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	<title>LoKast</title>
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	<link>http://www.lokast.com</link>
	<description>Real-time interactive Spaces</description>
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		<title>LoKast Spaces for all</title>
		<link>http://www.lokast.com/2012/02/10/lokast-spaces-for-all/</link>
		<comments>http://www.lokast.com/2012/02/10/lokast-spaces-for-all/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:24:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>lokast</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Announcements]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.lokast.com/?p=538</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It’s been an incredible 2011 for the team at NearVerse, launching LoKast 3.0 and having you join us in exploring what LoKast Spaces are all about. We&#8217;ve seen some incredible uses of LoKast Spaces at birthday parties and corporate networking &#8230; <a href="http://www.lokast.com/2012/02/10/lokast-spaces-for-all/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#187;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.lokast.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Mobile-cloud-service-blog1.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-550" title="LoKast use cases" src="http://www.lokast.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Mobile-cloud-service-blog1.png" alt="" width="500" height="241" /></a></p>
<p>It’s been an incredible 2011 for the team at NearVerse, launching LoKast 3.0 and having you join us in exploring what LoKast Spaces are all about. We&#8217;ve seen some incredible uses of LoKast Spaces at birthday parties and corporate networking events, at music festivals and retail superstores, around school hangouts and enterprise meetings, while watching TV shows and playing fantasy football. LoKast has become a sure way for users to instantly start a Space and have others join in, to message and share pictures and videos with the group, to instantly discover and connect 1-on-1, and to use Experiences like digital podiums for announcements, rich media, and promotions. Spaces have proven to be versatile useful mediums to connect while at events, places, and around many other shared experiences.</p>
<p>With all this energy around Spaces, we’re also realizing that our true calling with LoKast is to focus on offering Spaces as a service for application providers, businesses, organizers and power users, for use with your users, rather than targeting users to use LoKast ourselves. We’ve long envisioned Space-like mediums providing powerful interaction utility around pockets of transient activity – from the time we coined “disposable social networks”, to our marketing of “digital venues”, another recent slogan of “digital spaces for physical places”. But now we are seeing that the utility of Spaces extends beyond “in-location” and beyond specific genres like music or events, transcending setting types and use cases. So we are on a mission to empower as many of you as possible with Spaces, so you can integrate Spaces into your applications and offerings or launch Spaces right through the LoKast app.</p>
<p>We are hard at work on LoKast and Spaces, and we look forward to having you as customers and users of LoKast Spaces in 2012 and beyond.<br />
&nbsp;</p>
<h3><strong>IT&#8217;S ONLY JUST BEGUN!</strong></h3>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The LoKast Team</p>
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		<title>LoKast is coming to your high school – and we want you on our team!</title>
		<link>http://www.lokast.com/2011/09/10/lokast-is-coming-to-your-high-school-%e2%80%93-and-we-want-you-on-our-team/</link>
		<comments>http://www.lokast.com/2011/09/10/lokast-is-coming-to-your-high-school-%e2%80%93-and-we-want-you-on-our-team/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 10 Sep 2011 20:08:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Boris Bogatin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Announcements]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.lokast.com/?p=398</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#160; &#160; Let me start by thanking you for taking time to read this, and by introducing myself. I’m Mike, a senior in high school in South Florida. I recently got involved with LoKast after meeting the CEO at a &#8230; <a href="http://www.lokast.com/2011/09/10/lokast-is-coming-to-your-high-school-%e2%80%93-and-we-want-you-on-our-team/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#187;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.lokast.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Pinecrest_High_School_courtyard.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-large wp-image-400" title="Pinecrest_High_School_courtyard" src="http://www.lokast.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Pinecrest_High_School_courtyard-1024x685.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="428" /></a></p>
<p><em>Let me start by thanking you for taking time to read this, and by introducing myself. I’m Mike, a senior in high school in South Florida. I recently got involved with LoKast after meeting the CEO at a conference in Brooklyn while I was on vacation – it’s been a really cool experience working with him ever since. I’ve gotten my high school, Dwyer High School in West Palm Beach Florida, exposed to LoKast so far and the students and teachers at the school are now experimenting with LoKast as their way to connect around school activities.  So we created this program to expose high schools across the country and beyond to LoKast, and get other high schoolers like you (who, by and large, are underestimated as a driving force in exposing new products) to get involved and help us spread LoKast at your high school and community.</em></p>
<p>LoKast lets you connect with other people who are right where you are, chat with them, and stay in touch after you leave – you can meet new people, or chat with friends. Using LoKast, you hang out in spaces where you can message, take and share photos, videos, web links, contacts, and music links – all easier and faster than SMS or Facebook.</p>
<p>You can use this app anywhere (really!). Here are some examples:</p>
<ul>
<li>At parties and sports games, you can chat, keep up with the action as it unfolds (whether party gossip or the banter about the opposing team ), add photos and videos of that wild dance move or of your running back scoring, meet other students, and keep your memories all in one space</li>
<li>At club meetings and in classrooms, you can ask your friends “<em>what-is-this-teacher-talking-about</em>” and receive instant clarification, add club ideas without cutting off the President, take notes together with your classmates,  and answer questions and get feedback that you can reference afterwards</li>
<li>At hang-outs like the bowling alley (don’t laugh &#8211; we all know you love to bowl, deep down) and food places, you can start conversations, meet new people casually, exchange contacts and share your experiences through photos, and stay connected afterwards with that girl or guy you really sparked things off with</li>
</ul>
<p>We hand-built LoKast to be a perfect fit for high schools and teenage hangouts, just as it is for colleges and universities (where you are probably heading next). And now we’ve launched LoKast in your school – are you excited yet?</p>
<p>We can’t do it without you though. The app is awesome, but we need you to get people using it – you know your friends better than anyone else out there! So, we developed the LoKast High program to help spread the word –we now need ambitious high schoolers like you to get your high school on LoKast. You’ll represent LoKast High at your high school and in your area, get involved with a leading edge mobile social app’s marketing campaign (which is really cool in itself, but you also get to mention it on college applications), and work side by side with other ambitious LoKast High reps, and with the LoKast team that’s helped build some of the leading Internet and mobile companies in the world (you’ve heard of Limewire right?).</p>
<p>And you’ll also get a bunch of other perks for your efforts in helping us out. We hold regular contests and giveways among LoKast High reps (free concert tickets, anyone?) to find the most ambitious students, and we will provide references and recommendations on your work for college apps and resumes. We’re looking forward to having you join us!</p>
<p>If you have what it takes, or know someone who does, apply now! Just fill out this <em><a title="LoKast High application" href="https://docs.google.com/a/nearverse.com/spreadsheet/viewform?hl=en_US&amp;formkey=dDNmMnR3aHZyeWNGY1JUTmp0Q1duQVE6MQ#gid=0" target="_blank">really brief form</a></em> describing yourself and why you are the right person to work with us.</p>
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			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.lokast.com/2011/09/10/lokast-is-coming-to-your-high-school-%e2%80%93-and-we-want-you-on-our-team/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
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		<title>LoKast partners with Identity Festival</title>
		<link>http://www.lokast.com/2011/08/10/lokast-partners-with-identity-festival/</link>
		<comments>http://www.lokast.com/2011/08/10/lokast-partners-with-identity-festival/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Aug 2011 19:30:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Boris Bogatin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Announcements]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[electronic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[identity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[idfestival]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[proximity]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.lokast.com/?p=393</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[IDENTITY Festival has partnered with LoKast to bring instant social networks to each of the Identity Festival shows happening around the U.S. in August and September. This summer will mark the debut of IDENTITY, the first-ever touring electronic ONLY music &#8230; <a href="http://www.lokast.com/2011/08/10/lokast-partners-with-identity-festival/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#187;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.lokast.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/ID_festival_spaceicon.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-394" title="ID_festival_spaceicon" src="http://www.lokast.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/ID_festival_spaceicon.jpg" alt="" width="1023" height="464" /></a>IDENTITY Festival has partnered with LoKast to bring instant social networks to each of the Identity Festival shows happening around the U.S. in August and September.</p>
<p>This summer will mark the debut of IDENTITY, the first-ever touring electronic ONLY music festival that will visit major outdoor amphitheatres throughout the US in August and September and give fans the full electronic music experience. Approximately 20 shows are on tap for this exciting new traveling extravaganza with top-tier artists performing on multiple stages starting in the afternoon and into the night.  The line-up for IDENTITY is highlighted by the hottest cutting-edge artists of the genre including Kaskade, Pretty Lights, Rusko, Avicii, Steve Aoki, Disco Biscuits, DJ Shadow, Skrillex, Pete Tong, Chuckie, Booka Shade, Modeselektor, the Crystal Method, Nero and many more. For all up-to-date information about IDENTITY, please visit <a href="http://www.idfestival.com/" target="_blank">www.IDFestival.com</a> or <a href="http://www.facebook.com/idfestival">www.facebook.com/idfestival</a>.</p>
<p>LoKast (<a href="http://www.lokast.com">www.lokast.com</a>) has become a popular and only destination to enjoy physical places and events with others there together.  Through the <a href="http://bit.ly/lokastapp">LoKast iPhone app</a>, and soon to come Android app, Identity Festival concert goers will be able to:</p>
<ul>
<li>Meet and Message with others at the show</li>
<li>Chime in to the Social Flow and take Pics and Videos together</li>
<li>Get Exclusive Stuff from DJs and show sponsors</li>
</ul>
<p>LoKast is also giving away a pair of tickets to each show by selecting a winner 3 days in advance right on LoKast.  Just download LoKast, jump in to the LoKast Identity Festival space for your show, and chime in to the social flow with something cool for a chance to win.  All winners will be announced in the morning 2 days before each show.</p>
<p><a href="http://bit.ly/lokastID">CLICK HERE AND ENJOY!</a></p>
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		<title>LoKast is coming to your college or university – want to join our team?</title>
		<link>http://www.lokast.com/2011/08/09/lokast-is-coming-to-your-college-or-university-%e2%80%93-want-to-join-our-team/</link>
		<comments>http://www.lokast.com/2011/08/09/lokast-is-coming-to-your-college-or-university-%e2%80%93-want-to-join-our-team/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 09 Aug 2011 23:45:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Boris Bogatin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Announcements]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.lokast.com/?p=377</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[LoKast allows users to socialize with others through mini-social networks we call spaces, whether in same physical places and events or beyond. Users connect as a group within the spaces, but also discover other users there and connect 1-on-1 with &#8230; <a href="http://www.lokast.com/2011/08/09/lokast-is-coming-to-your-college-or-university-%e2%80%93-want-to-join-our-team/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#187;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.lokast.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Chatter-on-College-Lawn.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-380" title="Chatter on College Lawn" src="http://www.lokast.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Chatter-on-College-Lawn.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="450" /></a></p>
<p>LoKast allows users to socialize with others through mini-social networks we call spaces, whether in same physical places and events or beyond. Users connect as a group within the spaces, but also discover other users there and connect 1-on-1 with them. Everyone can message and share photos, videos, web links, contacts, and music links making for an ultra-rich experience. And most importantly, it’s really easy and really fast, right from a user’s smartphone – easier and faster than SMS.</p>
<p>We’ve launched LoKast a few weeks ago and are really excited about how the app has been used so far:</p>
<p>• At social events and parties, it’s been used to banter, post quotes and photos / videos, discover others there and chat with them 1-on-1, and for memories, all in one space (http://bit.ly/liuN3T)</p>
<p>• At organizational meets and classrooms, it’s been used to discuss topics interactively side-by-side with the presentation, collect everyone’s questions and feedback, and distribute materials</p>
<p>• At hang-out spots, bars, and restaurants, it’s been used to incite conversations there, meet others 1-on-1 and break the ice, exchange photos and contacts, and stay connected afterwards</p>
<p>And this is just the beginning. As you can see, LoKast has been essentially custom built for settings like a college or university. So we are kicking off the fall semester with LoKast on campus, bells, whistles, and all.</p>
<p>We now need your help. We have created the U LoKast program for ambitious students on college campuses across the U.S. to help spread the use of LoKast throughout the facets of campus life. You’ll get a chance to represent yourself as the official U LoKast campus ambassador at your college or university, gain invaluable experience in marketing a leading edge mobile app, and get mentored through the process by other U LoKast college ambassadors and by the LoKast team.</p>
<p>As an incentive, we are holding regular U LoKast contests for best college ambassadors (ie. free iPads), providing references and recommendations on your work, and offering some of you an opportunity to join the LoKast team more officially – as a paid U LoKast program organizer through the year, a paid intern next summer, or a full-time member of the LoKast team. We can’t wait to have you join us!</p>
<p>If you have what it takes, or know someone who does, apply now! Just fill out this <a href="https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/embeddedform?formkey=dFl5MmlDUXFESVdDdU1Hemxpc25LZUE6MQ">really brief form</a> or send us an e-mail to <a href="u@lokast.com">u@lokast.com</a> describing yourself and why you are the right person to work with us.”</p>
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		<title>35th Birthday Bash</title>
		<link>http://www.lokast.com/2011/06/12/35th-birthday-bash/</link>
		<comments>http://www.lokast.com/2011/06/12/35th-birthday-bash/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 13 Jun 2011 02:38:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Boris Bogatin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Stories]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.lokast.com/?p=255</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[So we kicked off the LoKast 3.0 era a couple of weeks ago, and it’s already been an incredibly exhilarating experience. We’ve shown LoKast to hundreds of social influencers, small businesses and event planners, regular users at social events, and &#8230; <a href="http://www.lokast.com/2011/06/12/35th-birthday-bash/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#187;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-258" title="Birthday Bash - Party Evolves" src="http://www.lokast.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/photo-4-200x300.png" alt="" width="200" height="300" /></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> </span>So we kicked off the LoKast 3.0 era a couple of weeks ago, and it’s already been an incredibly exhilarating experience.  We’ve shown LoKast to hundreds of social influencers, small businesses and event planners, regular users at social events, and retailers.  It’s hard to explain how rewarding of an experience it is to see people fully understand the value of a product and get noticeably excited about its implications to their life.</p>
<p>Well, coincidental to the launch, I happened to turn 35 this past week.  And of course, what better way to celebrate a birthday and a product launch, than to have the product fit the birthday party like a glove.  So we did just that – my birthday on LoKast.  The birthday took place at Spin NYC – a ping pong club (apparently the new in-thing), with my closest 40 or so friends in the area.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.lokast.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Photo-6.png"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-257" title="Birthday Bash - Pre-Game" src="http://www.lokast.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Photo-6-200x300.png" alt="" width="200" height="300" /></a></p>
<p>I started my birthday “space” on LoKast early that morning – “Boris’s BDay Bash”.  I invited a few friends in as a pre-cursor, and also shared some pictures of the friends that were supposed to be coming to the party – this helped set up the context for all others.  As we got closer to the time of the party, the friends that already joined (5-10), started chiming in – on coordinating, “cake” logistics, and a few early toasts.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-256" title="Birthday Bash - People" src="http://www.lokast.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/photo-1-200x300.png" alt="" width="200" height="300" /></span></p>
<p>Once I got to Spin NYC, I made the Boris’s BDay Bash space visible – that basically just makes a space visible only for the people inside of Spin NYC – and it instantly appeared in the Here tab of the LoKast app.  As other friends arrived, they just opened up LoKast and hopped in.  Even neater was that significant others of friends, and friends of friends that came with them to the party (whose addresses I don’t have), opened up LoKast and joined the space just as easily.  Before I knew it, there were 25 people in Boris BDay Bash.  And I also made the space private – so whenever someone tried to join, I received a notification, and approved them if they were with our party.  This helped keep what happened inside just to our group.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.lokast.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/photo-5.png"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-259" title="Birthday Bash - The Beginning" src="http://www.lokast.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/photo-5-200x300.png" alt="" width="200" height="300" /></a><a href="http://www.lokast.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Photo-7.png"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-260" title="Birthday Bash - Aftermath" src="http://www.lokast.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Photo-7-200x300.png" alt="" width="200" height="300" /></a></p>
<p>The rest was history in the making.  People were talking and hanging out as a group.  Many took various pictures of the event.  Others shared some funny videos that were related. We did a bunch of toasts – some in video and others that were annotated and photographed.  The “smart alecs” in the room took to writing down the best quotes of the night, taking photos of the most “memorable” moments, and making “clever” observations about others who were moving one drink too fast.  After some initial time, people also started talking 1-on-1 with others in Boris’s BDay Bash.  Next morning I woke up and thanked everyone for coming to the party.  Some others also chimed in re: “missed opportunities” from the night before.</p>
<p>LoKast did its job to the tee – not replace the physical world interactions, but add that extra level of coordination, flavor, and convenience, that makes a world of difference.  And when we looked over the event a step further, we also realized – we only hit the tip of the iceberg as far as how people used the app.  We realized that looking back over the flow of interactions, people were just starting to learn how they could use the product and what they could use it for.  I can’t wait to see how LoKast will be used, and how its use will start evolving over time as users learn the full power of the platform.</p>
<p>Thanks to all my friends and family for helping me celebrate my 35th birthday in style, and for sharing with me in this first instance of our proximity Internet future, on LoKast!  Today I am a very happy person!</p>
<p>IT’S ONLY JUST BEGUN!</p>
<p>Boris Bogatin<br />
@BB_iojbegun</p>
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		<title>The Color of Proximity Internet</title>
		<link>http://www.lokast.com/2011/04/08/the-color-of-proximity-internet/</link>
		<comments>http://www.lokast.com/2011/04/08/the-color-of-proximity-internet/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 08 Apr 2011 03:53:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>lokast</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.lokast.com/?p=155</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When I wake up on March 24, my phone is buzzing at 6:30 a.m. I answer a call from a friend – “Did you see this new start-up Color? Their app is for instant proximity photo sharing – isn’t that &#8230; <a href="http://www.lokast.com/2011/04/08/the-color-of-proximity-internet/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#187;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.lokast.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/The-Color-of-Money.jpeg"><img src="http://www.lokast.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/The-Color-of-Money.jpeg" alt="" title="The Color of Money" width="250" height="187" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-157" /></a> When I wake up on March 24, my phone is buzzing at 6:30 a.m.  I answer a call from a friend – “Did you see this new start-up Color?  Their app is for instant proximity photo sharing – isn’t that just like LoKast?  They just raised $41 million from Sequoia.”  Opening up my inbox, I’m confronted by a barrage of e-mails – all linking to this article from <a href="http://tcrn.ch/hJHNcl">TechCrunch</a>.  Over next few days I internalize – while having a chance to get a better sense on Color’s strategy, market approach, and technology, especially from Bill’s interview with <a href="http://bit.ly/e0tmo1">ReadWriteWeb</a> – and can’t help myself but think: “the world is catching up to this notion of proximity Internet FAST”.  So it’s time to talk and set the record straight.</p>
<p>Let’s start by covering what’s proximity Internet.  It’s about our vast physical world and the interactions / experiences / networks that we have inside of it.  Looking over statistics – the physical world accounts for over 90% of our commerce and over 50% of our user time.  The most technologically advanced tools to support these settings until recently, have been in-store broadcast systems, digital projectors, and business card scanners – admittedly mechanical and roughly 10-50 year old technologies (dinosaurs in the mobile Internet world, which really just started in 2007).  And now using smartphones and tablets, we can dramatically enhance this environment, to move beyond the 5 senses, to create a new “proximity Internet” – one that’s contestably 10x larger than the Internet we’ve known to date, just given the above dimensions.  Proximity Internet stands to break-down hurdles of discovery and “initial contact” in physical settings, create opportunities for group leadership and inclusion of commentary like that brought by Twitter but in a much more exclusive and relevant fashion, enhance our interactions through rich media and actionable follow-ups, create experiences that are dramatically more engaging (video games have been at the fore-front of this for years now admittedly), create significantly more physical and digital commerce… and change how we start socially networking experiences, and maintain and grow them over time.  All while we physically spend time in our physical world.</p>
<p>And of course it’s driven by some very important and completely unique essentials.  First, proximity Internet is real-time and synchronous (unlike the Internet which is 99% asynchronous) – it supports a world where we inherently use our 5 senses to synchronize and react to each other (imagine talking to someone, and them only hearing you / listening to you 5 minutes later).  Second, proximity Internet needs to be highly contextual – it’s used to support behavior that’s a combination of both a) us already zeroing in to our context by going to a certain physical place and deciding what to do there and with whom, and b) us being real-time in those settings, so there’s no time to search.  And three, proximity Internet needs to be highly “disposable” (a term we coined in March 2010 – see <a href="http://bit.ly/fqOb1q">VentureBeat</a>) or “elastic” (one that Color is pushing 1 year later) – as we move from one physical setting to the next, these settings change dramatically (think of your social network in a coffee shop vs. your office vs. a restaurant / nightclub on any given Friday), significantly more so than our digital settings (where you update the same 500 Twitter followers and 1,000 FaceBook friends).</p>
<p>So with that being said – what’s the right approach and who’s is more differentiated?  Technology is critical (just like in the world of search engine battles circa 1998).  At NearVerse, from the very first day of us conceiving this company, we’ve been focused on creating core differentiated tech for proximity Internet – a) content delivery technology that could support truly proximity-grade real-time communications, and b) location ID and proximity context technology that would spring well beyond the improving but still highly inaccurate location ID tech accessible to mobile devices, all by leveraging the variety of additional network paths and context inputs available in proximity scenarios (ie. short-range wireless, physical context) – we think this allows us to uniquely support the proximity Internet market.  Interestingly enough, best I can tell from Color’s description of their core proximity tech (<a href="http://bit.ly/e0tmo1">http://bit.ly/e0tmo1</a>) is that it is in fact absolutely critical – but also within the platform of patents and technology that we’ve been building for the last few years, so don’t see it differentiating them in the long run.  Another differentiated technology is Bump, who have also done something truly unique, synchronizing “intent” with “location” irrespective of the tech platform, and that I think continues to give them an edge in proximity transactions.  But most importantly, the tech differentiation is first about leveraging superior wireless tech first, and not inferior physical inputs like sound or sight, in the long-term (which are almost impossible to assure to be synchronous or precise) – think of what our world would have been if we relied on sound instead of 3G to carry data, or earth image recognition instead of GPS and WiFi to pinpoint people instantly (although we admittedly still haven’t solved this in indoor situations).  This is exactly why companies like Qualcomm, with a focus on bringing AllJoyn, FlashLinq, and WiFi Direct technology to market and a dedication to short-range wireless device-to-device connections, are absolutely critical for enabling proximity, both for faster speeds and better location ID / proximity context – like 3G / 4G is for mobile Internet.  We are fortunate to have access to platforms like theirs as we build LoKast (see <a href="http://bit.ly/hO12ob">VentureBeat</a>).  Same with NFC – it’ll be critical to better enabling proximity transactions.</p>
<p>Proximity product is even more important.  Looking back over the key essentials from above, on real-time and synchronous, Yobongo is a company that’s probably got that “rightest” so far for social networking, just because conversations are what we use and need 99% of the time to interact in proximity / real-time social settings.  Bump on the other hand has proven that synchronizing people is absolutely critical to share “stuff” between two people as a result of a transaction – people are using their app to share LOTS of stuff (not as often per person as talking, but they have millions of users, so doing massive volume of contacts and photos).  When we launched LoKast, to do instant media sharing with others immediately in proximity, it seemed like a great idea – but we learned that people want to first talk and then share media, when in real-time situations (and a lot of media sharing is transactional) – great lesson and central to our evolution.  As far as Color, I think their focus on asynchronous photo sharing will remain niche – ie. sure I want to look at the photos of 20 randoms, that passed through a local coffee shop over the past 10 days, but I’ll do that for about 15-30 seconds and then get bored.</p>
<p>On proximity context, LoKast and Color are similarly oriented and I think those are the winning-est approaches (although also give credit to ShopKick which is squarely focused on this as well) – why proximity is so powerful is that we ALREADY DEEPLY care about that context, so putting a person digitally into that context is like doing a Google Search and being able to narrow the results to only 10 items that are 100% most relevant.  However, to figure out the proximity context precisely most of the time (ie. person A wants to talk to person B, and then C, and then B again) is absurd, unless they are doing a transaction – we have to pretty much get into a person’s head (good luck).  I think this focus on “perfectly predicted context” by Color and Yobongo will have them spend a lot of money and fall short.  That’s why at the end, FourSquare’s and ShopKick’s approach to this are more on the right track (although they’ll need to continue to figure out better location ID and proximity tech) – you present the most relevant information in that physical setting and let the person choose.  On “disposable social networking”, I think LoKast, Yobongo, Hashable, and Color are all focused on the right genre – that our physical / day-to-day networks are highly transient, and are inherently much much bigger than our “social networks” that we’ve come to know from the likes of Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn – it’s just a matter of harnessing them effectively for the consumer.  LoKast’s, Yobongo’s, and Color’s ability to do that is inherent in how a consumer uses our apps – recording interactions with people in proximity (where most of our “transient” networking occurs) – I say let the best one win!</p>
<p>Last but not least is distribution – most important.  Hotmail was a really cool product in webmail, but it’s claim to fame was “viral distribution”.  Same with Groupon – the “impulse social deals” is a small portion of their current success in small business distribution acquisition.  I’ll stay mum on the exact strategy as far as NearVerse and LoKast, but instead just posit some core rules of thumb.  One is to limit any kind of horizontal marketing (ie. what’s the chance, that in any given physical space with 100 people, more than 5% of them are real-time (within 30 minutes) on Facebook (the most scaled product in market)) – seeing Color as #7 on the app store, actually is a competitive feel-good – know they are going to spend a lot of cycles on something that isn’t all that effective..  SCVNGR actually has an inverse distribution strategy as a company and merits a lot of attention – much more effective approach (even though you don’t see them nearly as high in the app store rankings).  But the second is consumer education through “right first experience”, and “right second use” packaging – so consumer learns the app behavior and then can continue using the app and be an educator / viral spreader of the product.  Bump definitely takes the cake on this to date – they have an incredible “second use” curve, and as I understand is mostly a viral marketing company.  At NearVerse and with LoKast, we went out focusing on the Music industry in early 2010, for both of the reasons above, but have learned a lot and are now well positioned to nail these two key tenants much more effectively – more to come soon.</p>
<p>So with that being said, how do we feel about NearVerse and LoKast, and about the competition from upstarts like Color.  Quick backdrop on my point of view – at my last gig, I helped build the 6th national wireless operator, LightSquared, from the ground up, raising $1.5 billion in the process essentially on the back of a mature product – wireless spectrum.  Admittedly, NearVerse has taken a reasonable share of bumps and licks as we’ve come to market as a result – when I started I thought we needed millions and millions of dollars just to prove the value of our product, and that it would take off just because of the inherent value of our technology.  But a year or two later, in 2011, we are a brand new company in our philosophical approach.  The lean start-up approach is ingrained in every business action we take.  Market product fit is our paramount focus, one right step at a time.  And although we’ve remained 100% committed to the same mission since pretty much day 1 – to power the proximity Internet – we’ve pivoted (yes that word) quite a bit on exactly how we attack the market.  My daily guide to this of late has been Built to Last, by James Collins and Jerry Porras, where they profess that the best companies can maintain their long term differentiated values, but quickly and continuously adapt in how they achieve them.  At the end, we look at the competitive space and the market opportunity and see a more attractive timing to pursue proximity Internet now, than ever before – we are 3 years ahead of the market on proximity tech, 12 months on “disposable social networking”, and the future is prime for our upcoming product releases.</p>
<p>To sum up, when I first signed-up for Twitter, I added my slogan: “start small, dream big, finish intergalactic”.  That’s been exactly the way I’ve lived my whole life, and the way we’ve built NearVerse pretty much since day 1 – even though we’ve only raised a bit over $1 million, and had to navigate to nail the “right” product market fit since we were early to the market, we’ve continued to think ahead to map out the future while taking one step at a time with our go-to-market – same story every day we wake up.  So when I finally digested all the news about Color, about their tech, and about their money, over this past weekend, here’s where I finish up.  “We’ve been dreaming and building proximity Internet for a few years more, and we are almost $40 million leaner – ‘gg’ Color on raising the money and launching your product, and I welcome you to the NearVerse.”</p>
<p>IT’S ONLY JUST BEGUN!</p>
<p>Boris Bogatin</p>
<p>@BB_iojbegun</p>
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		<title>LoKast Uncovered</title>
		<link>http://www.lokast.com/2010/05/25/lokast-uncovered/</link>
		<comments>http://www.lokast.com/2010/05/25/lokast-uncovered/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 25 May 2010 03:31:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>lokast</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.lokast.com/?p=147</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Earlier this year at SXSW, we launched LoKast to much fanfare. Check out the great coverage on TechCrunch, PCWorld, Billboard, ZDNet, Wired, VentureBeat, The Next Web, and MediaPost. Now, we want to take a bit of time to describe the &#8230; <a href="http://www.lokast.com/2010/05/25/lokast-uncovered/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#187;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Earlier this year at SXSW, we launched LoKast to much fanfare. Check out the great coverage on <a href="http://bit.ly/bBC7sf">TechCrunch</a>, <a href="http://bit.ly/9deHcW">PCWorld</a>, <a href="http://bit.ly/bWuog">Billboard</a>, <a href="http://bit.ly/bj1lF9">ZDNet</a>, <a href="http://bit.ly/b86ALC">Wired</a>, <a href="http://bit.ly/drZNCo">VentureBeat</a>, <a href="http://bit.ly/bZYpPw">The Next Web</a>, and <a href="http://bit.ly/bPLfOh">MediaPost</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Now, we want to take a bit of time to describe the story firsthand:</strong></p>
<p>In a nutshell, LoKast is a ‘disposable social network’, making it easy to set up your smartphone as a “local server”, set up your profile and populate it with media and content that defines you for that specific event, for that time, for that location, and automatically share your portal with others nearby.  Others discover you through LoKast and then find you in person, or vice versa – in either case, they have a rich profile of you at that moment in time, and can interact with you side-by-side with kicking “physical” game.  LoKast also allows you to access featured music artists so you can enjoy LoKast even if no one is around you.  We thought we’d blog about answers to some FAQs, and we welcome your thoughts on any others.</p>
<p><strong>What is LoKast?</strong></p>
<p>LoKast is an iPhone app that enables users, music bands, businesses, and anyone else to share rich content when nearby others (300 feet).  Users create portals by adding photos, videos, music, contacts and links they want to publicly share.  LoKast automatically discovers other users in proximity and allows users to interact, discover and exchange media with each other.  Entire photo albums, videos, music collections can be shared on LoKast.</p>
<p><strong>How do I use LoKast?</strong></p>
<p>Download the app for your iPhone/iPod Touch at http://bit.ly/GetLoKast.  To use LoKast, ensure you are nearby other users also on LoKast – if not, then tell your friends to get LoKast installed, and spread the word to others.  The more the merrier – just check it out with 5 others at same time.  It’s a real-time virtual venue.</p>
<p>Fire up the app, immediately see others nearby, and set up your profile and add your content right there.  Then or instead, go into the LoKasts of others nearby, explore through their portals, and get the content they are sharing.  At same time, other users can find you and your media, and can view your LoKasted media collections in real-time.</p>
<p>Or just add additional media content that you take live or are talking about with others around you, and they can instantly view it on their phones from your LoKast.</p>
<p><strong>Why did NearVerse build LoKast?</strong></p>
<p>On the one hand, we are a technology networking company at our core, with a platform that enables high-speed mobile interactions when nearby others.  At the same time, we are 100% behind the proximity Internet, the market we identified in 2008 as a great next opportunity, and LoKast is the platform that we are using to bring that world to you, all powered by our networking engine.  Our fundamental belief is that the world of physical interactions needs a rich interactive Internet medium delivered via mobile devices.  We coined the term proximity in 2008 along with some very smart other folks in the telco (yes telco believe it or not – many a visionary still live in that market) and the VC markets, and went on a voyage to enable easy ways to discover other people, and share rich media, with those nearby, to go hand-in-hand with physical interactions with them, in real-time:</p>
<ol>
<li>Physical interactions are real-time – we built LoKast to support those working at very fast data rates.</li>
<li>Physical interactions are also dynamic – you meet new people, interact with them, and then you leave to go and meet others.  LoKast matches that by providing you with an ad-hoc social network, that always matches the one you are physically surrounded by, and that’s quickly and easily “disposable” – no need to join another social network and then figure out how to find the people that are nearby just to match your physical interactions with them.</li>
<li>Physical interactions are also certain – they rely only on your five senses which are always available (at least for most of us and some subset for others).  So we built our networking platform, to ensure you can connect irrespective of whether 3G, WiFi, or Bluetooth networks are available or not.<br />
So, LoKast exploits the power of the NearVerse platform to support truly real-time proximity interactions that match your physically proximate experiences.</li>
</ol>
<p><strong>Where do you see LoKast being used the most?</strong></p>
<p>LoKast is a natural fit for events both social and professional.  Concert goers can use LoKast to get exclusive music, music videos, and other featured content from the band while the band is performing – content that’s only made available to the concert goers.  College students can use LoKast to socialize by instantly sharing a bunch of photos / videos taken at a recent party or trip or by recommending their favorite music to each other.  Friends can make social events more engaging, by taking group photos and instantly sharing them with the others around them.  Singles in a bar can use LoKast to wear a “digital outfit” and check out what goes hand-in-hand with the physical personas.  Networking event and conference attendees can use LoKast to share demo videos and exchange contact information for not just themselves, but those of their relevant social networks – the future of corporate networking.  Weddings, bars, at home, at work, at large events or at small private get-togethers – LoKast can literally help make any physically social event or occurrence into a rich, beyond five senses, experience.</p>
<p><strong>What about Privacy?</strong></p>
<p>In version 1.1.1, LoKast users only add content they want to make publicly available so likely will be used in trusted environments.  Privacy will be turned on in our next release, allowing private LoKasts to be created.</p>
<p><strong>What’s this music thing all about?</strong></p>
<p>We wanted to build the most engaging app for our users and live music venues happen to offer just that.  We have partnered with bands and music distribution companies to bring you featured artists that go “digital stage” with their fans when they perform live.  There’s no better medium to get featured music, music videos, and other content from your favorite band while at a live show.  And in order to ensure that you are never quite “alone” when using LoKast, we bring those same featured artists directly to you on a weekly basis in LoKast, irrespective of their proximity to you.  You can download entire, exclusive tracks of these “rising stars” and share those tracks with other users, even once the band is no longer featured.  It’s a great way to engage with the bands and the others all around you, around music, what keeps us together in every situation, through every life moment!</p>
<p><strong>How is this different than other file sharing apps?</strong></p>
<p>We have great respect for the work the other apps have done in allowing you to share stuff with others.  We differ from other file sharing apps in several ways:</p>
<ul>
<li>We enable group interactions.  While other apps focus on 1-1 experiences, LoKast enables discovery and media exchanges with many users nearby, with multiple media items, at the same time.</li>
<li>We enable pull experiences.  While other apps focus on 1-1 push transactions, LoKast enables user to interact with others nearby on their own time, exploring their way through and getting the content they like.</li>
<li>LoKast uses the NearVerse networking platform, so you always have the absolutely highest-speed and non-3G-dependent experience.  You can use LoKast in the subway or in a basement!</li>
<li>LoKast is all about rich media.  While other apps focus on transfer of 1 contact and 1 photo, our core tech platform is built to share collections of larger rich media files like music, videos, photos, in addition to contacts and web links.</li>
</ul>
<p>At the same time, try sharing contacts through LoKast – a cinch to share as much of your address book as you have in common with those around and for these contacts to appear in real-time in your LoKast, and it’s a one-click experience for the others to grab each contact from you, when and as they want to.</p>
<p>So check out LoKast at http://bit.ly/GetLoKast and please chime in with your feedback and suggestions, and we’ll make sure to build LoKast to suit your tastes.  Get LoKast today and help us lead the next mobile revolution, the next transformation in social media – real-time, digitally powered, proximity interactions!</p>
<p><em>- Boris and Vic</em></p>
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