68th Carrefour des Possibles, 05/18/2010, Paris
By Cédric Pierre-Louis on Thursday 20 May 2010, 09:02 - Computer & High-Tech - Permalink
Two days ago I attended to the 68th edition of the Carrefour des Possibles at the Paris Descartes University. Ten innovative projects related to e-commerce, social web, fair and sustainable trade, services, and virtual tourism where introduced to the audience. Among the project initiators, there were entrepreneurs, artists, scientists, researchers and associations… Despite an important diversity in terms of approach and purpose, these 10 projects have all a point in common : their ability to take advantage of technology for boosting creativity and creating new uses. Most of them were quite convincing and well-conceived. However, two of these projects really caught my attention: Yoocasa and Madmagz.com.
++Yoocasa, for family gatherings online++
Yoocasa is a Web-hosted service, which allows you to communicate and interact with your family thanks to a wide variety of activities. To start spending good times with your young relatives, you just need a classic Internet connection, a webcam and an internet browser (my favorite are Google Chrome and Safari).
Through "innovative real-time interactions, you can color a picture together and see each other’s pencils as you do it. Similarly it is possible to play, look at last weekend's photos, organize the next holiday or the gift for your kids' birthdays and many other things". Every parent has experienced at least once trying to speak with your kid (or nephew) by phone while he or she seems totally uninterested by what you are saying. For people who travel a lot, and have few time to share with their children, Yoocasa offers a service they all dreamt about.
In addition of the real-time activities, "Each Yoocasa member can create a personal space and invites family members to join so that everyone can share the important elements of their lives, in complete privacy". Designed by child psychologist and some creators of content for youngsters (funny or educational) Yoocasa is the best way to enjoy quality time through ICT with your family, whatever the distance between you and your relatives.
To my mind, Yoocasa is the kind of service which could be purchased by a IT giant like Google, Facebook, Skype or Apple. Axel Cateland, a former Tom Tom employee, has just created with Yoocasa a great service which can be seen as a terrific complement to some existing VOIP applications. Yoocasa is still in Beta version and it is far from delivering all its potential. Axel Cateland doesn't lack ideas for improving is project. For instance, an application for iPad and iPhone (the latter might come in a new version with built-in front camera) seem to be planned. I am already fan of this service and I wish all the best to Mr Cateland and its partners.
++Madmagz, for creating and printing your own magazine (still in progress)++
''Lancé depuis 4 mois, Madmagz est un service créé par La Fée Du Net, une startup parisienne vouée au développement de services Web qui simplifient la vie. Madmagz illustre bien cette philosophie de simplicité: le site Web propose de créer un magazine format A5 de 4 à 72 pages en quelques tours de main. Les opérations requises pour la création d’un magazine sont simples et accessibles pour toute typologie d’utilisateur du Web. Sur Madmagz, il suffit simplement de choisir les différents modèles de pages à votre disposition (intro, édito, som maire,…), et d’y insérer vos textes et vos photos. Une fois le contenu du magazine compilé, celui-ci est disponible en trois formats différents: 1. Au for mat Flash via une page Web, gra tuit; 2. Au for mat PDF télé char geable, 9,90 euros; 3. Au for mat maga zine papier, tarif variable selon le volume d’impression.''
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