Stipple: Connecting Images and Information

Pictures tell a thousand words, but images that are posted to the Internet often become disconnected from their source and story. You see a photo of a cute dress on someone's Tumblr – but there's no information about who designed it or where you can purchase it. Stipple is a new service that turns online photos into “intelligent images” that include details about the subject, i.e. relevant links to other pictures, videos, or websites.

Going back to our example, a “Stippled” image of the dress can include a tag stating the designer's name, a link to an online retailer that sells it, or a link to the website of the photographer who snapped the picture. Tags will remain on Stipple photos that are shared and embedded. Aside from tying an image back to its source, Stipple displays analytics that let you know how many people viewed your photo and how they interacted with it.

[via TechCrunch]

Tablets and Apps for Kids From VINCI

Like many of today's children, Dan Yang's young daughter was exposed to technology at an early age, often playing with her mother's iPhone. As Yang looked into introducing her child to technology responsibly, she saw that there was very little educational technology designed for kids. In addition, smartphones and tablets are built with materials that may be hazardous to youngsters. Yang, an entrepreneur and optical engineer, therefore started VINCI Early Learning Systems using $10 million of her personal savings.

Two child-friendly tablets form the cornerstone of the system: the 7-inch VINCI Tab II, which features a protective soft-cornered handle made from food-grade material, and the 5-inch VINCI Tab II M, a more affordable and portable version of the former that can be linked to other Tab II M's for group playing. Both devices are powered by the Android platform and come with a number of pre-installed apps such as Google Play, Adobe Reader, and QuickOffice.

Yang, with the assistance of experts, also developed the VINCI Curriculum, which is divided into three levels: babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. Designed to run only on the VINCI tablets, the learning materials help develop thinking skills, emotional and social skills, language and literacy, maths and logical reasoning, science, and general knowledge.

Recently, VINCI launched its app library for kids. There are currently over 500 apps and videos that are free for a limited time. Some are from noted educational content providers such as The Jim Henson Company, TVO, and Mightybooks. The VINCI Kids Library promises to be free of commercials, violence, adult content, and in-app purchases. Yang and company are also inviting developers to submit more content to the library – qualified apps get a 75 percent revenue share. The VINCI Kids Library will be making its way to other Android devices soon and is expected to have 1,000 titles by the end of the year.

Award-Winning Apps By 955 Dreams

Years ago, Kiran Bellubbi helped develop India's first handheld computer and the first apps for the Palm. In 2010, he founded 955 Dreams, the Mountain View, California-based company that brought music lovers the Band of the Day app. The runner-up for Apple's 2011 App of the Year, Band of the Day features a new music act daily, complete with artist bios, music videos, band buzz, and entire song streams.

Independent musician Kishi Bashi, who had been showcased on Band of the Day, says the app helped him grow his fan base, release an album, and go on tour with The Barr Brothers and Of Montreal.

Band of the Day, which was built especially for mobile, is, according to Bellubbi, “the world's first daily music magazine native to iOS.” 955 Dreams has also released two other music-related apps: The History of Jazz, an interactive timeline of jazz's history, and On the Way to Woodstock, which pays homage to the Woodstock generation.

A Better Way of Gifting With Wantful

Based in San Francisco and New York City, Wantful aims to put an end to “forced smiles and poorly suited gifts that never see the light of day.” According to founder and CEO John Poisson, the startup wants to create a gift-giving experience that's richer, more thoughtful, and more personalized. How?

As the gift giver, you simply head on over to the Wantful site and enter a few details about your recipient, including gender, age, relation, and occasion. You will also have to answer some questions about their sense of style and interests, as well as tell the site how much you want to spend. Wantful will then suggest some items that match all that information, but you can easily swap them out if you like. Once you've selected 16 items, Wantful will whip up a customized printed gift book to be delivered to your recipient (or you can have it sent to your own address so you can present it yourself). You get to choose the cover image of the book and include a personal message inside.

The gift book, which is hand-wrapped in Japanese rice paper and Wantful's signature black envelope, shows a gift code for all 16 items. Your recipient can enter the codes at the Wantful website to learn more about each item and then select which one they like most. Prices are not revealed to recipients. If you need a gift right away, you can skip the printed book and just opt for the email version, which includes a link to each item.

Wantful has partnered with over 200 designers, brands and producers to offer hundreds of one of a kind items ranging from $30 to $500. “We're going after really small products that are interesting, hard to find, and have a great story behind them,” says Poisson. “These are not the things you'd find if you walked into a department store or went on Amazon.”

Meetupcall Relaunches With Better, Easier Conference Calls

Officially relaunched today, UK-based Meetupcall promises to make conference calls “simpler, better, and cheaper.” Founded by Simon Moxon, the company first launched in 2009, during which the service, according to Moxon, “worked the same way conference calls did in 1995.” Now, after an overhaul, Meetupcall takes care of pretty much everything, letting users host conference calls without having to send out dial-in numbers and PINs.

To host a conference call, users simply schedule it on a calendar app and enter all participants' email addresses, including invite@meetupcall.com. Meetupcall will then deliver the instructions on how to join the call. Participants can choose to be called when the conference is about to start or dial in themselves by clicking a link in the email invite.

In addition, Meetupcall shows the LinkedIn profile of every person on the call (name, photo, location, and job title) to avoid any confusion, especially when the participants have never met.

Gigmark Reinvents the Flash Drive

Based in Knoxville, Tennessee, Gigmark Interactive Media is breathing new life into the humble USB stick. Gigmark's interactive flash drive or IFD turns the familiar storage solution into something more – a marketing platform that allows companies to engage their customers sans paper catalogs. Co-founded by entrepreneurs Parker Frost, Rob Balchunas, and Mark Myers in 2008, Gigmark is evidence that the USB stick is here to stay.

“People are saying the flash drive is dead. The flash drive isn't dead. Millions of these devices are still being sold and used. What we're doing is taking it to the next level,” says Balchunas.

Basically, the Gigmark IFD is a really smart USB stick. The physical device itself can be branded and built to clients' specifications and comes loaded with customized interactive software to present a brand and its objectives through an attractive interface. If a business needs to edit its information, then the IFD will automatically update its contents to reflect the latest version. It also sends user analytics back to its home base, so businesses can see what content is being read and how often to better understand their customers' needs.

Dura-Line, a plastic pipes manufacturer in Knoxville, is one of Gigmark's many clients. Dura-Line's IFD, which looks like the company's colorful piping that's used to protect electrical and fiber-optic cables, allows customers to place and customize orders straight from the device.

The IFD isn't just limited to businesses – artists such as Cody Canada & The Departed have also joined in. The band released its record This is Indian Land with a specially designed IFD that looks like a backstage pass lanyard. The 2GB  “Boarding Pass”, as it is called, contains a full-length digital album, as well as exclusive behind-the-scenes photos and videos and tour information.

In 2011, Gigmark's sales reached $10 million. Who said the flash drive is dead?

Sell Your Online Content With Paya

Hundreds of millions of photos are posted to Facebook every day. On YouTube, over 70 hours of footage are uploaded per minute.

“It's staggering,” says Kevin Schaff, founder and CEO of T3Media. His company recently concluded the beta phase of Paya (“pay-ya”), a new online tool for buying and selling digital content. With Paya, anyone can sell their photos and videos from Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, Vimeo, and over 200 other sites, at no cost and with a just a few mouse clicks. Users set their own price and keep 80 percent of each sale.

Additionally, Paya lets users tag their content on the original site. For instance, if a potential buyer came across a YouTube video that was for sale, they will also see a link to the uploader's Paya page. Upcoming features include a newsroom, where news organizations get first dibs on Paya sellers' content, and a content request tool, where interested buyers can send a request to purchase a piece of online content.