A big boost for Brooklyn-based Kaltura. The video collaboration startup has teamed up with the Wikimedia Foundation, the company behind Wikipedia. As part of the deal Kaltura is open-sourcing its online rich media remixing technology.

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A new NYC-based startup launched this week called whereIstand described by the company as a "user-driven opinion and issues site that discovers, organizes and presents a wide variety of opinions, debates and issues discussed all over the Web".

The idea is this: a topic is started and then users find opinions from politicians, athletes, movie starts, whoever and post their evidence that the person is either for/against the topic. Users can then add their own opinions or "stands" on the topic at hand. You can also compare your own views to another person. The concept is very interesting and can really help to see a broad view of opinions on a topic quickly and easily.

What the site needs is a friends option. I don't care as much what some Joe thinks as much as what my friends think. Let me create a topic, send it to my friends via email, and when they reply, it's automatically added to the topic.

Why I called it "wheretheystand" in the title is because it's not so much about normal folk - but about those in the light. We then add our opinions on the topic but it appears only those in the light get into the yay/nay photo display.

whereIstand also needs a big disclaimer on the pages as the content is found and entered by anyone. In one example regarding the Iraq war - it would be easy to switch a politician from yay to nay - and others might then change their vote or thoughts of that person based on erroneous information.

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WellcomeMat posted a short video from last night’s Web2NewYork. Unfortunately Phil Di Giulio’s space suit entrance is not included.

RIA-developer SharpStyle Labs has released a new version of ReviewBasics. The feedback gathering platform now has .pdf export. Other improvements revolve around usability and speed.

SharpStyle co-founder and CTO Mike Grushin will present ReviewBasics at tonight’s Web2NewYork networking party.

NY-based Social Internet Radio provider Jango is announcing that they have hit the 1 million listener mark in just 60 days in public beta. In my tests, the service is fun and I now know what some of the other journalists' music tastes are. 

The company describes the service as: Jango combines music and social networking by enabling listeners to not only create their own custom stations - but also tune in to each other's stations in a fun and easy way. Its unique "social music player" lets you actually see who's listening to the same artists at the same time as you, who's tuning in to your stations, and what music your friends are playing. At any time, you can tune in and listen to any station.

The real "viral power" of Jango is in the widgetization. Once you create a radio station that you like, you can stick it in widget form on your blog or MySpace profile. Regarding the widgets, CEO Dan Kaufman noted, "Until now, music widgets have been surprisingly drab and boring. The Jango Jukebox is the first music widget that’s really cool looking and fun to use – perfect for anyone who wants to spice up their MySpace page”.

The site competes with leaders Pandora and Last.fm. For December 2007, Compete shows Last.fm at 990k visitors, Pandora at 1.5 million and Jango with a more rapid growth curve at 423k.

It's great to see a NY-based company experiencing rapid growth and I will contact them for a full interview in the coming week.

Darren Herman, a friend of mine, long-time nextNY member, head of Digital Media at Media Kitchen, former co-founder of IGA Worldwide, and former member of Silicon Alley’s official sports team, Dodgeball 2.0, has just announced that he is soon-to-publish a book about “entrepreneurship and digital media.”

The book, according to his blog, will be available in the next 45 - 90 days on Amazon.com, and will be based in some part on hist blog posts from the past few years.

Congrats, Darren! I look forward to it’s publication.

2008 is forecast to be a great year for online video, web series and their creators. We are kicking things off with the infamous BigScreen LittleScreen Monthly Meetup. Tonight we'll watch more short online video works and then discuss creative, production, and technical issues. This is much more casual than a regular meetup, we sit on couches, we drink beer, and we have good discussions. Welcoming and networking starts from 6:30-7:30pm and the screenings begin event begins at 7:30pm, BYOB! BigScreen LittleScreen is moderated by Matt Semel of 10ton and hosted by Paul Kontonis of For Your Imagination.

The January 2008 Web 2.0 Meetup will be held on Monday, January 14th, 2008 at Slate Plus. The event begins at 6:30pm and is sponsored by The Economist. There will be some food and a cash bar!

Slate Plus
54 West 21st Street
New York, NY 10010
http://www.slate-ny.com

We have some very special guest presenting this month:

- The Economist / Economist.com
- Swoot
- Mochilla

First, we are excited to have both Ron Diorio and Eric Baumes, the CTOs of Economist.com, present. They’ll be speaking about what the Economist is up to both online and off-line. Economist.com is the premier online source for the analysis of world business and current affairs, providing authoritative insight and opinion on international news, world politics, business, finance, science and technology, as well as overviews of cultural trends and regular industry, business and country special reports.

Next, Glenn Pennock and Rogier Visser will present Swoot. Swoot’s mission is … “to make the Internet highly enjoyable. To create a customized user experience and in terms of creation giving back the control to the user.” Check them out at Swoot.com.

Last, Diego Medina will speak on behalf of Mochila, an online content marketplace for publishers, editors, creators and advertisers. Designed to be first to market, Mochila leverages the power of the Internet to facilitate the acquisition and sale of high quality content that includes articles, photography and soon video and audio.

It’s going to be a great evening, so come join us on Monday, January 14th at Slate Plus!

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Real estate and web tech met last week at the Real Estate Connect conference. The WellcomeMat team was among the attendees.

Co-founder Phil Thomas Di Giulio will present the real estate video startup at Tuesday’s Web2NewYork.

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