Startup Monday: Education

Silicon Valley’s biggest event of the year is finally here! Tonight, we find out which companies will win Tech Crunchies Awards. Here at ABCey, we decided to dive into those nominated for Best Education Startup. We think each company in this category has made valuable contributions to changing the face of education. Let’s take a look at the nominees!

1. Code.org: This non-profit organization is committed to growing computer programming education. This startup believes every student in every school should have the opportunity to learn computer science, and the subject should be included in the core curriculum of U.S. education. Code.org’s mission is to spread the word that there is a worldwide shortage of computer programmers, and that it is much easier to learn to program than you think. Online courses, brick + mortar schools, and summer camps can provide students with computer programming education!

2. CreativeLIVE: The world’s leading live, online classroom is designed for creative entrepreneurs. This startup is transforming the $100 billion continuing education market by offering complete access to the brightest teachers in the world via a social and interactive video platform. Anyone in the world can watch the live-streamed classes for free. Copies of the courses are available to purchase at any time. Since the company was founded in 2010, more than one million students from over 200 countries have utilized the platform, and popular classes have attracted more than 150,000 students!

3. Duolingo: This free language learning service is fun and user-friendly! While you are learning a new language, the users help translate the web, completing sentences, and rating other users’ translations. This startup offers courses in Spanish, French, Italian, German, and Portuguese! An independent study was conducted that proves Duolingo trumps university-level language learning. The app is also available for iPhones and Androids so you can be productive on the go!

4. Khan Academy: A free world-class education is available for anyone anywhere. This educational non-profit produces a collection of free online micro lectures on various subjects such as mathematics, finance, physics, computer science, history, astronomy, economics, chemistry, and biology. Game mechanics are also incorporated to reward students with badges for reaching certain skill levels. Khan Academy’s resources and materials are available to anyone and it is free of charge. Stats are available to track what you’ve been learning and whether or not you are hitting your goals.

5. Treehouse: Affordable technology education is available for people everywhere! In order to help subscribers learn web design, development, and iOS development, Treehouse uses short videos, quizzes, and badges. The service comes at a cost of $29 to $49 dollars per month. You are guided each step of the way. To start, just hop onto a track. Tracks offer guided pathways through the content. Content is structured in a way that makes it quite simple for you to learn skills within a specific role.

Technology is truly changing the dynamic of education and educational resources are readily available for professors and students with access to the web. Each of these startups are helping people achieve their dreams. Which one do you think should win an award? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook and Twitter!

ABCey’s Weekend Line-Up 6.13.13-6.16.13

If you and dad need some time away from the Father’s Day BBQs, take him to one of the events on ABCey’s Weekend Line-Up! From liquor-themed carnivals to street festivals and every tech event in between, ABCey’s here to amp up your family time this weekend!

1. San Francisco Craft Spirits Carnival | Saturday, June 15th | 1 p.m.-5 p.m. | Fort Mason Festival Pavilion | This is one carnival you definitely don’t want to miss! Try some of the local Bourbon, Whiskey, Tequila and other spirits available for unlimited sample along with your admission. And yes, those are technicolor trapeze artists, that’s not the absinthe talking!

2. GigaOM Structure 2013 | Wednesday, June 19th-Thursday, June 20th | 7 a.m.-6 p.m. | Mission Bay Conference Center at UCSF | From cloud to concept, this year’s theme will track how the real needs of businesses are driving IT construction and development. Speakers include representatives from Google, Amazon.com, and Revlon and startups and tech trailblazers will be recognized during presentations.

3. California Music Industry Summit | Friday, June 14th- Saturday, June 15th | 8 a.m.-5 p.m. | Laney College Theater, Oakland | Attention all music lovers and aspiring rock stars! This Friday, you’ll finally get your shot at stardom when hundreds of people from the music industry come out for a day of workshops, exhibits, and networking. Independent artists from all across America come to sing their hearts out and build relationships with others in the industry. Think of this as American Idol without the catfights.

4. North Beach Festival | Saturday, June 15th- Sunday, June 16th | 10 a.m.-6 p.m. | North Beach District, San Francisco | Take dad to San Francisco’s Little Italy this weekend for Tony’s Pizza and the North Beach Festival. Enjoy the summer sun and bay breeze as you wander through the craft stands and chalk art adorning this charming area of the city.

5. Bloomberg Next Big Thing Summit | Monday, June 17th- Tuesday, June 18th | 7:30 a.m.-9 p.m. | Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay | This hunt for the “next big thing” brings together entrepreneurs and investors to examine the impact of technology and business on innovation and the human experience. Talented journalists, businessmen, and analysts are sure to give conference-goers great insight into forward-thinking strategies for the tech industry’s future.

Would your dad like to go to one of these events? Let us know in a comment or on Facebook and Twitter!

Startup Monday: Silent Storm

Startup Monday is ABCey’s weekly post that features some of the best and brightest companies in the Bay Area. They are often companies that we have our eye on or have worked with in the past that we would like to share with the friends and followers of ABCey Events.

Picture this: you get to the nightclub to see your favorite DJ perform. When you open the doors expecting to be blasted by loud music, you instead walk into a completely silent room where everyone around you is dancing and listening to headphones. This, my friends, is a Silent Disco, a unique musical experience sweeping the bay area by silent storm. Silent Storm Sound System is the company bringing you the awesomeness of a concert with none of the hassle.

Silent Storm Sound Systems offers its attendees the ability to customize their concert experience through the silent disco medium. Everyone gets their own set of headphones that lets them control the volume and even the music they want to listen to. There are two “battling DJs” that you can switch between as often as you like! Headphones also mean you no longer have to push your way to the front of the stage to get the best sound quality from the performer or scream until you’re hoarse to get your friend’s attention.

Besides being incredibly fun, Silent Storm’s silent discos are also extremely practical. The performers trade off lugging in their expensive amp equipment for hundreds of wireless headphones for the crowd. Because these events produce very little noise, events no longer require amplified sound ordinances or result in noise complaints. That means you can take silent discos anywhere from parks to parties or any venue of your choosing. You can dance away your disco fever almost anywhere!

Have you ever been to a Silent Storm silent disco? Tell us about it in the comments below or on Facebook and Twitter!

Tech Tuesday: The World’s First Digital LoFi-Fisheye Camera

Tech Tuesday highlights the best and brightest ideas in the tech world. ABCey would like to recognize these up and coming companies for their innovative ideas and ability to think outside the box!

Ever since the first digital camera became available, we haven’t been able to stop taking pictures. As consumers became more and more enamored with the ease and accessibility of digital cameras, analog models with their film and fuss were pushed out of the spotlight. That was the case until Greg Dash combined the best of both digital and analog worlds and created the first digital LoFi-fisheye camera. But be warned: what you’re about to see is terribly cute!

This little guy doesn’t look like he can do much more than fit in your pocket, but Dash designed his camera to have a 170 degree fisheye lens, two to twelve megapixels, and an HD video mode. It can even take time-lapse photos and has a removable battery for your convenience. Even though it is too small for a screen to review your snaps, accessing your pictures is incredibly easy. All the files are stored on a micro SD card that you can insert into your computer and see instantly. Plus, at only sixty-five British pounds (about $100 USD), this camera is a fraction of the cost of traditional dslr lenses. With this camera, you get the quality of analog lenses with the convenience of a digital camera. What’s not to love?

This project, as you can see, is still in its infancy. Dash is a one-man operation driven by a desire to create a fisheye camera with mobility and produced only a thousand cameras for the product’s launch on Indiegogo. Every camera was snapped up in seconds and, in order to meet market demands, Dash is developing new cameras for consumer use.

Would you buy this product? Tell us in a comment below or on Facebook and Twitter!

Tech Tuesday: Ninja Blocks

This week, we’d like to credit a certain San Francisco company for daring to look inside the box for inspiration. Meet the Ninja Block, your new personal assistant.

The Ninja Block has a basic “if this, then that” command feature. If the sensors pick up an event in your real life, like a baby crying, the Ninja Block triggers a tech life reaction, like calling the parent’s cell phone. By programming in a command in the rules app (ex: turn on the light if I play music), this handy device can do almost anything for you.

The Ninja Block works as a medium between the sensors you install and the electronic world. Sensors available for purchase include motion, temperature, humidity, and contact sensors. Ninja Blocks also helps you manage your online social presence by automatically sharing the input the sensors with social media. Don’t worry, it won’t say anything you don’t want others knowing! Its message is one you program in advance in the rules app.

If you’re someone who loves to techify your life and home, Ninja Blocks is the perfect way to do so! ABCey loves this company because it bridges the gap between your online and offline lives and automates how the two interact. We’d love to use the feature that tweets a photo of every person entering the door at one of our events!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RGRIS_Rqiw

What do you think of Ninja Blocks? Tell us in a comment or on Twitter and Facebook!

Startup Monday: OurCrowd

Ever have a great idea but don’t know how to get it started? Or maybe you’re short on the necessary funds? At ABCey, we’re all about helping each other out and OurCrowd is too!

Based in Israel, OurCrowd is an equity-based crowdfunding platform to provide venture capital funding for venture capital start-ups. For those who aren’t familiar with the term, crowdfunding is essentially pitching an idea or project to the general public and hoping that they find as worthwhile of an investment as you do. Co-founders, Jon Medved and Steven Blumgar, explain that in Israel there are 500+ venture financings and over 1000+ angel financings, making it an ideal place for OurCrowd to launch — and prosper. Individuals can now use this platform to browse through hundreds of different startups and search through entrepreneurs, artists, technologists, and more.

According to its website, OurCrowd has become the first Israel focused, equity-based investment platform to launch and one of the world’s leading accredited investor only platforms! OurCrowd offers users effective tools to research companies in order to determine follow-up investment. IN addition, it offers a low-cost portfolio as well as a broad network of fellow investors.

What are your thoughts on crowdfunding? Would you support a project on a crowdfunding site? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook & Twitter!

Startup Monday: Wanderable

Unique and new experiences can often be a more valuable gift than any new cookware or furniture. This is why Wanderable, a site for honeymoon registries, is such a great tool for wedding couples. Not only that, Wanderable also makes the tedious task of sending out thank you cards a breeze! At ABCey, we think that it’s a wonderful idea and would recommend this to any couple about to tie the knot!

One of the best aspects of Wanderable is that it will also help you plan your honeymoon by suggesting destinations and activities based on your travel style. Wanderable also gives you the control to customize your registry and make it beautiful with designer themes and various layouts. You can even choose your own custom link!

Wanderable makes it equally easy for you share your new and exciting experiences with the very people that helped pay for it. With the iPhone app, you can make a real or virtual postcard with the snap of your camera phone and a personal message to your guests. Wanderable will save you a trip (or more) to the post office by stamping and mailing your postcards. Finally, it keeps track of you who you’ve sent a thank-you card to and who you have yet to thank. Super!

With the help of Wanderable, you are able cut down one more stressful component of planning your wedding. Would you try Wanderable for your upcoming nuptuals? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook & Twitter!

Illuminode: Mind Glowing Social Technology

Are you looking for something to “brighten up” your next event? Let us introduce you to Illuminode, where lighting meets art, technology and a completely new type of media for socializing. Illuminode creates full-spectrum, interactive LED illumination for fashion, brands, events, artists, architects and beyond. Since we’re fairly concerned with events over here at ABCey, we thought would look into it more for you...

They aren’t just creating “pretty lights” for an event; their initiative is to create a new way for devices to connect and communicate wirelessly to form social relationships the same way that people do. The Illuminode team consists of electrical engineers, logistics specialists, and designers who create these large scale social technologies. One of their first prototypes and one of our favorites are the “Social Umbrellas.” The LED umbrellas are inherently social and will not work alone. When joined by two or more noded umbrellas they explode in a brilliant display of sequenced light!

We also absolutely love the Billion Jelly Bloom projects where Illuminode integrates their wireless Blinkternet modules into the wonderful creatures to provide a brand new interactive experience!

Illuminode devices should have particular appeal to event planners with their easy and simple set-up. Do you think you will try this “mind-glowing social technology” for your next event? How do you think your audience/guests could use these devices to interact, or to help facilitate and reinforce relationships? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook & Twitter!

Startup Monday: Swish

ABCey Events is always on the hunt for the latest gadgets or tools that will serve as unique event gifts or help us to better plan an event. This just got a whole lot easier with Swish! Swish, which only launched this past Friday, offers VERY new (not-yet-made) products from creators and inventors across the world. Each product gets a 30-day pre-order campaign giving all Swish users the chance to be one of the first people to own a new product.

If you’re hosting a tech event maybe you want to include a Card Ninja in your gift bag? I just finished baking an absurd amount of brownies for a Super Bowl party and could actually use the Ultimate Spatula. There are tons of innovative items that would be very helpful for event planners (and everyone) on this site. Furthermore, never before has your order for something been so meaningful.

Swish co-founder Heather Brundage tells us, “We want to give consumers a voice like the App Store or Reddit, where you get to go and say ‘Hey, I want that!’ and not be limited by what only big retailers think you will like.” When you order a product, you signify to everyone else and the public that the product is worthy and has value – moving it up on the Crowd Favorite list. Your order invariably helps inventors determine a demand for their creation which gives them the go-ahead to ramp up production.

If Fab and Kickstarter had a startup baby, Swish would be their child. It is creative, fun gadgets and products for sale with a little crowdfunding thrown in the mix. It might take them a few months (or up to a year) to get these brand-new products to you, however, you will have the ultimate satisfaction that you’ll be one of the first people to get your hands on an awesome new product that you helped become a reality!

What’s your favorite product on their site? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook & Twitter.

TechCrunch Crunchies Coverage: Best Overall Startup of 2012

It’s only one week away until The Crunchies 2012! At ABCey, we’re excited to see what fun surprises the planners will have for the attendees. Of course, we’re also dying to find out is the results! Here are the finalists for the most coveted award of Best Overall Startup of 2012…

1. Fab: See last week’s Crunchies Coverage on Best E-Commerce Application

2. Github: Github has created the perfect niche for itself in the Age of Startups. GitHub is a (virtual) place where friends, co-workers, classmates, and even strangers can share code with each other. The goal is to encourage people (over two million as of right now) to code, build, and create things together. Github offers a multitude of collaborative features on their desktop and mobile applications which is revolutionizing the way individuals and teams can improve on code writing.

3. Instagram: Instagram describes itself as a “fast, beautiful and fun way to share your photos with friends and family.” Instagram allows you to take a picture with your smartphone, choose from one of many fun, interesting filters to transform its look and feel, then post to Instagram. You can instantly share your photo on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr so picture-taking becomes a social activity! Everyone is a photographer with Instagram.

4. Palantir: Palantir is smart. Palantir’s creation is a high-powered analysis platform that can scan multiple databases simultaneously primarily geared toward providing a tool for government officials and corporations to tackle complex problems. Essentially for Palantir, “data matters” and their goal, as it seems, is to try to relate to the rest of us why it does matter.
5. Square: Hook your Square up to your iPhone, Android or iPad and instantly you have a tool that allows you to collect cash, credit or debit for your mobile/small mobile business. Square has truly transformed the way individuals and small organizations can do business.

What do you think of these startups? Have they changed the way you and your business operate? Tell us how they have changed your life in the comments below or on Facebook & Twitter.