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

Good OS, the people who brought you the Linux-based gOS found on the $199 Wal-Mart gPC last year, announced a browser-based OS called Cloud at the Netbook World Summit in Paris on Monday. (You know you've made it as a form factor when you have your very own world summit. Kudos, Netbook!)

The Cloud OS features a browser with an integrated, OS X-like dock and a Linux kernel that boots "in seconds," according to the company. The browser looks oddly similar to Google's Chrome, though no official connection between Google and gOS exists. Within the browser window resides a dock that provides quick access to a number of apps--Skype, YouTube, Google's Docs, etc.--that you can fire up without running Windows. From the dock, you can also boot to Windows.

Unlike the gOS, the Cloud OS isn't meant to replace Windows but live alongside it, similar to what Asus offers on some of its laptops and Lenovo on its IdeaPad S10 Netbook with the SplashTop app. Good OS states that Cloud "does not require additional hardware and is compatible with any operating system."

Good OS demonstrated its Cloud OS on a gigabyte touch-screen Netbook at the World Summit in Paris. The company says that such touch-screen Netbooks running the Cloud OS and Windows will be released at CES next month.

Awhile back, I talked about a nifty up-and-coming web conferencing utility for Microsoft SharedView, a decent alternative for GotoMeeting or WebEx.

Yet another great alternative, Yugma is an online web conferencing tool similar to GotoMeeting or WebEx in that it offers an easy way to create and share your desktop to other remote users across the Internet.

Granted, there are freeware AND paid variations, with certain limitations imposed on the free version (you get the 'pro' features for 15 days after signing up).

Performance seems more than adequate, and you do get free teleconferencing capability (long distance charges apply) even with the free version.

Features for the free version include 10 participant max, the aforementioned free teleconferencing, Skype compatibility, Desktop Sharing, etc. - unfortunately, changing presenter or scheduling sessions online is not part of the included free features.

Using the Yugma interface is not unlike GotoMeeting, with controls in all the right spots (screen sharing, record/playback session, annotation tools, change presenter, etc.).  Everything is laid out just where you would expect it.

The only issues that I have with Yugma is that you need to create a Yugma account to join a session, when you share your desktop, you share your Yugma interface (which I would consider to be a major issue).

Alternates:

• Mikogo
• ConferencingNow
• Yuuguu

After adding the Telephone app to your Facebook account, you can launch the service and make phone calls directly to your Facebook friends. In order to make a VoIP call, both you and your friend will need to also have the application as well as the downloadable software. But the good thing about having the software installed on your computer is that the Telephone app can then be used as a standalone desktop application for sending and receiving calls even when you don’t have Facebook open in a web browser.

Similar to Skype, you can make VoIP calls and send instant messages. And similar to Digsby, the desktop app enables you to communicate with Facebook friends without having to be logged into Facebook. So with so many features similar to existing applications, is it worth it to try the Telephone application at all?

There are a few features that may be of interest to you, depending on how often you need to communicate with Facebook friends. For instance, Telephone allows you to organize friends into groups for easy access and messaging, as well as leave voicemails for friends that aren’t currently available to talk. Telephone also displays your call history for additional information. The call history could prove useful given its direct integration with your Facebook network, offering insight into your own personal behavior and communication patterns.

I imagine such data could be useful to other services as well, from a non-personal standpoint. But one thing I’d love to see on the Telephone app is a more direct integration with Facebook’s existing chat tool, similar to Tokbox’s integration. This way, you can invite friends to add the Telephone app in a more direct manner, and more readily initiate VoIP calls with friends as well.

While the application is robust, it doesn’t appear as though the uptake has been good. A quick look at the application chart shows that traffic to the application has dropped significantly over the past month. While we’d assume that this trend will continue, perhaps the company will adopt practices that make the application more viral under the new design. For now we will have to wait and see. Go install the telphone application and judge for yourself how successful this will be.

SimpleDB, one of Amazon.com's suite of online services that people can use to build Web sites or other computing operations, is out of private beta testing.

The service lets programmers store database records at Amazon and extract specific data from them. Along with the shift to public beta testing, Amazon cut the price for storing data from $1.50 to 25 cents per gigabyte per month.

SimpleDB, introduced nearly a year ago, is a newer arrival into the Amazon Web Services suite. Other services let customers process data, store raw data, distribute content, and store messages sent among different computers.

The company also announced basic level of use is free for at least six months--the first time the company has done so with one of its Web services. After various thresholds are met in data transfer and computer processing, customers must pay according to usage.

"We've made the business decision to go with SimpleDB even simpler than it was before. You can now get started for free. For at least the next six months, you can consume up to 500MB of storage, and you can use up to 25 machine-hours each month. You can transfer 1GB of data in, and another 1GB out," said AWS evangelist Jeff Barr in a blog posting Monday.

Among those using SimpleDB are Pluribo, Issuu, and MyMiniLife.com, Amazon said.

To make SimpleDB easier to use, Amazon said it plans to release a new interface similar to the SQL (Structured Query Language) widely used in databases today. It also plans a mechanism to let people more easily upload multiple items.

• Lancelot, an alternative menu with a clickless interface, with an icon list that can be dragged to the desktop, developed by Ivan Čukić; reward: Asus Eee 2G Surf 7
• QtWui, allowing AJAX-enabled web applications in C++, including a built-in web server, developed by Eric Alber; reward: Neo FreeRunner
• Quartica, a plugin based communications application which allows rich media sharing with a beautiful user interface, developed by Matteo Bertozzi; reward: FreeRunner
• Inter-Proc-Sig-Prop, which "frees the signal and slot mechanism from both the process and the actual computer", developed by Bhooshan Ashok Supe; reward: Greenphone
• WebIssues Client, a Qt-based client for a PHP-based issues tracker, developed by Michał Męciński; reward: iPod
• xVidSerTh, an application for downloading Flash movies from YouTube and similar sites and for converting them to other, more usable formats, developed by Xesc; reward: MacBook

Good OS, a company renowned for its gOS Linux that was launched at Wal-Mart, is now announcing “Cloud” a new instant on OS that boots into a browser with services from Google, Yahoo and Windows Live with in seconds. Cloud could also optionally boot into Windows, if users desire. The OS would be pre-installed on GIGABYTE Touch Screen Notebooks which would hit the market early next year.

“We are excited to preview the GIGABYTE Touch-Screen Netbook with Cloud and Windows together, said a Good OS spokesperson. “With Cloud, GIGABYTE Netbooks will power on to the Internet in seconds, while still supporting killer applications together with Windows XP.”

Google also has plans to get Chrome pre-installed on PCs and we are sure that they would pull off something similar by adding icons of Google services in the bottom of the browser area to give users an easy and instant access to its services.

Press Release

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American Airlines last year sued Google for serving ads on its search results that took the users to sites other than American Airlines, when they searched for “American Airlines” or similar keywords. The argument made by American Airlines was that, Google is infringing on American Airlines trademarks by allowing others to buy ads for the keywords. Google didn’t contested the lawsuit and quietly settled out of court.

Having tasted blood, American Airlines is at it again – and now they are suing Yahoo for doing exactly the same thing. But this time the results aren’t the same as American Airlines might have expected, as Yahoo has decided to fight back because some in the law profession believe that the law is not clear about it. However the one thing that Yahoo has done is to make sure that it doesn’t serve ads besides “American Airlines” keywords till the dispute is settled.

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After 11 years working in the world’s largest software company, Microsoft, Keith Curtis has written a book, After the Software Wars. Surprisingly enough it isn’t about how life was at Microsoft but much against his former employer’s anticipation he sides with the Open Source to be the software’s future. Microsoft has always had a tough time accepting Open Source, while many others in the business (Sun Microsystems. etc) have readily accepted it and are bent at perfecting and bringing more softwares to add to its growing list (Google for one).

It’s so obvious that with people looking for the cheapest alternative (and those that are worth it) and the Cloud becoming a norm slowly and gradually, paid software will eventually be the story of the past as developers put their heads together to bring the best. A passage from his book reads:

The difference between free, and non-free or proprietary software, is similar to the divide between science and alchemy. Before science, there was alchemy, where people guarded their ideas because they wanted to corner the market on the mechanisms used to convert lead into gold.

Every one of those developers out there is an alchemist and there is no one to guard their collaborative expertise to Open Source every software.

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Not all companies have suffered a decrease in the amount of traffic coming to their applications. Causes, which I previously featured, has seen their traffic soar 1000 percent in the past three months. One of the main reasons that is that the application is one of two members of the great applications program that Facebook announced at f8 earlier this year.

Their traffic has appeared to slow over the past few day though and while Causes is by far the largest individual application (2.5 million more monthly active users than second runner SuperWall), it is the company’s only application. RockYou and Slide still dominate the developer leaderboard going back and forth with each other for the top spot.

It it surprising to see the two companies which were the first widget developers on social networks retain the lead positions? I don’t think so. The companies clearly have the most resources allocated to developing on social networks with large funded social gaming following close behind. For now it looks like RockYou is on target to eclipse Slide in relative size on Facebook but it’s clear that the two companies remain neck and neck as the fierce competition continues.