Comments Off on Meplus 1 Making It Easier For Everyone To Pay0LikeLike 3,996
Washington DC startup Meplus 1 is a new company looking to make it easier to pay in a variety of locations. Meplus 1 is an iPhone app that will soon be available on Android as well. The app integrates with already existing POS systems like Micros, POSitouch, Dinerware, Digital Dining and POS.
Customers use the iPhone app to open up a tab at restaurants and other establishments. As they order they add to the tab and at the end of their meal or transaction they use their credit card information, safely and securely stored in the app, to pay, hence making life easier for consumers, merchants and busy servers.
The app is similar to Tabbed Out and the TGIFriday’s app, but more robust in the POS systems that it’s capable of interacting with.
Now at the end of a meal a customer doesn’t have to wait for the server to bring the check, take the check back to reconcile and then bring the check back to the table. It’s also safer for customers in that they don’t have to hand their credit card over to the server. It’s all done within the app.
Meplus 1 is also not limited to just restaurant tabs. Their app is great for bars, lounges, restaurants and night clubs. They also provide five layers of security which prevents fraud and chargebacks which can be costly to both consumers and merchants.
We got a chance to talk to Justin Broady, co-founder of Meplus 1. Check out the interview below.
Comments Off on Rohit Bhargava Best Selling Author Of Likeonomics Announced For Everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference0LikeLike 2,038
Rohit Bhargava best selling author of Likeonomics On The Startup America Stage at CES 2013 (photo: Nibletz Media Inc)
The news about everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference continues to pour out. Today we’re pleased to announce that startup aficionado and best selling author of Likeonomics, Rohit Bhargava will be speaking and appearing at the conference.
Everywhereelse.co has quickly grown to be the largest startup conference in the country. With over 2000 attendee tickets sold (only 15% in Tennessee), and over 100 startups in the Startup Village, this conference offers unparalleled access to speakers, investors, curriculum, networking and startup pitch contests.
Bhargava is a widely sought after speaker and his talks about his best selling book Likeonomics, are loved by startup founders and entrepreneurs. We’ve seen Bhargava speak at both at TechCocktail event in Washington DC and a panel on startup authors on the Startup America stage at Eureka Park, CES 2013.
Likeonomics is vital to young companies and startups. The book covers why some people and companies are more believable than others and why like ability is the real secret to being more trusted.
Bhargava is a marketing pro. He was a lead social strategist at top PR firm Ogilvy where he helped found the world’s largest team of social media strategists. He teaches global marketing at Georgetown University and even serves as an advisor to several startups including Glimpulse, a startup that will be launching at everywhereelse.co.
Bhargava has appeared in the New York Times, NPR, The Guardian, Fox News, CNBC and many other media outlets. He’s spoken to crowds big and small including multiple TEDx events.
There are still some attendee tickets left for everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference there are also 5 startup village booths remaining below.
Comments Off on uSwapia Trading & Bartering Even If You Don’t Want What They Have0LikeLike 3,044
Rehoboth Beach Delaware startup, uSwapia, is the latest to tackle direct and indirect bartering. Many sites have tried to replicate and improve upon the bartering model provided on Craigslist.com. uSwapia has found a way to barter, or trade, services and goods with someone even if they want what you have but don’t have what you want.
Rather than being stuck with a service or item you don’t want uSwapia has a better way as Kevin Clark the company founder explains:
“So I’m an acupuncturist, and have listed myself on the uSwapia site. I state that for 1 token, I will offer somebody an acupuncture service. Fred the baker pulled his back lifting a bag of flour and wants some acupuncture. I don’t want any baked goods, because I’m still holding onto a little bit of holiday weight, but that’s ok. Fred comes in, the site transfers a token from Fred’s account to my account after the trade is completed, and then I can use that token to go hire Suzy the personal trainer to help get me back into shape in time for summer. Tokens are really just placeholders for trades, and basically everything is traded for 1 token. (We find that most trades would retail for between $50-150, but by taking dollar amounts out of the equation, we are trying to shift the emphasis to building community in one’s neighborhood, while operating under the premise that sometimes we are ahead, and sometimes we are behind, but that it all evens out in the end.)”
In essence not only has Clark provided a new way to barter and trade online but also a better one that solves one of the main problems that people have with trading and bartering in the first place. When you take to Craigslist for example you see what everyone has to barter and what they want but sometimes you don’t have anything close.
Check out the rest of our interview with Clark below.
Comments Off on Display Moves To Thin Air With Russian Startup Displair: CES 2013 Video Interview0LikeLike 2,334
Imagine a world where you could just walk right up to something and right before your very eyes in the open air was a display. No monitor, no projector, just a display in the air. Now imagine if it was a multi-touch point display. You’re not far off from visualizing Russian startup Displairs, display technology.
As you can see in the video with our co-founder Nick Tippmann, the Displair unit is showing the hit game Fruit Ninja right in the middle of the air. The best part is you can actually use your hands to slice the fruit right in the middle of the air. It’s like some awesome step into Kinect or Nintendo Wii-verse technology.
The founders of this Russian startup see the potential in 4 dimensional game play. They also see the technologies potential in advertising and marketing. They had impressed some of the people from Coca Cola who stopped by their booth at CES’ Eureka Park last week.
Displair could display virtual Coca Cola water falls and create interactive games far beyond any consumers wildest dreams.
This is just the type of technology and startup that CEA was looking for when they set up Eureka Park last year. We saw some other wild tech this year as well like Tactus, a micro fluid technology that makes tactile keyboards just morph up from the screen of a smartphone or tablet device.
Check out our video interview below with Displair.
Comments Off on Cariloop The Expedia Model For Geriatric Care0LikeLike 3,591
Elder care and geriatric care are on the rise. As the baby boomer generation starts turning towards assisted living and geriatric care, the industry continues to grow. In 2013 we’re starting to see a new trend of somewhat computer savvy seniors, and their kids, turning to the internet to help find care and services. We’re also at a time where more and more seniors are trying to prolong their independence by living at home. However, they still need resources.
Austin based Cariloop is a startup that is applying an Expedia like model to finding elder care and geriatric services.
Cariloop’s co-founder Michael Walsh tells us in an interview:
:Cariloop is a web-based platform designed to help geriatric care and service providers digitally market their capabilities. Cariloop’s search engine then allows anyone – healthcare professionals, consumers, patients – to get a more current, accurate snapshot of the providers in their area, reach out to them directly, or share their information with others…all in real-time.”
This gives users access to information that used to take months and months and hundreds of brochures to sift through. Now it’s all accessible at your fingertips and easily comparable.
Check out the rest of our interview with Walsh about this exciting new trend in elder care:
Comments Off on Uber Introduces Uber Taxi In DC Ahead Of Inauguration0LikeLike 3,205
Black car hailing service Uber is no stranger to Washington DC. The nibletz.com team got a chance to hang out at the Uber DC offices in DC’s Dupont Circle over the summer and learned then that DC loves Uber.
Last year for President’s day the creative Uber team had their customers hailed around in actual motorcades which was quite a site inside the beltway.
Over the summer when Uber had some trouble with members of the DC city council everyone from tv news celebrities to members of congress actually took to Twitter to have some legislation that would have halted Uber’s DC efforts, squashed. Eventually the city council backed down.
This time around it’s another good piece of news for Uber as they are unveiling a new form of Uber-ing just in time for the Presidential Inauguration next week. Uber has unveiled the new Uber Taxi feature.
With Uber Taxi customers will be able to use the same app to hail a traditional DC cab. No worries Mr. T won’t be pulling up to cart you away but what you will have as the opportunity to save a little change over Uber’s traditional black sedan and limo services, and also you’ll be able to hail a cab in DC without getting passed by.
“Just like with our black car service, open up your Uber app and you can easily request a DC taxi, pay with your credit card, and do it all with just the tap of a button. In a nutshell, UberTAXI offers the reliability and convenience you expect from Uber at a lower cost, so you can pick exactly what kind of ride you need, whenever you need it.” Uber said in an email to their customers.
They continued “Thanks to the pro-innovation, pro-consumer legislation passed last month by the DC Council, we know that Uber is here to stay, which is why we are rolling out new transportation options like UberTAXI. But make no mistake: it’s still an experiment, and we will continue to improve on UberTAXI as more people use it.”
Uber does warn that their traditional sedan service will be the default when Uber-ing in DC but the Taxi feature will be there after you take the latest update.
We’ll warn you from experience that it may take a little while longer than normal especially based on their service in Charlotte during the DNC. However Charlotte was a pop-up market for the convention while Uber in DC has been running now for over a year.
Comments Off on 3D Printed Audio Startup Goes Lord Of The Flies Style At CES 20130LikeLike 3,251
A California startup called Simply Amplified has created a product that amplifies sound from your smartphone or music player without any moving parts, wires, batteries or electricity. In fact it takes the same principles for amplifying sound that you may find in a conch shell. The company has even designed some of their unique speakers to look just like shells.
As you can see from the video below all you do to amplify the sound from your device is simply set it into the shell like frame and listen as the sound comes out the larger opening.
All of the Simply Amplified speakers are designed to look fashionable on any table or shelf where they’ll pull double duty as wireless, non electric amplifiers and as conversation pieces.
Simply Amplified calls their amplifiers Symphony Shells and we really haven’t seen a product quite like it. But what does it sound like? It was just as clear as some of the BlueTooth connected speakers we saw on the main show floor at the LVCC.
Comments Off on Branding For Startups With Brandery GM Mike Bott At Everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference0LikeLike 4,489
Brandery GM Mike Bott is speaking on “Branding For Startups” at everywhereelse.co (photo: videonomics)
As we get into the home stretch before the largest startup conference in the U.S., everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference, we continue announcing more and more exciting news. Everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference is happening February 9-12th in downtown Memphis Tennessee and nearly 2000 people have already purchased tickets from all over the United States and around the world (in fact less than 15% actually zipcode to Tennessee).
The conference is offering unparalleled access to speakers, curriculum, information and networking for startups “everywhere else”.
Startups from “everywhere else”face many of the same challenges. One of those challenges is access to mentoring and information about branding.
Branding is what makes Cincinnati accelerator The Brandery one of the top accelerators in the country. While many people associate things like branding with New York City, Cincinnati is actually the epicenter for branding. It’s home to the largest branded company in the world Proctor & Gamble (P&G), Macy’s and Kroger are also based in Cincinnati.
The Brandery was founded by branding experts like Dave Knox of RockFish, and Rob MacDonald who’s father is the current CEO at P&G.
The Brandery’s General Manager is no stranger to branding either. Prior to joining The Brandery as General Manager, Mike Bott was a brand manager for one of P&G’s most widely known brands, Olay. It was under the supervision of Bott that country music sensation and American Idol, Carrie Underwood became the face of the brand.
Through the three month cohort based accelerator program, startups chosen to participate in The Brandery get access to branding experts like Bott and several others from Cincinnati and across the globe.
Bott will be participating in the Accelerator MD’s (Managing Director) panel highlighting accelerators from across the country on Monday afternoon. On Tuesday though he’ll be giving a lecture on branding for startups.
Attendees, and Startup Village startups will learn tips, tricks and best practices for starting to build the brand for your young startup. Bott’s lecture will feature the things he’s taught as GM at The Brandery and lectured about across the country. He’ll draw from his Brandery experiences and from his experience building brands at P&G.
This can’t miss lecture will be held in the main ball room on Tuesday morning at 11am.
You don’t want to miss out on Branding For Startups, or any of the other panels, lectures and discussions as part of everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference. There are currently less than 200 tickets remaining. There are also 9 startup village booths left which include 3 conference tickets, booth space and 3 different contests worth $50,000 in cash plus prizes.
This is one of the hottest startup tickets ever. You can get an attendee ticket or sign your startup up for the Startup Village below:
Comments Off on This Amazing Hat Called Cynaps Lets You Hear Music From Your Phone Through Your Head0LikeLike 3,777
We saw the most amazing hat at CES 2013 in Eureka Park. The hat is called Cynaps and the startup that created it is called MaxVirtual.
Cynaps, uses bone induction technology which when connected to a smartphone or other music player, lets you actually hear the music through the vibrations in hour head. No headset, no earphones and no earbuds required. The sound is conducted directly into your inner ear through vibration.
Our cofounder Nick Tippmann was able to try the Cynaps out and says that it sounds just as good as headphones. The company spokesperson that we interviewed said that it’s perfect for anything requiring headphones. You can listen to music, watch movies, even take a call or skype with the Cynaps hat.
There are a couple buttons built onto the brim that allow the user to end and start calls and playback.
The South Carolina startup is already up, running and selling the Cynaps hat for $60 here.
Cynaps offers a new level of safety when it comes to hands free operation. While you’re hearing the sound coming through your inner ear with the vibration, you can still hear other sounds as well. The main sound source becomes the focal point but if you were driving or biking with your Cynaps hat on you would be able to hear a car horn or other important noises.
Check out Nick’s interview with Max Virtual Below:
Comments Off on Hundreds of Broken Headsets Lead To Chicago Startup RockRah CES 2013 Interview0LikeLike 2,873
If you’ve been a smartphone user for the past few years than you probably have something in common with me, and that is a junk drawer filled with earbuds. Some earbuds are frayed. Some don’t work in the right ear. Some don’t work in the right ear. Some have cords that are too short. Then there’s the other problem of losing ear buds. I’ve lost plenty of pairs of $30 Apple earbuds in my time.
A Chicago startup called RockRah is trying to solve that problem.
While there were plenty of iPhone cases and plenty of earbuds and headphones at CES 2013, in fact enough to bring reporters to near nauseam, they didn’t combine the two like RockRah does.
RockRah has fashioned a smartphone case that has retractable earbuds built into the back of the case. The housing for the case houses the earbuds so they don’t get lost, or tangled up. You have your earbuds right there when you need them and then when you don’t need them they retract right into the case. Kinda smart huh?
RockRah has been in development for about a year now, and it looks like they’ll actually make it to market in the next few months.
Comments Off on We Found A Morphing Tactile Keyboard Startup At Eureka Park CES 20130LikeLike 2,736
A startup in California is working on getting their technology implemented into smartphones at the OEM level. They report that we should see their Tactus product on smartphones soon. So what does it do?
Tactus is a morphing tactile keyboard that literally just pops out of the phone. We’re not talking about some cheesy slide out qwerty keyboard or any kind of hardware accessory. As you’ll see in the almost unbelievable video, the keyboard just morphs right onto the screen.
In the interview the Tactus representative says that their CEO was inspired by Steve Jobs because he refused to switch to a Blackberry or other smartphone with keyboard built in.
Tactus’ technology is called “Microfluid technology” which makes the keyboard rise out of the screen and then when you’re done with it, it disappears as quickly as it appears. Our co-founder and CEO Nick Tippmann got a chance to play with it during this interview and said it was nothing short of amazing.
The startup showed it off to the TechCrunch crowd at their booth in the parking lot of the convention center where Matt Burns reports that it was the most popular demo during the entire show, stealing the thunder away from the likes of the Pebble Watch, Oculus Rift and Razer Edge.
TechCrunch called it “the future” and we’d have to agree. Check out the video below:
Comments Off on GeckoCap Is Gamifying The Asthma Inhaler, We Checked It Out At Eureka Park0LikeLike 3,731
Millions of kids across the country and around the world suffer from Asthma. Fortunately, for many of them the Albuterol rescue inhaler helps them live mostly normal lives. The problem is that many kids either forget to take their inhaler or forget to tell their parents and loved ones that they used their inhaler. It’s actually pretty important to a parent to know when their kid couldn’t breathe.
A Boston startup called GeckoCap is hoping to help kids get back into a regular habit of using their inhalers and telling their parents and loved ones when they do.
Using the companies patent pending technology, a connected cap is placed on the top of the Albuterol cartridge on an inhaler. This cap has sensors, a transmitter and cool LED lights. The cap also keeps kids honest about their inhaler use and keeps a log of when it’s used and what the conditions at that time were.
All of the data collected from the GeckoCap can then be distributed to a child’s pediatric team and their parents.
We caught up with GeckoCap at Eureka Park 2013 at CES 2013. Check out the video interview below:
Comments Off on Tony Hsieh Considering ZBoards For Downtown Project? Check Out Their Pitch! CES 20130LikeLike 3,169
The problem is simple, you want to get from point A to point B and the distance is just a little too far to walk, and a little too close to drive. Sure you can take a bike but then you need to worry about keeping your bike safe, and the fact that you could work up a little sweat and soil your clothes for the rest of the work day.
California startup Zboard has the answer. Zboard is an electric skateboard that works fundamentally the same way a regular skateboard does. Well at least it kind of sort of looks like a regular skateboard.
The Zboard seems to be powered by the same kind of technology that Segway’s use by moving your body forwards and backwards or leaning.
If you lean forward while riding the Zboard it speeds up and goes forward. You can move your feet, applying pressure to the left and right sides to make the Zboard turn. It also comes with a brake that will stop you when you lean back.
It’s a new wave of hipster transportation. So cool in fact that Zappos CEO and Downtown Project founder Tony Hsieh hinted in a fireside chat at CES that he may be considering getting Zboards for the downtown Las Vegas community. For Hsieh, the Zboard answers the question “How do you connect where you don’t need a car, possible electric boards that are electric”.
Check out Zboard’s pitch from the Launch.It event at CES 2013.
Comments Off on Popchilla The Robot For Autistic Children Shows Off At Eureka Park, CES 20130LikeLike 3,315
Raising children can be both hard and a blessing. Raising a child with autism is a lot more challenging. Autistic children often times have problems communicating even their simplest needs sometimes.
Parents of autistic children are constantly looking for “more tools to put in their tool chest” Michael Knight the founder of Popchilla, told nibletz.com in an interview.
Popchilla is a fun loving robotic stuffed animal that also has an app to go along with it. As an example Knight showed us a portion of the app where the Popchilla would tell the child to get his or her toothbrush and tooth paste from a virtual house on a tablet, and then brush Popchilla’s teeth.
Knight knew early on that Popchilla would be a success. His company used to make animatronic robots. He wold get questions from parents of autistic children all the time, asking when he was going to make a robot for them. He learned that sometimes children with autism actually interact better with robots rather than humans.
Popchilla was one of the most innovative things we saw at Eureka Park. Not only is Popchilla a cool robot, but when you couple that with the app you have a recipe for success, and definitely another tool for the tool chest.
Kyle
Washington DC startup Meplus 1 is a new company looking to make it easier to pay in a variety of locations. Meplus 1 is an iPhone app that will soon be available on Android as well. The app integrates with already existing POS systems like Micros, POSitouch, Dinerware, Digital Dining and POS.
Nibletz Staff
Mike Hoffmeyer
