Well, 2006 is over and life is back to normal after another crazy holiday season. Hopefully everyone out there had a nice relaxing break, ate too much, and got some great gifts…we’re still loving Wii Sports over here, even though Chris is killing us all in Tennis.

And with every new month, comes a new NY Tech Meetup. This month’s event is again taking place at the slightly stodgy Cooper Union. While the venue isn’t my favorite, there was a good selection of presenters tonight. While the big announcment of the day belonged to Apple with the iPhone, we saw some pretty cool technology ourselves here. So without further ado, here’s my quick recap:

ChangingThePresent
Robert Tolmach, of Changingthepresent.org came to present this latest project of his. Changing the Present, a clever play on words, is a marketplace that makes it easy for people to give charitable gifts. The idea is simple…instead of giving a friend another crappy gift, you should give a donation in their honor. Further, instead of just giving a check to a blanket non-profit company, you should be able to choose a specific cause. Features include the ability to connect with other likeminded people, to see what celebs donate, and to even see the hall of shame of gifts. When you send a gift, you can attach it to a custom made card that gets sent to the recipient.

Bitwine
Alon Cohen came to demo BitWine. Think Yahoo Answers meets Ether.com It’s a service that allows people to ask questions to experts, or ‘advisors’ via chat, voice, or video. Experts can charge for advice, or, if they’re feeling generous, offer it for free. He gave a demo that I found incredibly impressive. The integration was seamless as he moved from finding an expert, to calling (with video), to paying, to submitting for a refund. It was elegant and smooth. The site has some nice features, like the fact that you won’t be charged until you and your advisor agree to begin officially – payments can be made automatically through paypal, and the advisor gets paid on the spot. Alon hopes that those features, plus the great rich media, will differentiate them from their competition. Yes, the inevitable ‘will this be used for porn’ question came up, and we were told they block it. Finally, they offer the ability to brand their service for your site’s own needs.

Platial
Diane Eisnor of Platial came by to demo her site. The site pitches itself as a ‘People Atlas’, where users can use APIs to create custom themed maps. Whether its locations in a city, your favorite destination, or post-geo-political something or others, their site allows you to link key content geographically. Using the MapKit tool, you can even create your own mini map mashup for use on your own blogs or websites. The site is big in the activism and DIY realms, and seems to have gotten a lot of good press so far. Right now, their business model is all ad revenue based, but with investment money from KP, they should have no trouble growing. As for the look of the site, I think it needs a bit of work. It’s not the prettiest of sites, but its very easy to navigate. And with the familiar Google Maps interface, users should get the hang quickly.

‘Lee’
Yes, Lee, as Lee came by to demo a technology process he came up with to help people create simple animations. Using some free software called MonkeyJam, he demonstrated who anyone with a webcam, a whiteboard, and a computer can make a simple animation in minutes. He gave some examples of work done by people on the net, which were cute. But it was his demo Fort Minor’s “Where’d You Go”, set to his animation that got the greatest applause. He’s looking to package the concept and help sell/distribute it to schools. I loved the fact that he presented this not as a company, but just a technologist looking to show off what he’s done using products out on the market. Fun stuff…

Citizen Image
Citizen Image is a clever site that allows amateur photographers and publishers to buy and sell their photos. Photographers can post their work for publishers to browse, and publishers can post photo requests. The site represents each photographer and tries to sell their work on their behalf. When you’ve earned enough money, they’ll cut you a check. It’s a great way for citizen journalists to actually get compensation for their photos. The most interesting comment the presenter made was about the fact that in 2006, it was the year in which we gave up our content for other sites to own, ie, YouTube. Citizen Image hopes to change that in 07, so that normal people can create content, own it, and sell the rights instead of just giving them up. That message resonates a lot with us here at Civil Engines (as written on our various posts and homepages).

Daylife
Finally, John from Daylife came to present their recently launched site and product. Daylife is an innovative news service that aggregates news content from around the world and organizes relevant stories, photos, videos, and more into a clever summary. Using keywords, tags, and various relations, the site allows you to follow all aspects of a story, and then move on to related topics. The interface is quite nice and very visually appealing. It also gives users the option to customize the site, called “My World”. Like most ‘my’ sites, it takes clues from your existing interests and constantly brings in live content based on your viewing habits. It’s a really clever way to view the news, and I’ll be adding it to my permanent bookmark list. They also offer API’s to their site ‘widgets’, allowing other sites to take any piece of their content in any form (even their own custom charts, polls, etc), and post them on their own blog or website. A question about their investors came up, especially regarding Michael Arrington’s comments. Arrington, an investor in Daylife had some discouraging words about them. Scott Heiferman – founder of this event and Meetup.com, and also an investor in Daylife, responded by saying that Arrington was an ass, and was simply disapppointed that there were no RSS feeds. John insisted that great features were on their way. After all the casualties of the East Coast/West Coast feud in the 90’s, I don’t think we need any more fighting here and now.  It did make for some great drama though.

The night ended with a quick discussion about Apple’s announcment of the iPhone. Various audience members got up to discuss their thoughts on the products. Frankly, I think the device is gorgeous, and as a user of an ugly and slow pocketpc, I look forward to seeing thing. One question remains, will the all touch screen technology fail to stimulate our haptic perception?

All in all tonight was a great night. There was a good variety of demos, many of which I’ll continue to use. The crowd was big, and really into the event. Hope the trend continues…see you in February!