What it does

The Israeli based startup PopTok has paired up movie clips and instant messaging. It’s essentially cinema quotations taking over the role of the emoticon. Instead of expressing themselves through smileys users can insert, say King Kong or Steve Carell, into their IM chats, depending on their mood of course. The plugin is currently only available for AIM and MSN Live Messenger; it’s also only compatible with Windows. Users will first have to download the PopTok client to receive and send movie clips. They can choose from hundreds of clips which have been chosen for their resonance and quotability. All the content is legal as PopTok has teamed up with Hollywood studios for this project. Users who haven’t downloaded the PopTok client will be given a link to the movie snippet.

In their own words

“PopTok upgrades your online conversations and allows you to express yourself

with the hottest clips from Hollywood, TV and music videos.



Don’t know what to say or how to say it? Easily choose from PopTok’s extensive library of short video clips called “Toks.”



Just choose the clip that says what you want to say, stick it in your conversation, and send it to your friends.”

Why it might be a killer

PopTok is sure to be a hit with the younger crowd. It’s fun, plain and simple. It gives conversations a bit more edge. PopTok also has a wide selection of movie clips and musical videos for users to choose from. It’s has many possibilities to expand beyond IM and movie clips.

Some questions

PopTok will probably run into a problem with distribution. Users who haven’t taken the time to download the client probably won’t be bothered to open a new link to see a movie clip. Besides that, it’s only available for Windows and two IM clients. When will it expand across platforms?

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What it does

You can’t go wrong with a chopstick full of moo goo gai pan, a couple of piping hot eggrolls, and a box of fried rice all soaked in msg-goodness and topped off with a fortune cookie bearing good news. Chinese food is an American tradition. Those in doubt, should have a look around them—there’s the mom and pop Chinese restos with names like Flaming Dragon or House of Sichuan, or the full on chains like Panda Express or Pick Up Stix. But for true connoisseurs of authentic Chinese, finding good stuff is not so easy. That’s why Brian Hui created his site, Chinese Food Map. It started off entirely in Chinese, but has recently branched off into English as well. As its name suggests, it covers Chinese food around the country. You can read reviews or submit your own. Search the map or type in keywords. Join to enjoy full access. It’s free.

In their own words

“Welcome to Chinese Food Map

You can drag the map, or double-click to zoom in.

You can type the address or zip code in the ”Search by Address“ box.

Or if you know the name of the restaurant you are looking for, just type the name in the "Search by Name" box”

Why it might be a killer

Food maps are always a good idea. Chinese Food Map is great for people looking for authentic, good Chinese across the country and it caters directly to Chinese. The multilingual approach is a nice touch.

Some questions

Will Chinese Food Map add more functionality—easier search, tags, categories etc? Will the bevy of exclusively Chinese content scare away non-Chinese speakers?

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What it does

Do you ever look up at the stars at night and wonder who is basking in the sun on some island far, far away from where you are? Daylight Map can help satiate that curiosity tugging at you. Powered by Google Map, this simple website is exactly what it sounds like—a map of daylight. The website displays real-time patterns of daytime and nighttime across the globe. The site also offers added features, such as the ability to see the image of just the city lights at night, which may not have a practical purpose, but is certainly easy on the eyes. There are other features for site visitors to play around with as well, such as the global cloud cover, which is updated every hour to illustrate the most up-to-date cloud movements across the world.

In their own words

“DaylightMap shows the pattern of night and day on a Google map, for any area of the Earth, for any date and time. It also allows you to select up to ten locations on the map; in addition to seeing at a glance whether it's daytime there, you can show their local time, sunrise and and sunset times, and length of day. These locations can be remembered for future visits, saved as a bookmark, or sent to other people as a web link. This site can thus function as a graphical world clock, and can be used to show relative times of any future or past event.”

Why it might be a killer

This website may appeal directly to specific users, such as travelers. Although the information is not necessarily conventional, it is interesting. The Google maps offer fantastic images as well.

Some questions

Could more accompanying text further enhance the information displayed in the images? What other users could be particularly interested in viewing this site? What other weather information could be added to make the site full of traditionally useful information?

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What it does

Kurt is alive, people. Or at least his spirit is with AWorldofNirvana.com, a Google Maps and YouTube mashup dedicated to celebrating the beloved 90’s grunge band’s every move. Site visitors select a year, ranging from 1987 to 1994. With each selected year, they are provided with a Google map and an accompanying text list of the concerts played that year. If there is any video footage from that concert, it can be viewed as well, as powered by YouTube. This website is still in its beta phase, hence there may still be mistakes and glitches. However, Nirvana fans are encouraged to not only correct these mistakes, but also contribute their own thoughts and information to the site.

In their own words

“This website is a Google Maps and YouTube mashup. It shows Nirvana's live concerts on a Google map by year, when you click on a concert, the website dynamically pulls videos of that concert from YouTube and shows the first one in the info window. You can play the video in the info window or you can click the [+] icon on the upper right corner to maximize the info window which will show all videos of that concert. Click the thumbnail image and it will take you to the page that plays this video, which also provides the download URL for that video. You can also search for videos directly by keywords, please note that the search engine of this site only provide Nirvana related results, so you don't need to add Nirvana to your search words and searching of other videos might give irrelevant results.”

Why it might be a killer

Dedicated Nirvana fans everywhere will undoubtedly be interested in this site. Although it still needs development, it’s off to a great start. With some tweaking and possible fan contribution, this site has potential to make even Axl Rose have a peek.

Some questions

What other classic bands may fans want to see a site like AWorldofNirvana.com for? What additional media could be added to enhance the selected years? How can the visuals of the site be enhanced?

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What it does

The original point of Craigslist was to help people find, trade, and buy things from other people in their local area. Craigslist is a gold mine of information but anyone who uses it regularly will tell you that it is difficult to find deals on multiple cities without actually manually searching from one to city to the next. This is where Craigslittlebuddy steps in, by aggregating numerous Craigslist sites and allowing you to search them all at the same time instead of one-by-one. Keep in mind that the site is intended for products and therefore Craigslittlebuddy won’t be able to help you find that next dream job. If you are looking to buy something however, either enter a key word or a category and then search multiple locations at once. The site is defaulted to select 21 cities but you can change the number and which ones with an easy drop down menu.

In their own words

“The whole point of this site is to help people search multiple craigslist locations at the same time. I frequent a bunch of guitar & bass-centric message boards and noticed that tons of people search "foreign" craigslist locations to find good deals on used guitars and basses. Location doesn't matter — a deal's a deal. The thing is, with craigslist, you're using a location-based service. It's not really geared to help you find an Ernie Ball Stingray in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York at the same time. You'd have to search all the locations individually...”

Why it might be a killer

There are other sites providing similar functionality but Craigslittlebuddy beats them with the ease of selecting multiple cities, the speed of its engine, the cutesy design, and the memorable URL. All of the above make this a site that should grow quickly in reach.

Some questions

Will they be adding the rest of the Craigslist sections like employment? Nowadays, there are a huge number of telecommuting jobs on Craigslist and it would be great for those interested in working from home to be able to search for those types of jobs all in one place.

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What it does

AntennaSearch.com allows users to search their area to find out the number of cell phone, paging, microwave, and various other towers that exist around them. Site visitors enter their address, and from there, they can see how many registered and non-registered towers currently exist in the area. Site surfers can also search how many future towers may go up in their area in the future, and by whom, as stated in filed and pending tower building applications. The site suggests that the information found on AntennaSearch.com can be used for personal research to determine which cell phone providers are the best, as well as for general research and planning purposes.

In their own words



Why it might be a killer

Why it Might Be Killer:

This site has potential to appeal to the health-conscious, as well as the curious. It may not be the most exciting site, but it definitely provides accurate information. The question is whether that information is particularly in demand and useful.

Some questions

Who may find this information of particularly useful? What other information could be added to the site to enhance its value? Could the site be developed more to offer a more interactive experience for the site visitors?

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What it does

Internet TV just got easier, and 5tvs.com brings it to a new level by letting site visitors browse television stations that have Internet feeds from all over the world. The website takes visitors to a Google map, where they may see where all of the television stations come from, including London, Delhi, Miami, and Buenos Aires. Users can select any city, and immediately watch news from that location. Users also have the option to complete other functions, such as search through Internet TV channels like ESPN, watching one of the uploaded videos, and, for those over eighteen, viewing the posted Adult TV programs.

In their own words



Why it might be a killer

This site has the potential to give surfers a conglomerate of interesting information, particularly in regards to connecting them to international television stations. However, some of the television stations are difficult to connect to. It is an inventive concept that with a bit of tweaking, can be very successful.

Some questions

Should there be a checking system to ensure all television stations can be adequately accessed? What other international television stations can be added to the site? What other internet TV categories can be added as well?

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What it does

The recent release of the FriendFeed API will most likely bring about a host of new applications for the increasingly popular FriendFeed site. FriendFeedmachine is one of these new applications that has been designed to allow users to keep track of their actual friends by making sure that they aren’t drowned out by followers who make more noise. Basically, FriendFeedMachine works by allowing users to apply filters to their FriendFeed account and in that manner stop missing messages from their close friends. The site also provides a different way of commenting, opening items from within a web page and it allows users to mark items as read or unread.

In their own words

“FriendFeedMachine was born out of a desire to streamline the information that was flowing out of FriendFeed, in effect to "Orga-noise". The functionality of the site will continue to grow over time as more features become exposed through the FriendFeed API and other services (Twitter integration on the way!!).”

Why it might be a killer

Those familiar with FriendFeed will know that as the site has grown in popularity, certain followers have drowned out true friends which defeats the whole purpose of the site. By allowing users to distinguish between who you follow and who follows you, FriendFeedMachine makes using FriendFeed a better experience.

Some questions

A similar functionality would obviously be great for Twitter as well. When will they be launching a similar site for Twitter?

Updates


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What it does

The social bookmarking space is becoming increasingly crowded although it is still unclear whether the majority of these sites have a clear and profitable business model. Buru, is a new social bookmarking site that allows you to bookmark items from the web and also import items from blogs and certain photo and video-sharing sites. Simply download their plug-in, and you can start organizing all of your web content, tag it for easy referencing and share your favorite web pages with your friends in an incredibly easy manner. Like FriendFeed, you can also choose to follow other users and receive updates when they post something new on their Buru.

In their own words

“Use our Buru Picker to scrap articles, images, and videos. With one click, store bookmarks and feeds in your collection. Organize the web contents the way you like. Add notes and tags so it's super easy to find it later. Email your buru collection instead of emailing links. Let others enjoy your buru.”

Why it might be a killer

This is obviously a crowded space but Buru’s easy to use design, the ability to import and the FriendFeed-like following options could help to make this site a success providing that they are able to figure out a business model.

Some questions

Are the above-mentioned features enough for Buru to compete in a space where some sites are even paying people to bookmark? Do they have a business model or are they following the “build it and they will come” theory of business?

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What it does

Zadby is an online marketplace specializing in connecting advertisers with video producers for popular sites like YouTube. With millions of YouTube videos being watched everyday, it should come as no surprise that brand managers everywhere would seek a way to advertise to these viewers. Traditional commercials don’t work in the video clip world, but product placement is an excellent means of generating brand awareness and increasing market share. Zadby allows brand managers to set up an account and then post that they would like their product placed. Video producers, with an already existing following, can continue to make their show as always but make a little bit of extra cash by placing a product in their videos.

In their own words

“Zadby is an online marketplace where advertisers, marketers, and brand managers can connect with freelance video producers to create innovative product placement videos tailored for sites like YouTube and MySpace. Zadby facilitates the creation, posting, tracking, and payment for online videos with product placement angles.”

Why it might be a killer

Product placement works and it solves the problem of how to advertise in a world dominated by video clips and Tivo. In helping to put video producers and brand managers together, Zadby might just have the best model for generating revenues and increasing brand awareness.

Some questions

Brand placement is a bit controversial especially given that it can lead to subliminal advertising. Will regulators monitor this type of advertising online in fear of people being unknowingly swayed towards one brand or another?

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