By: Co-Editor, Bobby B:

While Facebook searched for ways to monetize its behemoth of a site. Other business are seeking ways to use the power of Facebook to create their own businesses

Launched on November 12, 2009, a Cape Town, South Africa startup called Personera.com is seeking to use Facebook for its own purposes.

Personera.com allows people around the world to design and order print products personalized with their Facebook content. You can use your Facebook account to sign in, customize and order your product.

Personera’s service allows people to use their Facebook accounts to log in through Facebook Connect, and make their entire social network content instantly available for product personalization. Users are able to choose a theme, automatically add their friend’s birthdays and events each day, and drag and drop their favorite photos into the monthly layout.

A high quality 12-month, 32-page printed calendar then is delivered to their mailbox. The service itself costs $24.95, but that includes shipping to anywhere in the world.
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By: Co-Editor, Bobby B:

Technology can be a wonderful thing or a ponderous thing, depending on how it is deployed and who deploys it. A new website that is creating quite a bit of controversy is eliciting opinions across a broad spectrum.

Youtego.com, a Bay Area based start-up launched on September 30, 2009, describes itself as a new visual tool for self-visualization on the Internet. As stated on their website and in their releases, Youtego.com believes in the mantra “recognize yourself to recognize the world around you”. They think that the concept of self-visualization represents what you believe, feel, know, taught or capable of doing.

The process of self-visualization in Youtego.com is a combination of semantics (words and phrases) and visual representation (pictures and photos) that the user defines (words and phrases) and selects (picture). Ultimately, the user gets the combination or matrix of visual objects that they personally defined and visualized. The elements of that matrix (the company calls them Tegos) may match with people’s Tegos anywhere in the world.

Once you sign up for an account, you start by creating a ‘Tegoset’. If you are a golf nut you presumably would post pictures relating to that interest. With a Tegoset you have the ability to explain what you like and enjoy without to having to write anything — it’s all done through pictures.
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By: Co-Editor, Bobby B:

We have previously discussed language translations sites and software available on the web. While acknowledging their ubiquity, we discussed a new site based in Bulgaria called TranslationsPal.com. This site is a web-based, real time online translation service powered by human translators.

Now comes another language related site with a narrower bent, but nonetheless intriguing. Recently launched and based in New York City is LanguageMate.com.

LanguageMate.com bills itself as the leader in the development of language solutions for the healthcare field. Its mission is to create tools that enable healthcare institutions to enhance quality of care, improve patient safety, and elevate satisfaction levels for both patients and providers.

They offer a suite of products and services that are specifically designed to meet the communication needs of clinicians, support staff, and the patients they serve. Given the United States’ growing diversity, it is becoming increasingly important to provide appropriate language assistance to people who are not fluent in the English language.
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By: Co-Editor, Bobby B:

When Digg.com was launched in December of 2004, it spawned a bevy of copycat sites, Reddit and Newsvine for example offer similar concepts. However, Digg is still the gold standard when it comes to social news websites coupled with the concept of voting stories up or down and displaying them on that basis.

Now comes was fwisp.com which is a Digg-like website where people can share and discover business, economy and finance news, articles and videos. Based in New York City and launched in July, fwisp.com was created as an attempt to be the venue for bloggers who are seeking targeted traffic and also a daily read for people interested in the various topics listed above

The founders of fwisp.com are attempting to bring some organization in the whole blend of financial blogs out there. They have discovered that it is sometimes close to impossible to find organized information between all the millions of blogs.

The whole idea of fwisp.com is to allow a democratic approach to article categorizing and presentation. That is, the content is controlled by the site’s visitors rather than administrators.
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By: The Editors and Staff of GreatStartups.com

Today is one of those few days that we are taking off to enjoy the Holiday.

We wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday Season.

We hope you all get a chance to spend time with family and friends this season. We thank you for your continued support.

By: Co-Editor, Bobby B:

Numbers, in the form of passwords, IDs, account numbers, and phone numbers etc., pile up every year. In addition, health care information and financial information are more detailed and complicated than ever.

A Chicago based start-up launched in early September of 2009 provides an online solution to this prolific personal information explosion.

Orggit.com (Short for “organize it”) is an online solution that allows its users to store so-called wallet information, medical information, passwords, and documents all in one secure online location. Orgitt.com’s customers can access all of their information anytime; anywhere they may need it–wherever there’s an Internet connection. The company offers a free iPhone application that allows for true on-the-go access. With the emergence of cloud computing and storage, Orggit.com aims to be at the forefront of consumer focused solutions.

Orggit.com empowers its users to organize, store, and retrieve life’s essential information anytime, anywhere. You can neatly store your personal and family medical information, and retrieve it from any computer or smartphone with an internet connection.
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By: Co-Editor, Bobby B:

For those adventurous travelers out there who love the British Isles, as I do, here is a neat site.

Pitchup.com is a new website (launched in July of 2009 and based in London) that matches users with the perfect campsite or holiday park in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The site makes it easy to sift through 5,000 holiday parks and campsites using 79 different criteria. Users can search not only by place, but also by providing a postcode, and further search a site’s proximity to attractions like beaches, National Parks and so on. Users can also search more detailed information such as sites in which campfires are allowed, for example.

“Special Offers” are also available, with online booking in the pipeline.

Pitchup.com is free to use for both users and campsite managers, providing a service users can trust for its transparency and accuracy. Pitchup.com sets itself apart because no other site offers a search with such depth and which covers so many sites. Pitchup.com brings a totally fresh approach to a sector enjoying rapid growth as travelers rediscover the charms of so-called staycations or the joys of camping in a foreign land.

The site looks great and is easy to use.
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By: Co-Editor, Bobby B:

On December 2, 2009, InfoDome, Inc., an Oakland California based company announced the beta release of InfoDome 1.0 , a new visual way to create online database solutions.

Under development for two years, InfoDome 1.0 promises to revolutionize the way databases are created and used.

According to Dave Kleinberg, CEO of InfoDome, Inc., “Unlike software databases that are hard to share and other online tools that are either limited in functionality or clunky to use, InfoDome is visually driven and powerful. With just a few clicks, database authors, website designers and spreadsheet users can create flat-file or relational databases from scratch, by importing their data, or by customizing pre-built solutions. Using 100% visual WYSIWYG (an acronym for What You See Is What You Get in case you don’t know) tools, they create forms and advanced reports to let remote users access and manage data, and create and share their own reports. With another click or two, the solutions can be embedded in their website.”
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By: Co-Editor, Bobby B:

Because of the subprime mortgage crisis and the avalanche of foreclosures that followed the mortgage industry (and for the most part rightfully so) has gotten a bad name.

Loans4Less.com is a Redondo Beach based on line mortgage brokerage operating throughout the United States. While it is not a “start-up” per se, having been in business since the 1990s, it has only been a publicly traded company, since April of 2008. As such, it deserves a fresh look.

Loans4Less.com intends to develop a national loan origination platform for standard “A” paper Conforming residential mortgage programs. For you novices out there, a conforming loan is a mortgage loan that conforms to GSE (government sponsored enterprises such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) guidelines. Loans4Less.com maintains a “AAA” rating with the Better Business Bureau, provides very competitive rates, terms and costs, daily rate updates, other market information.

Loans4Less.com prides itself on excellent and honest service. Loans4Less.com does not operate a warehouse line of credit, it does not hold trust funds, and it does not lend directly or service loans. Loans4Less.com was not exposed to the risks associated with Sub-Prime lending. The company relies on various wholesale lenders for its retail home loan programs.
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By: Co-Editor, Bobby B:

Kiowa poet N. Scott Momaday remarked that the American West “is a place that has to be seen to be believed, and it may have to be believed in order to be seen.” In the West, everything seems somehow larger, grander, than life, and it is not hard to understand why so many different peoples have come to consider their own most innermost lives inextricably linked with the wilderness and the West and a desire to experience it in all its glory.

A Missoula, Montana based startup, Eagle Mountain Outfitters, is tapping into that desire.

Eagle Mountain’s wilderness horseback adventures offer opportunities for camping, photography, hiking, fly-fishing, western culinary experiences, hunting and horseback trips that combine to create an awe-inspiring awareness of the beautiful scenery of the Bob Marshall Wilderness (The Crown Jewel of the American Wilderness System). Just reading the description on the website makes this city slicker want to hop the first plane to Missoula:

“You have time to unwind, away from the world of telephones, televisions, and traffic jams. Sit back, relax and… silently watch misty morning sunrises… observe the eagles soaring above sunny, snow capped mountain peaks.. quietly share star-filled evenings… crackling campfires peacefully end each day… listen to the awakening of a new day… as you enjoy your custom designed Montana Wilderness Adventure.”

Larry Larson, the owner and operator of Eagle Mountain Outfitters is a 56 year old Montana native and has lived in Montana most of his life attending University of Montana. He has worked in the timber industry, outfitting industry, dental manufacturing and other fields of self-employment. He has written and published a collection of short stories (Montana Now) on the Adventures of Wilderness Outfitting. Larry Larson has been involved in the Outfitting industry since 1972.
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