RK's Musings

Covestor : Purple cow

Via TP:

Caters to a nice gap and it is touted as a service which democratizes hedgefunds - http://www.covestor.com/how/

Will this make money ?

Aaster startup

Thanks TP for sending me a link about this company.

Went through The Need for a New Analytic Architecture Sounds very interesting!! and exciting!!

Prosper.com - ebay + lend + borrow

Here's a nice service that caters to small time lenders and borrowers .People who need money request it, and other people bid for the privilege of lending it to them. Prosper makes sure everything is safe, fair and easy

Prosper.com - ebay + lend + borrow

Here's a nice service that caters to small time lenders and borrowers .People who need money request it, and other people bid for the
privilege of lending it to them. Prosper makes sure everything is safe,
fair and easy

MCX : A success story in India

An inspiring story of an entrepreneur Jignesh shah who has made it big in the commodities market exchange. Its a story of the transformation of a technology company in to a successful trading exchange

What is he betting on :

“We are getting into mobile-based digital transactions for micro credit; it is a trillion dollar market. It will capture all low-end transactions, mobilising small money at a quarter of the cost. When media turns completely digital, we will be there too. "

" Of course, the currency market is at a nascent stage; when it opens up, there will be huge opportunities for us to convert "

Wondir: Wikipedia of answer sites

Wondir gives a good competition to Google answers. Why pay $2 when you can get your question answered for free and also with a personalized touch.

Intercasting

Intercasting : Vision - LMNO

We want to show people how to go way beyond voice communication. Our ultimate goal is to be the world's largest Location-aware Media Network Operator (LMNO), connecting people through user-generated mobile relevant content. It is a different vision for a different kind of media company. Instead of dialing 411, you'll ask your device "Is there a good independent band playing around here tonight?" Your profile will filter content you've created with other people's channels and connect you to a flash community of people who can help you find an answer that is contextually relevant. This is the ultimate in localized and personalized search and directory.

Traditional broadcast media is one-to-many. Peer-to-peer is many-to-one. Intercasting is few-to-few. Media distribution is no longer pushed one way through a linear value chain, it is virally distributed through layers of overlapping personal networks. People connect around a concept, a place or event for just long enough to derive mutual value then disburse to form new connections around other points of value. The media you create is the nucleus for these flash communities. Your mobile phone will turn into a location-enabled media publication and networking power tool to connect you with your world.

Writely : Word sharing service

Another application in the social networking context - Writely :

It is a skeleton version of instacoll,but however its usp is web app and targeting to the customer base who are already familiar with numsum, flickr , etc kind of services.

PreviewSeek

A sleek search engine :  Previewseek

Results are much better in terms of visualization.

Zopa

What are banks meant for : Intermediaries between Lenders and Borrowers. Why should internet, the supposed platform  for killing all intermediaries spare banks...atleast that's what a group of people from London think so.

Zopa , a new service promises exactly this :

Bank - Your idea of hell: a place where you're told which rate you can invest or borrow at and how long you can invest or borrow for and then offered, in a sad mockery of the word 'choice', a meagre number of off-the-shelf solutions which either suit you or don't. You can find places like these on any high street - they're called banks - but you might have other names for them.

Your idea of heaven: a place where you can choose exactly what rate you want to lend or borrow at, and where you can choose exactly how long you want to lend or borrow for. And where you can monitor your money's performance once a year or once a minute if you prefer, and where you can choose your own user name. 'Noonetellsmewhattodo' is still available.

That place is called Zopa.

'll be interesting to watch how this service comes up

Inrix

Here's a firm to watch out , solving the business need of reduced traffic jam hours :

"Redmond-based-Inrix has raised its initial round of capital to help sell prediction software alerting drivers to potential traffic gridlock up to days in advance.

The company received $6.1 million in the first round, the largest amount a Washington software company has obtained at that stage in almost two years. But Inrix has another first, as well.It is the first startup  to license technology developed in-house by Microsoft's research division."