SOMEWHAT FRANK

myAOL Adds Some Themes

myAOL, the personalized startpage suite, has added a little more personal flair to its offering by launching the ability to select themes or skins for each page or tab on your personal dashboard. Now in addition to changing the background color users can select from one of six themes.

DEMO 08: My Favorites

DEMO 08 was a blur of excitement and adrenaline as 77 companies showcased their stuff in front of the tech world. I pulled together roundups for Day 1 and Day 2. Now I want to look back and express the launches that I found the most interesting. Please keep in mind that there might be some great products that I left off this list because I could not relate to them as well as the ones on the list. If you attended DEMO 08 please drop a comment below and let me know which launches were keen on.

DEMO 08 Day 2: Roundup

After another eventful evening, this time at the traditional DEMO Jam Session event, day 2 of DEMO08 was another intense day of product launches. Once again, rather than reviewing every single company that launched a product I will offer some tidbits and analysis from day 2.

DEMO 08 Day 1: Roundup

After an evening mixer last night which helped to get everyone together DEMO08, as its name implies, was filled with lots of demos. Rather than review every single company that launched a product today I will give you a brief overview of each one. Overall, I was impressed by a couple of pen-like gadgets, a few enabling technology sites, a couple video sites and of course mobile products.

FantasySportsMatrix Launches Into Beta

Are you gearing up for Super Bowl this weekend? Or better yet counting down the days till pitches and catchers report to another MLB Spring Training? I am. FantasySportsMatrix (FSM), a Sunnyvale, California startup, launched into beta today to offer the typical suite of social networking features to create a place for sports fans to interact.

With blogs, wiki's, forums, polls and a host of other types of content I could see sports addicts entering the social media conversation via a site like FSM since it offers a gentle way to introduce the "Average Joe" to wiki's, blogs and other user-generated content. As a sports fan, all I can think of is - Go Cubs!   

Hubdub Launching Predictive News Aggregator

I am a big fan of news aggregators like Digg, Reddit and Mixx as they bubble up interesting content from around the Web. Hubdub, a UK-based startup, is launching at DEMO08 to put a new spin on the traditional news aggregator landscape by creating a predictive marketplace for news. Hubdub will look to leverage the value of user-generated news aggregation with the accuracy and stir of prediction markets.

DEMO08: I'll Be There, Follow Along

Today I am heading to Palm Desert, California (west of Palm Springs) to attend the DEMO 2008 conference. I am excited to see what this years event has to offer. I have covered some of the companies on from DEMO conferences including the launches of both Moobella and Blurb.

If you are also headed to DEMO08 and have a new product you would like me to look at or just want to sync up at the event please drop me a comment, email or direct Twitter message (here is some help on direct messaging if you need it) and we can make arrangements.

Microsoft Backs DataPortability, Facebook Translates, Digg Tweaks, YouTube Mobile, Widget Kings, Mahalo Examined & Davos

Photo of the Week: The weather in California has been a bit moist this past week as this photo by Michael Risenhoover shows.

Somewhat Frank Weekly Tidbits: 01.27.2008

Video: Geoff Livingston on Now Is Gone

Now is Gone so you had better get ready to embrace a new media. I previously chatted with Brian Solis about, Now Is Gone, a book he helped Geoff Livingston author. I sat on a panel discussing social media with Geoff at the New New Internet conference this past November, when he announced his book. So I was happy to finally be able to chat with him about it.

Israel Startups To Tour Silicon Valley

Israel is known to be a hotbed for Internet startups. Though I have never visited Israel thanks to the California Israel Chamber of Commerce 15 Israel companies will be visiting Silicon Valley starting February 4, 2008 as part of a week long road show called the IsraelWeb Tour.

Seesmic Looks To Be A Video Twitter

Seesmic, a startup founded by European entrepreneur and blogger Loic Le Meur, has been in closed alpha since October 2007 has hopes of creating a video conversation platform online. Seesmic creates an dashboard for anyone with a web cam to quickly create a video. Videos can then be published to a website or social network as well as responded to within the Seesmic community.

My first impression of Seesmic was that is reminded me of slimmed down version of BlogTV which I use regularly for video interviews. But it appears that Seesmic is aimed at creating more a short form or Twitter-like video community where people can interact around both user generated and professional content.

Ask Skins Get Even More Personal

Ask.com rolled out Ask 3D search in June 2006 and I was pleased by its simple, beautiful design which enables users to select from a couple of skins or backgrounds for the search experience. Ask has just enhanced the feature to offer users the ability to create their own skins for the Ask 3D experience. Users can now simply add there own skins to customize the Ask search background to any photo that they like. It takes about a minute or less to do and is actually quite fun.

Chyrp An Open Source Microblogging Platform

Microblogging platforms have been springing up like crazy these days as bloggers look for easier and shorter form ways to quickly express themselves online. Lifestreaming to these platforms also become more prevalent as an aggregation of online activities. I am a big fan of microblogging platforms like Tumblr, Twitter, and Soup.io. They offer a light but powerful platform for self-expression. But there is not a one size fits all solution for every blogger. Chyrp (found deceptively at chyrp.net) offers an open source blogging platform that is more of a medium weight blogging solution.

Postalz: Send An Online Postcard

Do you send post cards when you are on vacation? I used to, I haven’t in years but definitely still get online while on the road. Postalz has launched leveraging the Flickr API to offer a way to send an online post card. Postalz enables users to create postcards with text, art, photo and video and exchange them privately. 

Playyoo Mobile Gaming Network Launches

Playyoo, a social networking platform for creating and sharing mobile casual games, officially opens its beta doors to the public today. Described by TechCrunch as the "YouTube For Mobile Games," Playyoo (www.playyoo.com or m.playyoo.com on mobile phones) allows anyone to create and submit mobile games to its network. Users can create, share and discover new mobile experiences all via Playyoo.

Playyoo, a privately held company based in London, England, offers game developers a place to create and distribute Adobe Flash Lite mobile games. But you don't have to be a seasoned game developer to create a Playyoo game as it offers integrated game creator tools to enable anyone to develop and publish a mobile game creation.