When someone passes away, so much personal and family history is lost. StoryPress is a new app that hopes to combat this problem. By recording your story with this easy-to-use tool, you can capture that special spoken history for future generations.

You don’t have to be tech-savvy to use story app. The process is very simple – just download the app and start recording as prompted by the app itself. Because this tool is so easy to use, it is perfect for older members of your family who may not be comfortable with most recording options out there. When you’re done telling your story, it is automatically saved to the cloud, which can be shared with friends and family.

What I like most about StoryPress is that you don’t have to be worried about having nothing to say. You can record a personal diary if you’re feeling chatty, but if you tend to clam up when you hit the record button (like I do), you can instead go through one of the prompts. StoryPress will ask you questions, and you simply answer them. It’s an easier way to record memories than sitting down and being pressured to just start talking.

You can also create interviews of your own and have friends and family answer your questions. Because everything is stored in the cloud, you don’t have to be in the same room to work with your loved ones to record stories. Just create your interview questions and send them off to your interviewee of choice to be answered at their convenience. This would be a fantastic tool for creating a special gift for someone when celebrating a milestone achievement. For example, imagine asking family members to record memories of a child that is then given to that child when they graduate. Or image friends sharing memories of a couple that you compile to be a wedding gift. Get creative!

StoryPress also makes it easy to share your recordings. They can be private, for just your closest friends or family members, or you can broadcast them on Twitter and Facebook.

As the makers of this app say, “A voice, unlike anything else, has the power to bring a story to life.” Long after a loved one is gone, these recordings can help you feel like they are still alive. Someday, your great-great-great grandchildren could hear your voice talking about your life, even though you aren’t around anymore to tell stories in person. This app has the potential to be extremely powerful for your family, so check it out.

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Allison Boyer is the Online Education Coordinator for NMX University, where you can learn more about blogging, podcasting, web TV, and social business. She also runs the food blog The PinterTest Kitchen with her mom and sister.

Give Your Calories is a new app from Action Against Hunger that allows you to “donate” your calories to help end world hunger.

“Clean your plate! There are kids starving in Africa!”

I had a teacher in elementary school who was fond of yelling that whenever we didn’t eat our vegetables during lunchtime, and it never made much sense to me. It wasn’t like she was going to wrap up my leftovers and ship them to malnourished children in third-world countries! But as I got older, I realized that what she really meant is that we should appreciate what we have.

Now, there’s an app for that. (Come on, are you really surprised?)

Give Your Calories is a new app that allows you to donate your calories to people who actually need them. The concept is simple: take a picture of your food, and the app uses image recognition and a barcode scanner to calculate the calories you’ll be consuming. Then, it converts those calories into a donation amount, which you can choose to give via PayPal to the charity Action Against Hunger. You can manually add any snack or meal you photograph that isn’t recognized.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjIHG2VBJ5g

The app recommends a donation of $1 for snacks that contain fewer than 200 calories, $2 for snacks up to 300 calories, and $5 for snacks up to 400 calories. For every 100 calories you consume past 400, the app adds another dollar.

Action Against Hunger has an A grade from CharityWatch and has four stars from Charity Navigator. They have 4,600+ field staff workers in over 40 countries around the world. Your donations go toward programs to treat and prevent malnutrition, provide access to safe water, respond to emergencies, provide long-time solutions to farmers in struggling communities, and more.

Give Your Calories is also a way to open your eyes about the foods you eat. Often, we don’t realize how many calories we’re eating, So, if you’re struggling with a diet or trying to eat healthier foods, Give Your Calories is a great options. You might think twice about ordering dessert if you have to not only pay for it, but also donate money!

To date, nearly 200,000 calories have been “donated” world-wide. You can get Give Your Calories now for iPhone, and Action Against Hunger is working on an Android version as well.

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Allison Boyer is the Online Education Coordinator for NMX University, where you can learn more about blogging, podcasting, web TV, and social business. She also runs the food blog The PinterTest Kitchen with her mom and sister.

FixMeUp is a new dating/matchmaking application for Facebook that utilizes the connections and the relationships that you already have to help you make the new ones that you want.

By now, you or someone you know has tried an online dating service – and let’s all be honest, it’s a pretty strange scene. From being propositioned by strangers behind murky images to trying in vain to pull off a three-line text-message pick-up, the online dating market has been in chaos, with more disappointments and failures than successes. Many of these sites boil dating down to a virtual people auction that often leaves users feeling vulnerable, confused, and disconnected – and a little more lonely than when they started.

But now, there’s a new option: FixMeUp, a dating/matchmaking application for Facebook! Everyone loves to try to set their friends up, and who better to help you pick your next date than a mutual friend? FixMeUp utilizes the connections and the relationships that you already have to help you make the new ones that you want.

There’s been a lot of talk about the power of Facebook’s “Second Circle of Friends,” which has been used successfully by advertisers and other professional networks. FixMeUp proposes, “Why not use these circles for a truly worthwhile cause, like finding love?”

FixMeUp’s solution, just like in real life, is to get people together through matchmakers – and who better for this role than your friends who actually know you? Inside the application, the user is invited to choose if he or she wants to be a “Dater”, a “Cupid” (i.e. a matchmaker), or both.  From this moment on, the games begin. Through FixMeUp, the search for love online can be social and entertaining, while keeping the search honest and real so that you can find something real. A proposed match can come from either the Daters themselves or from the Cupids. If you want to be set up with someone, you just need a mutual friend, and, as you probably know from experience, this makes your chances of success much, much higher.

There is even a bit of an incentive system in place. The more people that you fix up as a Cupid, the better your reputation and you’ll gain recognition for being a great Cupid and a good friend.

As a Dater in FixMeUp you get the opportunity the get to know your friends’ friends by browsing through your “Second Circle of Friends” on Facebook. That way: (1) you already have a friend in common, (2) you can ask your friend to make the introduction and recommend you, and (3) you’re both vetted! No more spinning roulette with “sick-o’s”, “weird-o’s” or “lame-o’s” – unless, you know… you’re into that sort of thing (no judgements, just leave a comment below and I’ll friend you on Facebook )

There is a great video that explains the concept below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVVsb5-3IHc

And be sure to get the app via Facebook here: FixMeUp App - and fix up your next date today!

Andrew Garde Joia is a freelance writer, business consultant, and web design professional. Actively involved in the New York Startup Technology scene, he is a regular volunteer with Ultralight Startups NYC and is the Managing Director for Customer Relations at Bedphones – The Headphones Designed for Sleep. To find out more about Andrew, visit his About.Me.

If your goal is becoming a world-wide famous poet, perhaps you need to dream bigger. How about becoming a famous intergalactic poet instead?

NASA is currently seeking poetry to send to Mars as part of a campaign to raise awareness for their Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft launch, scheduled for November. Specifically, they’re looking for haiku submissions, and the three winners will be included on a DVD that is sent to the red planet. The names of everyone who submits an entry will also be included on the DVD.

The contest is open to anyone over the age of 18 who submits a haiku (in English). The deadline for entry is July 1, and after submissions are collected, the public will be invited to vote for their favorites.

You can submit your haiku here.

MAVEN’s primary role is to study Mars to learn more about how its climate evolved. As of now, scientists believe that Mars once had a much thicker atmosphere, given the features that resemble riverbeds seem to indicate that the planet was once warm enough to be home to flowing water. MAVEN will answer questions about loss of atmospheric gases over time.

The Going to Mars Campaign is coordinated by the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. Once you submit your haiku, you have the option of printing a “certificate of appreciation” to commemorate your contribution to the project. MAVEN principal investigator Bruce Jakosky from the University of Colorado says he hopes this will help get the next generation excited about science.

You can read more about MAVEN and the Going to Mars Campaign on NASA’s website.

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Allison Boyer is the Online Education Coordinator for NMX University, where you can learn more about blogging, podcasting, web TV, and social business. She also runs the food blog The PinterTest Kitchen with her mom and sister.

Appy Couple is a wedding app that allows you to connect with your guests to invite them to events and easily distribute details about the big day.

Planning upcoming nuptials? Check out the Appy Couple wedding app. This is an all-in-one solution for sharing all of your wedding info with your guests. Instead of signing up for several services (I hate that, don’t you?), you can take care of everything with one single wedding app.

To get started, simply register for an account at appycouple.com and choose a design that fits your style. There’s a one-time fee of $28 to sign up, but this price gives you access to all of the designs available, allows you to add an unlimited number of guests, and more. Once the app launches premium accounts, you’ll also be upgraded automatically instead of having to pay a higher fee in the future.

So what can you do with Appy Couple?

When you sign up, you’ll first be prompted to create a wedding website and mobile site at the same time by uploading details about your story. How did you meet? When did you know it was love? What was the proposal like? Who’s in the bridal party? Add as many details as you want.

Next, you can upload all the information your guests need about your wedding day and other events, like the engagement party or rehearsal dinner. Give guests suggestions on where to stay, what to wear, and everything else they need to get involved. Once you invite guests via the app, they’ll see information for just the wedding day or for other events as well; you get to control each person’s access to details based on what they’re invited to attend.

Guests can also upload pictures of their own to help tell your story. You have ultimate say on what is shared publicly, but it’s a great way to add to your albums even if you and your husband (or wife)-to-be don’t take a lot of pictures. Guests can also interact with one another by starting conversations and adding comments. There are even mini games and virtual toast options. It’s like a mini social network just for your big day.

There are countless other features also available through Appy Couple.

• Allow your guests to digitally RSVP.
• Display your up-to-date gift registry.
• List meal options and dress code.
• Include directions to your venue.
• Poll your guests when you’re making a wedding decision.
• Help your guests find child care.
• Show the weather prediction for the big day.

Appy Couple works on just about any connected device out there. There are iOS and Android apps for download, and guests without smart phones and tablets can visit your website as well. Additionally, you have the option to connect with Twitter and Facebook for sharing news, and guests can get updates via email if they so choose.

You can also kick things up a notch and order print invitation that match your Appy Couple site, and on the day of your wedding, guests can continue uploading pictures and comments that you’ll be able to keep forever. It’s definitely an upgrade to putting disposable cameras on the tables (no one uses them anyway!), and it makes sharing all of the information for your wedding so much easier. The price tag on this wedding tool is definitely worth it, with all of the great features, and I’m looking forward to seeing what other features they plan to integrate with future premium accounts.

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Allison Boyer is the Online Education Coordinator for NMX University, where you can learn more about blogging, podcasting, web TV, and social business. She also runs the food blog The PinterTest Kitchen with her mom and sister.

Cleverbug, makers of a new app called Cleverbug Cards, launched a movement for Mother’s Day this year called – we love this – No Mom Left Behind.

They’re giving anyone who downloads the app a free printed card to send your mom for Mother’s Day. We’ve looked at Cleverbug before (they were just birthday cards then), and the thing we love is that they’re super personalized! Essentially, you connect your Facebook account and the app will determine your relationship with the card recipient (Mom!) and then let you personalize it with photos of the two of you (Spring Break at Yellowstone in 1998, anyone?) and a sweet message.

It’s a fun, thoughtful idea that basically allows you keep your spot as son- or daughter-of-the-year, and the card designs are really adorable.

Download Cleverbug at the Apple App Store, and claim your free card today!

Big Top Ballet, bringing gaming to an underserved demographic, women and girls that want to play a cool trippy game!

Ever since Apple made it possible for indie developers to sell their own games through the App Store five years ago, the Game Industry has undergone enormous disruption. Then followed Google Play, Amazon’s App Store, the Chrome Web Store, Facebook Games, etc. The list is growing for independent distribution. With this democratization of game publishing comes much competition, hence the number of apps and games available for smartphones and to play for free on-line. Large studios are beginning to feel the fierce burn of this market disruption and scaling back by reducing staff and adapting with new models.

As a female gamepreneur, this disruption couldn’t have happened for me at a better time. I always wanted to get into game development but to be honest, creating art for some shoot up war game was a huge turn off. I had become a new mom in 2007 and had just enough time to familiarize myself to mobile development and come up with a game concept I was really excited about bringing to an underserved demographic, women and girls that wanted a cool trippy game title. Some of the best games come out of the writers passion for a certain theme. Personally my passion for dance, electronic music and nouveau cirque was the impetus for Big Top Ballet the video game. It’s an alternative indie title that we’ve released to multiple platforms and we’re now working to scale with new content and a variety of mini games.

With this new found creative freedom in publishing and distributing games globally, comes challenges I hadn’t expected. Our first mini game within the title features trippy electronic music by Ill-Esha and spinning ‘Paper Ballerinas’ that the player must dress by dragging costumes and touching white tabs to attach costume pieces like tutus, masks and wings. Pretty tame, or so I thought. The Entertainment Software Ratings Board is the body that governs ratings for different games on all app stores. It’s voluntary to have your video game rated by the ESRB and as an indie developer for Big Top Ballet it hasn’t been a barrier for us to distribute the title on Apple’s App Store, Mac App Store, Google Play or Facebook Games. It’s that extra step that I haven’t taken at this early stage given that our game content is still growing.

This spring we were invited by Chillingo to release Big Top Ballet to their 100 Percent Indie app store for Android game”s available on Samsung mobile devices. We’re so pumped to be part of 100 Percent Indie. The experience and the support has been awesome. If you’re an indie game developer distributing to Android, I highly recommend it since 100 Percent Indie is available in countries like China where Google Play is not. Also China is now becoming the World’s biggest market for mobile iOS and Android apps. The numbers are staggering for the growing adoption of Android devices.

Big Top Ballet achieved Top 10 rankings, #1 in China and #4 in the US on the Mac App Store for Mac Music Games, we’ve been on the iOS App Store for a year without any issue. You can imagine my surprise when releasing to Samsung’s App Store to learn during the game review process that Big Top Ballet’s content was deemed unethical in certain countries. Which countries? Why? ‘Short skirts’ unethical specifically in Iran, China, Japan and the Phillippines. Okay Iran, women aren’t even free to dance in this country ( like that’s ethical?), so I decided to remove Big Top Ballet from distribution in Iran. But they’re tutus!  The 100 Percent Indie team was awesome at advocating our case given that these were ‘Paper Ballerinas’ and the short skirts were ‘tutus’ being attached to an already dressed ‘paper ballerina’ dolls. Not to mention the title was already being distributed in China on Apple’s App Store for iOS. Clearly this was just an over cautious quick assessment by the review team.

Apparently not. Over the past week I began to receive buyer feedback from what were designated as ‘Global Arab’ countries that Big Top Ballet’s ‘Content is unethical’. WTF? Seriously? Oh yah Saudi Arabia, women can’t even vote or run for office. As I roll my eyes, really?  What part is unethical? The music? The visuals, the fact that a woman is the game’s designer? So I asked simply and respectfully the buyers directly as a part of discovery. Keep in mind I have a copy of the Qu’ran and even read it from time to time. Interesting enough, one of these same buyers then gave a 5 star rating with ‘Great!’ as their review. Maybe they  had to rethink what in Big Top Ballet was actually in conflict with their values and morals? Maybe the title is different and cool, so it’s an impulse judgement? Who knows? The reality is that as the title grows with new content, if this feedback continues in different countries, I am not going to argue, I’m going to remove Big Top Ballet from sale in those countries, just as I did with Iran.

If I’ve gained all this new freedom to create and release a video game in my own voice, I’m not about to compromise artistic integrity as a woman and game developer by designing burkas for ‘paper ballerinas’ to appease the Middle East. I wonder though, had I not asked, ‘Can you please comment what content in the game is unethical and based on what philosophy? ‘, then would they have re-evaluated their position? It’s a big world and you can’t please all your critics. I have to admit I would have been flattered if ‘unethical’ was instead replaced by ‘subversive’ because there’s nothing more rebellious to the Middle East than women creating their own art and dancing freely.

Elizabeth Boylan is the Chief Creative Officer of Big Top Ballet Inc. and Partner of VectorBloom Technologies mobile development firm based out of Whistler, British Columbia. She is a mother to a young daughter and works closely with her husband and programmer, John Borchert. When she isn’t working on Big Top Ballet her favorite past times are swimming, hiking, playing tennis and snowboarding Whistler peaks. You can follow news for Big Top Ballet on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook.

Move over smart phones. You can now pre-order a smart fork. And not only is the idea of a connected utensil cool, but HapiFork could actually help you lose weight.

HapiLabs, the makes of HapiFork, say that this product could help dieters by encouraging you to take your time during a meal. Research shows that our bodies take a little time to register feeling full and satisfied, so when you eat quickly, you’ll often eat more than you actually need. The HapiFork measures how long it takes you to eat, how many bites (“fork servings”) you take every minute, and how much time you take between bites. You can then upload this information to your computer dashboard so you can understand your habit and learn to slow down when eating.

Even more effectively, though, the HapiFork will vibrate and light up if you are eating too quickly. This can be pretty helpful if you’re like me and just don’t realize how fast you hork down your food. With any luck, after just a few meals with HapiFork, you’ll be like Pavlov’s dog–but instead of slobbering, you’ll be slowing down at the dinner table.

Once you do upload the mealtime data, however, you can also track your progress via computer or the mobile app and share your information with friends. You can even upload pictures of your meal or add comments to the data. It’s a fun way to stay connected and motivated if you’re part of a weight loss group, and it is also possible to share data with your nutritionist, dietician, trainer, or doctor this way.

HapiFork isn’t just about losing weight, though. According to the manufacturers, a number of other problems stem from eating too fast, including digestive issues like gastric reflux.

Right now, you can pre-order a HapiFork of your own by helping to fund the project on Kickstarter. You’ll have to shell out at least $89 to get one of these bad boys (they’ll be $99 retail after the Kickstarter campaign), but you get to choose from a variety of colors. Plus, you don’t have to worry about your HapiFork giving out after just a few meals: HapiLabs notes that they’re completely safe to wash by hand or in the dishwasher and they stand up to normal wear and tear, like being dropped on the floor.

The first wave of HapiForks is expected to ship in September if the Kickstarted project is completely funded as planned. As of writing this post, over 900 people have already gotten involved, and although I think the price is a little steep, I’m very tempted to jump on board too. Will you become a proud smart fork owner this fall?

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Allison Boyer is the Online Education Coordinator for NMX University, where you can learn more about blogging, podcasting, web TV, and social business. She also runs the food blog The PinterTest Kitchen with her mom and sister.

Mobile game developer Rovio recently announced that Angry Birds Friends is coming to iOS and Android soon.

Everything is coming full circle at Rovio, the company responsible for the popular game Angry Birds. This game first became popular in the iOS and (later) Android app stores before also launching on Facebook. Now, Rovio is bringing the Facebook version of the game back to iOS and Android so users can more easily play Angry Birds Friends on the go.

Since Angry Birds Friends first launch on Facebook, it has been installed over 60 million times, and there are currently 15 million monthly active users. The Facebook version of this game is similar to the original mobile version in that players fling comically ticked-off birds at oblivious green pigs guarding structures that are increasingly difficult to knock down. However, Angry Birds Friends also has a social element to the game. Users can compete with other Facebook friends, post their high scores on their wall, and gift special power-ups to one another. On Angry Birds Friends, you also have the ability to earn a gold, silver, or bronze crown if you have one of the top three high scores on the level.

The announcement of further development for Angry Birds Friends is a bit of a reversal from the original stance Rovio took on social gaming. According to TechCrunch, Julien Codorniou from Facebook’s Gaming Partnerships teams says they visited the Finland-based company once a month for 18 months before they agreed to bring the game to Facebook.

Part of the choice that game developers have to make when it comes to social gaming is whether or not to go the Facebook route at the risk of cannibalizing their own paid app models. Facebook games are free to play, but open the game to a much wider audience. And, as Rovio does, the developers can work paid upgrades into the game play, making users pull out their wallets if they want special features or hope to upgrade faster. In this way, companies can actually make even more money with a free Facebook game than they can with a premium app where users play a small flat fee for the game. It’s still a risk, though, especially when you already have a great-selling app like Angry Birds.

The social gaming choices seems to be working for Rovio, however, not only because Facebook players are making in-game purchases, but also because it’s increasing awareness for their brand. In the company’s 2012 annual report, they showed an increase in the amount of revenue (now 45%) coming from non-game purchases like plush toys and other Angry Birds merchandise.

With the social game coming to your mobile devices, it will now be even easier to play and, as Rovio hopes I’m sure, spend money on your favorite feathered friends. Will you be playing?

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Allison Boyer is the Online Education Coordinator for NMX University, where you can learn more about blogging, podcasting, web TV, and social business. She also runs the food blog The PinterTest Kitchen with her mom and sister.