September’s Boulder Edition of the New Tech Meetup saw many familiar faces at the podium but fewer than normal attendees. For the first time in months, all attendees were welcomed to the Wolf Law building not only by DJ @biglifeline who was spinning one hit wonders for the night, but also an available seat. Such are the benefits of Labor Day week.
TechoShark took its second turn “Under the Microscope” presenting its Hoozat iPhone application which allows users to view the Facebook and Twitter profiles of other Hoozat users in their immediate vicinities. Since last presenting in July, the TechoShark team has added Twitter to the app and added another feature allowing users to view events in their vicinity on Google maps. The company talked to several conference organizers to validate the potential to sell its premium version targeted towards conference attendees seeking enhanced networking for $7.99. While these organizers seem most concerned with plummeting registration numbers, the company has the interest on one organizer to try Hoozat at its October and November events.
Jeremy Slade returned to show the advancement of CowPotato since he debuted an in progress version at New Tech Denver. CowPotato is an android app which allows users to score points by shooting virtual cows with a potato gun. Slade and his partners at Froogloid submitted the app to the second Android Developer Challenge (ADC 2) on Monday. The current incarnation of the game sees the cows make mooing sounds when hit and now they fight back on occasion, spraying the shooter such that the user must wipe the screen clean before continuing.
TravelFli returned to BDNT (last seen in Denver, July 2009) to wow the audience with its site designed to help users manage and effectively redeem awards miles and points from airlines and hotels. The site, currently in beta, provides a bank-like statement to view awards from different carriers and programs on a single screen; the company has partnerships with all major US airlines, some international carriers, and several hotel chains. The more impressive feature, however, is the ability to search for a flight based on destination and time and see both the cash and rewards options to make the trip. From here, one click takes the user to the airline’s website where travel can be booked, eliminating the hours of phone time traditionally needed in attempts to redeem frequent flier miles. TravelFli will be a free service to consumers, earning revenue through commissions from airlines and hotels when users book cash travel referred from its site.
RiotFeeds is a new edition to OneRiot that aggregates relevant content on particular topics into a single Twitter feed. For example, the “Tech” feed includes links to content from TechCrunch, Mashable, and ReadWriteWeb among others. OneRiot created several feeds internally but is allowing users to suggest new topics and may at some point open up the service to allow user created feeds. RiotFeeds is ideal for Twitter novices seeking to find valuable content through the service and also offers a demonstration of how the API for OneRiot’s real time Pulse Rank search engine can be used.
EventVue was on hand to present its new Discover Widget, which was featured on TechCrunch yesterday. The Discover Widget, which can be added to a conference website, allows users to view who in their social networks and contact lists (LinkedIn, Twitter, Gmail, Yahoo) is attending the conference. Users can set alerts to be notified when additional contacts sign up and can easily share the conference information and a discount code on Twitter via a window in the widget. Discover also allows users to add an interactive “I’m attending” badge to their own blogs which allows visitors to click to see who else is attending. This widget is of high value to conference organizers as it promotes additional ticket sales rather than focusing on the networking opportunities for those who have already decided to attend.
The BDNT is designed to provide a time and place for technologists and entrepreneurs to showcase the new technology developing in the region. The next meeting will take place at the Tivoli Turnhalle on September 15th at 6:30. If you seek to attend please register for the event here.
