Widgeo.us brings together communication channels (eg. email, SMS, MSN Messenger, Twitter, Google Talk and Facebook Chat) into one platform. Orgoo also pulls together IM, emails, SMS and voice into an integrated Web-based messaging platform. So is Chatterous, which consolidates IM, phone and email to enable group chat. However, Orgoo and Chatterous focus on messaging, whereas Widgeo.us, a Singapore-based start-up, creates a cross-channels communication platform and extends it beyond messaging by allowing applications to leverage its capabilities (applications already running on Widgeo.us are dictionary, language translation, weather, chat-room and Hangman game).

Each application has its own set of commands. These commands are used to instruct the application for results or actions. For example, to get a definition of, say, ‘homeostasis’, type ‘dictionary define homeostasis‘ in the Widgeous device. Alternatively, you can ‘direct message’ Widgeous bot on Twitter with the similar command-line; Widgeo.us will ‘direct message’ you the answer on Twitter.

Figure 1 below simplistically illustrates the Widgeo.us ecosystem, which consists of three key elements – Applications, Channels and Users.

Consider Widgeo.us as a residential neighborhood and the Channels are modes of transport – on foot, bicycle, motorcycle, Segway, car, bus and taxi. Residences (Users) are using these modes of transport to go to amenities / facilities (Applications) within the neighborhood. In the town of Widgeo.us, the amenities and facilities are easily and readily accessible by various transportation options. Availability of efficient transportation and quality amenities / facilities enhance quality of life, and thus, increases the value of the neighborhood. Similarly, in the case of Widgeo.us platform, its value is dependent on the variety of channels and diversity of applications.

Figure 1: The Widgeo.us Ecosystem

Platform Play

Applications with noticeable increase in usefulness when accessibility increases can benefit the most from Widgeo.us. Developers only code once and their applications are accessible across multiple channels. This save time and effort. With Widgeo.us, developers can focus more on developing application functionality.

To catalyze the growth of its applications, Widgeo.us has opened up its platform to third-party application developers on July 26, 2008. The on-going Hackathon contest aims to spur interest among developers to develop applications for its platform and winners get cash prizes (and ‘publicity’). Recently, the Singapore Symposium on Computational Biology has used Widgeo.us for its participants registration.

The founders of Widgeo.us are CEO Ridzuan Ashim and CTO Chua U-Zyn. The company obtained its seed funding from Thymos Capital LLP, a private business incubator. Widgeo.us launched its private beta on May 21 2008.

In a nutshell:

Widgeo.us Open Up its Communication Platform to Developers originally appeared on GreyReview on August 2, 2008.

Singapore-based Phlook Pte Ltd, founded by Ng Wee Kiat and Justine Ho, is planning to announce the public launch its online photo sharing and management site, Phlook next week. Besides sharing and showcasing photos, the website also enables users to sell them. According to Ng, Phlook aims to become the best web-based platforms, not only for everyone to share, organize and manage their photos / images but also, for amateur and professional photographers to showcase and sell their works. Development started in October 2007 and was in private beta since November 2007.

At Phlook, anyone can upload photos and there is no limit on storage (but upload for each user is capped at 100Mb per month). Its Storyboard allows users to compile different sets (or ‘chapters’) of photos into a single collection, which can be shared with other Phlook’ers. Users can set who can view and download their photos. Other Phlook’ers can rate and Favorite-It the photos. Also, on Phlook, users can find and ‘make’ friends.

Each photo is converted into shockwave file, which enables owners of for-sales images to prevent unauthorized downloads and ‘image rip.’ This shockwave’d photo can be embedded on other websites and blogs for display and comes with zoom-in / zoom-out feature.

Users can also share, post and bookmark the photo in various popular social network, blogging and bookmarking sites (such as, Facebook, Digg, Twitter, Diigo, StumbleUpon, etc.)

The Phlook Market

Rather than competing head-on with heavyweights like Flickr, Picasa Web Albums, SmugMug and Zooomr, Phlook goes beyond photo sharing and organizing, by providing a marketplace function for photo buyers and sellers to transact. Each photo social network offers various add-on services as means to monetize its user-base; Phlook offers photo transaction service. The following table outlines some of the services at Flickr, SmugMug, Zooomr and Phlook.

Phlook shares revenue from photo transactions with photo owners. The owners can earn between 66% and 90% from each transaction, depending on the photo price. The minimum price is fixed at US$0.99, whereas the maximum price is dependent on the seller’s selling track records.

To become a seller, you need to activate the Phlook Earnings Account. Earnings made from photo sales are transferred to this Account and once it reached US$100, the amount will be automatically transfer to your PayPal. Early withdrawal can be made, if the Account balance is more than US$3. To buy photos, buyers can use credit card or PayPal.

Best of Both Worlds

Phlook is a hybrid of a photo social networking site (eg. Flickr) and an image bank (eg. Crestock). Social networking to build a vibrant community of photo sharers, sellers and buyers; transaction capability to develop inventory of commercial-grade images.

The ‘portability’ of for-sales images on any website / blog expand distribution reach and its an attractive value proposition for sellers. It is also important to innovate new ways to ease upload of photos (eg. desktop/mobile uploader application), in order to attract and sustain usage.  In brief, the synergistic combination of share and sell functionality is powerful and it certainly makes Phlook looks good in the photo social network marketspace.

Phlook It, Share It, Sell It originally appeared on GreyReview on July 26, 2008.

Homespace, a service by a Singapore-based start-up The Real Group, provides an interesting and more interactive way for home buyers to search for-sales homes in Singapore. The company was founded by 26-year-old Vinod Nair together with his four classmates at the National University of Singapore in May 2007.

Homespace facilitates the ‘meeting’ of home buyers and sellers. It’s a step forward in organizing and ‘packaging’ real-estate data to reduce the search cost (and time) for home buyers. It uses Google Maps and overlay icons to display real-estate information in a new and refreshing way. Its information-rich environment enables home-buyers to make informed purchase decisions.

The followings are some of the features that make Homespace a pleasant website to search for homes in Singapore:

1. Search engine, which offers suggestions as you type (almost like Firefox 3.0 Awesome Bar).

2. Rich Interactive Map – This is probably what makes Homespace quite special. Specify key variables like Property Type, Price (min and max), number of rooms, home size and then click on the region on the map (which you are interested to search for homes). A full list of homes-for-sales within each locality will pop up.

Click on the locality of interest brings you to a page that shows all the for-sales homes, indicated by icons overlaying the Google Map. Click on the desired properties, a pop-up window will display more details about the properties (eg. price, nearby amenities, condo facilities). If a buyer is interested to negotiate with the seller, he/she need to sign-on and use the site to SMS to the seller (or agent).

3. Trending

Its HomeValue features displaying Price-Per-Square-Foot trends, in graph format, for similar home within the same locality. It displays transaction / listing prices and transaction volume and able to display such data for up to 2-years back.

With this data, it’s easier for buyer to see how far the asking price deviates from the average and how much the price has increased over time. Besides home buyers, these information are useful for property market investors and researchers. (Homespace collects its information from the Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority, Housing Development Board and real-estate agents).

4. As Easy as ZAP

Homespace also makes life a lot easier for home-sellers. Home-sellers no need to spend a lot of time entering relevant details of their for-sales properties eg. past transaction prices, nearby schools, amenities, public transport, distances from amenities, etc.). Using its proprietary SmartPins technology, the sellers only need to input zip-code, floor area and price (ZAP). Then, the system can automatically retrieve all the other related and relevant information for the property and display them on the home listing page.

Launch and Learn

Currently, Homespace is free to both home buyers and sellers (about 300 to 400 users using the site daily). For the company, it’s about building critical mass of users first, then discover ways to monetize the user-base (think Twitter’s business strategy). In addition to Homespace, the Real Group is planning to launch its for-rent properties site in August this year, called RentSpace.

However, Homespace seems to be structured around the Singapore real estate market. It would be interesting to see how the the service is replicated in other cities. It is because each city is different, in terms of market structure and data availability. Homespace has to be flexible in handling such differences and at the same time, offers similar level of intuitiveness, depth of information and user-experience (which are the key ingredients that make it ‘special’). Probably, partnering with local real-estate players (eg. information providers) is an important strategic option for Homespace to expand and extend its market reach beyond Singapore. Nevertheless, Homespace is, indeed, ‘the smarter way to find homes for sale.’

New Way to Search for Homes with Homespace originally appeared on GreyReview on July 23, 2008.