Web 2.0 Expo Berlin

The Web 2.0 Expo in Berlin is done. The crews have dismantled the booths (perhaps a bit hastily, since the conference was still officially open), the last after party is done, and people are leaving town.

This year was much better than last: much better venue, and in a more interesting part of Berlin. I didn't wind up attending very many sessions -- because of meetings, telcons, and other interruptions -- but what I saw I enjoyed. Tim O'Reilly's spirited defense of Web 2.0 was masterful, and his interviews with Yossi Vardi and Saul Klein were fun and insightful. Lee Bryant had a good session on small social networks which reprises themes I believe in deeply. Tom Raferty's session on the need for a smart energy grid -- Electricity 2.0 -- was great.

The Startup Ignite launchpad featured the following:

[from the web 2.0 expo website]

aka-aki

aka-aki evolved from the founders diploma project at the University of the Arts Berlin. The aka-aki approach is to bring about the functions we know from internet communities into real life, where they're much more useful than in the virtual space. Because real life does not just take place in front of a computer, it's happening in the streets, on trains, at parties, in universities and in clubs. So aka-aki decided to enhance reality with functions we know from virtuality. That's not science fiction. At Startup Ignite the company will give an exclusive preview of the aka-aki iPhone app that is to be launched within the next weeks.

Stowe: Looked really good to me.

Amazee

Amazee is a more evolved social networking site designed to empower individuals and small groups to launch global initiatives. Amazee was built to channel activism and provides powerful tools to help project initiators organize, collaborate on, promote, and fund projects of any size with participants from anywhere around the world.

Stowe: I am all for social awareness and activism, but I haven't seen that this app will advance us beyond what we already have with Change.org.

iDesktop.tv

iDesktop.tv is an amazing modern dynamic web application for searching, watching, organising and now, creating custom players for Youtube videos. With over 15 different player and playlist types and over 300 options to customise, users can produce professional unique video players that reflect the style and design of their website.

Stowe: Better interface for YouTube. A feature not a company.

plista

plista is a user-centric personalization and recommendation network that works across multiple websites. It allows enhancing online experience by recommending more relevant content, products and advertising in real-time. It works as a widget, per API integration or browser plug-in where no site cooperation is needed. plista delivers on-site as well as cross-site recommendations. It allows the publishers to monetize websites, promote items and target customers individually.

Stowe: Hmmmm. I am reserving judgment, but I didn't really feel it. Getting paid to make recommendations?

SoundCloud

SoundCloud is a brand new audio platform that makes is simple for people to manage and collaborate on their music online. Music professionals use it daily to receive, send and distribute their tracks. Some call it email for music, some call it flickr for audio others just call it kick-ass.

Stowe: I liked it a lot, heading in the same direction as Mixnmatch and Bojams.

txtr.com

txtr.com is a platform facilitating connected reading — it lets you follow what your friends read, enables you to send and receive interesting texts, and allows mobile access to your text collections. This might be your own private pile of books and news to read on a plane, or the documents your team has been working on and that you may need to access on the go. Wizpac Ltd., the company behind txtr, was founded in early 2008 by a group of serial entrepreneurs and book enthusiasts, including Andreas Steinhauser and Frank Rieger, who developed what is now Nokia Maps.

Stowe: I never really get apps like this since they cut across so many established tools that people already use. I think this won't take off.

I heard that some of the sessions were a bit less great, but some unevenness is found in any conference.

I had warm feedback on my presentation, "Better Social Plumbing For The Social Web", which I plan to write up tomorrow. I had planned to do that today, but lost traction when my keyboard was hosed by beer, and the s and splat keys stopped working.

I heard that the Web 2.0 Tokyo conference was cancelled due to the economic meltdown, so the next Web 2.0 Expo is March in San Francisco. I will be attending and presenting.

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