This new service, CMP.ly, hopes to help ...]]> http://www.rev2.org/2009/11/06/cmp-ly-shortening-the-ftc-rules-the-easy-way/ There are a lot of inventory and sales management apps out there.  There are also a lot of reservation and booking apps for tracking your appointments and scheduling clients.  So far, it seems, never the twain have met.  Until now.

Checkfront.com is an online inventory, reservations, and sales management tool that also processes payments and even gives unified access to distribution channels.  In short, it’s an all-in-one small business back-end.  Even better, for the budget-minded, it’s Software as a Service (SaaS), so you only pay for what you’re using.

Originally ...]]> http://www.rev2.org/2009/11/05/checkfront-online-booking-simplified/ Anyone who’s made plans for a vacation knows what it’s like to sit down with a pencil and paper and begin researching online, either filling your bookmarks or writing down a lot of information so you can compare your results.  Even if you know that you’ll be booking with so-and-so cruise line or staying at a specific hotel, when you begin comparing all of the great places to see, things to do, places to eat, etc. it can still be unwieldy.

You want to plan a great vacation and do and ...]]> http://www.rev2.org/2009/11/04/duffel-visual-trip-planning-online/ This site is a comprehensive, centralized lifeflow platform, by their own description.  I would say it’s a social media sharing platform, which is the same thing, but doesn’t sound so “Web 2.0 launchy-mission-statementy.”  It’s based on a relatively old idea, but is much more all-inclusive and integrated than most apps of this nature.

Launching in September, Rrripple.com is in public beta.  It’s been in development for two years, however, and the site definitely shows that.

The focus at Rrripple is on real-life social networks rather than the somewhat disjointed ones we ...]]> http://www.rev2.org/2009/11/03/rrripple-fun-to-say-fun-to-share/ Collaboration and design modeling sites aren’t anything new.  Since websites began, the need to involve the client in the site design and workflow has been a part of the professional design and development process.  Solutions for this range from very expensive and robust to free and useless.

IntuitionHQ.com is somewhere in the middle of that.  It’s very inexpensive (you don’t pay anything until you invite your client to look the design over) and aims at one goal: usability.

Web Design, of course, has two major goals: appearance and functionality.  A site ...]]> http://www.rev2.org/2009/11/02/intuition-hq-test-your-designs-usability/ So you have the next hottest startup idea burning your idea tree and ready for development.  All you need is a good name for it and a domain to match.  Easy right?  “Not so fast,” your marketing sense tells you.  In order to hit it big on Web 2.0, you need a short, catchy, and brandable domain and name.  “MyKillerNewStartupPlanForWeb20.com” is not exactly, shall we say, memorable.

There aren’t very many short domains available anymore.  Even 5-character wonders like “9oxt3.com” are hard to get and aren’t exactly useful.  BrandBucket.com ...]]> http://www.rev2.org/2009/10/30/brand-bucket-short-memorable-phonetic-domain-names/ Tired of looking like you wear diapers under those khakis?  Want to look like a monkey sex god instead?  Bonobos.

(Cue the too-pretty male models, made to look like chimpanzees, with cheesy hats with little ears on them, on a white stage with white blocks to romp upon in their all-khaki trousers while chasing young women in summer dresses around the set)

Bonobos.

(Tinkling music with a hint of rainforest background sounds commences)

Bonobos.

(Then the marquee, in black lettering at center screen:)

Bonobos. When khaki brings out the jungle instinct.

Wow, I missed my calling.  ...]]> http://www.rev2.org/2009/10/29/bonobos-khaki-monkey-pants/ Going into open beta very soon, OrganIP (organip.digitrad.com) is an app that replaces phone numbers with names or, more precisely, matches names to phone numbers.  Whether you know the number or not.

Without going into speculation about the unusual name of this app, let’s look at its function instead.  It’s safer territory.

It’s intended use is to connect phone numbers with your social network.  Specifically, it takes your Facebook, Gmail/Gtalk, and the new .tel domains and matches them to phone numbers.  Near-future additions include LinkedIn, Windows Live, and Twitter.

It’s a ...]]> http://www.rev2.org/2009/10/28/organip-calling-people-without-knowing-their-number/ Online merchants and web portals/sales sites often find a processing company and (often) a gateway for online processing when they first begin and then feel stuck with that solution for the duration.  Fees from some of these merchant gateways can be pretty steep.  Especially for online purchase transactions, which have a high fraud rate that processors control by charging higher fees to the merchant.

TransFS.com wants to change how merchants find their processor and empower businesses with the ability to let processors compete for their business.

The idea is awesome ...]]> http://www.rev2.org/2009/10/27/transfs-comparison-shop-for-credit-card-processing/ Is there really a need for another online survey tool?  Survey says: yep, if it’s more than just a Facebook app or lame “get paid to take…” offer.

Survs.com is a new survey-making tool and service that has recently come out of closed beta.  The site offers survey building, hosting, and statistical delivery tools for building professional surveys with third-party verification.  Nothing new there, really.

What changes is the survey tool itself and how it can build a survey using logical progression.  So the flat, one dimensional surveys most ...]]> http://www.rev2.org/2009/10/26/survs-online-survey-tool-with-logic/