Michael Arrington few days ago wrote about this app and I have had a chance to try it out. It’s great. Go download it, use it for all your conference calls from now on.

The set up is super easy, you can create the groups that you call and save them as favorites. After that, just press the call button and you’re set.

CrowdCall:

Want to talk to more than one person at once? Want to have a family chat call? Want to have a group voice chat with all your friends? Want to create a conference call right from your phone? Then get CrowdCall, the first easy to use group calling app for iPhone and Android.

• Create a free*, instant Group Call with up to 20 people anywhere in the world.
• Call anyone on your contact list – they don’t need the app to participate.
• Participate Free – a local call to the originator, an incoming call to participants.
• No dial in numbers or pin codes to remember – fun, easy and free*.

* Calls are free to participants. Originator is charged local minutes by their carrier.

I’ve had a few days to play the new Angry Birds Space and it has been a great time waster for sure. This is a good article breaking down the physics of it.

Business Insider: Facebook Preparing for IPO in May

Wall Street Journal Coverage: Facebook Targeting May IPO

They did not disappoint. Each pitch was perfectly crafted and there seemed to be a familiar set to each. You can tell they have been coached by Paul Graham and the team on the perfect presentation. I’m happy to say that every single presentation was professional and perfectly crafted. Some better that others, but no terrible ones. Which you wouldn’t expect from the caliber of founders that YC accepts into their program.

I’ve run down a list of my 14 favorite ones, I had to exclude 4 that are still off the record. This list is compromised of start ups that I would be interested in investing, some of the ones that I didn’t mention did not resonate with me not because they were bad concepts but because I might not be of any help as an investor and it’s not a sector that I’m familiar with.

The Line Up: 

42 Floors: Commercial real estate search

My Take: Taking the hassle out of finding your office, they also help you find services that you need once you moved in or are in the process. They help out your office manager with all the tasks that might have caused issues in the past.

Ark: People Search

My Take: Ark helps people in a new area find people that have similar backgrounds or interests. You search by interests and are shown the people that might be similar to you. I think this is a very clever idea and likely the future of finding new friends in unfamiliar cities

Chute: Images/Videos as a service

My Take: They help sites with the uploading of photos and the process of resizing so that the site doesn’t have to worry about any of the details. Few of the companies in this batch use it and I like the process they have created for this. The market for them could be very big.

Family Leaf: Private page/network for your family

My Take: Private network for families or close groups. I loved this just because I’m the one in my family who made our first online page and I think this will replace it. You can share photos, latest contact info, leave a message for the family. It’s organized very neatly and there is a lot of potential for integration with other services to make it even better.

HireArt: Employment Agency 2.0

My Take: New way of hiring, they have developed questions, and real time problems that they ask potential employees. They weed out the ones that aren’t a match and let you know the ones that match your companies specific needs. I like their process and I think they have potential in this field.

iCracked: Tablet repair network – Dave McClure is a big fan (Interrupted the pitch to yell his love for them!)

My Take: They have created a network technicians to fix your broken screen. You can send in your phone, find a tech in your area or have them come to your house. This is how we will fix our things, we won’t rely on the major companies but we will use local specialist to help with problems.

Kyte: Kid phone software

My Take: Kyte allows parents to give a smartphone to their child but not with unlimited control. Parents are able to control which apps are allowed, what numbers they can call. It also allows for real time tracking of the phone. Great solution to a problem a lot of parents have.

MatterPort: 3d Scanning

My Take: Incredible technology, the demo was amazing. Blows away other 3D scanning software I have seen.

Pair: Messaging for couples

My Take: I’ve been using this for the past day with my girlfriend and it’s a lot of fun. I like the fact that you can have your own conversation that can include videos, photos, sketches, and thumb kisses. You can also have a password on the conversation so that your more intimate moments don’t get into the wrong hands. They have the potential to be extremely popular and successful. Crunchfund has already announced their investment into Pair. Go download it and let me know what you think.

PlanGrid: Blueprints on tablets

My Take: Looks like a brilliant solution to all the blueprints that are constantly edited and reprinted. If this works in the field and construction guys like using it, it could be a huge success.

Popset: Group photo albums

My Take: One of my favorites because of the problem the solve. We’ve all been at parties or events where multiple friends are taking photos, but how do you get your friends photos? Right now your friends have to tag you or send you a text/email with those photos. But the event still has multiple albums and you might have missed a great photo because a friend didn’t tag you. With Popset, you can create an album before the event, invite all the friends that will be there to join the album and every photo that they take will automatically be added to that album. Can’t wait to try it out in the wild.

Screenleap: Super easy Screen sharing

My Take: Loved how easy it was to set up the screen sharing with them. Only tried it for a few minutes, but it could be my go to service for sharing my screen if it works as well as it did initially.

SocialCam: Video Sharing

My Take: Love the simplicity of the camera and the filters that you can apply to the videos. They have made the app extremely social and it’s one of my go to apps for sharing video.

Sonalight: Voice Texting (While driving)

My Take: The demo was fantastic, the software worked while the phone was in the founders front shirt pocket. It’s only on the android platform, so I haven’t tried it yet. Go download it and let me know what you think.

Let me know what you think of the start ups that I mentioned here and if you think any of them might become a huge success.

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish.

The Best Apple Commercial, with Steve Jobs as the voice

Image via Wikipedia

I’ve had the honor of being one of the judges for the selection of the design for the official Facebook Page of Latvia. I have narrowed it down to my favorite three designs/concepts/submissions. Take a look and please vote for your favorite. I’d like to see how my favorite stands up to the opinion of others.

Also, please leave comments on what you like and dislike. I’ll relay this to the rest of the judges, so that the final design can be as good as possible. (fyi, these are in no particular order.)

Submission #1: Latvia: Politics, Culture, Business, Pop

Submission #2: If you like Latvia, Latvia likes you

Submission #3: Celebrate Latvia