PlanG: Organized Charitable Giving

PlanG is an online platform that brings together all of your charitable giving activities in one place. It's an easy way to give back, see your impact, and inspire others. PlanG is home to more than 1 million non-profits, over 250 socially minded businesses, and individuals like you who want to make a difference in the world.

After searching for your favorite causes, PlanG provides you with a secure giving account and a suite of tools to manage and amplify your efforts. PlanG lets you donate to various charities from a single account – giving dollars are added from your credit or debit card, PlanG's brand partners, or a PlanG gift card. PlanG tracks every donation you make and allows you to share your giving story with your friends to inspire them to do something good as well.

Another way to give via PlanG is to shop online with its brand partners. Earn free giving dollars by doing what you already love to do. Retail partners include J.Crew, West Elm, GAP, Nordstrom, Crate & Barrel, Levi's, Macy's, Nike, Pottery Barn, and 1-800-Flowers.com. You can also set up a fundraising campaign on PlanG. If you're familiar with crowdfunding websites, the process is similar – select your cause, set a goal, and share your fundraiser page with your social media connections. You'll get up-to-the-minute updates on your progress.

If this all sounds overwhelming, don't worry. You'll see everything on your PlanG dashboard in neat and organized reports and visuals – this includes how much you've given and where, who's helped fund your giving account, your favorite non-profits, your fundraisers, and complete tax reports.

PlanG was co-founded by Marti Beller, Melina Davis-Martin, and Heather Loftus. Their goal was to create a philanthropic ecosystem where individuals, businesses, and non-profits could change the world, one good deed at a time.

Audibly: Surround Sound for iPhones

Audibly is a new app that instantly turns multiple iPhones into a wireless surround sound system. Say you're hanging out with friends and want to play some music. We all know phone speakers can only do so much, and external speakers aren't always available. Enter Audibly. Simply select your songs, link up a bunch of iPhones, and sit back and enjoy the rich surround sound.

Audibly uses peer-to-peer Wi-Fi so it doesn't require an Internet connection on supported devices. But you can also opt to connect your devices over a Wi-Fi network. Other features include playlists, favorites, pitch control, and volume control across all devices.

Audibly was created at last year's Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) by student scholarship recipients Nick Frey, Chris Galzerano, and Veeral Patel. The co-founders met at WWDC and had already created a working prototype by the end of the conference. They continued to fine-tune their idea over the following year while attending high school in separate states.

Airtame: Easy, Wireless Screen Sharing

Winner of the Engadget Best of CES 2014 “Best Startup” award, Airtame is a Copenhagen-based company looking to bring wireless HDMI to everyone. Its debut product, the Airtame dongle, lets you wirelessly stream your computer screen to any TV, projector, or monitor. If you've ever tried to share your computer screen to other devices, you most likely had cable nightmares. But soon, you'll be enjoying sweet wireless HDMI dreams with Airtame.



As Richard Lai, senior editor of Engadget, put it, Airtame is “a Miracast dongle on steroids.” Use Airtame to duplicate your computer desktop on any TV, monitor, or projector, and enjoy full HD content, family photos, games, and more on a bigger screen. Airtame supports multiple screens as well, so say you want to share a report with more than one colleague, you can.

In addition, Airtame lets you wirelessly extend your desktop. Need more space? Drag some of your windows to the bigger screen. This feature is also useful when giving presentations – for instance, you can present your slides on a larger screen while keeping your notes to yourself.

Last but not least, Airtame allows you to share your computer screen to both Airtame and other computers simultaneously. It works with Windows, Apple, Linux, iOS, Android, and Windows Phone. The best part is, using Airtame is as easy as joining a Wi-Fi network. Just plug the dongle into the HDMI and USB ports of your projector, monitor, or TV. Then, from the Airtame app on your computer, choose which Airtame to stream to and you're all set. Nothing is plugged into your computer, as Airtame uses the Wi-Fi technology that's already in it.

With tens of thousands of supporters in over 80 countries worldwide, Airtame is the most crowdfunded Danish project of all time, having successfully raised more than $1.2 million on Indiegogo. If you missed all the action, you can still pre-order your dongle on the Airtame website. The product is expected to ship by the fourth quarter of 2014.

GoPlug: Charge Your Electronics on the Road

GoPlug is an upcoming line of bags that don't just carry your gadgets – it also charges them on the go. Currently Kickstarting, GoPlug has already raised over 500 percent of its original goal, and with more than 20 days left in the campaign.

The brainchild of filmmaker and entrepreneur Josh Cross, GoPlug lets you charge your electronic devices even when you're not near a power outlet, providing true mobility. Available in a variety of styles, from a computer messenger bag to a camera carry-on case, GoPlug comes with a lithium-polymer battery pack that can charge a smartphone up to six times, a tablet up to two times, and a laptop nearly two times on a single charge. So whether you're traveling on business or sitting in a waiting room, you never have to worry about running out of power.


Cross spends about half the year on the road for work, with much of his time spent traveling to and from airports and hotels. Staying connected is a necessity but a challenge as he is often left with dead batteries. As a result, he often has to look for an outlet at the airport during odd hours of the night, a process which he describes as a nightmare.

With GoPlug, Cross aims to save people the headache of searching for a power source when they're traveling. All bags are equipped with one or two 360-degree rotating AC outlets for large plugs; two front-facing USB outlets for smartphones, tablets, and e-readers; and an eight or twelve-foot grounded extension cord. Additionally, GoPlug provides ample storage, padded compartments, and organization panels to hold, protect, and store your belongings.

Funds from Kickstarter will go toward development, tooling, production, and shipping. According to Cross, functional prototypes have already been built and manufacturing will begin even before the campaign ends.

Find Your Stuff With Tile

Tile is a handy device that helps you keep track of your belongings. Always misplacing your keys? Put a Tile on your keyring. Worried about losing your laptop? Stick a Tile on it.

Small, sleek, and discreet, Tile can be attached or dropped into any item, including purses, wallets, bikes, gadgets, guitars, and keys. The Tile app (currently iPhone only) makes it easy and fun to find your Tiles (and therefore your stuff) on the go. When you're within 50 to 150 feet of a Tile, you can see on your phone if you're getting warmer or colder. Tiles also come with a built-in speaker and can play a melody, allowing you to hear where it is. This feature is especially useful if, for instance, your keys got stuck between couch cushions or somehow ended up under a pile of laundry.

The app remembers where it last saw your Tile so you can easily find it where you left it. Up to eight Tiles can be added onto a single account.

Find the Lowest Prices for Personal Products With the Stash App

Stash is a new shopping app that automates price comparison for everyday essentials and personal products. Users don't need to manually check prices for beauty, grooming, and household products on multiple sites – Stash brings all their favorite items in one place. The startup has partnered with Amazon, Macy's, Sephora, Drugstore, Soap, Beauty, Walmart, Saks, and Nordstrom to provide consumers with the lowest available prices.

Because online comparison shopping is difficult on mobile devices, mobile consumers tend to shop from one vendor. But no single vendor consistently offers the most competitive prices, so this is where Stash comes in. Users can see the different prices for any item among Stash's partner retailers, allowing them to choose the lowest price and save money.

Stash is more than just a price comparison app, though. Its proprietary technology can predict when users need to reorder products based on their shopping patterns. The user is reminded when certain a product is about to run out and can replenish their supply right from the app.

Stash currently has an inventory of 95,000 products and counting.

Crisp: Automatic Online Community Moderation and Management

The success of social media, forums, and online games relies on high-quality interaction and a positive social experience. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who see these channels as opportunities for disruption, harassment, and commercial gain. Enter Crisp, a technology platform that makes moderating and managing user-generated content (UGC) easy, giving online community and social media managers the freedom to focus on the things that matter.

Headquartered in Leeds, United Kingdom, Crisp was founded in 2005 by serial entrepreneur Adam Hildreth. Protecting brands, customers, and online communities, Crisp understands the context of UGC and profiles the behaviors of users to automatically take care of moderation, as well as proactively identifies the content that requires engagement.

Offering the highest level of brand protection, the platform provides 24/7 moderation across all social media channels, removing unsuitable and offensive content, notifying managers of a possible PR problem, and delivering accurate sentiment analysis. Crisp also facilitates forum and online community moderation, preventing inappropriate and malicious content from ever being posted while prioritizing the content and users that require moderator attention.

Moreover, Crisp's patented behavior profiling engine helps identify cheats, hackers, fraudsters, and gold farmers in online games. The self-learning technology can determine player behavior in real time and put control back in the hands of security and customer service teams. The platform is also used by sites that comply with COPPA standards, removing inappropriate content while identifying cyber bullies and online predators.

Crisp currently protects more than 180 million users and moderates over 3 billion messages, comments, and tweets each month. Comprising some of the world's most experienced community managers, moderators, and linguistic experts, the Crisp team has worked with hundreds of brands to help them manage users and UCG in their online communities. Clients include Sony, EA, Red Bull, Moshi Monsters, Ubisoft, British Airways, Turner, Nickelodeon, Yahoo!, and Pottermore.