Articles With Tags: DEMO
Posted by Matt on September 30th, 2007
With instructional video site Graspr’s launch at DEMOfall07, everyone seems to think Internet users want to be taught something. Now don’t get me wrong, I like to get my learning on like everyone else, but the sheer amount of sites trying to host instructional videos is ridiculous. We already have 5min, eHow, Sclipo, SuTree, Expert Village, Instructables, and VideoJug. And none of these sites seems to offer anything innovative in terms of video hosting. They’re all basically YouTube clones slapped with an instructional video theme.
I guess nothing’s wrong with second place.
This seems to be just further proof of the video craze currently on the webosphere. Everyone’s trying to be #2 behind YouTube for video and I don’t blame them. With YouTube’s big buyout, if anyone can even get just 5% of the market, thats at least a $80 million dollar company. But why did Graspr enter a space that was already so crowded? I seem to think web users would rather relax and watch Paris Hilton get grilled than learn how to cross stitch. Maybe I’m just not into instructional videos, but what do you think? Is there really a chance for any of these instructional video sites to stand the test of time?
Posted by Matt on September 28th, 2007
If you have ever tried to search online for local small businesses, you’ll know that it can definitely become a pain at times. Tiny listings, out of date websites, and wrong contact information plague online local advertising. That big yellow phone book tucked in the corner of the room is still the main stay for local businesses.
A new self-funded startup out of Hollywood, CA wants you to throw that yellow book away. Just launched at DEMOfall07, FastCall411 offers a unique spin to online local directory search. With some clever use of AI, VOIP, and parallel dialing, FastCall411 claims to connect you to with reliable, proven local businesses. Need a plumber quick? Click ‘Search’ on FastCall411 and instantly a list of plumbers with reliable track records in your area are listed. Click ‘FastCall’ and instantly all those plumbers are called at the same time. FastCall411 then uses some method to decide which plumber exhibits the best in customer service (most likely call response time, or voice similarity to Mario’s), and then connects the user to the business.
Close, but no cigar.
FastCall411 is a step in the right direction, but it needs to go a bit further in order to draw some big attention. Simply connecting consumers to businesses is not enough. FastCall411 needs to offer ways to compare these small businesses. Price comparison is the main reason people call multiple plumbers in the first place. Also, until FastCall411 can garner enough listings for some major cities (it only serves Los Angeles right now), the yellow book will still be the main place people look for their local Mario.
Posted by Matt on September 28th, 2007
Among the many DEMOfall07 companies launching their products, YuuGuu and DimDim have released their offerings into the web conferencing space. In short, web conferencing allows users to share (or screencast) a presentation, even their whole desktop, with their colleagues over the internet. Common problems that are faced in this space are high cost, required downloads, and laggy response time. YuuGuu and DimDim are joining the few web conference software companies that offer their service for free. Both services also offer a unique conference bridge for every meeting, allowing a phone conference on top of the screencast. Current main players in web conferencing are Webex, Adobe Acrobat Connect, Citrix GoToMeeting, and MS LiveMeeting. All these are paid services.
YuuGuu
Up first, Yugioh YuuGuu. The product was just launched recently and, after a few minutes of playing around with it, I like it. Granted it doesn’t have the features some of the paid offerings have (it lacks the ability to screencast just a certain application), but what it offers for free, it does well. Simply add your YuuGuu buddies to your “buddy list”, start a meeting, and click “Share”. YuuGuu even allows users to hand over mouse and keyboard control to any member of the meeting.
DimDim
DimDim is another free web conferencing app and its open source, allowing some flexibility. One thing that separates DimDim from YuuGuu is that it doesn’t rely on software downloads as much, which is very nice. Users have the ability to upload and share a presentation to DimDim’s Flash-based service, in which case nobody has to download anything. However, if the presenter wants to screencast their whole desktop, the presenter alone would need to download DimDim’s software. DimDim however does not have the ability for presenters to transfer mouse and keyboard control to other meeting members.
Why pay for something if you can get it for free?
Web 2.0 is all about free. Free everything. Free images, music, videos, and, most importantly, free software applications. Paid services are a thing of the past. If you are a early startup looking to offer a paid service, look damn hard into a way to offer the same service for free. Cut unessential features, rework frameworks, or just fire somebody. Really, these days people expect free paid products.
Posted by Matt on September 26th, 2007
Diigo.com just announced their relaunch of their site at DEMOfall07. This version 2.0 release carries some new features as well as many UI improvements with everything just looking a little bit more “Web 2.0″. Diigo touts themselves as a “integrated suite of online research and social tools that transforms the Web into a writable, participatory media”. In reality, it’s pretty much del.icio.us meets SharedCopy.
Basically, users can either install a browser plugin or use their “magical” javascript bookmark to store, highlight, comment, and share websites as they browse the web. Highlights and comments are sent to Diigo, so that others in your Diigo “group” can now see those same modifications when they visit the same website. This creates a multi-layered web, where basically a conversation takes place about a website thats not integrated into the website. The browser plugin also has some other nifty side features like “highlight and search” and “highlight and blog” allowing you to quickly steal share content you find on the web.
They also just announced a partnership with WebSlides allowing you to convert your bookmarks into slideshows that you can then publish to your our website.
Posted by Matt on September 25th, 2007
At DEMOfall07, coComment is releasing version 2.0 of its web application. As the name suggests, coComment allows people to discover, track, manage, and share comments on the web. With the release of version 2.0, coComment gears more towards a social network based on website comments. Newly introduced are several features that further promote the sharing of comments and conversations with your friends. coComment also does a decent job of aggregating comments of similar topics, allowing users to search for conversations on issues they are interested in. Find out more from their demo video here.
I have mixed feelings on this one. Allowing users to track the numerous comments they have placed on the web is a great idea and I have always said comments hold some of the best and probably the most valuable social opinion on the internet. However, the real question that will make or break coComment is, “Does the demand exist?” I personally don’t have any problem keeping track of all the comments I make on websites, and the average user definitely does not comment enough to warrant another login and password to use coComment.
Posted by Matt on September 24th, 2007
Coverage of DEMOfall07 companies this week starts with IdeaBlob, a company funded by Advanta, one of the nation’s largest issuers (through Advanta Bank Corp.) of small business credit cards. Just launched today, IdeaBlob.com is an open and dynamic community where anyone can post their business ideas. Community members vote on these ideas and provide valuable feedback and advice. In a full on blitz for launch traffic, every month for the next six months, IdeaBlob is giving the idea with the most votes a check for $10,000. $10,000 is a lot of bank for most people, and more than enough money to get a web startup off the ground these days. And according to the official contest rules, the winners are not entitled to give IdeaBlob any holdings in the business. Have a popular idea, win $10,000.
Basically every week, which IdeaBlob calls a ’sprint’, the ideas with the most popular votes are put into a finalist list. On the final ’sprint’ of the month, users can only vote on the ideas in the finalist list. In order to combat abuse in the system, one must register to vote and can only vote once per ’sprint’.
While the initial contest will attract plenty of users the first six months, I do not see potential in this site for carrying a lasting community. The site in its current state has little to promote user collaboration and communication. There are no forums to discuss certain markets or industries of interest and the ‘Advise’ section seems incomplete and detached from the rest of the site. Maybe it just seems bland because of the lack of initial content. Regardless, if you have a business idea, you really have nothing to lose. Though it seems some might need to look elsewhere to fund their ideas. According to IdeaBlob:
“Entries must describe an idea for a legitimate business that may be lawfully operated in the United States that does not involve alcohol, illegal substances, tobacco, firearms or pornography in any way.“
Guess I’ll have to find funding for my latest Facebook App, “Smoking Drunk Chicks With Guns”, elsewhere. Shame.
Posted by Matt on September 24th, 2007
DEMOfall 2007 starts this week, with about 70 companies presenting. For those unfamiliar with the DEMO conference, here’s a great explanation straight from their about site:
“DEMO is the premier launch venue for new products, technologies and companies. For more than 16 years, DEMO has established a reputation for identifying and presenting to an elite audience the products most likely to have a significant impact on the marketplace and market trends in the coming year. Each product is carefully screened and selected by DEMO’s Executive Producer, Chris Shipley, one of the top trend spotters in the personal technology product industry. DEMO is held two times a year; one in February, and one in September.”
This year, DEMO is being held in Sheraton Hotel, San Diego, CA. Coverage of DEMOfall07 companies begins today here at The Webosphere. Stay tuned for in depth previews and product offerings.
