KNOW
So you know what to do, and you know
how to do it. But can you talk the talk? Here's a primer for what the geek elite
are chatting about at cocktail parties.
1. Lego for websites - SquareSpace
Lego
for websites – Square Space
Where?
New York
Website: www.squarespace.com
Who?
Anthony Casalena dreamt up his “Lego bricks
for the web" in a dorm in 2003. It's now a company worth US$100m.
What?
SquareSpace is a fully-hosted tool for building
and maintaining websites from scratch. The tools - customizable templates and a
drag-and- drop image uploader - are exquisite and the results look
breathtaking. Now we can all have professional-looking websites (but don't let
on, or everyone will want one).
2. The new radio - Mixlr
The
new radio - Mixlr
Where?
London
Website: www.mixlr.com
Who?
A crew of DJ-developers on a mission to
reinvent radio.
What?
Launched back in 2010, Mixlr allows you to
broadcast a live radio show across the web via a nifty desktop app - a bit like
Turntable.fm or Spotify's Soundrop app.
It's now home to everything from rebellious
Middle Eastern talk radio to Premiership club phone-ins to some of the best DJs
from both sides of the Atlantic. Mixlr crew, make some noise (or at least
enable us to)!
3. Console reinventors - Ouya
Where?
Los Angeles
Website: www.ouya.tv
Who?
A team of gaming disruptors including
Jambox designer Yves Behar, with a bombshell-shaped, bombshell-looking
open-source Android console
What?
Ouya began its Kickstarter campaign with a
goal of US$950,000 - it eventually brought in over $8.5m. It's set to ship to
backers in March 2013 and will come with a dev kit, encouraging owners to build
their own games to play alongside Final Fantasy, Minecraft and OnLive game
streaming.
4. Crash pad finder - Hotel tonight
Where?
San Francisco
Website: www.hoteltonight.com
Who?
Serial travel-firm builders with friends in
high-end places
What?
HotelTonight shows you three majorly
discounted, same-day hotel deals for each of the 42 cities that it covers - at
the moment, that's mostly US and Canadian cities, plus London. It works by
tapping into hotels' unsold inventories, and allows you to book a room via its
beautifully designed iPhone and Android apps. $40-a-night griefholes? Not
anymore.
5. The UK Kickstarter - Bloom VC
The
UK Kickstarter - Bloom VC
Where?
Glasgow
Website: www.bloomvc.com
Who?
Entrepreneurs who've built a crowd-funding
platform to get investment for great ideas from the UK and Europe
What?
Kickstarter might be on the way this year,
but Bloom VC is already watering idea seeds on the British isles and beyond. It
allows you to post ideas for everything from start-ups to films, albums or TV
shows, and it offer rewards to those who promise to invest within the chosen
deadline. Our idea: chocolate blowtorches.
6. Movies/Theatre/Journeys - Wishberry
Where?
Mumbai
Website: www.wishberry.in
Who?
India's only true crowdfunded effort
Its primary goal is to promote independent
arts and efforts through the community.
What?
If you have an itch to make your own movie
or to run for a cause but no one ever returned your calls, this is the last
stop for you. Wishberry is the platform for theatre, movies, events, marathons,
journeys and epic expeditions that could change your life or the cause you wish
to support. Stop dreaming of that animated short. Make it!
7. Ideas factory - Mint digital
Where?
London
Website: www.mintdigital.com
Who?
A Brixton-born digital agency that turns
its crazy ideas into real world objects.
What?
Sticky Gram, 50x50mm fridge magnets made
from your favorite Instagram photos; Olly, the desktop robot that produces nice
smells as rewards for re-tweets; or Foldable.Me, tiny customizable cardboard
effigies of yourself. Those are just three of Mint’s barmy digital projects expect
their big crazy brains to think up even bigger, crazier ideas any day now.
8. Reputation burnishers the audience
Where?
Los Angeles
Website: www.theaudience.com
Who?
One Hollywood super-agent, one co-founder
of Napster, and one social-media master plan
What?
Sean Parker (remember him from The
Social Network?) and Ari Emanuel (the inspiration for Ari Gold in Entourage
are building a start-up aiming to revolutionize how musicians and celebrities
use social media. It's in stealth mode right now, but expect more news later
this year. With these backers, it'll be worth talking about.
Website:
www.theaudience.com
Crowd funding
Crowd funding's not rocket surgery. Imagine
you're at the bar and you can't afford a pint - you ask your mates to chip in,
right? And if they're good mates, you'll end up with a pint. Crowd funding is
exactly the same, except the bar is the internet, a pint could be whatever you
want it to be, and your mates are total strangers. With Kickstarter - the US
crowd funding site which has seen eight different campaigns raise over S$1m -
launching in the UK this year, even UK-based projects will soon be clamoring
for your cash. And with everything from VR goggles to a new Android-based home
console (see Ouya, right) becoming a reality, it can only be a good thing for
tech.
Names to drop
Pebble
A customizable watch that syncs with your
smartphone and uses an E-Ink display? We'll take two (one for each wrist)
Gtar
The iPhone-powered guitar that teaches you
how to play with an app and a set of interactive LEDs built into the fret board.
The internet of things
Until recently, the internet's main job was
connecting people to other people. But in 2008, something changed - for the
first time, the number of 'things' connected to the internet exceeded the
number of people on Earth. And now, thanks to cheap sensors and low-power chips
such as ARM's Flycatcher, we're entering a new age where objects talk directly
to other objects, via the internet. Why? So we can do cool stuff like automate
our homes from overseas, set our coffeemakers grinding when we're five minutes
from the front door, or get a tweet when it's time to empty the dishwasher.
We're not there yet, but services such as IFTTT ('If This Then That') and
Belkin's WeMo are leading the way...
How to get your lights to turn on at sunset
Step 1
Create a free account at web automation
service IFTTT (ifttt.com) and get yourself a Belkin WeMo Switch ($50,
belkin.com).
Step 2
Plug your WeMo into a mains socket, and
plug your lights into the WeMo.
Step 3
Download the WeMo iOS app. Activate the
'weather' and 'WeMo' channels in IFTTT. Pick 'turn on the light when the sun
sets'. Voila!
Know 3D Printing
Cubify
Until you can print a new Core i8 processor
from the comfort of your own bedroom, you might not feel 3D printing has much to
offer us. But think again: what could be more perfectly geeky than designing
and printing your own bricks for a Lego Mindstorm-compatible robot? Or a case
for your Raspberry Pi? The Cubify cube (pictured, from $1,300, cubify.com) is
one of a new breed of lounge-friendly 3D printers and is capable of printing
items up to 14cm high, wide or deep. It comes with built-in Wi-Fi, software
that automatically converts on-screen models into printable files and 25
ready-made templates. You just need to knock up a blueprint, or download one
from the likes of cubify.com or thingiverse.com.
Cube
3D printers
Names to drop
PopFab
Designed by two students from MiT and small
enough to be lugged around inside a briefcase, PopFab is the world's first
truly portable 3D printer.
Organovo
Need a new lung or liver? Organovo doesn't
mess around churning out plastic money boxes; its Bio-printer makes actual
human body tissue. We can rebuild you; we have the technology...
