SOMEWHAT FRANK

Fire Eagle Launches Location Aggregator

Location.

This is something that is important in real estate. Online real estate is becoming more mobile and location is becoming more important. There are a number of location based startups that have been springing onto the scene. Fire Eagle, a Yahoo location based social networking platform, launched into beta today to store your current physical location in the world and syncs it with other applications. For example, Dopplr, Brightkite and even the new Dash Express can share information with Fire Eagle. Fire Eagle acts as the go-between, storing your location, and sharing it with apps according to rules you set up. This may be the first location aggregator for all of your location-based social applications.

Upcoming Web/Tech & Social Media Events

It has truly been an action packed 2008 web/tech and social media conference season thus far. I previously listed a number of events but since January a number of new ones have popped up. I wanted to highlight few upcoming events that I will be attending and thought you might want to check out. I will also be speaking at a number of them. The next few months are going to be big travel months for sure. Check out the list of upcoming web/tech, social media and marketing events.

Video: A Day With The Dash Express GPS

Do you get lost a lot while driving? If you do you might want to get yourself a GPS navigation system. Dash Navigation, a Sunnyvale, California based startup, which I previously previewed in episode 30 of SOMEWHAT FRANK TV has created an innovative GPS system that connects to the Internet. I recently tested the Dash Express GPS system myself as I spent the day navigating DC with the hot new gadget.

Check out the video (below) which is episode 36 of the video podcast SOMEWHAT FRANK TV. If you like what you see you can purchase your own Dash Express GPS.

Don't forget to subscribe to the SOMEWHAT FRANK TV video podcast.

Fight High Gas Prices By Finding Parking Fast

Filling a vehicle with gas might be the current problem for many, but finding a place to park the car has been an issue for a lot longer. Several companies have fired up to help frustrated drivers park their vehicles.  Two previous posts addressed the parking problem with Parkwhiz and Parking Hunter - and I am sure there are a few more similar products.

The new kid in the parking reservation camp is BestParking.com, a free online search engine and rate calculator for Manhattan’s 1,030 parking facilities with a free mobile version available.  Founded in 2006 by 20-year old college student Benjamin Sann, BestParking.com offers a very simple design. Interestingly, the site was inspired by “an episode of Seinfeld in which George refuses to pay for a parking space.”  The company consists of 3 full-time and 6 part-time employees.

Filtrbox Does Widgets For Olympic Team USA

With the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic games ready getting underway you might be looking to stay up to speed with the action. Filtrbox, a Boulder, Colorado based TechStars startup and previous TECH cocktail demoer, is looking to help you keep track of all the USA Teams' news by launching a new widget offering. The widget is not just your normal feed widget as it showcases the power of persistent search and noise control to offer up everything it can find about the USA Olympic team. There is lots of stuff from lots of sources ranging from NBC to bloggers point of view and everything in between.

The new widget launched is a desktop widget that runs under Adobe AIR, and a Flash widget for your blog. Both are totally free and easy to install. Check out the Team USA widget as you cheer Team USA on to gold or create your own custom widget based off your filtrs.

Video: Clearspring Widget Startup Explained

Clearspring, a Virginia-based startup, offers a number of widget solutions for publishers and advertisers. I got to catchup with Clearspring Community Manager and genunine good guy, Justin Thorp as he "tells all" about the widget making startup. Is Clearspring soon to be acquired? Watch the video and maybe you will find out.

Don't forget to subscribe to the SOMEWHAT FRANK TV video podcast on iTunes of via your favorite feed reader.

LaunchBoxDigital Demo Day 2008 Preview

Today I am headed to the first LaunchBoxDigital demo day for the Washington, D.C. based startup incubator program. The program is similar to TechStars which I visited in Boulder, Colorado in March. The following nine portfolio companies received funding as part of the program and will be demoing at the event. This article will offer you a preview.

Strands Offers $100K To Best Recommendations Startup

The Strands, a recommendations company with offices in Virginia, has put a little $100,000 prize to the best recommendation startup. What does that mean? The Strands seek to identify the best early stage project in the area of recommendation technologies, considering the technology, business opportunity and team behind the project. The Winner will be offered an investment of $100,000 from Strands. Winners will be awarded at the upcoming ACM Recommender Systems Conference in Switzerland. If you are interested or maybe you can recommend someone - check out the full contest details.

Delver Social Profile Powered Search Engine

Social or community powered search has been attempted a number of different ways but Delver, an Israel based startup, looks to leverage users' social graph to create relevant social search results. I got a preview of Delver at DEMO08 and again at the 2008 IsraelWeb Tour. Delver recently launched its open alpha product for all the World to use. Delver offers web, media and people search function. My first impression: Interesting.

hi5 Gets A New Communications Director

hi5, a fast growing social networking site, has just landed a new director of communications in Adriana Gascoigne. hi5 is a social networking site for Tweens, users in their teens and 30's, and is among the top-10 global social networks. Based on the June comScore Media Metrix worldwide figures released in June, hi5 grew 79% in the first half of 2008. Adriana made her plans to move to hi5 public via her blog yesterday as she decided she wanted to:

"to build castles in, make new playmates, dig to discover new treasures – most importantly, as Frank Gruber has stated several times, “Have fun!”

You are exactly right Adriana. You have to have fun in life because life is too short, because we die. I am happy you realize that and are taking action. Congrats to Adriana on the new gig with hi5. The social networking space is definitely an interesting and exploding territory and I am sure Adriana's expertise will make a positive impact on hi5's direction which already appears to be up.

Spreed News Helps You Speed Read News

There is so much news content being produced by both mainstream and social media outlets these days that it harder than ever to get through all of it. Taking an academic approach to productivity and literacy Spreed News recently launched to try and help you read through your news faster, thus saving you time.