Animoto targets professional photographers

Animoto, the company that allows you to create videos from your photos and music tracks, has expanded its business services to include a vertical for professional photographers.

Features include adjustable speeds for photos displayed in an Animoto video (think one tempo for a wedding video versus another sports highlights), and the option for a “call to action” button that can be placed at the end of the video. This new action button makes Animoto for … Continue Reading

Watercooler Facebook apps hope for home run during World Series

The World Series kicks off tomorrow, and whether you support the Phillies or the Rays, you can show your support through a pair of Facebook applications created by app development company Watercooler.

Some key features of the team apps are discussion boards, scoreboard feeds, quizzes, and leaderboards. There is also a media-sharing option for posting related photos, and users can also see who else will be attending upcoming games, depending on the team application they’ve … Continue Reading

AmieSt relaunches with more custom features for music lovers

AmieSt, the online digital music store that relies on users to determine the popularity and purchase price of artists’ content, reveals a new site design and a handful of new features today. Most of the site’s new features include more custom capabilities for site members.

A new personalized homepage shows real time data on what a user’s friends are buying on AmieSt, as well as continually updated news and blog information about particular artists in … Continue Reading

News aggregator Mixx shows growth, but Digg's still the leader

While there are countless Digg clones out there (Pligg, Newsvine and Reddit, to name a few), only a handful gain enough traction to stay on the radar. Mixx is one of them, and the company has released metrics today showing steady growth over its year-long existence. Mixx reports that it has increased its monthly unique visitors by seven times, growing from 400,000 to 4 million monthly uniques since May.

The social news aggregator claims the … Continue Reading

Change.org moves from social media to blogging in order to raise cause awareness

Change.org, the year-old site that helps people work on causes they care about, is launching a blog network for social issues. The site started as a searchable collection of resources for connecting people directly with organizations for a variety of causes. Prior to today’s relaunch, Change.org looked to social networks like Facebook in order to spread the word, using a Facebook application and some Facebook groups. But, as these networks are often semi-closed, the ability … Continue Reading

ZocDoc becomes Bezos' latest investment

Though online appointment-making service ZocDoc raised $3 million in its first round of funding from Khosla Ventures earlier this year, two new investors have jumped on board, giving the startup an undisclosed infusion of venture capital. One is Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, contributing via his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions; the other is Marc Benioff, Salesforce.com founder and CEO.

The initial round from Khosla allowed ZocDoc to roll out a few new features in recent … Continue Reading

Clearspring acquires AddThis, moves towards universal sharing widgets

Widget creation platform Clearspring has acquired AddThis, a bookmarking and sharing button, for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition moves Clearspring closer to becoming a service that lets users share content from any website.

AddThis will initially remain its own service. Clearspring reports that the two services combined will reach approximately 200 million users and 300,000 publishers.

As far as widget platforms go, Clearspring has branched out to allow users to share content across a number … Continue Reading

Vysr puts OpenSocial apps in its browser widget

Vysr, developer of RoamAbout browser plugin that allows users to access their favorite web content from any site, has fortified its product by adding OpenSocial applications to the fold. The widget, designed for Firefox and IE, adds a sidebar to the bottom of every browser window from which you can launch a smaller window showing the latest from sites like YouTube, Twitter and Flickr.

Before now, the only accessible web apps available through the plugin … Continue Reading

Still not registered to vote? Head to Facebook.

Facebook is well aware of its potentially influential position when it comes to the young adult demographic. Perhaps that’s why the social network has launched a voter registration application today, with Rock the Vote and powered by Creedo Mobile. The application allows Facebook members to register to vote online, without even having to leave Facebook. If you’ve come across any of the Rock the Vote registration widgets on the web and even on the Xbox … Continue Reading

Online homework helper Cramster gets $3 million

Cramster, an online network for getting homework assistance, has raised $3 million in its first round of funding. An online version of the study group, Cramster takes the community approach to helping students with homework instead of merely providing an answer.

While Cramster has already experienced growth during this past school year and has good standing with its Courses 2.0 Facebook application, Cramster’s initial round of funding will go towards new subject areas beyond math … Continue Reading

Localyte launches open marketplace for travelers and local services

While many travel-oriented sites provide a way for travelers to share their experiences with one another, few let you connect with locals based on your travel destination.

Localyte, of San Mateo, Calif., is a new online network that has set out to connect travelers with locals–not other travelers.

Its features include a community-wide Q&A, email subscription options for keeping track of user-generated reviews on a given service, and search filters based on geographic location and … Continue Reading

MySpace Music gets EMI on board, launches tonight

The much anticipated MySpace Music is geared to launch tonight, providing a platform for both major and independent labels and artists to promote and sell their music. The monetization potential of MySpace music is driving a great deal of interest to the new platform, as MySpace has always been considered a useful promotional platform for artists.

Despite tension between some indie labels and MySpace along with its major record label partners (the record labels have … Continue Reading

Imagekind founder raises $1.7M for another marketplace

After launching Imagekind, an online marketplace for buying and selling original and reprinted artwork, then selling it to CafePress, founder Kelly Smith is back at the drawing board. The latest project is called PressPlane, and Smith has just informed us of its $1.7 million initial round of financing, led by Second Avenue Partners. Also contributing to this round is MTV President Mika Salmi, Expedia founder Rich Barton, and Erik Blachford, former Expedia CEO, among other … Continue Reading

Ooma gets another $16M to stay on dry land

VoIP startup Ooma, based in Palo Alto, has raised an additional $16 million in funding to help the company get its footing. The financing comes from existing investors Draper Fisher Jurvetson, WorldView Technology Partners, Founders Fund, WI Harper Group and Draper Richards, with new investor Telecommunications Development Fund also participating in this round.

Having already raised $27 million in funding, Ooma has had to overcome significant obstacles towards launching its VoIP service, as its main … Continue Reading

MyHeritage acquires Kindo, growing its own family tree

Israeli-based genealogy site MyHeritage is looking to expand its online social capabilities with the acquisition of Kindo, a service that covers a bit of family tree-building as well as social networking. The terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed, but with both MyHeritage and Kindo having a received funding earlier this year as well as a growing international reach, these two family-oriented services have common goals for connecting users.

MyHeritage, which received $15 million … Continue Reading

Social networking platform Social Project becomes part of the Viacom Family, acquired by MTV Networks

MTV Networks has acquired social networking platform Social Project, in a move that shows media conglomerates are still willing to make purchases despite the worsening economy. Formerly known as Tagworld, Social Project had received a large infusion of funding when MTV Networks invested a reported $40 million in the social networking platform about two years ago, and went on to power Flux, the online community for MTV.

Social Project has become the foundation for many … Continue Reading

Facebook platform plus Amazon wish lists equals success for SocialCalendar

You’d think a “wish list” application from Amazon would have been a success on Facebook. It enabled the sharing of individual wish lists and direct purchasing without leaving the confines of the social network. But Amazon’s wish list app, called Giver, launched earlier this year, failed to gain significant traction and is no longer in operation. The problem was that it lacked integration with Facebook’s native applications, specifically the Birthdays app that tells you when … Continue Reading

12seconds wants everyone to talk like a pirate; more invites for all

In case you forgot, it’s International Talk Like a Pirate Day today — a day when a lot of websites and online networks get into the pirate spirit (check out Google Pirate). Recently launched 12seconds, a video website that limits all video posts to 12 seconds, is taking the opportunity to bring some extra attention to its service, still in private alpha.

12seconds is granting everyone access to its services for just one day. Any … Continue Reading

Widgetbox caters to web publishers with new blog network

Widgets have provided one of the more effective yet indirect ways of increasing your reach on the web. Now, Widgetbox, one of the more prominent and well-funded widget platforms, is taking another step to differentiate itself in commoditized market. It is starting to use its own network to drive traffic to blogs and other online sites. Widgetbox’s new Blog Network, to be announced at the BlogWorld Expo this week, automates a portion of the content … Continue Reading

Hollywood Interactive gets $5M to try for celebrity status in casual gaming

Thanks to the fast-growing female web demographic, celebrity and entertainment sites have become a dime a dozen. Hollywood Interactive Group Inc., a company that produces online interactive content based on Hollywood’s current events, has received a $5 million first round of funding in an effort to stand apart from the crowd. Led by BlueRun Ventures of Menlo Park, the funding is earmarked for the development of a multi-platform approach to the creation and promotion of … Continue Reading