MEDgle – Personalize Medical Search

Medgle, for families, this Medical Search Tool can alleviate some stress when it comes to identifying symptoms within the family. I must say this is a controversial topic, and brings up much discussion about self-diagnosis tools. I have had the chance to meet the founder and this search tool has been created with the end user in mind. Medgle I believe in pre, pre-Alpha, so don’t go to heavy on forming opinions on the site, yet. I want to talk about the information stored in this search tool. What peaks my interest is the fact that the search data is powered by physicians, with Medgle providing the mechanism for these two smart physicians to dump huge amounts of data into the back-end.

Why is this so good?

Well, as far as I can understand (I will get the low down at some point), this amount of data (symptoms) is not aggregated anywhere of significance. Okay, to make this come home. That means symptoms analysis rely solely on the expertise of the doctor you are with and what YOU say to them. My son definitely contracted strepp throat but because I said he also had a runny nose, they didn’t believe me (long story) and then we got an urgent call, that my son did in fact have strepp throat as well as the rest of the family.

I am not saying I should not have said that my son also had a cold, which often indicates it is not a bacterial infection but a viral infection, but I would have been clearer on the fact we are in a new country, he had ezcema, a cold before he got strepp throat which gave him a horrific fever and rash all over his body. That would have saved me 6 trips to the doctor and nearly a thousand bucks later (an even longer story).

So, I will definitely use this site!! Even if it just makes me more confident to ask and answer the right questions, and be a lot more clearer on the symptoms that I ignore in my stressed state. Us parents need not hyperventilate, as I do when my little one has a very high fever, but get productive in understanding what childhood diseases can come our way and be armed with the information, rather than stress at the slightest cold (okay maybe that is just me).

Well, at least some of my old days of crashing in on Medical Lectures at UWA with an ex, is now paying off (wink wink)

Give Medgle a go and give your feedback at Medgle@tangler

Tags: medgle, search, medical, symptoms, family2.0

New Baby – a flashy new look

NewBaby.com has a fresh new look. Dropping the orange and going for more subtle colors, like pastel blue and pink. NewBaby has also incorporated TV, Radio and Experts into the site. NewBaby, in terms of features, appears to be positioned between RaisingChildrenNetwork and iVillage.

I think it’s great to provide moms with more tools to interact online, but one feature I wish NewBaby would allow a visitor to turn off is the TV advertisement. I am not a fan of push advertising, but that is just my opinion, and hey it may be working for NewBaby.

Women 2.0 – Next Generation of opportunity

Missed the event, go to here to Justin.tv Guide : Sizzling Entrepreneurs

It was exhilarating to see a full house full of men and women at the CNET offices last night in San Francisco for the Women 2.0 business plan pitch night. I have a lot of time for Women 2.0 they ‘get it’ and I am happy and willing to encourage other innovative or powerful women in business, tech and entrepreneurship I know, to be as accessible to this group as possible as I am aiming to be (even thinking of opening up my place).

Women can have children, be in charge of their own destiny and find a love of emerging tech which really fuels your self esteem. If anything I feel like I have found my ‘kind’ here as well as my growing love of social networking. It’s funny to see myself switch places with my husband, who used to be the one who would only communicate via email and I was the total extrovert when it came to ‘doing business’ in the Search world…social networking revived a burnt out disillusioned woman trying to find her purpose in the world. Then I had Codi and I felt like I had to make some sort of a difference. Some sort of meaning to inject into my life and what I stand for…I am proud to be a women, a tech business model geek, a cool mom/wife/friend/surfer gal (most of the time but most of all having fun with our start up in Web 2.0 and connecting into the community.

There is interest in what us Women in Web 2.0 are doing (evidence from last nights packed event). There are many smart women in this industry. I really encourage women thinking of starting a business to take a deep breath and give it a go. Use your voice through Women 2.0 its your stage to getting in front of the unattainable and your dreams ignited, as the Women 2.0 startups were doing last night.

My favorite: Findyourscene.com’s three co-founder’s have amazing cred, enough to make me want to go back to school. They have ambitious targets, and a cool idea. I am sure the entire campus of Google alone will get the party started.

More info about last night:

The 5 companies pitching on April 25th are the finalists of the Women 2.0 Napkin Business Challenge:

• Laser Seal: Exploits ground-breaking interaction between light physics and cell molecular biology to reduce cost and improve quality of surgical wound closure.
• QT Star: Video monetization and intermediary ad service company in China and the United States.
• YouStyleMe: Online fashion community where men and women who have particular style needs can connect with other consumers who are style-savvy in a fun and engaging way.
• Olight: Cutting-edge OLED technology to lighting designs.
• FindYourScene: A community website where people can find “their crowd” and post, discover, and rate social events.

Live Judging Panel

» Alka Gupta, consumer media companies
» Carol Sands, The Angels Forum
» David Feinleib, Mohr Davidow Ventures
» David Stern, Clearstone Venture Partners
» Lara Druyan, Allegis Capital
» Marleen McDaniel, Women.com

» Shannon McClenaghan, Jimmyjane
» Sharon Vosmek, Astia (formerly WTC)
» Susan Mason, Onset Ventures
» Tami Zhu, AOL, New Ventures
» Tim Chang, Norwest Venture Partners
» Venky Ganesan, Globespan Venture Partners

As much as I find myself inspiring Women, I am so inspired by what they are dreaming of doing and what some Women have done. I am sure I have two sides to me (one shy geeky type and the other a total extrovert) I must wake her up (my extrovert side) and get more into evangelizing Women 2.0. We were happy to be one of the sponsors for the night, Vibe Capital (Minti), but the more support given, in terms of contacts that can help foster the group the better and we’ll uncover more quiet smart women out there thinking of their next big thing.

I am confessing, I really love living here! My heart I discovered was here in San Francisco, lol, more specifically the Bay Area

A note of thank you’s…

Thank you Asha, John and Jen for their amazing help and support, with O’Reilly Media and CMP sponsoring Women 2.0 with two full conference tickets to Web 2.0 Expo last week!!!! It also really helped in raise profile for the Women 2.0 business plan pitch night. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

tags: family20, women20, oreilly, cmp, findyourscene, web20expo, minti, vibecapital, web20

Particls – News alerts for mom and dad

Particls has a really great look and feel. There is something that draws you in, not only the look of the website but it’s proposition…that you too can have the resources Particls is offering, to have news and alerts delivered to you, without any technical ability needed. I was particularly drawn to a number of call to action points on the homepage, but one did stand out to make me want to sign up to receive a beta invite.

What was that you say?

It was “Got a Mom?”

Now how many techie, Web 2.0 leading edge sites are calling this out? It signals a smart thing to me…going beyond the “innovator mode” and reaching out for your own mom to try…I will need to set it up for her, mainly because I want to, but the power of the older generation with your dad far away at the breakfast table not interacting but reading the paper will be gone! (okay, I am going to let go of that)

With Particls, I am sure they will go mobile and dads you can read your news on the commute to work and if you drive, I am sure your news will be delivered by voice.

I am just spelling out my wishlist…but who knows…I’ve signed up to get an invite, but I am willing to bet I will have fun with Particls, sorry netvibes, but my attention span is waning.

Check out Particls and sign up for beta…I also realized that the founder Chris Saad is a fellow Aussie, howdy Chris…and thanks for stopping by.

tags: particls, chrissaad, web20, family20

Buidling in London – Powered by rage!

Related Web2.0, Family 2.0 site.

Do you live in London? Thinking of building? You need to check this site out first before you take that ultimate, frightening plunge.

Building In London has just launched softly, and I must disclose that this is a recent addition to the Vibe Capital family. It’s Vibe Capital’s first release of an equity licensing partnership and founder Isabelle, has such exciting vision for Building In London. *Vibe Capital is the parent company behind Minti and of which I am a Co-founder of both.

Minti is somewhat different in terms of the vibEngine powering the site, Building in London has some fresh faced features that ought to get any Londoner tickled pink

For starters, Building In London features a ‘supplier directory‘, ‘Hall of Fame‘ and ‘Polling‘ questions, as well as a glossary for those really obscure remodeling terms (can you tell, I have no idea about building)…

However, interestingly enough, I have taken on projects to change some part of our house.

Building In London has a fresh, cool look. It has some similarities in features to Minti, but you wouldn’t have guessed it, had you not been a user of Minti.

I do remember once way back, a news report of Madonna, flying in American Builders to the UK, because she had a falling out with her UK builders…that worried me, because I think Australian Builders are better than the American Builders…oops what am I starting here

Have fun Londoners, connect with others that are creating amazing spaces and share the love and hate relationship that comes with Building In London.

tags: vibecapital, buildinginlondon, minti, isabelle

Famiva – beta “where families live online”

Famiva is the latest Family 2.0 site to arrive. It is in beta right now. Here’s the description of Famiva’s offering from their website…

“Welcome to Famiva!

Welcome to the premier private social network for families, a place for you and your relatives to get connected, collaborate, build your family tree, share photos, events and stories, get reminders, and much more.

Famiva makes it fun and easy to build your online family network. Invite unlimited number of relatives to join in and work together to capture your genealogy and preserve family memories for generations to come.

Plus, we offer plenty of free storage to share photos in high resolution in a secure and private manner.”

What is of interest it the proposition that Famiva is a ‘private social network’. You basically have your own private social network of your family on the web, privately and off grid (from search engine indexers). I wonder if this is too early for adoption by families, when at the moment it is all about ’sharing’ in an wide and open community. At the moment we are wanting to gain some sort of reputation from social networking and blogging. We also want others to see the fruits of our contribution and participation. Will this start to erode as weird people start infiltrating the fun of blogging and we turn to ‘private blogging’? It is an interesting thought for me to contemplate.

I am private and yet I blog. I like to keep my numbers silent and not add my home address to the phone book. Yet part of my life is out there on the web.

There has been a lot of discussion around being in ‘control’ of your identity and having control of your information on the web. I have seen a few companies here at the Web 2.0 Expo that are championing the Open Identity cause.

The question is I feel, is that are we seeing an emergence of ‘private social networks’ and are they modeling their sites off AOL. Is there some success for keeping family activities closed, or will be able to in the future click to make private or public any piece of content we have shared on the web, then will it matter if the network is private?

Although, I do see that you may want to bare all and share all, then a ‘private social network’ is more appealing to those you wish to bare all to.

Take a look and give Famiva a try.

tags: web2expo, family2.0, famiva

Meredith Corporation – set to launch parenthood portal

Thanks Bubbles for the post about this blog I also picked up from Bubbles’ blog, that Meredith Corporation is shutting down its “Child” magazine and looking to launch a parenthood portal this coming July (source: paidcontent.org). It appears to be the first real indicator that traditional media companies are making dramatic shifts in strategy, closing a print magazine and focusing their efforts online. The movement towards Family 2.0 solutions by Meredith is also apparent with their Better Homes and Garden portal bhg.com adding interactive features, such as…

“The new BHG.com contains seven primary channels — Decorating, Remodeling, Food & Recipes, Gardening, Holidays, Health, and Family & Crafts. The channels include features such as streaming video and blogs; design and planning tools; desktop widgets; recipe wikis; and community sharing applications.” Meredith Press Release

The strategy shift will also see 60 employees lose their jobs who mainly worked on “Child” magazine. Meredith’s bhg.com (Better Homes and Garden) site receives over 5 million unique monthly visitors. I am assuming that Meredith’s parenthood portal will have all the bells and whistles of a Family 2.0 site.

Meredith has over 85 million names is one of the largest US domestic database, 26 subscription magazines, 400 books in print, 32 websites and strategic alliances, 14 television stations…

“Meredith Hispanic Ventures publishes five Spanish-language titles, making Meredith the largest Hispanic publisher in the United States reaching women at every life stage.” Meredith Press

More importantly, Meredith’s website properties generate 110 million page views a month.

As we have seen ivillage, Disney and now Meredith Corporation, Family 2.0 is becoming more of a necessity than a fun nice to have tool.

Stay tuned for the Meredith parenthood portal…

ps* I am typing this at Web 2.0 Expo, San Francisco

tags: web2expo, meredith, family20