Travelling by car these days can be a bit much to deal with because everyone is always on the go (traffic) and gas prices aren’t quite so friendly on your pocketbook. Waze, a very intuitive, free app for your smartphone (iOS and Android) helps you get from point A to B in several different ways.


First and foremost, Waze has always been saving you time by being a fun, community-based GPS traffic and navigation app. Currently, with its latest update (3.2), you’re now able to save money by making it easy to save on gas, and who doesn’t want that? Waze helps you find the cheapist gas around you, or along your route. It also has specials at select gas stations. Simply redeem your digital coupon when you arive at the participation station and save. All the pricing, much like everything at Waze is updated by you, the community.


Another new feature is adding a stop along your “route”. You can choose through multiple “Search by Category” features. This feature is kind of like Foursquare’s explore option that they just added, however you get realtime ETA to both your stop and final destination.

Download your free app today and start saving time and money in the coolest waze possible.

If you’ve ever left a comment on any site on the web, ever, you know how hard it can be to keep track of comments directed back to you, or in general in that specific thread. Sure, there are several services that can help with this more than common problem, but none help you engage quite like Engagio does it.

 

Engagio is a Gmail-like Inbox for your social conversations and relationships. Engagio provides a unified engagement dashboard across the various online/social spaces and gives the user a unique visibility about the people behind these conversations and their social identities.

William Mougayar, CEO of Engagio took a moment to speak with us, and here’s some things you should know:

  • Engagio is a FREE service!
  • They were launched in early Febuary, and currently around the 10,000 user mark.
  • Engagio is all about “one on one” relationships.
  • “We are a social conversation network, allowing you to follow others via engaging/commenting.”
  • When you follow a user via Engagio, it allows you to see conversations only with them. But, you can also see where they are active (other sites) and choose to interact there or not.
  • If you get a reply, you get a message in your inbox.
  • You can leave a comment, then go back and edit, if you like, and re-share to sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr!
  • Did we mention its FREE!!??!!

At some point, I’m told there will be a premium service with features like managing multiple accounts and analytics. This is where community managers will really be able to thrive and see results, but I’m sure you can expect advertisement to follow. Community managers won’t be the only ones ready to engage with the above mentioned free service. Anyone who is active on the web can benefit from Williams creation.

So, sign up today, and begin your personal relationship management. Bonus for the SF New Tech community (that’s you!): Anyone that signs up to Engagio AND Tweets about it will be entered into a drawing for an iPad 3! And if you also Share on Facebook, you will increase your chances of winning by two! Just follow this link to sign-up and we’ll automatically recognize your steps. (Note: you MUST share immediately after your signup to qualify for the draw!)

For more information on how to best utilize your new social conversation network, check out the Engagio Blog, and don’t forget to come talk to William in person next week at SF New Tech.

 

What Is PointBurst?

Much like HootSuite, TweetDeck, Seeismic, Etc, PointBurst is a social media syndication platform that allows its users to post to multiple platforms. The BIG difference with Pointburst is, “Organizations can also rapidly share every asset they create with their franchisees/resellers/affiliates/partners (“affiliate”) multiplying their reach, ensuring brand consistency, and providing valuable content to support the affiliates’ social media efforts.”

A great example of the above mentioned description is as follows: Lets say brand “X “isn’t great with social media (like most brands), so they have “X” amount of affiliates, and/or brand partners, who each have their own accounts to mange. When brand “X” posts one update, it then reaches out to each “affiliate”, who then is notified, and then decides if they would like to allow to publish to each one of their accounts, should they choose to do so (awesome sauce).

Who Is PointBurst’s Target Audience?

Any organization(s), with any amount of affiliates, trying to reach the masses or be more effective with their marketing. So, pretty much you, me, anyone trying to effectively brand themselves or company with a simple post. Time is money, and most people simply don’t have the time to post on everything, all day. With PointBurst you don’t have to worry about all that time.

What Social Sites Does PointBurst Publish To?

Currently, you can publish to FaceBook, Twitter and LinkedIn (waiting on Google+ and Pinterest API’s). Between you, me and the interwebbs, Flickr, MySpace, Instagram and WordPress will be the next sites to hit PointBurst within the next three months, so be ready for said awesome-ness.

If you are as convinced as we are, why not try them out for a free thirty day trial? After that pricing will depend number of affiliates and modules you choose to use.

Side note: If you want the 411 on PointBurst in full, may I suggest you attend our event next week. Word on the street is you will get more than thirty days, but I wont tell you how much more unless you show up (see what we did there?).

Also … this just in for attendees of the event on 4/11:

PointBurst is offering a FREE, 3 month subscription for an upgraded Publisher Account with library sharing privileges.  With an upgraded Publisher Account you have the ability to publish through the social media sites of your affiliates as if they published it themselves.  You can exponentially expand your audience with the click of single button.  No longer will you have to hope your affiliates are maintaining a social media presence and no more worrying about keeping your brand consistent!  With library sharing you can seamlessly share assets of your choice from your library with your selected affiliates.  This is a special offer for SF New Tech attendees only and you can register on location at the PointBurst table.  All of those who register will be eligible for the raffle of a new iPod Shuffle!

Shweet!!

 

Another amazing SF New Tech in the books. There were free tacos, a packed house with hundreds of great connections being made. Along with the usual amount of triple digit connections, came the cards, oh lord, the stacks of cards. We love meeting you all, and your cards are great, we just don’t like the amount of time it takes to log all that info associated with them. Not to mention all the trees (“Mommy what are trees?”) it takes to make said products.

Enter CardFlick, a SF New Tech vet that solves the above mentioned headache/conundrum. “CardFlick is a team of Designers/Hackers/hustlers who believe in the power of design”.  Currently, Cardflick is only available in the ever so popular iOS format (Android coming soon, shhh), and with it, you can create a beautiful digital business card from your Instagram and Facebook photos with their freshly released “InstaCards”.

The InstaCards feature is great in that in just a few simple steps (background, design, colors, image, and info), you will have successfully created a personal business card for you to share or “Flick” with all your connections, regardless if they are CardFlick users or not (more on this a bit) . Once you get to this point, “Flicking” is, well, just what it sounds like. You Flick your card out into the room and anyone in the area who has the app can see and receive it. Now however, you can flick your card to specific users in the room, you know, just in case you don’t want everyone around to have all your info.

Of course, CardFlick works best if both parties have the app, which is currently free (during beta only). And if you flick your card, it instantly shows up on our phone. There have been several other apps that share info, BUMP would be the only one worth mentioning, but what makes CardFlick better is the ease of use. It’s just so simple to create amazing, free, cards to exchange on the spot. Also, there are plenty of great themes, and plenty more on the way.

Now, for all the people out there who don’t want to join another site/service amongst the endless sea that are already out there, don’t worry, we can still take your card and flick ours straight to your email if you prefer. Either way, when next we meet, “Lets Flick”.