The latest to join the cadre of startups offering tools for more private sharing outside of Facebook’s massive footprint is not, in fact, another startup, but rather another media giant: Disney. Citing its “rich heritage in storytelling,” Disney’s Interactive division, best known for games, sites, and virtual worlds like “Where’s My Water?,” “Temple… → Read More
TinyTap, a Tel Aviv-based platform that allows children to create their own mobile games and “playable” books, is now expanding from the iPad to the iPhone, as it also launches its own social marketplace for apps. Here, users can sell their TinyTap creations to others, or just share them for free. The move comes roughly six months after the company announced its half a million dollar seed round… → Read More
Timbuktu, an adorably designed educational and entertainment-focused iPad app for kids, has finally revamped its business model – a model which had previously been a terrible example of how children’s apps too often try to grow their revenue by tricking kids into purchasing in-app content. The company now admits that its virtual allowance mechanism was too misleading, and has moved forward… → Read More
As we raise a generation of extroverted over-sharers, some are making tools that ensure that our private moments – baby’s first steps, junior’s tumble down the ski hill – remain private. Take Tweekaboo, for example. Created by an engineer and father, Eugene Murphy, the app allows you to give only your immediate family access to life’s precious moments. → Read More
Famil.io, a new service for privately sharing photos and videos with your family across web and mobile, is today officially launching to the public. The sharing platform can serve as a complement to Facebook, where most families network today, though in a more restrained fashion. Or for those family members who aren’t even active on Facebook, Famil.io can, to some extent, serve as a… → Read More
Great news. You’ll now know the viewing preferences of your friends’ kids on Netflix, thanks to the service’s foray into social sharing via opt-in Facebook integration, announced earlier this morning. Because the company rushed to launch the feature ahead of a product release which would allow family members and other shared account holders to set up their own profiles, that means parents will… → Read More
Sproutkin, a newly launched subscription service for children’s books, has raised an initial, but undisclosed (and still ongoing) seed round of under $1 million from investors which include 500 Startups, the TechFellow Fund, and other angels. Like the tagline implies, the startup is introducing a Netflix for children’s books – that is, it’s a rental service where you pay to receive shipments of… → Read More
Hubble, a new mobile application for private social networking created by the team that developed Flip Video, is launching today to serve as the secure hub (get it? Hubble?) for family communication. The app currently supports text messaging, voice messages, photo and location sharing and alerts, and may extend into other real-time communication methods like voice and video in the future, too. → Read More
It’s rare to come across a service that’s directly tackling a problem affecting a large number of people out in the real world, but AppCertain is doing just that. Designed for parents whose children use an iOS device like the iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, this new app monitoring service sends out email alerts informing parents of the apps their kids have just installed, what those apps do, and… → Read More
TrustEgg, a Y Combinator-backed startup which lets parents set up trusts for their children is actually launching. That’s a milestone in and of itself, because, as a financial services company, it had been facing a lot of regulatory hurdles. The company has also recovered from the loss of its first co-founder, Gabe Krambs, who left CEO Jeff Brice to take a job that paid the bills. It has since… → Read More
Amazon subsidiary Quidsi, which currently operates sites like Soap.com, Diapers.com and the newly launched eco site Vine.com to name a few, will launched two more sites this week, AfterSchool.com and Bookworm.com. Both sites are targeting families with children, the former featuring over 70,000 items for “children’s activities” and the latter offering 45,000 children’s books to start. → Read More
White label social networking platform Grou.ps is the latest to join the increasingly crowded “private networks for posting about babies” space (we may need a better title for this…), which has been heating up as of late. The company has just launched a new mobile app called Babyzilla on both iOS and Android, which allows families to privately communicate, post updates, chat, and share photos… → Read More
Tel Aviv-based KIDO’Z, which got its start back in 2009 as a kid-friendly media browser for desktop computers is finally making the jump to mobile. The company is today officially announcing an Android version of its software that enables parents to lock down their smartphones and tablets, only allowing kids access to approved mobile applications and websites. The app also provides kids with a… → Read More
1000memories, the San Francisco-based startup which offers web and mobile applications for storing, organizing, sharing, and most importantly, digitizing, your print photographs, has been acquired. Given the company’s focus on preserving family memories, it’s not too surprising who the new owner is: Ancestry.com. And fortunately for current users of the service, the deal doesn’t mean a shutdown of… → Read More
Rootsy is the latest entry in the private, family-focused social networking space – an area which has seen a surge of startups in the wake of Facebook’s rise to become the largest social network worldwide. With little hope of taking on the Facebook behemoth, the new companies are attempting to carve out a niche for more personal sharing. With Rootsy, the angle is that it lets users build their… → Read More
Want more proof that the private, mobile social networking space is exploding? Today, there comes yet another entrant into the game: an iOS and web application called Sidebark, which targets families and friends interested in sharing photos and videos privately via mobile.
Because there are so many of these apps, with Path perhaps being the one to beat in this space, each has to offer some… → Read More
HighScore House, the family-focused startup whose previous app was a “gamified” chore list tracker for iPad, has today released its latest creation: FamJam. Parents might call it an inter-family communication tool, but that sounds boring. It’s just a fun way for kids to send their iPad drawings to grandma and grandpa without needing their email address.
The company is backed by 500 Startups… → Read More
Another entry in the mobile-first, private social networking for families space (yes, apparently this is a thing now): 23snaps, a new iOS application that works like a mini-Facebook for posting status updates, photos and videos of your kids. The app isn’t anywhere near as dazzling as current private social network darling Path, but it’s a functional and easy-to-use alternative to the typical… → Read More
Famigo, the Austin-based startup building a directory of family-oriented and kid-friendly mobile apps, announced today that it has raised $1 million in funding led by Silverton Partners. Also participating in the round were Zilker Ventures, Liahona Ventures, and CapitalFactory.
The company, which currently offers an online directory of apps as well as parental control software for Android, says… → Read More
Ah Windows Home Server. I’m interested to see how it fares. I am of the opinion that marketing a $500+ home networking storage device to casual consumers is an odd choice. I could be wrong, though. I guess we’ll soon find out. HP’s MediaSmart Server is now available for pre-order on major retailing websites like Amazon.com, BestBuy.com, CompUSA.com, and the like. There’s a… → Read More
In an effort to bring families together and unify them under a strong head of household, as God intended, Microsoft is going to be introducing some family-friendly games to the Xbox lineup, as well as ramping up marketing of the console as being a “family connector”. Nintendo is already there, I’ve seen the elderly and infirm play Wii for hours and have a great time. Getting… → Read More
Looks like Merrill Lynch is the latest company to be added to the Nintendo payroll. Analyst Yoshiyuki Kinoshita is now claiming that by the year 2011, 30% of US households will own a Nintendo Wii and a third of Japanese households will own one as well. The predictions come as the Wii has surpassed expected sales and doubts that the console would be gimmicky. Adding fuel to the fire is the fact… → Read More
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