into electronica, you’re going to want to check it out. What’s it do? Basically, it parses DJ set podcasts—usually one long multi-hour track with no song info—into separate song tracks, allowing user to play the songs they want to play and actually know which tunes they’re playing.
Metroseeq - Taking a different cut on a previous iteration, Kevin Chen demoed a new version of Metroseeq, a mapping application that gives you the options to search for resources around a town, in-between two locations, or by marking your own route and allowing the service to plot resources along that route.
The new version of Metroseeq relies on the Google API and returns to the four closest resource for any search.
The other three demos showed off some new development.
Foodisms - Michael Kelly showed us Foodisms, an early version of a restaurant and food searching site with a twist: rather than searching by cuisine, you search by ingredient. Foodisms then looks for that ingredient and suggests a variety of dishes at any number of restaurants.
The current dataset is currently limited to 100 Portland restaurants (which, for Portland, is a narrow subset) but the foundational structure for the product has been established. If they can scale the data entry—dish by dish, ingredient by ingredient—this is going to be very cool indeed.
Sunago - Scott Andreas shared Sunago, community management software for nonprofits—especially advocacy groups. Its mission is simple:
“We’re tired of companies charging exorbitant amounts of money for apps that, well, suck. We’d rather you to spend your money on your vision, not software. That’s why Sunago is free for small organizations, and affordable for larger ones.”
Sunago has already been deployed with several nonprofits and Scott is constantly adding new features.
OpenLaszlo - Finally, Dave Miller demonstrated OpenLaszlo, an ECMAScript tool for building “rich internet applications” that will let the developer script structured content that can be compiled and deployed as either HTML or Flash—from the same code. Dave showed off some of the capabilities and demoed an app he had built.
Based on the beginning of his demo, I’d also offer that Dave is available to perform as a mime for your kids’ birthday parties or your next corporate function. Or not.
Demolicious was streamed live via UStream, but I’m not seeing an archived copy available yet.
If you missed the event, the next Demolicious will be April 1. What a fortuitous date for demoing.
Craigslist addicts like myself will be interested in Craigsphone, the new iPhone app from Next Mobile Web. Craigsphone offers a clean UI; the ability to post, upload and share location while mobile; a saved viewing history, location-based suggestions, and instant-dial numbers. The Next Mobile Web crew is claiming that there is much more to come. "The internet is raw and beautiful because it is Us," they say, "and no site is more Us than craigslist." While the ability to "see stuff, fun and people nearby" is currently limited to San Francisco and Manhattan, Next Mobile Web says they will "take the best local site in the world and make it truly local." It will be interesting to see exactly where they go with that. This app might end up being the greatest thing since sliced bread for those people who constantly scan the Missed Connections hoping to find themselves described.
craigsphone from Next Mobile Web on Vimeo
We are mobile geeks working hard to improve the web. [more]
Portland became the first American city to get Clear-branded WiMAX service on January 6 - Clearwire calls Portland "the fastest unwired city in the West.. Clearwire recently gained control of Sprint's Xohn network to provide Clear-branded WiMAX service. Portland and Baltimore, MD are the only two pure WiMAX networks in the United States so far, with Baltimore still operating under the Xohm name.
"Today is a historic day for the evolution of mobile computing and communications services in Portland, and the U.S.," said Benjamin G. Wolff, Clearwire CEO. "Clearwire is reinventing wireless by delivering an unmatched combination of Internet speed and mobility. We're providing a valuable service designed to improve our customers' productivity and make their lives more enjoyable, wherever they happen to be in our coverage area."
Clearwire announced in early December that they have raised $3.2 billion for a nationwide WiMAX network, from Comcast, Intel, Time Warner Cable, Google, and Bright House Networks. WiMAX offers wireless broadband acess, data and telecommunications services, and portable connecvity. Clearwire had made some enthusiastic plans to upgrade its 46 pre-WiMAX markets in the near future, there has been speculation that upcoming WiMAX deployments might be slowed due to the financial crisis. Clear offers residential users wireless service with no installation, and mobile users only need to plug in a mobile WiMAX-enabled USB modem to their laptop. Many computer companies are announcing embedded WiMAX technology compatible with the Clear network in teh first half of 2009. Sprint is reselling access to its 3G network to Clear, which will allow 4G WiMAX devices to work even where there is no WiMAX.
Grand opening events are happening at Portland's three Clearwire retail stores on Saturday, January 10, with gift certificates and prize draws occuring. The stores are located at: 15th and Broadway, 92nd and Sunnyside (Clackamas Promenade), and Burnside and 23rd Place (Uptown Shopping Center).
Clearwire, (NASDAQ: CLWR), offers a robust suite of advanced high-speed wireless broadband services to consumers and businesses. Clearwire’s open... [more]
Techvibes is pleased to welcome Vancouver, BC based Zapp Worx Design on board as a sponsor.
Zapp Worx is situated in Gastown and pride themselves on being one of Vancouver's longest-standing graphic design firms, offering outstanding service and delivery under the most difficult situations.
Luie Zappacosta created Zapp Worx Design in 1987. Zapp Worx has grown into a full-service design and print firm, with services ranging from brand creation to web design and print design, complete with an in-house digital print facility.
Luie's team of graphic designers have trained in some of the most prominent art schools locally and internationally including Emily Carr School of Design, the University of Macedonia and The Human Academy in Japan.
Websites and print communications that entice customers, empower clients and out-do the competition. [more]
Portland bloggers have another valuable resource coming their way - the newly-formed Portland WordPress User Group is hosting their first meeting on Thursday, January 15 at CubeSpace. The meeting will go over future meeting times and dates; topics, ideas and speakers; ideas for regular help sessions; and an overview of cool new WordPress 2.7 features.
Portland is definitely a blogging town: on January 16, check out the one year anniversary party for Beer and Blog. Beer and Blog meets every Friday between 4:00pm and 6:00pm at Green Drago.
Portland has lots of opportunities to get involved with the blogging community, network, and learn some new tricks - all bloggers are encouraged to come out to these meetups!
Mashable's Jennifer Van Grove wondered aloud today if paid online dating sites are dead? She wonders if the recent launch of DowntoEarth, a completely free dating site with an interesting pedigree.
According to DowntoEarth’s Privacy Policy, this new, free entrant is “part of the IAC/InterActiveCorp family of businesses.” IAC, of course, acquired Match.com in 1999, and is also behind Match.com’s spin-off site Chemistry.com. Despite its success with paid dating, then, IAC is testing the waters with a free model.
Free dating site rival (and Vancouver resident) Markus Frind of Plentyoffish has an answer for Van Grove. YES.
In a post titled It's official - Match.com Abandons Paid Dating, Frind claims that IAC's launch of DowntoEarth is a victory for free dating sites.
It looks like match.com realizes they are losing marketshare fast and paid sites don’t really have a future. 15% of my users in the US pay on other dating sites every month, but they all say if there was another big free site like plentyoffish they wouldn’t pay elsewhere. This has already happened in Canada where plentyoffish is pretty much the only dating site people use, and eHarmony a distant second.
Plentyoffish.com is a 100% FREE online dating site, and is constantly improving based on your feedback. You will notice everything on this online... [more]
| Rank | Company | TTR | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AboutUs |  1,105 |
|
| 2 | MetaFilter | 1,847 |
|
| 3 | Kongregate |  2,187 |
|
| 4 | Discogs | 4,061 |
|
| 5 | Digital Trends | 10,952 |
|
| 6 | COLOURlovers | 19,342 |
|
| 7 | Frappr! | 40,779 |
|
| 8(1) | |
myOpenID | 43,437 |
| 9(-1) | |
Jive Software | 43,723 |
| 10 | Platial.com | 48,127 |
|
| 11(2) | |
SplashCast Media | 50,536 |
| 12(2) | |
Sandy | 52,965 |
| 13(-2) | |
Strands | 57,904 |
| 14(-2) | |
Earth Class Mail | 63,748 |
| 15(2) | |
Vidoop | 68,264 |
| 16(3) | |
Clicky | 75,482 |
| 17(-1) | |
Pheedo | 78,612 |
| 18 | eROI, Inc. | 81,236 |
|
| 19(-4) | |
Gone Raw | 83,359 |
| 20 | Neighborhood Notes | 156,890 |
|
| 21(4) | |
Stikkit | 173,752 |
| 22 | GadgetTrak | 236,866 |
|
| 23 | GreenPrint | 239,047 | |
| 24(-3) | |
Avatron Software | 259,857 |
| 25(-1) | |
LetsEat.at | 270,015 |
| 26(8) | |
UrbanDrinks.com | 377,070 |
| 27(-1) | |
Walker Tracker | 390,717 |
| 28(3) | |
MomHub | 393,000 |
| 29(-2) | |
Attensa | 393,778 |
| 30(2) | |
iovation | 401,216 |
| 31 | Trubee.com | 439,443 | |
| 32(-4) | |
Zapproved | 443,271 |
| 33(-3) | |
NetWorthIQ | 446,204 |
| 34(-5) | |
Active Reload | 457,293 |
| 35(-12) | |
Iterasi | 540,962 |
| 36(3) | |
Grabb.it | 542,029 |
| 37(-4) | |
FreeRange | 607,103 |
| 38(2) | |
KnitMap | 647,722 |
| 39(-1) | |
Pibb | 647,997 |
| 40(-3) | |
Public Press | 649,141 |
| 41(-5) | |
Imindi | 669,003 |
| 42(2) | |
Art Face Off | 711,516 |
| 43(-8) | |
fmyi | 736,598 |
| 44(-3) | |
ChoiceA | 755,680 |
| 45(-2) | |
WeoGeo | 760,147 |
| 46(-4) | |
GoSeeTell | 772,010 |
| 47(-2) | |
Rocketbook | 983,200 |
| 48(-2) | |
Kryptiq | 1,056,089 |
| 49(-2) | |
GreenRenter | 1,136,011 |
| 50(-1) | |
Kumquat | 1,385,004 |
| 51(-3) | |
LUNARR | 1,431,146 |
| 52 | Jama Software | 1,589,291 |
|
| 53(-2) | |
Goboz | 1,649,331 |
| 54(-1) | |
Avnera | 1,921,092 |
| 55 | CitySpeek.com | 1,940,535 | |
| 56(1) | |
Lightfleet | 2,110,109 |
| 57(-3) | |
Techchex | 2,369,188 |
| 58(2) | |
Collaborative Software Initiative | 2,606,936 |
| 59(-3) | |
Box Populi | 2,767,497 |
| 60(-10) | |
GoLife Mobile | 2,791,436 |
| 61(-3) | |
Cendix | 3,147,825 |
| 62(-7) | |
Picktastic | 3,469,043 |
| 63 | Ontier, Inc. | 4,446,980 | |
| 64(-5) | |
Vocal Nation | 4,491,226 |
| 65(-3) | |
Worldwide Nest | 10,233,416 |
| 66(-5) | |
YourList | 11,595,662 |
AboutUs is a wiki for and about businesses and organizations, containing millions of editable pages about websites as well as other community... [more]
Metafilter is a weblog (what's a weblog? | comprehensive history of weblogs) that anyone can contribute a link or a comment to. A typical weblog is... [more]
Founded in 2006 and currently in a state of heavy development, Kongregate seeks to create the leading online hub for players and game developers to... [more]
Just before everyone took off for their annual Christmas break, MakeFive's Eric Karjaluoto had his Elevator Pitch featured on Techcrunch. While I'm sure Karjaluoto had a pretty strong following to his numerous blogs - IdeasOnIdeas.com, EricKarjaluoto.com, & the MakeFive Blog - before that, there's no doubt that kind of exposure is great for your overall readership.
Karjaluoto is a co-founder of a Vancouver-based interactive agency smashLAB and has been dabbling with a couple startups recently. So when he blogged on Friday about Why your web startup will fail, his readers piled on the comments (148 and counting) and they liked what they read.
In honour of Karjaluoto's current startup MakeFive, I've summarized his blog post into The Top Five Reasons your Web Startup Will Fail:
smashLAB is an interactive design firm. We create digital experiences that are meaningful, memorable and easy to manage. Our diverse clients in the... [more]
MakeFive is a website that allows people to connect through top-five lists. In it users can start topics of any nature and then share their... [more]
