SOMEWHAT FRANK

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.

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.

AskMeNow: Text Message Answers On The Go

Are you ever on the go and in need of answer? I often find myself in need of an answer the minute I step away from the computer and therefore cannot look it up. While having an iPhone has often remedied the problem, AskMeNow may be another possible solution. AskMeNow, an Irvine, California-based startup, is a mobile service for anyone with questions and looking for answers while on the go.

Video: Tantek Çelik On Open Web Media

Tantek Çelik, an innovation leader and long time advocate of open standards efforts like microformats, recently discussed open Web standards and data portability at an Open Media Web Meetup. Tantek  believes writing on the Web is like "writing in sand" since it all could be wiped out irretrievable when the next wave of technology standards come through. Tantek also speaks about data formats and how content data formats expires content over time. Tune in to Tantek's forward thinking perspective and analysis.

Fly Clear To Breeze Through Airport Security

With the U.S. terrorist threat level at orange airport security lines can be time consuming. If you are a frequent traveler like I am you probably are not a big fan of waiting in lines while unexperienced travelers struggle to learn the ropes. Clear, a New York-based identity verification startup founded in 2003, looks to speed up airport security checkpoints by pre-screening travelers.

Qik Streams Live Video From Your Phone To Web

Video lifestreaming has made great strides in the past year as Justin Kan strapped a camera on his head. Robert Scoble, Sarah Meyers, Justine  Ezarik and a number of others including myself have participated in one way or another in the lifestreaming video movement leveraging tools like UStream.TV, Mogulus, Justin.TV and Blog.TV.

With CES taking place in Las Vegas this week and the unfortunate fact that I am unable to attend I am going to take full advantage of my friends lifestreaming videos to get a feel of the conference. Qik is an alpha product that has sprung onto the scene to enable users to stream live video directly from their mobile phone making the barriers of entry into lifestreaming a step closer to the everyday mobile phone user.

definr: A Simply Fast Dictionary

I am a terrible speller. So when spell check is not available I turn to Google for dictionary options to ensure I am spelling correctly. I recently found a simple and fast alternative called definr. Definr, just as it may sound, is an online dictionary.

23andMe DNA Testing A Privacy Concern?

I think we would all rest more assured if we had a clearer picture of our health outlook. If we could better understand the makeup of our DNA we would be clearer on what hand we have been dealt by our ancestors. 23andMe, a Silicon Valley-based startup that launched in mid-November, looks to make it easy to get a clearer picture by offering at-home DNA tests kits.

RedZee For A Carousel of Visual Search Results

RedZee, a Tampa, Florida-based startup, tries to take advantage the old proverb "a picture is worth a thousand words" by displaying a single still thumbnail image preview of a search result in the place of the usual text based result - calling it Search 2.0. RedZee also leverages your potential love for claymation animals like Wallace and Gromit or Gumby with its little Red Zebra mascot. Who can argue with a little red zebra?

Amazon Kindle A First Look Video

My old friend Benjamin Higginbotham at Technology Evangelist gives an honest and 'somewhat frank' perspective about his first 12 hours with the just released the wireless book reading device the the Amazon Kindle. Ben is a veteran e-Book reader users and lists the positives and negatives to the Kindle. 

RedLasso To Search, Clip and Share TV & Radio

Have you ever been watching the news and wanted to get a copy of a particular segment to play or embed online? While the latest DVR technology has made it easy to record television, it is not all that easy to get a copy of your recorded items for use on the Web. RedLassso, a Philadelphia-based search company, offers a service and search technology unlike any other I have seen thus far making it easy to search for TV and radio content to then clip and share on the Web.

Reactee T-Shirts That Text Message

Looking for a reaction from a tee shirt? Reactee offers the ability to create customized tee shirts that might just get the reaction you are looking for via SMS text message. Reactee, a project of TextMarks, allows a user to setup a keyword to text to 41411. By simply sending a specified keyword to 41411 you will receive a response text message created by the tee shirt creator.

Reactee tee shirts designs can include custom slogans, keywords and even images. Creating interactive human billboards, Reactee creators must have a US phone number to create account. Users can update their tee shirts as well as manage the message that a tee shirt sends.

Free Online Video Guitar Lessons

Strumming a six-string guitar can be a very relaxing exercise but it is not something you can learn to do well overnight. It takes time to practice and perfect your skills. Read/Write Web recently wrote an article listing a number of web 2.0 sites and services for musicians. I recently found one that was not mentioned but is worth mentioning called JustinGuitar.com (no this is not Justin.tv).

Do You Need A Hug (Shirt)?

CuteCircuit thinks you need a hug as the company has created an innovative shirt called the Hug Shirt. Leveraging Bluetooth technology and SMS text messaging, the Hug Shirt lets you send a hug to your fellow hug shirt wearing friends via your mobile phone. Each hug you send is played back like a message. So if you tap on your left shoulder the receiver of the message will feel that tap wherever they receive the message.

Moo Stickers Arrive (Literally)

Moo, a UK-based printing startup, puts an unique and personalized spin on traditional items like business cards and notecards. Moo loves to print as they continue to roll out additional offerings. In mid-July, Moo announced the launch of Moo StickerBooks.