New York Tech Meetup Recap: May 9, 2012
I was at the New York Tech Meetup (NYTM) tonight and got to see demos from some awesome companies. For those you you who don’t know, NYTM is a monthly meetup where 9 or 10 companies get 3 to 5 minutes each to demo something cool to New York’s tech community (geeks, investors, entrepreneurs, hackers, etc). As of today, there are 23,458 people in the Meetup group, so if you want to get tickets, you’ll have to act fast! They are released in three batches every month. Last time they sold out in a couple of minutes.
Here is a recap of the startups that demoed at the NYTM on May 9, 2012:
Sensible Text
Sensible Text is a project from Jacob Andreas, which he created during the last HackNY Student Hackathon. Students were given 24 hours to come up with something awesome. In 24 hours, Jacob created an unnecessarily predictive text editor, which completes your sentences using common Google searches, Pride & Prejudice quotations, and/or text from strangers.
The editor is sort of fun - and impressive considering he built it in just 24 hours. I’m not entirely sure why you would use it … but since Jacob is planning of pursuing his pHD at Berkley, practicality isn’t something that he has to worry about.
Jacob isn’t sure what his plans for the text editor are, but Version 2.0 will likely include more sources to pull form, such as the Wall Street Journal or maybe even Twitter.
Audigram
Another HackNY Student Hackathon project, Audiagram is the “first music bookmarking app on the Internet.” You can use it to build collections of music from sites like YouTube, Soundcloud, and Tumblr, find and follow artists you like, and share what you’re listening to with friends.
As for copyright issues, the creators aren’t too concerned – they figure that it’s not as big of an issue when you are just linking to an outside source and not actually hosting the content yourself. We’ll have to wait and see if they find otherwise the hard way …
Plum Perfect
Plum Perfect analyzes your photos to suggest complimentary beauty products, clothing, or furniture.
Plum Perfect sounds like they really have their color matching technology figured out. Since photos under different lighting conditions can look different, Plum Perfect color corrects each photo before analyzing it.
Their technology doesn’t discriminate … guys can upload photos too!
Folio
Folio is a “lightweight marketplace of digital goods for professionals.” When a graphic designer creates an image, for example, she can upload it directly from her desktop to Folio’s online marketplace.
Folio sounds like a great alternative to stock photo sites and a good place to find designers. I’m definitely going to check it out!
Launch.it
Created by father-son team Brian and Trace Cohen, Launch.it is a place where you can post and share your launch story. The creators seem to have big dreams for h platform – they are convinced that it is going to change the PR industry.
It’s an interesting idea, but it’s going to require mass adoption to really work.
Aereo
Aereo definitely stole the show tonight, with the crowd bursting into spontaneous applause several times throughout the presentation. Based on the core fundamental belief that choice must be introduced into the TV market, Aereo’s unique technology gives you the ability to watch live HDTV on up to five devices – for $12 per month!
The Aereo antenna.
Remember how you used to be able to pick up a TV signal using the bunny ears on your TV? Well, Aereo works on the same principle – each Aereo user is assigned a miniaturized, private, remote antenna, which is kept in Aereo’s data center in Brooklyn. Your individual remote antenna is used to access over 25 broadcast channels, which have always been available over public airwaves, but which you weren’t able to access because the technology to pick them up didn’t exist. Signal and switching is all done in the cloud.
As you might suspect, Aereo has drawn the ire of TV networks. Soon after Aereo announced intention to launch on Feb. 14th., the company was sued by all the major broadcasters.
Right now, Aereo is just available in the NYC area and Brooklyn. Membership includes 40 hours of remote DVR storage and usage on up to five devices.
Simply register online. New members will receive a 90-day free trial. There is no application to download and no box to buy and no equipment to install.
It also works with AirPlay!
Square
Most people know about Square’s card reader, which accepts credit card payments on your Android, iPhone or iPad. Tonight, Square sent two of its Square U representatives to talk about Pay with Square - an app that allows you to pay without taking your phone or your wallet out of your pocket.
The Square U reps did a good job presenting, but I was surprised that Square didn’t send someone who knew a bit more about the product. I was a bit disappointed that we didn’t get a chance to learn anything more than what we could have read on Square’s website.
DISQUS
Disqus (a community-based commenting platform) was the last presenter. They’ve made a lot of new updates to the service, which you can see on blogs like AVC. The new Disqus lets you see when other users are typing, what else is trending, and which users are most active. You can even “mute” users that you’re sick of listening to.
In the next few weeks they will be rolling out more new features that take advantage of Disqus’ reach and scale.
This was a great Meetup (and my favorite NYTM so far) – I can’t wait for the next one!
