By: Co-Editor, RB:

For those who are 2.0 renaissance men or women, there is a new product that might interest you.

MyVoxtopia.com offers Voxtopia. Voxtopia provides smart, virtual phone numbers in over 40 countries that allows users to forward calls anywhere in the world for pennies, screen and block unwanted callers, make cheap international phone calls, make conference calls, get faxes and voicemails sent to email and much more.

Voxtopia is a product of WorldTalk Incorporated, a privately owned, global Internet Telecommunications provider specializing in next generation voice, video and mobile technologies. WorldTalk provides international consumers, small-to-medium sized enterprises, and Internet Telephony Service Providers (ITSPs) with cutting edge, inexpensive communications tools and services. They are located in Los Angeles, California.

Using Voxtopia, you can manage call settings, view instant call history, manage contacts and download your messages anytime online. You can sign up for free and receive one free US phone number. They provide similar features for two other killer services (google voice and ringcentral) but in a combined package, with extra goodies and available in over 40+ countries. They also give free phone numbers away. They also have plugins for other great services: Highrise, Twitter, Facebook (it allows Facebook users to call you from the web without giving away your number).
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By: Co-Editor, RB:

In June, just before the World Cup, we reviewed a company called Konkuri.com. At Konkuri.com you can create your own tournament site, share results, get feeds, comment on matches, and so on. Konkuri.com’s goals are to help people manage and publish tournaments for any kind of sport or game.

Here is another site that is kind of in the same space but at the same time it is very different.

Sportmeets.com launched in late April out of Glasgow is an online application designed to make recreational sports more enjoyable for the players and the organizers alike.

Miro and Peter, two Slovak friends and sports enthusiasts who met during their studies at the University of Glasgow, started the site. Their experience with running the university volleyball club and participating in a variety of sports on campus made them realize the significant amount of work and time that the person in charge of a sports group typically has to devote just to set up a game or a sporting event. The hassle that comes with inefficient communication, late cancellations and sharing of booking fees will be well familiar to anyone who has been involved in grassroots sports.
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By: Co-Editor, RB:

Here is a cool new site that is banking on the death of business cards. Given current technology an argument can be made that the exchange of business cards is anachronistic.

Qubrit.com, new launched out of London, is a fast growing social network which allows you to create your virtual business card and exchange it with friends, colleagues and others. The most important feature of Qubrit, is that you will always keep the contact details of others updated. People tend to change their phones, emails, addresses, and even close down their social network profiles (like recent examples of Facebook accounts closures).

Qubrit’s main feature is that you have business cards of others, which will always be up to date, with the most current contact information, such as mobile, phone, email, address, skype, facebook, and twitter profile links. Once a person amends his business card information, everyone who has his virtual business card will see his most up-to-date info.

When you exchange contacts, the info will automatically be saved in your contact list online as soon as you go home and write that “Nice meeting you” follow-up email. So why does contact info even need to cross the digital threshold if it’s only going back to cyberspace?
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By: Co-Editor, RB:

I do not think anybody would be surprised to learn that a recent study found that users of Facebook and Twitter spend more time and money online than average persons using the Internet by quite a large margin.

Small businesses that seek to remain on the cutting edge of these demographic shifts often have trouble optimizing the myriad information provided by these social applications. But at the same time they cannot afford to miss out on the opportunities that are presented by these applications.

3DCart.com, based in Tamarac, Florida, help small businesses and entrepreneurs start their websites, design sites, and make sure these businesses reach social media customers wherever they are be it laptops, PC’s, or smartphones.

Today 3DCart is used by thousands of businesses online, including businesses in United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Argentina, Brazil, Turkey, Italy, France, and Spain.
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By: Co-Editor, RB:

Many of the startups we see are from entrepreneurs who are trying to create the next Facebook or create a niche online community, be it through-travel, shopping, sports, parenting etc.

A new site is looking to cater to these already existing communities by providing mobile applications for these communities.

Zerista.com was launched in mid-May out of Denver, Colorado.

Zerista.com is a site that will enable any person who manages a group, team or event to turn it into an interactive community that every member can access on his mobile.

These apps work on any web-enabled phone, and the creation process couldn’t be simpler. In fact, it is almost automatic in the sense that your input is kept to a bare minimum. You just create an account, name the community and set the respective functionalities. Zerista.com can quickly turn your group, club, team or organization into an active mobile community.
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By: Co-Editor, RB:

When I was a child, I went on a family vacation twice a year. We traveled every spring and summer, at least until my dad lost his job when I was 14. However, many of my friends were left home with grandparents or (in the case of my rich friends) nannies. Taking children on vacation is a relatively new phenomenon. Times have changed; family travel is maybe the most important and fastest growing segment of travel today.

Renowned Silicon Valley entrepreneur, Katrina Garnett recently launched MyLittleSwans.com. The goal of the site is to save substantial time and eliminate layers of fees for discerning global travelers and families.

Designed for all types of users, the site caters to those who like to do a lot of research and seek out a lot of advice, as well as to those who prefer a more turn-key experience – and because MyLittleSwans eliminates third party costs, users not only save time, but can also save a substantial amount of money.

Garnett founded My Little Swans in October 2007 and has invested more than $2,250,000 of her own personal capital in the creation of this business. 2008 was focused on building the site and writing and uploading content, 2009 was focused on offering limited memberships to gain live user feedback. With strong roots in Silicon Valley, Garnett was well aware that the software is a key component, making MyLittleSwans not only extraordinarily efficient, but also able to support “the next big thing” – that is, whatever comes after Facebook and Twitter – via what they deem “superlative content management systems.”
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By: Co-Editor, RB:

Many Startups in the social media or social networking space seek to find a niche and exploit it to bring like minded persons to their site, thus creating a “community”. The key to any of these communities is actual bringing those people to the community and getting them to stay and use the site as part of their everyday social interaction.

A new site seeking to do just that is SoftCity.com, a Montreal based start up launched last week. SoftCity bills itself as the first community built around software, helping users and developers interact. As we well know, there are dozens and dozens of sites that might take issue with SoftCity’s assertion, but their niche clearly is to focus on the interaction between users and developers of software.

The goal of the community is to bring together software enthusiasts whether they are users, experts or developers for conversation, comment as well as trying and buying software. Users can interact and become part of an active social networking community to share advice and opinions on software, post software product reviews, try and buy software while earning SoftDollars, a virtual currency that can be used toward software purchases.

Avanquest Software (EPA: AVQ), one of the top 10 consumer software publishers, is an active developer on the site and provides feedback to users as well as selling its software on the new social commerce site.
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By: Co-Editor, Bobby B:

Want to find a dance partner near you? Want to find a workout partner near you? Want to find a tennis partner?

A new website called CribSocial.com can help you. This Bay Area startup, which was launched in November of 2009, provides a platform where people with similar interests can connect and socialize offline through activities in their neighborhood.

While many social websites such as Facebook and MySpace are mostly viewed as indoor activities that are enjoyed alone in your house or apartment, CribSocial.com encourages offline interaction, indeed that is the entire point of the site.

It’s free service which allows people to create and participate in social activities in many different categories such as dancing, hanging out, sports, education etc. People can look for a dance partner, hiking groups or simply someone interesting to hang out with. Besides the individual activities users can also create social groups that meet regularly as well as one time special events such as a sports event or music concerts.
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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:

Not all fundraising and charitable organizations are long-term ventures. Moreover, these charities have the infrastructure and capital base to last as going concerns. However, many fund-raising/charitable efforts are short-term efforts to raise money for a specific purpose. For example, raising money for individuals with cancer, raising money for accident victims, or raising money for an injured firefighter.

In these circumstances, keeping overhead down and reach donors quickly and efficiently is paramount.

A Chicago based web startup called GiveForward.org is providing an answer for these situations. Started in August of 2008, GiveForward.org provides free personal fundraising pages to individuals to raise money for friends and family members battling illnesses like cancer.

The Chicago Tribune has called GiveForward.org “The future of medical fundraising in the Internet Age.”

GiveForward.org helps individuals raise $10K, $20K and even $30K + to pay for their friends medical expenses. It gives people an easy way to help their friends and loved ones when they need it most.

By incorporating social media such as Facebook and Twitter to help empower users, GiveForward.org raises money from people all over the country for good causes. It is turning the idea that social media is frivolous on its head.

Co-founder Desiree Vargas, worked as a specialist in collegiate entrepreneurship at the Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City and as an independent consultant for Arabella Philanthropic Investment Advisors. Her passion for philanthropy and the role that young and small-scale donors can have on our communities has been a cause celebre. When not working, she spends her time inventing new recipes that don’t always work, walking her golden retriever, Ellie, and going to Zumba. Desiree likes Hangar One, cheese, and kicking Ethan’s butt in bar trivia.
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