Company Name

Dailymile

20-Word Description

Dailymile is a social training site for runners, triathletes, and cyclists.

CEO’s Pitch

That race was great, but how do I stay in-touch with the people I just met? And how can I find people to train with in a new city? Providing an answer for these questions drove us to begin dailymile. We wanted to find a better way for athletes to sign-up for races, share workouts, and meet participants. Participating in a race doesn’t end after you submit payment. It’s the daily journey of training, learning, and sharing. As athletes, each day for us is an adventure filled with lessons learned and friends made. We share these experiences with one another through dailymile.

Mashable’s Take

Currently in private beta, Dailymile is a site for keeping track of your workouts, finding athletic events you can participate in, and sending motivation to others. The design is very slick and the features are well-organized, and while the event section dedicated to 10Ks and triathlons can be intimidating, there are tools that can be useful to just about any level of athlete – even if you’re just the type trying to stay in shape by going to the gym.

Once logged in, the homepage of Dailymile is very Twitter-esque, allowing you post a short update about your most recent workout (which can range from running, to swimming, to weightlifting, etc.), as well as multimedia content like photos and videos. There is also a “You and Your Friends” timeline, an “Everyone” timeline, and a “My Training” log – essentially the same views offered on Twitter. Speaking of Twitter, your updates can be auto-posted to the service if you sync your accounts.

Dailymile takes it a step further than other would-be Twitter clones though with some features very specific to the fitness niche. For one, there is the “Motivation” feature, which allows you to message other people on the site with a pre-set message like “Great Performance” or “You’re an Inspiration.”

There are also discussion groups you can join like “40+ and proud of it” and “My first marathon,” so you can find people pursuing a similar fitness goal as yourself. The aforementioned event section is already seeded with lots of running, trialthon, and cycling events you can participate in, though most seem to be on the West coast (not surprising given the time of year).

Ultimately, Dailymile has adopted a lot of popular features of other sites for the fitness niche and done a nice job with them. I think it’s more likely to be successful with serious workout nuts than weekend warriors, but there is certainly something for anyone that wants to put the time in - both in the gym and on the site. As mentioned, Dailymile is currently in private beta, but you can try it out using the invite code ‘mashable’.

Editor’s Note: This post is part of an ongoing series at Mashable - The Startup Review, Sponsored by Sun Microsystems Startup Essentials. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.

Sponsored By: Sun Startup Essentials

The brainchild of Culver and Digg founder Kevin Rose, Pownce launched with much fanfare in 2007. But despite the early buzz and in many ways a superior feature-set, the service hasn’t been able to gain nearly the type of traction as the darling of short-form messaging – that of course being Twitter.

It doesn’t sound like Six Apart has aspirations to revamp Pownce and take on Twitter either. They echo the sentiment that this deal is more about acquiring talent from Pownce, writing, “we are very sorry the site will be closing … We’re planning on doing great things with the help and expertise of the Pownce team, and can’t wait to see all the results of their hard work.”

Kevin Rose and Daniel Burka will also be joining Six Apart as advisers as part of the deal.

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Another one bites the dust? Pownce, a would-be Twitter rival that was heavily hyped due to the involvement of Digg co-founder Kevin Rose, is closing its doors in two weeks.

It's not quite going away, according to a post from Pownce founder Leah Culver on the start-up's official blog. The technology has been sold to blog platform Six Apart, which runs TypePad and Movable Type. And its two full-time employees, Culver and Mike Malone, will be joining Six Apart's team.

"We'll be closing down the main Pownce Web site two weeks from today, December 15," Culver wrote. "Since we'd like for you to have access to all your Pownce messages, we've added an export function...(you can) import your posts to other blogging services such as Vox, TypePad, or WordPress."

Pownce, which is like Twitter with additional features like file-sharing, was so buzzworthy at its debut that people were auctioning alpha test invites off on eBay. It also had a business model, with paid accounts available for sale. But the Pownce hype died off, and Twitter gained more and more market share.

Additionally, we heard that the self-funded Pownce was trying to secure a round of venture capital. It looks like that didn't work out. This is, after all, not a great time to be raising money.

Six Apart is encouraging Pownce members to join its blog platform Vox. "We hope the Pownce and Vox communities can come together, just as the teams have, towards a better future," Six Apart's Chris Alden wrote on the company blog.

Pownce's two other co-founders, Rose and Daniel Burka, will become Six Apart "advisers."

The social networking behemoth is again facing issues with it’s member notification service and this time it’s worse.

As a service, Facebook lets members turn on email notifications, when anyone adds you as a friend, or tag’s your photos or even invites you to event. But here is response I got from facebook.

Unfortunately, the settings that control which email notifications get sent to you were lost. We’re sorry for the inconvenience.

To reset your email notification settings, go to:

http://www.facebook.com/editaccount.php?notifications

Thanks,
The Facebook Team

It’s not big that of an issue, as it was only loss of notification settings, but matters could have been worse if my data would have been lost, telling us that nobody is perfect and gives you a laugh in enjoying the glitches of big services.

The lesson, try not to be fully reliant on the online world, at least for data you don’t want to loose.

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A bookmarklet can be a good alternative to a FireFox addon as it is easier to organize and backup (as a usual bookmark), faster to install (all you need is just grab a link and drag it into your bookmarks toolbar) and usually compatible with multiple browsers.

As one who searches daily (and I’d even say constantly), I am mostly interested in various ways to customize my searching and using search bookmarklets is one such way.

Easily switch between search engines: if you failed to find anything in Google, for example, switch to Exalead or Yahoo (all opens in the same tab):

• @Google - perform Google search;
• @Yahoo - try Yahoo search;
• @Exalead - search on Exalead.

Search for the selected text: select a term on a page and send a query to one of the search engines (opens in the same tab):

• Google;
• Google Blog search;
• Yahoo!;
• Exalead;
• Ask.

Search dictionaries and reference sources: select text on the current page and search its meaning and definitions:

• Wikipedia - find a wiki article for the highlighted term;
• Acronym finder - learn what a highlighted acronym stands for;
• Urban Dictionary - find a slang variation of the highlighted word;
• Google definition: highlight a term on page and get the definition from Google

Customize your Google search - just a few tweaks specifically for Google search (there might be more but I failed to find them useful enough):

• Gf=0: change number of search results to 100;
• filter=0: removes Google result clustering;
• Search within this domain - for sites that lack the search option of their own (based on Google site: advanced search operator) select a term and it will search for it in Google within current domain only.

Create your own search bookmarklet: use this cool tool that allows you to create a search bookmarklet and customize its behavior.

Note: the site allows to create a bookmarklet for an impressive number of search engines (many of them do not work though).

Sources:

• Search bookmarklets;
• Jesse’s bookmarklets;
• GoogleSystem.

Note: all the above bookmarklets have been tested on FireFox 3.0.4. Please let me know in the comments if any of them failed to work on any other browser.

Please share your favorite search bookmarklets that I missed out!

(By) Ann Smarty, Search Marketing Consultant and SEO blogger

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Adding an extra day to that conference in Austin? Visiting New York City for the weekend again? Checking out Rome for the first time ever? Whether you want to hit the local hotspots or knock those tourist must-sees off your bucket list, these online and mobile tools are your surefire secret weapons.

Planning Ahead

When it comes to finding the best accommodations, TripAdvisor members share their candid reviews and opinions, which are much more reliable than any hotel website (think Yelp for hotels). However, it helps to have a clear idea of what you’re looking for because the information is so plentiful that it’s easy to lose hours on the detailed reviews.

A week or two before you travel, subscribe to the Daily Candy for the city you are going to, if it’s available (most major cities). This will give you tips on the latest and greatest restaurants, bars, and shops to hit and is particularly valuable if you’re looking for something new and trendy. Also, try the search function on the homepage if the city you are going to doesn’t have a regular edition, because it has likely been featured in one of their Travel postings.

For a more comprehensive guide, check out Technorati founder David Sifry’s latest venture, Offbeat Guides. These customizable guidebooks ensure the up-to-date information and let you cut out the clutter of information you don’t want. You can download your personalized finished product in electronic format or they will ship you a printed version, if you prefer.

When You Arrive

To take in a city like a tourist without actually looking like a tourist, count on podcasts or downloadable “audio walking tours” to be your guide. (Although that camera and map will probably still give you away.) In Washington, DC, we have MobileTours, which lets you go at your own pace and then dial from your mobile phone for a description of the landmark in front of you. Some tours offer just voice narration, but others include maps and pictures too, so it’s worth it to do a little extra searching.

For finding the best food in the city, even while you are out and about, use mobile apps like Zagat or UrbanSpoon to find what suits you in flavor, price, and location. (As a rule, anything with that city name in it is a tourist trap.) Also, Twitter can come in handy here too. I recently queried the Twitterverse to DM me the best seafood restaurant in Baltimore. I was happily eating the most delicious crab soup in minutes.

Twitter is also a good way to find company if you are traveling solo. AwayFind founder Jared Goralnick recently wrote about how he embraced Twitter and other social networks to connect with others in such diverse places as Nashville, Barcelona, and Reykjavik!

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Veni

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So prepare to be surprised by Scrapboy, a desktop client for some of the popular social networks like Facebook, Orkut, and MySpace.

Common sense says that ’social networking’ is synonymous with the web. But a little jiggling of the senses and a desktop app does have a certain appeal.

The first benefit that comes to mind is that Scrapboy helps to provide a common interface to handle multiple sites. No more logging in individually.

I downloaded and configured Scrapboy for my Facebook and Orkut accounts (I don’t have a presence in MySpace).  I then dug in and took a closer look at whether Scrapboy is worth a shout.

Logging into Facebook

I must say I really liked the interface - clean cut and cute. The log-in is straight through with the respective social accounts. For instance, as soon as I logged into my Facebook account, the social network asked for my permission to let Scrapboy access my data. With a yes, a small floating slideshow featured the profile pics of my circle of friends.

From the Scrapboy chat box, you can see your wall posts, check your inbox, view your pokes, events and check out your groups. Checking the inbox and your groups though involves logging into Facebook through the browser.

Now I could use this single window to access my circle of friends simultaneously. Chatting with Jane, spying on John’s wall posts and looking at Jim’s tagged photos - all at the same time!

Scrapboy not only transforms social networking into a chat box-like environment, but also takes it a bit further…

• Instant notifications when friends sign-in or when they send a message or receive news.

• Go offline into a stealth state.

• Use Facebook emoticons to add ‘emotion’ to your messages.

• See what you were gabbing about with saved history.

• Be peer to peer and exchange files with friends who have their own Scrapboy installed.

• Setting personal preferences for the notifications (pokes, group invites, new photos etc) thus allowing for selective control.

• Instant check of their profile and current status.

• A tiny checkmark in the chat window also reminds friends that the user is typing and hasn’t fallen asleep on the keyboard.

• View photos in a slideshow.

• Also view wall posts, including the deleted ones on your friends’ walls.

• Scrapboy serves you reminders about a particular event. Get reminded when you want with the option of a time function. Facebook events are automatically stored in an event viewer.

• Behind a proxy server? Configure it to work seamlessly with the settings in the options tab.

Logging into Google Orkut…

Scrapboy’s other face is its sync with Google Orkut. The interface shows your own and your friends’ scraps. The interface allows you to format and post your scraps, although it does not allow you to delete any offending scraps you might receive or send. Through the interface you can subscribe to the friend updates you want thus filtering the alerts you receive. You can also view your pals - by who is online, who visited you recently or who has an upcoming birthday, etc. Scrapboy allows you to open multiple windows for your friends and view their scraps and photos at the same time.

Scrapboy has its own take on privacy (or lack of it for your friends). You get notified whenever someone deletes a scrap or a photo…and more, you can see it too.

An end critique

Here is where I noticed a flaw in the program. If I logged in directly into Facebook and/or Orkut, instead of using Scrapboy and deleted my scraps or checked my events, Scrapboy did not reflect those updates and deletions.  An inability to update my status message also was a bit irksome.

But…the final note

Scrapboy did a good job of bringing all my fairly large collection of friends from two social networks into a single window. It also saved me the bother of manually logging into their ‘online’ lives through its frequent alerts. If I have to pick one standout feature over all the others, it would have to be the chat-styled interface.

Call Scrapboy a marriage of instant messaging to scrapping and of course, poking.

Scrapboy is a 7.6 MB download compatible with versions of Windows.

Have you tried Scrapboy for yourself? Let us know what you think with a scrap in the comments.

(By) Saikat is a techno-adventurer in a writer's garb. When he is not scouring the net for tech news, you can catch him on his personal blog(www.grafittisplash.blogspot.com)ruminating about the positives in our world

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Places and event websites specialize in letting you use the Web to find things to do in the real world (imagine that!). With GPS increasingly a standard feature on mobile devices, some of these services now let you find friends that are physically near you, or get information about a very precise location when on-the-go. There are also several services on our list of finalists that take the concept of web-based event management to a whole new level with options for sending invites, selling tickets, and providing supplemental information to event-goers. Vote for your favorite after checking out the 11 finalists:

Center’d - a relatively new site that combines reviews and event listings.

City Data - provides profiles of thousand of cities in the United States. City Data shows photos, real estate trends and statistics, and a plethora of information for those interested in learning more about a specific geographic region.

Doodle - a collaborative scheduling web application.

Eventbrite - one of the biggest online event registration services with over 3.8 million tickets sold thus far.

Going - an event-based social network, allowing you to buy tickets for charity events, launch parties, and nightlife.

Muchmor - a Canadian publication that includes a social network for readers to meet and greet.

MyPunchbowl - an Evite rival with customized invitation templates for event organizers and invitees. MyPunchbowl also has added functionality to allow users to search for tickets and hotels when planning to attend an event.

Tupalo - gives you information about upcoming events in your very own neighborhood. Share your favorite events and connect with friends.

Whrrl - a location-aware social network that enables you to see different information based on where you’re located.

Yelp - a popular business review site that covers just about every topic from eateries to contractor services. Yelp also gives business owners tools to communicate with customers.

VOTE OFTEN: One Vote Per Category Per Day

Now it’s time to vote for your favorite places and events website in the first of two voting rounds. You can vote for one company per day until midnight on November 30th.

Feel free to embed this widget on your own blog or website by clicking the “Grab This” button! For a timeline, rules and information on our 100 blog partners, please visit the Open Web Awards site.

Top Tip For Nominees

You got through? Congratulations! Did you know you can create a custom version of our voting widget above to post to your company blog or website? Just visit the Open Web Awards Widget Creator and check the box to preset a category or company. This means your fans only need to enter an email address to vote - simple!

Start Canvassing for YOUR Candidate!

Want others to vote for your favorite site? Of course you do! Why not leave a comment here and on any of our international partner blogs encouraging other readers to add their support? The more you promote your candidate across these blogs, the more likely it is for your site to proceed to the finals!

OWA Sponsors Love The Web

The Open Web Awards is made possible by our sponsors. By supporting the Open Web Awards, these companies reward and encourage innovative web technologies. We can’t thank them enough for sharing our passion: building great web companies.

Platinum Partner

“PartnerUp brings small business and social networking together to create a community where entrepreneurs find the people, resources and information to grow their businesses.”

Gold Sponsors

“iStockphoto is the world’s leading image market and a revenue-sharing social network. Browse 3.5 million images and videos starting at $1 or become a contributor.”

“With Quintura’s advanced visual-based search and analytics solution, content publishers can increase site usage while creating new ad revenues”

Prize Sponsor

“Infinite and Instant, Zazzle is the only on-demand retail platform for consumers and major brands, offering billions of retail quality, one-of-a-kind products, most of which are produced within 24 hours.”

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Happy Thanksgiving! I'm super thankful that I have been able to spend the last 13 months blogging for TUAW and interacting with all of you. On a more superficial note, I am also thankful for my Macs and all the cool stuff Apple products enable me to do.

The newest member of my Apple family is the Apple TV. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to talk to Avner and Andrew from boxee, the company behind the social media player of the same name. Boxee released an update earlier this week, but the next big version is set for December 4, 2008. Avner and Andrew were nice enough to answer my questions, share some details about the future of boxee and best of all, provide a link so that TUAW readers can join in the fun! If you want to try boxee on your Mac or Apple TV, enter your e-mail address at http://boxee.tv/tuaw and you should get an invite within 24 hours.

In the comments, on Twitter and via e-mail, many of you have asked questions about boxee, its limitations and its future. I took these questions and comments to Avner and Andrew, and here's what I got back.

On .MKV support for Apple TV

Boxee supports the .MKV container and if you are using a Mac mini, MacBook, iMac or Mac Pro, boxee can play back 1080p .mkv files without a problem. Apple TV is limited by its processor and GPU, and it maxes out playing back 420p and 720p .MKV content. I don't usually deal with .MKV, but a quick Google search turned up a lot of information about programs that can be used to convert files. Apparently, the PS3 has this same limitation.

Hulu performance

A number of users have complained about the quality of boxee's Hulu playback. I also noticed a decrease in quality after the latest update. The update on December 4 is going to address this. The big problem, for Apple TV owners, is once again the limitations of the hardware. Seeing as Apple TV's can stream HD content from iTunes (when downloading anyway), I think this is something that can be greatly improved, but it might take some time. Boxee is still in alpha and the goal is to enter beta sometime next year, so while I think the fact that Hulu is supported at all is fantastic, the Apple TV experience might take some time to fully evolve. If you are using a Mac for boxee playback, your performance will be much better.

Continue reading TUAW talks to boxee and brings you invites

TUAWTUAW talks to boxee and brings you invites originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 27 Nov 2008 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

First, there’s quick integrated video sharing on Twitter through a bookmarklet. Find a video on any website and you can send it to your Twitter buddies with a click. Neat.

ffwd goes a step further, trying to turn your Twitter account into a Twitter television of sorts; a feature called Twitter Connect lets you populate your Twitter stream with ffwd channels and videos. You might want to create a new Twitter account if you plan to do that, because not all users will be happy to be swarmed with videos in their Twitter streams.

Furthermore, you can add your Twitter account to your ffwd profile, which will create a “virtual TV channel” with all the videos you’ve ever shared, saved or tweeted. Other users can also sign up and follow your channel as they follow your Twitter account.

I’m not sure that these features will turn Twitter into a video sharing haven as the folks at ffwd probably hope, but it’s definitely a nice set of options to have, especially if you’re an active user of both services.

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